“...riya! Kariya!”
“Figures you were wearing a revive accessory. You can make stuff for free, after all, so it makes sense you’d be using one. Gotta say, I’m pretty damn jealous, sheesh. But...”
My consciousness had faded, but it was slowly returning.
After all, my body had been sent flying, and it’d only stopped when it had crashed into the chamber wall. Though my vision was still hazy, I could see that the teleportation portal was empty.
Prince Wald, however, was in my arms.
The Revive Bracelet hidden under my sleeve had taken effect. But in the short time between the bracelet activating and my consciousness struggling to rouse itself after I’d come to—
“Have another taste of death.”
The man kicked me over so I was facing upright and plunged his sword through my heart. I died once more.
✦ ✦ ✦
“And he’s back again, no surprise there... Hey princeling, did you know that we players can revive up to twice in a single battle as long as we have enough revive accessories? Everybody should wear two.”
Slowly, the man’s voice registered in my ears.
“It’s just common sense, Your Highness,” he sneered with an edge of mockery. “But you know what? Two’s the limit; there is no third revive. Maybe ’cause of that saying, ‘third time’s the charm’? But listen—this world ain’t as nice as the game. He went through all that trouble to come back to life, but since he’s still got a sword stuck in his gut, he’ll die for real now.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Ghg!” Blood gushed out of my mouth.
I hadn’t felt any pain during my revival after I’d died, but now, it burned through my entire body all at once.
Prince Wald was sitting on the floor, cradling my head.
I looked down at the source of the scorching pain and saw the man’s scimitar jutting out from my gut.
Oh.
I couldn’t think. My mind was getting hazier by the second from the pain. This guy was a real nasty piece of work. He clearly enjoyed torturing people weaker than him.
If he’d left the sword in my heart, I probably would’ve died instantly after reviving again. But he had gone out of his way to stab me in the abdomen after that to give me a slow death.
I’d never actually tested the efficacy of my Revive Bracelets despite making them myself—I’d been too afraid. But it looked like they had worked perfectly.
Unfortunately, it seemed like the man was right. Golden Dawn had certain safeguards in place to keep accidents from happening if a player’s character had overlapped with something upon revival. But I guessed in this world, just as with the cushions during the Jump demonstration, a blade embedded in my body wouldn’t just separate itself from me when I came back to life.
I gasped, forcing my fading consciousness back to reality. The conversation around me continued even as I lay dying in their midst.
If I don’t do something, I’ll bleed out and die. Should I take a healing potion from my Pocket Dimension? No, there’d be no point. I wouldn’t be able to use it right away since I’d have to uncork it first. They’d notice me doing it. Besides, I still need to get this sword out of me.
“So you remember Sakita’s name, but not mine?!” the orange-haired man yelled. “There’s no space in that pretty little head of yours for some S-tier player, huh? It must be nice living in your privileged ivory tower!”
“Yde,” Sakita interrupted. “Six years ago, this prince was only nine years old. You would’ve had to have business at the castle to meet him. You didn’t have the rank back then.”
“Tch.”
I can’t heal myself. So, at the very least...I’ll figure out how to get Prince Wald out of here. Tachyrinn’s already surrounded by enemy forces. I can’t escape with Return. I’m heavily injured. Even if I try chain warping with Jump, they’ll catch up to us right away. They know we can’t escape. That’s why, after everything’s all said and done, these bastards are still toying with Wald.
Deep in thought, my hands shaking, I touched Wald’s arm as he held me. He’d been looking up at the two transmigrators as he sat on the floor, but now, his gaze dropped to me as I lay in his arms. In his emerald green eyes, I could see the reflection of a bloodied man—me—smiling gently.
“Hold...on...” I managed to cough out.
Gasping, Wald immediately realized my intent. He clutched me tight. The moment I felt his grip on me, I cast Jump.
I teleported us a short distance away to the room adjoining the Altiuccia portal chamber. We were hidden in a blind spot from those two transmigrators, so they wouldn’t find us immediately.
The sword was still lodged in my gut, and the recoil from Jump caused it to widen the wound. Even as I continued to cough up blood, I activated the portal to Croway Plains from inside its array.
Since the endpoint on the Croway side had been destroyed, I hadn’t bothered to remove this basic portal’s core. It had only ever been used for Prince Catharine’s visits to Tachyrinn, so its MP was still almost fully charged.
That mysterious voice echoed in my mind.
Your destination portal is unavailable. If you continue to teleport, your destination will be randomly selected. Will you proceed?
> Yes
No
A moment passed, and the darkness around us gave way to a soft, white light.
Where am I? I have to use a potion right away. Wait, no. Before that, I need to...pull...the sword...out...
My consciousness faded away, as if melting into that light.