Going Back or Not Going Back

Thanks to Mary distracting most of the spiders, we managed to escape safely.

We ran for a pair of minutes until we confirmed that no spiders were chasing us. Then, we wiped off our bodies with bleach, before leaving that place for a safe location.

During the way, though, I could not help but think about the woman stopping the spiders.

She faced the group of spiders by herself just to allow us to escape. We barely knew her, but she did not mind it and risked her life to protect us.

A part of me thought that she would be alright. After all, she was a Tier Five Awakened. The strength she showed when she faced the spiders by herself was worthy of admiration.

At the very least, she should be able to escape.

However, another part of me was worried.

What if she dies?

Will she be alright?

I could not help but think about that.

'… Hey demon, is she going to be alright?' Unable to suppress my unease, I asked the demon in my mind.

The demon chuckled softly.

[You know the answer already, don't you?]

My expression became dark. So she is not, huh.

Will she be unable to escape?

[Hmm… Her chances of surviving are less than half. She should be strong enough to escape easily, however, she used a lot of her strength to allow you to escape. When she stayed to face the spiders, she had already used almost fifty percent of her mana.]

Fuck…

I bit my lips with an uncomfortable expression. This shit…

For an instant, I thought about turning back to help her, but when I thought about the fact that I barely know her, I wavered.

I knew that my chances of successfully rescuing her were very low. I could not bring myself to throw my life away for someone that I barely know.

Damn it.

But at that moment, one of the members of our group abruptly stopped.

My best friend, Andrew.

Surprised, the rest of us stopped as well, only to see an expression of determination on Andrew's face.

"I'm going back."

"Andrew…" Jessica tried to say something, but Andrew looked at her firmly.

"Don't try to stop me. I made my choice."

I could see the rest of the group putting on hesitant, ashamed, and guilty expressions. Karime, Jessica, and Josh clenched their fist as though they were ashamed of themselves.

Every one of us knew that Mary was in danger, but unlike Andrew, the rest of them could not bring themselves to help her easily.

It was the same for me.

I felt like shit knowing that I'm hesitating to help the person that did not hesitate to stay back just to protect us.

It would have been easier if the person we had to help was my mother, my sister, or one of my friends. I would have not hesitated to help them in the current situation, but Mary was someone that I barely knew.

Should I risk my life to help her?

At that moment, I felt Andrew's eyes on me.

He said nothing, but I could feel what he wanted to say through his gaze.

'Are you coming with me?'

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Calm down. Think first. Is there anything I can do?

If I go back to help Mary, will I be of help, or will I be a burden?

Even if I want to help her, it's useless if we only make the situation worse.

Think, think.

What can I use?

Confidence? Lightning Seed? No, none of them will be useful. They are useless in this situation.

[Are they?] The voice of the demon snapped me out of my thoughts.

'That... What do you mean?'

[Are you sure that these abilities are useless?]

I was startled.

The demon's words mean that one of these abilities is useful in this situation. Then, which one is it?

I thought about my two 'active' abilities again.

Lightning Seed? No, I barely can use that ability in combat. That is not the answer.

Then, it's Confidence.

But how can Confidence help me in this situation?

Killing Aura? But that ability is not useful against a big group of enemies.

[Ignorant boy. If Confidence can be turned into Killing Aura, then why can't it be turned into other things?]

I was completely stunned.

As soon as I heard the words of the demon, I felt as though my mind was opened to a sea of possibilities.

Right, that is true.

I had already thought about it before, however, I'm still learning to use Confidence, so I did not think about it in this situation.

But, will I succeed?

[Well, you can try.] The demon chuckled in amusement. [I have the feeling you will succeed, though. You have a good affinity to 'Soul'.]

I nodded in my mind and my expression became determined.

Then, I looked at my best friend.

"I'm going with you," I told to Andrew.

My friend said nothing, but he smiled as though he knew that I was going to say that.

"Then, let's go."

