Chapter 4
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Episode 1 - Protagonist [4]
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Yuri M. Valemont.
She was the first main character in 'The Hero in a Ruined World'. Seth meets her, and they team up, escaping the sewers and completing the first scenario.
In her previous world, Yuri was the daughter of a great CEO of one of the largest companies in the world.
One day, Yuri and her father were kidnapped by an organization and taken to abandoned islands.
The Lost Islands.
Islands where Yuri and her father spent several years. She witnessed her father's death and survived alone on the islands for years until one day…
She was rescued when some fishermen were pushed near the island due to a storm.
When Yuri returned, the world was different to her.
The skyscrapers she once admired from the back seat of her father's car no longer seemed so tall. The city buzzed with life, but to her, it was just a hollow echo, like an empty shell. Nothing had the same color. The lights were too bright, the voices too loud, the hugs too fake.
Her surname, "Valemont," still opened doors… but it didn't heal her soul.
The media called her 'The Island Girl'. A living miracle. A symbol of resilience. But no one spoke of the cold, the hunger, or how she had to bury her father with her bare hands. No one mentioned the nights she screamed with no one to answer. Not once.
Her old home was now government property. Her friends, just faces in old photos. Everyone had moved on. Everyone… except her.
Yuri learned to pretend. To smile in interviews. To nod when someone said, "You're so brave." But in the early hours, when everything was silent, she cried. Not for what she had lost, but for what remained of her.
A body that walked.
A heart that didn't beat the same.
A soul trapped in the memory of islands no one truly knew.
And it was in that state, between broken and surviving, that the system appeared.
A glowing message materialized in the air.
「Welcome, chosen one. Are you ready for a second life?」
Yuri didn't hesitate.
Perhaps, in this new world… the pain would be different. Perhaps… she could finally stop feeling alone.
And so, she awoke in a white room.
"You were with some people. I heard screams, but the rats' squeals kept me from hearing clearly."
'Thump! Thump!'
A character inspired by the story of a daughter of an important man, lost for years, who returned home with a different gaze.
"She looks just like I described her."
Dull gray eyes, long hair down to her waist, a color between black and gray a perfect contrast.
Yuri is beautiful, but her personality and past make her different from how that beauty appears.
"Anyway… I can't breathe."
The little oxygen in my lungs made my vision fade slowly, and the world around me started to grow dark.
I grabbed Yuri's hand, which was covering my mouth and nose. Her hands are quite large, honestly.
"H-haah… You weren't letting me breathe."
Yuri turned to me.
"Sorry, I didn't realize."
'Thump!'
My heart pounded hard.
Her face was less than five centimeters from mine.
'Thump!'
"Damn heart, stop pounding."
Yuri stood up and walked away from me, turning her back. I did the same, getting up from the ground and following her.
"You can leave. You don't need to follow me."
Seth didn't team up with Yuri at first, but after insisting a bit more, they joined forces.
"Well, I'll do the same."
I cleared my throat, and my words came out, recalling Seth's dialogue lines.
"It's better to team up. You see, this place is full of those strange creatures. Why don't we make a team?"
"Anyway, you can't fight many rats, right? With my help, you'll be able to… No, we'll be able to get out of here and reach the outside with less danger."
"Forming a team would keep us safe…"
「Skill: Master of Steps has been activated」
「Skill: Instinct Mastery has been activated」
Of course, I was expecting something from Yuri.
The tip of a spear passed close to my face.
My sword flew toward the sharp blade of the spear as I leaned to one side, dodging Yuri's attack.
She was currently using a spear as her main weapon, but she was a monster in handling any weapon, close-quarters combat, and magic alike.
'The next move.'
「Skill: Intellectual Genius has been activated」
An image appeared in my mind.
It was a fist flying toward my face.
Moving my hand, I used the back of it to deflect Yuri's fist, which crashed into the wall behind me.
A huge crack spread across the entire wall as pieces of concrete fell to the ground.
The silver gleam of my sword flew toward Yuri's head.
Yuri's eyes widened as she realized the tip of my sword was about to pierce her head.
However.
"That's enough, isn't it?"
I stopped just one centimeter away, the tip of the sword reflected in Yuri's eyes.
"Yes, that's enough."
The response I was expecting.
"Zeth Dover, that's my name"
"Yuri M. Valemont."
I extended my hand for a small handshake, but she simply turned around and kept walking.
