Chapter 49: Window Into The System

Sitting atop a small mountain of corpses, a knight in badly damaged silver armor could be seen leaning on his sword as rain fell on his bloodied body.

Adam coughed.

The metallic taste flooded his mouth as consciousness slowly returned. Each breath was rough and irregular, as if something inside his chest was out of place.

He had defeated all the monsters attracted by the death of the rank III silver wolf.

“I’m alive…”

The idea felt distant.

His body was a devastated field. A deep pain gripped his chest; when he inhaled, something cracked beneath his ribs. His arms trembled uncontrollably, and a warm pressure in his abdomen warned him that any reckless movement could be his last.

He was still alive thanks to the improvement he had made to his body… but barely.

If he tried to get up now, he was sure everything would collapse.

Adam frowned as another sharp pain shot through his chest. He tilted his face slightly toward the gray sky, letting the rain cool the feverish heat of his skin.

“Asterin… how was my fencing…?”

The question came out broken.

There was a brief silence before the voice echoed in his mind, clear and calm.

“Your fencing was full of holes. You wasted movements. You strained unnecessary muscles. It was a complete disaster.”

“Ugh…”

Adam felt invisible fists hitting him from different directions… Asterin wasn’t holding back with him in the slightest. He was even regretting asking for the evaluation a little.

He barely turned his eyes, and at the edge of his vision, he thought he saw the silhouette of Asterin, arms crossed and an expression impossible to read in the rain.

“However, that last cut was perfect.”

Adam smiled… To think that a perfect cut almost cost him his life. He didn’t shake his head because the pain he feels is too intense, and he is unable to make sudden movements.

He sighed again.

He knew he couldn’t stay too long sitting on the mountain of monster corpses.

And then…

A violent shudder ran through his body. A deep cold descended his back, heavy… oppressive.

As if something enormous had fixed its attention on him.

With an effort that drew a muffled groan from him, he lifted his face slightly toward the north.

Towards where the rank V lightning wolf was.

And for the first time since the monster tide began…

Adam felt true fear.

…But he quickly shook his head. He couldn’t stay any longer. The damn rank V monster had finally decided to make a move.

The entire city of Arkham was on the brink of destruction!

He knew firsthand how powerful and destructive a monster of that rank, commonly known as a Lesser Calamity, could be.

He tried to stand up, but as he moved, Adam lost his balance and fell. His body rolled awkwardly down the mountain of corpses, plates of armor clanging against bones and lifeless flesh, until he hit the damp ground with a thud.

For a second… everything went black. The rain stopped falling, and sound sank into a thick void.

No.

He clenched his teeth so hard he thought they would break.

Not now.

The darkness slowly receded as the pain returned in brutal waves.

He dug his fingers into the ground.

He forced himself to move.

He had to get to that area quickly.

Just as he forced his body to obey once more, Asterin’s voice rang out beside her ear, closer than the rain.

“Don’t push yourself any harder. If you keep this up, you’ll die.”

Adam ignored the trembling in his arms and tried to stand up anyway. The world spun dangerously, but he refused to give up.

“I can’t stay here! If I don’t do something, everything will be destroyed!”

There was a brief silence.

When Asterin spoke again, her tone was colder, more severe.

“Do what? You can barely keep your eyes open. It’s a miracle you’re still breathing. In your current state… You don’t even need a V-rank monster. A simple dog would suffice.”

Adam’s body tensed.

His fingers dug into the damp ground so hard that his skin broke and blood mixed with the rain.

He knew she was right.

And that was what hurt the most.

So what should he do? Lie there, waiting while the city burned? Listen to the screams from afar without being able to raise his sword?

The helplessness weighed on his chest more than any wound.

“Then tell me… What am I supposed to do? Wait for everything to be destroyed?”

The rain fell harder.

Adam didn’t know what to do next.

“Just accept your fate… There’s nothing you can do.”

The phrase hit him like a ton of bricks.

Adam’s expression slowly faded, like a flame consumed by rain. His eyes, once tense with determination, became empty.

Accept… fate?

The words opened a crack in his mind.

And the memories came flooding back.

The smell of medicinal herbs in a dark room. His father’s dry cough is growing weaker. Blood was spreading beneath his mother’s motionless body. His fiancée’s cold hand slips from his grasp.

And then…

The streets stained red as soldiers from the kingdom of Kamelot dragged citizens away like cattle, killing and raping them left and right.

Adam let out a low, harsh, hollow laugh.

Was that why he had come back?

To repeat it all?

He had changed his decision. He had taken different paths. He had fought with every fiber of his being to alter that future.

And yet…

Did it all lead to the same end?

The rain hit his face as he looked up with an effort that tore at his chest.

His eyes met Asterin’s.

There was no mockery in them, nor compassion. Only calm.

Something inside Adam broke.

If even after returning to the past he couldn’t change anything…

Then all his suffering had been for nothing.

His chest sank.

For a moment… the idea of ​​surrendering was tempting. Letting fate take its course.

Stop fighting against an unstoppable current.

Even if he intended to, what could he do?

Adam’s body was broken in every way imaginable; all the effort he’d put into stemming the tide of monsters had taken its toll.

Then, in that moment before his empty eyes.

…He glimpsed a window into the system.

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