It doesn`t seem like I`m going to be attacked by anything anytime soon, so if I wanted to, I could probably hang around here until that timer went down completely. The issue is that I don`t know what happens when the second attempt rolls around. I was only able to survive like this because everyone was in the way of the arrows, so I was only hit in my arms and legs and stuff. If I had to redo this stage, I`d probably die instantly.

　　Now that I think about it& The arrows really do only come from one direction, don`t they? Hm.

　　Let`s see& If the hill is in the hypothetical North, then the arrows are coming from the hypothetical West. From what I can see, the arrows aren`t being shot by anyone, but rather, they`re just guided by the wind. Since the wind is really strong, it easily weaves between the trees, though a lot of arrows still hit the trees, getting stuck on their hypothetical West side.

　　If I get hit by these arrows head-on with no shelter or shield, I`m dead.

　　I hold her closer. Her shield had just burst. It made no difference in the least. From what I can see, the only things that can protect me are the trees, and&

　　I stare into her dead-empty eyes. Gulp.

　　But it`s not as though I have any choice. If she were still alive, if she could still speak, then& Then, she would have told me to keep going. For their sakes. No matter the cost.

　　I glance to my right. Among a path weaving between the trees lie two urchin bodies and three gleaming weapons. A spear, an axe, and my sword. I`ll need that sword. This floor is one thing, but if I don`t have it for the next floor, I`ll probably be dead. I really have no choice in all of this.

　　What`s my best option for pulling my sword closer?

　　I turn my eyes to her. She could work, right? I mean, she`s already riddled with arrows, so what`s a few more?

　　Gulping, I straighten out where I sit. Lifting her up, I take a hold of her left foot and hold her chest up. She`s pretty light. And with that as my tool, I toss her out towards the sword. Her body flops onto the floor in a weird, almost comedic position. About half a dozen arrows pierce her, three of them hitting her skull in such a way that it bursts open in a spray of goop. I pull her back in, and throw her again. This time she gets a bit closer, but the gap is almost a full metre longer than she is. I pull her back in. Yeah, I`ll need to go out there. I frown at her. Sorry in advance.

　　Propping her up in front of me like a shield, I stand up and inch out into the dastardly wind. Thump thump thump. A few pierce all the way through her abdomen and graze mine, a few hit my legs, but I can still keep on moving.

　　Once I reach my sword, I quickly grab it and will it into my inventory. But then I spy the spear and the axe.

　　It would be a waste to leave them to rot, right? Yeah.

　　Shuffling along, I take a few more steps, getting closer and closer, until I finally reach the two prime weapons. A single touch sends them into my inventory and I feel a surge of victory and hope that`s instantly dashed as an arrow flies by and completely severs my hamstring, sending me flying down to the ground with her on top of me. Pain spasms through me and I bite down on my lip so hard I taste blood.

　　Not good. Not good. Not good.

　　Damn it. I can`t die here. Was it so bad to just want a few more weapons?!

　　Gritting my teeth, I try to drag myself across the ground but an arrow stabs into my hand, nailing it to the ground and I give a hiss of pain. I can`t let it stop me though, so without any conscious input, I lift my hand high, pulling it off the arrow.

　　Bleeding Tolerance Lv. 7>

　　Great. Wonderful. Fantastic.

　　I`m leaving a snail trail of blood but I don`t have time to think about it. The tree is so close. I can almost taste it. Smell the bark. Touch it. My vision is darkening. But I need to keep awake. So I pull myself. Step by step. Inch by inch.

　　Unconsciousness Tolerance Lv.4>

　　Poison Tolerance Lv.5>

　　And then, finally, shade. My head enters the shade of the tree, and then my upper body, and then my abdomen, but I couldn`t get my legs in before I felt my consciousness finally slip fully.

　　I`m still awake, but I feel asleep. I`m half-dead, but I feel alive.

　　Hypnagogia Lv.2>

　　Poison Tolerance Lv.6>

　　I don`t know how many hours pass in this wakeful yet asleep state, but when I do, my vision is filled with status messages.

　　Piercing Tolerance Lv.7>

　　Poison Tolerance Lv.10>

　　Poison Resistance Lv.1>

　　Unconsciousness Tolerance Lv.7>

　　Bleeding Tolerance Lv. 10>

　　Bleeding Resistance Lv. 1>

　　Lesser Auto-Regeneration Lv.6>

　　I stare at them for a second. Then, once I`ve read them all, I pull myself fully into the shade of the tree. There, I pull out the dozen or so arrows stuck in my legs. It`s like pulling out splinters. I can`t even feel it anymore. All I feel is the dull sensation of pressure and something giving way.