"W-Wait, we will go with you too!" Karime said, but I shook my head.

"No. Mary stayed behind to allow us to escape, but if all of us return, we will make her efforts useless. Andrew and I are the strongest in this group after Mary. If we can't help her, you will not make the difference either."

Karime, Jessica, and Josh's expressions became complicated, but they could not refute my words.

"Hide nearby and wait for our return," Andrew said before looking at me. "Let's go."

I nodded.

Then, the two of us rushed to the place where we separated from Mary.

At that moment, though, a thought appeared on my mind.

'… Demon, what are you planning? No matter how I look at it, it's weird that you pushed me to help Mary.'

The demon chuckled in my mind.

[Don't worry, boy. It's just that there is something I want to make sure of… Plus, even if you return to help that woman, your life won't be in danger.]

I could not help but find the words of the demon's strange.

Something he wants to make sure of?

But no matter how much I thought about it, I could not deduce his true intention.

…

"Me and my heroic streaks."

Mary smiled bitterly as she panted and held her sword firmly.

Tens of spiders lay dead around her, every one of them cut cleanly by a sword. It was the result of her rampaging for five minutes.

As a Tier Five Awakened, Mary was individually stronger than these spiders. In fact, she could kill any of them with just a slash of her sword.

Tiers represented the amount of mana someone could hold and release during battle. The output of someone at Tier Five was around 1.5 times stronger than someone at the fourth tier. It did not seem that much of a difference, but in truth, normal Tier Five individuals could defeat Tier Four individuals easily.

And most of these spiders were at Tier Two and Tier Three. To Mary, they were easy pickings.

But the problem was that these spiders were poisonous, and their numbers were high.

No matter how many spiders she killed, there were more spiders behind them to attack her; but if she was bitten even once, it would be hard for her to escape death.

"Dammit." She cursed again as she kicked a spider away. At the same time, she brandished her sword to her right, cutting a spider that had jumped towards her shoulder into two.

"Did the kids manage to escape? I hope so. Otherwise, I'm going to die for nothing." Mary smiled self-deprecatingly. She wanted to remain positive, but it was hard to.

Her mana was at very low levels, and the number of spiders around her continued increasing.

She tried to run away once, but the spiders jumped crazily towards her immediately, forcing her to continue fighting and use up her mana unless she wanted to die.

The spiders had already realized that she was at her last ropes. They did not plan to let her escape.

Right now, Mary was like a deer in its last struggles against a pack of ravenous wolves.

Aware of that, the expression of the auburn-haired woman became determined.

"Then, I will kill as many as I can."

Immediately, her remaining mana surged up. She coursed it through her body, strengthening her limbs and increasing her physical abilities. At the same time, she filled her sword with mana.

The spiders felt her change immediately. They retreated warily, keeping Mary surrounded as they waited for her last struggles.

"[Lone Sword]." She smirked.

In the next instant, her body seemed to disappear.

*Slash!*

A sickening sound of metal cutting through flesh spread was heard. When Mary reappeared, she was in the middle of the spiders, her sword bisecting several of the creatures as purple blood fell on her body.

*Screech!!!* The spiders cried in rage, but there was nothing they could do to stop her. Where her sword passed, bodies of spiders were left behind.

She swung her sword once, and again, and then again.

Finally, when her last drop of mana was about to disappear, a big spider appeared in front of her.

It was a Tier Four spider. It was strong compared to normal spiders, and it was looking at her with creepy-red eyes.

"You will be the last." Mary's lips curved up and she raised her sword.

She was ready to unleash the last attack of her life.

But then, her eyes widened in surprise.

Suddenly, a figure appeared behind the spider. It was a familiar black-haired and black-eyed boy holding a spear as he walked towards the spider.

Mary could not hide her shock. She did not know how, but for some reason, none of the spiders seemed to care about the boy.

Not even the Tier Four Spider seemed aware of him.

Then, the boy thrust his spear.

And it pierced the head of the spider.