For I Am A Side Character - 129: Loser's Mindset

The Purity Cult…

Since the lost of Agifell, the 10^th fallen seat from the academy’s vault event. The Purity Cult has always wondered on who was responsible for taking her life away. Her…a person who was revealed to be a fallen angel.

A person who was among the physically and magically adept member of the group.

Even to now, her body is missing and no one knows where it was hidden.

But one thing is for sure…

A strong enemy was present and against their ideals.

That enemy was named the Blasphemer.

Against all odds, this enemy has been popping up all over the place.

One deed he interfered in was the capturing of the Saint’s mind. To all their efforts in trying to turn over the future saint of the church to their cause using Orhisel’s magic, they were stopped by the Blasphemer yet again. After their defeat and in failing to controlling John Bishop’s mind, who was caused by a boy who revealed himself to be the one responsible for Agifell’s death, it was certain that there was a connection between the Blasphemer and the Church.

Who else would help the saint other than the church themselves?

So they assumed that this Blasphemer was working for the church instead of actually realizing that Soril had no connections to the church at all. In fact his connections were a more direct link to the heavens.

After their failure with the capturing of the saint’s mind, the next victim to this attack was none other than Will Tucker’s involvement. As he was kidnapped, in their attempts to bring him back, they encountered a major lost against the blasphemer again.

They’ve encountered nothing but loses…

And now in this very moment, the Purity Cult is slowly but surely leading to a point of failure yet again.

Orhisel, the 12^th fallen seat felt in all but an instant, the lost of a member.

‘…Toru.’

‘What happened…?’

‘How could they both lost?’

And to this questions, there were no answers other than the assumption that someone had interfered.

‘It must have been him.’ Orhisel couldn’t help but start to feel fear in the lost of two of the main members of the group.

‘How can I explain this to the others…no, that shouldn’t be the case. For now, we need to move forward with the plan. We need to adapt quickly!’

And soon enough, he had to act.

***

Soril didn’t wait after killing both the SS-ranked members of the purity cult. In the overwhelming level of power between him and his opponents, one could say that Toru and Casitrix have yet to fully grow in to their powers. He was lucky in meeting people of their levels instead of meeting someone like Agifell once again.

But he can’t complain, Agifell was a fallen angel who had the experience of fully adapting to her power while Toru and Casitrix were nothing but humans who gained quite the amazing achievement of reaching SS-rank. Simply put, the gap of experience between their own existence was simply what played the role of their differences.

After killing Toru and Casitrix, he made his way to Will Tucker’s location.

Dashing at an incredible speed, in less than a moment, he arrived at the dungeon.

But once he got here, all he saw was the sight of the aftermath of the battle.

“…!?” and right before his eyes, he saw body of a grown man standing over the corpse of the monster.

The monster was left in a mash like consistency. From bones to flesh and skin, everything was mixed together as if a blender passed through it’s body.

Aside from it’s defeated body, the grown man standing over it was looking extremely spent.

“…Who are you?” asked Soril as he expected this person to be some sort of enemy.

“This is my real face…” said the grown man as he looked to Soril with a calm expression. With grayish hair and purple eyes, the man was standing with a whole different presence altogether.

“You’re Will Tucker?”

“My true name is….Finn.” he said.

“Right, I can tell that you’re power has grown…what did you do?”

“I’m partly a mage, so defeating an S-ranked monster wasn’t much of a problem as long as you’ve lived for around 200 hundred years. As for my face, I’ve been hiding this way before the cult captured me.”

“…So you defeated an S-ranked monster by yourself?”

“It was because of my transformation. I needed to limit my strengths to fool some of the people at the academy. But now that I’ve revealed my true strength, I guess it won’t be long before the cult is after me again.” he said.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve dealt with two of them, both were main members of the cult, a female warrior and a sorceress.” said Soril.

“Hmm, I think I know who you are talking about, but since you defeated them, I can only assume that it was your presence I felt a moment ago?” he said as he was referring to the large energy produced by activating Dominion Overload.

“It was, but other than that, since you’re safe, what about the other students from your group?” I asked.

