Situation Assessment

I'd been transmigrated into a novel. Fuck me — and it was the second time, too.

So that was how Admin Warp worked, then. The admin was the one who got unconditionally warped, and the items just tagged along as a bonus. I wanted to complain that the description could have been written a little clearer — but I'd used the function without a second thought even after reading the word "along with," so who was I to blame anyone but myself?

As if that weren't enough, a bizarre message floated up before my eyes.

My mana usage had been almost entirely locked down. One of my greatest weapons, shackled. But that was fine. I was no stranger to a blade, either.

Except I don't have a sword.

I looked around. There was nothing. Just an empty lot. No rocks to swing, no branches, no blades of any kind — of course not.

Stay calm.

I'd learned a great deal since my first transmigration, and the single most important lesson was never to panic. This wasn't the first novel I'd been dropped into — it was another worldline entirely. Entering a different worldline was a first for me. I needed to figure out whether my magic even functioned properly here, and where my combat strength sat on this world's scale.

I should have brought a sword at least...

If I'd known it would come to this, I would have packed a weapon. Still, I'd avoided the worst of it. There were silver linings. First: I knew exactly which story I'd landed in. Second: I had actually read this novel once before.

The downsides were just as real. It had been so long since I'd read it that the details were a blur — and then there was the raving murderess standing right in front of me. Abandoning the search for a weapon, I addressed the woman before me in as friendly a tone as I could manage.

"Nice to meet you, Killer-nim...?"

Blood streamed down her body. At a glance she looked half-starved, a girl wasting away — and yet she was beautiful. Even with dust and dried scabs caked over every inch of her, she looked like some ethereal actress mid-shoot in a war film. The fact that Killer wasn't a man was a genuine surprise, but it did nothing to change the fact that this girl was the infamous named user who posted on the Doomed Novel Gallery under that handle. I knew, because it was floating right above her head.

Whether this was another admin privilege, I couldn't say — but the nickname "killer" was printed in crisp letters above the girl's head.

So the system is designed to let you confirm who you warped to?

I'd have to test the details later. Right now, I needed to get the immediate threat under control. On the gallery she had come across as a pure aggro-baiter who spat out hundreds of posts a day — but the presence rolling off her here was something else entirely. Even with her body torn to shreds, the girl gripped a throwing knife or dagger in a poison-sharp hand, eyes burning with pure venom.

I still hadn't even gotten a proper read on the situation. Making new enemies would be a mistake.

This wasn't the time to meet force with force. Maximum persuasion. That was the smart play.

"Killer-nim, please calm down and hear me out. I didn't come here to hurt you. I'm not one of the countless assassins who came to kill you."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm the admin of the Doomed Novel Gallery. I'll say it again — calm down. I came all this way specifically to help you."

The girl studied my mouth carefully. Then, at last, she lowered her blade. Only then did I exhale and start to close the distance. And that was when —

Whoosh!

The dagger she'd thrown came straight for my face.

You insane little —!

I deployed a defensive spell before I had time to think.

Clang!

The dagger bounced away like a toy. Even with only one percent of my mana, the attack was blocked without strain. One data point collected: one percent of my mana reserves was more than enough to stop a flying knife.

I made no effort to hide my displeasure as I spoke to Killer.

"What the hell was that? Did you decide I was an enemy? I had no intention of attacking you."

The moment she heard me, the girl raised both hands and stepped back.

"I surrender."

I wanted to spit every curse I knew at this absolute maniac, but I swallowed it. Because an ominous message had just appeared.

Not only had the mana and magic that were a mage's lifeblood been kneecapped — I was now stuck here for twenty-three hours, surrounded by dozens of assassins. And to get back, I'd have to survive nearly a full day.

If I'd had a sword to swing it might have been different, but being trapped in an enclosed space with no weapon at all was a serious burden. After all, the enemy count might not stop at dozens — it could climb into the hundreds, even the thousands. I might have been overthinking it, but in the novel I'd come from, the basic combat unit started at tens of thousands. I couldn't afford to let my guard down here either.

No matter how good my swordsmanship was, facing thousands of people with no blade and one percent of my mana was impossible. And I couldn't even guarantee that none of them were mages of my caliber.

If it weren't for this one-percent mana lock, I'd just kill them all.

I could use Aura and sword energy too — but those also consumed mana. Defending against enemy attacks, firing off blade energy, and recovering stamina all on one percent of my reserves meant accepting serious risk. Even a Sword Saint dies if thousands of people pile on him at once.

Just in case, I picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground and tucked it away. It was the one the girl had thrown at me moments ago.

Having a weapon at all was good news. The short reach was a shame, but still.

I kept the irritation out of my voice as best I could and asked her a question.

"Why in the world did you just do that? If I hadn't blocked it, I'd be dead. Do you not believe that I'm the admin? If you don't, I can go write a post on the Doomed Novel Gallery right now and —"

As ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I poured out words, the girl cut me off.

"I can tell whether someone is lying just by listening to them. I believe you're the admin. That came up as true. But you said you came here to help me — and that was a lie. Anyone who hides their real purpose and sneaks up on me is an enemy."