"Since we're forming a team, let's get out of here as soon as possible."
"Get out… But Seth is still missing."
The protagonist, Seth, shouldn't be too far from my current position.
If I could guide Yuri toward the protagonist and get her to join the group, my plans would be complete.
'Now I just need…'
Seeing the tunnel that turned ahead, I said to Yuri:
"Let's go this way."
Unfortunately, there was no response, and Yuri headed toward the opposite tunnel.
I stood there for a moment, watching her back, before speaking.
"You're not coming this way?"
Yuri stopped.
"If you're going to walk without thinking, then let's split up."
An awkward smile appeared on my face, and I cleared my throat.
"I mean, I can see in the dark, and my hearing is good. The tunnel that goes that way is safer than the one you're taking."
"See in the dark and hear noises with your ears? How can I confirm that?"
"Well…"
Realizing I had no way to prove it, I paused to think.
"Then goodbye."
"Wait, I can see your white bra with yellow flowers..."
Damn...
Yuri looked at me coldly, as if she wanted to kill me.
I should have chosen the right words, and just at that moment, Yuri's spear passed by my side.
I tilted my head, barely dodging the spear, when suddenly Yuri was already in front of me.
I braced myself to receive some kind of blow, but...
"H-he... It worked."
Yuri passed by me and walked toward the tunnel behind me.
"H-haah, that was close"
I could have died, but I'm fine.
***
Squeak! Squeak!
Dozens of giant rats ran toward Seth.
Clank!
Wielding his sword, its blade sliced through the dozens of giant rats as he slowly made his way forward.
"Damn, there are too many."
Wrapped in a dark cloak, Seth was covered in wounds with bite marks all over his body.
Looking ahead, he saw a multitude of rats running toward him.
His heart pounded heavily.
A black gleam shot toward the rats.
His sword traced a crescent arc, cutting off the heads of several giant rats.
Once, twice.
As he swung his sword, Seth began to reach his limit.
There were too many rats, rushing at him like starving wolves in search of food.
Seth charged forward with more strength, gritting his teeth as his sword slashed through the dozens of two-meter-long rats that ran at him, biting his body at every moment.
"Damn, damn, damn, damn..."
The giant rats were level 3, rank F.
Mediocre stats, ranging from Lv 2 to 5 at most.
Seth's numerous wounds, the continuous bleeding, and his blurry vision were due to the sheer number of rats.
They multiplied every time he killed one.
They doubled.
That's why he thought about escaping.
And he couldn't.
Because the rats came from behind and from the front, both paths blocked.
Seth gritted his teeth.
A multicolored light shone from his sword.
「Skill: Elemental Sword has been activated」
「You can combine all elements and convert them into the harmony of the elemental aura」
Clank! Boom!
Hundreds of rats were sliced in half.
A misty glow illuminated the tunnel as a fine line passed through, cutting even the walls, causing the tunnel's ceiling to begin collapsing.
Seth ran with all his strength.
"H-haah."
His heavy breathing and the blood dripping from his body as his vision began to blur heavily.
"Damn..."
Seth stumbled and fell to the ground, the blood starting to form a small pool as he looked toward the tunnel ahead.
Squeak! Squeak!
The squeaks of the rats running toward him echoed.
Thump! Thump!
His heart skipped a beat and raced.
Seth clenched his fist and bit his lips.
But fatigue began to be the biggest problem, his body went numb as his vision started to turn completely black, barely able to see the rats running in his direction.
Seth thought.
"It doesn't matter anymore."
It doesn't matter.
"This world and the other are garbage."
His life was garbage.
"There's no point in surviving."
He was weak in mind and strength.
"I'll only prolong my life if I stay awake."
And suffer terrible pain as rat food.
"I should just..."
Before Seth realized.
"....."
The squeaking of the rats stopped.
He thought he was dead, and that's why he couldn't hear anything.
It was silence.
Until a voice reached his ears.
"You should survive."
It was a man's voice, but at the same time, it sounded like his own.
"You mustn't die so easily."
Seth opened his eyes.
He could see a man with black hair and eyes as red as blood.
"Those eyes."
They were like his own.
"He's not dead."
A woman's voice reached his ears.
"No, he's alive, but he's losing blood."
The woman approached Seth.
"I'll give him first aid."
The last thing Seth saw was a woman and a man.
"I survived one more day."
He survived once again; the world wasn't completely against him.