The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent – 147
EP.147 Ambush (4)
Between space and time, light flickered.
Amid the chaotic scattering of rainbow-colored light, a clear blue light stood out.
Before I could properly examine the pale blue light seeping out from a crack in an invisible wall, I had already collided with it.
With a squelching sound, like a shattered mirror, each fragment reflected the situation I was in. The moments I had seen with my own eyes.
Alice, collapsing and bleeding.
My body, bouncing back from the collision, felt as if it were propelled upward by some kind of recoil.
It was the same sensation I’d felt when I had repeatedly collided with obstacles, as though something was pushing me away.
Pain surged through my entire body, and my head rang, making it impossible to think clearly. Yet, I tried to focus on the scene unfolding before me.
No.
It was all my fault. I had become too complacent, relying too much on my abilities.
Ever since I started getting involved in the story, I couldn’t tell how much I had helped. In fact, maybe things would have gone fine without me. Everyone would have faced their trials, overcome them, grown, and understood each other... Just like in a game, maybe everything would have gone just fine without me.
But instead, ever since I appeared, things had only gotten tangled, and the situation had worsened.
No, that wasn’t it.
The moment I appeared in this world, the story had already changed. The very reason I ended up here was something I didn’t know. If the goddess truly existed and brought me here, she surely had no conscience. At the very least, she could have explained why I was brought here, what my purpose was.
But since she didn’t, I just lived as I pleased.
Again!
I screamed to keep from losing consciousness. My body, propelled backward, surged forward once again.
Honestly, there was no need to shout like that. I could turn back time just by thinking about it.
Thud.
My body collided.
But honestly, I wasn’t that mentally strong, nor was I particularly tenacious. After turning back time and trying my hardest, I’d end up turning it back again, lying around and taking breaks to get back into it.
If I hadn’t done this, I probably would have given up long ago.
Crunch.
A cracking sound rang out, and pain shook my whole body.
But well, it was fine. No matter how bad it was, it couldn’t be worse than getting slashed by a sword or shot by a bullet.
I had been through it all before.
So, I needed to focus.
I rubbed my blurred eyes and screamed once more.
Again!
This time, I definitely heard it.
The sound of something breaking.
*
I was lucky.
I had barely managed to return to the moment before Alice was struck by the sword, but perhaps because I had forcefully broken through something, I fell forward. Naturally, as I fell, I collided with Alice from behind, and we both toppled over together, avoiding the sword strike.
I felt something slicing through the back of my hair. If I had been even a little late, if I had hesitated to charge forward, I would have had to rewind time again.
As I fell, I stretched my hand forward.
Bang!
One shot, a bullet was fired. The recoil from the gun I gripped hastily with one hand hit me hard, but once again, Lucas didn’t get hit. It seemed like Lucas had been watching the barrel of my gun, because he slid to the side and dodged my shot. I saw the bullet embed itself in the wall beyond where Lucas had been standing.
I see.
I gritted my teeth and pushed Alice’s back down as I rose to my feet.
“Sylvia!?”
Startled by the sudden attack from behind, Alice couldn’t immediately get back on her feet. Well, that was part of the plan.
“Sister?”
Claire was looking at me, bewildered.
Ah, for some reason, one side of my vision was red.
I had brushed my forehead against something, and blood was flowing from that spot.
I fired my gun again with one hand. This time, because it took a bit longer than before, Lucas was able to dodge my shot with even more ease than the last time.
The slide of the automatic pistol locked back, signaling the last round had been spent.
Lucas looked at me, his face slightly surprised, but he didn’t stop moving.
Once again, his hand moved toward the hilt of his sword—
I see.
Again.
*
“Gah!?”
Once again, from the spot where I had knocked Alice down.
My body had more injuries. But at least it didn’t hurt as much as before. Of course, that was to be expected. Getting hit in the head with a blunt object and being scratched by something sharp were completely different kinds of pain.
It’s fine. It’s not a serious injury. At least I could still get back up.
I rose and immediately charged toward Lucas.
“Princess!”
I heard Leo shouting from behind. When the masked woman started to move toward me instead of Lucas, I fired a shot toward her.
It was a warning shot, but at least it worked in that regard, as the masked woman flinched and stopped in her tracks.
What, you can’t back out of the attack either, can you? Guess you’re scared.
If you’re annoyed, you can do what I do and take it with your body.
I might actually get her to cry with that threat, I thought, but—
Screech.
Ah.
But had I been too focused on the masked woman? I didn’t see Lucas swinging his sword.
“Sylvia!”
I heard Alice’s voice, filled with despair.
It’s fine. I’m not dead yet. My vision was strangely focused downward, but my thoughts hadn’t stopped.
So, there’s still a chance.
Again.
*
Bang!
I fired the gun at the masked woman.
Having already seen her reaction, she no longer caught my attention. I immediately swung the barrel back toward Lucas. The gun fired, and a .45 caliber bullet was launched toward him. Of course, Lucas dodged again.
It was too close. He’d definitely swing his sword before I could reload.
It’s fine. I was just testing.
I needed to see how you move so I’ll know where to aim next time.
Again.
*
Seven times, nine times, fourteen times, twenty-eight times.
