Six people got injured when the lightning struck.

One died.

As the wall got struck, some stone blocks collapsed. Most people that were below were bruised and got some broken bones, however, there was one woman who had her head crushed by one of the boulders. Suddenly I could not feel more relieved I had sent the twins to the back—we were not safe even inside those walls.

“Park Eun-Woo! If you won’t do anything now then I-”

“Shut up! Give me two seconds.” I cut Kurosawa’s words, trying to mute all those screams and shouts around me.

I needed to think.

There were fire and lightning mages. They could both attack from a distance, yet the real problem was that the lightning mages could attack the walls.

Physical attacks were not effective on them, and the items that would likely be able to attack them were locked.

I saw a man kneeling next to the injured, his body glowing green and gold as the light passed from him to the people lying on the ground.

A healer?

In that moment it was as if the synapses in my brain exploded, information and memories flooding in my mind as I made the connections. As the idea surfaced. There were currently seven rules in that trial.

1- Selves can contribute to the Defense by purchasing structures.

2- Selves can place structures anywhere along the Tower’s path

3- Points can be earned by defeating monsters

4- Points earned within the Trial will be stored in the Tower’s Vault

5- The Stage can only be cleared once all monsters have been defeated

6- Selves can upgrade weapons by using points

7- New rules may be added as the Trial progresses

However, the rules which were burning in my brain were rules 2, 3, and 6. They said monsters were supposed to be killed, and that Selves could purchase and upgrade structures. Yet no rule forbade players from using their skills to kill the monsters.

Skills! How hadn’t I thought about that before?! Of course, mine were so useless so far, the thought hadn’t really occurred to me.

Yet the hammer operator was likely using a skill to communicate with Kurosawa and that man was using his powers to heal people. The skills were not constrained, we all could use them.

So why shouldn’t we?

The system seemed to want us to rely solely on the structures. If we started to use skills to kill the monsters and make things easier… Two things could happen.

But at that moment, I could not worry about future consequences; I had to think of how more people could die or get hurt if we didn’t destroy those bloody mages.

“Your skills! Are any of them of magical property?” I tried not to make my voice sound as desperate as my heart was—I was not so sure I succeeded, given the people’s reaction.

“What are you—”

“Your skills, your Benefactor! Are there any offensive powers with magical damage? Water, fire, wind—anything!” I cut Kurosawa, watching his expression change as he processed my words.

It took only a couple of seconds for him to widen his eyes, turning around so fast I thought his neck would snap.

He took a few moments to find someone in the crowd, and as I followed his gaze there was only one person that Kurosawa Touma was looking for. And as I found that person, something inside me froze.

And then my heart began to race.

“Aída!”

The woman glanced in his direction just once and that was enough for her entire posture to change, her feet rushing to our side in a blink. There seemed to be an unspoken conversation going on between them in the few seconds they stood silent in front of each other.

“There is a way to defeat those bastards, right? How can I help, cap?”

My heart beat faster, and for some reason, I felt heat rushing through my body.

“Can you penetrate their armor?”

I could almost see the cogs and wheels turning in her mind in an insane speed, her thoughts running wild as she analyzed the situation.

She answered within three seconds.

“I will.”

Kurosawa barely wasted a heartbeat.

“Then do it now.”

I watched their entire interaction in silence. If I was to be honest, I was not sure I could speak.

She jumped so high I almost broke my neck as my eyes followed her, the woman landing on top of the wall. A red glow pulsated around her fists, black and silver stars surrounding her as if she was bringing the outer space closer to her.

From above her, the stars accumulated on a single spot, coming together as they took a new form. It was one of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen in my life.

Made of pure ice.

The moment the mages saw what was coming, it was already late. The fire mages started to aim for the flower, yet ice shards began to fire in their direction so fast I thought there was a machine gun inside it.

The woman remained still, holding her position without moving a single muscle, her hands tied together as the shards hit the mages again and again.

The fire mages fell quickly, however, the lightning mages managed to counterattack. She did a cartwheel to the right, the flower melting and disappearing into thin air as the purple, bright lightening missed her by inches.

In seconds she was back to her feet she went back to her previous position, the flower forming almost within a heartbeat.

And never once did it stop shooting.

I could see the points in the Vault increasing at an insane speed, the people around with eyes glued on the screen as the creatures were killed one after another, and the mages barely having enough time to completely leave the woods.

I was not sure how many minutes passed, in my mind, it felt like the quickest hours or the longest seconds of my life. My eyes kept glancing from the screen, with a better view of the flower and the woman, and the top of the wall, her back, hair and glow all I could see from below.

At some point the monsters stopped coming, the ballistas finishing off the soldiers alongside the hammer while the ice flower killed all remaining mages.

From time to time, a mage would be able to counterattack and aim toward her. Yet her movements were not only fast, it was as if she was a gymnast cat. And as time went by, it finally came the moment—

[Congratulations! You survived the First Wave!]

[You unlocked new structures in the Trial’s Store!]

[The second wave will start in 3:00 minutes]

When we received the system’s notifications, the woman finally relaxed.

She snapped her neck, massaging her shoulders for a couple of seconds before doing a back flip and landing on her feet. She hadn’t even looked to see if there was someone below her before she jumped, almost as if she knew.

When she turned, I felt my body reacting and my heart stopping for a few seconds. Although she looked somewhat tired, with sweat dripping from her face, she looked…amazing.

The woman wore bracelets on her wrists and upper arms, alongside fingerless, short leather gloves. The black crop top was simple and shorts, that not only did a great job of showing her tights, waist, and legs but the tattoos that covered her collarbone, waistline, and shoulders.

