"Haah, haaah…" I pant. How can I get so tired inside a game, up to the point it's hard to breathe? It shouldn't be possible… "Not much, haaah, remaining, haah…"

I'd love to stay here and recover, but there's no time for that. The most I can rest is between two and three seconds.

*Thud, swiish!*

An arrow is shot from my left, but by the time it reaches my place, I've already stepped forward, out of the way. I then duck to cross under the laser beam and use my crouching posture to safely approach a swinging pendulum. Without standing up, I wait until the blade is right above me and press my hand on the wide side of the blade to give me a small burst of speed, and use it to barely avoid a spike trap waiting for me right after crossing under the second laser beam.

To achieve it, I have to jump at the same time, and pray I move faster than the spikes do.

"Uuaagh–!" After the jump, I fall head-first on the ground. But, luckily, my feet are up in the air, and the spikes don't touch me. I have to pathetically twist my body while in this position, turning my legs around, until I can safely lower them.

Well, at least I'm fine and haven't taken any damage yet.

I awkwardly curl my body and slowly, very slowly, look around once more. This is one of the weird 'safe spaces' in the trap course. The space is so small that I have to curl my body on the ground, and the visibility is shit. But hey, at least it is safe!

There was a safer path that didn't require me to jump right over the spike trap, but there's a high chance there was a pressure plate hidden somewhere there. I'm not confident in avoiding them on time, as they're the reason I failed the first four attempts, so I've been avoiding all suspicious areas and taking the harder paths instead.

In other words, I've been taking unnecessary but calculated risks, which in my opinion are way better than unexpected and deadlier ones.

Using my right arm as leverage, I push my head upwards to the limit, up to the point that the swinging pendulum passes right above my rat nose. I can feel the wind pressure moving my whiskers.

The end line is close. I can smell (see) it. The problem is the twenty or so traps that remain until I reach it.

"I can't allow myself to fail this time." Clara already cleared this course on her third try, and Laura on her fifth. It's my fifth try now, and I can't be any worse than Laura! A good team leader doesn't need to be the best fighter, but they should at least be one of the best. I can't allow both Laura and Clara to do it better than I.

Furthermore, Clara's success doesn't really count. She had her stretching and retracting tentacles to help her! I can still clear it now, in my fifth attempt, and be considered the best alongside Laura, so I must do it!

Ricard… Ricard, too, will do his fifth try after me, but I'm sure he'll fail again, so I'm fine in that regard.

"Huff…!" I inspire, filling my lungs with fresh air. Then, right after the swinging pendulum blade passes over me once more, I jump up and start running. "Now!"

"Go, brother! You can do it!" Clara's cheering reaches me, but I ignore it.

As soon as my body soars, multiple traps, those surrounding the safe position, simultaneously trigger. But I calculated my jump, and all of them miss their intended target: me.

I land and approach the left wall. The next obstacle is a moving platform, the only way to cross the two-meter gap with an abyss in between.

But before I can reach it, I hear a loud thud coming from the nearest wall. When I turn my head, I see a long spinning roll, longer than the two-meter gap, coming towards me, with blades ready to shred me into bits. Seeing its trajectory, it'll roll over the whole space right before the gap, leaving no safe place.

Why didn't I realize there was this trap until now!?

"Fuck…!" I don't think I can safely jump high enough to avoid it, and slipping underneath is just asking for a sure death. If I go back, I'll surely fall for the other traps…" I start to despair, but then, a crazy idea comes to mind. "Ah, I know!"

I ignore the rolling trap's presence and rush straight ahead instead of going towards the left, where both the platform and rolling trap are.

Stopping right at the edge of the gap, I gulp. I can't jump to the other side because of the lasers cleverly positioned to prevent it, so there's only one thing I can do. Keeping my feet on the ground, I launch the rest of my body forward, towards the dark abyss.

"Please work…!"

Like a falling domino, my body tumbles forward. At the same time, I extend my hands as far as they can reach and apply force on my whole body. Luckily, my actions pay off, and as my body falls, I manage to barely grab the other edge with my fingers, leaving my body hanging in mid-air.

If a single one of my feet or hands slips, I'll fall.

The ground shakes as the rolling trap approaches. I hold my breath, waiting for it to pass by. The shaking intensifies until I can feel the blades scratch the soles of my shoes.

As I thought, there was a small gap between the trap and the abyss' edge, just enough space to place my feet.

My survival depended on this. Otherwise, it'd have pushed my feet towards the abyss, and I'd have surely died, or they'd have been shredded by the rolling trap, and I would have been disqualified anyway.

