I

Eva winced and grabbed her head. The last thing she remembered was walking to the bathroom, and now she was definitely not in her apartment anymore. She was in a clearing in the woods ringed with abnormally dense foliage and no obvious exits. The ground was uneven, littered with rocks, roots, and leaves. The strangest thing was the smell—there was none. It was as if the whole place was sterile.

A text box appeared in front of her vision. No matter which way she turned her head, the box was pinned to the same location in her vision.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

“Wait, what—?”

Before she finished speaking, a column of light descended from the sky and hit the ground twenty feet from where she stood. She reached up to guard her vision, the blinding light dissipating to reveal a creature in its place. It was a head shorter than she was, with green-tinged skin. Clad with armor and a spear that was taller than she, Eva clenched her hands into fists and trembled at the sight. She was screwed.

“What the hell is that thing?!” Eva screamed.

She got no answer from either it nor from the box that had appeared before. The only reply she got was the monster charging at her. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she backpedaled a few steps before tripping over a rock and falling on her back. Before she could react, the monster's spear pierced her throat. Adrenaline was hardly enough to ease the pain, her hands trembling as she reached up to apply pressure on the wound to slow the flowing blood. Eva tried to scream but only gurgles came out. After what seemed like forever—but was just a few seconds—her vision faded to black.

Then, just as quickly as it faded, the world suddenly flashed a brilliant white, when she woke with a gasp. Eva reached for her throat and sighed in relief when she found it intact! She was standing back where she'd been moments before, but this time there was no monster in sight.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

“Fuck!” Eva screamed.

The counter ticked down, and just as before, when the light fell on the ground it deposited the same monster she'd just been slain by. She could feel the panic rising inside her. The fear that rushed through her veins paralyzed her just long enough for the monster to puncture her heart. Before she realized it, she died a second time.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Fear gripped her body as soon as she saw the box appear. She looked around frantically for any way she could escape. Seeing nothing obvious, she chose a spot as far away from the light as possible. She didn’t want to tangle with the monster that had already killed her twice. Eva ran towards the undergrowth and pushed her way into it.

Despite her greatest attempt to crawl into the foliage, the plants acted like a wall and didn’t even give an inch, even when she pushed with all her might! Eva heard a sound behind her. She whipped her head around just in time for the monster to pierce her neck.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva felt her heart palpitate, every part of her shuddering, when that damned box appeared. She couldn’t run. She couldn’t hide. She’d already died three times as it was, and she was not willing to keep dying without at least trying to fight back.

“Ok, ok, you stupid box! I'll fight!”

Eva took the few moments she had to look around for something—anything—to fight with. The roots and leaves were useless, but a rock was better than nothing. She bent over and picked up three baseball-sized rocks before the light fully vanished. Facing her was the same stupid monster that had ended her life thrice already. For as much as she was afraid, it was also frustrating to die without even putting up a fight!

Launching herself forward with all her might, she threw one of the rocks at the beast. It was a decent throw but her target was smaller than her and was hard to hit. She missed by a couple of feet. The monster growled and charged at her. In a moment of fear, she threw again, this time weaker than the last. Although it hit the monster, it bounced right off of its armor. If that were all that happened, it would have been yet another failure. However, the impact of her poor throw pushed the monster's aim off slightly so that instead of skewering her fatally like it had thrice before, it only skewered her shoulder.

Eva screamed in pain. Adrenaline was fine and all when death came quick, but it didn’t do much for her current predicament. Her left arm hung limply, the nerves—or something else important—having been severed. It was not a fatal strike, but it did hurt like a bitch!

The monster pulled back its spear, slicing her shoulder further in the process. A steady stream of blood trickled down her body from the wound. She instinctively grabbed her shoulder, the blood drenching her hand. Eva began to feel lightheaded, her reactions slowing. She tried to avoid the next strike, but her late and weak effort was not enough to deflect the blow. This one proved fatal—she bled out in seconds.

She came back to consciousness to see the same frustrating message box.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva picked up the same rocks—the arena had reset itself to how it was when she’d first arrived—and yelled as loud as she could. She was afraid. She was frustrated. She was angry. Why should she have to go through this torture? What had she done to deserve this?! Her protestations meant nothing, it seemed. The light still came and deposited the monster to torment her further.

The first rock Eva threw went wide. She didn’t panic as badly as she had the first time she missed a throw, so when her second one connected with the monster’s chest, it staggered back from the impact. Her third—and final—rock clipped the monster’s head.

It fell to the ground and shook its head. Eva ran towards it on instinct alone. She didn’t have anything to attack it with besides her fists, so she whacked the monster as hard as she could with her hands. She pounded the monster with her rage only to feel her head explode in pain.

Eva’s vision spun. She slowly turned to see the monster holding one of the rocks she’d thrown at it. It bashed her head with all its strength while she did her best to protect herself with her arms. In the end, her efforts were futile. Her vision swam and then went dark.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva shook her head. Instead of the fear that she had felt initially, she was angry. She was angry at being killed over and over. She was angry at being forced to fight the stupid monster. Most importantly, she was angry at herself for failing when she’d been so close!

