Shreepach

Ethan Vale was nothing special. A university dropout, a shut-in obsessed with brutal, punishing RPGs, and a man who knew strategy better than he knew real life. But when his screen flickered with an ominous error message and the world around him shattered, he awoke in a land that should not exist—The Hollow Domain, a place where gods have long since died, where eldritch horrors rule, and where kingdoms of the damned crumble beneath an unending curse.

He had no weapons. No powers. No divine destiny.

But he had intelligence—and the curse of resurrection.

Every time he dies, he returns to the same ruined citadel, his body restored but his mind forever scarred. Pain is not a fleeting experience here—it is absolute, relentless, and unforgettable. Every death is a lesson written in agony, each resurrection a cruel reset in an unforgiving world. The creatures here do not simply kill; they break. They torment. They consume.

Survival is not guaranteed. Sanity is optional.

But Ethan is determined to carve a path through the madness, to outthink the horrors that lurk in the shadows, and to uncover the truth behind the Hollow Domain.

Because something is watching him.

Something is waiting.

And it wants him to suffer.

A World of Hollow Thrones

[SAVE POINT LOADED]

Ethan opened his eyes.

And this time, he felt nothing.

Just… emptiness.

"There it is again."

A blade met his throat.

His vision snapped to black.

Steel pierced his back.

A dagger twisted into his gut.

A sword ran through his chest.

A fireball consumed his face.

A bolt of lightning shattered his spine.

Ethan had stopped trying to fight back.

He simply existed.

Only to die again.

Cole could see it now.

The way the bug's body moved differently with each reset.

At first, it had flinched, screamed, begged, ran.

Then, it had fought.

Tried to survive.

Like it knew what was coming.

Like it had stopped caring.

"Well, that's boring. It's not even trying anymore."

She stabbed the bug's throat again.

The same, empty expression.

"Maybe it's adapting. Some AI coding shit. Doesn't matter—one more round."

Something in his gut twisted.

It was just a glitch, right?

Just some corrupted NPC.

Then why did it look so human?

Why did it seem like something inside it was shattering, piece by piece?

And then, something changed.

Something no one else noticed.

The bug's lips moved.

A chill crawled up his spine.

Because it wasn't scripted NPC dialogue.

It wasn't random AI chatter.

It was something different.

A voice, raw and hollow, murmuring in the dark.

"Please… let me stay dead."

Cole's grip on his sword tightened.

For the first time, he didn't attack.

And Ethan realized something terrible.

CHAPTER EIGHT – SOMETHING THAT REFUSES TO DIE