"Wheew…" I exhale, relieved. "But this is just the bare minimum…"

Now comes the hard part: to use all my strength to pull my body upward right when the moving platform approaches, and drop on top of it.

I turn my head to the limit and observe the platform getting closer. It's now or never!

"One, two… Three!" I tense all my muscles and push my body up. "I can only do this once. Please, work…"

After my body lifts, I can feel something sliding right underneath, pulling my clothes away. The force makes me falter, and right in the middle, my hand slips and I lose strength, ending up with half body right on the edge and the other half hanging in mid-air. In a desperate bid to save myself, I imitate the rolling trap, doing a full spin and ending with my stomach on the ground, safe on top of the moving platform.

"Haah. It worked somehow… Hahaha!" I start laughing, but my face quickly warps when I remember this platform isn't as safe as it sounds. "The arrows!"

When I raise my head, I watch in horror as the platform slides towards an arrow battery placed in the front wall. Distributed in two rows of three, they form a perfect rectangle, the highest row at the height of one and a half meters, and the lowest slightly above ground level.

The sliding platform makes it hard to trigger the arrow traps in advance, as it'll force you to move with it. This means that the best way to evade them is to lower your body to avoid the upper row, and then leap like a frog when the bottom row activates, making sure to raise your legs but not the rest of your body.

The problem is that I don't have time to change my current position…

*Thud, swiish!*

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I watch in horror as the first arrow flies straight for my face. "Not like this! After coming this far, I won't die to an arrow trap!"

Desperate, I push the ground with my arms and legs, lifting my body like a fish out of water. The arrow passes underneath, but there are two more incoming. I lift my body two more times, and luckily, the three arrows miss.

"Ugh…" I finally stand up, groaning. "...safe?"

Ahh… how pathetic must I've looked? There was no elegance in my moves, unlike when Marta did it.

Before the platform reaches the right side and goes back to the arrows, I step out of it, on the side closest to the exit. I'm almost there…! The problem is that there is another acid floodgate a few steps forward.

"I pray to you, god of luck. Please, don't betray your most devout follower today of all times… Amen." After my short prayer, I start running as fast as possible. At this speed, I can barely avoid the traps, but it doesn't matter, because if I don't do it, I'm dead anyway.

"Uaaaah! It's my victoryyyy!" I shout.

The acid floodgates detect my presence, and they start releasing the acid. I run as if there's no tomorrow to avoid the advancing liquid.

With a metallic noise, spikes come out of the ground, but my foot is a step faster. I then duck to avoid a laser beam, and slow down just in time to avoid another skewer, this time a horizontal one at waist height. My body bends into two, and all the air in my lungs is forcibly expelled when, due to the remaining speed, I slam into the metal. But hey, I didn't take damage, so it's fine.

"Gufu! Ugh, this hurts…!" It hurts my honor and image, I mean.

The two metal bars forming the skewer retract back into the walls, and before they strike again, I quickly rush forward. There's no time to waste; the acid is right behind me.

Three cleverly placed laser beams split the passage into two. I must choose one side right now.

"Eh, uh… Right!"

My feet instinctively drive me towards the right side; the large swinging pendulum blade on the left side possibly has something to do with that decision. But it was a wrong decision, because as soon as I enter the right side, I realize the right wall, as well as the wall at the end of the trap course, are riddled with holes.

*Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud…!* A true arrow volley comes at me.

"Noooooooo!"

Without stopping – I can't allow the acid to catch up – I start twisting my body in weird ways, successfully avoiding all arrows but one that's flying straight at my chest. In a desperate attempt, I wave my hand towards it… and deflect it away.

"Huh!?" Don't ask how I did it because even I don't know. I'm as surprised as you.

I accept my absurd luck and, before the arrows fire again, I run at maximum speed towards the goal.

"Just five more meters…"

As I approach the exit door, I realize there are no more traps in my way. I did it! Unless the arrow traps fire faster than usual or the acid catches up, I'll surely reach the end…

*Click!*

"N-nooooooo!"

I try to jerk my body away, copying Marta, but due to the sudden movement and the surprise from the hidden pressure plate, one of my feet trips over the other one, sending me tumbling to the ground.

"Uah, aaou, ugh, aah…!"

My high speed, added to the fall, makes me roll and bounce, sending several shocks through my body. When I lose enough speed, I start sliding over the ground instead.

Aah, this is it… The end. I failed right in front of the goal.

