Lequi and Andrew halted abruptly. Ahead, two women stood locked in conversation, oblivious to their presence. One clutched a bloodied axe, its edge glinting with dried crimson, while the other bore a shield marked with scratches and dents. The tension between the groups hung thick in the air.
"Kill them," Lequi whispered, her voice sharp and low.
Andrew's head snapped toward her. "What?"
"Kill them while they're distracted."
"Are you insane?" he hissed.
Before either could say more, the axe wielder turned, her wary eyes landing on the pair. She was a rough sight—her matted hair looked as if it hadn't been washed in weeks, her face bore a patchwork of light scars, and blood trickled from her cracked nose. Despite her disheveled state, there was a lethal glint in her gaze.
Andrew raised his hands in a placating gesture. "We're just passing through."
The woman sneered, leveling her axe at him. "Why're you so clean?"
Andrew hesitated, taken aback. "It's... complicated."
The shield-bearer, a broad-shouldered woman with a face like chiseled stone, turned her attention to him. "Clean men are rare these days," she said, her tone almost incredulous.
"I don't like his face," the axe wielder added flatly.
Andrew frowned. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Drop your card fragments and everything in your inventory," the axe wielder ordered. "Do that, and maybe we'll let you go."
Andrew's chest tightened as the absurdity of the situation hit him. Is this even the same world? Logically, he knew his height and weight should give him an edge, but here, with stats and abilities at play, physicality didn't mean much anymore. It was almost laughable—if it weren't so deadly.
"You sound rapey as hell," he said, his voice dripping with disdain. "It's my first time experiencing this, so give me a second to process it."
The shield-bearer's expression darkened. "I don't like his face anymore either."
Without warning, the women lunged. Lequi stepped back smoothly, leaving Andrew to face them.
Andrew's heart thundered in his chest. I'm really going to fight. Actual people. Thinking, talking people. It was insanity—but it was also a thrill. He couldn't deny the rush of adrenaline coursing through him. The world seemed to dull, the colors fading into grey as his focus sharpened.
He hurled his spear at the axe wielder, but she deflected it with a sharp swing, leaping high into the air. Her axe arced down, aiming to cleave him in two. Andrew threw himself backward, narrowly avoiding the strike. The axe buried itself in the dirt, sending clods of earth flying.
Seizing the moment, Andrew rushed her, aiming a kick at her head. But before his foot could connect, the shield-bearer intervened, her shield colliding with his leg. Pain jolted up his foot as he realized too late that he hadn't fully stopped his momentum.
The axe wielder wrenched her weapon free, and her form became hazy, like a mirage shifting in and out of focus. Andrew's instincts screamed. The world turned grey again, and a sharp tug pulled him back—Lequi, yanking him out of the axe's deadly path just in time.
"Jessy! Barrier!" the axe wielder barked.
The defender was about to act when time reset. Andrew found himself back in the moment where the axe wielder's form had turned hazy. He dropped low, rolling to avoid the blade that whistled over his head.
3... 2... 1...
The axe tip sliced a strand of his hair as it passed. The lady was swinging with so much force that she couldn't make sharp turns in her movement.
Andrew kicked at her stomach, but his foot met nothing but the haze. Before he could recover, the axe was already descending, carving into his shoulder and tearing down toward his gut.
Time reset again. The grey world became grey almost immediately.
Damn it, a healer's no good if every hit's fatal. Nice. Wonderful.
He adjusted his strategy, drawing a knife from his inventory as he lunged. He thrust sideways—but panicked as he felt the faint movement on his hair—another reset.
The process repeated again and again, each failure driving home his desperation. Each time, he could only rewind so far—never far enough.
Finally, the axe buried deep into his side. He gasped in horror and was thrown back because of the force.
Andrew was in pain. A lot of pain. The most pain he had ever been.
Lequi's healing light enveloped him. The pain ebbed, but Andrew could tell this was far from sustainable.
"Damn healer!" the axe wielder snarled. "Jessy!"
"I'm on it!"
Andrew gritted his teeth. He couldn't win this. His resets had made that painfully clear. Ignoring his injuries, he darted toward Lequi, scooping her up and breaking into a sprint. The axe wielder's furious scream chased them, her speed closing the distance far too quickly.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The difference in level was too great. While Andrew was level 9, she was double that. She had reached level 15 a while back and growing stronger became hard. However, killing people gave them more exp, and with that knowledge, she climbed up to level 18.
If Andrew hadn't been inflicted with a very vulnerable body, her ax would be going through his body like soft butter instead of water.
She reached them in seconds, sweeping Andrew's legs out from under him. They crashed to the ground, and her axe hovered just above his neck.
Lequi gasped. "Truce! I can heal you! Spare us, and I'll prove it."
"And why should we believe you?"
"I can show you proof."
The axe wielder hesitated, glancing at Jessy. "Can it cure cancer?"
Lequi nodded emphatically. "Anything."
After a tense moment, the axe wielder extended a hand to Lequi, pulling her to her feet. Andrew lay motionless, every muscle tense. His mind raced with the memory of countless resets and close calls. He had lost.
This wasn't like the hospital. That had been about survival. This—this was a brutal reminder of his weakness.