The figure stood between me and the cave entrance. My home. What I had once called home.

I forced my legs to respond. Stiff, slow, carrying me forward in short, dragging steps. My thoughts scattered in every direction. Panic was in full swing. Each potential disaster raced through my mind. Faces I had not seen in ages. Failures I had barely survived. All of it poured in one rush because of this thing.

This thing that stood in front of me. I wondered if this was the adversary I had been meant to face.

It was massive in a way that made no sense. I kept walking. The closer I got, the more detail I saw, and none of it helped.

Its skin was not just thick. It held a brittle surface that cracked along the edges. Every inch of it showed history, something earned through too many fights. It was not covered in scars. It was a scar.

Its shoulders stretched wide. The entire cave vanished behind it.

Each time it moved, its muscles shifted under the skin in waves. No twitch. No waste. Motion rose from power and experience, not instinct.

I was not just smaller. I did not even belong on the same scale.

I activated Status Sight.

If this thing was going to end my tutorial run, I wanted to see what monster had earned that right.

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Ogre (Kiiroi)

Level: 20

Title: Hit First, Talk Later

Description: Ogres are often depicted as large and brutish humanoid creatures. Typically, they are characterized by their immense size, great strength, and often a lack of intelligence or cunning, though this can vary depending on the interpretation. Ogres are frequently portrayed as being dim-witted and prone to violence, but they can also be described as cunning and sometimes even capable of magic. Their favorite food is peaches—

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Its favorite food is peaches? Really? I mean, I love a good peach, but this guy? Could he actually be like me?

I scrolled through the rest of the creature’s info.

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—the actual fruit, you perverted dumbass!

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That ugly bitch of a system. I gritted my teeth, fuming.

One of these days I vowed I would drive my boot into her groin.

I locked eyes with the ogre. It was the first time I had seen a Kiiroi creature with a level and title so terrifying.

Level 20.

That was three times my level. The gap was not just big. It was crushing. One swing from that massive club would have smashed me flat.

And that skin. Probably bulletproof.

I scanned the area.

Nothing but trees. No clear path. No fallback.

The cave waited behind him. My gear, supplies, everything I had spent hours scraping together just to stay alive in this gaming world, lay sealed off by a walking blockade of death.

My breath stumbled. In, out, again.

Then the ogre shifted.

It did not rush. Not at first. It placed one foot ahead of the other, and the earth shuddered in a deep, rolling tremor. Each stride marked the opening beat of an ending I could not reverse. A slow march toward a moment I had no way to stop.

I searched through every Kiiroi encounter log I had recorded, every desperate remembered detail.

There was only one thing that might help now—

Curiosity.

Not cleverness. Not empathy. Just the weird wandering attention monsters sometimes gave when they did not understand something right away.

If I could use that. If I could get even a sliver of hesitation. It might be enough.

I pulled my spine straight. I pushed my voice into something almost friendly. I tried not to choke on the ridiculousness of what I was about to do.

“Excuse me. Do you mind if we share the cave?”

The question floated there. A reckless gamble dressed up as a joke.

For a breath, it hung.

Then the ogre answered.

It did not speak. It just roared. Deep, wet and furious. Not just a threat. A declaration.

It lunged forward.

The name it carried in the system was absolutely earned.

That club came up fast. No windup. Weight and speed combined. It cut through the air with a sound that made my skin tighten.

My body reacted before thought kicked in. I hurled myself to the side, shoulder scraping against the earth as I hit the ground hard. The club slammed down behind me. The force rattled my ribs. I felt it deep in the marrow.

One second later and I would not have been there at all.

No time to dwell.

I yanked my slingshot free, set a kōkyū in place, and fired.

Then again. Again.

The kōkyū streaked through the air. Each one landed. Hitting along its torso and arms. None of them affected.

The ogre did not flinch. Did not react. My blow struck its hide and might as well have vanished against stone walls. Not even a scratch showed on its skin.

This was not a fight I could win.

A tightness clamped around my neck. The cold edge of helplessness pressed in. It tried to settle, tried to convince me there was no point in running.

I ignored it.

Let us speak honestly for a moment. I wanted to scream and quit the entire world but quitting never saved anyone.

I spun on my heel and launched forward. Behind me, shadows followed.

The ogre charged. Its movements shook the trees. Birds fled. Branches snapped. Leaves raced past my face in a frantic rush as the air bent to its fury.

I heard it closing the distance.

My breath faltered.

I risked a look over my shoulder.

And instantly regretted it.

Its eyes locked on me. That face, all fury and single-minded momentum, became the last thing I wanted to see.

