[Rewinding time, 20 years ago...]
[Recalibrating System...]
[Healing body...]
[Complete!]
[...]
[Skill: Luck(Passive) has been granted to user.]
[Skill: Luck(Active) has been granted to user.]
[Good Luck on your journey!]
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"HUAAAAAGH!"
Zhan gasped for air like he was drowning, clutching his chest in terrible pain as he collapsed down onto the hard ground and fell to his knees. His whole body was shaking and he felt like his heart was going to burst right out of his chest, which made no sense at all since he was supposed to be dead right now. He couldn't understand what was happening to him or why he was still breathing when Alfonze had cut his head clean off just moments ago.
—W-what!?
He screamed inside his own thoughts, tapping his neck over and over again with shaking fingers, checking to see if his head was still attached to his body. It felt so weird and wrong because his head had just gotten chopped off by Alfonze himself, but somehow he was still alive and could feel everything. He kept touching his neck, expecting to find blood or a wound, but there was nothing there except smooth skin.
—I should've died, I'm absolutely sure of that!
He slapped himself hard across the face, trying to wake himself up from what had to be some kind of horrible nightmare that felt way too real. He couldn't believe any of this was actually happening to him, and maybe if he hit himself hard enough, he would snap out of it and everything would go back to normal. The slap stung his cheek and made his eyes water, but he was still in the same place, still confused and scared.
"YOUNG MASTER! THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE COWERING! YOU HAVE TO ESCAPE!"
A man yelled out with panic in his voice, grabbing Zhan by both shoulders and shaking him to get his attention. He was wearing a fancy blue suit that looked expensive and well-made, the kind of clothes that only rich people could afford to buy. His hair was pure black, cut short and wavy, and he looked young, probably somewhere in his twenties, with a sharp sword gripped tight in his right hand.
When Zhan looked up at the man's face, he felt completely shocked and confused, like someone had just punched him in the stomach and knocked all the air out of his lungs. He stared at the man with wide eyes, not believing what he was seeing, because this person was supposed to be dead and buried in the ground.
—W-why's Daer HERE!? H-he died when the VelArte mansion got attacked and raided by enemies... So why is he standing right in front of me!?
Zhan couldn't pull his thoughts together or make sense of anything that was happening around him, his brain felt like it was full of fog and he couldn't think straight. He didn't know why he wasn't dead, why Daer was alive, or why everything felt so familiar yet so wrong at the same time.
"YOUNG MASTER, PLEASE ESCAPE!"
Daer quickly took up a fighting stance and stepped in front of Zhan, holding both a sword and a shield while breathing heavily from fear and adrenaline. His whole body was tense and ready for battle, like he was preparing to fight something really dangerous that was coming their way. The look in his eyes showed that he was scared but determined to protect Zhan no matter what happened to him.
"MEN, STAND UP AND FIGHT, THE GOLEMS ARE HERE!"
Golems - that single word hit Zhan like lightning and made everything click together in his mind all at once. He finally understood what was happening and why everything felt so strange and familiar, because he had lived through this exact same day before. He had somehow gone back in time, regressing to the past, exactly twenty years before his death at the hands of Alfonze.
And this day was the day when the VelArte Mansion fell apart and got completely destroyed, the day when his whole family got torn apart and overrun by the terrifying golems that came to kill them all. Right in front of Daer stood a giant creature that looked like a human but was made entirely out of rocks, with over ten creepy eyes scattered all over its massive body, and multiple pieces of human skin that had been pinned onto it like decorations.
There was one thing that Zhan knew for sure about the golems from his past life, and it was that they were completely obsessed with humans in the most disgusting way possible. They didn't just want to kill people, they wanted to do terrible things to them, and that thought made his skin crawl with fear and anger.
"Daer."
Zhan called out his name in a voice that was completely different from before, no longer shaky and cowardly but serious and cold like ice. Something inside him had woken up and changed, like a sleeping beast that had finally opened its eyes and was ready to fight. His whole attitude shifted in just a few seconds, from a scared boy to someone who had seen too much death and pain.
"Let me fight in the front lines."
"I CAN'T DO THAT, YOUNG MASTER, YOU HAVEN'T TRAINED IN SUCH A LONG TIME, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE!"
Hearing Daer say those words to him made Zhan feel both sad and frustrated at the same time, because he knew it was true but also knew that things were different now. But he couldn't really blame Daer for thinking this way, because in the past, Zhan had the most terrible and intolerable personality that made everyone around him suffer. That only changed after the fall of VelArte, when he lost everything and had to grow up fast.
—This is so annoying, I'm back at square one again with everyone thinking I'm useless? No worries, all I have to do is just prove my strength to them.
