Oolacile: Dying and Living Again

Provincial Flow: Da Er died, came back to life, and died again.

Having survived two deaths, he now stands at the town's gates, too afraid to go in, hesitating like a cowardly lizard.

His first death was entirely due to being swarmed and killed by monsters before he could even figure out what was going on. There were at least dozens of these monsters, and they had a clear division of labor: one side consisted of melee units charging at him, while the other side consisted of ranged units casting spells. Their coordination was seamless.

The situation was roughly like this: he was tackled as soon as he tried to escape, and after finally getting up, he was completely surrounded. One second he rolled away to avoid the monster's claw attack, and the next second he was hit by a spell and his movements became stiff from the pain—commonly known as stun.

Surrounded by monsters, he was rendered helpless; you can guess what happened next without me having to describe it.

Da Er failed to awaken his Wolf's Blood, and was even unable to retaliate before being swiftly taken down by the monster with a single claw, returning to the starting point in glory.

The setting of this alternate dimension is too lenient; the distance from the starting point to the town is only a few hundred meters, and there are no monsters yet.

He was terrified when he died, thinking that he would be kicked out of the Painting World after he died.

When he was a child, he had heard of magical artifacts such as paintings and books that could suck people in, and that these artifacts would be destroyed if someone was kicked out.

No! He finally managed to collect all those paintings!

Fortunately, the paintings produced in the Zane Dungeon were of high quality; not only were they undamaged, but he also simply returned to the starting point after his death.

After his first resurrection, he planned to lure out all the monsters gathered in the town before sneaking in whenever he could.

The town was designed like a small Fortress, and from where he was standing, he could see a Fog Gate not far away.

Without a doubt, that's where the boss monster is. I never expected the Fog Gate to be placed in such an obvious spot.

Unfortunately, there are many monsters guarding the way, so it's impossible to force our way through; we have to outsmart them.

Da Er activated his Wolf's Blood and, with a touch of intelligence, successfully lured out most of the monsters. The remaining monsters could be dealt with carefully.

Just as he was thinking this, when he was about two-thirds of the way from the Fog Gate, he heard the sound of a bowstring being taut.

Da Er felt a jolt; the hairs on his body stood on end. He sensed danger rapidly approaching.

"Bang bang bang!"

In the blink of an eye, crossbow bolts taller and heavier than a person came down like a storm.

It was a sneak attack! There were even crossbows hidden on the city walls!

And they waited until he was halfway there and there was nowhere to hide before they fired!

Da Er narrowly escaped the first wave, but then another volley of crossbow bolts came from the other side. He dodged this wave at the cost of a graze on his arm, but there were still more!

There were three sets of hidden crossbows firing in rotation. When the third set finished firing, the first set reloaded its bowstrings.

Life is endless and inexhaustible.

That fucking

After his second resurrection, Da Er was so angry he wanted to curse. He hadn't felt such strong emotions in a long time.

Obviously, forcing his way in through the front door is absolutely impossible. If he had only brought an Invisibility Scroll and a silencer scroll, he might have been able to sneak in. Luo Jieer would probably have been able to thrive here.

Is there a side door?

As he lingered at the door, he suddenly saw a phantom bloodstain on the ground. It was phantom because it wouldn't stick to his hands even if he touched it.

However, some unexpected things will happen after you touch it.

"Huh, this person?" Da Er stared in surprise. After touching the bloodstain, he saw a red spirit rolling and rolling around. Finally, it was hit by the air, causing its movements to pause. Because of this pause, it was killed by a large number of unseen attacks.

Da Er's face suddenly darkened. He touched the bloodstains again, and the same thing kept playing on repeat, like a video recording.

The way the red spirit died was hilarious, and the posture it adopted when it died was so funny that it could be used to make a comedy.

But he couldn't laugh, because the spirit was his own likeness.

"To kill someone is to destroy their spirit," he muttered to himself through gritted teeth.

That wretched Zane Dungeon actually takes pictures of people before they die and plays them on a loop!

What are they trying to do? Insult him? How awful!

He looked into the city again and saw a pool of blood on the way. He knew without a doubt that it was left when he was shot to death by a crossbow bolt.

Da Er's expression was almost breaking down; nobody wants to see themselves die, especially not in a ridiculous way.

"Wait a minute." He suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility, and his eyelids started twitching wildly.

"Will the people who come in later also see the bloodstains I left behind?"

The thought of this possibility made his hands tremble uncontrollably. Today my hands are shaking, my heart is aching, I... I...

I don't want anyone to see the gruesome scene of my death!

Unlike in Yugi where everyone only knows each other by ID or nickname, adventurers actually know each other.

Imagine people chatting in a tavern and suddenly saying, "Hey, do you know XXX? I saw how he died last time, it was so funny, hahaha."

Da Er automatically replaced "xxx" with his own name in his mind, and suddenly felt that his future was even more bleak.

Never mind, the most important thing now is to find another way out.

He wandered around the area dejectedly and actually found a small door that would allow him to enter the building. Perhaps he could eventually reach the Fog Gate by walking around.

