The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 32: Get It Over With

Chapter 32: Get It Over With

’CRAP! WE MET THESE GUYS ALREADY!?’ Seraphine panicked, looking at the large group in front of them, immediately recognising the man who led them.

The captain was a young man with shoulder-length brunette hair, dark brown eyes, tanned skin, a small scar on the side of his cheek, and a toned, lean body. He also wore a white button-up shirt and black pants, both of which were lightly stained in blood.

And he went by the name of Elias Thorne.

She bit down on the nail of her thumb with a tense look on her face.

’Although he’s a good-looking guy and sounds nice, he’s just a dirty plunderer! Going around and extorting eyes from anyone he came across by using the Predicament he was given to terrorise them!’

It was because of this that Nadia and Callum, who found each other near the end of day one, were forced to make a choice. It was to either hand over their eyes and join them, or fight and escape them with the help of Callum’s Gift.

’With two of our members injured, there’s no way we can handle a group of 13 and a Predicament on our own...’ Seraphine then grinned smugly as she turned to Hilda, finding her having quite the stand-off with the captain.

She considered that since Hilda was capable of killing multiple Scoundrels at a time, and even hunting some at night, it should be no problem for her to handle this bunch of hooligans!

"Hehe..." Seraphine snickered.

Ignorant of the negative impression he already had on Seraphine, Elias gulped slightly before taking a step back. He had a dark expression on his face and a look in his eyes that was a cross between confusion and caution.

’To think we would run into the LRM girl so soon... damnit...’

Elias wasn’t one to back away so easily, especially in the face of an opponent. Before he had entered this Entrance Exam, he used to live in Norfolk, which — after The Fall — had become one of the many lower-tier towns.

Because of this, he lived the majority of his life as something to a street rat or thug. He went around where he pleased and plundered whoever he pleased to get by, while others like him tried to do the same.

This was a typical lifestyle someone from a lower-tier town had; unable to move to a more important location where the GOHG focused their resources on.

It was because of this exact lifestyle that he managed to learn a trusty skill. By judging a person’s body proportions, the look in their eyes, mood, and how they carried themselves, Elias had learned the ability to roughly gauge a person’s strength.

Albeit...

It wasn’t perfect.

’She looks weak.’ Elias thought, scanning Hilda’s figure from top-to-bottom. ’Her limbs are extremely slender... and her muscles look soft. But I guess that’s expected for a girl...’

He then shivered when the image of a muscular woman in a police uniform flashed through his mind.

’Unlike those gorillas in the POR (Public Order Reinforcers)...’

He shook his head to clear his mind, erasing the unholy image to focus on the problem at hand. He then spared some of his focus towards the people in Hilda’s group.

Elias glanced between Callum and Nadia, then judged them as he did with Hilda.

’Those two are injured. One of them looks like he struggles to breathe, while the other can’t even walk,’ He then squinted in Seraphine’s direction, ’As for her... she looks weak, but something tells me there’s more than meets the eyes.’

Noticing the confident and snug look in her eyes, Elias chose to reevaluate his view of her. Could it be that she was stronger than she looked? Or was there something she knew that he didn’t?

He turned back to Hilda.

’Could it be the LRM girl she’s confident about?’

Was he wrong about his evaluation?

’It would make more sense for why she appears confident...’

As he pondered his evaluation, he caught a glimpse of Hilda’s satchels, noticing an evident bulge in her bag. He blinked in surprise and glanced back at his, comparing the bulge in their bags with his.

’Hers looks much heavier than mine, and their group has four others like that,’ Elias gulped again, ’They must’ve killed a considerable amount of Predicaments either today or yesterday...’

Although his urge to plunder them grew considerably, so did the dark feeling of intimidation he felt from them — spiking his Heart like some disease.

’Wait, she said she wanted to join us, right?’ Elias recalled, ’Shouldn’t I take advantage of this?’

If he considered his earlier evaluation of Hilda was wrong, then this was a prime moment to plunder them!

With two of their members injured, one looking useless, and their presumably strongest member carrying one of the injured, if Elias played his cards right, he could take them all down in one fell swoop!

’What a golden opportunity...’ He grinned maliciously inside.

With a cough to clear his mind, he took a step forward, smiling warmly with his arms spread out to his sides.

"Haha, miss Hilda, right? It’s a pleasure to properly meet you like this. My name’s Elias Thorne, the captain of this squad. It would be an honour to have you join our humble group," he said in a respectful manner. "Come. Our group will escort you back to our camp to meet the boss. I promise, you needn’t lift a finger."

He then stepped to the side and held his hand out to his group, who were slightly stunned by his change in mannerisms.

