Chapter 10: In the Heart of Hell (2)

His thrashing and screams drew attention.

One of the human soldiers immediately ran toward him.

“Ethan!!”

The man sprinted forward, disbelief and joy mixed across his face.

He was tall—nearly two meters—clad in heavy knight’s armor, wielding a greatsword almost a meter and a half long.

His build was powerfully muscular. His skin was a strange dark ash tone.

His hair and eyes burned crimson red as well. A deep horizontal scar stretched beneath his eyes and across the bridge of his nose.

The man abandoned everything and rushed straight to Ethan, grabbing him as though afraid he might be an illusion.

“I can’t believe it… you’re alive…”

But Ethan immediately struck his hand away.

“Get away from me!! Don’t touch me!!” he screamed wildly, confusing the knight.

“It’s me, Ethan—Raiden. Don’t you recognize me?”

The knight named Raiden grabbed him again—this time firmly.

At first, confusion clouded his face at Ethan’s failure to recognize him. But it quickly turned to grim seriousness when he saw the wound and the amount of blood Ethan had lost.

“This is madness… how are you still alive after this?”

Ethan struggled even more violently, trying to escape Raiden’s grip.

But the towering knight did not release him.

Raiden turned his head frantically, searching for something ..

or rather, someone.

And soon he found what he sought.

But the man he was looking for had already fallen—his body being consumed by flames.

“Damn it!! The priest is already dead!”

Raiden gritted his teeth and lifted Ethan into his arms.

“Alicia!! What are you doing?! Bring the flask—now! Ethan’s still alive!”

He shouted directly beside Ethan’s ear, nearly driving him insane.

The pain.

The forced wakefulness.

Being thrown into hell.

Strangers knowing his name.

The pressure overwhelmed him.

He vomited onto Raiden’s armor—blood mixed with bile.

“He’s in bad shape…”

Raiden laid him down before lifting his head in fury.

“Alicia!!!”

His roar was like that of a feral beast.

And it reached its target.

A female knight immediately ran toward them, panic written across her face.

“I—I’m coming!!”

She sprinted over, fear and timidity the first things her expression revealed.

Both she and Raiden appeared to be around Ethan’s age—early twenties.

Alicia wore light black armor and carried a katana whose edge was stained with blood.

Her long red hair flowed freely down her back and over her shoulders.

Her fearful eyes and anxious expression made her look like nothing more than an ordinary, helpless girl who had been forcibly thrown onto a battlefield.

Alicia pulled out a golden flask and handed it to Raiden, who seized it without hesitation.

Holding Ethan upright, he forced the contents down his throat, making him swallow.

Ethan did not resist.

With the last shred of his fading consciousness, he recognized it.

The flask.

The healing item he had used countless times in the game.

The moment the liquid slid down his throat, Ethan finally drew a steady breath. The torment began to recede.

Relief washed clearly over Raiden’s face.

As for Alicia, she withdrew at once, taking the smallest opportunity to distance herself from the theatre of death.

Raiden turned his head toward the battlefield, where the human knight wielding the flaming sword continued her desperate clash against the monster that had slaughtered so many of them.

“At this rate… Moon won’t last much longer. I have to help her.”

He hesitated, glancing down at Ethan in his arms.

But he was given no time to think.

The masked man who had delivered his apocalyptic sermon earlier began shouting once more.

“That bastard… Chai! Take him down and shut him up already!”

Raiden called out a different name this time.

No answer came.

But a black arrow tore through the sky, striking the masked man’s head with terrifying precision.

He fell instantly. His body rolled off the ledge where he had stood.

Ethan watched in silence, following the arrow’s path until he spotted its origin.

Hidden among rocks and dead trees was the shooter—supporting the knight fighting at the front.

What shocked Ethan was the boy’s age.

He looked barely fourteen.

Short crimson hair. Unmatured features. A black bow nearly as tall as himself.

He stood no more than a meter and a half in height.

His name was Chai.

The boy turned his head toward Ethan, concern etched across his face.

And then—

Ethan heard his voice.

“Big brother… are you okay?”

It was a young voice.

Chai’s voice.

Everything about it was normal—

except Ethan heard it inside his mind.

“…Telepathy?”

He muttered in astonishment.

Chai continued asking about his condition again and again, but Ethan gave no reply.

Raiden, meanwhile, could not afford to remain away from the battlefield any longer. Reluctantly, he laid Ethan down and rushed back into the fight.

Ethan was left behind.

Silent. Watching from afar.

Alone—

save for Alicia, who crouched nearby, trembling.

“I don’t want to die… someone save me… please…”

She clutched her sword, hiding behind rocks, shaking.

Ethan stared at her for a few seconds before shifting his gaze back to the battle that was nearing its climax.

The more he observed, the more certain he became.

He had entered Ordeal.

Without question.

The atmosphere.

The orange-black sky locked in eternal eclipse.

The dead land choked by curse.

Even the boss they were fighting.

And the human knights as well.

Ethan recognized them all.

“Bearer of the Phoenix Blessing… Moon Heart.”

He spoke softly, referring to the knight with the flaming blade—the one who had endured the worst of the battle.

“The archer with the Blessing of Telepathy… Chai Heart.”

“The tank… the one with monstrous physical strength… Raiden Heart.”

He turned toward the cowardly girl hiding beside him.

“And the cowardly Swordwoman… Alicia Heart.”

All of them were supporting characters who appeared at a certain stage of the game.

All belonged to the Heart clan—distinguished by their fiery red hair, crimson eyes, and their inherited ability to wield the Player System.

Ethan slowly rose to his feet.

His breathing had steadied. The pain had dulled.

But his anger had not.

He looked down at himself ..

his body soaked in blood,

his left arm severed.

He clenched his remaining fist.

“So… this is how you want to play? , Ishizaki.”

His eyes ignited with determination. The fear and trembling from moments ago had vanished entirely.

“Fine. I’ll make you all regret ever messing with me.”

Even if he had been thrown into this world broken and maimed ..

when it came to games,

Ethan possessed a strange confidence that contradicted his entire former personality.

The transfer hadn’t gone as he imagined.

But he had already adapted.

And he was already planning his first move.

“The current problem… is that cursed monster.”

He meant the knight confronting the Heart clan.

“I don’t know how I ended up facing him of all bosses… but I know exactly who he is.”

“He’s an optional boss from the first region of the game… The Ember Hunter.”

Though he appeared in the early stages, he was not an enemy meant for a fresh player. He manifested right before the main area boss.

The Ember Hunter.

A dark entity whose very presence suggested a knight who had fallen from the grace of light into the embrace of the curse.

A massive dark knight clad in blackened steel armor, a crimson cloak flowing behind him as though soaked in blood.

He wielded an enormous greatsword.

He could move it from a distance with a force akin to telekinesis—sending it flying through the air before driving it toward his enemy with brutal violence.

He held it in one hand.

In the other ..

a towering rectangular shield nearly as tall as he was, wrapped in vicious, coiling spikes.

A dark crimson aura surrounded him—not flame… but something closer to a curse.

His very presence was suffocating. None of his hidden features were visible, save for his eyes—burning red, glowing like lamps filled with blood.

“I always avoided fighting him… he’s a troublesome enemy, difficult to deal with.”

Ethan cursed his luck for throwing him before such an opponent within his very first hour in Ordeal.

Reassessing his options, Ethan resolved to exploit every advantage at his disposal, hoping to slay the loathsome boss and at least secure his survival on the first day.

The people around him—whose abilities he knew intimately.

And the dormant powers within his own body.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep