Yuusha's body shivered as if he stood in a freezer. Then he fell to his knees powerlessly.

“Tch!” Yuusha gasped at the first thing he actively felt—an unpleasant, stinging feeling on his face. He tried wiping his face and brushed off a tiny layer of ice that formed all the way from his eyes, which were still wet.

Crying? Why? Yuusha tried to think but everything was a mess. It was like he had woken up from a dream- no, a nightmare. A nightmare that he’d rather not remember.

The last thing Yuusha did remember was laughter. Malicious laughter.

Ah! I was laughing! Yuusha remembered. And he remembered catching a glimpse of a thin, white object, flying straight at his face. Yuusha instinctively ducked and covered his head at the mere thought of what he realized had happened before. but Nothing flew at him, this time.

Yuusha looked around and saw a familiar scene—his goblin buddies trapped in the surrounding white ice. Then Yuusha realized—I’m here... Again.

Yuusha looked across the river. There she is, he thought looking at the pretty, blonde wizard girl, my murderer. Twice now my murderer. Or is it the “soon to be murderer” now? She looks like she’s about to drop dead herself.

The girl was completely out of it—even her elemental disintegrated. The water fell to the ground in a splash, as if it lost connection to whatever magic that held it’s form.

So even in that state, she can still one-shot me? Better to stay the fuck away from her for now! Though, this would be a good opportunity to kill her. If I had any way to do so that is.

Wait, kill her? Why? She’s just protecting her town from a bunch of raiders and murderers.

But she did kill me twice already, so if I kill her now, isn’t that just pre-emptive defense?

That’s one option. And how about not raiding her town in the first place?

Yes, but I value my own life higher and I can’t risk the goblins turning on me!

Then figure out a way to do both, hero!

Anyway, even if I wanted to subdue her, is there any way for me to do so?

Yuusha checked his stats again.

[Name: Yuusha Kigiraya]

[Class: Wizard]

[Level: 1 (0%)]

[Health points: 20]

[Mana points: 40]

[Strength: 1]

[Endurance: 2]

[Dexterity: 1]

[Willpower: 3]

[Intelligence: 4]

[Skills:

Another Chance: Level 1 (20%)

Arcane Flash: Level 1 (0%)

Arcane Wall: Level 1 (0%)

Evil Language: Level 13 (89%)

Good Language: Level 0 (1%)]

No experience for dying, eh? At least I’m not losing stats. And at least my revive skill is leveling at a steady pace. So, I just have to die eight more times for it to level up?

Yeah, let's not do that, if at all possible. Yuusha vividly remembered every horrifying second of his life slipping away when he was turned into an ice pincushion. What do I even have to work with?

[Skill: Arcane flash

Active

Level: 1 (0%)

Cost: 5 mana

Activation time: 0.5 seconds

Cooldown: 5 seconds

Range: 10 meters

Description: Deals 5 damage to a single target, with a 10% chance to Blind the target for 1 second.]

Oh, good Lord, you have got to be kidding me!! Five minutes ago my goblin pals and the wizard girl were fighting that spectacular fight all over the place! Are you telling me they kept track of all of those distances and cooldowns, and costs, and percentage chances, and whatever else they might have had!? I know it’s about right for how things work in games, but keeping track of all of that real-time seems inane!

How did those water summons work? How many cubes of water was that? Did she need to know how much water was available in the river? I’d need to sit down with a pen, paper, and a long-ass measure tape to figure that out! Was her smaller elemental a failed one because of some flat percentage chance or because she seems weaker? Or was she weaker because those elementals drained her life force—or health points in this case?

Alright, calm down Yuusha! Maybe it’s not that hard once you get used to it. Maybe after a while, it’s just like walking or breathing—you don’t even think about it! Just cast a spell and watch the fireworks! And wasn’t there that one novel where the game system was only created for the protagonist to comprehend how the magic worked and none of the other characters perceived it that way?

Maybe the goblins just fire their arrows and don’t think of it as an [Arrow shot] with fifty-meter range and a fifty percent decrease in chance to hit because they’re firing while moving? Argh, it makes my head hurt just thinking of it that way!

This is the point where some explanation from an all-knowing Goddess would come in really handy! You hear me, Luluna!?

An image flashed in Yuusha’s mind of a female torso caught between two jaws on either side, with several rows of uneven, pointed teeth sunk into the flesh, ripping it apart, letting the guts burst out, filling Yuusha’s mind with red, agony and death.

“Blargh!” Yuusha fell on all fours and vomited what little he had left in his stomach.

What the hell was that? Yuusha wondered as he wiped his mouth. “—Touch Of Nightmare—” words echoed though Yuusha’s mind. He had heard that voice. Pure malice.

“AH!!” Yuusha let out a gasp as images surfaced and flashed one after the other in his mind. A face with red eyes, distorted by a black hurricane. A bloated corpse on a metal table. A man leaning over a metal fence in the night sky and falling into the lights below. Psychotic laughter. Deal.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Yuusha grabbed his head and screamed in pain. He remembered.