The claw pierced his chest.
Again.
Pain.
Darkness.
Then—
[Repetition: 12]
Death Count: 12
[Penalty... Activated]
He woke again.
This time.
He tried hiding.
The colony found him.
Darkness.
Death Count: 27
He didn't dodge on time.
The monster crushed his skull.
Darkness.
Death Count: 51
The ant's mandible pierced his throat.
Snap.
Darkness.
Death Count: 88
He survived seventeen minutes.
His longest record.
The colony cornered him anyway.
Darkness.
Death Count: 121
He memorized every tunnel.
Every turn.
Every dead end.
It changed nothing.
Darkness.
Death Count: 154
He tried fighting.
Wrong decision.
His arm was ripped off.
Darkness.
Death Count: 187
The ant lunged.
Tia moved before it attacked.
The mandibles missed.
A new record.
he had predicted it perfectly.
Then another ant emerged from behind him.
Darkness.
But something changed this time.
Tia didn't scream.
Not a single sound.
But his eyes no longer held fear.
Only silence remained.
Death Count: 197
The claw pierced his chest.
Again.
Pain.
Darkness.
Then—
the cave returned.
The same cold air.
The same beginning.
Tia sat there silently.
No panic.
No fear.
No anger.
Nothing.
Only exhaustion.
"...One hundred and ninety-seven."
He already knew where the monster would appear.
He knew where it would attack.
He knew how many steps it took before charging.
Every corner.
Every sound.
And yet—
he still couldn't win.
His head lowered.
"...How much longer?"
No answer came.
Only silence.
[Death Count: 198]
For the first time—
Tia didn't react.
didn't move.
Didn't speak.
Didn't even look up.
The system appeared.
Now—
Tia felt nothing.
And that terrified him more than anything.
Death count 211.
Tia stood face-to-face with the ant.
Now...
It was no longer about defeating it.
It was about surviving.
And
For the first time—
his knife touched the monster.
A shallow cut.
Barely visible.
But Tia smiled.
Because after two hundred deaths—
he had finally made it bleed.
Death count 258.
Tia opened his eyes.
Silence.
The familiar cave greeted him once more.
For several seconds, he just lay there.
Staring blankly at the cold walls.
The monster was already approaching from behind.
Then—
A laugh escaped him.
"Heh..."
His shoulders trembled.
"Hahaha..."
The sound echoed through the empty corridor.
Two hundred and fifty eight deaths.
Two hundred and fifty eight failures.
And he still wasn't free.
Slowly, Tia pushed himself to his feet.
His body felt heavy.
His thoughts overlapped.
Yet he continued walking.
One step.
Then another.
The system window floated silently beside him.
[Repetition: 258]
[Recommendation: Locate the correct door to terminate the penalty.]
Isolation's Note:
Tch.
Tch.
Tch.
The system has completely lost its mind.
It looked at an unranked guy...
Threw him into a dungeon...
Made him die over 250 times...
Then calmly said:
[Recommendation: Locate the correct path.]
Excuse me??
System... are you alright up there?
I was expecting some kind of hidden power...
Or maybe a dramatic awakening...
Something!
Too bad.
Instead, you gave him another death.
At this point, I'm starting to think the final boss isn't the monsters...
It's the system itself.