Chapter 3: Crisis Perception

There were five corpses in total.

Four of them were tall, with purple-black skin and grotesque faces. They were the lowest-ranked soldiers of the demon army: [Demon Grunts].

Each of those Demon Grunts had a massive hole in its head or chest, with shredded, bloody flesh around the wound. They had clearly been shot to death by magic guns.

The last corpse lay sprawled on the ground. It had black hair, one eye, and a slender build, with blood still gushing beneath it.

It was One-Eyed Dragon.

Luka’s heart jolted. He hurried over, crouched down, and examined her body.

She was lying face-down, her head turned to one side. Her remaining eye was wide open in a furious glare, but she had long stopped breathing.

There was a huge gash on her neck, nearly cutting through half of it. Blood had pooled beneath her body.

Seeing such a gruesome wound, Luka paused. He had a vague feeling something was wrong.

This was not a gunshot wound. It looked more like it had been caused by a sharp blade.

He lifted his head and swept his gaze around.

The Demon Grunts all carried standard-issue demonic muskets, each with only a bayonet attached.

Who would use a bayonet not to stab but to slash, cutting someone’s neck? That made no sense.

Besides, the Demon Grunts had all been shot in vital spots. It was almost impossible for them to have any strength left to fight back and take One-Eyed Dragon down with them.

So how did One-Eyed Dragon actually die?

‘Not good!’

At that thought, Luka felt like a basin of ice water had been dumped over his head. Goosebumps exploded from his scalp down to his tailbone.

He suppressed the chill in his heart and slowly looked upward.

There, on the ceiling, hung an ugly face. It opened a bloody, gruesome mouth and grinned at him.

This was a demon with an utterly bizarre appearance.

Eight spider legs sprouted from its back, four pairs of compound eyes sat on its ugly face, and its huge jaws split open horizontally.

Its arms had no hands. Instead, a pair of sharp bone blades grew from them, still stained with blood.

“[Spider Slaughter Demon]!” Luka gasped.

His mind quickly flipped through the demon encyclopedia he’d studied in boot camp.

This was an elite demon skilled at climbing walls and concealing itself, specializing in close-quarters combat.

A Magical Girl’s shield had poor defense against physical attacks. And when you ran into a Spider Slaughter Demon, it was almost always in a cramped street fight. One careless moment and you were instantly killed.

This Spider Slaughter Demon had been lurking on the ceiling for a long time, fully coiled and ready.

It had clearly been watching him, waiting for the moment he was least guarded to strike.

“Magica! Die!”

Once it was discovered, the Spider Slaughter Demon shrieked and slammed down with all eight legs, its two bone blades thrusting forward as it lunged.

Luka’s scalp tingled. Without time to raise his gun, he instinctively rolled backward, barely dodging the fatal strike.

Thud!

The bone blade on the demon’s right arm pierced straight through the wooden floor and stuck fast. It twisted a few times but couldn’t pull it out easily.

‘Good chance!’

Luka sat on the ground and seized the opportunity to raise his magic gun, aiming it at the immobilized demon.

With a thought, mana surged wildly into the gun.

Hum…

As the magic gun absorbed the mana, the magic circuits etched on its surface blazed bright.

At the muzzle, mana condensed into a mass of magic bullet, radiating destructive energy.

Luka suppressed his slamming heartbeat and took a deep breath.

He remembered the instructor’s warning from boot camp. He didn’t aim at the demon’s head, but at its chest, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A huge magic bullet shot out.

Even with his terrible marksmanship, from this distance, at a target this big, there was no way he could miss.

Boom!

Just as expected, a body burst open with a large hole, flesh and blood flying.

But it wasn’t the Spider Slaughter Demon’s body. It was One-Eyed Dragon’s.

“What?!” Luka was stunned.

In the instant he had raised his gun and aimed,

the Spider Slaughter Demon moved its left blade, stabbed through One-Eyed Dragon’s corpse on the ground, and lifted it in front of itself to block the shot.

