The next time I opened my eyes, I was sitting on a rocky cliff. Lilith was laying beside me, a peaceful expression on her face. It took me a moment to register what happened, before my eyes opened in alarm. She killed me. Without a moment of hesitation… she walked up to me and stabbed me in the heart.

This might be a normal matter for her, a resident of this world where death is a form of transportation. However, to me this was serious. Humans generally had one life, and when it ended, everything was over. All of our loves, our past experience, everything vanished in the blink of an eye.

Then, how was I supposed to react now? I wanted to trust Lilith, I knew that she only did what was necessary. But, part of me still saw her as the Overlord, as if she were slowly dragging me back down to her domain, one layer at a time.

While I was thinking this, I saw Lilith slowly open her eyes, smiling to me. “There, all done now. We should be safe here for a while, right?”

I wracked my brain for an answer, one that satisfied both her curiosity and my need for secrecy. “It… it should be good enough to find a town, at least.” She nodded lightly at my answer, standing up and stretching her arms again before looking out over the cliff to the horizon.

“I don’t suppose you have any insights on where a town could be, huh?” She asked sarcastically, obviously considering my previous story and thinking that there was no way I would know where any towns were here. To be honest, I did know the location of a few towns, but they were too far away from the prison for us to travel to. We’d probably die of thirst before reaching that area.

More importantly, if the setting was still true, there was an important skill that could be learned on this layer. I could only hope we encountered a teacher. “No, but it shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Lilith nodded her head with a smile. “Right. Worst case scenario, we go down a few more layers.” She flinched when she said that, looking towards me. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“No… I understand. Just… give me some time to get used to this, okay?” I did my best to offer a reassuring smile, while I struggled to keep my hand from twitching. No matter how much I tried to make myself accept it, or force myself to calm down, there was only so much I could take at once.

She nodded in understanding. “Alright. Well, let’s head along this cliff, see if we can find a path down. Maybe we’ll get lucky and meet a caravan or something.” With that, the two of us moved along, though I had little hope.

While the second floor may be the most dangerous, the third is not far off. After all, in the fights between the strong monsters on the second floor, where would the loser go? It’s not until the eighth layer where things actually calm down, but I didn’t want to mention that logic yet, because I didn’t think I’d be able to handle dying another five times so quickly.

Thankfully, there really was a stone path leading down the cliff less than a kilometer from our previous position. I kept my eyes alert for any wandering monsters, still afraid of the dangers while we descended to the dry ground below. Maybe it was our proximity to the prison, but there didn’t seem to be anyone nearby.

While we were walking, I tried to make some small talk with Lilith, get information from her that would help me figure out some of the similarities between this world and the game I had played. I even pretended to act surprised when Lilith told me about magic being real. Even though she didn’t seem to have access to the same system menus I did, most of the common terms got through, with a few differences.

The special powers that the system classified as Skills in the game, such as Equipment Mastery, were not the same as skills such as tailoring or swordsmanship. Those were known as Proficiencies. Skills were supernatural abilities with some significant effect, such as a unique spell, or in my case automatic full proficiency with every mundane item.

From what Lilith had told me, Skills did exist, but they were rare things held by only a few people. Learning a skill required either subduing the current holder, or convincing them to teach it. As for proficiencies, anyone was able to obtain those, and they were not even really tracked. Likewise, statistics such as strength and charm were not organized with a numeric system like they were for me. If you did not meet the requirements to use an ability, all you knew was that you had to improve.

As for titles, Lilith did not even understand what I meant when I asked about that, so I could only assume that they were either automatic or nonexistent. My money was on the former, given how I possessed a title of my own. I’d have to figure out how to get more titles later, once I had the power to do so.

After taking the steep path down for a little over an hour, the two of us were finally tired enough to take a break. I had somehow managed to earn a point in vitality from that walk, but that did not prevent me from being out of breath the same as Lilith. “Alright… now where?” I asked, looking out to the horizon. Aside from the cliff rising behind us, the surrounding area was an entirely flat, dry wasteland.

“Working on that…” Lilith panted out, leaning forward to put her hands on her knees and take deep breaths. Once she had done that, she stood up straight and looked into the distance. “Well… it doesn’t really seem to matter which way we pick. Neither of us have water magic. Honestly, at this point I’d be surprised if we make it anywhere, even if we knew where we were going.”

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Reluctantly, I had to accept her verdict. If we couldn’t see a city, even from the top of the cliff, that means that there is not one anywhere nearby. It’d probably take days of walking, with no food or water, before we stumbled upon another living creature. Taking a deep breath, I looked over to Lilith. “Alright… I’m ready.”

“Okay, but which way?” She asked, before pausing, turning around again. “Wait, you mean..?” Seeing the question in her eyes, I nodded my head. “Are you sure, Grim? We still haven’t been here very long, we might get lucky.”

I shook my head, we both knew that wouldn’t happen. “We couldn’t see a city from way up there… We don’t even know what direction we should walk in. Best case scenario, we only go one day without food or water. Now come on, before I chicken out and change my mind.” I brought my hand behind my back, clenching my fist to hold it steady.

