I’ve never been stung by a scorpion in my previous life…and I wish I could’ve kept that streak in this life as well.

That...and I wish if I were to get stung for the first time...it wouldn't be a giant stinger hitting me in the chest. That would've been really cool if that did not happen.

After getting stung by the Manticore, I was pretty much out of commission…or at least I thought I was.

“Huh…what’s going on…?” Looking around, I realized that I was back in the forest rather than the unconscious darkness.

However…

“I-is that my body…?!” As I continued looking around, I soon spied upon a certain something before me.

It was my unconscious body lying on the ground. I was just laid out on the ground like some ragdoll, not moving an inch. I also noticed that Luke was right next to me, trying to wake me up.

“Ethan! Ethan!!” He called out to me while shaking my body slightly.

Sadly, no matter how much he tried shaking me, I made no reaction whatsoever.

Sorry, Luke, but I’m out cold…

Now that I think about it, how am I even here? I thought this was a dream but it felt a little different. Although my senses were cut off, I could tell that this was reality, from how vivid everything looked.

The problem is I don't remember how I ended up like this. The last thing I remember was getting stung by the manticore and passing out. I also heard [Indomitable Will] activated, but the sub-Talent that also got used wasn’t familiar.

I think it said…[Astral Projection]?

Wait, isn’t that sort of like an out-of-body experience like I’m having right now? I can actually do that?!

Taking a look around, I may be in Astral Form right now. I glanced down at my body and saw how transparent I looked. It was like I was a ghost right now. Add the fact that I was floating as well, and I honestly thought I was some kind of spirit.

So this is [Astral Projection], huh?

Just how OP is [Indomitable Will]? I mean, I did pick this Talent because I knew it was pretty overpowered, but this was beyond what I was expecting…

I only talked about a few features involving [Indomitable Will], and none of them were [Astral Protection]. Maybe the author decided to add some more abilities to this Unique Talent since there was a lot of potential for it.

Either way, though, this is awesome!

Now I don’t have to worry about what’s happening while I was unconscious. I can watch the whole thing while I’m using this Sub-Talent.

Turning around, I then spotted something that ruined the mood…

“Oh, right…the manticore.”

While my body was currently out of commission, the others were doing their best to fight back against the Manticore that just took me out of the game. They were all fighting the monster with all they got against it.

Sadly...they weren't doing so well. None of them were able to even hit the thing, and as they fought, they moved sluggishly like they just got out of bed.

Combined with how tired they were along with the manticore's recent stat boost, this was just tragic to see.

Now that I think about it…can I use [Appraisal] while in Astral form?

To test the theory out, I quickly used the talent and tried to appraise the Manticore once more.

Awesome, I can still appraise things while in my Astral Form!

And my fears were definitely realized after taking another look at the Manticore’s stats. This thing was now an A-rank threat. And it’s because of that Potential Boost Talent it had.

And that’s why I wanted to take the thing out before it was unlocked…it’s because of the chaos happening before me!

Luke’s group along with mine weren’t doing so hot against the Manticore. Well, it was mostly Luke’s group because Naomi seemed to be in shock and was frozen with fear, and Tyra’s guns got destroyed when I told her to use her Talent on the Manticore, so she wasn't able to do anything either.

Thanks to this, we were having a rough time with this monster. If I had known this was going to happen, I would’ve figured out another plan to take it down. Now our groups were really in a pickle.

“Retreat!” I suddenly heard Luke telling the others.

He then proceeds to pick up my body and ran away from the Manticore. Honestly, this was a pretty smart choice. If they kept fighting the thing in their current condition, they would die immediately.

I then proceeded to follow after them to which I discovered something else with my Astral form.

“I can fly…?! Sweet!”

Ecstatic that I could fly around in this form, I then soared back to my group, practically flying right next to them.

I then looked at Luke who was clearly frustrated with the situation before him. I could tell he was trying to figure out why the Manticore was still alive and was angry with what was happening.

Luke then glanced at me while running before saying something.

“Fuck…! Don’t you dare die, you bastard!”

I could tell in his voice that Luke was concerned about me…of course, it was mostly because I was useful to this bastard.

