My SS-Rank Witcher System

"Oh, shit!" Felix exclaimed in shock. It was his first time seeing a Sage actually die by the hands of a monster.

The rest of the party should have overcome the fear effects now, but they were as shocked as Felix as they all stared in dread at the assassin's halves.

The minotaur didn't stop for a victory dance and charged for the next target: a female elementalist who also served as the party healer and should have been way behind. But no, she was also trying to get a hit on the minotaur as well, and was terrified when she now saw it charging for her.

Not only was she not built to run, she couldn't fly like Chelsey, and on top of that, she tripped over herself while trying to run. Felix didn't realize at this point that he was screaming for her to get up and run, just like he did watching horror movies, but just like horror movie victims, the elementalist was rooted to the floor screaming for help and spamming ice spikes with her staff.

The minotaur didn't try to dodge but took it head-on. Just as it arrived before her, it twisted its head to pick her up with its long horns, flipping her into the air and using the same horns to impale her and shred her apart.

"Shit!" Felix exclaimed once again in shock. Two people had died now in a row. Two Sages. Two Champions.

Who the hell had chosen these rookies to be Champions in the first place?

Felix kept watching, not realizing he was now standing on the bed.

The remaining three, including FishyMitchy who didn't throw out orders anymore and remained mute except for his ragged breathing, began running away from the minotaur.

But Felix noticed they weren't trying to escape, but to create a distance between themselves and the minotaur. Then, one stopped mid-run and just stood there as if his PC was lagging.

The minotaur quickly arrived behind that one and swung its axe at his neck, sending his head flying.

The second party member, a girl who used a sword, suddenly stopped mid-run as well, just like the first guy—as if their PCs were lagging—and just stood. Unmoving.

The minotaur winded up behind her as well and swung its axe for her hip, but before it could connect, the girl flashed and disappeared from the spot. The axe hit empty air.

FishyMitchy was the last one now.

He stopped running as well, but unlike the others who had been backing away from the minotaur, he turned to face it, holding his shield up to his face in a last act of defiance, and just stood there. Unmoving.

Felix didn't understand why they all kept lagging, but seeing the melee girl disappear, he decided to watch and see what tricks FishyMitchy would pull too.

The minotaur was fast, unyielding, and angry. It was already before FishyMitchy, huffing smoke from its nose as it brought down its axe head on FishyMitchy's raised shield. It didn't seem to mind the raised shield and was ready to cut it like a hot knife through butter, when the focus on the stream suddenly blurred and changed.

FishyMitchy was no longer in the mountainous area. He was still holding the same position with his shield up, but in a completely different location now.

It looked like a living room of some sort with little to no furniture and an oily portal glistening on the wall behind him.

He slowly lowered his shield and when he saw he was back, he weakly dropped to the floor and without saying a word, the stream ended.

Felix just stood on his bed for a full minute, unmoving as if it was his turn for his brain to lag, trying to make sense of what he had watched.

"Lilith?" He called out.

"Thought you'd never ask," the alluring voice of the demoness echoed in his head. Her words made Felix's eye twitch.

"What you just saw was the Champions trying to return to their lobby and escape the battle. To return to yours, first you'd have to disengage from battle, which is why you saw them running away. Second, after disengaging, you'd have to stay still for a few seconds for the recall skill to work its magic.

"What you just witnessed is called a Party Wipeout. It doesn't matter if anyone died or not, as long as the party members abandon the fight to return to their lobbies," Lilith calmly explained.

Felix could only stiffly nod his head as FishyMitchy's battle stream replayed on repeat in his head. Over and over again.

He only just realized now how wrong their own raid could have gone with Sekolah The Maw Crusher, or with Lady Morwen The Deathcaller. He only just realized the kind of danger Aaron had put them through for his own selfish interests.

Felix could feel the erratic beats of his heart against his chest now, but Felix wasn't scared. His heartbeat wasn't being influenced by fear but, oddly, by excitement.

He could feel that adrenaline and dopamine rush each time he used the [Overdeath] skill coursing through his veins. He envisioned himself in the minotaur battle, with all the things he could do right. He envisioned himself leading a party to clear a dungeon. The difference between him and FishyMitchy would be that he'd never leave his party behind to run and save himself.

If he were to ever lead a party on an expedition and things went south and a mob boss turned out to be in a different league, what Felix would do differently from what FishyMitchy did was he would hold the monster long enough for his party members to escape to their lobbies, before he figured out how to leave himself, especially if he were the one who recruited them into the party.

This had nothing to do with him trying to be a hero. Felix knew he wasn't the hero stereotype and would always prioritize himself first before anything. But if he were to ever bring a party together for an expedition and it went wrong, his top priority would be to get everyone back to safety.

It wasn't a hero complex. It was his pride and honor at stake if he were to let them die on him.

Felix wasn't blaming FishyMitchy for being incompetent or anything. His party had been crudely made.

Thinking all of this made Felix swear within himself that he was going to get strong. Stronger. So no one, man or beast, would ever be the one to decide if he were to live or die.