I know well enough that this world is a game.
I also understand that I am not even an extra, but merely part of the background.
But I am not background. I am a person.
Even if this world regards me as scenery, I will live as a person.
Even if that journey is drenched in blood.
**
My heart pounded as if it would burst.
The opponent before my eyes was the king of the forest, a troll.
My spear was piercing through the monster’s chest.
The instant I realized it, dark green blood surged up like a tidal wave and filled my vision.
It was proof that I had pierced its heart properly.
For any ordinary living creature, it would have been a fatal wound.
But my opponent was the king of the forest, a troll.
There was no way that thing would die from something like this.
“Grrrrrrr—!”
With a voice laced with a low-frequency rumble, the troll took a step forward.
I put more strength into the spear shaft to resist it, but it would not move.
When I looked ahead, I saw that flesh, grown back through regeneration, had seized the spearhead.
Terrifying regenerative power.
The reason humanity called trolls the kings of the forest.
The creature had used that power to neutralize my weapon.
Anger glimmered in the monster’s yellow eyes.
“Graaaaaah—!”
Letting out a roar that seemed to tear my eardrums apart, the king of the forest took another step forward.
Along with it came a massive fist, swinging toward me.
A lump of flesh larger than most grown men came hurtling at me.
As I watched it, the heat in my head from battle went cold.
Defense was impossible.
Not only was my spear caught in the troll’s flesh, but in the first place, there was no meaning in defending against something like that.
‘Should I run?’
The thought suddenly crossed my mind, but I immediately shook my head.
Even if I dodged that, nothing would change.
If we could not take down the troll here, the only ending waiting for us was annihilation.
As long as I stood guard, I would not let that ending come to pass.
Even if I was reduced to a bloody pulp—
This bastard would die here.
“Haaaaaaah!”
Ignoring the giant fist closing in fast, I forced my life force into the spearhead.
As if responding to it, a wave of blood poured out like a tide.
‘Urgh!’
Was it because I had lost too much blood?
My depleted life force sent a warning from within my body.
Stop. You’ll die.
I ignored every last one of those warnings.
‘If I was going to stop here, I never would have come this far in the first place!’
I poured strength back into my trembling arms.
I had no stamina left, but that did not matter.
Because my dream of becoming a knight, and my resolve to protect my comrades, had filled the place where my stamina should have been.
Creak—
Responding to my will, the blood inside my body gathered at the tip of the spear.
At the same time, spikes of blood sprouted from the spearhead.
The blood spikes tore through the troll’s flesh and pushed forward together with my will.
“Guaaaah—!”
As if rewarding me for it, the troll screamed.
Yes, I’m sure you’re in pain too.
Because this is a gamble to decide which of us dies first.
And I happen to be rather good at gambling.
So I’ll endure at least this much.
Boom! With a roar that seemed to rip through my ears, my vision blazed white.
At the scream of flesh tearing and collapsing, of bones twisting and breaking, it felt as though my whole body was being shattered.
“Ashen!”
I heard the scream of Senior Lena, who had always smiled at me.
I told her to run. Was she still nearby?
The thought I had barely managed to form amid the impact scattered like a mirage.
‘How did it end up like this?’
As my consciousness began to fade, scenes of my life slowly passed before my eyes.
Two days ago, another me sitting in a wheelchair.
And the truth of this world that I had realized.