It’s rather sad…anyone else in my situation that had literally no knowledge of this novel would be touched by Luke’s compassion to keep them alive…but in reality, he just doesn’t want me to die until he gets the information he needs.

Damn you, you blond bastard…

Anyway, the group kept running for a while, but I noticed that the Manticore was slowly catching up to them. It was slowly gaining on them with each step that it took. Yeah, this was bad.

If [Absolute Misfortune] activated now...this would end really badly.

“D-dammit, I need to do something…!” I tried to figure out what I could do to help, but I couldn’t think of anything.

Maybe I could possess someone? I know that some Astral Projections allow you to do something like that.

Though, considering the lineup of vessels before me, I don’t think any of them would be helpful. Plus, I might not be able to use their Talent proficiently enough to make a difference and only cause more trouble.

Man, this is frustrating! While fretting over this, I then saw something that caught my attention. And not in a good way.

“Huh? W-wait, Luke, what the hell!?”

Right before my eyes, I watched as Luke stopped running and turned back to the Manticore. With my body as well!

Wait, he’s giving my body to Beiste now…and he’s facing off against the Manticore alone?!

After giving my body to Beiste, Luke stood before the Manticore and got into a battle stance with his spear. The manticore, in response, stopped in its tracks and glared at him.

What the hell is this idiot doing?!

“Luke, what the hell are you doing?!” Beiste called out to his teammate in shock.

“Yeah, exactly! What the hell, Luke?!” I shouted, knowing damn well he couldn’t hear me.

“I’ll hold the Manticore off while you guys get as far away from here as possible, you understand?”

He's planning on fighting alone in his current state?! That’s suicide!

Min and Beiste try their best to persuade Luke to not do it, but the blond bastard wasn’t listening as he was about to attack the Manticore.

“You moron!” I shouted in anger.

I didn’t think that he was going to die so easily since he was the Main character, but this was just plain stupid! Plus, I'm still close to him, which means my cursed talent could still affect him like before!

“Dammit, I wish I could do some-!”

BANG!

“T-thing?!” I soon heard a loud noise that resembled a gunshot and watched as the Manticore got blown back and fell to the ground.

Just what in the...?!

Wait a second…I think I know who that is!

Turning to the source, I soon spotted the culprit behind that shot. Hiding in the trees above everyone, I saw a girl with white hair covering her left eye as her rifle was trained on the manticore.

That...was Thea!

To my surprise, it appeared that Thea Lochmann was here. But how...?

My surprise didn't end there as I saw someone else join in the fight. It was Jeanne Orleans. She appeared in front of Luke and then brings him over to the others.

It looked like they were trying to help Luke and the others…just like in the Novel.

Right, Jeanne gets a vision about the manticore and tries to get to the others and help them out. She also runs into Thea as they both met up with Luke and the others to assist them. Thea soon jumps off the tree she was hiding in and walked over to Luke’s group. She then turned to the Manticore before talking to Jeanne.

“Hey, Psychic girl, that’s the enemy we have to face, right?”

Oh, looks like I get to witness Thea’s nickname habit in person. She does this a lot where instead of their real names, she addresses them by the names she gives them.

Like calling Jeanne "Psychic Girl".

The author mainly did this as a sort of gag for one of their characters. Though, I really like it since it showed off a part of her personality when it comes to interacting with people.

After Jeanne confirmed that the enemy was the Manticore, it was obvious that Thea was going to throw down with the beast as she stared directly at it, a daring smile appearing on her face.

But that's not going to work...this thing was way too strong. It was A-rank right now, and they're just C-ranks! Plus, this thing was a mutant Manticore, which made it even tougher and more dangerous than a regular one.

“Alright, Psychic girl, you get the guys over there to safety while my group along with yours hold this bastard off.”

Although that sounds like a good call, if Thea tries to fight this thing like that, she'll die. She might have the advantage in terms of range, but it will close that in an instant.

But she also can't rely on Luke and the others due to how exhausted they were. The only way to keep Thea from dying would be for someone to send some kind of signal as we tried before, but I don't see that working...

