Part-195

  As soon as he stepped through the door, it smmed shut behind him with a loud thud, sending a jolt of panic through his body. He instinctively whirled around, only to find the door sealed tight, trapping him inside. His heart raced, and he quickly turo face whatever challenge awaited him.

  What he saw made his stomach drop.

  The cavernous room before him was filled with ratlings—over 20 of them. They were small, vicious, and moving with uling speed. Their red, gleaming eyes were fixated on him, their teeth bared in anticipation. The low growl of the creatures reverberated through the cave, sending a shiver down his spine.

  James immediately realized the gravity of his mistake. This was no isoted fight against a siling. This was an ambush. He was outnumbered, ae the sign’s warning, he had walked straight into it.

  Before he could react, the ratlings swarmed him.

  With a sharp inhale, James raised his arms in defense, swinging his fists and trying to dodge their relentless attacks. His enhaats gave him an edge, and he mao nd a few solid blows, but it wasn’t enough. The sheer number of ratlings overwhelmed him quickly. Cws scraped against his skin, and their teeth sank into his arms and legs as he fought to stay upright.

  James kicked oling away, only for two more to leap at him from behind. He spun, swinging a loose stone he had grabbed off the ground, knog a few of them back. But no matter how hard he fought, the ratlings kept ing, their numbers seemingly endless. Panic set in as he realized he was losing this fight.

  His movements became sluggish, exhaustion creeping in as the creatures g his stamina. His vision blurred, and his muscles screamed in protest. One particurly vicious ratling sunk its teeth into his shoulder, and the pain was too much. James stumbled, his body colpsing to the cold, hard cave floor.

  The st thing he remembered was the sight of the ratlings swarming him from all sides before his world went bck.

  ---

  When James regained sciousness, he found himself lying on the ground. For a moment, disorientation flooded his mind. His head throbbed, and his body ached from the wounds inflicted by the ratlings. Slowly, he sat up, blinking as his vision adjusted. He was no longer in the midse surrounded by ratlings. Instead, he found himself at the entrao Level 1, right where he had started.

  "What the…?" James muttered under his breath, still trying to piece together what had happehe familiar notification sound chimed in his mind.

  [Raid Failed: Defeated by Ratling Swarm. Restart at the entrance.]

  He let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. So, the dungeon had reset him, putting him back at the entraer his failure. It seemed that the Lamp of Time’s dungeon didn’t just let you fail and walk away. It reset progress, f him to start from scrattil he succeeded. The realization made him grit his teeth iermination. He wasn’t about to let a swarm of ratlings defeat him.

  But there was something else that g him—his own carelessness. The sign had warned him, and he had ig, overfident in his abilities. He’d uimated the difficulty of the dungeon and paid the price for it.