“Their fine. Their hiding somewhere in the dungeon. All we have to do is call out to them.”

“…” looking to his side, he also noticed that the drone that was streaming their play was destroyed.

“I had to destroy it before I could fully transform. It was the only way to hide my identity from the possibility of the enemies watching.” he said.

“I can understand that. Now, since you’re alright, lets go. We need to go straight to the base camp and see the situation.”

“…No, I can’t go now. It’s too dangerous for me to be involved in the possibiltiy that the cult might be after me. I’ve already killed two other cultist just now while I was dealing with the dungeon boss and it’s clear that in their attack, they might have been after me and. It would be best that I escape on my own.”

“…I guess you’re right. So what will you do?” asked Soril.

“I’ll leave this forest and back ot the city. There’s a hideout there that’s been unoccupied for a couple of years now. After I settle there, I’ll send word of where we’ll meet up in a few days. This I promise you.”

“…Okay, I’ll trust you. I’ll bring the others with me back to the base camp…be safe Finn.”

Despite this sudden change of plan, Soril couldn’t complain. For Finn to be truly safe from the clutches of the cult, he needed to escape on his own and act on his own. Soril knows that Finn doesn’t want to be involved with the cult again, so surely he won’t betray him

Right now, he’s capabilities would surely reach that of an S-rank, so Soril was confident that he could escape this event by his own.

Looks like his efforts to come here weren’t all in vain.

After their exchange, Finn decided to leave immediately.

And with him gone, Soril lead the other Class-E groups back to the base camp.

He didn’t really say much on their walk back, but he could tell that the others were nervous.

“Don’t be so nervous, we’ll be making our way back to the base camp.” said Soril as he acted as a leader.

“What’s happening though? Why is everything turning into a mess?” asked one of the students.

“…Just follow me.”

*A Few Minutes Back*

Jessica had just arrived at the dungeon where Class-B was waiting.

And to their arrival, Jessica found Conner tending to the injuries of one of his classmates.

The battle here had already ended and seeing the aftermath of the fight, it seems that Conner had a little bit of trouble.

“John, come here and fix his wounds.” said Conner as he ordered John.

“Right, I’ll be right there.” with John Bishop as a saint, he had the capabilities to heal a person.

As they were tending to their wounds, Jessica walked up to John to ask about what happened.

“…Jessica, you’re here? Why?” asked John.

“I could ask the same thing, but from the looks of it, it seems as though you’ve dealt with the dungeon boss.” she said.

“We did, but it was mostly Conner who dealt the damage. I didn’t expect him to be this strong…but, he actually could have managed on his own.”

“…” Jessica has yet to know that it was Conner who attacked Soril.

But either way, being curious about his strength should be learned for another time. For now, she needs to act and gather everyone back to the base camp just as how Soril has asked her to.

“Why are you and everyone else from your group here anyway? And where’s Soril?” asked John as he couldn’t find Soril next to Jessica.

“Soril asked me to gather everyone from every class so that we can make our way to the base camp immediately.” she said.

“Really? Why though?” asked John.

“…!” but before Jessica could answer, Conner came walking up to her with a grim expression.

“…Soril asked you to pick us up?” asked Conner.

But Jessica simply stared at him in silence.

Having been returned to the past, Conner was curious about the sudden change of today’s event.

From his past, this entire incident didn’t happen. He didn’t have to fight an S-ranked boss dungeon on his own, instead, he and his classmates should have only fought a lower ranked monster instead.

But because of the fact that he had to fight a monster way above his expectations, something wrong did happen. The past has change in an unfamiliar manner and that change might have been caused by none other than Soril himself…

Conner didn’t have any evidence to back this up, but his gut was telling him otherwise.

“Fine, lets follow up on Soril’s orders. Lets all go to the base camp.” he said.

Following his instincts like a wild animal, he ordered everyone else in the group, even those who were injured to go through the portal, no matter how bizarre it may seem.

John was also a bit worried, but since it was Soril’s order, he trusted Soril.

