My expression suddenly changes to a serious one as I have an answer to my question.
N-no way... This can't be right...
I thought as I looked at my hand that was injured from fighting.
So this is it...
I laughed silently, doubting between reality and illusion.
I got trapped inside the novel... just like the protagonists in every story...
But I think again of the idea and scream inside my thoughts.
Wait!
Out of all the web novels, I got inside "Omnivar: Paradox of Selves"!
Adrian notices that I ignore his introduction and gets mad.
"What's wrong? You finally realize that you chose the wrong enemy?"
He said with a grin but an angry face.
"Let's finish quickly, shall we?"
He's now ordering the giant toad to attack. The toad listens to his order and swings its tongue toward me.
I snap out of my thoughts by getting a direct hit from the toad's tongue. I fly away from the battle and hit my back on the nearby tree. As soon as I land, I suddenly cough up blood from the powerful impact. I am covered in the toad's saliva. My clothes are torn.
"God damn... it."
I cry out from the pain.
"I should have brought... a shield..."
I try to lift my body to go inside the battlefield again.
"I think... know this part..."
I said, my head starting to bleed.
"...Many people will... die..."
I can't finish my sentence properly, or even think straight. The pain makes it difficult to stay focused.
I try to turn my head and look at the system, but my body now has no energy to do it.
***
The battlefield has now turn into chaos again because of the fight between everyone and the toad.
"Now you guys are gonna feel the wrath of the chosen member of Herald's Covenant."
The toad shoots another deadly beam at everyone again. Some people fall from the toad's attack.
Knights and adventurers are using all the weapons they have to attack the toad. With Arthur leading this time, they manage to stop the enemy from staying in place.
"Damn it, everyone attack them."
After his command, everyone charging again, attacking the toad that is using its tongue to hit everyone. Even through in Arthur side many people attack, everyone is now losing their stamina because of the long fight.
"I think we can't handle it anymore..."
Kael said while dodging the toad attack by jumping back.
"...I can't grip my axe properly anymore."
"Yeah, me too."
Arthur replied.
Sora, who is also part of the Holy Knights also fighting the toad, gets angry as his captain is talking to Kael during the fight.
"Can you guys stop talking and focus on fighting?"
He said angrily.
"We are all tired right now."
Both of them listen to him and attack the toad with their specialty skills. Arthur rushes toward that thing with a blade full of yellow aura, while Kael already prepares to swing his axe with red aura focused on the blade.
They both jump at the same time and strike the toad down. The toad is stunned by those two attacks at first, but somehow it attacks back.
While adventurers and knights fight in close combat, archers and ice mages stay away from the battlefield, as the Toad can't reach them currently. The archers fire their arrows, using their special abilities to strengthen their attacks. Ice mages don't want to just stand by and watch, so they start casting a spell that creates ice crystals and shoot them toward the Toad.
Seraphine's starting to get mad at this long battle.
"I don't want to continue any long battle anymore."
She said furiously, with a giant magic circle in front of her.
Vaelira notices her friend's madness; she sighs and supports her with her water magic, making Seraphine's magic more powerful.
A giant ice crystal appears in the battlefield as they both cast. As soon as they stop casting, the giant crystal aims at the toad and flies through the battlefield.
The crystal hits the toad, and it makes a painful scream.
"GROAAK!"
The guy on the toad's back notices the pain of the toad and angry.
"How dare you hurt my familiar!"
"Kill them!"
It's getting angry with its owner and tries to charge forward. But as soon as it tries to move, it can't. Adrian sees the toad struggling and looks down.
He finally realizes that the crystal they got hit by is not normal; it's a special skill made by Seraphine herself. The attack she created shows how genius she is.
***
I jolt awake, my heart pounding.
"Where am I?!"
I sit up, my body feeling light as I sit up. But I ignore it as I take in my surroundings. A familiar place.
Strange, what place is this?
I thought, stand up slowly.
This is not the battlefield...
I look around, seeing that this looks like the train I always used to take to school.
"This is my world."
I said quietly, surprised.
I look around; the place is dark, but I do notice that I'm for sure on the train by the familiar feeling.
It's so dark; maybe I am inside the subway tunnel.
I try to look around in the dark.
Strange ... The train's not even shaking once.
As I continue to look around, the light of a device appears behind me. Someone is holding that phone device and sitting on the train seat. I notice the light as I look at the window that reflects the light.
I turn around and see that person; their face has been blurred by the dark. That person continues to look at the phone with wired earbuds caught inside the light of the phone. I come toward that person slowly, my eyes widening with each step I take.
"It can't be..."
When I finally stand right in front of that person, I stop. My face darkens as I look at him.
"You are... me..."
I said, stammering.
As soon as I finish my sentence, the train finally leaves the tunnel, revealing the outside through the window.
No... He's me... from the past.
Another thought suddenly comes to mind.
I remember this... The time when I read this special chapter...
Back then... I was sitting on the train...
...Reading this exact chapter on my phone...
I look at him seriously.
"...That chapter... It's the same fight I'm in right now."
My past self somehow predicts my thoughts and says it out loud.
"What?!"
I said in surprise.
"Y-you know what I am thinking?"
I said with caution.
My past self still keeps his attention on his phone, but this time he smiles. I notice that, but before I can ask about that, the place suddenly fades away.
"W-what is happening?!"
I suddenly feel something pulling me out.
***
I open my eyes in panic again. My body feels heavy and painful as I try to sit up. I look around and see the King with some mages around me, using magic like a healing spell to heal me. My face shows a hint of tiredness after escaping Death's Gate.