Nevertheless, making her decision, Thea was about to square off against the mutant manticore. Her gun is out and ready to fire.

However…

“No, we need to hold off the beast until he wakes up,” Jeanne declares while…pointing at my body.

Wait, what…?

Wait until I wake up?! How am I going to do that?

“Are you insane?!” Tyra suddenly shouts hysterically. “Ethan is slowly dying from the Manticore Venom! How is he the one that can take down that thing!?”

Oh, yeah, the venom! I totally forgot about that!

I took a look at my body and noticed the purple veins coursing about. It gave off a very sickening and dreadful appearance for me. I don’t know how long my body will last while suffering from the venom Not only that, but Manticore Venom is very dangerous and has a high lethality rating.

If I don’t get medical treatment soon…I might die…again.

Considering my condition, how the hell does Jeanne expect me to save everyone?!

“Ethan is the only one that can defeat the Manticore. I’ve seen it.”

…Crap, her [Prophet] talent is the reason.

Then that means the novel changed again. It was Luke that was supposed to take it out like in her novel vision, but now...it was me. Which meant I was replacing Luke once again...Also, how exactly can I save you guys when I'm unconscious?!

Luke suddenly steps in as Tyra was about to go off again. He then looks at the prophet with a serious expression.

“You said that you’ve seen Ethan defeat the Manticore?”

Jeanne nods her head. “He’ll wake up and summon dozens of magic blades and launch them at the Manticore. That is what I saw.”

Wait, I summon dozens of magic blades? But I don’t have a lot of mana to pull that off! How am I supposed to do that?!

While I panicked over this, I watched as Luke pondered over her words. It looked like he was giving her statement some serious thought as he placed his hand on his chin and deeply thought about it. Considering that he knows about her talent but how he saw her match before, he was likely trying to figure out how valid her claim was.

And then, as if making his decision, he turns to face the manticore while pulling out his spear. Wait, what the hell are you doing, Luke?!

Please don't do what I think you're about to do...!

“Until Ethan wakes up…we need to hold that thing off!”

Oh, come on!

As soon as Luke declares this, as if motivated by his words, the other students, minus a couple of them, got riled up and got into battle positions as well. They then rushed at the Manticore and started the fight.

As the fight started in the background, I was in a bit of a pickle...

I don’t know how I’m supposed to summon dozens of blades to kill the Manticore! For one thing, my Mana is too low to summon that many. Then there’s the fact that I need to keep focus on all of them or they disappear. Because of these factors, how the hell was I supposed to pull off Jeanne’s prophecy?!

…Wait, maybe it’s the same way I’m currently in my Astral Form. Maybe the solution is [Indomitable Will].

It said that I can do anything I wish if I will it into existence. I was able to resist fear and pain while also enhancing my body. If I can do that, then I should be able to summon a lot of magic blades.

The question now is how…? What exactly should I be willing into existence?

As I continue pondering this, I watched as the fight with the Manticore continued. Everyone was doing their best to keep the beast occupied.

However...their best wasn't enough. Although they were all attacking the Manticore, they weren't able to do enough damage to it.

Thea shot multiple bullets at the monster, but they all bounced off like they were nothing.

Luke's group tries attacking its body, but between the manticore's recent rank up and them being too exhausted, they weren't doing much either.

Both Min and Beiste then got swatted away by the monster's tail as it tried to claw at Luke. It was being extra aggressive with him, possibly because he was the one that killed it.

Jeanne shows up and distracts the monster for a moment while Luke used that time to get away. This was really bad. They can't do much against this thing because none of them were strong enough...

Although we were able to hurt it enough last time, it was clear that things were a bit different after this thing became an A-rank Threat. While watching this, I then noticed something else happened on the sidelines. Sitting out of the fight were both Naomi and Tyra.

“This little…” I heard Tyra say while marching over to Naomi and glaring at her. “Hey, we need all the help we can get, and unlike me, you can use your Talent without any problems.”

Both of my teammates were the only ones that were participating in the fight. Tyra didn’t have her weapons to fight back and Naomi was obviously still in shock. The way her face looked so paralyzed with fear was evidence of that. And also kind of sad to look at. Though, I don't know why. I mean, I did save her and all, so she might've had a near-death experience or something?