But before they could go through, Jessica thought of going next to Class-E’s group, but as she tried looking for a visual reference through the live stream, all she got in return was static. From the looks of it, Class-E went offline for couple of minutes now.

Feeling a bit conflicted, she thought of calling for Soril for some kind of advice, but before she could call him, all of a sudden, she suddenly felt a sudden rise of a familiar energy from afar.

‘This feeling…Dominion overload?’ thought Jessica as she was familiar about it.

And it wasn’t just her who was familiar to this feeling.

“!!?” Conner felt terrified as he felt this pressure coming from a distance.

The trauma belt up in the past came surging in yet again.

Seeing as how Soril might be busy, Jessica decided to go straight to the base camp instead.

As one by one, her classmates passed through the portal, soon came Conner who walked up to her to ask her a question.

“What is Soril planning?” asked Conner with a grim voice.

“…” feeling a bit threatened, Jessica glared at Conner.

“I don’t know, just go.” she said.

For some reason, she felt annoyed about Conner’s words.

Having no information on their end, Jessica went to the base camp blindly.

As one by one, they passed through, soon enough, Jessica noticed that the camp was somewhat silent.

“…”

“Something feels off.” said Conner.

As they stood wary of their surroundings, all of a sudden John could hear the sound of trees bending and creaking.

“?” and having turned his head up to the air, he meet the gaze of a large eight legged lizard with it’s sharp teeth showing.

“Above!!” he screamed.

And simultaneously, the lizard leaped off of the tree and down on the students.

Thinking that the lizard could ambush them, it did not take into consideration the power behind Conner’s fist.

As it fell, Conner quickly took action by countering it mid-air.

With just one fist alone, he punched the lizard, causing the lizard to break a few teeth.

”GHK!”

But to his attack, the lizard with it’s eight legs, unexpectedly grab hold of Conner’s entire body. The way it stretched out like an elastic material and wrapped itself like a claw on Conner’s body, Conner did not expect such a move to be made.

As the lizard fell, Conner was incapacitated.

Conner tried to free himself with his own strength, but in whatever way he moved, the elastic material of the liard’s leg was always changing to fit his imprisonment. He could not escape.

What was left were the other students.

John raised his defenses while Jessica brought out her swords in action.

But before the lizard could act to attack, it opened it’s mouth again and screeched with all it’s might.

“SCRREEEEEEEHHHHH!!!!!” its voice echoed across the forest at the highest pitch.

It was so loud and so intense that the students had to cover their ears in response.

“Aghh! My ears!”

Some of the student’s ears started to bleed out, none were an exemption.

And other fell to their knees with foam coming out of their mouths. They fell unconscious from the Lizard’s loud screech.

As one by one, lost to the Lizard’s screech, the lizard with it’s seven remaining legs grab hold of the students who were still unconscious.

Jessica, John, Zelisha, Thors, Tony, Kenji and one student from Class-B got captured, while Marilyn and the rest of the other students fell unconscious from the screech alone.

“R-Run away!” said John, but one by one, the students were captured by the sharp claws of the lizard.

Soon enough, all of it’s eight legs were full of one student each.

In this success, John feared for the worse while Conner still struggled to escape.

After the Lizard’s success, it quickly made it’s way back to the center of the camp where John and the other students noticed that the teachers and the guild Leader’s were found.

“S-Sgt. O’riley!” screamed Jessica.

Having noticed their screams, O’riley turned in shock.

“!!?”

‘How did they get here so fast?!’ Thought Ms. Sera.

“From the looks of it, it seems that their from both the Classes C and B.” whispered Sgt. O’riley.

“If so, where’s Soril?” asked Ms. Sera.

“He might be dealing with something else entirely.” said Sgt. O’riley.

Let them go.” said Orhisel.

And from his command, the Lizard followed his orders like a dog would happilly do so.

“Khk!”

“Ow!”

As the eight students fell, Orhisel raised his hand and used his skill once again to fully incapacitate them.

[Loser’s Mindset.]

Like the sound of a bell ringing inside their brains, all of a sudden, Conner lost all of his strength in trying to move, John Passed out as well as Jessica and the rest of the students.

