It didn't hurt as much anymore.
Twila mechanically swayed on her feet, looking around at the broken walls and scattered ruins: smoke everywhere, corpses littering the ground, the rusty smell of blood filling her nose.
War drums sounded in the distance, wave after wave of frenzied roars from the orc warriors signaling that death was approaching once again.
"Guess this is it." Twila let out a long sigh and tried to stand, but her strength failed her. Luckily the guy beneath her helped prop her up, and she barely managed to straighten.
She straightened her clothes, tucked the dagger into her belt, patted the fine dust from her short hair, and rubbed her burning cheeks.
Might as well die looking decent.
She picked up the staff leaning against the wall and tossed it to the man who had just sat up in a daze. "Hey, what's your name?"
The man startled. "Huh? I, I'm Sean. You?"
"Twila."
Sean sized up this girl, whom he'd mistaken for an elf boy until her belt came undone and revealed a whole different story, focusing on the mercenary tag hanging from her chest. "Oh, so you're a mercenary?"
Actually, once you got past the tomboy thing, she was pretty good-looking.
"Uh, maybe." Twila waved dismissively, leaning against the wall as she gazed toward the gray-skinned orcs slowly advancing down the long street.
She'd only been body-hopping for a little over half an hour, and the original owner's memories were already fragmented. Right now, besides the body's name, she couldn't extract much useful information.
It wasn't really stealing someone's life; the original body's owner had probably already died in the battle. She was just continuing to live on in her place.
Too bad things didn't go as planned... unlike all those isekai novels she'd read...
"I can cast burning ray two more times," Sean said, standing beside her, his staff glowing faintly. "When they come, I'll buy you some time. Run if you can."
Twila glanced toward the city and smiled helplessly. "Run where, exactly? There's nowhere to fucking go."
Enemies on all sides, their little outpost was like a boat adrift at sea, death waiting in every direction.
The only reason they hadn't been overrun yet was that the defenders were fighting tooth and nail.
That's why she'd rationally decided that instead of running out on a suicide mission, she might as well take advantage of this body swap and, you know, try something, experience a different kind of feeling. At least then dying would be worth it. Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could jump back to her original world.
Besides, for all she knew, this was all just a dream anyway. Such a rare dream; it'd be a real waste not to give it a shot.
Plus, the orcs probably had a habit of torturing humans. She could see plenty of mangled corpses on the streets outside. If she went out there and got caught... elves were delicate creatures; she couldn't handle... some of that stuff was fine to read about in hentai games, but experiencing it firsthand was a whole different story.
Seeing Sean looking a bit uncomfortable after her coarse language, the same way she'd always talked in her previous life, she slapped the guy's shoulder hard. "Hey, don't take it personally. We mercenaries all talk like this."
The female warrior's strength was considerable, nearly making the slender wizard stumble.
She immediately noticed something new. "Oh hey, your ears are kinda pointed too?"
Was he a half-elf?
"Yeah, my grandmother's an elf." Sean watched the orcs getting closer, their unique stench already overpowering the metallic smell of blood. He knew if he didn't say something now, he'd never get the chance. "So, I... I want to thank you for, that, uh..."
But once the words left his mouth, he realized how hard it was to get them all out.
After all, half an hour ago they'd been just strangers assigned to the same outpost, and now...
He looked at the girl's tight belt beneath her leather chest armor, emphasizing her firm midriff... weird: why had he thought she was a boy before? Oh, probably because of the overly masculine getup and the voice throwing him off.
Twila confidently slapped his shoulder again, her voice sharp but raspy, pitched high, as if someone had deliberately poked a few holes in otherwise perfect vocal cords. "Friend, we both got what we needed. Let's not overthink it."
They were all gonna die anyway. Better to spend this sentimental energy praying that after croaking, she could jump back to her original body. Then she'd definitely commemorate this bizarre dream experience properly.
Sean pressed his lips together and didn't say anything more.
Talking about responsibility now wouldn't mean much anyway.
Though even if it was both their first times, you lost more than I did, right?
Do all those cutthroat mercenaries really take things this lightly?
A deep horn sounded in the distance, catching his attention.
"Roar, roar—"
After two incomprehensible orcish shouts, the attackers stopped in their tracks, their crimson eyes fixed on the outpost.
Twila could hear their bellows-like breathing and couldn't help asking, "What's going on?"
With such a huge gap between their forces, shouldn't they just charge in? What were they waiting for, a chance to surrender?
Sean looked up at the sky, his pointed ears twitching slightly. "I hear rope creaking. It's a catapult."
Sure enough, several broken stone beams were hurled into the air from behind the orc lines, arcing over the destroyed buildings and heading straight for them.
Because of their fierce resistance earlier, the orcs didn't know exactly how many people were left in the outpost, so they'd brought up a catapult from the rear, right?
If they knew only two people remained, who knows what expression their commander would make.
Twila quickly calculated where the projectiles would land and shrugged. "Looks like this is it. Ah... what a shame, damn."
She'd been hoping to experience some otherworldly combat in those final moments.
Should she charge out? Nah, forget it.
If she got caught, she'd get to experience life as a breeding slave.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The catapult scored a direct hit. The outpost collapsed instantly. Twila first felt something tackle her, then came a series of massive tremors. Her organs shifted and twisted, darkness fell before her eyes, and then suddenly she was falling.
This must be hell, right?
Hopefully she could skip this step and go straight back to her original world.
Then her back hit something hard, the rebound forcing her to cough up blood.
Blood meant it wasn't hell... she wasn't dead yet!?
She tried to open her eyes, but dust swirled everywhere, making it almost impossible to see.
A head covered in blood and mud appeared in front of her face. "Move!"
Twila was yanked up forcefully. After running a couple of steps, she realized it was Sean.
A few more meters and they barely escaped the dust cloud. She could see now that they were in a tunnel; they'd fallen down from above.
"Fuck— cough, cough..." Twila spat out a mouthful of clotted blood, her breathing much smoother now. She yelled, "There's a tunnel and you didn't say anything!?"
Dude, how's this any different from lying to get laid!
Sean looked innocent. "I didn't know!"
If I'd known about this thing, I would've sent you away already, okay?
Twila continued cursing with the glee of someone who'd narrowly escaped death. "Bullshit, you're regular military. How could you not know there's a secret passage under the outpost?"
"I was just assigned here yesterday. You got here two days before me!" Sean maintained his innocence.
If anyone should've known, it was you!
"Uh..." Twila, who had no memories from the original owner, had nothing to say and could only run alongside him.
ROAR, ROAR!
Orcish howls were already echoing through the tunnel behind them.
Twila picked up the pace, starting to overtake Sean. "Run faster; they found the tunnel, they're coming!"
Then Sean suddenly stopped, nearly causing her to crash into his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Sean stared blankly ahead. "Cave-in... it's a dead end."