I let out a long sigh the moment she finished.

She was right. From the start, I hadn't come here to save her. Killer had won the event, so my plan had been to dump two Elixirs on her and call it done. Then I'd gotten warped without meaning to, hadn't I? I hadn't come of my own free will — I'd been dragged. So of course "I came to save you" registered as a lie.

And once "I came to save you" was exposed as false, she'd apparently defaulted to the opposite conclusion: that I'd come to kill her.

What kind of extreme little lunatic is this?

I wanted to sigh and argue about a dozen things, but I reined in my emotions and let out only a quiet breath.

"Haah..."

Looking at her, she was curled into the corner like a wounded hedgehog. When I simply stared at Killer without speaking, she answered as if defending herself.

"If 'I came to save you' is a lie, then the opposite could be that you came to hurt me. I'm injured right now. If I respond too late, I could die. That's why."

"Why are you explaining all of this so patiently all of a sudden?"

"Coming to save me was a lie — but when you said just now that you wouldn't hurt me, that came up as true. So I was the one who misunderstood."

She had struck first with a dagger, and even after taking the hit I had answered that I hadn't come to harm her. The person who'd just been ambushed had demonstrated no hostility — and if that was true, then from her perspective, she had made a catastrophic misjudgment.

Haah... Fine. I'll try to understand.

The posts Killer had written came flooding back. The claims that countless assassins were hunting her. The raw, screaming desperation of someone who just wanted to live — I could almost hear it ringing in my ears. I wiped away every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scrap of hostility toward Killer and analyzed the situation with cold clarity.

Quick judgment. Ice-cold nerves. No wonder she survived a whole year.

The moment she decided I was an enemy, she had gone straight for a vital point. The moment she decided I wasn't, she raised the white flag and made her lack of hostility plain — and then even explained the reasoning behind her actions with perfect clarity.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Of course I felt wronged, but... fine. In a world this fucked, this was about as reasonable as it got.

"We'll let this one slide. I figure I bear some of the blame myself."

"That's a lie."

Fuck...

I had no idea how that ability of hers worked, but it was incredibly annoying. The girl seemed pathologically sensitive to falsehoods. So I decided to drop the empty niceties and just be honest.

"Haah... Of course I don't think I did anything wrong. The second I saw you, you threw a dagger at me — I thought you were a complete psychopath. But I truly have no intention of becoming your enemy. I didn't come ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠here because I wanted to either, you know? So I'll just kill some time and then leave."

"..."

Only then did the girl tear a strip from her clothes, re-bandage her wounds, and speak quietly.

"How long until you leave?"

"About twenty-three hours and fifty-two minutes... Why?"

I gave her the most precise number I could. If I rounded it off, she'd probably call me a liar and start another scene.

"I won't last that long. They're tightening the net. I've been trying to suppress my presence as much as possible, but twelve hours at the outside and they'll find us."

She rummaged through her clothes and held out a single poison needle.

"It's coated with a paralytic toxin that won't kill you. If you run into the enemy, jam this into your hand and play dead. They might just assume you're another one of my victims and move on."

The goodwill was appreciated. The plan was not realistic.

"If someone who looks as suspicious as I do — wearing a mage's robes, of all things — is lying around this place with a poison needle in him, wouldn't they just kill me on suspicion alone?"

The girl nodded.

"Over ninety-five percent chance they kill you. But it's still the best shot you've got at surviving. There's nowhere to run from here."

"And what about you?"

"...I'll just die like this."

"I thought you wanted to live."

"When did I say that?"

"Aren't you the same Killer-nim who posts hundreds of times a day on the community saying you want to live?"

"That was when there was still a chance... There's no way for one mage and one injured assassin to survive this place."

"I may not look it, but I'm a great mage, you know. I blocked that ambush just now, didn't I?"

"It's a sealed space with limited room for magic. You don't even have a proper weapon. Meanwhile the other side is a heavily armed group with every advantage — terrain, numbers, supplies."

She wasn't wrong. Coldly speaking, from the moment I'd warped here, my mana reserves had become far too meager to call myself an Archmage. No wand of any kind. No crystal orb to amplify my mana. Just a cumbersome robe and the dagger I'd just acquired. Honestly, I didn't even know the size of the enemy force, and I had no desire to stake my life on saving a complete stranger.

I weighed my options. Unfortunately, I wasn't given much time to think.

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud

From far off came the sound of someone running hard.

"Damn it... Our voices were too loud."

The girl snatched up her weapon. The footsteps drew closer by the second.

At last, a man cloaked head to toe in black assassin's garb appeared before us. The moment he confirmed both me and Killer, he opened his mouth to shout.

"Enemies he—"

In that instant —

I hurled the poison needle Killer had given me with every ounce of strength I had, then accelerated it with a trickle of mana. The result exceeded expectations.

Thwack!

The needle punched clean through his windpipe. The man collapsed without even a death rattle. The girl beside me blinked, staring at me with a blank, stunned expression.

"Just now... how did you do that? You said you were a mage..."

I cut her off.

"We move. If you want to live."