Chapter 1: Who the Hell Ambushed Me?!
The sky was overcast, the air damp and heavy.
In the Thomas Canyon, on a battlefield littered with corpses, the fighting had temporarily ceased. A small squad of orcs was hastily retreating toward the canyon's summit.
Crude curses accompanied their chaotic footsteps as they climbed, their clamorous noise startling the scavenging carrion birds.
Crows, vultures, and corpse gulls, reluctant to leave the piles of severed limbs and entrails before them yet fearful of being struck by stray arrows, circled the heaps of corpses, crying incessantly. As if awakened by these hoarse sounds, something within the pile of bodies stirred, emitting a faint noise.
Not far away, a squad of three orcs suddenly halted.
"A sound!" A burly green-skinned orc in tattered leather armor bared its tusks, squinting as it scanned the surroundings with a cold gaze. "It's a human. I'll go kill him."
With that, it strode toward the pile of corpses.
"Hurry up," the other orcs urged.
In the darkness, relying on its keen sense of smell, the strong orc quickly located a human buried beneath the remains after a brief search.
This severely wounded warrior was still unconscious, surrounded entirely by orc corpses. His armor was battered and broken, the blade of the greatsword in his hand was chipped, and the sword itself showed signs of cracking. He looked to be in terrible condition, so weak he seemed on the verge of death at any moment.
*Boom!* Thunder tore through the sky.
"Die!" With the thunderclap, the orc raised its battle-axe and swung it fiercely toward the human's head.
*Crack!* Lightning illuminated the dark night. In the blinding flash, the orc seemed to meet a cold, unyielding gaze staring back at it.
In an instant, the unconscious warrior's eyes snapped open. His left hand shot out, striking the nerve point on the back of the orc's hand. The sudden numbness and pain forced the orc to release its grip on the axe. Seizing the opportunity, the warrior grabbed its wrist, broke its balance, and effortlessly threw it to the ground beside him.
"Huh?!" It all happened too fast. The burly orc hadn't even processed what was happening before it instinctively exhaled. By then, a left hand like a steel vise had already clamped around its throat.
*Crack.*
The hand tightened slowly, its immense power gradually crushing the orc's windpipe and spine. The orc struggled desperately, but to no avail. As the pressure increased, its pupils began to dilate. Through its blurring vision, the severely wounded warrior slowly sat up, his gaze as cold and hard as steel.
Moments later, the orc stopped struggling. Its breath faded completely, and it lay motionless.
Releasing his grip, the corpse thudded to the ground. The warrior, named Joshua, was silent for a moment. He rolled his dry eyes and surveyed his surroundings.
The canyon battlefield was strewn with severed limbs. The thick stench of blood filled his nostrils. The cold, damp armor clung to his body. His right hand and weapon were fused together by dried blood, impossible to pry apart.
"Overcast sky, orcs, battlefield..."
He spoke slowly, each word seeming heavy with meaning: "Thomas Canyon?!"
"That's impossible—I should be at the Naya Fortress instance in the Ashen Ruins, fighting a tough battle alongside my comrades against those demon spawn!"
Images flashed through his mind: a sky filled with falling meteors and scorching air, rivers of lava flowing across the earth. But now, the sky was thick with clouds, the air damp—a completely different world.
Feeling a tightness in his chest, Joshua took a breath. At that moment, scattered raindrops began to fall with the wind, quickly turning into a torrential downpour.
A dull ache spread through his entire body. He realized that many parts of his body were too injured to move freely and urgently needed rest. However, as a battle-hardened legendary warrior, Joshua had endured countless near-hopeless battles. Surviving bloody struggles was second nature to him; this level of injury was nothing.
"Tch, very strange... Year 853 of the Falling Stars Era, late third expansion of the Continent of Strife. Thomas Canyon was leveled by a legendary battle. I even participated in it myself."
Scanning his surroundings again, Joshua muttered to himself, wiping the blood-tinged rain from his eyes, still unable to believe it: "How did I end up here?"
Dark clouds churned above the canyon, with faint flashes of lightning within. Distant horn calls reached every corner of the battlefield on the wind. Rain washed away blood scabs, and red blood gathered into streams, flowing across the ground.
"No."
Under the cold rain, his thoughts gradually cleared: "I should be dead."
Memories surfaced—a hateful, overcast day.
Naya Fortress, Wall of Maria. Lava covered the ground. Demons surged like a tide. The sky, filled with falling meteors, was blotted out by winged demons. Massive demonic floating warships cast the entire fortress in shadow. Boulders, ignited with burning oil, fell like rain into the fortress. Smoke from the raging fires shot straight into the sky. Amid the thunderous roars and shockwaves from legendary experts clashing, the war reached its climax as both sides engaged in brutal slaughter.
But just as everyone was fighting with blood and sweat, a sword pierced Joshua's lower back. Vicious runes and curses appeared, and then his memories became completely blurred.
