Pain.

A negative feeling that is employed to…

…wait a second.

Quickly opening my eyes, I look directly at the dwarf man standing before me while freezing time for what I’m fairly certain is for a second time.

However, I am certain that I reacted to the sensation of pain and opened my eyes faster than last time as the blade is barely poked into my side - an advantage that allows me to possibly progress further than my last “attempt” at escaping.

Only two questions are in my mind at this moment: How? and Why?

Successfully thwarting the dwarf man can become a secondary task if I am able to comprehend the true answer behind this phenomenon.

The first few parts of How? that I need answered is as follows:

How many times can I reverse time and start all over again with memories from the future?

How far back in time can I return and can I set a checkpoint to return to?

How do I use this new ability to my advantage and can I use it to actually defeat the dwarf man?

Unfortunately, the answers to the questions of Why? are likely to be unattainable as the context of these occurrences are not available to me at the present moment. I should likely refocus my attention back on the dwarf man before he gets a chance to help me test my theories once more.

Since the scimitar is approximately a centimeter into my flesh, I believe that I can jump backwards in order to prevent further laceration of skin, fat, and muscle fibers while also gaining a distance advantage from which I can use my crossbow more effectively.

Although it may be a good concept in the mind, it is likely not to be so easy to coordinate when looking at the athletic prowess of this body.

If I recall the maneuver I attempted to make during my last attempt, I missed with my crossbow because I didn’t have enough arm strength to keep the bolt aligned properly and fired over the dwarf’s shoulder instead of directly in the head. I have to take into consideration my strangely weak physique and adjust my actions accordingly.

As for my next actions after leaping backwards, I’ll leave that to the future me that successfully jumps away in the first place.

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As I unfreeze time, I put strength into my legs in preparation to make the short dash that would guarantee my lack of hole in the stomach. The dwarf stumbles forward out of surprise and accidentally drops his sword as a meter or so worth of distance is formed between the two of us.

Jackpot.

I wasn’t expecting the dwarf to drop his sword, but now that he has, it is time to capitalize on it.

Utilizing both of my arms and anchoring my feet one in front of the other, I lean back and aim the crossbow directly at the chest of the dwarf. I’ve already missed one shot while aiming at the head and I’m not about to miss a second one.

*Click, whoosh!*

Bullseye. Right in the heart.

“GRAHHHHHH!” Cries out the dwarf man as he falls to his knees and grabs hold of the bolt that struck him in his vital organ before collapsing face first on the ground - an act that impales the crossbow bolt even further through his body.

After watching the dwarf man’s blood gush out as if flowing from a freshwater spring, I’m beginning to feel somewhat sorry for him. I mean, he did try to kill me, but at the very least he killed me in one clean swipe instead of letting me die the cold, painful death of bleeding out.

Well, nothing I can do about it now.

Even though the dwarf might be dead, I should probably continue to flee wherever I was going before some other dwarf man catches up with me and ends up attacking me.

However, I’m not going to just leave behind an easily lootable corpse and run away without reaping the benefits of my achievement.

First picking up the strangely light scimitar, I start stripping the dwarf man of his armor while searching for secret pockets or pouches that might contain valuable loot. Slowly but surely, multiple goodies begin to reveal themselves to the dextrous movements of my fingers.

A pouch filled with twenty-or-so silver coins, a silver flame-bladed dagger and its sheathe, and a small, gold-embroidered chest containing glowing blue rocks all came out from the inside of the dwarf’s armor while a flask filled with a strange white powder came out of his inner garments.

After stuffing the stolen goods into my own armor and clothes, I freeze time and begin scouting out the area around me in search for a place to run to.

Off in the distance, the groups of humans and dwarves are still in a run and chase scenario and probably cannot be a good direction to run in order to maintain my safety. If I run into dwarves first, they’ll probably try to kill me and if I run into the humans first, they wouldn’t be able to completely ensure my safety.

On the other hand, in the direction that the “me” was running before I took control are distant silhouettes of trees in the form of what appears to be a forest. Strategically, a forest is a very good place to hide as there is lots of cover as well as the potential to completely get away from the fight and figure out my bearings. However, it is unknown what kind of beasts might be roaming around in the forest and I don’t feel like being mauled by a bear after escaping from death once.

Although, comparing the two possible scenarios that could occur from going in either direction, running to the forest is far better than trying to group up with my fellow humans. At least bears might ignore me and mind their own business if I don’t bother them.

Let’s start running towards the forest then.