The thorns slammed shut behind Aiden, sealing him inside the tunnel of living vines.
No way back. Only forward.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Something wet fell onto his cheek.
Aiden wiped it—
Blood.
He looked up.
A student's jacket hung from the thorns overhead, shredded open…and still warm. The ID tag dangled off it:
[Candidate #42 — Mira Lennox]
Aiden's stomach tightened.
She entered the trial before him.
He never saw her come out.
The System chimed.
[NOTICE]
Traces of Candidate #42 detected.
Cause of disappearance: UNKNOWN.]
"Unknown?" Aiden whispered. "What the hell happened to her?"
The tunnel shuddered.
Something was moving ahead—slow, dragging steps.
Not running. Not stalking.
Dragging.
Aiden crouched and edged forward.
A faint glow appeared around the bend.
Sickly. Pulsing.
When he stepped closer, the smell hit him.
Rot.
Then he saw it.
A figure stood with its back to him, swaying slightly.
It wore a shredded academy uniform…
Mira's uniform.
"Mira?" Aiden asked quietly.
The figure froze.
Then its head twisted—
All the way around.
Bones cracked like wet branches.
Its face was stretched, too wide, too smooth, eyes nothing but black, oily pits.
It smiled at him.
Aiden stumbled back. "That's not her—!"
[ALERT]
Unregistered Lifeform Detected.
Designation: DOPPELGANGER SPAWN
Rank: F]
The thing lunged.
Aiden barely avoided the claw-like fingers. The creature screeched, a sound like multiple voices scraping against stone.
He bolted deeper into the tunnel, breathing hard.
"This is the 'low-risk' path?!"
[CORRECTION]
Survival probability: 12%
Probability of encountering additional Spawn: HIGH]
Thorns whipped across his back as he ran. He could hear the creature chasing him—skittering on walls, ceilings, anything.
He burst into a wider chamber.
The entire ground was covered in broken weapons—training spears, cracked swords, torn gloves—items from other candidates.
Dozens of them.
A graveyard.
Aiden stepped back—
Something clicked under his shoe.
A cracked wristband.
He picked it up:
[Candidate #29: Yuri Halden]
He swallowed hard.
"Where are their bodies…?"
The chamber walls pulsed.
A voice whispered behind him:
"Right here."
Aiden spun.
The Doppelganger Spawn wasn't alone now.
Four more crawled from the vines, wearing mismatched pieces of other students' clothing—scarves, badges, torn sleeves, belts.
Faces stretched.
Necks crooked.
Eyes empty.
All staring at him.
[SYSTEM EMERGENCY]
Chain-Quest Triggered:
ESCAPE THE SPAWN CHAMBER
Time Limit: 60 seconds]
The ground trembled.
The thorns behind the creatures began to shift—closing in.
"A minute… to escape this?"
[FAILURE CONDITION:
BODY ASSIMILATION]
Aiden didn't know what that meant—
—until one Spawn stepped forward, opened its chest like a flower, and inside… he saw a human spine tangled in vines.
His breath froze.
No choice.
Run or die.
He dashed toward the only tunnel not blocked by Spawn.
They shrieked and chased him instantly, limbs bending at unnatural angles, slamming against the ground behind him.
57 seconds.
The tunnel narrowed.
He slid under a low vine, scraping his elbows raw.
42 seconds.
A Spawn dove from above—
Aiden rolled, grabbed a broken spear from the ground, and rammed it into its jaw.
It didn't die.
It just paused.
33 seconds.
He sprinted harder.
The tunnel opened into another chamber—
This one had a huge circular hole in the center, roots spiraling downward into darkness.
Aiden skidded to a stop.
The System chimed sharply.
[INSTRUCTION]
Jump.]
"What?! It's bottomless!"
[JUMP OR BE ASSIMILATED]
The shrieks behind him grew louder.
Aiden turned—
All five Spawn poured into the chamber.
No time.
He sucked in a breath—
And jumped.
The world vanished into pitch-black.
The last thing he heard was the System's voice:
[Descending to Floor 2: ROOT ABYSS]