I barely dodged the boulders, but my foot caught on the rubble, and I crashed onto the ground.

  "AGHHH!"

  Pain tore through me like a shockwave. The glass fragments buried in my body shifted. Scraping, slicing, digging deeper.

  Splat.

  Something warm gurgled up my throat. I touched my lips.

  Blood.

  "Ugh…"

  BAAM!

  The dungeon was collapsing. It didn't care about my pain. It didn't care that I was crawling, barely clinging to consciousness.

  I tried to stand. The pain said no.

  So I slouched, dragging myself forward. The exit stayed in sight. But between me and freedom were waves of stone. Crashing. Tumbling. Rolling death.

  No place to run. No time to think.

  I glanced at my skill window.

  [Skill: Dash] – usable.

  But…

  "Can my body even handle it?"

  My health bar flickered like a dying flame. A red trail painted the floor behind me.

  "This hurts even more than those monsters…"

  The exit was within reach but piled boulders sealed it shut.

  "Tsk!"

  I drew my twin daggers and slashed. Every swing carved away the rock but every motion tore at my insides.

  [Warning! HP is drastically decreasing.]

  Slash. Slash.

  Rubble fell. Blood followed.

  The blue screen kept pulsing red, the light stinging my eyes with every heartbeat, but I ignored it.

  Huff. Puff.

  I forced air into my lungs. My vision blurred. My grip faltered.

  But I kept cutting.

  [Warning! Your HP is below 5%.]

  Blink. Blink.

  My fingers were numb. Every swing dragged lead through my veins. My knees threatened to buckle, my vision doubled, my grip wavered as if the daggers weighed a ton.

  Yet I kept cutting, each strike a desperate promise to survive. My body was like the first doll Ma tried to make. Stitched with agony. The last thing I saw was the red "0" flickering on my screen or maybe a "1"; my vision was too blurry to tell as my bloody hand gripped the doorknob.

  Click.

  The door creaked open. My body dropped like a corpse.

  "…"

  I was face-down. Still. Not breathing. The cold earth kissed my cheeks.

  Suddenly, a cold, digital hum vibrated through my bones, radiating from my chest to my fingertips. It felt like a thousand needles of ice sewing me together. In a heartbeat, the agonizing weight of the glass shards vanished as if they had never existed. The heat of my wounds turned to a cool, tingling numbness.

  It felt like something caught me mid-fall, rewinding a fraction of a second. The world tilted oddly, as if sound and light were arguing about which should arrive first.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Breeze…?

  A cold whisper brushed my cheek. My fingertips trembled against the ground, feeling grit that wasn't supposed to be there.

  Grass?

  A faint, metallic tang mingled with the scent of damp earth. My lungs spasmed, forcing a ragged breath. Blood surged, then receded as the System's glow stitched me together. My body felt impossibly light and unbearably heavy, as if my soul had arrived half a heartbeat before my flesh. I rolled onto my side, shivering, taking in the first sensations of life again.

  This scent…

  "…I know this place."

  I opened my eyes, slowly.

  Light flooded my vision.

  "Ugh…!" I raised a hand to shield my eyes, blinking as the glare faded. When my sight finally adjusted, I saw a clear sky.

  "…Is this what it feels like to die?"

  I sighed.

  Ping.

  [HP and MP fully recovered.]

  [Stage 3 cleared.]

  [Skill: Dash Lv. 6 → Lv. 7]

  [You and your teammates have leveled up to 40.]

  "…I'm alive?"

  I blinked at the system window, too dazed to process it. I pinched my cheek.

  "Ow… It hurts…" I smiled weakly. "I'm alive! I really survived!"

  I laughed, barely believing it. My body. Whole. The glass were gone. "Thank goodness for that post-stage full recovery… Life-saving, literally."

  No. Wait. Something about this felt… off.

  I narrowed my eyes and looked around. "I'm back in the forest."

  "...yne! Llyne!"

  A voice?

  "Hm?"

  I turned. Just in time to see a shadow leap toward me. For a split second, it reminded me of LaoLao, my neighborhood dog. Always pouncing. Fluffy fur, paws outstretched, tongue hanging out and dripping with drool.

  I stretched out my hand with a smile. LaoLao. Lily's here.

  "Rona here!"

  My mouth twitched. Oh. Right. I'm stuck here.

  Thud!

  "AAAGHH! Rona!! GET OFF!"

  Rona jumped off me, grinning like she just found a new toy.

