Dance with death

Eric looked at the dark, straight corridor ahead of him and steeled his resolve. This was it, once he took a step forward, there was no turning back. He would either reach the other side or die on the way.

He took one last look at the viperwolf that had forced him into this desperate situation and tried one last trick. A raccoon materialized in his hand as he pulled it from his inventory before he threw it in the monster's direction.

The beast saw the raccoon fly in its direction, but not only did it not charge at the body, it laid down and turned its eyes toward Eric, showing no interest in the free meal coming its way.

The moment the raccoon's lifeless body fell to the ground, several arrows shot out of the darkness and headed straight for it. Three arrows were fired, but only one found its mark as it struck the raccoon.

"Tch, ungrateful bastard." He clicked his tongue, frustrated that his trick had failed.

Eric turned his attention back to the dark passage and swallowed. He clenched his fists as he took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart. Then he lifted his foot and took a cautious step forward, keeping his senses alert. But nothing happened which surprised him. Step after step, no arrow was shot in his direction as if everything that had happened before was an illusion, but Eric wasn't fooled. The pain in his shoulder was too real to be a hallucination. The further he went, the more cautious he became. He didn't dare to relax, keeping his body tensed all the time.

Out of nowhere, an arrow shot through the darkness and Eric instinctively turned his body to the side. The arrow missed his arm by a few inches as it passed him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

He regained his senses and frowned at the arrow embedded in the wall. It would have crippled his arm if it had managed to hit him.

That was too close!

He was only able to dodge the arrow because his stats had increased, making his reflexes faster than they'd ever been before. This realization increased his trust in the system interface and made him believe that it was truly changing his body for the better.

This won't do, I can't rely on my eyes to help me!

He knew that the key to crossing this deadly passage was to use his senses to determine the paths of the arrows, which is why he chose to increase his perception over the other attributes in the first place. But it wasn't easy for him to give up his sight and rely on his senses to dodge a damned arrow. His paranoid mind would fill him with all kinds of reasons not to.

Doubts crept into his mind and he hesitated to move forward. Was this the right decision? He thought his chances of survival might be better if he faced the monster instead of crossing this trap.

Calm down! He slapped his cheek. You won't be able to get out of here if you don't calm down.

I'll try to trust my perception just this once, and if it doesn't work, I'll go outside and take my chances with that bastard.

Taking a deep breath, Eric closed his eyes and focused on the sounds around him. At first, it was a little difficult to shut down his paranoid mind, but with time and the mediation techniques he used to practice, he managed to enter a deep state of concentration.

Eric tried to focus on the whistling sound of the arrows as they cut through the air, but he found it difficult to isolate all the tiny sounds around him and focus on just one of the different noises.

Plop. Plop. He heard water dripping from the ceiling.

The sound of crickets reached his ears. He also heard many other sounds in the corridor, slowly picking them out.

After a while, he took a step forward and heard the familiar whistles coming his way.

Swoosh! Arrows shot out. With his eyes wide open, Eric, who was in deep concentration, turned his body sideways after measuring the trajectory of the arrow.

Puck! The wooden arrow narrowly missed his shoulder and buried itself in the ground.

Yes! I can dodge them. Eric clenched his fists and his eyes sparkled. Although there were drawbacks to giving up his sight and relying solely on his hearing, he didn't care. He now had a way to get through the passage.

When he took another step forward, no arrow came his way, which made him pause and think about the reason.

It looks like traps only activate when I pass a certain point.

That meant that every time he reached those points, arrows would shoot. No matter where he was, the arrows would follow.

So running and trying to cross the passage as fast as possible isn't the answer. I have to take it one step at a time.

Sure of his thoughts, Eric didn't hesitate any longer and moved on to the next spot. Step by step. The more he crossed, the more arrows he encountered.

Five! Each arrow aimed at a different part of his body: his head, chest, stomach, arm, and knee.

Eric sidestepped, turned his head, and crouched down in one quick motion. The arrows flew past his body and hit the ground.

As time passed, he started to adapt and get used to his new capabilities, which made him react much faster and dodge the arrows as soon as he located the direction of the sound.

After dodging another arrow, a window suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

[Your Perception has increased by 1 point.]

[Your Agility has increased by 1 point].

Distracted, he failed to duck as an arrow struck his back. Gritting his teeth, he crouched low and pulled it out without uttering a single cry. Thankfully, he was in the safe zone and no more arrows were fired.

He looked at the oozing blood slowly trickling down his back, but unfortunately, he had no bandage to use. He tore off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around his shoulder, stopping the bleeding. Then he forced his creaking body forward.

Arrows rained down on him with every step, but Eric dodged them with minimal movement, twisting sideways and clinging to the wall. Sometimes he crawled through the floor, having discovered that most arrows shot at a certain height.

Soon he reached another safe zone and the arrows stopped raining down on him, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. He leaned against the wall, spit out a mouthful of blood, and took a deep breath. He was tired. His body screamed in pain, and he could barely move, but he didn't sit down, knowing that once he did, his legs would give out and he wouldn't be able to get up again without a long rest.

