My skill into action

There was no falling.

No dizziness. No warning.

Liam had only brushed his fingers against the strange symbol etched into the side of the well, then the world around him blinked out. Just like that.

Now, he stood ankle-deep in water so still it reflected the gray sky like glass. The air was thick, damp, and colder than it had any right to be. The world was… wrong.

Dead stone trees loomed in all directions, their jagged branches reaching upward like claws frozen in agony. The trunks were cracked and hollow, like something had sucked the life out of them centuries ago. A swamp, but not one found on any map.

"This place..." Liam muttered, scanning the terrain with growing unease. "This wasn't in the Ester egg."

He wasn't surprised anymore by deviations from the game world he once knew. But this... this wasn't just off-script. It felt hostile. A part of the world that didn't want to be seen.

A pale glow flickered ahead.

He approached cautiously, footsteps echoing oddly in the shallow water. The glow came from a stone statue in the center of a sunken basin, an old, blindfolded woman with both arms raised, offering a bowl. The bowl pulsed faintly with bluish light, just enough to cast flickering shadows.

Liam stopped ten feet away.

His instincts screamed at him. Something was watching.

Then he heard it. Sloshing. Wet steps in the mist.

Shapes moved just outside his field of vision. Not fast, just... wrong.

Liam turned sharply. A creature limped into view, tall and thin. Its limbs were too long. Its skin glistened like wet ink, slick and shiny. Its head was smooth, no mouth, no eyes, just a faceless dome.

Then another. And another. Crawling, limping, dragging limbs behind them as they converged.

"Those aren't from Elyndra's monster index," he whispered. His heart rate jumped. "Not even the corrupted zone mobs looked like that."

He instinctively reached for the revolver at his belt but froze.

One of the creatures twitched, tilted its head as if noticing the movement, and lunged.

Liam didn't have time to think. His hand flinched toward the grip,

CRACK.

The monster's foot hit a moss-covered stone just beneath the surface. Its balance broke. The thing fell, smashing headfirst into a jagged rock with a sickening crunch. It went still for permanently.

Liam stared "What".

Another creature followed, slipping past its fallen kin. It slithered under one of the dead trees. As it passed beneath a rotting branch.

SNAP.

A thick gaint branch of the tree gave way and collapsed directly onto its back with a brutal, wet slap. The thing collapsed into the water, limbs twitching once before going still.

"...What the hell?"

A third one crept low, insect-like. It moved fast, charging on all fours. It leapt toward him, claws outstretched.

But before it reached Liam, the ground gave way. A hollow beneath the water collapsed, swallowing the creature into a pit of sharpened bone-like rocks. A muted crunch followed.

Liam didn't blink. His mind raced.

"Wait… wait, this pattern, this isn't coincidence."

He looked around, trying to spot the logic.

More came. One swung a chain with jagged hooks, whirling it over its head. It threw it forward, straight toward Liam.

but the chain snagged on a thick vine. The tension reversed instantly. It coiled back around the creature's own neck, and the momentum yanked it backward into the side of a stone pillar. It didn't rise.

Liam whispered, breathless, "No way."

Then it clicked.

"[God-Given Luck]. This… must be the reason."

One more beast approached. Bigger. Sharper. Its body was covered in bone-like armor that pulsed faintly with dark veins. It growled low and charged.

The instant it entered striking range, the ceiling above cracked with a groan. A massive slab of super thick stone broke free and came crashing down, crushing the creature like an insect beneath a hammer.

Silence returned.

"I didn't dodge. I didn't attack. They just… died," he murmured.

His hand hovered over the revolver at his belt. It was still holstered.

He looked down at it.

"I'm still F-rank. Still weak," he whispered. "But this skill... Is just broken."

He breathed in slowly, trying to center himself. His mind replayed each death.

The monsters never had a chance.

Their own environment had turned against them, one after another, like it was rigged. Pre-loaded.

"This isn't just 'good luck.' This is... cheating."

He took a few steps forward, toward the statue again. The bowl had gone dark.

As if the event was over.

He looked down at one of the creatures. Its faceless head was cracked like a shattered vase. Blood seeped into the shallow water, but the color wasn't red, it was black, like oil mixed with ink.

"I've never seen these things in any version of the game. These aren't coded enemies."

He crouched, poked the body with a stick. It twitched once, then dissolved into the water like ink in paper.

"...And they vanish. Great."

He stood up again, lips tight. Something about this place had changed him. Not just the knowledge of the skill, but how little power he actually needed to survive this time.

A quiet moment passed before his stomach growled.

The tension shattered as he exhaled, rubbed his face, and started walking toward the basin's edge.

"Whatever the hell that was, I'm not sticking around for round two."

The mist began to recede behind him, like it had only gathered for that trial. Sunlight cut through in rays, scattering across the twisted trees.

He glanced back once at the statue before leaving.

The blindfolded woman held her empty bowl high now have a chest.

He touched the chest on the hand of the statue and open it. The strange black stone was there. the crude sword he barely knew how to use.

"I'll figure you out later," he muttered.

Right now, the adrenaline was wearing off. His stomach twisted with hunger. Somehow, after all of it, he was starving.

He let out a breath and looked up. The mist had pulled back, revealing the path toward Thornmere. Life waited just beyond the ruins, crowded alleys, hot meals, loud voices.

Normalcy. Or something close to it.

Step by step, boots squelching in the mud.

He didn't look back. Not at the fading monsters, or the fading statue, or the basin behind him It was gone now, like a fever dream..

A faint breeze touched his face as the town sounds grew louder: hooves on stone, a vendor's shout, laughter in the distance. His stomach growled again.

"Right," he muttered. "Time to eat."

He shoved his hands into his pockets, head low, eyes forward.

He'd had enough of monsters for one morning.