The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 8: Just How It Is

Chapter 8: Just How It Is

Predicaments were monsters that appeared at the end of World War 2. Invaders from another world that came with overwhelming numbers; each one armed with immense strength, resilience, improved senses, and, lastly, rapid regeneration.

Even a single Scoundrel, the lowest classification of Predicaments, was capable enough of wiping out a small squad of soldiers.

They were ferocious in their attack, wanting nothing more than to consume every life on Earth. Because of their hostile nature and overwhelming power, they managed to conquer 70-80% of Earth’s total land in a single year. And in response, humanity could only hang their head low and crown them the new apex predator.

But that changed after 1946, when a portion of humanity awakened their Heart.

"Humph!"

A woman with long, flowing blonde hair dashed forward; her golden locks fluttering in the air as she brandished a silver longsword with both hands, confronting a single Scoundrel on the street.

The humanoid fiend with black fur raised one of its lanky arms before swiping down at her diagonally.

SWISH!

Its claws ripped through the air, each finger as sharp as knives. But unfortunately for the fiend, it missed.

Nadia, having anticipated the downward strike, preemptively dodged to the right with a spin.

Then, while carrying the momentum from her dodge—

Swish!

—She sliced through the Scoundrel’s arm, just below its elbow.

Then, without a moment of hesitation, she continued her spin and unleashed an upward strike, intending to cleave through the Predicament’s entire body.

Unfortunately, the fiend managed to leap away in time—putting a 15-metre gap between them.

Stumbling back, the Scoundrel looked at its bleeding stump, which had already begun to regenerate into another arm. But strangely, it was healing at a much slower rate than the Predicament had expected.

This was the exact same thing that happened with the wound on its back, which had now healed into a gruesome scar; the wound was caused by a sneak attack by Nadia before the fight.

It looked back at Nadia.

The woman had long re-entered her stance, gripping her silver longsword, which was now wrapped in a thin, translucent grey layer—from the bottom of her handle to the tip of her blade.

This strange, greyish aura was the infamous Vitality that all Vitalists used.

With the discovery of the Heart, humanity had also figured out a way to deal with the Predicaments’ pesky regeneration. And that was to imbue their attacks with Vitality, which seemed to have a special property to slow down a Predicament’s healing factor.

Imbuing her muscles with Vitality, Nadia knelt close to the ground before shooting forward into a sprint—quickly crossing the large gap between them in a few seconds.

The two then engaged in a fierce battle that lasted 15 minutes, with Nadia managing to take off the Predicament’s head in the end.

"Haa... haa..."

Nadia’s face was painted in sweat, breathing heavily as she stared down at the now-deceased Predicament.

"Too long..." She panted, ’I’m down a quarter of Vitality already... it takes too long to kill just a single one of these things.’

Despite Scoundrels being the lowest classification a Predicament could be, they were ridiculously adaptive. Thus, the best way to handle any Predicament, as recommended by the GOHG, was to kill them in a single strike.

’I’m lucky this one was isolated; if another one came to back it up, I don’t think I’ll be able to get out unscathed...’ Nor did she think there was a possibility she could kill one of them before escaping.

Once she finished wiping the sweat off her brow, she caught a glimpse of someone walking over to her.

"You managed to kill another one! You really are amazing, Miss Nadia!"

Glancing over, Nadia locked eyes with a man with brown eyes and hair. He carried two satchels and had a rather timid and weak aura around him.

His name was Ben Affleck, someone Nadia happened to rescue from a Predicament while she was out exploring.

Nadia shook her head at his praise.

"It’s nothing that amazing..."

"You kidding?! It takes like 8 people without Stripes to kill a Scoundrel, and you managed to kill 2 Predicaments, thus far, all on your own. And if we included the one you saved me from, that makes three! You really are amazing, Miss Nadia!" Ben shouted, opening one of the satchels to reveal two pairs of Predicament eyes.

Seeing the proof in front of her eyes and the honesty in the man’s words, Nadia cracked a small smile.

"I guess it is a little impressive... but I wouldn’t have been able to do it so easily if it weren’t for you holding my bag."

Ben smiled precariously.

"With my body, it’s all I can do for you."

Ben Affleck was a somewhat skinny man, a person obviously unfit for intense physical activities like fighting, even with the blessing of awakening his Heart. So, Nadia had decided to give him the role of a porter—a job less intensive than fighting, but enough to make him feel like he was doing something.

Watching as Ben extracted the eyes from the severed head of the Predicament, Nadia dropped her smile as she inspected his frail figure.

"Those registration officers are truly heartless for putting you out here... even when it’s obvious that you might struggle to survive, they only look out for how much Vitality you have." She bluntly commented, frowning.

Nadia had seen others with similar builds to Ben’s in the plane, and she couldn’t help but feel angry about the choice of some examinees registered for this exam.

It was sickening to her.

Ben scratched the back of his head with a wry smile.

"It’s just how it is, I suppose... although it would’ve been nice if I got registered for Logistics, I just have to trust in our government. They’ve been the ones keeping humanity alive, after all!" Ben then paused before adding, "Also, if I had been registered for Logistics, that would’ve meant I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to meet you, Miss Nadia!"

Seeing as optimism was radiating off of the man, Nadia couldn’t help but soften her frown. Despite being the same age as him...

She couldn’t help but pity the poor man and the circumstances he was forced into.