My skin tingled as if spiders were crawling on it, and when I glanced at my shoulder, delicate threads of blood wove their way toward the keyhole of the chain encircling my neck.
Interestingly, the blood was traced to the back of the Lady standing next to me. It was blood from when she was hit with a whip.
Upon closer examination, I observed that a mouth had formed on her wrist near the knot. It was carefully opening and closing, chewing on a rope in an attempt to sever it.
'Mark of divinity,' the words echoed in my head.
I could have sworn I had seen it before—someone with the ability to sprout a mouth on any part of their skin.
"Blades of Destiny," or wait... "Blade of Eternity,"
I think it's "Blade of Justice,"
A sharp pang of pain jolted my mind as I struggled to recall the name of the video game I had previously played.
Observing the lady to my left, she has long, flowing black hair with streaks of vibrant red underneath.
Her face revealed sharp, pointed teeth, further enhancing the unsettling impression.
I have no doubt; that this is Lucy, a character from the video game I previously played.
"Have I transmigrated into a video game?"
A sharp sensation gripped my brain: "Slaves traveling in chains."
Another wave of pain surged through my head; it felt as though my exposed brain had been submerged in pickle juice.
"A survival quest to dodge arrows." My eyes twitched, and the veins on my forehead throbbed as if they were about to burst.
I could no longer endure it; any effort to recall anything would result in my premature death.
***
The knight strode toward me, his gaze fixed on the lifeless body of the first slave lying before us at a distance.
"Refrain from attempting any foolish actions," he murmured.
The remaining slaves looked toward me as we stood in a straight line; I could sense the fear emanating from their souls.
The knight inserted a key into the chain restraining my neck, which was quietly enveloped by Lucy's blood.
He blindfolded me with a black scarf. Seconds later, his dagger sliced through the rope binding my wrists, severing it completely.
"One!" the knight began to count.
I was partially blinded by the scarf, able only to discern the silhouette of my surroundings.
"Two!"
In the distance, merely a hundred meters away, two entities awaited me: one was a cluster of trees that promised safety, and the other was a group of crows eagerly anticipating feasting on my corpse.
"Three!"
I started to run, my feet thrusting forcefully into the dark soil.
If my heartbeat had been monitored, it would have caused the doctor's eardrums to rupture.
Throughout my life, I lived by ignoring any criticism thrown at me; ignoring isn't the same as ignorance. I had to work at it.
I have never suffered pain even close to a broken fist; all the horror stories I heard were stories about other people I read online.
They were stories of corpses in ditches or the woods, bludgeoned to death or mutilated, but they were about other people.
The stories were like a dream to me, a bad dream dreamt by others; they were awful without being believable.
However, as I bolted toward the forest, the veil that had separated me from reality was shattered.
Lord Henry's arrow was probably in the Air on its way to my heart.
"Am I going to accept death?" I shut my eyes despite already being blindfolded.
"Is dying as a virgin, a worthy death? Is dying as a doormat, constantly bullied by others, a worthy death?"
I clenched my teeth and swung my arms, cold tears slipping out from beneath my blindfold.
"I refuse to die a virgin, I am going to live a life worth remembering."
[Ding- You have received a memory Fragment.]
[Name - Diva.]
[Details - Access to the memory of the initial stage of Blade of Destiny will be granted.]
It was as if I anticipated where Lord Henry was aiming when I deliberately stumbled and fell, narrowly escaping his arrow.
My chest slammed against the ground and bounced back. My body rolled forward as if I were a sack of spilled potatoes.
The corpse of the First slave stopped my momentum.
In an instant, I rose and extracted the arrow lodged in his corpse. Utilizing the sharp edge of the arrow, I cut through the blindfold covering my eyes.
Before the adrenaline coursing through my veins could subside, I plunged my fingers into the lifeless body of the fallen slave and hoisted it up, using it as a shield to protect against any arrows.
Driven by paranoia, my neck turned around, and I saw Lord Henry's fingers clutching another arrow.
Before I could redirect my eyes to the path ahead. The chain that had been restraining Lucy's neck unlocked on its own, and the rope binding her hands also unraveled.
Lucy glanced at me and began running a curved trajectory toward the west. In response to her action, I proceeded to run in the direction of the east.
Lord Henry, in a moment of desperation, released his arrow toward me.
The force of the arrow coursed through my hand as it struck the corpse.
Lucy altered her course, shifting from west to east, and I synchronized her movement, adjusting my direction from east to west.
Our paths converged at the center, seventy meters to the south. Lord Henry was replacing his arrow; he appeared to be enjoying the hunt.
His next arrow sliced through the air and struck Lucy with precision. Her body jolted backward, and she fell.
Lord Henry's arrow had entangled her hair, pinning it to the ground and rendering her defenseless.
A smile crept across his face as he readied another arrow, his target, Lucy, struggling to rise to her feet.
At that moment, Lucy was only one meter behind me. I had a shield in the form of a corpse, she was vulnerable, likely facing certain death.