Chapter 40 – District 1 (T2) (13)
8. District 1 (2 tracks) (13)
“Kaya. They are so close together that it is difficult to walk.”
“Sorry.”
“No, I don’t have anything to be sorry about, but I’m asking you to stay away for a bit. If you stick together like this, it’s a little hard to respond in case of emergency.”
“Sorry.”
I bought the essentials with all my money, so I liked the extreme drug prescription of consuming the food I had a little bit of spare time and recovering to a minimum, calming my half-panic colleagues and getting out of 1-6. However, after dealing with the most pressing issues, the mental state of my colleagues was clearly visible.
Shay seems to be keeping her sanity at least, but Kaya was the problem.
You can’t even think of falling from my side!
“Kaya. What’s the matter.”
“Sorry.”
Whenever I said something, the answer was always the same, sorry, and no matter what I said, it was the same that he stayed by my side.
‘This is how…’
There are 4 rooms left, including the boss room. There was no time to linger in a place other than a resting place. Because of that, she had to talk while walking.
“Because I’m really fine. Shay walked around fine the next day too. Right?”
“Yes? Yes sure!”
Shay quickly agrees with a slight wink. But Kaya was silent.
“She was barely awake until she got out of the dungeon. But I look She woke up before the battle was over. Isn’t that proof that you’re okay?”
“Right, right. As expected, Captain.”
But Kaya didn’t budge.
“Ah no, anyone who sees it will think that you, Kaya, came back to life… Uh? Say it. What’s the matter? Because I’m really fine.”
“…”
“What?”
“I am…”
Finally Kaya opened her mouth. Her voice was so low that I stopped involuntarily. She could barely hear her voice as the footsteps echoed down her aisle.
“Last time, it was. Because I was wrong, I was in great danger. At that time, I was helplessly overcome by a nightmare and showed rudeness to the captain. Without the captain, I might have gone mad or given up on being a hero.”
“Kaya.”
No way, are you talking about 1-2 battles in the 1st playthrough? You couldn’t kill me by 1 damage?
That, only I can see it, Kaya wouldn’t know… Did you know it by feeling, or was it because of excessive guilt?
“It was the same this time. I was wrong. Because I was wrong, the captain almost died.”
“It is not your fault. You are doing a great job.”
“If I stick like this, won’t the chance that I block the attack directed at the captain go up? I think it will be more helpful to fend off the threat posed to the captain than anything I can do.”
They were obviously having a conversation, but it wasn’t a conversation. Kaya didn’t listen to me. She was talking to herself. First of all, Kaya’s mentality is -74…
‘It’s good to follow me, but is that too much?’
[Relationship diagram]
Kaya: 4
Shay: 2
I looked at the relationship chart for no reason, but there was no change.
‘Could it be because Kaya is 4 and Shay is 2? Sincerity?’
Once denied. I was referring to it, but I wasn’t blindly trusting it 100%. Above all, even if the relationship was at the same level, Kaya and Shay were separate people. If they are all different people with different races, backgrounds, ages, personalities, and tastes, how can they be compared with simple numbers?
‘It could be dependence or obsession.’
Difficult difficult Monster George has to risk his life just for that one thing, but in the meantime, he has to take care of the mentality of his colleagues. It seemed to be okay, but it became like this in an instant, so I couldn’t be relieved. Just like the moment when I was hit with a fatal blow, the atmosphere and mentality that I had been feeling were instantly destroyed.
“Kaya.”
“Sorry.”
“Kaya. Open your ears and listen to me.”
“Sorry.”
“Kaya!”
I understand. The fact that I almost went after him because he didn’t succeed in his attack might remain as another trauma.
But.
I shouldn’t have been frustrated along the way. Frustration is contagious. And now we are breaking through the dungeon. You have to judge by a different criterion than usual.
It’s just a stopgap measure, but there were times when it was inevitable.
That was right now.
“Shay, could you look over there for a second?”
“Yes? Ah yes!”
With a bit of apologetic feeling, I made Shay turn her head and hugged Kaya, who was almost attached to me. The combat nun’s heavy armor and bloodstains all over the place bothered him, but he didn’t care and held her head in his arms. Kaya flinched for a moment, then put her hands around my waist and hugged me tightly as if she had hoped.
‘Wow. Why is it so strong?’
It might be because I’m weak now, but I didn’t show it. To show off her strength, to reassure Kaya through it, wouldn’t he have to endure her strong hug casually?
I gently stroked the back of Kaya’s hair, forcing her to raise her head. He could feel her hands wiggling around her waist.
‘Looking at the reaction, it’s not like they can’t interact.’
As I continued to stroke her patiently, Kaya lifted her head as I intended, and her eyes met. Her gray eyes seemed to be locked in deep guilt and sorrow.
“Kaya.”
“Sorry.”
“If you just say you’re sorry one more time regardless of the content of the conversation, I won’t talk to you in the future.”
“… !”
Kaya’s eyes widened half as much. I could see her biting her mouth. It was clear to see the two selves fighting fiercely in her head.
‘My fault is serious, so I still have to apologize’ and ‘I have to listen to the captain who says this’ are fighting.
“You won’t hug like this, you won’t stroke your hair, you won’t sleep together. I won’t even talk deeply about it, I’ll treat you thoroughly as a member of the warriors who roam the dungeon together.”
“That… Ugh!”
Her lips tasted like a mixture of blood and dry food. To be honest, it was a taste that I couldn’t say was good, but it would be the same for Kaya, who is probably tasting my lips, so I’m going to give it a shot.
