"Haha or die trying." Dante jokingly said to which Beatrice reply to his negative comment with. "You are so mean sometimes."
"Pheraphs I am, but I really only want the best for you BB, as my avatar you need to be big strong, as you are right now, even the weakest things here pose a great threath to you." Dante said to Beatrice, as he speaks his feelings, Beatrice sighed, still wondering if she should trust D, but once a contract has been made, it basically akin to marriage. Till death do them part. But as moment's later, Dante move the conversation as he said. "Well that aside, you know the drill, Beatrice."
"Yeah I know!" Beatrice replied tiredly. And Dante responded, giving her a reminder on what her task is in the toturial. "If you want to leave the tutorial grounds, you'll need to reach Level 5. Kill thirty Munduses, and defeat the First Mini Boss."
He lay out her task, one by one, only finish with a sarcastic question. "Easy, right?" Beatrice's breath came out as a mist, her lungs still thawing from cryo-sleep. Her feet trembled slightly on the steel floor, bare skin against the frost-slick metal.
"If I had a choice…" she said under her breath, her voice raspy and thin, "…I would skip this whole damn nightmare. But we both know that is not an option." She said her hand to her side. "Good girl."
The voice or Dante said out a loud like a proud teacher. "You've come far enough to understand that hesitation gets you killed here. Well not so far, you suck as soul game player, but don't you worry I am here to make you Git Gud."
From there, as if on cue with his voice. A flicker of light pulsed in Beatrice mind. As she heard her own voice play back in her mind, or rather Virgil's voice...
[Initialization complete]
What followed after was a comment from Dante. "....let's begin. Again, and hopefully this is your finale attempt."
The cryo chamber opened fully, the heavy doors dragging back into the wall with a shriek of metal. A rush of icy mist flooded the corridor beyond.
Her hands grabbed the edge of the bed as she took her first step out. Naked....Bare...and Unarmed...But greatly aware.
The light panels above flickered in a heartbeat rhythm, one after another, white, red, white, red, painting the hall in alternating ghosts of purity and blood.
The room she was in glowed red, it's was creepy lab she was in, beeping sounds, followed by the sounds of sparking electricity from chewed wires, and broken machine that deteriorated with time.
Then as if a courtesy, a status window appear before Beatrice.
⟨SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE⟩
[PLAYER STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Beatrice
Title: N/A
Location: Sunderland: Cryo Room Sector A-05
Race: Human (100%)
Level: 1 / 150
Rank: F
Experience: 0 / 10
Health (HP): 100 / 100
Stamina (SP): 80 / 80
Sanity (SN): 100 / 100
Corruption: 0.00%
Affiliation: None
[Current Objective]
> Eliminate 30 Munduses (Lesser Parasitic Fragments)
> Defeat The Butcher of Gate Five (Tutorial Boss — Rank F+ Threat)
[Progress]
Tutorial Completion: 0%
[Equipment Loadout]
Primary Weapon: N/A
Secondary Weapon: N/A
Armor: N/A
Trinkets: (Dog Tag)
Beatrice look at her status screen, it always amaze her everytime she sees it. But unlike her face playthrough in this world. She didn't need to go over the objective, that was already learnt in the first two.
Now all that matters, was to actually complete it.
Her jaw clenched just thinking of what awaits her. But she breathes in calming herself down. She already knew this place.
The first corridors, the low hum of the life-support tubes, the smell of sterilized blood, all of it felt burned into her mind after seven previous deaths.
Each of which in her opinion as the victim, was far worse than the last. But she was soon knocked out of her thoughts when Dante spoke again. "Don't dawdle now, let's get going." Dante said, his voice now almost teasing.
"The first gate is only ten meters ahead. You know what's waiting there, don't you?" She swallowed hard, but steel herself. "That's the spirit, charge onwards without fear, I will begin narrating now." His tone turned cold.
Beatrice's lips trembled slightly, but she didn't answer him. Instead, she started moving, and took a step forward.
The cryo lights behind her dimmed as if afraid to follow. Steam hissed from a cracked vent above, spilling warmth that stank faintly of copper and rot. The corridors of The V-Cryo Facility were never kind.
The deeper one went, the worse it got.
And she knew what came next.
"Ah, yes… Dante's tone softened into mock nostalgia. "This part again. The hallway of broken glass, the stench of stagnant blood, and...oh, right...the rat's."
Beatrice stopped mid-step. Her eyes narrowed, scanning the shadows.
There was no sound at first. Just the quiet hum of machinery failing to die, the electric buzz of lights fluttering overhead. Then came the noise, the wet, dragging scrape of claws against metal.
Dante continued narrating, his tone sliding into something that resembled delight.
"It's hungry again, Beatrice. Your best friends for 3 times straight, your first killer that ate you even after death. You remember it, don't you? Its ribs jutting through the leathery hide, the smell of old corpses clinging to its fur like perfume."
Beatrice clenched her fists. "You don't need to describe it like that, D. I get it."
"Oh, but I do. Someone needs to appreciate the artistry of suffering soul players like you go through." She ignored him, inching forward. Each step echoed louder now, syncing with her heartbeat. The flickering lights stretched shadows long and sharp, cutting across the walls like black knives.
Then, she heard it...movement. A shape darted just outside her peripheral vision, low to the ground, but fast. She turned, but the corridor was empty. The pipes above her dripped. Something shifted again, this time behind her.
She spun around... knowing well it was there it was would strike from. And there it was. A giant disfigured rat, hunched and twitching, its frame warped by the Blight. Patches of flesh hung off like melted wax. One eye was milky white, the other pulsed red with every breath it took. The claws on its forelimbs had fused into grotesque hooks, dragging against the metal and sparking with each lurching step.
Its chest heaved, revealing bones beneath stretched sinew. A long black tongue slithered out from between broken teeth.
[ENEMY DETECTED — MUNDUS TYPE-A]
Rank: F-
Health: 220 / 220
Status: Aggressive / Starved
Dante chuckled softly. "Oh, look at that. It's excited to see you." Beatrice face morph into anger, annoyance and sheer disgust.
"Yeah, I can tell." Beatrice muttered under her breath, lowering her stance, eyes locked on the creature's malformed legs. It was already coiling to pounce. She knew this pattern, she had died to it before.