Amelia the Level Zero Hero

Chapter 170

“I’m dying,” Noele whispered as she looked at herself through the vision.

Somehow, she was able to see through her own eyes, even though she couldn’t move her body. And what she saw was Garron and Arthur, standing together to face down Nicholas, Kale, and Sienna.

Bucky was there too. But the chicken was busy trying to resuscitate the blonde girl. Unfortunately, even with a healing potion, Noele couldn’t recover. She saw the state she was in, and she remembered the injury she received.

Perhaps if she had just freshly been stabbed in the chest, with her levels, she could survive as long as she downed a healing potion. However, it had been quite a while since she had been impaled. Not only that, but she had also been dropped from the sky right after that.

She needed an elixir of healing— something far more powerful than even the highest grade of healing potion. But Arthur was a bartender, and Garron could barely even stand. Even if either of them had such an item, they couldn’t have saved her.

Not with Nicholas, Sienna, and Kale barring their path.

Noele could only save herself. But… what could she even do?

A blue screen flashed before her eyes as the thought crossed her mind. It was the same one that had vanished just earlier— the very same offer she had contemplated rejecting for months now.

[Class advancement available! Please choose one of the following Class advancements:

[Champion Spellsword] - A [Champion Spellsword] is a protector of justice—]

Noele recoiled at the sight. But then she stared at it closely. She read its description once again, and she hesitated.

“Should I accept this power?” she wondered aloud.

Even if it said nothing about helping her recover from a near-death state, she was inclined to believe that accepting this Class would save her. It was a strange intuition. And she thought back, trying to figure out why she felt that way.

“When I was barely conscious—” She closed her eyes, recalling the nebulous memories of the dark. “The World System tried to… trick me?”

That didn’t seem right. And yet, as she recalled what happened, when she hadn’t even been able to think, she was compelled to seek the power of the World System. And it did more than just convince her of its goodness.

“It lied to me,” Noele whispered. “The World System lied to me.”

When she spoke those words aloud— in her head— it sounded incredibly ridiculous. But she knew what she was saying was true. The World System had tried to convince that Amelia had never existed— that the blonde girl was only able to defeat Odell with the strength of her given Class.

In reality, Noele had defeated the Monster of the Mist with her own power. She had learned to fight with her own strength thanks to Amelia’s teachings.

…even if it was a lot of very unorthodox lessons.

“I can’t accept the World System’s power,” the Noble Spellsword told herself as she clenched a fist. “Not if it’s trying to manipulate me into using it. That would be no different than if I… I…”

Noele trailed off. But the thought still appeared in her mind.

It would be no different than if I were manipulated by the power of the Void.

She shuddered at the thought— at even daring to think of such a thing. There was no way the World System was comparable to the Void. And yet, she thought about how those who were in the Sect of the Abyssal Thorns were tricked and manipulated.

The promise of power. The lies that were told. What the World System was employing here was quite literally the same thing. The only difference was that Noele had not been in the right state of mind to make a well-thought out decision.

So the blonde girl gritted her teeth, turning away from the blue screen. It offered her salvation. However, she couldn’t accept it. Not for the sake of her own sanity. Not with what Amelia taught her.

And she just watched as she slowly died. She looked on as her friends helplessly fought back against the Noble Knight.

—--

Every night, when Arthur went to sleep, he would have nightmares— he would dream of the time he terrorized the world as the First Lich King. He would recall all of the heinous acts he committed. The atrocities he did would burn brightly in his mind.

And he would wake up in a puddle of sweat, fearing what he could become. Because he knew that this monster was hiding within him. So he had to be acutely aware of its power. He had to suppress it. He didn’t want it to see the light of day ever again.

But now, Arthur wished that he could become Ar’elith once more. He could tap into the power that he had stored within him. However, he did not have the prowess for battle. He did not have the skills to use it as best as it could be used.

He was… just a bartender. Before that, he was a [Priest]. He knew very little about fighting. Certainly, he held nebulous memories of what he had done. But that was incredibly distinct from actually knowing how to fight.

Arthur was barely even able to react before Nicholas stabbed him through the chest. Fortunately for the former Lich King, the powers of the Void were seemingly boundless. And he was able to regenerate, coming back from dying once again.

It still hurt, of course. And dying was always such a strange sensation. However, Arthur couldn’t focus on that. Instead, he turned his gaze towards the Noble Knight. He reached for the wealth of power within him. It poured out of him like a burst dam, and his skim was ripped apart once more. A painful, searing sensation ran through his body.

But he ignored it, even as he screamed in pain. He clapped his hands together, trying to channel the power into his hands. It was unleashed in an uncontrolled blast, ripping apart the frozen landscape, before freezing it once more.

Nicholas leapt back, landing right next to his two teammates. It was Kale who reacted, raising his book. But he didn’t incantate the chant for some spell in the tome. Instead, his voice echoed as whispered softly.

“Shield.”

An aura of the Void’s essence coalesced around him, forming a dome— a protective barrier that took the brunt of Arthur’s wild attack. Even though it was an unfocused shockwave that blasted out, it still ripped apart Kale’s Shield.

