Today's training was horizontal towel-whipping. Same routine: whip it until your arm goes numb, then switch hands. Take a break, then go back to vertical whips. My form felt smoother than yesterday, at least.

  Troslan looked at me and said, "Try to make the towel snap straight, like a blade."

  I gave it a shot—but after a while, my arm gave out.

  After training, he pressed the elevator button for me. This time, he didn’t get in.

  “Don’t be nervous. Just relax,” he said.

  The elevator didn’t shake this time. It also didn’t teleport me to some other dimension. When I reached the first floor, I finally exhaled in relief.

  —

  I was almost home when Mom sent me a message, “Pick up a few things on your way back.”

  Turned out “a few” meant two full bags of groceries. Carrying them in both arms like a mule, I decided there was no way I was taking the stairs. I waited for the elevator.

  Just then, a girl about my age walked up beside me. She was cute and bouncy, with the kind of harmless look that made you lower your guard. In her hand was a pink electric mosquito swatter.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  We stepped into the elevator together. And then—it started shaking. Of course it did.

  I thought, Here we go again…

  The girl looked at me and said, “Whoa~ Your weapon’s a starter-grade katana, huh?”

  She smiled. “When we get there, just leave the grocery bags in the elevator.”

  The doors opened.

  It wasn’t my apartment floor. It was a dark, decaying ruin, damp and reeking of mold and rot.

  Her pink electric swatter flickered—then transformed into a massive warhammer crackling with electricity at the tip.

  “Left side’s yours. Right side’s mine,” she said casually.

  Before I could even say “Wait, what?” four or five ghouls came lunging at us.

  All I could do was swing my sword like a maniac, brain screaming, Don’t let them touch me! Don’t let them bite me!

  The girl moved like she’d done this a hundred times. One swing of her hammer and a ghoul exploded into chunks. Then she turned and backed me up.

  I managed to slash down three somehow, but one of them grabbed my arm, and another was already rushing in with a jagged blade.

  Just as I was about to be overwhelmed, her hammer came crashing down, obliterating the last two.

  Silence.

  A glowing message appeared in the air:

  [Level Up: Reached Level 11]

  “Alright, let’s head back to the elevator~” she said cheerfully.

  “You really need to upgrade that weapon though!”