It was a mix of tribal and floral designs that were at the same time beautiful, mesmerizing, dangerous, and ominous. Like a deadly flower that would lure someone through its vibrant colors and exhilarating scent.

Her right eye was the color of clear, crystalline water; a blue so pure and bright it made me warm inside. Her right eye was hazel, a mix of green, golden, and brown. Her hair only reached her shoulders, yet it was a blend of red and dark blond locks that was wild, beautiful, and…

Free.

A kind of freedom of expression of self I was never able to achieve or even dream about back in my world, back in my old life. It was not that she was beautiful—

I had never seen someone like her.

I was then taken by a memory, the first time I saw Hyeon. It had actually been a blind date a “friend” of hers set up.

The moment I saw Hyeon, I thought ‘So there are women this beautiful’.

She was wearing a dress that showed exactly how long her legs were, her elegance putting me in a trance for a few moments. She was wearing darker makeup, with plenty of rings and bracelets while holding a martini—which almost made my heart skip a beat.

And then Hyeon opened her mouth.

Our romantic endeavor was as brief as it could be and yet, somehow, we became friends by the end of the night. After that day, I never attempted to date anyone else again.

Sometimes I would think about it, the pain of facing so many lonely and cold nights by myself crushing me as days went by.

Yet my life was so…complicated. If I was having difficulty living with myself, how could I live with someone else? How could I spare some love in my heart and share it with another person, when my heart was so filled with hate and frustration?

However, things were different this time.

I was a new person, a new man. And not only was I not in Korea anymore, I was not on Earth. And as my past life faded and this new world became my new reality, I was reminded of something which had definitely not changed about me.

How terrible I was with all things related to romance.

And even though I was trying my best not to stare, it was difficult. That woman…how she had not been one of the candidates for leader was beyond me. She had literally done a backflip after killing those monsters by herself, dodging fucking fireballs and lightning shoots—how come trench-guy had made the cut and not her?

So far he had only managed to speak coolly and loudly.

“Will you continue to drool or are you enjoying wasting our time instead of buying and upgrading the structures?” Kurosawa’s voice came from behind and I could only pray he spoke low enough so she couldn't hear it.

At that point, I could pretty much kill him by drowning him in his potions.

“So far the ballistas proved to be the most efficient structure. They did not deal as much damage as the hammer, yet they were faster. I will upgrade the ones in the back and get two more. I will put the traps at the beginning of the trail and also close to the hammers, that way it will be easier to reload them.”

I had no reason at all to explain what I was going to do, much less my thought process. And as I did everything I said I would, I was still wondering why I had done so while questioning my own intelligence.

Maybe I did so to prove to everyone listening that I did know what I was doing.

[Unique Aura - Foolish Endeavor]

[Active]

…

Was I going to die alone, in the end?

Like an actual fool?

“Cap… We need a substitute for the hammer.” Her voice not only carried grief but anger.

Kurosawa glanced at his feet, his thoughts something he was not willing to share even through his gaze.

“I will send someone to recover him. We will pay our respects later. In the meantime, we need people with defensive skills. Tell Lenna to gather anyone with enough potential before time is up, we cannot waste time.”

She nodded only once, turning her back on us as she rushed to the other side of the wall. I didn’t even realize I was still looking in the direction she had disappeared into until Kurosawa spoke.

“Her name is Aída. She is a good judge of character and appears to have great taste. If you want to pursue something, you better improve yourself. Otherwise, you are not going to cut it.”

I turned around, resisting the urge to grab him by his collar. Yet I could still feel myself blushing.

“I will not—you should not even be suggesting something like this.”

The man got closer, his gaze locked into mine as if he wanted to burn my eyes with the power of his mind.

There was not a skill like that, right?

“For now, we are all a team. Everyone in a team has a role. You are currently our bank, a financial investor who I hope will have his mind in its place to put money on things that will help keep us all alive. Think with your upper head, and think straight.”

Then he turned around, calling some other people who a few moments later left the walls—likely to retrieve the body of the operator.

I clenched my fists, my eyes fixed on the ground.

Be on Earth or in a game-like world, love feels more like a fool’s hope than a dream that can come through, huh?

Even though my blood was pumping and rushing through my veins, the anger fresh and strong inside me, there was nothing I could say.

The thing was, Kurosawa Touma was not wrong. If I was to be honest with myself, I was not angry at him. I felt frustrated with myself. I knew better than to let these kinds of feelings get the best of me that way, to falter and act irresponsibly because of feelings.

More than often, feeling too much was what made my life miserable. If I had been capable of ignoring my loneliness, of simply not caring for either someone loved for the real me and just accepted my reality things would have been easier.

Hoping for love, hoping for that deep connection and acceptance, it drained me. And even as Park Eun-Woo, I should know better than to hope.

Too long and to yearn for those kinds of feelings, for that person to come into my life.

Especially considering my past. My old self. As long as the ghost of my previous life remained chained within my heart, there would never be a place for love. I would never feel free from the person I was—

I would not be able to live my life, truly, as Park Eun-Woo.

I had taken a role in that trial, saying I would do it myself with as much confidence and pride as I could muster at the time.

And I was starting to realize that Trial was not planning on being fair. I had to play my cards right, had to think like a sick sadistic bastard who wanted to see others suffer so I could stay at least one step ahead.

As I thought about all the things I could do, something crossed my mind. If I was indeed a sick, psychopathic killer using a system to torture people, there was one thing I could not let it pass. Something I would have to resolve sooner rather than later. And even though I really hoped I was wrong about it—

[A new rule has been added!]

[A new rule has been added!]

8 - Selves cannot use their shared skills to kill monsters

9 - The amount of points that can be used in a wave cannot pass 700p.

The system proved to be even more predictable than I thought.