Alice opened her eyes wide when the scenery changed and uttered a simple,

"Wow."

Honestly, she had no words. The whole process had demonstrated none cinematic features at all and barely took any time to scare her for real. Earth, a passing dark nothingness, this place. A cave. Not big, five by three meters, illuminated dimly. The only exit a quick observation revealed was a narrow but high passage.

"Okay, okay. Everything’s fine," assured the girl herself feeling week in the knees and half-doubting the reality of everything. "Hii!"

A flash of light from behind provoked a disgracing shriek and Alice jumped on the spot. With her heart pumping loud and clear in the ears, the girl took a breath and carefully looked over a shoulder.

Not a sign of monster spawning after all.

Space split itself apart, opening a two-dimensional passage to a place Alice joyfully recognized. It was her university, and furthermore, the exact third lecture hall she had been kidnapped from. The girl could see students panicking and not just a few still flashing with smartphones. No one reacted to an interplanar window in the corner of the hall that looked like a broken piece of glass. There were no sounds coming through to the cave either, only light.

Alice stepped forward against her instincts screaming danger, as bewitched. This was her world, Earth. No inner walls could lock her desperate desire to rush back, to escape the spooky place. So the girl walked, faster and faster. Firstly with hope.

Then, with the bitterness of this hope being crushed.

As long as she was walking to it, the concept of the distance to cross did not even exist. The passage – the portal? – was like a mirage, not meant for her to approach. She was an observer like the people on the other side, only less obvious to the damn thing.

...what is this?

The silence was her answer. Alice closed her eyes for a moment, then walked to a wall and punched the rocks with all brakes got loose. A scream of pain echoed through the cave as the girl squatted down, hugged her bruised fist and teared up.

"Not a dream, not a dream."

"Too real for a hallucination."

"I am an idiot for thinking that."

"Just take it seriously, will you?"

"Sword? What sword?"

Alice's mind blanked itself for a moment. There was a short sword on her belt, and she noticed it only after it had struck her leg. The girl absent-mindedly touched the thing's handle with her fingertips.

The hell?

Her favorite jeans and beige blouse had vanished entirely at some point in time too. Had gotten changed to grey pants and a dark jacket with deep cleavage, both sitting on the girl tight yet so familiar… enough to not pay attention after the whole freaking teleportation thingy.

Besides the clothes, she acquired a bow. Alice took it off from the back only to gaze at it stupidly. C-shaped, wooden, old-styled looking. The girl could feel the weight of a dozen or so arrows in the quiver.

Must be an addition to this hunter template, she thought finally and put the weapon away. Then Alice breathed in cold cave’s air to disperse general anxiety she was feeling and calm down the still hurting after punching hard rock hand and turned her full attention on.

"Menu!" chanted she and unexpectedly blushed. My God, why do I sound so solemnly? What if nothing happens? I already feel so stupid!

[Status]

[Skill List]

[System Log]

The girl breathed out as a short list readily appeared before her eyes. Then she turned the menu off and on again just to briefly experience some control over the goddam system. The latter looked... shabby at best. Floating words, nothing more.

Well, let’s get some answers first, despite her desire to see her own status Alice poked the 'Log' with an imaginary fingertip. More branches. A general one with all messages she had received up until this moment. There was a disturbing branch ‘Quest Log’ with a record and even more disturbing ‘Battle Log’, this one was completely empty. Now, how does she ask…

The Log refused to share its knowledge. Alice surrendered not, however, with clenched teeth and through a growing headache, she continued to bombard the system with inquiries only to have zero return. Null. Nix.

Fuck you, system, she thought yet it wasn't like she could choose not to cross the Rubicon.

"Okay then. Sta-"

> Attention!

> Node #8 is under attack! Win your first battle or die.

Cold needles pierced Alice’s stomach as she spun to face the exit from the cave. Enemy? Or enemies? Humans, no… monsters? Feverish thoughts loaded her mind full, but fortunately, her hands knew what to do. As if having a separate brain of their own, they took off her bow, nocked an arrow with a piercing head and then rose the bow up and pulled the bowstring halfway.

Noise distracted Alice from finding how the fuck.

It came.

A segmented carapace covering a meter-long body, dozens of pointed, match-like legs moving in a complex unison. One pair of thick claws before big jaws to grab and tear prey and a pair of long, thin and agile forcipules to stab and poison it.

[Centipede Lvl. 1]

The system mannerly showed a box above the abomination as Alice, trembling inside in involuntary disgust, aimed at the crawling hellspawn, pulled the bowstring to the limit and loosed it free. The arrow whistled through the air. The carapace crackled as the arrowhead disappeared inside the damned creature’s head forcefully enough to stop it.

The centipede swung for a moment and fell down.

[+100 EXP +40 BP]

The girl shuddered, feeling numb, cold and yet sweating from head to toes, barely aware of the system's pop-up. Is it over? No. Alice heard a sinister clatter of multiple legs against a rock surface and hurriedly nocked another arrow.

[Centipede Lvl. 5]

…appeared. Larger than the first one by a half, with longer and stronger looking legs. The creature twisted its head and Alice saw with horror a pair of dull orange ocellus. Protuberant eyes with intentions, eyes with malice flashing deep inside.

Giant centipede opened its maw and screeched highly, piercingly.

The arrow darted as Alice lost to her fear and failed to hold the bowstring firmly in her fingers. Too weak a shot, too badly aimed, it did not miss yet the arrow only barely punctured the carapace. The monster screeched one more time and easily snapped the shaft with its claws, the long body set in motion at once.

Alice screamed and leaped left, letting the monster to ram the empty air, and the useless bow fell on the ground. She drew the sword, feeling less confident, less skilled. Seeing its erratic tip dancing in the air beyond her control got the girl even more scared.

The centipede didn’t stop, instead, it turned on the move by running on the wall, but Alice couldn’t hear the clatter of its legs, only clamor of blood pumping through veins. The girl snapped from her daze when the creature came very close and tried to evade it again. A forcipule flashed, missed and then hit her thigh like a whip.

Pain exploded throughout Alice’s leg and she nearly tripped over. With a scream, she swung her sword down and cut off some legs out of a forest of them.

Did it feel? The girl didn’t know.

The world stilled, painted in tones of white. Alice lifted the sword and chopped down again with no grace. The carapace broke, yellow liquid splattered on the ground, the sword, her.

Like an axe, Alice raised the sword again and hacked a forcipule off just before it pierced her stomach. The centipede opened its jaws, and screeched – maybe? The girl still couldn't hear a thing. The monster lifted the front segments up, twisted its body into an arc for a throw.

Alice was the first by a fluke as she thrust her sword forward between the claws, between the jaws, to kill the damn thing for good.

[+500 EXP +200 BP]

Eternity took a breath full of expectations for the monster to lash out on her regardless. One eternity before she believed: yes, this is over. She killed the monster before the order to kill her passed through the giant insect’s nerves.

> You defended Node #8 in your first battle!

> Reward: 1,000 BP

"…go to hell," Alice answered weakly, let the sword’s handle go and the dead monster slowly bent down.

"Ha, ha."

Breath in, breath out. The girl took a step backward and another, and another before her back found a wall to slide down it. Strength left her, tears flowed out and sobs broke the quietness of the cave.

Alice hugged herself miserably, so wishing to just be back home, not her dormitory's room she hadn't spend even two weeks in, but her real home, the house she had grown up within. She wanted to see her parents, her brothers, to say how she loves them, how she needs them.

Yet she could not. Therefore, Alice cried.