After ripping off his shirt and tending to his wounds, he turned his attention to the window notifications that popped up from time to time.

So leveling up isn't the only way to increase your stats.

Just as athletes improve their skills through training, this system seemed to recognize your efforts when you pushed yourself beyond your limits and rewarded you accordingly, or did it just speed up the time it took for the muscles to get stronger?

Since I relied on perception and agility to dodge the arrows, they increased accordingly. Eric's eyes narrowed in deep thought. Could this be intentional? Whoever built this place deliberately designed it to increase stats.

Does that mean that the owner also had a similar system, or at least knows someone who does? The more Eric thought about it, the more reasonable his theory sounded.

All the more reason to reach the other side. Since there was a chance that the designer had some knowledge about the system, this was enough reason for Eric to continue on his way to get answers. Some might think that such a system was a blessing, but Eric wasn't the kind of person who believed in gifts. There was a motive behind every action, and he would find out why a system that could be considered a supernatural thing with otherworldly abilities was helping him.

Eric pushed himself to his feet and looked down the dark passage that showed no sign of ending. He cracked his neck before moving on.

Here we go again.

***

After what felt like hours of walking, occasional notifications would appear informing him of increases in perception and agility. However, these distractions caused him to be struck by arrows, much to his annoyance. Mentally wishing for the notifications to cease surprisingly worked, as they stopped appearing thereafter. A quick check of his interface dispelled his doubts as he noticed his stats were still rising.

As his stats continued to improve, he became faster and more sensitive, gradually adapting to the darkness of the corridor. He spotted something on the ground but couldn't discern what it was from his current vantage point.

Sidestepping to avoid two arrows aimed at his throat, he made his way toward the object. Once he passed the trap, the arrows ceased.

Taking a deep breath, he approached the object on the ground, only to pause upon closer inspection. It was a man—or rather, two men; he noticed another figure a little further away. Both wore the same clothes and armor he had taken from John's body, leading him to suspect that they might be colleagues

Though he knew the results from the putrid, decaying stench, he knelt and shook the man, but received no response. He noticed three arrows lodged in his chest and a pool of dried blood staining the floor. After checking for a pulse, he sighed when he found none. He didn't bother to check on the other man when he noticed an arrow sticking out of his skull, obviously dead.

Why would they even bother to come this far? Were they forced like me, or did they have other motives? He wondered.

With a sigh, he searched their bodies for anything that might be useful.

He found their tags, and just as he suspected, they both belonged to the Temple, whatever that was. He put them in his pocket and continued to run his hands over the bodies.

He noticed a small pouch tied to the side of the corpse, but the body pushed it underneath, so he turned the corpse over and brought the pouch in front of him.

The pouch was light and made of unknown leather, and it was smooth to the touch. When he opened it, he only saw a small round tin.

What is this?

Eric took it out and looked at the box in his hand. But the moment his hand touched the box, a new window appeared in front of him.

Item: [Healing Unguent]

Type: Medicine

A healing ointment made from a combination of medicinal herbs and monster flesh.

Effect: Apply directly to wounds to heal superficial injuries.

Well, that didn't happen before.

It looked like the system could identify certain things other than monsters, which was good news for him. If the system hadn't mentioned that it was a healing ointment, he would have thrown it away, especially after he lifted the lid and smelled the horrible stench that was worse than the smell of a rotting corpse.

The ointment was an oily substance that looked like rotten tomato sauce.

What kind of sick bastard would make something like that?

Fighting the urge to vomit, Eric reluctantly reached out a probing finger and gently probed the wound on his arm where the arrow had pierced him.

I think I need to add more.

Seeing that nothing happened after a while, he took some of the ointment and carefully applied it to the wound, which immediately began to sting, but the sensation quickly faded and the pain from the wound itself eased a bit.

Eric gently prodded the affected area, but while it was still wet with blood and ointment, the bleeding had stopped.

This really works! Even if it didn't heal the injury, just stopping the bleeding was enough.

Without wasting any time, Eric stripped off his clothes, wincing as he removed the bandages. Then he applied the ointment to all his wounds.

When he was done, he felt a chill as he stood naked in the middle of the dark corridor. He looked down at his bloody and dirty clothes before turning his attention to the two bodies.

Sorry, fellas, but I need those clothes more than you do.

He stripped them of their clothes, feeling a tinge of shame. This was the second time he had done this, and it was to their friend nonetheless.

I can't promise to deliver your bodies to your families, but I can promise to give you a proper burial when I'm out of here.

Eric dressed and looked apologetically at the bodies before placing them in the inventory. He was determined to keep his promise, he owed them that much.

Looking around, he saw various weapons scattered on the ground. He picked them all up and put them in his inventory. Two daggers, a sword, a spear, and two bucklers.

He held a shield in his hand. It was round and made of metal, with a central handle behind the boss.

Hiding behind the shield, Eric looked down the dark corridor.

I should get going.

With that, he stepped forward, holding the buckler high.