I look up as my body keeps sliding. When I stepped on the pressure plate, three large sawblades appeared, shredding all the surroundings. But since I'm on the ground, I avoided all of them.

Is it luck, or bad luck? Well, it doesn't matter. I'm done for anyway…

As expected, the acid quickly catches up, and my body starts floating. I don't even have the strength or motivation to stand up. I let the acid drag me away, waiting for it to disappear while I regret the decision to choose the right path at the laser split.

"Haha, I failed… I failed right at the end…"

In the middle of my delusions, I feel someone grab my clothes and pull me up.

"What are you doing?" I hear Marta's voice next to me while I continue to stare at the ceiling. "Aren't you going to celebrate?"

"...celebrate?" Celebrate what? My failure? I'm not into that kind of stuff, Marta.

"Yes, celebrate. You did it. You completed the course on your fifth try."

I watch Marta's smile as she says this. She's taking me for a fool, isn't she? She should stop. It isn't funny.

But then, I think. What if…? It isn't until I stop looking at the ceiling that I realize where I am.

"W-what!? Since when!? When did I cross the finish line!?"

Marta laughs at my reaction and says, "When you were rolling on the ground. You crossed the end line then. It was so funny! You were filled with despair as your body bounced and then floated in the acid, not knowing you had achieved your objective! Haha!"

She pats my back before adding. "You don't mind if I save the replay as a memento, do you? I'll do it anyway."

Wait a moment… I'm still processing this. I cleared this trap course? I did it!? Hell yeah!

Oh, right, before I forget, I must do this quickly. I put my hands together and close my eyes. 'Ooh, god of luck! I knew you wouldn't let me die! I knew you would help me achieve my objectives! Fufufu! Hahaha!'

Marta watches me silently until I open my eyes again. She approaches me and lifts me into the air, flying towards where Laura and the rest are watching everything.

"By the way," Marta whispers next to my ear, "I never said you couldn't use your skills to clear this. Weak magic can be really useful to trigger traps, you know? Or you could've transformed into a rat… But, shhht! Don't tell the others." She makes a short pause before adding, "Well, thank you for entertaining me so much. I'm looking forward to our next training, hahaha!"

When I look at her, eyes wide open, she's making another one of those nasty smiles.

She's kidding, right? There's no way she has already thought of another crazy training like this one, right!? I'm sure it can't be…

…RIGHT!?

----------

"Ugh… I'm so, so, soooooooo tired…"

I drop my weary body on my favorite chair and blankly stare at the black screens in front of me.

"I feel like dying."

Sunday has finally come, but even if I have a free day, I don't feel like doing anything productive. Creating the slimes? No way, I'm way too tired for that.

Today, I don't feel like doing anything, just watching the videos of invaders suffering inside my dungeon.

Without hurry, I open the dungeon menu and search for the 'ongoing invasions'. "Alright, here I g–"

*Tiriring!* The sudden fanfare music interrupts my thoughts, and a screen suddenly pops in front of me.

Reached player level 10!

- Customizable invader limit unlocked

- Raids unlocked

- Maximum boss monsters increased to 4

- Received 9 x Stasis chamber

- Received 3 x Giant stasis chamber

- Received 20.000 cp

"Why… Didn't I level up not long ago? Isn't it too soon?"

It's then that it strikes me like lightning. Soon? SOON!? I've been spending the past weeks all the time inside DMA, training all the fucking day, from morning to night! I've never accumulated both cp and xp so fast and consistently as in the past weeks.

…If there's one thing I couldn't get at all, it's bodies. A shame indeed.

"It makes sense that I leveled up so fast. Let's take a look at the new stuff!"

Player level ten is the level all players say widens the game the most, providing several new features, as well as when all dungeons can start to differentiate themselves into the three most common types: classic four-player dungeons, thematic dungeons running with special rules, where defeating monsters isn't necessarily the main focus, and Raids.

Level ten is also the first time players can go into said Raids, special dungeons where the player limit is always ten or higher, but where they can't bring support mobs. Only players are allowed inside.

"Hmm… I believe Ricard said that normal dungeons can be converted into Raids if the dungeon owner allowed it and the player count was high enough…"

What kind of mad scientist would I be if I didn't try the new features at least once?

'Tiredness'…? What is that? Is it tasty? Fufufu! Hahaha!

"Don't think you can easily turn your dungeon into a Raid as soon as you reach level ten. Everything, from the number of monsters to their strength, to even the width of the passages, must be properly adjusted. It isn't as easy as enabling Raid mode and waiting for success."

- Advanced tip from a high-level DMA player to players who had just achieved level ten.

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