Surviving as the Second Main Lead: Second Lead's POV

“Hey Howard, look on your right side. Isn’t that-?”

Emma left her question hanging but Howars understood what she wanted to tell him. There was a familiar face to his right, talking to one of his shy classmates.

Howard wanted to head over to the older teen and ask him a few questions but there were too many eyes on him right now. Howard had to hold back his feelings and take a rest.

“I know you want to head over and demand answers right now Howard, but hold back for a second. You have a whole class to approach the teen.”

Howard allowed Emma’s words to calm him down and the class entered the dungeon.

From there on, it was waiting for the game for Howard. He needed to find the right time to approach Howard and ask him why he had not introduced himself before.

But the time did not come. Horas struck to the sides and even instructor Harris joined him soon enough. There was no opportunity for Howard to approach the older teen.

In his desire to approach Horas, Howard ignored most of what was going on around him. So he did not notice when the fence that separated his section from the monster population became weaker and eventually broke off.

“Someone, help. The m-monsters! They broke the fence.”

Howard’s neck snapped up as soon as he heard the fearful cries heading his way. The monsters were rampaging and running toward Emma.

What was worse? They were too close to hit properly with just bows and arrows. Emma would not be able to defend herself in such a situation.

‘Shit, I need to help Emma out.’

Howard focused all his attention on Emma and even ran toward her as the monsters approached. He did not have the trusted sword that Jack Hollow had given him but this academy-issued one would have to do.

“Emma, run toward me. I will protect you until you have enough distance to shoot comfortably.”

Bows had a fatal flaw - they needed time to shoot out arrows. But they made it up by providing ranged abilities. And right now, that range was what Emma needed to gain.

The beast raised his claw, wanting to crush Howard under its massive weight but his sword stopped the attack. Howard was pushed back a little but he did not fall.

‘Ugh, these academy swords would not cut it for me. I am not used to them.’

Currently, Howard was strong enough to take on a class D-ranked dungeon on his own. This F-class did not hold a candle to his power. But he was still struggling because of the massive number of monsters.

[[[Warning: Empty out the dungeon.

Follow the given protocol and escape the dunegon]]]

The message showed up on Howard’s system but he was a little busy to follow it. His sword was the only barrier between his neck and the beast’s claws.

“H-Hang on Howard. I will help you out right now.”

Emma’s voice came from behind Howard and he got ready. They had practiced this formation a few times but never in real combat. Howard just hoped that this would work in real life.

“Well, as much as I would like to see you children fight, I am afraid I cannot allow this. Horas, we are taking these monsters out.”

Before Emma could even load her bow, a bullet shot out from behind her and hit the monster dead in his head. It killed the monster Howard was struggling with.

More bullets followed with extreme precision, taking out monsters in a single hit. Horas stepped out in front of Howard and held a gun up at ready.

It was the first time Howard had seen someone use a gun so he was taken aback.

“Alright Horas, I will take Howard and these monsters to you. Come out once you are done here.”

Instructor Harris picked up Emma despite her protest and took a step back. A monster that had managed to get past Howard earlier rushed at the instructor, only to meet his fist in return.

Instructor Harris’s every move showed his strength and experience.

“I am counting on you to get the kid out, Horas. Good luck.”

“Instructor Harris, you cannot be serious-”

But the instructor was long gone, leaving Horas and Howard alone.

“I cannot believe Instructor Harris did this to me,”

Horas muttered it under his breath and Howard was sure he was not supposed to hear these words.

“Alright, time to weed out the weak monsters. Kid, stay behind me so that you do not get hurt.”

This time, Horas’s words were meant for him and Howard decided to sit back and observe Howard this man was a mystery and he even used a gun.

Howard raised his gun and quickly fired out some shots. They connected with the monsters, Killing them in one shot. And hence, the situation was easily brought under control.

“Is it over for real now?”

Howard questioned as he watched Horas pack his gun and scan the area. The warning alarm had stopped buzzing as well.

“Yup. We are now in the clear. Can you stand up and walk on your kid?”

Howard was standing on high alert against a sudden attack but nothing happened. It seemed like the dungeon had calmed down for now.

“I can stand up on my own and I am not hurt as well. But I am curious about how you killed all these monsters. I thought guns could not conduct mana?”

Howard was curious now. As far as he knew, guns were one of the worst weapons to use for an adventurer due to their limitation. But Horas had shown him an incredible display right now.

“If you are thinking of using guns yourself then get that thought out of your head, kid. My guns are special and can only be used by me. You are better suited for a sword anyway.”

Howard was not surprised that his main weapon had been guessed by the elder teen. His hands gave away a lot about his preferred weapon.

Still, Howard had to wonder why the teen in front of him gave up on a stronger weapon for a gun of all things. It was not like guns were durable or had the advantages of a bow.

“Don’t waste your brain thinking about unnecessary stuff. Let’s get you back to your class.”

Howard found himself smiling at the elder teen for no apparent reason. The feeling of familiarity was coming back to hit Howard in the face.

Howard trusted his instincts since they had never led him astray. He just had to know where and when he had seen Horas before. Otherwise, his curiosity will not let him sleep.

“Hey Horas, have we never met-”

Howard found himself stopping in the middle of his step, his instincts crying out to not get hit. His body moved to avoid the danger due to his skill - Caution.

Something green shot out, hitting the place where Howard had just been standing, and the vein suddenly curved toward him. He took quite a few steps back but the vein kept on following after him.

‘What happened?’

Howard was shocked and it caused his reflexes to slow down. The vein headed toward him and managed to cut him in the arm.

But before the vein could harm him any further, it exploded into small bits and a bullet fell in front of Howard.

“Oi, snap out of it. There is an intruder with us in this dungeon who is not friendly to us.”

Horas clasped Howard’s arm and pulled him up. Howard stumbled as he was pulled up but corrected his posture. The grassland around them looked a lot more sinister than before.

Howard eyes the few small veins that were rising and falling around them. There were too many to take out at once.

“We will need to find the main body if we want these veins to rest. So, any idea what we should do now?”

Howard asked, not being able to compute what was happening. Was this the feature of the dungeon as well? Or was it some kind of beast?

Or was it a test from the academy and the one attacking them was an instructor?

Meanwhile, Horas had figured out what was happening already. He could not believe that it took him this long to figure out what was happening but he felt stupid once he did figure it out.

‘I cannot believe I did not think of this possibility. The villainess I captured yesterday managed to escape and is now coming after us.’

The original book has detailed a meeting between the villainess and Howard Spencer. Horas had tried to prevent it, but it seemed like all his efforts had gone down the drain.

Jack Hollow’s words regarding fate echoed in Horas’s mind and he felt bitter all over.

‘Fate finds a way to fulfill itself. But I will be damned if I don’t fight against it right here and now.’

Horas picked up his gun and shot at the few veins that were coming too close to him and Howard. He would prevent this fated meeting at all costs and change destiny.

But fate was not that easy to be overthrown and this struggle would only get worse from here on.