I barely register their name before they crawl up from the ground and continue attacking…

Hey, hey! Have you not learned your lesson from the previous fight?!

Er…it seems in bad taste for someone who calls themself a warrior to run away, isn’t it? B-but this slime is level eleven! No one in their right mind is stupid enough to go head first! Though, it seems like one is in front of me!!!

I can barely use the level excuse here, however. The ranger did actually learn their lesson, quickly swiping across the slime and avoiding the acidic liquid that spews forth from it.

A level four ranger is doing more fighting than a level five warrior; my pride can barely withstand it! (Not like I have a lot of that…)

Ahh, what am I doing! I don’t want to get involved with another player, but it’d seriously suck knowing I didn’t help at all. Why didn’t I just use [Incognito] and grab them before they could start attacking again?

I wish there truly was a pill for regrets!

Let’s just run away and get help from NPCs! Come on move!

However, despite my best efforts to turn away, my eyes always glance back and my feet shuffle in their place.

Stupid conscience! Fine!

We’ll execute Plan…I don’t know what letter!

“[Incognito UX] on myself,” I whisper. Inwardly, I’m thankful that I already knew how to activate skills from a tutorial that popped up when I tried to use [Sprint]. Apparently, mages have to say [Cast] to use some of their skills, though.

I swear, I’m running straight away when things start to look bad.

You know, why am I doing this anyway, can't I just run? Isn't having a conscience just an excuse? I must have some kind of Savior Complex, a Virgin-Mary Complex, a Saint Complex. Do I consider myself some hero?

All in all, there just isn't a logical reason for me to do this, is there? Why, therefore, am I running to save them! Foolishly, without regard for myself! 

...

Well, it's fine. After I save this player, they'll likely run away. It doesn't matter in the end, and they'd have no clue it was me, either. It's for the best, anyway. Just consider it a delayed reaction to what I should have done in the first place.

After formatting this type of train of thought, I see the slime slam itself against the other player, knocking them off their feet. The situation has already gotten dire.

Thrust out of my own hazy indecision, I rush to their position using [Sprint] and hoist them away right before the slime crashed into our previous spot.

That, that was close…

As some cold sweat fell from my face, I’m reminded that S-World does have pain features…I should just have run away. What a spur-of-the-moment decision that was...

You know, it’s not like I’m so lucky that I would never get hit by an attack. If something is 100% certain to happen, even luck can’t stop it!

“Hey- Who are you?” While I fret about the danger level of the slime, I’m reminded of the player in my arms.

With the way I grabbed them, they aren’t able to see my username or my player model closely. So, quite hastily, I let go of their arms as they turn to face me.

As for me, I finally take notice of their features other than their username as well. Uhm, her username?

Blonde hair, blue eyes, she’s a pretty girl to a T. I mean, with her long hair, and the name, you’d think I’d have known they were a female player by now. How sleep-deprived exactly am I?

But that’s not the point, the point is that the slime is still attacking us!

“No time, run away!” I notice that my voice has stayed the same, but I can’t be bothered enough to care. The slime has already encroached and eaten the trees right behind the girl’s back!

I reach out for her hand, or I was reaching out for her hand. But, before I make contact, I flinch after realizing what I was doing.

My hand paused in mid-air; I'm taken aback to see the girl grab it instead. She pulls me with a sudden force, and behind I can hear a crashing tree. It's in the position I was in just moments ago, and even closer to death than the first time! However, before I could react to it anymore, the player pulls me forward and drags me into a run.

Wait, wasn't I the one supposed to do this???

Unsure of what to do, I let her pull me along the trail as the slime trails behind us. Well, being pulled along like this...it's been a while.

However, I'm soon snapped out of it when I see the person in front of me suddenly stop and turn to face me.

“Run by yourself now, I'll stay here.” A voice, barely loud enough for me to hear, speaks.

"Huh- But!"

“The slime will follow us straight to the town at this rate, I’ll distract it while you run for help,” Even though she’s battered, her voice was firm. Staring face to face, my usual embarrassment is erased by the sight of her eyes full of determination.

I can't help but bite my lip and feel a sense of shame. Maybe it’s frustration or a mix of both. This, it wasn't supposed to go like this! A normal player would take advantage of the fact that someone else came to escape to safety! I mean, that's how it usually goes, anyway! I was going to run away in the first place and abandon her, now the same person is telling me to run for her sake?

“Do you think you're a hero? Able to take that thing on by yourself until help arrives? I'm not leaving.” Without my commands, my true thoughts pour out.

The reason I chose to run was that I didn’t want to get involved with another player. The reason I chose to stay was because of impure motives to satisfy myself. I made this decision out of selfishness, and the assumption that the way I thought it would work, would work. Yet, it was foiled, exactly because my assumptions were incorrect.

Now, I'm saying such hypocritical words, exactly because my assumptions were betrayed.

But, you know? I got [Incognito] for a reason, what a waste to not use it for stuff like this. I don't want to stand out too much, I don't want to be used, and I don't want to be forced to help people without wanting to, just because I'm expected to.

All of that stuff is for other people!

Then, I, will not do anything to warrant it. I'll use this skill to become a me who will never exist again. 

This isn't really the way I intended to use this skill, but does that matter now? In this way, there won't be any repercussions from my saving act!

Honestly, though, I have no clue where the bout of courage I had came from when I spoke. Plainly, what was I saying? Did I become insane at that moment?

I'm never doing something like this again, ah!

“What do you-“ However, Aria's words are cut off as a huge crack is heard.

The slime has trudged to us in such a swift manner that I would have liked to record it.

Ignoring my remark, it’s time to take a much more detailed look at this thing. My brain needs to work overtime again!

“Listen, I have an idea, but you need to distract it,” My eyes scanning the slime and things around us, I direct some words to the person next to me.

“Well....alright, sure! I’m great at that!” With only a slight bit of hesitation, she agrees and takes out her last intact arrow. Hey, how optimistic is this girl?

Aliferous

I ended up rewriting this chapter several times...

The result was a delay of a few days! Yeah...sorry about that and previous delays too...

I'm not completely satisfied, but it's much better than the first draft, at least!

I'll give another thank you, since I'm here, to everyone reading!