There is a well-known saying: all fear stems from the unknown.
But what if everything is known?
Would a person still feel fear?
In other aspects, Wren Lux couldn’t say for sure.
But right now, she was a little terrified…
Even though she knew exactly what Mia was about to do and what she herself needed to do, the fear lingered.
She wasn’t afraid of Mia’s transformation; she was afraid of the fight itself.
Ever since she transmigrated and looked in the mirror for the first time, Wren had been highly resistant to the idea of fighting.
Even in a gamified world, she rejected it.
Because it really didn’t suit her…
Looking at the stunning, bright-eyed girl in the mirror, Wren feared that even her full-force punch would just look like a pitiful, flailing slap that would only egg an attacker on.
It was definitely a preconceived notion, but she couldn’t be blamed for it.
She hadn’t looked anything like this in her past life.
This was also why she hadn’t gone out to challenge system instances.
But right now, combat was unavoidable…
Wren actually somewhat regretted porting all the intense combat from the game into the instance.
After all, Ethan had it way too rough.
Across two entire games, save for the very beginning of the second one, he hadn’t enjoyed a single good day.
Thinking about the impending encounter made Wren want to turn around and walk away.
But if she didn’t trigger the combat phase, there was absolutely no way to advance the instance.
She had completely blocked off any alternative routes when she designed it.
So, it all came back to the same truth: despair and evasion wouldn’t solve anything.
Wren took a deep breath.
Feeling that she had sufficiently braced herself, she slowly reached out and turned the knob to the basement door.
*Click—* The lock disengaged.
Wren slowly pushed the door open.
The descending staircase stretched downward, but she could barely make out the first four or five steps.
Beyond that was pitch black, obscuring everything.
It looked like the gaping maw of an abyss waiting to devour her.
Wren mentally braced herself once more before mustering the courage to take a few steps forward.
Unsettling noises echoed continuously.
She hadn’t descended far when the sound of a living creature crawling emerged.
In the darkness, Mia crept up the stairs on all fours like a wild animal, appearing right before Wren’s eyes.
Wren’s eyes widened.
With a guttural snarl, Mia suddenly accelerated.
She lunged upward, her twisted, horrifying face practically pressing against Wren’s.
She grabbed Wren by the collar and violently hurled her backward.
Before Wren could even react, a massive force slammed into her, sending her flying backward through the air.
Wind howled in her ears.
In that split second, Wren instantly recalled the sensation of being hit by that speeding truck.
*Bang—* Wren crashed heavily onto the floor.
A searing pain flared through her entire body, as if her bones had been shattered.
However, she hadn’t lost her mind.
Fighting through the agonizing pain, she scrambled to her feet.
Sure enough, Mia had already closed the distance, a knife gripped tightly in her right hand.
The moment Wren stood up, Mia grabbed her collar again.
Raising the knife with her other hand and shrieking wildly, Mia pinned her back onto the floor and began stabbing.
She didn’t give Wren a single second to breathe.
Wren’s heart stopped.
Without even thinking, Wren threw her hands up to shield herself, using her forearms to block Mia’s wrists and stop the descending blade.
Although she succeeded, the swinging blade still sliced across her palm.
Wren winced in pain.
Briefly losing her coordination, she began to struggle frantically.
Mia seized the opening, swatted Wren’s hands aside, and raised the knife for another strike.
Seeing this, Wren had no time to recall the game’s script.
Eyes wide, she threw up her left hand.
*Squelch—* The descending blade pierced straight through the palm of her left hand.
“Ngh—!” An excruciating wave of pain washed over her.
Wren’s beautiful face twisted in agony, but Mia kept pressing down, the tip of the knife inching closer and closer to Wren’s face.
*It hurts so much…* Warm blood dripped onto her face.
Smelling the metallic tang of blood and staring at the blade impaled through her hand, Wren’s adrenaline spiked.
Gritting her teeth, she instinctively brought her knee up, kicking Mia squarely in the stomach, and then scrambled to her feet.
But the moment she stood up, before she could even catch her breath, Mia was already back on her feet, charging forward with the knife once again.
Wren quickly backed away.
Seeing Mia closing in, her memory of the game’s flow finally kicked in.
Seizing the opportunity, she ignored the pain and grabbed Mia’s knife-wielding right hand with one hand, while pressing her other hand against Mia’s face to keep her at bay.
Then, with a violent shove, she sent Mia stumbling backward.
Mia staggered back two steps.
But a second later, she lunged again, slashing the knife straight at Wren’s face.
Watching the blade suddenly close in…
Wren raised her hands almost on pure instinct.
“!!!!” In the nick of time, Wren caught the blade barehanded.
She cried out in pain, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
The sharp edge sliced into her palms, tearing through skin and flesh.
Warm blood spilled out once more, trailing down her hands to her wrists.
The pain was bone-deep.
Yet Mia kept pushing forward, determined to bury the blade into Wren’s face.
Pain.
Terror.
Wren had never experienced anything like this before.
Even when running through the game’s progression, it was Ethan she controlled to grab the knife.