It tore through the forest with nothing in its thoughts except the chase. Everything in its path came apart. Its speed defied sense. And the gap between us narrowed.

Heat surged in my chest. Fear seized my nerves and pressed until my skin felt alive with sparks. My lungs burned. My legs fought against the force of my own momentum.

Run. Just keep moving.

Then it happened.

A shape dragged across the dirt in front of me.

I did not think. I was unable to. My body tensed without waiting for permission.

One look back. That was all I needed.

And my stomach flipped.

The ogre’s club was already in motion. That hulking arm swung wide with a force that did not just break things, it erased them. Nothing elegant. Just a violent arc that promised to end whatever it touched.

I could not dodge. No chance.

It hit.

Pain burst fast. No delay. No buildup. It exploded in my ribs and hurled me off the ground. Air whooshed out of me before I realized I lost it.

Up I flew, limbs everywhere.

Some part of me laughed, a tiny break in the panic.

While I was still airborne, something worse slammed into me.

This was where it ended. Everything I had built. The time I had spent clawing for scraps, grinding out each potential advantage, pushing past fights I should not ever have survived. It all collapsed in one ridiculous moment.

And I was not even getting taken out by a hidden boss or assassin in a cool cloak. No final duel. No twist.

Just a peach-loving slab of muscle with zero concept of personal space.

A soft chime pulsed behind my eyes, followed by the system’s voice as it dragged reality back into focus.

________________________________________

Attention! Your HP is critically low!

Please consume a health potion to avoid further loss.

Current HP: 5 percent.

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I appreciated the reminder, really, but why bother?

Even if I healed, I would still be seconds away from another hit. That last swing practically carved my skeleton in half.

One more and I was done. The memory of it stayed. I did not want to feel that again.

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HP COUNTDOWN:

5%

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Honestly, I had made it farther than I thought I would.

I started with a slingshot and the kind of timing that got you killed in most tutorials.

Still made it past Zog, traps, ambushes, and a system that thought it was hilarious.

Maybe this was how it ended. No heroic last stand. No orchestral swell.

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4%

3%

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I wondered if the others were doing better. Real gear. Solid stats. Actual strategies.

Did they get jumped by something this dumb? Or was that just my luck?

________________________________________

2%

________________________________________

If I could’ve seen Mai’s face one more time, it might have actually been worth it.

________________________________________

1%

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I meant her peaches.

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0%

________________________________________

And before you ask—nope, not the fruit.

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Aoi Player Akira Sakamoto Has Been Eliminated.

Transferring To The Staging Area.

________________________________________

There was a pause. Long enough for my body to trust the quiet. My nerves began to ease, a faint sense that the danger had slipped away.

Then everything collapsed around me.

SYSTEM FAILURE! SYSTEM FAILURE! SYSTEM FAILURE!

The screen shouted the message, a harsh proclamation of doom with no explanation and no warning. A complete meltdown.

I stared at it. Not from understanding. More from the sense that the screen had just delivered a personal insult.

Maybe it’s right. I did just lose to a creature that snacks on peaches for entertainment.

The edges of my vision warped. The world tugged inward, the way brittle film twists when a projector drags it through the gears.

Something seized the moment and wrenched it sideways.

The timeline snapped backward.

That same brittle static crept over my sight, a presence so close it felt as though my own thoughts were caught in the teeth of old tape.

I expected the usual flash of light. A voiceover with too much flair. Maybe even a triumphant jingle pretending all that failure had meaning.

What I got instead?

Dirt. And a mouthful of it.

I hit the ground face first. No transition. No cinematic moment.

Just me. Flat. Confused. Sprawled in the middle of a quiet forest clearing that had no business being so peaceful.

Everything around me was bathed in that soft gold glow you get when the sun is low and nothing is broken after all.

The wind shifted gently. Light flickered through the treetops. The sky leaned into a color that should have felt calming.

But my heart was still racing.

A few seconds ago, I had been fighting for my life. A giant club had been swinging at me with enough force to crack the sky. Now I was here. No context. No threat. Just nature. Suspiciously intact.

I pushed up from the ground, eyes sweeping the area.

No ogre. No broken branches. No dents in the earth. Not even a leaf out of place.

The silence swarmed in. Heavy and unnatural. Even the birds were quiet.

I checked my hands. No wounds. No bruises. My gear was intact.

I should’ve been relieved. I was not.

My mind clawed for answers. I replayed it again. That sprint. That club. The crash.

What I did know was this—

It all happened. I remembered the pain. I remembered falling. But the rest was gone. As if someone scrubbed the timeline, recompiled the world, and dumped me at a checkpoint I never reached. They forgot to load the script for why.