LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 24
“This event wasn’t even in the original story, but at least it’s better than the entrance ceremony or when Blanca and Lapiz got ambushed by those mysterious villains.”
Unlike back then when I had no clue what was going on, I could at least make sense of things now.
Most importantly, this time I had something to gain, so I wasn’t scared or confused.
‘Fate has twisted itself.’
‘Quest: Win the hostage rescue training!’
‘Overcome the challenge in style and score high!’
‘Reward: Increased affinity with Blanca and Katyann Alutor.’
It was a chance to create a connection with heroines I had never interacted with before.
Why it was Blanca’s affinity that increased instead of Lapiz, who was on my team, was a mystery to me…
But I just rolled with it.
Since she was willing to hand over artifacts, just watching me win through the screen might boost her affection too.
Plus, if I snagged a few more affinity points, I could level up my relationship rank with Blanca, so I had to win.
That way, I could access her locked information.
Even though it’s rank 1 info, it wouldn’t reveal too much…
But it should be enough to get a rough idea of who she is. At least, that’s what I hoped.
I took a moment to loosen up and slowly brainstorm how I could win.
If I helped just a little, the male student’s abilities could be contained by Lapiz.
Katyann too… If I was ready to take a few hits, she could definitely counter him somehow.
I felt like I understood why Katyann and that male student were assigned defensive roles.
We were at too much of an advantage in this fight that giving them any sort of geographical boost seemed fair.
Even if they had the upper ground, I didn’t think we’d lose.
After all, I had a plan.
To ease Lapiz’s tension, I looked her way to share the plan and strike up a conversation.
“Nice to meet you! My name is La… Lapiz! Let’s do our best!”
However, she bounded up to me and extended her hand before I could even finish saying her name.
“Uh… Yeah. Let’s win. First, let’s share what we can do.”
I quickly masked my moment of hesitation and naturally started to share our abilities.
“…Speed-up? What’s the difference between that and acceleration…?”
“They’re almost the same but slightly different. I’d say mine’s a bit better.”
“Oh, I see. That’s cool!… Uh, do you have any plans…?”
Lapiz seemed to know their abilities but was unsure how to proceed, so she turned to me for a plan.
I laid out my strategy, from their movements to how we could counter their abilities.
“Whoa…! You’re amazing! With that, it should definitely work…!”
She seemed ecstatic, saying it was perfect, confirming that she saw potential in the plan.
This wasn’t the Lapiz I remembered.
The original Lapiz would have been terrified at simply having someone talk to her…
…but this Lapiz, while still awkward, was genuinely trying to get closer to others.
Blanca and Yeonhwa must have influenced her a bit.
It was a little twisted, but it was still fixable.
Lapiz still wanted friends, after all.
There had to be a crack I could slip through.
So, my tension eased.
Time for business – with Justitia saying the preparations were over and it was about to begin, we entered the building.
“Lapiz. Use your vibrations to sense where things are coming from and where the hostages are.”
“Got it.”
The building wasn’t well-lit, so I walked quietly, relying on Lapiz’s detection abilities.
While my abilities were great for direct combat, I had no talent whatsoever in sensing things.
So, Lapiz’s vibration detection was crucial.
With her eyes closed and her horns glowing a soft golden hue, she poured all her focus into locating enemies and hostages.
“…Inside the emergency staircase, someone’s there. Someone sturdy… and heavy.”
“That must be Darużej. Do you sense any other vibrations nearby?”
“There’s another set… at the end of the second floor.”
“As expected, they’re moving just as I predicted.”
Lapiz seemed to be in full-on combat mode, focusing without stuttering.
Thank goodness, the rest were just as I knew them.
Katyann’s power was strong, but she had some drawbacks in this situation.
One was that she couldn’t distinguish between targets.
If anyone heard her voice, they’d be at her command.
Of course, she could keep her distance to a degree, but that distance was far too much.
This meant her team was left with no choice but to act separately.
She might be trying to maximize Darużej’s potential by sending him into the stairwell…
But him facing both of us would be impossible.