Zhan thought to himself, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them again with a completely different look inside them. When Daer and Zhan made direct eye contact, Daer's eyes were suddenly filled with fear because something about Zhan had changed in a way that made him seem dangerous. The young master he knew was lazy and weak, but the person looking at him now seemed like someone who had been through hell and back.
"Do not underestimate me, Daer."
Zhan walked right past Daer without looking back, leaving the older man standing there with his mouth open and his eyes wide with shock. Daer just couldn't believe what Zhan had said or the way he had said it, because this was the same person who hadn't trained seriously for years because of his laziness and habit of thinking he was better than everyone else. But now he seemed like a completely different person, someone who actually knew what they were doing.
"What do you think us VelArtes will do if the front walls break?"
"Obviously, we'll die. Daer."
Zhan turned his head to look at Daer straight in the eyes, his expression deadly serious and showing no signs of fear or doubt. He wasn't kidding around or trying to act tough, he was completely serious about what he was saying, and the cold truth in his voice made Daer's blood run cold.
"YOUNG MASTER! LOOK OUT!"
Daer suddenly yelled out in pure panic, running toward Zhan as fast as his legs could carry him, because Zhan still hadn't noticed that there was a massive golem charging right at him at full speed. The creature was moving like a freight train, ready to crush Zhan into nothing, and Daer knew he had to do something or watch his young master die right in front of him.
Daer ran with everything he had, pushing his body to its absolute limits as he tried to reach Zhan in time to save him, but the golem was already right behind Zhan and closing in fast. It looked like Zhan was going to die for sure, and there was nothing Daer could do to stop it from happening.
[Passive skill activated.]
A strange voice spoke directly inside Zhan's mind, startling him a little bit but not enough to make him panic. He still hadn't realized that there was a dangerous golem right behind him, ready to smash him into pieces, because he was too busy trying to figure out what that voice was and where it came from.
Suddenly, the massive golem tripped on the completely flat and solid ground for no reason at all, falling face-first onto a sharp boulder with a disgusting wet crash that killed it instantly. Blood and rock pieces scattered everywhere, and the creature that had been charging at full speed just seconds ago was now nothing but a pile of broken stone and gore.
"Hm?"
Zhan calmly turned around to look behind him and saw the dead golem lying there in a pool of its own blood. The creature had died without him doing anything at all, which seemed impossible but had somehow happened anyway. He stared at the corpse for a moment, trying to understand what had just occurred.
—Luck. So, that's how it works. THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE!
Zhan grinned widely at the lifeless corpse of the golem, feeling excited and amazed by his new power as he turned his back on Daer. He finally understood what his new skill could do, and it was going to change everything about how this battle played out. With this kind of luck on his side, maybe he could actually win against impossible odds.
"Leave this to me. Daer."
"..."
Daer stood there in complete silence, not able to say a single word or move a muscle, because he had no idea what was happening anymore. He closed his eyes tight and started praying to whatever gods might be listening that Zhan would somehow survive this insane situation. Zhan was all alone in this fight now, and the soldiers around them had completely lost the will to keep fighting because so many of their friends were already dead.
The looks on all their faces were the expressions of people who didn't have any reason left to keep living, people who had given up hope and were just waiting to die. They had seen too much death and destruction, and their spirits were completely broken from watching their comrades get torn apart by the golems.
"These people. Cowards, how will you live if you don't fight?"
There was a large bell hanging on the barracks building to Zhan's left, and his eyes became fixed on it like it was the most important thing in the world. He stared at that bell with intense focus, remembering all the battles he had fought with it in his previous life, all the enemies he had defeated using it as his weapon.
The reason why people used to call him the "Bell Saint" was pretty obvious once you saw him fight with that strange weapon of his. It wasn't a normal weapon that most warriors would choose, but in Zhan's hands, it became something incredibly deadly and powerful.
Zhan walked over and stood confidently in front of the 19 massive golems that had come to raid and destroy the Town of VelArte, acting like he was completely sure he was going to win this fight. He wasn't just acting confident, he actually knew he was going to win, because he had knowledge from the future and new powers that would help him succeed where he had failed before.
He picked up the bell and held it in his hands like it was a precious treasure, because to him, it really was the most important weapon he could ever have. It might not look like much to other people, but this bell had been his signature weapon for over ten years in his previous life, and even though most people wouldn't consider it a real weapon, it was the tool he had the most experience and skill with.
"T-The Young Master..!"
A soldier wearing a metal chest plate pointed at Zhan with a confused and worried expression on his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, because it made no sense at all for someone to choose such a weird weapon for a serious battle like this.
"H-he's fighting with a bell!"
