Fwip, fwip, fwip!

Threads sliced clean through flesh and bone.

THUD!

Bodies fell around him, twitching as green fire slowly faded from their veins.

SPLURT!

A final gush of blood spattered across the snow-coated wood beneath Gray's boots.

He stood there, swaying, surrounded by a fresh pile of corpses....

There were treelings, wolves, rats, a bull-sized creature, and two different minotaurs whose heads had been twisted the wrong way by its strings.

But this time… Gray wasn't exactly... okay

There was a gaping crater in his chest, right where his heart should be. He had used his body as a shield to "survive" the last attack from the Great Minotaur.

Drip...

Blood poured from it in a steady waterfall, soaking through his shirt, dripping down his legs, pooling under him like a melted shadow.

The edges of the wound were charred black, smoking faintly from whatever hit him last.

His fingers twitched, and his vision swam.

"H-haagh... haah..."

His knees buckled, but he refused to fall.

"…I-is… this the end?" His voice was extremely hoarse and tired.

Logically, he should already be dead.

That wound wasn't survivable.

Even adrenaline shouldn't keep someone standing with their chest ripped open like that.

But something, perhaps stubbornness, insanity, or just pure spite, held him upright a few seconds longer.

Then the cold reached him.

"F-fuck…"

He collapsed onto his side with a dull thump, blood splashing outward as if the world exhaled.

It was more of a breath than a word.

His fingers twitched toward his rapier… but then his arms went slack.

Just before his eyes closed fully, his earring glowed.

A soft white light pulsed from it like moonlight trying to stop death from claiming what it wanted.

A notification appeared in the air.

[Phantom Loop Earrings activated!]

[Phantom Loop is now in progress! Current Repetitions: 1]

…

A blinding light flashed.

Gray breathed again.

"ARGHHHHH!!"

He lurched upward, gasping like a drowning man breaking the surface.

His hands flew to his chest, searching, patting, trembling, until he confirmed no hole and no blood was pouring out.

His heart beat strongly, and his skin was surprisingly whole.

"Phew..." he sighed in relief.

He scanned the area and realized it was the same... but something felt strangely different.

He whipped toward the base of the stairs just in time to see...

Treelings.

Only treelings.

The first wave he confronted.

"It reset," he whispered.

"I… got back in time?"

No hesitation this round.

Gray flicked his fingers, threads popping outward.

Fwip, fwip!

The heads separated from the bodies in a heartbeat, causing their corpses to hit the ground before they even realized they were dead.

The fight lasted seconds.

He barely even panted.

"Status panel," he ordered sharply.

The glowing board appeared exactly as it was right before he died. Master Realm, evolved class, skill levels… unchanged.

"…Jasmine, what happened?!"

[You are now inside the Phantom Loop created by your earrings. You bought that Godly Artifact, remember?]

[And now, you're going to be on an infinite loop until your objective is completed, in other words, when you finish clearing this room.]

His eyes widened.

"…An infinite loop," he muttered.

"Until I clear this hell."

His hand lifted and touched the earrings, feeling the cool metal against his skin. A small yet extremely precious lifeline he had almost forgotten.

He stood straight again.

He looked up that colossal stairway, towering into darkness like a path built for gods, not mortals, and his lips curled into a devilish smirk.

"...Considering the number of steps, there should be monsters until the peak of the King Realm, and that means... that I'll be stronger than the other Gray when I come out!" Gray licked his lips excitedly.

If he kept his progress...

It didn't matter how many bodies he had to stack or how many times he felt bones shatter; if it made him stronger, he would die a thousand times with a laugh.

And when he came out, he would actually become a true powerhouse in the world, as there are few King-level powerhouses in the entire world!

"...I can't wait to devour his soul," Gray grinned.

Without any hint of hesitation or insanity, he started climbing the stairway, quickly clearing the waves he had done before.

Fwip... splat!

Pulling his strings one last time, only two more creatures remained in the wave he had died before.

The two minotaurs...

Gray only smiled at this, his fingers flexed, and threads slithered through the air like hungry serpents.

"Round two," he somehow whispered in an excited tone.

The axe-wielder roared first, bellowing loud enough to rattle bones. It charged, knees bending unnaturally sharp for something so massive, closing the distance in a heartbeat.

WHAM!!

Gray dodged sideways, the axe smashing down where he'd stood a blink ago, exploding stone shards into the air.

Fwip, fwip, fwip, fwip!

His threads shot forward and wrapped around the beast's thick neck.

