Hmm that's very strange. Was it the same kind of enemies in both runs? Were they really high HP or damage?
i think it might've been the enemies i was fighting at the end of my previous playthrough as the farmhand and they somehow carried over? apologies for not knowing the names of the enemies-- on my first playthrough as isla, i was fighting lots of red impish creatures, big rocky creatures, and small purply creatures. they were high hp and damage to the point that isla died of old age before i ever beat the first archives depths level. when i replayed, isla's first level just had slime creatures that were very easy to beat.