Even if he could turn his body into something that could even cut rock.
“Then, Lapiz, please follow the plan.”
“Okay. Let’s wrap this up in one go.”
Lapiz placed her hand on the floor and infused it with golden magic.
At the same time, I drew up my magic and boosted my speed as I bolted towards the emergency stairs.
I blew through the door, kicked it open, and without missing a beat, I aimed a powerful kick at Darużej’s head.
Darużej barely managed to harden his head in time, but the sound of my kick resounded as he fell back with his eyes rolling up.
I didn’t think he was hurt.
Right now, my legs were in so much pain I felt like they’d break.
I doubted his head was actually as solid as metal.
This was the first step of the plan.
No matter how much he could harden his body, his brain wouldn’t harden as well, so I took him down and sent him into a stupor.
In more detail, Lapiz would pull up a rocky hand from the ground, shake him down, and then I would stomp on his head with all my strength.
But I didn’t expect him to be this tough.
I hope I didn’t crack my foot.
As I clutched my foot and hopped around, Lapiz approached from behind.
“Did you take him down?! Ah, wait. More importantly, are you okay?!”
“…I can, stand, I think…”
With great effort, I managed to stand on one leg and gave her a thumbs up.
Even if walking felt like someone was hitting my foot with a hammer, I couldn’t stop.
The faster I rescued the hostage, the better my score would be.
I pushed through the pain and forced myself to speed up.
As long as I stayed conscious, I could move how I wanted to.
Lapiz seemed worried and was ready to support me, but since she was smaller, I just appreciated her concern and slid across the floor.
“Over there. Inside, the hostage and the villain are there.”
Lapiz seemed to snap back into combat mode, recovering her cool as she relayed information to me.
“Where’s the hostage?”
“They’re tightly held. I’ll have to abandon plans two and three. Still… maybe we can push for plan one.”
“Tightly held, huh? Then let’s go with plan one.”
Lapiz said it was up to me from here and crafted a small bunker from the floor and wall before hiding inside.
Using Lapiz to attack Katyann would definitely also hit the hostage, so I needed to separate them.
That way, Lapiz could rescue the hostage or subdue Katyann.
With confidence, I opened the door and stepped into Katyann’s waiting area.
And in that moment, Katyann took off her usual mask and said, “Don’t move.”
The instant I heard those words, my body froze completely.
It was like being stared at by a gazer.
But… her command was a whole different ball game from a gazer’s.
While gazers could fixate you just by looking at a collapsing building, her command only worked if you could hear it.
Most importantly, my abilities weren’t sealed either.
I forced my stiffened body to move with speed-up and launched myself toward Katyann.
Katyann, bracing herself, seemed startled, her eyes widening as she shouted, “Don’t come closer!”
Upon hearing that, I froze mid-air. But I sped up even more and broke through her command.
“Get away g… ahhh…!”
She tried to throw me away in shock, but at that moment, we collided and rolled across the floor.
“Now!!”
It probably wouldn’t reach her, but I knocked on the floor three times as a signal that I succeeded as previously agreed.
Then the floor shot up, binding Katyann while the hostage smoothly slid out of the room.
It was a total victory.
* * * * *
Really, if you have to call me the protagonist, seeing them snag a win so easily was impressive.
Even more impressive was how it all unfolded in the blink of an eye, like a speedrun.
Sure, you might say it was thanks to my knowledge of the original work, but putting that into practice is a whole different story.
Plus, my chemistry with Lapiz was perfect, so it was no wonder he’d earn high scores.
I hoped this would bring me a bit closer to Lapiz.
As I watched the screen with that hope, Ageha sitting next to me nudged me and shyly called out, “Um, um… Blanca? Don’t we need to discuss our strategy a bit?”
Ah, perfect timing.
But… yeah. She had a point.
Im Changwon was quite a formidable opponent.
So, I conveyed to her what I had in mind.
“I’ll handle everything, so just support me from the back.”
“…What?!