"Am I still alive?"
I asked, barely finishing the sentence.
"Yes. Thanks to the timely healing, you survived."
The King said, stand in front of me, blocking the view of the fight.
"Your Majesty... I have something to tell you... Privately."
The King is surprised and nods. The healers understand the situation; they proactively step back for our talk.
"What's on your mind, young man?"
He kneels to be able to hear me clearly.
"I know that weakness..."
As I am saying, I try to sit up completely.
"Let me go there and fi—"
I suddenly cough up blood as I try to finish the sentence.
"Kid, you should rest."
He said, guiding me back to the tree to lean and rest.
"B-but..."
"No but."
He said firmly.
"I know you are the chosen one, but you are too naive and not ready for any battle like this..."
"...I know you don't wish to be a hero, but I want you to be safe, kid."
I was stunned at his words and smiled.
"Fine, I will rest..."
I said.
"...But you should tell others about that boss's weakness."
He nodded and answered.
"If it's for my people's safety, I will."
I chuckle at his response.
I knew he would say that... fictional character...
***
After the information, the King stands up and calls someone.
"Hey you, I need you."
He called one of his mages.
That mage comes toward him and bows down to the King.
"Yes, Your Majesty..."
"I want you to spread something to everyone with your spell."
"I understand."
The mage runs somewhere near the battle and starts casting the spell. A blue aura surrounds that mage, with a giant magic circle above the battlefield.
I sit and lean on the tree while watching what they do.
"I guess... my job is done..."
I close my eyes and rest.
***
After the information, everyone takes a step back from the boss.
"So, that kid is really helpful, huh?"
Kael said to Arthur, who is next to him right now.
"Shut up, Kael."
Arthur said seriously.
"So we plan to distract that guy on top of the toad?"
Arthur asked, trying to confirm their own plan.
"Yeah, archers, we finish everything."
Kael said with a smirk.
"I hate to admit it... looks like I'm not the star of this battle anymore."
Arthur sighed at Kael's attitude and turns to Alice.
"Alice, I need you to blind that guy on top of the toad."
"I understand."
Alice charges toward the Giant Toad, gripping her sword tightly in her right hand while magic gathers in her left palm. She dodges all the attacks from the toad and makes a big jump, then she releases the light from her left hand to flash the guy on the toad back, not the toad.
Adrian, who is on the back of the toad, catches on to our side's plan and gets flashed for a few seconds.
"Agh! My eyes!"
He said, using his left hand to shield himself by instinct.
He is now defenseless, making the orb on his right palm fully exposed.
Seeing this, Kael turns and looks at Arthur, who nods at him. Understanding the signal, Kael signals one of the archers from afar to shoot the orb in Adrian's hand.
After receiving the signal, the archer wastes no time. He draws his bow and fires an arrow at the orb.
The arrow hits the orb and knocks it out of Adrian's hand. The toad's eyes return to normal as their color changes. The dots and lines on its body slowly disappear, while its skin changes from dark to a lighter pink. The toad's statement is confused.
Alice stops flashing the light and retreats, leaving the finishing blow to the two leaders.
Kael smirks as his aura focuses on the blade of his sword. He is clearly using his specialty skill [Aura Focus]. Next to him is Authur using [Holy Armament], which makes his sword shine with Holy power.
"Time to end this."
Kael said as they both charged toward the toad.
The toad looks at them, confused and scared, as they both strike the toad from below. The toad is caught off guard and explodes from their strikes. The explosion is so big and loud that the whole area is now raining with toad blood.
Adrian, who is the main villain of this fight, falls off and is unconscious after the explosion.
"We did it..."
The King said, a small smile forming on his face.
He is sitting down next to me while some mages are healing me. He turns to me with the happiness look.
Everything is thanks to you...
He thanks me quietly in his thoughts.
***
I open my eyes and quickly sit up, panicking. Sweat forms on my forehead as I wake up, my breathing becoming rapid. But seconds later, I calm myself down as I see both of my hands already covered with bandages, with sunlight casting through the window.
"This is... my room?!"
I said unconsciously while looking around the room.
So they won...
I remove the blanket and try to move to get off the bed, but the painful, less painful this time. I try again and finally get off the bed. My legs are now visible and also covered with bandages.
I feel a little bit dizzy as I try to stand on my own leg. I force myself to the closet in my room to check myself in the mirror. I barely walk properly, so I walk slowly to reach it.
I sigh as I reach the closet. I open the door that has the mirror.
Let's see how I look after the battle.
I think, looking at the mirror.
My eyes widen as I look at myself reflex the mirror.
"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?!"
I'm screaming furiously as I see myself wearing nothing but underwear, my body covered in bandages.
At that moment, I don't notice that my body still has some bruises and wounds from my previous life. Maybe the "Reset" that system told me about forgot to reset them.
"Damn it..."
I said as I tried to get back to bed.
On my way back to bed, a strange letter on my nightstand. The paper looks golden, with a red wax seal on it. With a quick glance at it, I assume that this is a royal letter sent by the King.
A smile forms on my face as I open the letter and read it.
Dear Zin Fortis,
Thanks for your support during the Monster Raid. I hope you recover quickly. Please come to the kingdom for a meeting. I have something important to discuss with you, along with a reward for your support during the fight.
I look forward to seeing you again.
— Aurelius Valerius, King of Serenvale
After reading the letter, I put it back on the nightstand and slowly sat on the bed.
Now I have something in mind...
I thought as I tried to summon the system.
"Time for the truth..."