It was he, Caelum, the protagonist of the novel.
He stared down at me, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
…I guess he'd always been underdeveloped in the brain. At that point, I couldn't even talk properly. The only response I could give was more blood I puked out and faint wheezes.
He probably entered the Abyssal Citadel through a secret entrance or something, like he always did, but why was he here? This didn't follow the original storyline of the novel, but what was I going to do, complain?
He approached me and crouched beside me. The protagonist was… different than how I imagined him. I swore that the book described his looks as unremarkable, something that possessed no striking beauty. Hell, some characters even straight-up called him ugly.
The guy before me was, well, decent-looking. So decent-looking in fact, that I almost didn't realize he was supposed to be the protagonist. I only recognized him because of his clothing. It stood out from the rest; a black turtle neck covered by a long, draping black coat with gold and white patterns as accents.
It was the Legendary Peacock King's Coat, and essentially a placeholder for inventory.
Nevertheless, he was late. At least he could help us fight the Overseer.
The protagonist slowly pulled my hand away from my wound and adjusted my position to make it easier for him to treat me. Based on his appearance, this was most likely the Caelum at the start of the novel. His face was still smooth, with no signs of any scars. While this was his weakest point in the novel, he was far from weak. He was at least an A-rank Chaser.
"You don't have to continue fighting." Caelum pulled out an adhesive tape and a clean cloth from the inside of his coat.
He looked at me, and I pulled my shirt up, revealing the fresh gash on my skin.
I hissed as he gently placed the cloth on my wound, putting slight pressure on it. I desperately wanted to wipe my tears, but, to my dismay, more just kept coming; it was painful. If only there were doctors or healers in our team…
"It's better to let it out. Scream and cry if you'd like, it'll ease the pain," Caelum said calmly as he started to pull the adhesive tape.
Still, I wasn't going to. Not that it felt humiliating, I just wasn't the type of person to react like that.
"You can hold onto me if it helps you feel better."
He moved his position and was now in front of me. He leaned forward and wrapped the adhesive tape tightly around the injury. I tried to focus on other things around me, anything other than how painful it was, but it stung so deeply that I couldn't.
I didn't hold onto him, I only clutched my fists and gritted my teeth as he did it.
Finally, he released his grip and was seemingly done with treating me. "It has healing abilities, but it'll take some time," he backed away from me.
"Thanks," I breathed out.
As the two of us sat in silence, I noticed the other Chasers. Most of them had worse injuries than I did, considering they fought all throughout, while I only chimed in near the end. I locked eyes with Zhang Yifan, who was helping heal his comrade. His eyes then moved towards Caelum, full of skepticism.
Now that I think about it, why did Caelum choose to only help me?
In the early phases of the story, Caelum was often looking for high-ranking Citadels to clear, usually ones that hadn't been cleared in the span of a month or longer. He did it to kill time and grow stronger, given that he didn't like fighting alongside plenty of other Chasers.
He never helped those who were injured; the furthest he'd go was protecting the other Chasers during the fights, but he'd never heal them after they ended. Maybe he knew I wasn't a Chaser and couldn't properly treat my wounds after the fight, since the other ones in my group did bring a few healing items that I wouldn't have access to.
I didn't think he had that in him.
These times when he would sneak into the Citadels were never described in detail. If I was correct, his first encounter with Ares occurred after this version of Caelum in the first chapters. He met Ares after he had already made one or two companions.
Speaking of, if the events of Caelum meeting Ares unfold the way they did originally, even if the timestamps were a bit mixed up, we should be able to survive. In the novel, Ares took a liking to Caelum's character and let him, as well as the other Chasers, go after a long conversation.
Yeah, call it plot armor, cause I did.
"How much longer are we waiting?" Caelum quietly asked me.
We needed more than a few minutes to rest; most of the Chasers were grieving in silence. We began with very few people and ended with even less. Even I, someone who had only known these people for barely more than an hour, wasn't taking the losses lightly.
"We… lost three people, so it'll take a while," I looked down.
Caelum's expression remained the same as he stayed silent.
[View character information?]
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Oh, right.
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི ⋆ ♱ ⋆ ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺
Caelum Zilch | 27 | Unranked Chaser
Titles: The Strongest Unranked, ■■■
Role: Protagonist
Average stats Level: 10 (A-rank)
⁺‧₊˚ ཐི ⋆ ♱ ⋆ ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺
Weird, why was one of his titles censored? Apart from that, he was still an unranked Chaser because he never joined the National Chaser Examinations to get an official ranking.
"By the way, I'm Azekiel." My words caused him to look at me. "You are?"
"Caelum."
I then noticed that the healing abilities of the adhesive tapes were taking effect since it was easier for me to talk. "What's your rank?"
Caelum paused before answering, "I'm an unranked Chaser, but my abilities rival those who are A-rank."
"Is that so?" Zhang Yifan interrupted from behind us.
The protagonist looked at me with a displeased expression, then back at Zhang Yifan. "Are you doubting me?"
"A Chaser who entered the arena out of nowhere and was that strong while having no official rank? Yes, I'm doubting you."
