[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Monster Attack – Level 5 (Low Tier Mob)
Darkness.
Then cold.
Then buzzing.
A strange vibration moved through his bones.
A hum only the dead could hear.
[Passive Ability "Cheat Your Death" Triggered]
Restoration Begins
Vital signs: 0 → 30%... 60%... 100%
Organ reconstruction is completed.
Soul stabilization is successful.
His eyes snapped open.
He dragged in a breath and immediately regretted it.
His lungs burned.
But he was alive.
Again.
Orion lay still, letting the pain crash through him. Blood reversed its path. Muscles and bones clicked back into place. The sensation was horrifying.
[Death by Heart Failure and Blood Loss Prevented]
Condition: Stabilized
Orion groaned.
"…Cool."
He was genuinely glad to have a system that could stop him from dying. This world was far too difficult to survive in without help.
He rolled onto his side and forced himself up. His vision fogged again, as if his brain refused to maintain full clarity for long.
Even while puking and farting for the second time, he didn't stop moving.
His body felt like it had been thrown off a cliff, but adrenaline shoved him forward anyway.
He staggered into the next chamber.
And died.
Again.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Monster Stampede
When he revived the second time, he didn't even blink.
He ran.
And died again.
This time, a goblin shaman's fireball burned him alive.
Then a trap launched him into the air and snapped his spine when he landed.
He lost count after the fifth death.
The system messages blurred together.
Background noise.
Like loading screens.
But one thing was clear.
Pain was the real issue.
Even if this was a glorified second life filled with magic, the experience was enough to push him toward madness.
It was too real.
The pain was constant, sharp enough to drown out fear, and the panic came only after he realized it wasn't fading.
The touch of monsters crawling over his body felt disgusting.
Orion tried to get help.
He regretted walking into an area packed with monsters.
He should have stayed with the young soldiers.
He begged his system for help.
Orion screamed.
He punched the ground.
Nothing changed.
And it was starting to get to him.
..
At one point between deaths, Orion thought maybe he could get the hell out of this place by clearing the dungeon.
For a few seconds, the logic even made sense. The enemies here were monsters, after all.
He even tried punching a goblin in the face.
He died without understanding how.
"I don't think it's that simple."
He didn't even have a weapon or a suit to cover his naked body.
Amid curses, shouts, and screams, he tried everything to escape.
Desperation was ugly.
After a few more deaths, he could barely understand what he was doing anymore.
Then he died again.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Looking
Of course, Orion never saw a message like that.
He simply convinced himself that it must have been the cause.
He found a massive portal room.
Hundreds of monsters were spawning in waves, marching forward like ants.
And behind them?
He looked up.
Then higher.
Then even higher.
And then he saw it.
A shape beyond description.
A massive winged body, breathing smoke.
I just started this. How do you expect me to kill this at Level 0?
Orion denied it at first.
This couldn't be real. Even games weren't this ridiculous.
It was a dragon.
WHO PUT A DRAGON HERE?
It was the most terrifying thing he had seen in his thirty years of life.
Orion looked at the damn dragon.
The dragon looked back.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Soul Collapse by Eye Contact with a Lesser Dragling – Level ???
"…"
That moment became the foundation of his theory about dying from "looking."
When Orion came back to life again, he didn't puke this time. He just lay there, staring at the sky, feeling something inside him slowly breaking.
Then he laughed.
Quiet at first, then completely out of control.
"Heh… I just died from a f*cking look. HAHAHAHA…"
He sat up.
Nope.
Not gonna die again.
I'm done. I'm DONE!
He stood and moved toward the next chamber, avoiding eye contact with everything, especially the dragling.
It was sitting on top of the portal, and Orion didn't even try to look at the rest of the area.
He just had to leave this place.
Things seemed promising when the next room turned out to be empty.
While Orion was walking through the empty room, he received a system notification.
[You have been poisoned. HP will drop by 10% per second.]
Before he could fully read it or understand what it meant, another notification appeared.
[You have died.]
Cause of Death: Poisoned by Invisible Slime of the Nether – Level 9
Surprisingly, dying by poison was a very clean experience.
There was no pain in his stomach or intestines.
His body restored within seconds.
If his eyes weren't still misty, he might have doubted that he had died again at all.
What a nice discovery. Who'd have known?
Orion walked in the empty room for a while and died two more times.
"I need to find out where I am," he muttered. "Before this place kills me for real."