Lights flashed and a loud bang was heard, causing the dungeon to reverberate.
Everyone turned toward the settling dust, their faces frozen in shock.
"Is he dead?!"
Soon, everywhere erupted in panic and everyone ran in every direction, forgetting the order to remain in their positions.
The dust cleared and Reon was seen standing there unharmed, with his hands crossed over his face.
"He's alive! Then... who got hit?"
Everyone turned toward the opened hole in the wall and saw Kael, just before he slumped to the ground.
Just seconds before the ogre hit Reon, he had pushed him out and got hit instead, causing the fatal blow meant for Reon to befall on him in his stead.
Blood spilled from his mouth and head as he laid there, his body bruised fatally.
'I feel like my lungs just popped.'
Out of fear, everyone ran toward the exit that finally seemed to open after a long while, including Reon, who fenced off the goblins as they made it out.
"W—Wait!" Kael tried to call out, but his voice was too low.
He stayed there, his vision blurring as he saw everyone leave the dungeon one by one without coming back for him.
He scoffed softly,
"The fate of an extra is one cruel demon."
His last words echoed in his head unusually as he drifted off into the next part of life—which was death.
Then a mechanical voice caught his attention amidst the whole chaos, yanking him back to the world of the living.
«Initializing Narrative Links Protocol.»
«Welcome, Designated Narrative Anchor: KAEL.
Plot Restoration Level 1 activated.»
«Rewind Permission: Granted.»
«System Unlock: Narrative Code Protocol»
«Tag Registered: 〔Death Flag Cleared〕»
«Tag Registered: 〔Plot Rewind Active〕»
Immediately, the whole events began to rewind. His bleeding stopped. The ogre attack was rewound as well, slowly moving backward in time—then it stopped right when the ogre dropped to one knee.
'What the hell just happened?!'
But sadly, he didn't have time to ponder on the thought because he knew he had to save Reon—even though, from what just occurred, he had subtly seen the future and knew they'd abandon him if he failed.
'He may be a monster but I'm not. I'll just save him real quick and get out of there before the ogre's punch lands.'
He finally raised his head and glanced at the clearing and noticed everyone had tags above their foreheads. Some read: [Main Character].
Others: [Background Character A], [Future King], [Love Interest Candidate].
It was like a game interface—or something straight out of a novel.
He shook his head and blinked multiple times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When he stared back again, it was gone.
'My brain must be having side effects from the regress.'
He stood up and stared at the ogre, who was still chanting in his mother tongue to unknown gods or whatever he served. Then he turned to Reon, who now looked foolish in his eyes.
'God! I wish I was heartless.'
He darted toward him with speed, hopping over dead and injured bodies, ignoring all the calls and rants the people made behind him.
He turned his head toward the ogre again, then back to Reon—who was about to make the same mistake he made before with his life—right before Kael jumped in as his support.
"Tsk!"
Kael increased his speed and arrived just in time, unlike the original timeline, and pushed him out, dodging the strike at the same time.
Everyone gasped, including Reon who laid on the ground, helpless.
"What the hell just happened?!"
Kael stood up, ignoring their shocked expressions and gave orders as he stared at the ogre's stats:
«Monster Class: Battle Ogre»
«Level: 25 – Sub-Boss»
«Threat: A-Class Hybrid»
Description:
A brutal blend of ogre and human combat training. Moves with purpose. Fights with intelligence. Kills with precision.
Abilities:
«⦿ Darkchant: Blizzard Spell»
«⦿ Ogreblood Regen (slow heal)»
«⦿ Unnatural Reflex (can dodge skilled attacks)»
«⦿ Killmark: Locks onto strongest threat»
Strengths:
– High battle IQ
– Spell-user (rare)
– Tough hide, sharp instincts
Weaknesses:
«Spell Delay: 3-second chant — interruptible»
«Killmark Tunnel-Vision: Will ignore others once fixated»
«Blind Spot: Back-left side is weakened due to malformed bone plate»
'We can attack it straight from both angles, but how do I convince these people to listen to me?'
He rose up immediately and ignored his usual quietness, barking orders like he was the strongest in the room.
"Hey, golden boy," he said, turning to Reon who was still recovering from the brutal attack.
"I need you to keep that thing busy for as long as you can. Do you hear me?"
Reon involuntarily nodded at his request, forgetting he was the nobody everyone ignored and bullied.
Then he turned to the survivors who were still awestruck by his reflexes and aura, despite being the weakest in the room.
"If you know you want to leave this dungeon alive, then you all have to listen to me. In a few minutes, the dungeon gates will open, and that will be our chance to escape. But until then? We keep that damn thing busy. You understand?!"
They all nodded—except for one idiot who decided to speak back.
"Hey! Who do you think you are to order me around? I'm way higher than you in level!"
He turned toward the person and observed him for a brief moment.
"Strange. All that level, and yet you're still waiting for someone like me to tell you what to do."
He uttered before he turned and walked away, ordering the rest to take their positions.
He observed as Reon stood his ground against the ogre, keeping it busy to activate the "Killmark Tunnel Vision," then shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear:
"On my mark, we will all attack that damn thing, aiming for the back-left side. You hear me?!"
They all shouted in response, aiming their weapons toward it, feeling the energy he released from his mere words.
"I can't believe this. An extra is leading we elites better than I've ever seen."
He paused, waiting for the right moment—then he shouted:
"Now!"
They all ran at his command, aiming for its back-left as the system had informed him.
'This should work. Though I can't guarantee there won't be fatalities. What's losing a little soldiers to protect the majority? After all, they did do the same to me.'
He took the right flank because he was cautious. He knew the chances of hitting its back-left were low, almost 10%.
But from the right angle, while it's locked on Reon, that 10% just might become 40.
Enough to increase their chances of survival—or at least, he hoped.