"Who the hell stabbed me in the back?!"
Recalling this, Joshua felt his fiery temper about to boil over: "Since advancing to legendary, I've never died. I thought my first death would be at the hands of some demon lord, but I never expected to be taken out by one of my own!"
But he quickly frowned again... Regardless of who the traitor was, even if he hadn't died, he should have been unconscious on the walls of Naya Fortress. How did he end up in this pile of corpses?
A sense of foreboding crept over Joshua. As a legendary warrior, his body's self-healing speed far exceeded that of ordinary people. Yet now, his torn muscles hadn't healed, and the pain was growing more intense. Had the official system adjusted the pain synchronization rate again? And if he hadn't died, where had the wound on his back gone?
That wound, caused by a curse, couldn't be healed even by him without a high priest's intervention.
What the hell was going on? This wasn't some cheap potato novel—why were there so many bugs?
"Anyway, get the hell up first!"
Struggling to his feet, Joshua gritted his teeth against the searing pain of torn muscles. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead, washing away the still-uncoagulated blood. He supported himself with one hand on the ground, his damaged armor scraping and screeching. Through the gaps, a penetrating wound could be seen on his abdomen.
Intense pain spread through his nerves. If Joshua weren't an extraordinary person in reality, he would have been paralyzed by the agony.
After standing up and catching his breath, Joshua didn't pause. He immediately moved toward the nearby pile of corpses. His greatsword was shattered. Years of battlefield experience drove him to quickly find a new weapon to prepare for any eventuality.
Rummaging through the remains, Joshua soon found a relatively intact spear. The spearhead was heavily worn, but that wasn't a major issue. He gave it a shake in the rain, finding it reasonably well-balanced.
Suddenly, the silence was broken.
"He killed Togu!" With this roar, two massive orc figures emerged from the darkness not far away.
The burly, two-meter-tall orcs spoke in their guttural tongue. Their tattered leather armor was stretched to the breaking point by their muscles. Their eyes were bloodshot, burning with fury.
Seeing only a single enemy, the reckless orcs didn't hesitate. Without a second thought, they raised their weapons and charged forward.
"Oooh!!!" The lead orc, wielding a long blade, had green skin that had darkened, as if entering a berserk state. It swung its weapon, intending to crush this weakened human with its brute strength.
But a spear flash like a shooting star streaked through the darkness.
The rusted spear pierced through the orc's tough skin and muscle, straight into its heart. Joshua casually twisted it, then swiftly withdrew it. A powerful jet of blood mixed with entrails sprayed from the massive wound. Green blood, mingled with rain, splattered across his face.
"Real orcs?" Joshua said with some surprise, turning to look at the remaining orc, which had halted its charge and was staring at him in terror. "How is this possible?"
Seeing its comrade die so easily, the orc's fear instantly overwhelmed its instinctive rage. It wanted to turn and flee, but it was too late.
Joshua casually pulled the spear from the dead orc's chest, hefted it, took brief aim, and hurled it with force.
The black spear split the wind, scattering raindrops, and let out a sharp whistle. It struck the orc squarely in the lower back, pinning it to the ground.
With a look of unwillingness, it collapsed. Warm blood gushed from the fatal wound, and its life force steadily drained away, plunging its consciousness into darkness.
"I clearly remember the system announcing that orcs were completely extinct... Ugh!"
Suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in Joshua's waist. The penetrating wound was now bleeding. "Moving like this after muscle tears—definitely overdid it."
This body's injuries were severe. Not only were the muscles damaged, but the internal organs had also been jolted. After the recent fight, even adrenaline couldn't numb the pain any longer. Now, every wound on his body screamed in protest, blaming its owner's recklessness.
The pain was so intense that Joshua had to lean on the spear, kneeling on one knee, gasping for breath.
"Huff... What's going on? As a legendary warrior, even severely wounded, killing three orcs shouldn't have taken this much effort."
His right hand gripping the spear, his left hand reached out to touch the ground. The cold, slippery sensation rolled beneath his palm.
"This feeling—the smell of blood in my nostrils, the tearing pain inside my body—even the highest-grade virtual gaming pods couldn't simulate this..."
Doubt churned within him, and the sense of foreboding grew stronger: "Thomas Canyon was long ago flattened, yet now it's reappeared. I was originally at Naya Fortress fighting demons, and now I've awakened here..."
"What the hell is going on?!"
*Boom!* Thunder roared. Lightning split the night sky. In that flash of light, the gasping Joshua saw his reflection in a fragment of a broken blade.
It was a face with black hair—both unfamiliar and familiar.
"Who is this... Is this me?!"
The moment he saw the reflection, Joshua felt as if a file were scraping back and forth inside his skull. The intense pain forced him to press his hands to his head, veins bulging on his forehead.
Then, as Joshua endured this sudden agony, he recalled all the memories belonging to "himself."