Mia almost on reflex loaded, but then paused and considered, this was perfect! A dungeon was just what she needed to level up, and if she loaded now, she had no clue if she would be able to find it again, though looking up she had an inkling it encompassed this entire rooted area…but finding that out was for later, for now she waited for the pain to stop.

Once her hp reached 15 she managed to sit up and get a better look at her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was her gear was scattered around the floor, the next was that the dirt walls were indeed made from dirt with thin roots flowing through them, it was as if someone had perfectly cut a section of the ground to make this room… another thing was at ever corner of the room there was a smooth wooden pillar imbedded into the wall.

“Yup, dungeon.” Reaffirming that as a fact to herself she struggled to stand, retrieving her 2 knives and axe and fastening them to her body she brought her attention to the wooden arch, the only exit to this room. She then looked up towards the water-like transparent ceiling and nodded, saving right there and trapping herself down here.

She had 15 health, her body was sore, and she had no clue what was even in here, but it wouldn’t get any better than this. As she said earlier, this was a perfect opportunity for her. She had managed to survive the drop down, even if this dungeon spread out though out the big roots of the forest, she had no clue if she could survive a drop from everywhere, more importantly she wasn’t looking forward to that pain again if she succeeded.

As to why she saved, trapping herself down here unless she went all the way back… Even though she knew she shouldn’t still be mad at the village she still was and frustrated at herself for not being able to do anything, she wanted results.

She readied her kitchen knife and slowly approached the arch “Please be something I can beat…” She mumbled “Slime, goblin... anything…” She prayed, placing a hand on the archway she poked her head out into the next room, seeing it was a thin hallway with the same structure of the room she was in before everything went black.

*Ding*

[You have died, Load last save? (Y/N)]

Floating in the void Mia selected yes, finding herself back in the first room of the dungeon “What?” She blinked “What happened?!” She was clueless, one moment she was fine, the next she was instantly killed. Just what had happened?

She drew her knife, getting ready while watching the exit. What ever had killed her should be just around the corner. She waited, and waited… and waited, no matter how long she waited nothing turned the corner. With her HP now at full she carefully approached the door and knelt besides it, her ears perking up as she listened, hearing nothing but faint creaking coming from the arch.

Hearing nothing besides that she once again peaked out into the hallway, looking to the left and seeing nothing but an empty hallway dotted with archways her world once again went black.

“What?!” now back in the room she yelled, she didn’t hear or see anything! Deciding to throw caution to the wind she ran out of the room, now in the hall itself she looked to the right, seeing the same empty hall dotted with wooden archways “Huh? Then what…” What was killing her? She looked up and saw the roots passed the ceiling “Nothing there…”

She then heard a *thunk* that startled her, jumping away from the source she turned to see the wooden archway had suddenly shut itself “…that was it?” she was peaking her head out, not hard to imagine that decapitating her… lesson learned, don’t idle in the archways. This only emphasized she was in a dungeon.

She had to remember her brief training with Rowan, doing so she once again drew her knife and bent down. Deciding to go right she slowly stepped forward, looking for anything out of place. No raised stones, trip wires, she didn’t hear anymore creaking wood or footsteps of monsters yet, it looked like everything would be fi-*SHINK*

The roots lining the dirt walls suddenly shot out, skewering Mia to the opposite wall. She violently shook, remaining conscious for what felt like an eternity but unable to act or even think correctly as her brain was pierced, she let out a pathetic whimper before finally everything faded to black.

Once again in the starting room she went down on all fours, vomiting on the spot. “It’s ok.” She told herself “You’re ok.” She sat up, patting down her body that was previously full of holes just seconds ago before hugging herself “It is ok.” She repeated, this was going to be tricky. Turns out there were more to traps than raised bricks and tripwires…especially when the dungeon itself tries to kill you.

She swallowed the overflowing spit in her mouth and stood up, facing the archway “…I’ll do my best.” She sighed, dashing through it before it rapidly shut, looking down the right and remembering the spot where she died, she shivered before gathering herself and examining the area around it for a trigger, specifically examining the walls.

“…” Anger swelled inside her when she noted the area where the roots shot out of were thicker than the rest “That can’t be it.” Something that small of a detail couldn’t be it. To confirm she turned to the left hallway, after a few minutes she noticed, just before another archway, was an area similar to the one on the right “…” She charged towards the area, leaping just before it with her back facing towards the wall and just as she predicted the roots shot out, skewing her.

Before they penetrated all the way through, she grit her teeth and manually loaded, once again back in the starting room “…” She looked behind her, patting her back around her axe and let out a sigh. She dashed through the archway and looked towards the right, unhooking the axe on her back she slowly approached the trap.

With the strongest swing her weak body could muster she hit the wall, instantly the roots shot out, skewering the empty space and deflecting the axe, causing Mia to take a few steps back. She blinked, staring at the popped trap in surprise. She smirked, she just expected to vent off some steam because of how bullshit it was but she remembered the teachings of Rowan and setting off traps to disarm them.

She holstered her axe on her back, while the roots didn’t retract, she was small enough to squeeze under them. Once on the other side she smiled, she was making progress. She slowly made her way down the hall, stopping in front of another archway and peering inside, as far as she could tell it was an empty room “Where are all the monsters?” she mumbled, if she got zero levels out of this…She shook her head, looking on the bright side gaining experience with traps would be an undeniable good thing. With that in mind she leaped through the archway, the ground collapsing where she landed “No!” She panicked, falling through and landed on a soft bed of moss that released a cloud of smoke when she landed.

“Got to load…” she breathed in the smoke, instantly feeling tired she passed out. Later getting the notification she died and loading, leaving her standing in the starting room, blankly staring off into space, her ear twitching.

Dashing through the door, setting off the trap and ducking under, she was right outside the second arch. She placed her head up against the arch, not hearing creaking she stuck her hand into the archway. After nothing happened, she stepped into the room, probing the ground it was soft, not like you’d expect stone to be, but she found the sides of the room were solid and side stepped, hugging the wall she properly inspected the room.

Like she saw from the outside, it was empty, the only difference being the floor and the vines on the wall that were now slithering around Mia’s limbs…wait…

Mia tried to yank herself free upon noticing the vines, but this only caused them to speed up the process, wrapping her limbs and hoisting her into the air. Trying to gleam all she could from the trap she waited as she was lifted to the center of the room. The center of the room broke away, revealing the moss bed underneath with a gaping maw full of teeth at its center.

Ok, time to load. Mia thought but didn’t get the chance to execute it as she felt the overwhelming pain as the tips of the vines forced their way under her skin “a-a-AAAaaaaAAaAAAA!!!” She screamed before going limp, one of the vines entering the back of her neck and detaching her spinal cord, the last thing she remembered before everything faded to black was the snapping maw she was lowered into before she was once again back in the starting room throwing up.