That could be, I actually waited around a few seconds before leaving just goofing off.
You actually have a good amount of time to leave the building.
I think the game gives you a last chance warning if you wait too long.
I pretty much just finished playing it in 4x damage mode. The early portions of the game were brutal. As a wolf the shadow beasts can 1 shot kill you. The falling rocks on Death mountain can as well.
The big axe wielding guy outside of arbiter's grounds 1 hit killed me and I had 11 full hearts...