　　Cold Tolerance Lv.2>

　　&When did I get that? Must`ve been the cold, I guess. God knows I could certainly do without it&

　　On that note, it seems like my Bleeding and Poison tolerances both evolved into proper resistances, which is nice, I suppose.

　　<[Poison Resistance (Lv.1)]

　　Evolved version of [Poison Tolerance]. Grants protection

　　against poisons and venoms.>

　　<[Bleeding Resistance (Lv.1)]

　　Evolved version of [Bleeding Tolerance]. Stifles

　　bleeding and counteracts attacks that

　　cause the [Bleeding] status effect.>

　　Right, that`s about what I expected. Neither of them reached more than level 1, so it`s fair to assume that it`s harder to increase the level of a [Resistance] skill than a mere [Tolerance] skill.

　　With these two mildly competent-looking skills, I think I may actually have a chance of beating this floor. I have my weapons, I have her for protection& It`s possible.

　　Looking off into the distance, I catch sight of the unmoving, unblinking eclipse and the hill just below it. By the looks of it, it`ll take me several days to actually get there, and that`s without accounting for the pain of dodging the streams of arrows.

　　&At least, that would be if I walked straight towards it. But I don`t think that that`s my most suitable strategy here. The arrows are coming from the hypothetical West, and the hill is in the hypothetical North. If I head straight for it, the arrows will hit me any time I`m not in the shade of a tree. Say what you will about her effectiveness as a shield, but I have a feeling that in a few days, she`ll start to lose her arrow-riddled limbs one by one. Hopping from tree to tree without a shield would be suicide. However, if I had the arrows downwind or upwind—in other words, coming from the hill—then when I move towards the hill, I can line up the trees in such a way that the arrows won`t hit me even as I jump from tree to tree. I won`t need her protection anymore.

　　To do this, I`ll need to walk in a roundabout manner. But it is doable.

　　<03:21:20

　　Day 3>

　　28:21:39:40>

　　28 days. Yeah, I`ve got time.

　　I just need to get there.

　　And so, I set out to conquer the first floor.

　　Mentally, I made a map of the area. Trees all around, hill in the middle, and arrows from the hypothetical West. All I had to do was to position the hill in such a way that it was in the hypothetical West so that the arrows are coming from the direction I`m walking towards. That way, once I got close enough, it should also serve as shelter from the arrows. It was a simple enough plan, and for the first few days, it worked pretty well. I went from tree to tree, using her as a shield. After a day or two her limbs started falling off, but getting hit in an arm or a leg or a shoulder was no longer dangerous for me. As long as I kept my internal organs and head safe, I`d be alright.

　　Battle Focus Lv.1>

　　Enhanced Vision Lv.1>

　　At that point, I also learned a pair of immensely useful skills. Enhanced vision was passive, but once it hit level 3, I was able to actually see the path that the arrows would take before they hit. Battle focus was an active skill that drained my mental stamina to use, but with it, the world seemed to slow down. Together, they allowed me to dodge arrows. This was immensely useful once her head was shot clean off.

　　But after a few days, I found myself in a bit of a pickle.

　　The direction the arrows were coming in did not change. It was always from the hypothetical West, with the Hill always in the hypothetical North. I had kind of hoped that I would eventually be able to use the eclipse as a guide since it should move as I do, but it doesn`t. It hangs over the hill, no matter from which direction I look at it.

　　My strategy had been to walk towards the hypothetical East, which in my mind would have been the quickest to get me in the shadow of the hill, but after over a week of the hill not changing position and the arrows always coming from the hypothetical West, I realised my error.

　　The arrows aren`t coming from the West, or the East, or even the North or South.

　　They`re swirling around the hill in a giant storm. No matter what way I go, the arrows will always come from the left when looking at the hill, because they`re moving counterclockwise around it.

　　By the time I realised this, I had already trekked for 9 days and learned half a dozen new tolerance skills.

　　Starvation Tolerance Lv.1>

　　Dehydration Tolerance Lv.1>

　　Exhaustion Tolerance Lv.1>

　　Hypothermia Tolerance Lv.1>

　　Paralysis Tolerance Lv.1>

　　 Wind Tolerance Lv.1>

　　Not to even mention the skills related to my skin getting tougher, or stamina increasing, or anything like that. Even though it hardly felt as though they did anything in the moment, once they increased enough, it let me continue my trek of hell for days on end without stopping.

　　But once I realised that my strategy was built on a faulty premise, there was only one thing I could do.

　　Sit down and redo my plan.