Trial count: roughly five hundred.
"I can't... I can't do this anymore..."
I was sobbing. My mind was shattering, my emotions completely frayed.
In front of me stood the first Bugbear. Even through my mental breakdown, I reflexively ducked to evade its swipe.
"Why me? Why do I have to suffer like this? It’s not fair!" I screamed, clawing at my scalp.
Even as the grievances spilled out of my mouth, I continued to dodge the Bugbear's consecutive attacks.
"Damn it... this is all Dalga's fault. He's the reason I'm rotting in this hell."
Tears blurred my vision, and my gait was shaky and uncertain. Even so, I kept evading the first Bugbear's strikes. I had repeated this cycle so many times—over and over and over again—that I felt I could dodge these beasts with my eyes closed.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...!!"
Muttered curses of resentment spilled from my lips unconsciously.
"When I find Dalga, I’m going to kill him. But I won't just kill him. I'll give him the most agonizing death imaginable. I'll subject him to every form of torture there is. No—not just Dalga. I'll kill every single villager. They’re just as guilty. How dare they exile me to the Dungeon Depths! You pieces of trash!!"
No matter how much I screamed, my mind wouldn't stabilize. My fingertips were trembling, and the world seemed to vibrate as my pupils spasmed, refusing to focus.
"Ah..."
Without even realizing it, I had reached the Treasure Chest. It felt like an illusion, as if my body had simply moved on autopilot and carried me here by instinct.
"It’s impossible anyway..."
I had attempted this several times and successfully defeated the third Bugbear, but the Skill Points I gained from those kills hadn't been enough to raise Strength Enhancement to Level 3. I had refined my movements and stripped away every wasted effort to conserve my Vitality, and even then, killing three was my absolute limit.
"I can't stay here forever, though..."
I had lost all motivation. I was certain this attempt would be another failure.
"Oh."
There was a reason I let out that sound.
"I messed up."
▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽▽
You have acquired the skill <Provocation>.
△△△△△△△△△△△△△△△
I must have been in too much of a daze. Instead of Strength Enhancement, I had pressed Provocation, which sat right next to it.
Provocation was a skill used to draw a monster's attention. I knew it as the primary tool of a Tank in a party—they used it to pull monsters toward themselves to keep their allies safe.
"...I can't use a skill like this."
I should just die quickly and prepare for the next loop. Well, I might as well try it out once before I go.
I turned toward Bugbear A, which was preparing to charge, and activated the skill.
"Hey, moron."
Had that triggered it?
"Gughaa!"
Bugbear A let out a deafening roar of fury and charged at me with far more violence than usual. The effect had clearly activated.
"Oops."
I ducked, and then immediately thought, Wait. I had reflexively dodged out of habit, but since I was supposed to be dying anyway, there was no point in avoiding the hit.
Splatter—
A spray of fresh blood rained down on me.
I looked up to see Bugbear A's claws buried deep in the throat of Bugbear B.
"Ah..."
My eyes widened. It wasn't that they had suddenly turned on each other. Bugbear A had been so blinded by rage that it lost all sense of its surroundings; it had simply swung with all its might and happened to strike its own kin.
Bugbear B had clearly sustained a fatal wound. It had taken far more damage from that single strike than it ever had from one of my punches.
"Moron."
I used Provocation on Bugbear A again.
It charged recklessly once more. I dodged at the very last second.
Stab. Bugbear A's claws pierced through Bugbear B again.
Bugbear B collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Heh... haha..."
A laugh escaped me naturally.
"Ah-hahahahaha!"
Before I knew it, I was laughing from the bottom of my soul. I had struggled so desperately to kill even one of them, yet by using Provocation, I could end them this easily. How could I not laugh?
"Wait... does this mean all my effort until now was a waste?"
As the laughter died down, I began to question everything. If I had known Provocation could kill them this effortlessly, I would have used it from the very beginning. All that blood and sweat I put into Strength Enhancement might have been for nothing.
I started to get incredibly pissed off.
Fine. I'll just kill all of them to blow off some steam.
"Come on, you pieces of trash."
I activated Provocation on every single Bugbear in the room.