Seeing my resolve, Lilith nodded her head. “Alright. I’ll make it quick again.” She spoke softly, walking towards me with her dagger in hand once again. Seeing that, my mind began to panic again. For a moment, I saw her in her armored appearance as the Overlord, bearing down on me and ready to finish me off. It was all I could do to close my eyes and wait to feel the cold steel pierce my ribs again.

Some time later, I awoke with a start, suddenly sitting up. My eyes scanned the area around me, but I could not find any sign of Lilith. I knew that we had moved to the fourth layer, since the barren wasteland had been replaced by an abundant forest. Has she not killed herself yet? Or… did she leave?

I wouldn’t have blamed her if she had left, though the thought did pain me. While I was still suspicious of her, and my mind went into a panic whenever she killed me, she was still the closest thing here I had to a friend. Even if I knew it would be temporary, the thought of her suddenly vanishing was a bit much.

However, I soon heard her voice from behind me. “Ah, finally woke up! Come on, Grim, I brought some dinner!” She cheerfully spoke as she moved out from a patch of trees, carrying an armful of multicolored fruits. “I, uh… I think they’re all edible? I mean, I recognize a few.”

Unsurprisingly, I was not very hungry, having died so many times. Not simply because death killed the appetite, but because… well, death did kill the appetite. If you died from hunger, then if that did not reset, wouldn’t you constantly die until you fell past the final floor? No, hunger and thirst were replenished upon death. Though, I could tell that I was likely sleeping for a while, because I was slightly parched.

“Thanks.” I said, as much for her bringing food as for her coming back. “Don’t suppose you saw traces of civilization while you were out?”

Surprisingly, Lilith gave a slight nod, smiling. “I saw footprints, humanoid ones. Can’t tell how old they are, but there were a lot of them. Looked like an unmarked path, maybe. Want to take a look when we’re done?”

I thought about it. Like most floors, this one did have something to offer. While it wasn’t as useful as the Field of Bones skill from the third layer, it was still pretty good. On the fourth floor, there was a gourd of magic water, known as the Bottled Spring. Supposedly, it was the source of vitality and abundance for the entire floor.

As for its location… I didn’t know where it was in relation to the prison. It should be a fair distance, but it was worth it if we had the ability. I wasn’t sure if the same held true here, but in Layers of Hell, there was no such thing as a health potion. There were only three ways to recover injuries. You could either use healing magic, wait a long period of time to recover naturally, or die. The Bottled Spring was the closest thing to a healing potion that existed in the game, and it was even one with an unlimited supply.

Unfortunately, it had its own guard, and one that was far too strong for beginners like us to handle. I could only make a mental note to come back here if we ever got the chance, and nod idly to Lilith’s former question. “Right. Hopefully we can earn some coin when we get to wherever that path leads, and get some decent clothes.”

Lilith nodded her head firmly at that last part. “Right!” Afterwards, she gave a much smaller nod. “Hopefully, we can stay on this floor a bit longer, since we aren’t lacking for food and water. We even found what might lead to a city.”

I knew she was saying that for my benefit. In her eyes, I was just a lost soul that panicked every time she approached me with a blade. But, was she really wrong? Aside from my knowledge from Layers of Hell, I was essentially a normal person. I might know how to get around here, but I was still lost, because I didn’t know how I got here, or how to return home.

I silently made my resolve, once we got to a city, I would see exactly what I could do. The extent of what could be considered equipment, I would find it. I’d make myself useful, someone that Lilith could rely on, rather than a lost soul that she had to take care of. If I couldn’t do that much, I’d never be able to tell her the truth about what I am, about what I know her as.

After a short meal, the two of us got up and began walking through the trees, with me following behind Lilith. Since she had found the path before, I needed her to guide the way back to it. Only then could I take the lead, since I should be able to put up a better fight if anything attacked us. Granted, we’d still probably be killed by anything hostile residing in these woods, but let me have my hero moment, okay?

Soon, we did indeed find the tracks, several of them following a slightly worn trail. From there, we picked a direction, and began walking. Which way led to the city, we didn’t know. But… we were putting our money on the direction that took us further away from the prison.

As for me walking in front, Lilith only gave an amused grin and allowed it. We both knew that the danger was too high for either of us to be a match for the creatures we would face, but the gesture was important. I still had my pride as a man. That useless, suicidal pride.

As we walked, the forest seemed eerily quiet, to the point that we had thought we were going the wrong way, instead walking into the lair of a mighty beast. It wasn’t until our legs had become sore from constantly following the trail did we see signs of life. Well, at one point it had been life, at least.

A large wall of wooden stakes stood before us, surrounding a primitive gate. Atop many of the spikes were severed heads, their expressions frozen in horrific gasps. Human, demon, dwarf, elf, as well as many other races were represented among the cruel display.

Lilith and I gulped simultaneously, unable to stop from looking at each other. “I… don’t think they’re friendly.” She said with a weak smile.

Am I going to die again, already?