Chapter 25

I dodged the boulders and tripped onto the floor.

"Aghh!" I screamed in agony. The jump caused the glass fragments inside my body to move and damage my organs.

Splat.

I felt something warm in my mouth. I touched my lips and saw blood on my hands. "Ugh..."

Baam!

The place was going down soon. I tried getting up and but the pain was intolerable. I could only slouch as I moved forward. As I moved towards the exit, I had to avoid waves of obstacles with my severely injured body. One hit from those boulders, and I would be flat dead on the floor. With the boulders blocking the path, I had to use a detour. I could use 'Dash', however, I wouldn't know if my body would be able to handle the pressure. Behind me, there's a trail of blood dripping down from my body. I looked at my HP bar, and my health was slowly decreasing. "This hurts even more than when I was facing those monsters." When I reached the exit, stone boulders were pilled up at the exit. "Tsk!" I clicked my tongue and used the twin dagger and sliced the boulders. Every time I moved, the glass fragments damaged me even more. I coughed a few times, and more blood was gushing out.

[Warning! HP is drastically decreasing.]

Slash. Slash.

I cleared out more boulders on the exit.

[Warning! Your HP is below 10%.]

Huff. Puff. I was catching my breath as I sliced through the boulders. I started to lose consciousness as I cleared out the last boulder.

[Warning! Your HP is below 5%.]

Blink. Blink. My body was feeling so weak and numb. My consciousness was fading away. My eyes were closing. The last thing I saw was my bloody hand reached out to the doorknob, and my HP reached 0%. After that, I couldn't remember a thing as I lost control over my body.

Click.

The door opened, and my body slammed to the floor.

…

…

I was laying with my face flat on the floor with my eyes closed and my body not moving an inch. I felt a cool breeze brushed my face. 'Wind...?' My face scrunched up. I used my hands to feel the ground. 'Grass...!' Suddenly, my lungs felt extremely heavy. I coughed loudly and took a few deep breaths. I laid on my side and breathe normally. 'This smell...It's familiar?' I turned and laid on my back. Blink. I slowly opened my eyes and saw a bright light. "... Is this what it feels like to die?" I sighed, and all of a sudden, a loud ring pierced my ear.

Ping.

[HP and MP are fully recovered]

[ Congratulations, you have passed the 3rd stage.]

[Congratulation, skill went up! Dash LV 6 -> 7]

[You and your teammates have level up to level 40!]

I stared at the blue screen. "...I'm alive?... How?" My brain couldn't process the thoughts of how I managed to survive the last stage. I pinched my cheek really hard. "Ouch! It hurts! ...I'm alive! I'm really alive! Woohoo! Lady Luck shone on me once again." I sat up and touched my body. My injured body was completely healed, and the tiny glass fragments disappeared. "Thank goodness. I'm glad there is an auto HP and MP recovery after every stage." I looked at my surroundings. "I'm back in the forest."

"..ne! Llyne!"

I heard someone screaming my name. "Hmm...?" I turned towards the sound. Suddenly, I saw a shadow loomed over me.

"Rona here!" Rona jumped on top of me.

I was nearly crushed when Rona jumped on me. "Argh! Rona! Get up, please!" Rona stood up happily.

"You were quite lucky at the end. You only had 1% HP when you opened the exit." I heard another familiar voice from afar.

"1%? I thought I had died."

"Nope. You didn't." Isaac gave the 'know-it-all' look. "You see. I told you'll be fine."

I reached both my hands out. Rona pulled me up.

"Llyne, about the room..." Isaac gave a serious look.

I looked away. "So what now?" I rubbed Rona, who was bouncing around like a rabbit.

"..." Isaac stared at me for a while and sighed. "Don't know, but Mr. James said there was going to be a surprise after this, right?"

"I wonder what's the surprise." I stretched my body.

"Probably not something good," Isaac said nervously.

"Maybe food?" Rona drooled.

I chuckled. "Hopefully."

[Congratulation. You have passed all 3 stages. As promised, a surprise has been prepared for our little bunnies!]

I was taken by surprise. "Huh? Little bunnies? Wait. So the person controlling the blue screen was Mr. James the whole time? I guess that explains all those insults I have been getting."