I spoke in a half-joking way, "There's no need to. Caelum here isn't a foe, I'm a prophet, I would know."
Caelum side-eyed me while Zhang Yifan stared at me like I was stupid. I swore I was a likeable and funny person, but these guys just didn't have a sense of humor.
"Will you help us defeat the Overseer?" Zhang Yifan asked.
"Of course."
I looked at him and stretched my legs, "You know, you won't be able to defeat Ares like you did with his underlings. What you have to prepare right now is your mentality and character, not combat capabilities."
"Ares?" Caelum raised an eyebrow as Zhang Yifan's face changed in confusion.
Even as the main character, he barely did any research on Entities, especially during the early chapters. He knew their names, but nothing about their characteristics, let alone things such as their underlings. I said that in an attempt to prepare him, but I doubted he knew what Ares even represented. He and every other Chaser, it seemed.
"War," I emphasized as I turned my head toward the defeated Warbound Enforcers, "They're his underlings."
Both their gazes were now on me, but the stronger one spoke first.
"You're not a Chaser, how do you know that?"
"I read," I shrugged.
"But he's right," said the other man, "We won't be able to directly defeat the Overseer with our weapons and skills; he needs a sacrifice. We have to be really good at persuading him to let us go in the least painful state possible."
Caelum looked at me and snickered.
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, haha, let's make the only non-Chaser the sacrifice."
"I mean, it's not a bad–"
"We should move on to the last stage," Caelum interrupted the team leader.
Immediately after, he stood and helped me up since he could tell I was still too weak to stand up on my own. I wrapped my right arm around his shoulders as he held me.
Pretty embarrassing, but I was already struggling to keep my posture up despite my wound slowly healing. The protagonist was not much taller than I, but if I wasn't slouching due to my bleeding stomach, we'd probably stand at around the same height. Anyhow, we and the other Chasers slowly walked towards the door that would lead us to the final stage.
I could tell that the others feared this confrontation more than they were letting on. Even Zhang Yifan's body was trembling ever so slightly, the grasp of his sword so tight that his fingers were turning red.
…It should be somewhat fine. Probably. Since we had Caelum here.
As we stepped inside the arena, what seemed like an ordinary, dim room suddenly morphed into a landscape of a scorched wasteland with dark, stormy skies above. Smoke was starting to trickle in.
That's right. The Overseer's domain would change to an appearance that would reflect the Entity inside the moment Chasers entered it.
[You have awakened the Overseer.]
[You have unlocked the identity of the Overseer: Ares Entment, the God of War.]
The ground beneath us shook as more smoke started to appear.
"Everyone, duck!" I yelled as I quickly crouched.
Everyone else followed my order just in time to dodge the large scythes swiftly swinging from one end of the room to the other. Thank God I remembered his default attacks.
The smoke, no, gas was burning my eyes and nose as I breathed it in. I switched to breathing with my mouth as soon as I realized, and it seemed like Caelum noticed it as well.
Despite usually only needing a sacrifice, most Overseers would still try to eliminate the weak Chasers from their domain, to see who amongst them truly deserved to live. There was no chance that a Chaser would be able to defeat them; the main goal was to simply stay alive and dodge whatever attack came our way.
In spite of the gas, I knew that I couldn't close my eyes. Ares' ambush was fast and unpredictable. We couldn't risk it.
"Agh! My eyes!" a Chaser yelled weakly.
"Close your eyes and breathe through your mouth. Just trust me and follow my directions," I said.
The painful burning sensation in my eyes was intense and searing. It felt as if heated ashes were embedded beneath my eyelids. Tears streamed as the discomfort deepened, making it excruciating to keep my eyes open.
That was until someone moved my own right hand towards my eyes, closing and guarding it before I felt Caelum disappear from beside me.
Suddenly, I heard a loud clash and felt the smoke slowly dissipating. I slowly and carefully tried opening my eyes, and through my blurry vision, I saw Caelum wielding his sword, pointing it at… Ares? Yeah, that was definitely Ares. His size was colossal. I knew that his true size was much larger, but he had to compromise since he was in a Citadel. His body was encased in living, ever-shifting armor. In place of hands, he had massive, serrated blades that extended like scythes.
Badass.
Regardless, what the hell was that bastard doing?! He seriously needed to stop pointing his sword at every inconvenience.
"Caelum!" I cried out, trying to warn him as I wobbly tried approaching the two.
He turned around to look at me, and so did Ares. The Overseer's face was covered by the armor, yet I could still see the bloodlust in his glowing red eyes.
"You," Ares spoke in a loud and deep roar.
Me?
[You have been chosen as the sacrifice for Ares.]
[New condition to clear the Abyssal Citadel: Satisfy the Overseer's wants.]
"What the fuck?!" I yelled as the alert popped up in front of me.
Me? Why am I the sacrifice?!
Caelum must have detected what happened and turned back to Ares with a glare that could only be described as pure rage. In a matter of milliseconds, Caelum swung his sword at the god, but it was still too late; Ares had already disappeared from the arena.
I held my breath and closed my eyes as soon as my vision started to warp. I frantically tried to scream for help, but it was futile.
Screw this damn novel.