After Tyra said this, Naomi said something rather surprising…

“Why…did he save me? Why did he do something like that?” She said this while her eyes filled with a deep void as if she felt helpless and empty.

Oh...

The moment I heard this, I suddenly remembered something about Naomi's past from the novel. It was that scene when she was younger…and how her mother died at the hands of monsters as she tried to protect her.

It was in an area of Japan where monsters were rampaging around. The mother and daughter pair had nowhere to go due to how many of them were. And just as they were trying to escape somewhere, they were ambushed by some of the monsters. And for Naomi to survive, her mother told her to run while she kept them busy.

And so she did...she ran away the moment she had the chance. While leaving her mother to fend them off. I remember the novel describing how Naomi could hear her mother scream in terror and pain as...she was being ripped apart by the monsters.

This was a moment in Naomi's life that completely changed her. Because of this, she became very distant from people, even her other family members. She feared getting close to them...believing that she would lose them too. And that sense of loss...haunted her.

It’s one of the reasons why she has such a haughty attitude. It was to keep her from getting close to people. Because she feels she'll only get them hurt. In fact, the reason why she’s at Agogo Academy is that she wants to do better. To be stronger. To overcome her weakness...and to never experience that kind of loss again.

After remembering this, I then realized that when I saved her from the Manticore, I accidentally triggered that traumatic part of her past. Damn, I can’t believe I forgot about that.

Just then…

Tyra grabbed her by Naomi's collar and goes off on her.

“Are you seriously complaining about one of your teammates saving your ass? He did it because it was the right thing to do!”

“…But, he now suffering because of me.”

“Are you kidd…?!”

Tyra was the type of person that didn’t tolerate weakness. Of any kind.

Due to being abandoned by her family for her defective talent, she was driven to get stronger and prove she wasn't weak. Because of this, when she sees someone putting themself down, she gets a bit heated.

Which is why her next speech was filled with anger and frustration over this matter.

“What are you doing to do then? Just sit on your ass and contemplate this shit?! Ethan saved your life, so the least you can do is keep his life in check by helping the others! Jeanne said that he was the only one that can take down the Manticore, and everyone else is doing their best to keep fighting until he wakes up. And so should you!”

Tyra then lets go of her as she walked away but gave one last piece of advice.

"If you feel bad for what happened...then make up for it by helping out, idiot."

She said nothing more and left Naomi by herself. It seemed like Tyra's words affected her due to how pensive she looked. Out of her PTSD trance, she contemplated what Tyra told her.

Then, soon after, Naomi gets up with a look of determination on her face as she glared at the Manticore, ready to fight. She then marches over to where the others were while also keeping a good distance before activating her Talent. As she did, the manticore stopped moving for a moment, surprising the others.

"Attack while it's restricted!" She tells them.

Thea and the rest were surprised by this at first, but they all nod their heads since they knew this was their chance and attacked.

Heh, looks like Tyra’s tough love pep talk worked…

Now that I think about it, despite how strong the Manticore is, Naomi was holding her own pretty well with her talent. It’s always impressive how she could exert so much Mana like that with her Talent…that’s it!

I know how to summon a lot of magic blades and kill the Manticore! It’s risky and possibly very life-threatening, but I have no other choice. Since I figured out what to do, I needed to wake up now.

“Alright, time to wake up!”

I concentrated hard and tried to wake myself up, but I was having a little difficulty. I didn't know how to wake up exactly.

“Come on, just wake up already!”

I kept forcing myself to wake up, but nothing was happening. I tried to think of this as a dream and tried to force myself awake that way, but it wasn't working.

This is getting a little annoying…

“I. Said. Wake. The hell. UP!”

I then saw these panels appear before me, and I smiled widely.

"Yes, it worked!"

Everything soon went dark again before I immediately opened my eyes, and realized that I was back in my body again. All my senses were back as I could feel the soft dirt and grassy ground, and smell the fresh and earthly scent of the forest.

The only problem was…

Everything hurts…like really bad!

I was feeling this really bad burning sensation coursing through my body. Not only that, but my body was in a lot of pain like my bones were broken.