Back to the old style. Like I was practicing hundreds of shots with a single bullet. I fired repeatedly at Lucas, who was moving.
In the process, I had figured out a few things.
Any injury I sustained in the "real" world disappeared when I rewound time. I was steadily running toward the past.
However, injuries from the process of rewinding didn’t heal immediately. The state of my body returned to what it was the moment I entered that unknown space. The scratches I got when coming out stayed.
Well, that was fine.
It was a relief, at least. The injuries didn’t accumulate with every rewind, even if I rewound time multiple times.
One more thing.
The more frequently I rewound time, the slower the space healed. The space didn’t recover as I passed through it. Even though the injuries didn’t show in the real world, every time I entered that space, the widened gap gradually closed little by little.
So, there was only one thing I had to do.
Make it as brief as possible, on a second-by-second basis.
Break it hundreds of times, thousands of times. As long as I kept the situation in this loop, I could keep using my ability.
Well, using my body the same way was still an option.
*
Lucas habitually dodged to the left from his perspective, which was to my right.
Even so, because of the difference in our physical builds, hitting him wasn’t easy—
Bang!
“Ugh!?”
Right.
In the end, I only needed one successful hit.
A bullet embedded itself in Lucas’s right shoulder. The bullet hit the strap of the small bag he was carrying. It wasn’t completely severed, but—
I rushed straight toward Lucas.
Lucas widened his eyes slightly as he swung his sword toward me—
Thud.
The sword sank into my stomach.
For a moment, the room went quiet.
Blood rose up from my throat, and I coughed it up violently.
But still, I was close enough to Lucas.
I grabbed his collar and said,
“Are you not satisfied yet?”
Seeing me laughing while blood dripped from my mouth, Lucas's expression stiffened.
“How—”
“How did I do that?”
I whispered to Lucas.
“I won’t tell you.”
Then, with the gun still in my hand, I struck Lucas’s head. The sharp smack of it made his head whip around.
Well, I knew he wouldn’t faint or die from something like this.
I just... wanted to hit him.
Again.
*
I rewound to the moment Lucas was shot, then immediately hurled my body sideways, rolling on the floor. A sword wave flew from behind me almost instantly. He had probably been preparing for it. Was it the Sword Saint, or Claire? Judging by the shape, it didn’t seem like the Emperor’s sword.
“Ugh!?”
Lucas didn’t understand the situation and got hit directly by the sword strike.
In the brief moment, I loaded the next magazine. Fortunately, while lying on the ground, I finished loading without any follow-up attacks from Lucas.
Lucas gritted his teeth and glared at me.
Why did it upset him so much that I was using "dirty tactics"?
Well... yeah, I get it. It would upset me too if I were in his shoes.
But the situation isn’t the same, is it?
Having expended all the rounds in the chamber, I swapped out the magazine. There were six shots left in the gun.
That was more than enough for me. At least enough to subdue one enemy.
I slowly stood up while keeping the gun trained on Lucas.
Even after being hit by a full-force sword wave, Lucas was still standing. Any normal person would have collapsed to the ground, even if their body wasn’t severed. That’s how I knew that the robe Lucas was wearing was a protective robe.
"Right, I see..."
Lucas exhaled deeply and said,
“Fine, I admit it. There’s no way I can win here.”
Before anyone in the room could respond, Lucas was already preparing his stance.
Then, in an instant, he shot forward. He plowed through all the knights in front of him, knocking them down, and headed straight for the door.
*
"Damn it."
Now that I thought about it, I realized that even the spot where the bullet had hit hadn’t bled. It seemed that the protective magic had pushed the bullet out, despite the hit.
I shot several times at Lucas, who had begun running, but catching him—who had given up on fighting and focused entirely on fleeing—wasn’t going to be easy.
However, even though it wasn’t easy for me, there were people in this room who were capable of stopping him.
The Sword Saint and the Emperor.
And Claire, Leo, and Alice.
Countless knights.
Countless sword energies flew towards Lucas. Each one wasn’t all that powerful since I had to carefully control the strength to avoid hitting the surrounding people all at once.
But it was enough to beat Lucas down.
Thud.
Lucas’s bag fell to the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, he—
“Tch.”
He quickly gave up on it after seeing the incoming sword energy.
After briefly glaring at me, Lucas dodged several bullets aimed at him and immediately ran for the door.
How many knights would be waiting in the hallway?
It was a tower with no windows, not easily destroyed by ordinary artillery. Unless Lucas plowed through all the knights with his body, there was no way he would escape.
“Hah…”
I knelt on one knee as I heard shouting and the sound of swords outside the door. My body was trembling.
I had broken through something that was blocking me with all my strength so many times.
It was mentally exhausting to keep recovering and getting injured over and over again.
“Sylvia!”
I heard a voice filled with tears—probably Alice.
But I couldn’t respond.
My eyelids were too heavy.
Ah, the battle wasn’t over yet. I still had to check on the Masked Woman.
Someone running toward me caught me, preventing me from collapsing to the floor.
Through my blurry and darkening vision, I saw the Emperor walking toward the bag Lucas had dropped.
That was the last thing I remembered.