Now, catching the blade with her own bare hands, she finally understood.
It hurt this much.
But the sheer will to survive when faced with death was not to be underestimated.
Even though it hurt so much she wanted to die, Wren maintained a death grip on the blade, glaring fiercely at Mia.
The two remained locked in a stalemate for a moment.
The viciousness on Mia’s face slowly faded into confusion.
Then, as if waking from a dream, she suddenly dropped the knife.
She clutched her head in disbelief, acting as if someone were commanding her from within.
“I can hear her…
I can feel her crawling back into my head.” “Get out!
Stay away from me!” She shrieked, repeatedly slamming her head against the wall.
Then, casting one last glance at Wren, she fell backward and seemingly passed out.
Wren gasped heavily for air.
Without even sparing Mia a glance, she took her trembling, bloodied hands and turned right, heading straight into the bathroom.
Sure enough.
Next to the sink sat a bottle of first aid medicine—the very same item players jokingly dubbed ‘hand sanitizer’.
Fighting through the agony, Wren poured the first aid fluid over both of her hands.
“Ngh…” Wren’s beautiful eyes were bloodshot.
She bit her lip so hard it bled.
By the time she finished applying the medicine, the pain had nearly drained her of all her strength.
Her breathing grew increasingly ragged.
She stood rooted to the spot, struggling to regulate her breathing.
This phase was over, but Mia would charge at her again soon.
And…
Wren looked up at the mirror in front of her.
Even though she was playing the role of Ethan, the mirror reflected the player’s true appearance.
Looking at the stunning, oval-shaped face in the mirror, perhaps due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her breathing miraculously began to steady.
Since transmigrating into Wren Lux, she had almost forgotten…
she wasn’t actually that weak and fragile.
Grit.
She had plenty of it.
So what if she looked like this now?
Why let preconceived notions dictate her actions?
Wren stared into the mirror for a long moment.
Finally, she looked down at her bloodied hands, turned around, and left the bathroom.
Mia was still unconscious in the hallway.
She was blocking the only path forward, and the moment the player approached to investigate, she would wake up again.
Wren walked straight toward her.
Just as expected.
The moment she got close, Mia sprang up from the floor as if she had no bones.
She grabbed Wren’s left hand, seized her clothes with the other, and with a furious roar, hurled Wren to the side.
*Crash—* Wood splintered.
Wren’s feet left the ground as she was sent flying once again, her back slamming into the wooden wall of the hallway.
The rotting wood couldn’t withstand the impact and instantly shattered.
She crashed straight through the wall, tumbling into the adjacent room amidst a shower of splinters.
Meanwhile, Mia, now acting like a complete monster, yanked the knife out of the wall and marched toward Wren once more.
The axe.
Dizzy and disoriented, Wren saw this unfold and instinctively reached out to her side.
Her fingers brushed against the rough texture of a wooden handle.
Gripping the axe, Wren panted heavily as she slowly pushed herself up.
*Huff— Huff—* Staring at Mia’s twisted face, Wren let her axe-wielding arm hang naturally by her side.
The breathing she had just managed to steady fell into disarray once more.
But compared to the terror she felt at the beginning, right now, she felt more anger than anything else.
Why did she have to transmigrate into this inexplicable world?
Why did she have to turn into this appearance?
The pent-up emotions Wren had accumulated, mixed with the massive surge of adrenaline and fueled by her awakened grit…
miraculously stopped her body from trembling.
“Raaagh—” Mia let out an inhuman roar and lunged at Wren with the knife again.
Wren stumbled a step to the side, narrowly dodging the blade.
Seeing Mia leaning forward and slightly off-balance, Wren hoisted the axe high and brought it down viciously onto Mia’s shoulder!
*Thwack—* The blade bit into flesh.
Because she swung with so much force, the axe head wedged deeply into Mia’s shoulder.
This was far bloodier than the game.
Wren grabbed the handle with her other hand and violently wrenched the axe free.
Then, the moment Mia turned around, Wren raised the axe with both hands and hacked viciously into her chest.
The impact sent Mia staggering, and she collapsed backward onto the floor.
Seeing Mia fall, Wren walked forward with a deadpan expression.
She raised the axe high, aimed it at Mia’s neck, and brought it down with brutal force.
*Thwack—* The sensation of the axe blade tearing through skin and biting into the neck was far more sickening than Wren had imagined.
It felt like chopping into a thick, soaked plank of wood—sticky and elastic, accompanied by a faint, scalp-numbing crunch of shattering bone.
Blood erupted like a geyser.
The axe blade was stuck.
Mia’s movements froze.
The ferocity on her face slowly dissolved, and the madness in her eyes gave way to a vacant stare.
Her mouth hung open, a gurgling sound escaping her throat like a leaky bellows.
Dark red blood continued to well up from the seam between the axe blade and her skin, instantly soaking her collar.
She reached out a hand, seemingly trying to grab Wren.
But she failed.
Swaying slightly, she tipped backward and hit the floor with a heavy thud.