I relentlessly teased Kaya’s lips and her tongue. The thrill and nervousness of engaging in affection within a dungeon, never imagined originally. And I’m sorry that I can only care about Kaya’s mentality in this way. He even felt sorry for Shay, who had been unavoidably alienated.
With all that, I attacked Kaya’s mouth.
I’m alive listen to me focus on me Don’t get frustrated on your own. Don’t try to be my meat shield. Follow me. If you want to kiss me again, if you want to hug me again, don’t do that in the future. As you always have, do as I say.
‘Cause I’m not dying because you won’t die Because I want to live too.
So stop acting like I’m going to search for you right now without you.
I’m your boss. It’s the boss you recognized.
Therefore. It’s an order.
Don’t get frustrated on your own.
I deliberately didn’t close my eyes. Eyes say a lot, so I tried to say what I wanted to say with my eyes as much as possible. Maybe that’s why my eyes were so intense, Kaya opened her half-closed eyes and didn’t look away from me.
In terms of experience, the violent kiss that seemed to last a little over a minute ended.
I forced myself away from Kaya. Although Kaya’s lips and her tongue hung anxiously as if asking where they were going. My face was already distant. I heard the third person’s armor creaking, but I pretended not to hear it.
“Let’s go.”
“… Yes. Leader.”
Kaya looked at me for a moment, then calmly followed Shay, who had reddened the back of her neck. First of all, first aid was successful.
‘Literally first aid isn’t the problem.’
[Mentality]
Shay: -74
Kaya: -77
Eugene: -65
The danger was still there. The reason I stopped kissing earlier was because of the message that my mentality was blacked out. She couldn’t even bully the dungeon for not understanding the atmosphere. It was because I was in the dungeon in the first place, so I was continuously taking these poisonous prescriptions.
Kaya’s psychological state must have been more complicated, and Shay must have been in a formidable state, except that the trigger was not pulled.
What if I fall into near death in this situation one more time?
‘I’ll have to see Kaya and Shay, who went crazy in the true sense.’
In The Long Terror, the mentally ground and grounded warriors who broke through -100 and became completely insane had to spend up to 10 minutes of time and considerable money, depending on their level or symptoms, to recover. The recovery method was different depending on each class, tendency, and characteristics possessed, but…
‘No. I can’t go crazy from District 1.’
It was said that he recovered completely only in the game, but he could have bet 3,000 hours on the fact that there would be a high probability of not happening here.
As if a rubber band stretched beyond its limit becomes somewhat loose, a picture was naturally drawn of warriors who went crazy once going crazy more easily the next time.
“Keugh!”
“Shay!”
[Shay fell into a trap.]
[Shay is afflicted with the abnormal condition ‘Bleeding’ (3 turns).]
[Remaining HP 16/17]
[A sharp trap cuts through the bodies and minds of the warriors.]
[Shay mentality -5]
[Kaya mentality -3]
[Eugene mentality -4]
“Kaya. Bandage.”
“Here it is.”
“Shay, be patient.”
“Huh…”
Bleeding was stopped with a bandage. At most, his physical strength was reduced by 1.
[Mentality]
Shay: -79
Kaya: -80
Eugene: -69
However, his mentality finally collapsed to the 80th line.
Unless there’s a mentality recovery event or a continuous critical hit in the upcoming battles, if we keep going like this…
‘No. Let’s not even think that words become seeds.’
In the meantime, a fork came. It was a waste of time to think about it, so I chose the right one right away. Looking at the state of mentality that I check frequently, I became more and more nervous. As much as I was nervous, my steps were also nervous. Despite Shay’s trap just moments ago, my outward nervousness silently urged her allies.
Tboob-
In the hallway where only the sound of nervous footsteps echoed, the sound of footsteps suddenly stopped. Shay, who was in front of her, stopped her abruptly. As a result, she naturally stopped Kaya, and I had no choice but to stop too.
Damn it, what the hell, why did you stop? There was no reason to ask.
“I think we should go back.”
“… That’s right. Whoa. Let’s go back.”
Because it was a dead end road.
If you did well, you could find hidden elements such as secret rooms on the dead end, but now, there are no thieves and the level is low. I quickly brushed off my lingering feelings and went back.
[Fear settles in the heavy hearts of the warriors.]
[Shay mentality -4]
[Kaya mentality -4]
[Eugene mentality -3]
‘Damn it.’
The rate of mentality decline accelerated. At first glance, it seemed that a retreat penalty was being applied. The retreat penalty was a penalty that accelerated the rate of mentality decline if you went back the way you had progressed, whether it was a dead end or not… I thought it was a device to express the fact that I was going back the way I came, physically and mentally, I was very exhausted.
[Terror hangs over the path of the warriors.]
[Shay mentality -3]
[Kaya mentality -4]
[Eugene mentality -4]
[Mentality]
Shay: -86
Kaya: -88
Eugene: -76
However, looking at the mental state that was heading towards catastrophe in real time, I thought that beyond simply losing strength, I could see the phenomenon of being eaten by fear on the aisle if this is done wrong. The moment I came across a dead end, I had no time to wait for an item or event that would restore my mentality in a convenient way.
‘The danger of falling into a trap… Ignore it.’
In the end, the decision I could make now was once again a drastic drug. Once I started being driven into an extreme situation and the range of options narrowed, the choices I could make in the current situation were too limited.
“Shay, Kaya.”
“… Yes. Captain.”
Shay’s answer was one beat slow, and Kaya only nodded weakly. With two ticking time bombs with unpredictable reactions…
“From now on, we will run until we reach the next room. Without a break.”
“… Yes?”
“What are you doing? Run!”
Whether or not to get to 1-7 before it explodes, the death race of suffocating and trembling limbs has begun.