“Kekeke!”

The demon shoved the ruined corpse aside, revealing its ugly face with a mocking smile.

Before Luka could gather mana and fire a second shot,

the demon yanked its bone blade from the floor, flashed forward, and slashed across Luka’s body in that instant.

Crack!

The shield around Luka shattered.

A tearing pain tore through him. His neck had been cut open several centimeters deep, blood spraying out like a fountain.

“Haa… haa…”

He clutched his throat in disbelief, only ragged sounds coming from his mouth. His blue eyes were wide with despair.

Then his body went limp and he collapsed.

“Magica, tasty!”

Before he lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was the demon’s snarling face opening its huge mouth and leaning in.

“…Hey, newbie…”

It was One-Eyed Dragon’s voice again.

Luka’s gaze was dull.

A warning rose in his mind:

[Rewinds used today: 3]

[Rewinds remaining today: 2]

Luka closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, then out.

Dying horribly three times in quick succession had left him breathless and drained, both body and mind.

His small face was pale, with a faint hint of a sickly flush.

His thoughts were even starting to scatter.

“…This is what being a senior is like…”

The One-Eyed Dragon beside him was still rattling on.

Remembering how she had been ‘used as a shield’ just now, Luka felt irritable.

He turned his head, expressionless, and extended his small hand.

He placed it on One-Eyed Dragon’s chest.

Before he even pushed, Luka paused.

Wasn’t this a little early this time?

What now?

He’d just have to wait.

One-Eyed Dragon froze, looking down at him in disbelief.

“…What do you mean by putting your hand there?” Her single eye looked dull.

Luka tilted his head, thought for a moment, and said, “Go on with what you were saying. Don’t mind me.”

“Y-you you you…” The tips of her ears visibly reddened.

Her single eye glared wide, as if about to spit fire.

Before she could lose it, Luka suddenly shoved hard.

“Oof!”

Taken off guard, One-Eyed Dragon fell backward.

Boom!

The cabin wall split open, and a magic bullet flew through the gap between them.

It was the exact same turn of events as before.

But this time, One-Eyed Dragon did not kindly warn him to keep up.

She gave him a resentful glare and jumped straight out of the hatch.

“I groped you several times, but you only got one. Is it really worth getting that mad…”

Luka sighed and quickly followed.

The flight in between went smoothly.

Until One-Eyed Dragon entered the village and was about to fly into that wooden cabin again.

Luka raised his magic gun and fired from behind her at long range.

Bang!

The shot was intentionally off target, the bullet passing over a dozen meters to her side.

Still, it gave her a fright. She twitched, dropped instantly, and dove into a ruined wall, disappearing from view.

Luka put away his gun and flew toward the ruin where she was hiding.

Crack.

He had just landed when a magic gun pressed against his forehead.

“How is it you!”

One-Eyed Dragon blinked in surprise when she recognized him. Her gaze turned wary. “You’re a newbie, yet you managed to survive and follow me all the way here?”

Then her single eye blazed. “You crash into me, and now you’re taking a cheap shot at me from behind. What’s your problem? You looking to die?”

Luka reached out, trying to move the gun away.

One-Eyed Dragon quickly moved it back and poked his head with it.

“Cut it out. If I actually wanted to hit you, would I come over without any guard up?” Luka sighed. “I didn’t mean anything bad. I shot at you as a warning. There’s a Spider Slaughter Demon and a squad of Demon Grunts in that cabin up ahead. You’d be walking into danger.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” One-Eyed Dragon refused to believe him. “Don’t try to bluff me! How would you know a thing like that?”

Luka was silent for a moment.

The death rewind ability was far beyond the bounds of ordinary magic.

And without any proof, he definitely couldn’t just say it.

But to convince her, and for the sake of his own future prospects, he needed a reasonable explanation for his behavior.

He thought for a moment, then looked straight into her single eye and said seriously:

“I can know it because my exclusive magic is [Crisis Perception].”

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