Ch. 2.1

I could clearly feel the pulsating blood vessels at my fingertips. They wriggled as if they were alive.

Gazing into the eyes of the archer who met his demise under my own hands, I did not even feel a shred of guilt.

Despite the fact that it was my first kill, I felt no fear since I only killed to ensure my survival.

"What... What's wrong with that bastard? He just used Flash, right?"

The leader-class warrior shouted when he saw my quick and agile movements.

"He's using unusual movements! Hurry up and kill him!"

My Flash's cooldown had not completed yet. I turned the archer's body and pushed it away with a kick.

"Ugh!"

A shower of blood gushed out from the corpse, obscuring the sight of those approaching me, and one even crashed into the corpse.

While holding the arrow stolen from the archer in my hand, I hurriedly rolled on the ground, and used Flash toward the tree branch located diagonally above.

Pssh!

"Ugghhh"

It was my first time using Flash in an upward direction, so the distance adjustment was confusing at first. I could not place my foot properly and slipped.

Barely grasping the branch with one hand, I gave it all my strength. Surprisingly, my tough shoulders and back muscles lifted me up the tree at will.

Without a moment to tie the string to the bow, I quickly hid behind the wooden post, barely dodging the sea of flames that engulfed the tree in the next second.

Boom!!

The small explosion ripped through the top of the tree, but the fire did not persist.

It might be because the tree was moist due to the snow.

Squeak!

I armed the string with an arrow, used Flash on a branch towards the opposite side, and fixed my aim at the back of a sloppy spearman, who was chasing my afterimage.

"Ahhh! My feet, ahhh!"

'Did I miss it?'

The aim was slightly off, and it ended up hitting the spearman's foot.

Although arrows in this world had some degree of 'aim guidance' magic on them, I still missed it because I had never used an arrow in my life before.

Luckily, I was able to hit his feet.

'Nevertheless, I made it impossible for him to act anymore. Moving on to the next one.'

Whoop!

Another ball of flame came flying toward me, but I jumped off the tree without any regrets.

"I, I…!"

However, since the altitude was quite high, I could break a bone or two if I fell down.

The guy stood at the position where I seemed destined to fall, and raised his arms in anticipation of the impact with me, but I thrust the dagger into the gap between his arms.

"Ahh!"

The loud noise meant I had collided with him rather than stabbing him, so I forced myself to face the sky and immediately used Flash.

One of the special features of Flash skill.

The momentum prior to using Flash would be conserved.

"Ugghhh!"

As I took a deep breath while looking at the mage casting spell from the front, I was overwhelmed with shock.

"Fire B… Oops!"

"Uh-huh…!"

I rolled on the ground with a stifling sensation, and I could feel the swirl of mana.

It was the first time I felt mana today, but due to the prior experience, I realized what this phenomenon was called, just by instinct.

"Magic Rebound!"

It was one of the phenomena that occurred when magic casting failed. When rebound occurs, an explosion prevails according to the scale of the caster's strength, and the caster takes the damage.

If it was a game, mage would have suffered damage from the explosion alone, but was that the same in real life too?

Having gotten to that point, I crouched down as much as possible.

Boom!

My entire surroundings was engulfed in the small explosion. I rolled over the ground several times to lessen the impact.

Perhaps the level of the mage was lower than expected, the rebound explosion was nothing like a powerbomb, but since I was close, my skin was slightly burnt.

'Aaahhhh'

I was forcibly coughing out due to the stinging pain, but at the creepy sensation of something approaching my head, I unknowingly lowered my head.

Phew!

An arrow flew past my hair and hit the tree next to me.

"Huh, that's very unusual."

The only remaining pursuers were a warrior with armor and a magic archer.

Since both of them had their necks exposed, it would be possible to get rid of them if I aim for that vital spot.

Slowly holding the dagger, I got up and took a stance.

The warrior raised the corners of his mouth to speak.

"Your reaction speed doesn't seem real and you use unusual magic. Who the hell are you?"

My reaction speed was far better than that of any professional gamer, so I always appeared on special broadcasts in any game.

I had also won first place in a world competition where they test the speed of response with clicks.

However, no matter how fast humans were, they could never avoid arrows, especially with their back facing them.

Moreover, they were even more difficult to dodge when they were fired at such a close distance.

"If you were a skilled mage, it would still be understandable with your enchanted senses… But, you're just an idiot who can't even use magic. I don't understand. Why don't you tell me before you die?"

The Mana Accumulation Retardation, which strengthened all human senses was practically useless in the magical society, but it surprisingly offered such amazing physical abilities.

But, I didn't have any intention to talk, and the warrior giggled as if he noticed it.

"Yeah, let's see if you can move around with that injured body of yours?"

A provocation always felt childish to me, and I often refused to respond to such crap.

"… Do you have any potions?"

"I have something to drink."

"Good."

I took a stance as I drew the dagger little by little.

"I'm going to kill you and drink it, so be careful not to lose it."

[Flash]

At the moment when my body became blurry, the warrior raised his shield and covered his neck and face.

"I've already figured out how you use Flash!"

Previously, when I activated Flash, I would swing the dagger after my body became stationary, so it never carried the momentum of Flash. Moreover, the dagger I wielded was not very threatening.

The rest of the warrior's body was protected by armour, so he decided to only protect his face and neck. And on the other hand, I approached the opponent's face with deadly concentration while using Flash.

The warrior who was feeling proud of his long vision, raised his shield, and at the same time, slammed his foot hard on the floor.

"Wave Break!"