Chapter 98

From Erica’s perspective, a woman is either an extra, a supporting character, or the main heroine, or perhaps a villainess. Then what is a man?

In typical romantic visual novels, male characters do appear as supporters, but Erica has yet to encounter anyone who has played that role. She doesn’t even know if such roles appear only at important moments or if they simply do not exist.

In standard romantic visual novels, men ultimately fall into one of two categories: extras or antagonists. The term “antagonist” can also be rephrased as “rival.”

[Busan Girl’s Right Hand, Seo Ji-Chan]

[Role: (When Busan Girl is pursued) Rival, (Otherwise) Villain]

[Ability: Navigation]

Erica could not possibly know that the ability of navigation causes her to lose her sense of direction, because the variable of applying abilities is too vast.

It’s often said that knowing is better than not knowing, but as one delves deeper into the world of skilled individuals, the variable of application grows increasingly large.

Thus, even when Erica sees the brief profiles of her opponents, the most prominent keywords she can grasp aren’t about the abilities but something else. Because the abilities are often unreliable, Erica tends to overlook them, but what truly matters is the role.

Being a rival when pursuing Busan Girl implies that this man named Seo Ji-Chan likes Busan Girl. In other cases, being a villain means that, outside of the Busan Girl route, Seo Ji-Chan typically appears as an antagonist.

Erica, who had already overlooked certain information that she should have observed and considered earlier, only belatedly realized it after hearing an alert about the update of the Student Council Vice-President’s favorability; clearly, she had been intoxicated by power.

Precisely speaking, her thinking had become simplistic due to the omnipotent feeling she gained from being able to do things that would normally be impossible.

But by summoning the Student Council Vice-President, the girl shed her sense of superiority, and her mind returned to its usual state — smart, though not necessarily wise.

“Hey, Seo Ji-Chan! You’re my opponent!”

In ordinary battles, it’s quite rare to call out someone’s name unless you’re allied with them. In that case, calling someone’s name usually signifies you’re on their side, and it’s expected that the other party would acknowledge the call with at least a glance.

The tall-looking man briefly glanced at Erica, then quickly backed away, narrowly avoiding the bat aimed at his head.

“Tch.”

The Vice-President clicked her tongue and swung the bat again, but thanks to the protective coating around the man’s feet, he had already retreated.

The Sky Ship is a powerful vessel because it can bombard the ground, but fighting aboard it is difficult primarily due to the efforts of the Vice-Captain.

In other words, once the Vice-Captain is defeated, the advantage held by the opponents can be instantly nullified. Naturally, Erica and the Vice-President’s primary target was the Vice-Captain.

However, based on the momentary situation Erica had just observed, even without full knowledge of the Vice-Captain’s abilities, it was a plan anyone might come up with: the enemies would likely target the Vice-Captain first if they had any strategy.

“Hey, don’t pick on our smelly guy, would you?”

“Uh, Vice-Captain, what’s ‘smelly guys’ supposed to mean? Big sister.”

The moment the Vice-Captain was targeted, two individuals leapt out, their weapons—a spear and an axe—ready to intercept the Vice-President’s bloodied bat.

It was debatable whether one should admire the feat of one person deflecting two weapons or whether the two should be admired for handling the bat of the named Vice-President.

However, that wasn’t the end for the duo. The blue coating on the axe and spear began to vibrate, gradually pushing the bl**d-soaked bat back.

“Just once!”

On the side of the “big sister,” taking advantage of the opening created by the vibrations, the axe swung in again. The force behind the axe was such that it could split a log in one blow.

For a normal person, attempting to block it would result in the axe cutting them in half along with the bat. But the Vice-President’s response was extraordinary.

Whereas others would have dodged or attempted to block, she took a step forward into striking distance, rendering the axe ineffective.

It’s a universal truth that the eye of the storm is the safest place, but few sane people would actually jump into a storm’s eye for safety.

