I Died. Twice

"Or at least try not to die right away. The nearest Awakened won't be able to get here for a few hours, so we would really appreciate it if you don't make us fight that thing ourselves...."

' What, fight what, awakened who?'

With that last or first thought.....depending on perspective..... he slipped into a slumber, but not before he heard a faint whisper coming from the darkness.

[ Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your first trail.]

........

' I didn't die? How?' The last thing Zarian remembered before dying—well, what he thinks dying is—was a truck charging towards him like a bull. If that Final Destination scene was based on real physics, he should be dead right now.

Instead, he is dreaming of a damn mountain.

It dwarfed every other peak of the mountain chain, standing alone in the sky and looking down at others like a king. The moon fell over the horizon. The sun rose from the west, streaked across the sky, and disappeared in the east. He really might not be dead; the sun is rising from the west.Or-

The flow of time might be going in reverse.

In an instant, hundreds of years flew by. The snow re...

'No way, no fucking way.'

Is he in Shadow Slave and took Sunny's body?

.........

After carefully thinking and assessing the situation, he found out he is indeed in Shadow Slave.

' Why, just why? He is now Sunny!'

Why not a normal anime world or even a fantasy world with less pain and death?

Sighing, he continued to walk. At least he is not dead. Starting as a powerless slave, shackled, and already half-dead is not really an ideal situation. Walking in the cold barefooted is a pain in the ass, too.

'Status'

Name : Sunless

True Name : ---

Rank : Aspirant

Soul Core : Dormant

Memories : ---

Echoes : ---

Attributes : [ Fated ] [Mark of Divinity] [ Child of Shadows]

Aspect : [ Temple Slave ] [ Slave is a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention. A temple slave is just the same expect much rarer.]

Reading the runes while walking in the damn snow, he cross-checked everything he remembered from the webnovel. If he translates his aspect description-

[Congratulations! You are the worst Pokémon alive, but don't be sad, at least you are a shiny one.]

Reading the runes is a weird experience. He could tell that it wasn't English, and logically, he shouldn't be able to read these. The runic language looked like an unholy union of every language. Zarian shook his head to throw out unnecessary thoughts.

' Its time to get down to business.'

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The interaction with Shifty and Scholar went pretty normal. He didn't antagonize the older soldier, and he even managed to get water from Hero. With pollution-free, chilly air entering his nostrils and food (yak) and water in his stomach, one could say that his life is not half bad. But the 4-meter-tall creature that landed on the slope just a moment ago is ready to make his life a living hell.

By the way, he can now see in the dark. Magic.

Calmly taking a step back to avoid a giant piece of ice, Zarian continued to observe the creature. Others weren't that quick. As stones and ice continued to rain, many were wounded, and many lost their lives. Soldiers were shouting, trying to get the slaves to safety.

The creature had two fat and short legs and a hunched torso----

He jumped sideways to avoid its claws; apparently, the creature didn't like it when someone appreciated its beauty.

Another slave wasn't that lucky and took the claws instead of him. Drenched in hot blood, Zarian hit the ground.

'Ahh, the cold.'

Zarian continued to struggle as much as he could, dodging an ice spike that came from god-knows-where and killing the wormified corpse, which led to killing another wormfied corpse.

[ You have slain a dormant beast, Mountain King's Larva] x2

No offense, but killing dormant monsters using the very chain he is shackled to is a tough job. The cold didn't help either. The kill announcement was good, though.

'Where is the damn Hero?'

According to the novel, Hero was supposed to make a dashing appearance any moment and throw the key towards him. But he is already fighting his 3rd larva and that bastard is still not here. When fighting the 2nd larva he might have changed his position-as much as the chain allowed to- and moved to a non-canon zone.

' No way I just moved a little and that piece of shit missed me!'

Then it happened, his concentration finally broke due to muscle stress and the worm got an opening. Ducking to avoid its claw then jumping sideways Zarian managed to avoid death. For now.

Scholar wasn't that lucky. Since Scholar was behind him, the moment he ducked the worm's claw found its mark, albeit a little late.

Things are already going north.

The larva wasn't satiated with just that. It changed its direction, this time dashing towards him at incredible speed. Zarian could do nothing but just watch, the jump had tangled the chain. He cannot get up immediately, there is no one to play hero and save the day.

At the end he died.

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"Or at least try not to die right away. The nearest Awakened won't be able to get here for a few hours, so we would really appreciate it if you don't make us fight that thing ourselves...."

' Huh wait what?'

With that last or first thought.....again depending on perspective..... he slipped into a slumber, but not before he heard a faint whisper coming from the darkness.

[ Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your first trail.]

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AN: Yes its a save point/time loop shit. The concept is from The Perfect Run. You know what happens in time loop story? The mc becomes villain in one start and hero in another. All of it will happen here.