My Plot Armor System

[ You have died. ]

“Ah!”

As these terrifying words stung Damian’s mind, he gasped in terror as he held his neck. Now that his brain functioned again, the painful sensation that he felt was fully transmitted.

It only hurt as much as a punch the moment the shadow impacted his neck, but then the excruciating suffocation followed through as blood rapidly spilled out.

According to his limited medical knowledge, Damian believed that he shouldn’t have died that fast. However, he had surely lost consciousness, so his death was the only expected result.

‘How?!’

Yet, here he was, the neck that Damian so dearly held was unharmed. He had somehow returned from death’s door… Or so Damian thought.

[ You have died. ]

He was definitely analyzing the situation as fast as he could, but another shadow pierced through his hand and into his neck once more.

“Gahh!”

This time, Damian managed to maintain his consciousness long enough to realize what hit him, a small knife laced with black liquid.

Now that this was the second time, Damian also remembered the stinging burn that followed the punching pain, likely the effect of that liquid.

Unfortunately, before Damian could go back to figuring out how he had come back to life twice, the third knife didn’t miss its target.

[ You have died. ]

‘This is real…’

Regardless of how dangerous Earth had become, Leo had never been stabbed once in his life. However, these vivid moments of heart-stinging pain felt extremely real.

Even if the instant revival following them made no sense whatsoever.

[ You have died. ]

‘How can I…’

Damian felt like he could piece this through if he had some more time, but only seconds separated each death, or it at least felt that way to him.

Let alone reaching a logical explanation and a plan of action, it took Damian all he had to not spend these precious seconds screaming like a maniac.

[ You have died. ]

‘I need to…’

He hadn’t just experienced one stab. The number was constantly multiplying and he had to leave with the residue they left every time he came to.

[ You have died. ]

‘Someone…’

Damian’s mind was going through all the logical responses that were engraved into it from a young age, but these only worked on the peaceful Earth.

In this strange cave where only a ghost accompanied him, there was no one to ask for help.

[ You have died. ]

[ You have d…

[ You ha… ]

[ You… ]

[ Y…]

In the end, Damian had to pace his scattered and panicked thoughts through five more deaths before he managed to put them aside and focus on one thing.

Survival.

“Dodge!”

Screaming to himself, Damian tried to move his body to the right with all the strength he could conjure.

His fear-paralyzed nerves only allowed him to slightly tilt his neck to the side. Thankfully, that was enough for him to avoid imminent death, the knife flew right by him.

Woosh!

‘This might be real, but I need to change the way I’m thinking.’

Finally getting the chance to think things through, Damian came closer to understanding what was happening.

‘So far, this place doesn’t follow logic. If there is one thing that it has been faithful to…’

Right, ever since he had come here, everything seemed to follow the rules of Fate’s Guide! And if there was one defining point to how Damian played that game then it had to be…

A light pulp almost rose next to Damian’s head as he attempted to stand up. However, a much larger shadow dashed at him. It was a living thing, but what followed didn’t change.

Shik!

Damian received a stab to his abdomen through the cracks of the tattered armor. The momentum of what crashed into him also forced him to fall back.

“Haa… Haa…”

Lying on his back and gasping for breath, Damian didn’t try to resist as he focused on his thoughts. If his guess was right, then…

Unfortunately, the aggressive creature had another idea. It gave him no more time as it took the knife out of his stomach and plunged it back into his neck!

[ You have died. ]

“Respawn! I’m respawning!”

As soon as he came back for the 12th time, Damian screamed in realization. This last time had confirmed it, he was respawning just like his character always did in the game!

Woosh!

Even amid his epiphany, Damian didn’t forget to buy himself some more time by dodging the first knife. He needed much more to break out of this loop.

He had to stop his mind from spontaneously reacting using common sense and do what he always did from behind the screen. Experiment and strategize!

‘Here it comes.’

Now that he focused on it, Damian identified the speedy creature as a basic Goblin. Learning from his last experience, he immediately turned tail and started fleeing in the other direction.

“Greeee!”

The Goblin was obviously intent on taking Damian’s life, running after him even more fiercely.

‘I can’t outrun it.’

Feeling his skin tingling from the monster’s screech, Damian quickly accepted his fate. Although Goblins were one of the weakest monsters in Fate’s Guide, their nimble movements made them a constant threat.

Their Agility stat started at 15 points, Compared to Damian’s, he naturally stood no chance in a chase.

However, Damian wasn’t running for his life, the space in this enclosed cave wasn’t large enough for that.

‘Nothing… Nothing… Nothing…’

Since leaving the cave itself likely meant finding more monsters, Damian only had one target for this ‘life’. Exploring the cave for something that he could use in the next retry!

Exploring the area for hidden items or dropped weapons was a necessity in pixel games like Fate’s Guide, it was something that Damian did in every new area he entered.

Even at the threat of getting injured or instantly dying, Damian lightly touched and scanned every corner of the cave.

‘An empty room.’

Unfortunately, even if he was supposed to be Plot Armor itself, it seemed like that still didn’t make him lucky. Just like many times in the game, his effort was wasted for nothing.

But what could he do about it? Now that his reality was no different from the game, could he really miss the exploration step with the chance that he might come to regret it later?

In this situation, if he found a good weapon or an escape hidden somewhere after trying trickier solutions, it would hurt even more than wasted effort, and that was in the literal sense!

[ You have died. ]

Dodging the knife for the third time in a row, Damian took a second to summarize his situation.

1st, he could respawn at the very beginning for an unknown time of numbers.

2nd, this was an empty room.

3rd, his serial killer was a speedy Goblin.

4th…

‘Game window, properties screen, System Window, whatever it is, appear already.’

[ Plot Armor System Window:

Fate Points: 0

Personal Status Window(Locked)

Abilities: Respawn, Inspect Element, Inventory ]

‘It’s there!’

Damian wasn’t surprised to see a System Window after everything that had happened, but he was elated to confirm that he basically had all the abilities of a player.

With this, he had a chance at finishing the battle quickly without trying to figure out every pattern the Goblin had!

[ You have died. ]

Of course, the time he spent looking at the floating System Window earned him another quick death at the Goblin’s hands. Thankfully, a plan was already formulated in Damian’s head.

‘At least this is intact.’

Instead of dodging again, Damian raised his left arm over his neck. Unlike the rest of the armor, this arm guard was particularly in good shape.

Klang!

Seeing the knife bouncing back to the ground, Damian hurriedly grabbed it before the Goblin made his entrance. Finally, he stood up and stared the beast in its eyes.

“Come!”

Spreading his arms to show that he was unarmed, Damian almost welcomed the Goblin with a hug. However…

‘Inventory.’

Once his killer got close enough, the poison-clad knife materialized in Damian’s hand as he inserted it into the Goblin’s neck from the side.

‘Die! Die! Die! Die! Die…’

The Goblin didn’t look so vicious staggering to the side, but Damian returned the favor by not giving it any chance to realize what happened. He repeatedly pulled the knife out of and into the little monster’s neck.

Unlike his body which returned fully intact every time, the wounds accumulated in Damian’s psyche didn’t heal with each respawn…

[ You have defeated a Goblin. FP +1 ]

It was only when the System announced the end of the Goblin’s life that Damian calmed down a little.

[ Combat State has concluded. Do you want to create a new Save Point? ]