—They're already pointing at me and calling me crazy, huh?
Zhan thought to himself, not really surprised by their reaction because he knew it was obvious that people would think he had lost his mind. After all, who in their right mind would choose to arm themselves with a bell when they could use a sword or spear or any other normal weapon? But Zhan was not a normal person, and this was not a normal situation.
"Come at me."
Zhan held the bell firmly with only his right hand, using his left hand to gesture at the golems like he was saying 'Come and fight me if you dare!' He kept taunting them and trying to get their attention, and just as he was about to give up on getting them to attack, one single golem charged straight at him with a massive boulder raised high over its head.
"My plan worked."
"GRAAAAAAAGHHHH!"
Zhan screamed at the top of his lungs as he swung the heavy bell with all his strength to the left, taking a big step forward and perfectly timing his counter-attack against the charging golem. His muscles strained and his whole body moved in perfect harmony, like he had practiced this exact move thousands of times before.
Just before the golem realized what was happening to it and could try to defend itself, Zhan's bell connected with devastating force.
KA———BOOM!!!!*
The bell smashed into the golem with incredible power, completely destroying the creature and splitting it in half right at the waist. Pieces of rock and gore flew everywhere, and the soldiers who had been calling him crazy just moments before were now completely silent and staring in shock. They couldn't believe that someone had just destroyed a massive golem using nothing but a bell.
Daer's eyes went wide with complete disbelief, his mouth hanging open as he tried to process what he had just witnessed. How could anyone possibly use a bell as a weapon effectively enough to destroy a golem in one hit? It seemed impossible, but he had seen it happen with his own eyes.
"Y-Young Master..."
Zhan's blue hair caught the sunlight and seemed to glow as it flowed like water in the breeze, making him look almost supernatural as he prepared to fight the remaining golems. He had completely changed from the person everyone thought they knew, transformed into someone who looked like a demon as he started smashing through the golems one by one, laughing in a way that was both terrifying and exciting.
—N-no, he's going to run out of energy and stamina at this rate!
Daer tried to warn Zhan about pushing himself too hard, but he couldn't get his voice to work properly and the words wouldn't come out of his mouth no matter how hard he tried. He was too shocked and amazed by what he was seeing to speak properly.
—W-wait.
Daer suddenly realized something important as he watched Zhan fight - the young master wasn't just attacking the golems randomly or running around without a plan like it first appeared. Instead, he was carefully and strategically trying to corner all the golems against the town's strong reinforced walls so they would be trapped with nowhere to run.
Zhan had also gotten much smarter somehow, like his brain had finally started working properly after years of being lazy and not thinking things through. He was fighting with both strength and intelligence now, using tactics and strategy instead of just brute force.
"SOLDIERS, GET YOUR SHIELDS AND SWORDS UP, SHOULD WE ONLY LET THE YOUNG MASTER FIGHT BY HIMSELF!? HE'S GIVING US A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY, HELP HIM CORNER THE GOLEMS!"
What Daer had just shouted made all the soldiers feel their fighting spirit come back to life, giving them one last spark of hope when they thought everything was lost. They realized that they needed to win this battle even though the golems were much stronger than them, because if they didn't fight now, they would all die anyway.
When the golems hit the wall and realized they were completely trapped with nowhere to escape, the mages were already getting ready to cast a powerful Rank 4 fire spell that would finish them off. Everything was going exactly according to Zhan's plan, and the enemy had walked right into his trap without even knowing it.
"MAGES, GET THEM!"
As soon as Daer gave the mages permission to cast their spell, they didn't waste even a single second and immediately swung their staffs with all their power. Bright flames and magical energy started building up around them as they prepared to unleash destruction on the trapped golems.
Loud, ear-splitting booms echoed all over the town as the spells hit their targets, making the ground shake and tremble like there was an earthquake happening. Zhan's brilliant plan had worked perfectly, and they had managed to completely win the battle despite being much weaker than their enemies.
They had turned the tables using strategy and teamwork instead of just trying to overpower the golems with brute strength, which never would have worked.
"WE WON!"
The soldiers cheered loudly, raising their swords and shields up toward the sky like they were challenging fate itself and proving they wouldn't give up. But everyone knew that this amazing victory was all thanks to one person who had changed everything and given them hope when they had none left.
"ALL HAIL THE YOUNG MA—"
But when they looked around to celebrate with their hero, they saw Zhan standing far away from everyone else, sitting on top of his bell and breathing so heavily that it looked like he might pass out. He was completely exhausted from the intense battle and using so much energy, his whole body shaking from the effort he had put in to save everyone.
And then, without any warning, he collapsed onto the ground and didn't move.