002. Extra's Rebirth

The entire dungeon trembled, the walls groaning under the weight of the impact. Dust exploded outward in waves, blinding everyone in a thick, choking cloud.

Everyone turned toward the dust in shocked expression.

"Is he dead?!"

Soon, everywhere erupted in panic, and everyone ran in every direction, forgetting the order to remain in their positions.

The dust cleared, and Reon was seen standing there unharmed, with his hands crossed over his face.

"He's alive! Then... who got hit?"

Everyone turned toward the opened hole in the wall and saw Kael—just before he slumped to the ground.

Just seconds before the ogre hit Reon, he had pushed him out and got hit instead, causing the fatal blow meant for Reon to befall on him in his stead.

Blood spilled from his mouth and head as he lay there, his body bruised fatally.

'I feel like my lungs just popped.'

Out of fear, everyone ran toward the exit that finally seemed to open after a long while—including Reon, who fenced off the goblins as they made it out.

"W—Wait!" Kael tried to call out, but his voice was too low.

He stayed there, his vision blurring as he saw everyone leave the dungeon one by one without coming back for him.

He scoffed softly.

"The fate of an extra is one cruel demon."

His last words echoed in his head unusually as he drifted off into the next part of life—which was death.

Then a mechanical voice caught his attention amidst the whole chaos, yanking him back to the world of the living.

«Initializing TaleWeaver.»

«Welcome, Designated Narrative Anchor: KAEL.

Plot Restoration Level 1 activated.»

«Rewind Permission: Granted.»

«System Unlock: TaleWeaver»

«Tag Registered: 〔Death Flag Cleared〕»

«Tag Registered: 〔Plot Rewind Active〕»

Immediately, the whole events began to rewind. His bleeding stopped. The ogre attack was rewound as well, slowly moving backward in time—then it stopped right when the ogre dropped to one knee.

'What the hell just happened?!'

He stared down at his hands in disbelief. Was anything that just happened real? Because he was sure he got killed from the blizzard spell, so how?

"Didn't I just die? How am I still alive?"

He couldn't believe what he was feeling. He raised his head and glanced around, and everything seemed to have regressed along with him.

'Did I just regress? That's physically impossible even with the help of abilities.'

He didn't have time to ponder on the thought because he knew he had to save Reon—even though, from what just occurred, he had subtly seen the future and knew they'd abandon him if he failed.

'He may be a monster but I'm not. I'll just save him real quick and get out of there before the ogre's punch lands.'

He finally raised his head and glanced at the clearing, and noticed everyone had tags above their foreheads. Some read: [Main Character].

Others: [Background Character A], [Future King], [Love Interest Candidate].

It was like a game interface—or something straight out of a novel.

He shook his head and blinked multiple times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When he stared back again, it was gone.

'My brain must be having side effects from the regress.'

He stood up and stared at the ogre, who was still chanting in his mother tongue to unknown gods or whatever he served. Then he turned to Reon, who now looked foolish in his eyes.

'God! I wish I was heartless.'

He darted toward him with speed, hopping over dead and injured bodies, ignoring all the calls and rants the people made behind him.

He turned his head toward the ogre again, then back to Reon—who was about to make the same mistake he made before with his life—right before Kael jumped in as his support.

"Tsk! I'm not gonna die twice!"

Kael increased his speed and arrived just in time, unlike the original timeline, and pushed him out, dodging the strike at the same time.

Everyone gasped, including Reon, who lay on the ground, helpless.

"What the hell did you do?!"

Kael stared down at him.

"I saved your ass, and you're welcome."

Kael glanced at the ogre and noticed something new displayed in front of his vision:

«Monster Class: Battle Ogre»

«Level: 25 – Sub-Boss»

«Threat: A-Class Hybrid»

Description:

A brutal blend of ogre and human combat training. Moves with purpose. Fights with intelligence. Kills with precision.

Abilities:

«⦿ Darkchant: Blizzard Spell»

«⦿ Ogreblood Regen (slow heal)»

«⦿ Unnatural Reflex (can dodge skilled attacks)»

«⦿ Killmark: Locks onto strongest threat»

Strengths:

– High battle IQ

– Spell-user (rare)

– Tough hide, sharp instincts

Weaknesses:

«Spell Delay: 3-second chant — interruptible»

«Killmark Tunnel-Vision: Will ignore others once fixated»

«Blind Spot: Back-left side is weakened due to malformed bone plate»

He stared at the stats that the system displayed for him.