She picked up the same three rocks and prepared herself for the coming monster. This time, Eva put all her rage and frustration into the first throw. Unlike in previous attempts, the rock smashed into the face of the monster. The monster dropped its spear to grab at its face. She had an opportunity, and she wasn’t going to waste it, so she ran towards it with a rock in hand and tackled the monster.

Slamming down the rock against it, her vision tunneled as she continued to beat the monster. Suddenly, she felt pain in her stomach. She looked down to see the spear jutting out of her stomach! She raised her arm and brought it down again just as the spear entered her for a second time.

She gasped and dropped the rock she was holding to instead grab hold of the spear with both hands. It was all for naught. Her blood coated the spear and prevented her from getting a good grip. A third thrust ended her life.

II

It took a handful of attempts before she was able to repeat the same feat of smacking the monster in the face with a rock. Eva didn’t make the same mistake of continuing to use the rock as a weapon. Instead, she dashed forward and grabbed the spear. The monster bashed her in the side with the rock she’d thrown when it noticed she had the spear; and, while that hurt, it wasn't enough to cause any lasting damage. She stood to face the monster and held the spear in her hands with the tip facing the monster's torso.

Finally, Eva felt like she was in a position to kill the bastard after however many times she’d been executed by it. The spear felt foreign in her hands. Though the haft was polished wood, there was no danger of it slipping from her hands. The spear tip was a razor sharp diamond shape. It would do the job well enough, but she felt frightened just holding it.

The monster snarled at her and charged at her. Eva stabbed forward and closed her eyes just before the moment of impact. She felt the spear pierce the monster and she felt the impact of stone against her left forearm at the same time. Her arm broke with a sickening crack. When she opened her eyes, she could see that the spear had entered the monster's chest. It hung on the spear limply. Dead.

Eva let go of the spear, the monster falling to the ground. Her body began to shake. She grabbed her broken arm and cried. Despite the repeated injury and death, a broken arm hurt really fucking badly. She felt relief wash over her in spite of the pain.

Several boxes popped in her face, taking her a few seconds each to look through. Her heart dropped when she read the last one.

Goblin killed

1 unassigned Stat Point added

Basic Skill learned: Throwing▲

Basic Skill learned: Polearms▲

Level 1 complete

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:24] remaining

“No!” she screamed. “Why do I have to keep going through this? Isn’t killing this monster, this goblin, enough? Please, no more!”

Eva knew begging wasn’t going to get her anywhere. The reality was staring her in the face in the form of a speared goblin. She took several deep breaths before pulling the spear out of the goblin with her working arm. If she had to fight, she wasn’t going to fight empty handed!

The monster's corpse did something very strange once the spear was removed. Motes of light were coming off of it and it was rapidly dissolving into nothing. When there were ten seconds left on the timer, it was as if the monster had never existed. With everything that had happened so far, she filed it away as just another oddity in a land filled with strangeness.

Eva did her best to mentally prepare for whatever was in store for her next—a difficult task while in pain. Still, she managed to grip the spear with some strength while she eyed the countdown with dread.

At the zero second mark, the box disappeared and another stream of light hit the ground where the first monster, or goblin as the boxes had called it, had appeared. It was another goblin. This one wielded a sword with two edges and a crossguard, and a round shield made of wood planks rather than a spear like the first one had. With only one good arm, she knew it was going to be tough.

The goblin approached her with its shield held in front of it. Eva stepped back to keep some distance between her and the goblin. She peeked behind her back and saw that she was running out of room to retreat. If she kept going, she was going to get pinned! She struck out with the spear, only for the goblin to deflect it and counter with a slash deep into her stomach.

Eva gasped and saw blood spilling from the gash. She immediately felt light headed, but managed to attack with the spear again, but it was so weak that it didn’t even puncture the goblin’s armor! The monster pierced her chest with its blade the next moment.

Prepare to defend yourself

[0:0:0:3] remaining

Eva groaned. Her mind was already being pushed past anything she’d ever encountered before. Her body shook uncontrollably. She knew she had to keep fighting or she would lose whatever sanity she was clinging to. She felt like she was holding a wooden door in frigid ocean waters. All it would take would be one more push and she’d slip beneath the waves. She would do her utmost to prevent that.

At least she’d taken care of the spear goblin. Eva was sure she could kill the one with the sword if she had to fight it enough; but she didn’t have the spear anymore, so it was going to be an even greater challenge. She picked up a couple rocks and waited for the light to disappear.

Instead of the sword goblin she expected, it was the original spear goblin! Eva screamed. It never seemed to end! Stupid boxes that kept tormenting her over and over! Why did she have to fight the same stupid fuck again when she’d already killed it?

“No!” she scolded herself. “You can’t lose yourself like this. Focus Eva. Deep breaths. You can do this.”

By the time she had regained control of her mind, the goblin was already charging towards her. She only managed a single weak Throw▲ before her stomach was pierced by the spear. Eva tried to bash the goblin to death with the other rock, but it was her that died in the end.