The three of them stumbled back as Arthur panted. His eyes flickered, spotting Bucky and Garron in the background. Fortunately, his attack missed them. But if Arthur was sloppy, he could accidentally hurt them in this battle.

He couldn’t let them happen. But controlling his powers wasn’t easy. Especially when he was in the middle of battle.

“I’ve had enough of this,” Nicholas said, taking a step forward. His eyes glimmered with a purple glow. “If you aren’t going to die, then I will make you wish you were dead.”

In an instant, he teleported forward. He reached Arthur, thrusting forward once again with his rapier. But this time, Arthur was prepared for it. He raised his hands, conjuring up a purple ice wall as he flew back.

The Noble Knight tore straight through the ice wall. He gritted his teeth, before flourishing his rapier. A spell circle flashed into existence before him as he called out the power of a Skill, before enhancing it with the strength of the Void.

“[Star Light]!” he said as the magic circle shone. And then it was overcome with a purple light. “Devour.”

All at once, the magic circle exploded with a pillar of darkness. But it slowly formed the head of a serpent, reaching out to grab the former Lich King. Arthur unleashed a bolt of lightning at it, completely destroying the oncoming attack.

He was evidently stronger than Nicholas. He knew that. And he also knew he wasn’t nearly as competent at fighting, so it didn’t surprise him when he found the Noble Knight waiting behind him with a savage grin.

Nicholas swung up, slashing across Arthur’s back. The former Lich King flew forward, even as his back bled, before slowly healing. He spun around, trying to conjure up a flurry of ice spears. However, he was too slow.

A volley of arrows shot towards him. They glinted with a purple glow, unleashed by Sienna herself. Her onslaught of attacks sent Arthur flying into the air as she raised her bow. His legs were blown apart from the impact, and he screamed in pain.

He tried to fly out of the way as she aimed carefully at him. But before she could loose another arrow at him, Garron slammed into her back. He nicked her shoulders with his shortsword as she grunted, backing away.

The Steel Tank huffed as he steadied himself, staring up at Sienna. “Don’t… forget… about… me…”

“Oh, I didn’t,” Kale answered as he stepped up next to Sienna. The fat man grinned, conjuring a purple fireball as Garron gritted his teeth. “I’ll be dealing with—”

And Arthur sent a blast of lightning lancing out towards Kale and Sienna. The two of them saw it coming, dodging out of the way in time. The former Lich King hovered in the air as he regenerated his legs. But Nicholas didn’t let up, flashing into existence next to him a moment later.

The two were interlocked in battle in the middle of the air as Kale roared and charged at Garron without magic. Sienna clicked her tongue, turning to face Arthur with a frown. She raised her bow, clearly recognizing the former Lich King as a greater threat, and readied another arrow.

And that was when Bucky joined the fray. The chicken leapt onto Sienna’s face and began to pluck her eyes out. She screamed as she backed away, trying to pry the chicken off her. When she failed to do that, she loosed her arrow onto the ground, exploding both of them together.

—--

And Noele looked on.

She watched as her friends fought their best against the three S-ranks. However, they were clearly outmatched. Not only were Nicholas, Sienna, and Kale at a higher level, they were also empowered by the Void.

If this kept on, the blonde girl knew that her friends were going to die. She looked on as Arthur was cut down from the sky by Nicholas once more. She winced as Garron was slammed to the ground by an angry Kale. She gritted her teeth as Bucky ran from Sienna’s onslaught of explosive arrows.

“I need to save them…” the Noble Spellsword whispered to herself. And a glint caught her eye. A blue box waited for her right beside the image of the real world. “But I can’t.”

She bit her lower lip, staring at the offer from the World System. If she accepted this, she knew she would be beholdening herself even more to a power that wasn’t hers. And it wasn’t just the memory manipulation that scared her.

Her master— Amelia— had even rejected an offer to be a [Hero] from the World System. All to avoid enslavement.

Noele didn’t want to be a slave to the World System. However, she didn’t want her friends to die either. She closed her eyes as she took in a deep breath.

“I delayed making a choice because I was scared. Because I didn’t know what to do. But I have to make a decision now.”

She didn’t know what was going to happen if she accepted the Class. Maybe there would be no difference— as Amelia said, the blonde girl had been reliant on the World System for a long time now. What difference could accepting the Class of a [Champion] make?

However, there was the possibility that she would succumb even further to the World System. There could be tricks that were played on her mind. Like with how the blonde girl couldn’t quite process what was wrong with… Amelia’s something.

Even now, Noele struggled to overcome the World System’s influence over her. But she remembered that there was an object in her master’s possession that was incomprehensible because of the World System.

There was a chance that if the Noble Spellsword accepted this Class advancement, she'd even forget Amelia entirely. A slim chance, of course. That was highly unlikely.

But she feared that it was a possibility. She hoped that nothing would happen— that nothing would change because of the World System. However, even if that were true, she didn’t care. Because if she had to sacrifice her sanity to save her friends…

Noele would save her friends without any hesitation.

[You have advanced your Class!

You are now a [Champion Spellsword]!

Skill Evolved: The Titan’s Strength -> A Champion’s Might!

Skill Evolved: Noble Slash—

Skill Gained: Healing…]