"These... these are the ogre's stats."

Then he studied the ogre's stats carefully, as Reon stood up from the ground.

'We can attack it straight from both angles, but how do I convince these people to listen to me?'

Reon cleaned his armor, then turned to Kael.

"Be careful not to get in my way again."

Kael clenched his fists, his voice low but cutting. He couldn't say it but if he wanted to get out of here alive, he had to do something he knew he wouldn't do on a normal day.

"I wouldn't have to step in if any of you actually acted like elites."

His words dropped like a stone in the silence. Then he lifted his gaze, his voice rising loud enough for everyone to hear.

"When I heard the capital was sending elites to this raid, I expected excellence, precision, leadership."

He took a slow step forward, letting the venom in his voice cut through.

"But what I've seen so far? Sloppy attacks. Zero coordination. And a bunch of arrogant clowns playing hero while the real threat grows stronger."

Murmurs rippled through the party.

Kael's voice sharpened.

"Frankly, I don't know what the capital was thinking. Maybe they sent the wrong team... because there's not a single damn thing elite about any of you."

One of the elite hunters stormed toward him, shoving a shoulder into Kael's chest hard enough to make him step back.

"Who the hell are you calling clowns?" the hunter growled, rage visible in his eyes.

Kael straightened his shoulders and brushed the man's hand off his chest like it was dust.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your ego," he said coldly, "but until I see something worth acknowledging, don't expect me to pretend you're more than you are."

Reon stepped forward, face tightening, rage bubbling beneath the surface.

"What the hell did you just say?"

Kael didn't flinch.

"You heard me."

"Tsk, this guy's overstepping. Let's remind him why we're on a level he could never reach," someone said from behind the crowd.

Reon stared at Kael for a while before averting his vision.

'I can't command these guys to do what I say, but if I can hurt their ego, they might just fight the ogre with the intent of winning.'

The ogre had finished chanting by the time they were done speaking.

Reon and the others had stepped forward to display their might against the ogre's powers.

While Kael intended to do his part from behind the scenes, as he kept staring at the ogre's stats.

The ogre let out a final bellow, finishing its chant with a sickening crunch of a language that warped the air itself.

The dungeon's temperature plummeted instantly. Frost fanned across the floor in a jagged rush, and the ceiling groaned under the weight of rapidly forming icicles.

A storm of ice shards erupted—razor-sharp and deadly.

But the elites moved as one.

Reon surged forward with a battle cry, flames igniting around his boots as he skated through the frost, slashing downward with an explosive arc of his sword. He carved a path through the blizzard itself, redirecting shards with the heat of his blade.

To his left, Leira burst into motion. She flipped high into the air, using a glowing rune under her boots to propel herself. Her long spear spun like a wheel, intercepting ice bolts midair before she dropped behind the ogre's right flank—aiming precisely for its exposed shoulder.

"Go for the blind spot!" she yelled.

But the ogre twisted with preternatural speed—a blur despite its size. It intercepted her strike with the shaft of its bone staff, then slammed it down like a hammer, sending a shockwave through the floor.

Leira stumbled but backflipped away, just barely avoiding the crushing blow, leaving her spear there.

Rin, the archer, was perched atop a jagged pillar. Her arrows sang through the chaos, infused with wind magic. They bent around the ogre's defenses, aiming for the eyes, the knees, the tendons.

"Right leg's slowing down!" she called out.

To the rear, Zareth, the arcane mage, finished drawing an intricate circle midair with glowing blue ink.

"Binding Field — Arc Net!"

Thin, glowing chains erupted from the seal, spiraling through the air and wrapping around the ogre's legs, binding it mid-lunge.

"Gorran, now!" he shouted.

Then came Gorran, the brawler—a brute of a man with no weapon but stone-gauntleted fists. He charged in with a roar, jumping off a crumbled wall and slamming his fist straight into the ogre's gut with enough force to crater the stone beneath them.

The ogre reeled back from the punch, almost dropping to the ground.

Kael didn't remove his eyes from the system's message, and all that power had only scratched the ogre, with its stats still almost at its max—but it was working.

[Battle Ogre – Lv. 25 – Sub-Boss]

HP: 450/600

Ogre Blood Regen: Active

Killmark: Reon

Adaptive Reflex: Enhanced

'If they keep pushing, they might just damage it long enough for me. I think I have an idea that just might work.'