That must've been from the venom and getting tossed into a tree. This wasn't good...

I…needed to hurry before it was too late.

Multiple sub-Talents were activating and I was now able to move my body a little more than before. I still felt a little resistance as each time I moved a muscle, my body would ache badly.

But, I could still move, if only a little.

Since I could…I decided to give the manticore my regards.

I summoned a single Magic blade and launched it at the Manticore, striking it in its shoulder. After I did this, the monster and the others then turned to face me.

“That…hurt…” I said while glaring at the Manticore.

It’s payback time, you bastard…

“Ethan…!” Tyra said in surprise, holding onto my body. She looked happy that I was okay, but soon got serious. “E-Ethan, we need you to-!”

“Yeah, I know. I’m on it.” I cut Tyra short as I slowly got up and faced the Manticore.

The monster tried to attack but the others once again kept it occupied for me. They were really doing their best too.

Min and Beiste pinned its legs, Luke was stabbing its torso to keep it distracted, Thea shot at a distance and aimed for its face, and Naomi was using her talent on it.

Knowing that I wouldn't be interrupted, I soon closed my eyes and concentrated on what to do.

[Indomitable Will] allows me to do anything I want as long as I will it into existence. Since that’s the case, I can probably expand my mana pool so I can have more in the tank right now.

In this world, the way humans and other beings contain mana is through a Mana pool. Our Mana Attribute is both the power and capacity of the mana we can contain.

The more mana we have, the more we can do with it. Like summoning a lot of magic blades…

And…I will Will my Mana to expand!

I soon felt a wave of energy course through my body. Instead of feeling hot, it felt cold...like my body was being engulfed in freezing water. Though I did feel a pressure build up in me as if I was a bottle being filled to the brim, and it didn't stop.

I knew then that that was the Mana currently circulating through my body.

“N-ngh…!?” I suddenly felt a sharp pain as this happened as the cold water from before turned into a blazing fire burning in me.

My body was being overloaded with mana...I needed to hurry up!

Okay…let’s do this! A dozen orders of Magic Blades coming right up!

Activating [Arsenal], I then started summoning multiple magic blades into existence. I imagined countless blades being summoned at a rapid pace. As I did, I could feel my consciousness getting strained as I stayed focused on every single one.

If this kept going like this...I felt like I was going to pass out before I could finish.

But I didn’t stop...

With the help of [Deep Focus], I was able to keep track of all the magic blades I was summoning.

Through all the mental and physical pain I was going through, I was able to do what I was meant to do. Behind me, several dozen magic blades appeared and floated around.

They gave off a bright blue glow as they engulfed the forest in this light. It was like the entire forest just turned blue.

They were all pointed at the Manticore, ready to be fired. Seeing this, the others fled to not get caught in the crossfire and my target nearly left too if Naomi hadn’t stopped it in time.

With the Manticore right where I wanted it to…I pointed my finger at the monster and said this. “Drop dead, bastard.”

After that, all of the magic blades were then launched at the Manticore. All it could do at that moment was watch in horror as it was pierced and skewered by dozens of magic blades, each one hitting a part of the monster’s body.

The attack didn’t end as the manticore’s body was torn apart as its limbs got cut off, its torso got obliterated and its head was damaged beyond recognition. It was a rather gruesome sight, as it was being destroyed with each blade that struck it.

After a little while my magic sword volley attack was done and what was left of the Manticore was more or less a Gory mess. all the blood, skin, muscle, and bones were scattered about, looking like some kind of slop of food you would eat at a poorly funded school. It was to the point where you couldn’t even tell if that thing was a Manticore now.

“Eat it…asshole…” I said this as I fell to the ground.

Yeah, I might’ve gone a little overboard. Between the venom and what I just did, I overclocked my body to its limit.

But the important thing was I defeated the manticore...

“Ethan!” Tyra then appeared next to me with a worried expression.

Luke and the others appeared as well, looking to see if I was okay. Meanwhile, my consciousness slowly faded again as everything was going black.

And then...I was unconscious once more. Let’s hope I don’t die from everything I just did to kill that Manticore…