It’s said that only the strongest madmen who dare to enter the storm and survive can truly grasp the safety of its center.

This meant that while the axe was harmless to her, the bat was not a threat either. However, none of this mattered to Riki, who began her assault by kneeing her opponent in the stomach.

After stunning the “big sister” side with several knee strikes, she finished off.

“Big sister!”

For Riki, a combat veteran who was practically a master of combat, knocking out a charging youth with a spinning kick wasn’t particularly difficult.

Having quickly disposed of the two, Riki was about to rush toward the Vice-Captain but found him already protected by the crew.

The siblings hadn’t been fools; they merely bought time to ensure the Vice-Captain was safeguarded.

But despite her injuries, Riki was still smiling. She too had bought time for another purpose, after all.

Or perhaps, with a tiger pacing about in front, it’s rare anyone would notice a hunter quietly waiting to strike from behind.

“Idiots!”

No one knows whose cry it was. After that cry, however, Erica’s bl**d-drenched fingers let loose streams of bl**d from the floor that immediately shot through the legs and arms of everyone, including the Vice-Captain.

The crew screamed, but to Erica, the cries were as silent as the grave. Perhaps from overusing her powers, even her ears had lost their sensitivity to sound.

Although Busan Girl had her own protective coating, it wasn’t meant to block Erica’s ability to convert everything into bl**d but to simply counteract that specific power — it wasn’t a shield to stop physical blows.

Witnessing the sailors collapse, bleeding profusely from their wounds, the seemingly unscathed Busan Girl stepped forward, muttering something in an unintelligible language. Then she clashed with Vice-President Riki.

Unlike earlier, when Busan Girl stayed at a distance firing arrows and appeared weak at close combat, now she demonstrated incredible agility, as if the bones of her body were springs, and she unleashed powerful kicks and punches at an astonishing speed and destructive force, pressing Riki ruthlessly.

Riki wasn’t a fragile person to the extent that she would be easily overwhelmed, but she was already weakened from bl**d loss, leaving her no chance to defeat Busan Girl.

Busan Girl, having gained the upper hand through sheer physical prowess instead of skill or experience, was determined not to lose her advantage while Erica counted down: 10, 9…

Calculating the last moment to unleash her final power. But realizing that Busan Girl might easily finish Riki without making a decisive, flashy move, Erica ultimately decided to use her last reserves of strength before the time limit was up.

The bl**d projectiles that had pierced through the sailors’ limbs shot toward Busan Girl once more, not stopping at their approach but exploding near her, shocking her unexpectedly.

Amidst the rising smoke, Erica, anxiously waiting for any sign of movement, was approached by Riki, who tapped her shoulder a couple of times and pointed ahead. There lay Busan Girl, like a fallen corpse.

The collaboration between Vice-President Riki and Erica proved decisive in overcoming the strong opponent that was Busan Girl. Had Erica fought alone, victory within the given time would have been impossible. This triumph was only possible because someone had bled and drawn attention to allow her the opportunity.

But Vice-President Riki, instead of reveling in her significant contribution to the hard-fought victory, examined her own belly.

Why?

Though Erica could no longer fully process words due to her depleted condition, her opponent’s ability was akin to a form of telepathy, and that’s what she had used.

[How will we get down from here?]

As if answering her unspoken worry, Vice-President explained the reason for her lack of celebration— the descent from this place would be arduous and challenging.

The girl fell silent upon hearing Riki’s concern. Could they use the gravitational force of bl**d to descend? Though it might work, accelerating using such force might lead to a fatal crash landing.

[Your ability usage time has ended. Cool-down period: 1 month.]

They had no more assistance from the Bad Ending power, nor was the next opportunity close by.

…Should we ask them, when they wake up, to kindly help us lower ourselves? Erica mulled over the thought, repeatedly rejecting her own ideas, but eventually landed on a solution.

Let’s rest.

Because after resting, they might think of a way, right?

Perhaps resting itself could be the method. That’s what Erica thought, after all.