"Where's the surprise?" Isaac crossed his arms.

[No rush. IT'S COMING. *devil smile emoji*]

Rustle.

"Huh? What's that sound?" I asked Isaac and Rona.

"Hmm? What sound? I didn't hear a thing." Isaac and Rona shook their head.

Rustle! Rustle!

"Uh... That sound." I gulped.

"What the -" Isaac covered his ears.

Shaa. Shaa.

We heard lots of weird noises everywhere in the forest. "I'm getting bad vibes from the forest." We equipped our weapons in case of any surprise attacks. We looked up and checked our surroundings and were shocked to see the trees moving left and right as if they were alive. "Trees don't move, do they?" I screamed. We slowly backed away, but there was nowhere to go.

Whoosh!

A sudden gush of wind blew by.

"AAAHHHH!" We screamed and covered ourselves. Not knowing what flew by. We couldn't see, but the sound was something we were all familiar with.

FLAP. FLAP. FLAP.

We peeked up and saw a huge flock of birds desperately flying away. I took a glance at the trees. The trees stopped moving. "So it was just the birds. Sure scared the heck out of us." We sighed in relief, knowing we weren't surrounded by tree monsters. I dropped to the ground. "This place is seriously bad for my poor heart." I cried.

I looked at the birds flying away in the sky. "Ouish...Bad sign..." I gulped my saliva nervously.

"I guess that was the surprise?" Isaac said without realizing something even worse coming.

Rona was disappointed. "That's all? No tree monsters? I can't make friends with them?"

I turned and asked. "You want to make friends with them?"

"Rona loves making friends. No matter who they are."

"Won't they eat you?"

"Once we become friends, they won't eat me."

Isaac scoffed. "Ya right."

[Hello. Hello, there. My little bunnies. Disappointed about not making friends? Well, do not worry. Your new friend is just shy. He will reveal himself soon.]

"Really?" Rona's eyes were gleaming.

[Oh, yes. Just a slight warning. Don't stare at him too much, or he'll bite.]

"Wow! Okay! Thank you, Mr. James!" Rona nodded her head.

"Bite?" I rubbed my eyes and looked at the words on the blue screen properly. "Oui...it really wrote there 'bite'. Now I regret not letting Rona eat Looney, the mascot."

"Oh, wow... I'm really curious about what our new friend looks like." Isaac said sarcastically.

[Looks like your new friend is ready to show himself. Do welcome him with open arms. That is before he eats you up. MWAHAHAHAHAH!]

We looked at each other in horror. "Oh crap..."

RUMBLE!

My eyes almost popped out when I heard that sound. "This again?!!"

RUMBLEEE!!!

The shaking was so strong that we got lifted in the air and slammed straight down the floor.

"Wah!...Oof!" My face was slammed down on the ground. "Oui! My face hurts!" The motion repeated a few times. I was like a bouncing ball bouncing on the ground repetitively. Every time my body slammed on the ground, it felt like all my bones were going to break.

Isaac quickly grabbed onto a nearby tree and screamed. "Grab onto something!"

I saw Isaac mouthing something. "..ab...ing," I titled my head in confusion. "What are you saying?" I screamed. Isaac rolled his eyes and screamed again.

RUMBLEEE!!!

"What?" I couldn't hear what Isaac screamed from the loud tremor, but I knew what he was trying to say. I looked around and found a tree nearby. I struggled to stand up. It took me a while, but I was able to stand up straight. I tried to maintain my balance as I quickly moved closer to the tree.

I jumped and grabbed onto the tree with my arms and legs like a koala grabbing on to a bamboo. I had to hold onto the tree firmly so I don't fall off the tree and injure my butt. "This place is so beautiful, but why are there earthquakes all the time?" I wailed. As seconds go by, the shaking worsens. "I feel like my brain is about to jump out of my head." Oddly, even though the tremor was so loud, I could hear Isaac's mockery. "You have a brain? I'm utterly shocked." I turned and glared at Isaac, who was snickering at me. "Grr~, I'm gonna whoop your ass after this, Isaac. Mark my words."