By lunging forward, I could evade the Bugbear’s first strike.
That was the one piece of intel I had gleaned from over a dozen cycles of Return by Death.
However, even if I successfully cleared the first blow, a second and third always followed. If I repeated the process enough times, I might eventually learn to dodge those as well.
But what then?
Ultimately, if I wanted to survive this, I had only two choices: kill the Bugbear or outrun it.
The air whistled as a massive limb sliced through it.
How many times had I died now? Thirty? At the very least, dodging that opening swing had become second nature.
After the dodge, I forced my body to spin around, turning my back to the Bugbear to sprint away. As someone with zero experience as an adventurer, defeating a creature like this was a pipe dream. My only real option was escape.
A sickening squelch echoed as my back was gouged open.
The Bugbear showed no mercy to a retreating target.
Once again, I died.
◆
I had lost count of the loops. It had to be over a hundred by now.
"Guaah!"
First, the Bugbear unleashed a horizontal swipe with its left arm. I could evade it by crouching forward.
Next, it brought its right arm down in a crushing overhead strike. I could dodge that by stepping—almost rolling—to the left.
When I did, the Bugbear froze for a split second. Perhaps it was actually surprised that its prey was still moving. In that opening, I could hug the wall and slip past, darting directly behind the beast.
"Gugah!"
The Bugbear let out a startled grunt and began to turn its massive frame. Taking advantage of its slow rotation, I sprinted away, putting as much distance between us as possible.
This sequence was the "optimal solution" I had refined over a hundred failed attempts.
However, everything beyond this point was still uncharted territory.
"Gauuuuuu!"
Within five seconds, the Bugbear would kick off the ground and close the distance in a single leap. I had already experienced being caught and mangled from behind more times than I cared to remember.
I took a hard step to the right.
The beast's lunge missed. Its momentum carried it past me, and its balance crumbled.
This was the moment. This was the only instant where I could actually land a hit.
Steeling myself, I threw a punch directly at the Bugbear’s face.
"Gauh!"
The monster let out a low groan and collapsed onto the floor.
It worked.
Granted, my punches were pathetic. Hitting an A-Rank monster with a bare fist was never going to be a fatal blow. But it bought me time—precious seconds while the beast struggled to get back up.
I turned and ran with everything I had.
◆
The interior of the dungeon was a labyrinth of tangled passages. While these halls were filled with monsters and traps, treasure chests occasionally appeared in the nooks and crannies.
"Is there anything... anything at all?!"
I was hunting for a weapon. In my current state, I didn't have a single piece of equipment to my name. Surviving this place without a weapon was a statistical impossibility. I spent my brief windows of freedom sprinting through the halls, praying to find a chest.
"Gugauh!"
I spun around to find the Bugbear right on my heels again.
From the moment I knocked it down until the moment it caught up to me: approximately twenty-five seconds. Within that window, I had to find something—anything—to change my fate.
This time, I found nothing.
A wet crunch echoed through the hall as my internal organs were pulverized.
My life flickered out once more.
◆
Attempt number one hundred and fifty.
"Die!"
I dodged the overhead swing and slammed my fist into the Bugbear’s face. If I could knock it down, I’d buy another twenty-five seconds.
Thwack!
The impact felt different this time. By pure chance, my fist had sunk directly into the Bugbear’s eye.
"Gugaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"
The Bugbear let out a deafening, agonized roar. Even a monster feels pain when its eye is crushed.
I see. If I can take out an eye, I can buy even more time.
I made a mental note to aim for the eyes from now on. I turned and sprinted deeper into the dungeon, pushing my body to the limit to find a chest before the beast recovered.
Twenty-five seconds passed, then thirty. The Bugbear hadn't appeared. The injury to its eye was clearly hindering its recovery time.
I reached a junction I hadn't seen before. Under the previous twenty-five-second limit, this area had been unreachable.
"Ah—"
The exclamation escaped my lips as the floor vanished.
I had stepped on a pitfall trap. Gravity took hold, dragging me down into the darkness. I looked down to see a floor lined with jagged iron spikes.
Shluck.
The spikes skewered my body, pinning me like an insect.
It was another failure, another death. And yet, a surge of elation washed over me.
In the final moments before the light faded from my eyes, I had seen it—a hidden passage tucked away at the bottom of the pit.