Despite their efforts to try to stay awake, Orhisel’s skill made it impossible in every manner.

The only person who could still find himself awake was Conner with his unusually strong sense of fighting spirit that reminded Orhisel of a wild animal.

And soon enough, the lizard then came back again carrying the other students who were already unconscious.

The lizard, in its abrupt manner, dropped them together like a pile of wood, stacking in an uneasy manner.

“Hmm, it’s strange. There’s supposed to be 14 students here, seeing as how their all from both Class C and B, but from my count, only 13 are present…” said Orhisel as he counted the bodies.

‘He knows the exact number of the students participating in the event?’ thought Sgt. O’riley.

“Hmm, where’s Soril Remus?” asked Orhisel as he stood over the piled bodies of the unconscious students.

“…” but Conner remained with his mouth shut.

“…I’ve seen his records. He was supposed to be one of the promising students of the academy. He even surpassed you in the recent ranking evaluations, Conner O’niel.” he said as he looked to Conner with such a mischievous smile.

“…It might be possible that he died from the event.” said Conner as he glared at Orhisel with a somewhat similar mischievous smile.

“Might be, after all, you and the other rats faced off against an S-ranked boss monster…but seeing as how you’re alive as well as the rest of the other students from your group, I’m quite curious how you were able to defeat such an enemy?” asked Orhisel.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” said Conner.

“I would…I really would.” said Orhisel.

“…Why didn’t you kill us?” asked Conner as he looked to Orhisel in the eye.

“Hmm? Why the sudden question?” asked Orhisel.

“You didn’t kill us, why?”

“…Hmm, wouldn’t you like to know?” he said as he smiled from ear to ear.

“…”

“Keke…hahahaha, no really. To be honest, I didn’t expect that any student would survive the attack from each dungeon boss…but look at you, you survived. So maybe I’m just waiting for some kind of answer from you. How did you survive an S-ranked dungeon boss, when you’re nothing but a kranky, stupid, insignificant piece of garbage that shouldn’t waste another breath of air!”

“You won’t get shit!”

“…I’m really curious Conner, so don’t try to test my patience.”

“…”

“Sooner or later, you’ll all day. That’s always been the plan, but for now some things are more of a priority, some plans don’t always go the way we wanted them to, so I’m keeping all of you hostage.”

From there, Orhisel smiled menacingly and looked down to the piles of bodies of the students that the lizard had captured.

And the person who caught his eye the most was Jessica who was found unconscious.

“But since you’re curious Conner, lets try to show a demonstration.” he said.

Having grabbed Jessica and lifting her up into the air, Conner reacted quite shockingly. As if he was more afraid than anything and Orhisel noticed this.

“What’s wrong? Do you know her?” asked Orhisel.

“No…but if you do anything to her, I don’t think you would live to see the next day.” said Conner.

Conner knew that in the future, Soril was known to be quite possessive of his loved ones. The day Jessabelle died was the day his personality shifted from a man who was kind to a man who brought on hell to the surface of the world.

Now, in this different world, Soril’s choice of love was pointed to Jessica.

Conner knew for a fact that if something were to happen to her, this entire country would yet again experience a burning hell.

So he was afraid…afraid of how Soril would react.

Just simply the thought of it, brought on years of trauma into his mind…causing him to look very pale.

“Not her…just not her!” he said as he tried to convince Orhisel. But to Orhisel’s ignorance, he found his desperation to be quite a delight.

“I’m trying to show you a demonstration here, don’t be so glum about it!!” he said.

And in his rage, he gathered an attack on his hands.

Even as the weakest of the twelve fallen seats, he was still quite strong compared to the students of the academy.

Killing Jessica was not a problem to him.

As he pulled back his hand, in a position ready to attack, Conner screamed.

“NO!!!”

“Ha!” Orhisel thrusted his hand to attack.

But out of nowhere, a flash of lightning fell from the skies and struck Orhisel’s hand.

“!?”

What came about that flash of lightning was the sight of Audrey Yagami with her sword out.