CLANG!!

The hardened bone armor blocked them, sparks bursting as threads scraped, unable to dig in. The minotaur wrenched its head, ripping the threads loose and forcing Gray to leap back.

"Heh… tougher than last time," he breathed.

And he was thrilled.

The chain-mace swung with the howl of a meteor.

Gray ducked, threads anchoring to the ground so he could slide beneath the brute's legs, boots kicking off stone.

As he passed underneath, he flicked his wrist, causing six threads to slice upward toward the exposed tendon.

Splat!

Squeshh!

The minotaur buckled with a furious scream, collapse aborted only by brute strength as its muscle fibers spasmed violently.

Gray rolled out behind it, landing smoothly.

The second minotaur twitched, trying to regain footing, and Gray raised his hand again, but the axe-bearer rushed him, giving no moment to breathe.

It swung the weapon sideways like a hurricane gust, and Gray blocked with crossed threads, only to be flung backward by the sheer force.

He hit the stairs hard, air bursting from his lungs.

"Gh... hahaha…!"

He didn't even try to use his Swap ability... as he actually wanted to feel the PAIN, just like a damn masochist would.

Pain rushed through his body, but the adrenaline, the possibility of death, made his heart beat beautifully fast.

FWOOP!

The axe-wielder leapt, shadow swallowing him whole.

Gray's grin sharpened.

Threads shot from his fingers into the air, forming a net.

SLAM!!!

The axe came down, but instead of cleaving bone, it was caught mid-swing, tangled in a web of razor-thin lines.

The minotaur growled in confusion, pulling, muscles bulging, but the more it struggled, the deeper the threads dug into the weapon, wrapping tighter like constricting snakes.

Gray planted his heel, dragging the threads taut.

Fwip-CRACK!!

The entire axe-head detached from the handle, spinning into the dark like a broken jawbone.

Before the beast realized its mistake, Gray was already moving. He anchored two threads to the walls and propelled himself up like a slingshot.

BAAM!

He slammed onto the minotaur's shoulders before flicking out his wrists. Threads cinched around its horns and throat, digging through armor with a horrifying grind.

"Fall for me."

SNAP!!

The horns cracked first.

Then the throat gave way.

The head slowly twisted, farther and farther, until...

CRUNCH.

The minotaur collapsed, lifeless, its head hanging at a sick, impossible angle. Gray landed lightly as it fell, blood spraying his clothes warm and comforting.

"Hah… that's one," he muttered, licking a drop from his cheek.

The second beast roared, rage exploding through its wounded body.

It swung the chain-mace overhead, each rotation whistling like a spinning guillotine, before it hurled it straight at Gray.

BAAAM!

There was no dodging sideways, not at that speed. Of course, Gray could use his Swap ability to get away... but he instead leapt forward, straight into its chest.

...There was no need to use the Swap for now.

Fwip!

The chain-mace barely missed his back as he drove threads into the minotaur's ribcage, using them like anchors to climb rapidly upward as though scaling a mountain of flesh.

The beast punched at him wildly, but each strike only hit its own threads as Gray swung around to its back.

Krrrrtch!

He shoved his hand between the armor plates, threads burrowing deep. They ripped through muscle layer by layer, dragging a spray of steaming blood from its body.

The minotaur screamed, thrashing, and finally, its hand caught Gray by the arm, bones cracking under the grip.

"You almost killed me last time… how could I not return the favor?" Gray's laughter rang out.

He twisted the threads just a single time...

And tore its spine out.

SPLUURRTTT!

The minotaur spasmed, spraying gore like a ruptured pipe before collapsing to its knees… then onto its face, twitching faintly until everything about it went absolutely still.

"Haah... haaah..."

Gray stood amid the carnage, breath fogging in the cold air, body soaked in fresh heat that wasn't his.

His injured arm trembled, but he just rolled his shoulder, ignoring the pain like it was a nuisance.

Then he looked upward.

The stairway continued into the pitch-black heavens, step after step filled with death waiting to be killed.

"Next," he murmured.

His eyes gleamed like a predator's, bright with hunger and delight.

He wasn't scared of death anymore.

This version of Gray was the one who learned through it.

The one who came back stronger.

The one who would carve perfection out of blood and corpses.

He stepped over the headless body, letting his boots splash in warm crimsin.

"Let's see how many times I'll have to die before I become strong enough to one-show them cleanly."

Fwip!

The threads snapped taut behind him, slicing both minotaurs' corpses clean, ensuring they would never rise again.

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