Perhaps because of the monsters, the building was filled with a cold and eerie atmosphere, which sent chills down one's spine.

Looking out from the top, one can see a magnificent city in the distance; perhaps that is the real Oolacile? However, the town, or rather the Fortress, where he is currently located is right between the forest and the city, and he cannot proceed without killing the monsters in the Fog Gate.

Da Er carefully explored the Fortress, which bore obvious signs of military development. Broken weapons and staffs were scattered everywhere, covered in dust, and the marks of time were particularly evident in the buildings.

It looks like it's been abandoned for a long time?

He suddenly remembered the memories of Artorias that he had seen, and in those memories, Oolacile was not yet so dilapidated.

This indicates that a very, very long time has passed since Artorias's arrival.

Da Er couldn't help but wonder if he would meet Artorias on his journey, what kind of person he was, and whether he could become Artorias's apprentice and learn a few moves. Oh, and he should also tell him about the Farron Undead Legion.

The future is bright, but he needs to focus on dealing with the monsters in front of him right now.

Before him was a small room with a ladder leading upwards, inhabited by a few scattered monsters, which were already panting when he finally dealt with them.

Artorias kill these monsters like it was nothing, but when it was my turn, I had to be careful with every single one.

In that instant, he realized the immense power gap between himself and the Wolf Knight, a gap that seemed to span an entire universe.

"Won't some monsters attack from up there?" Da Er stared at the ladder for a while, then suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him, and...

"Woof woof!"

He turned around abruptly and saw several abyssal-like wild dogs suddenly attacking his face.

The third resurrection.

Da Er's eyes were filled with one word—bewilderment.

What just happened?

It seems he was cornered in a small room by several wild dogs and bitten to death.

The room was so cramped that it was difficult to even roll over. He had to lure the monsters out one by one to kill them.

As Da Er reviewed the game, he was visibly furious.

"If you arranged for wild dogs, why didn't you ambush me while I was fighting the monsters?!"

Why did they have to pull this stunt right when everything was going perfectly, just when we were about to climb the ladder? Isn't this deliberately messing with people's mentality?

He entered the Fortress through the small door once again, and this time he quickly dealt with the monsters and climbed the ladder before the wild dogs could launch a sneak attack.

He smiled smugly as he watched the stray dogs barking helplessly on the ground.

Then, as soon as I climbed up, I was hit in the face with Flame Pot, lost my grip, and fell down.

The fourth time, he learned his lesson and stayed on the ladder for a while until the Flame Pot were all thrown out before showing himself and throwing the monster that dared to attack him down to feed the wild dogs.

A small ladder caused him to die twice before he finally crossed it, leaving Da Er feeling utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally.

How exactly did Artorias get through here back then?

The good news is that once you climb up to this level, the view is much wider, reducing the chances of being ambushed.

The bad news is that the monster here has turned into Fat Brother, and he can hit you with his sword without even flinching.

"Bang!"

The enormous monster slashed the ground with its blade, shattering the wooden floorboards and leaving a huge gash in its stomach, but it still relentlessly attacked Da Er.

Da Er had become accustomed to using the impact of the Farron Greatsword to knock his enemies off balance before chasing them down and launching a follow-up attack. If he was lucky, he could keep his enemies pinned down until they died.

The Fat Brother was a nightmare for him.

He narrowly defeated one, then turned to look at the road ahead, only to see three or four Fat Brother wandering around.

This is only what's in the open; who knows if there might be 'Old sixes' hiding in those corners?

Da Er's eyes died for a moment.

He activated his Wolf's Blood —which resets the interval between Wolf's Blood —and started a marathon immediately in his true man form.

There's a lever not far away, and next to the lever is an elevator. As long as we can get to that place!

Chased by five Fat Brothers, Da Er finally reached the lever. If he could pull the lever and get on the elevator, he could escape!

Pulling the lever was his only hope for survival!

He pulled the lever sharply—

The mechanism remained completely still.

"Your mother!"

The fifth resurrection.

Da Er squatted on the ground, questioning the meaning of life.

"How come I'm still alive and well?"

He drew circles on the ground for half an hour, and even considered quitting, but couldn't find the quit button.

Let's regroup and continue exploring.

The exploration of the Fortress is essentially a process of constant death and resurrection, gaining experience through trial and error to better progress through the next level.

Da Er always felt that this Fortress was a "malicious" condensed version of the Zane Dungeon.

The various traps that were once scattered across several areas have now been condensed into this small Fortress, giving the impression that the difficulty has suddenly increased, and even he has not yet adapted.

Not to mention the others who came in later.

But aside from the difficulty, the design of the Fortress is always impressive, with traps, shortcuts, and hidden doors all coming together.

He died and resurrected repeatedly. Da Er had lost count of how many times he had been resurrected. He just numbly absorbed the experience and continued to advance through the levels.

How many times have I died?

Startled from his numbness, panic flashed in Da Er's eyes.

Not only is the number of resurrections extremely strange, but judging from the time, it should be close to the closing time of the Zane Dungeon, right?

Why haven't I left yet?

In that instant, the whole world suddenly became strange in his eyes.

"I can't get out?"