"How lovely!" Hilda beamed, seemingly pleased with the offer given, "We accept your offer! I hope you don’t mind if I hold you to that promise~"

"Absolutely, if I fail to do that, then I’ll gladly give up my life as compensation!" Elias vowed in a convincing manner, placing his fist over his Heart, "I swear it on my Heart!"

"You swear it on your Heart, huh?" When Hilda heard that, her amiable expression dropped for a split moment before returning back to normal. "Your group must be rather capable, if you’re willing to swear your Heart on that. Now I feel even more relieved..."

"That’s good to hear!" Elias laughed softly, grinning inside, "Now, how about we get moving along? I’m sure the two wounded in your group would love to rest somewhere safe."

Hilda nodded, then looked towards the masked Predicament that still remained motionless. And while narrowing her eyes, she noticed something that immediately grabbed her attention.

"Sure, but before that, may I ask a question?"

"Oh, uh, sure! What would you like to know?" Elias asked, slightly taken aback by the sudden question. Was she already suspicious of him? But how?!

He began to sweat slightly, but then noticed Hilda’s gaze on the Predicament that stood behind him. He then heaved a sigh of relief, now having an idea in mind about what the question could be.

"Ah, are you afraid this Scoundrel might lash out? You mustn’t worry about that. Unless it’s given an order, it wouldn’t do anything unwarranted, so it’s safe."

"Hehe, that’s not what I’m worried about." Hilda chuckled eerily, then pointed out, "I just wanted to know why it doesn’t have any eyes."

Nadia, who still remained on Hilda’s back and was busy analysing Elias’s squad, immediately widened her eyes as she looked up at the Predicament — shocked.

Hilda was right! Through the gaping eyeholes in the Scoundrel’s bone mask were a pair of empty voids where its eyes should’ve been, causing the Predicament to appear absent and...

Dead.

’Why isn’t it regenerating them?’ She wondered before looking back at Hilda.

Elias chuckled nervously, as though hesitant to explain the reason why. "It was required for us to tame this Predicament, you see..."

"Hm... is this thing technically dead, then?"

"Kind... of?" Elias answered wryly, "It’s... already dead..."

"Ah... how interesting!" Hilda yelled out before chuckling, "I’ve never seen anything like this before~ you don’t mind if I inspect it first? Just to give myself some peace of mind~"

"Oh, s-sure," Elias nodded, feeling even more certain that Hilda knew nothing about his plans. "Of course, of course! Do whatever you need to make yourself feel more comfortable."

"Anything, hm~?"

Hilda grinned ominously.

While balancing Nadia on her back, Hilda reached into her satchel and pulled out a yellowish-green slip of paper.

Then, she whispered a single eerie word under her breath.

"{Lightning Bolt}."

Immediately deducing what Hilda was about to do, Elias hurriedly shouted to his squad:

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN—!"

BOOM.

In a near-instant, a flash of blue light snapped into existence, followed by a booming clap that shook everybody’s eardrums. And not long after, a strong smell of smoke wafted through the air, along with a heavy thud.

Elias, who had shielded his head, looked fearfully down at his body, then at his squad — they’re still alive, nothing had changed...

’What did she do...?’ He internally asked before looking further back. And when he did, his body shook terribly with fear as his eyes widened to the extreme.

Their Predicament...

"C-captain... i-it’s dead!" One of his squad members commented, his voice filled with astonishment and horror.

The masked Predicament that was just standing motionlessly behind them had its skull completely pierced through, its brain fried and destroyed beyond recovery. And from the angle of the hole, and how it was represented, it appeared as though the Predicament had been hit with a laser through its left eye.

Elias watched as the fur on the dead Scoundrel’s body stood up with tiny arcs of electricity.

’It’s dead... it’s actually dead... and in one blow as well...’ He thought in both awe, shaking with horror in his eyes, ’She’s actually this strong...?’

He gulped heavily.

Where did I go wrong with his evaluation?

He turned his head back to look at Hilda.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"Ehhh~?!"

Thrashing about on the German’s back, the Heroine scolded the woman who carried her.

"What’s with you and starting things?! Can’t you just keep still for one moment!?" Nadia shouted in a stiff voice, appearing extremely frustrated with the woman beneath her.

"It’s a Predicament!" Hilda responded in a betrayed tone.

"It’s already dead! So, it was a good Predicament—"

"Dead or alive, a good Predicament is one that isn’t standing and moving!" Hilda pouted in a childish manner before huffing and turning away. This reaction of hers caused Nadia’s face to twitch in irritation, but for some reason, it seemed rather forced.

As the two bickered with each other like some married couple, Elias began to rethink his plans.

Maybe...

Maybe it was better if he tried to curry favours with Hilda instead...

Hilda, who noticed a subtle change in Elias’s facial expression, snorted inside with a mocking smirk.

’Rat.’