  "You were lucky," a familiar voice chimed in. "Your HP was at 1% when you opened the door."

  "1%?! I thought I died…"

  "Nope," Isaac said with that know-it-all smirk. "Told you you'd be fine."

  I held out both hands, and Rona pulled me up.

  "Llyne, about that room…" Isaac's voice turned serious.

  Nope. Absolutely not. We are not talking about the room that nearly killed me. Over my dead body, pufferfish.

  I looked away. "So what now?" I rubbed Rona's head. She was bouncing around like a rabbit on sugar.

  Isaac sighed. "Don't know. But Mr. James did mention a surprise, remember?"

  "I wonder what kind of surprise." I stretched. My joints popped.

  "Probably not a good one," Isaac muttered.

  "Maybe food?" Rona was already drooling.

  I chuckled. "Hopefully."

  [Congratulations. You have passed all 3 stages. As promised, a surprise has been prepared for our little bunnies!]

  "Little bunnies?" I squinted at the blue screen. "So Mr. James was the one behind all the passive-aggressive system prompts?"

  I should've known. Only one narcissist enjoyed dragging things out like this.

  "Where's the surprise?" Isaac crossed his arms.

  [No rush. IT'S COMING. ??]

  Rustle.

  "…Huh?" My ears perked. "You heard that?"

  "Hm?" Isaac raised a brow. "Heard what?"

  Rustle! Rustle!

  "THAT sound!" I pointed nervously.

  Shaa. Shaa.

  Strange noises. From everywhere. Trees swayed, not from wind. They moved. On their own.

  "Weird. Trees don't move, right?" My voice cracked.

  We armed ourselves, eyes sharp. The forest pulsed with eerie life.

  FLAP. FLAP. FLAP.

  A flock of birds shot through the air like their lives depended on it. They didn't even look back.

  The trees went still. Not just still. Silent. The kind that pressed against my ears. Leaves refused to settle, hanging frozen mid-sway. The air felt thick, as if the forest itself was holding its breath.

  "It was just birds?" I slumped to the ground. My heart struggled to slow. "Holy crap… I thought it was tree monsters. My poor heart…"

  I watched the birds vanish into the sky. Oh no, that's not looking good. "Bad omen…"

  However, even after the birds vanished, a faint rustle lingered somewhere overhead. Something unseen shifted in the shadows, sending chills up my spine.

  "I guess that was the surprise?" Isaac muttered, not realizing what was still coming.

  "No tree friends?" Rona looked genuinely sad. "I wanted to make friends with them."

  "You… wanted to be friends with tree monsters?"

  "Rona loves making friends. No matter who they are."

  "They'd eat you."

  "But if we're friends, they wouldn't."

  Isaac scoffed. "Right."

  [Hello, hello~ My little bunnies. Disappointed about not making friends? Don't worry. Your new friend is just shy. He'll reveal himself soon.]

  "Really?" Rona's eyes sparkled.

  [Just don't stare at him too long, or he'll bite. ??]

  I stared at that particular word. "...Bite?" I blinked. "Did that just say bite? I should've let Rona eat Looney the mascot."

  "Oh wow," Isaac said dryly. "Can't wait to meet our new friend."

  [Looks like your new friend is ready to show himself. Do welcome him with open arms… before he eats you up. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!]

  We froze.

  "…Oh crap."

  RUMBLE!

  My soul nearly jumped out of my body. "NOT AGAIN!"

  RUMBLEEE!!!

  The ground didn't just shake; it groaned, a deep, tectonic roar that vibrated through my teeth. My stomach lurched as if the ground had tilted under my feet. The tremor threw us into the air. Gravity did the rest.

  WHAM!

  My face slammed into the ground.

  "MY FACE!!" I screamed. I bounced once, twice, slamming into the dirt again as massive roots snapped underground like iron cables.

  Isaac wrapped his arms around a tree, his voice barely audible over the crashing of timber. "GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!"

  RUMBLEEE!!!

  I staggered toward a nearby trunk, my legs feeling like jelly. I lunged and clung to it like a panicked koala.

  "This place is so beautiful… Why the hell are there earthquakes every five minutes?!"

  My brain rattled in my skull. "I feel like my brain's gonna fly out!"

  Over the roar of shifting earth, I heard Isaac's voice.

  "You have a brain? I'm utterly shocked."

  I turned my head, my eyes twitching. He was actually snickering.

  "Grrr~ I swear, I'm gonna whoop your ass after this, Isaac. Mark. My. Words."