Chapter 129 – District 2 (8)
16. District 2 (8)
[You have entered 〈 Crossroads 〉.]
‘A crossroads? There’s a fork in the road here?’
The crossroads was one of several events. In terms of experience, it could be said to be a rare event that appears much more rarely than the probability of a box of fear appearing.
“Captain, where are you?”
“It is a crossroads. Therefore…”
You can jump through several rooms, find secret rooms, run into nasty traps and monsters… It was a different type of bokbulbok event.
However, unlike the Horror Box Room, where everyone had to touch the box once, the fork in the road could not go anywhere. If that happens, the crossroads will disappear, and in that case, the physical strength and mentality of the entire warrior corps will be slightly reduced in The Long Terror. It seems that the physical strength was about 10% of the maximum physical strength, and the mentality was about 10.
I explained to my colleagues. They too were in trouble.
If you give up, you can break through a room faster than ever, although it consumes your stamina and mental strength.
If you tried, you might pay a bigger price and get nothing than if you gave up, but you could get a huge benefit for a small price.
As someone who had been burned more than benefited from the crossroads in The Long Terror, I wanted to skip it at all costs. But… My mentality was messed up right now. Shay was -70 and Illumina was -74. If 10 is in a situation where 1 is easy. No, it’s the highest difficulty, so if it’s higher than that.
Rather, if a normal monster had appeared here, I would have healed my mentality to some extent with Illumina’s melody, even if it meant stalling. In 2-3, mentality is -2 people in their 80s?
‘Fuck, I can’t be like that already.’
The dungeon always pushed the situation to the limit, and my judgment leaned toward the number of gamblers rather than the standard.
If it was originally, we would have skipped it without worrying and headed to 2-4 already.
Kaya and Shay, who broke through District 1 together, seemed to be in a similar predicament to me. They must have realized that the future is bleak for our current situation to be resolved ‘standardly’.
“What do you think, Captain?”
“In my mind, I want to quickly break through here and go to the next room. However… If the same guy from before pops up again in the next room…”
“Mmm.”
Silence flowed out. All of us except Illumina had been encroached upon, so we were well aware of the dangers. In District 1, I was eroded in the second half, and I think I was able to break through after awakening. If I had been encroached on at that time… Perhaps Shay had her mind collapsed and then she died.
“Going crazy. I’m really going crazy.”
Is this why people seek God? It’s hard to decide on an answer, and whatever you choose, you’re going to fuck up. Rather, if someone decides the answer, I can praise it if it goes well and reduce the responsibility even if it doesn’t go well.
‘What should I do, Lady Raella? Mr. Justitia.’
Of course, there was no answer.
As always, you have to judge for yourself.
‘Safely when advantageous, bold when unfavorable.’
Made a decision
As I took a step forward, the eyes of my colleagues turned to me.
“Let’s go in. At a crossroads.”
“… Yes, boss. I’m ready.”
“As the captain wishes.”
I picked up Illumina again. She said she would walk on her own, but unfortunately, her pace was too slow compared to what I was carrying on my back. It was frustrating in itself to move at that speed, but in the end, the decline in mentality was the problem.
I firmly supported Illumina’s hips with my left hand. Hesitantly feeling sorry for her, she hugged my neck with her arms.
“Depart.”
[You have entered 〈 Crossroads 〉]
With a short message, a drastic change occurred in the dark surroundings. A fork in the empty room suddenly appeared.
The fork in the road forked like a trident blade. Of course, there were no signposts to indicate where each road was headed.
Ultimately, it was luck.
‘Fuck you, I’m not going anywhere… Okay…’
I’m usually not very lucky, I thought. Having been born, having to grow up with such a mother, having played thousands of hours of The Long Terror, I lost more than I gained by luck.
I boldly entered the fork in the road, but I wanted someone more fortunate than me to choose which road to enter. I had no intention of avoiding responsibility. Really… As much as I challenged the high-risk, high-return event, this one choice could be the most important moment in the success or failure of this dungeon.
For example, if you have to keep your 6 eyes open, you should entrust the dice to someone who rolls the dice well… That’s it. Okay. It is not an evasion of responsibility, but a strategic decision based on probability theory.
I wanted to think.
“Shay.”
“Yes?”
“Go where your intuition leads you.”
“Captain?”
So, except for Sestia, who was active for a while, I decided to trust Shay’s luck with the average roll and the highest multiplier.
“Me?”
“Okay. Don’t think of me, only your senses. Whatever is on the way, I will follow without words. After all, this is my order.”
“…”
Shay made a complicated expression for a moment, then she closed her mouth and she moved on without hesitation.
Shay chose the middle road. We silently followed her.
‘The die was cast.’
When I glanced back, the place where we had started was shrouded in darkness. The way back was blocked. Only the weight of Illumina felt on our hands and back, her breath directly in our ears, and the sound of our party’s footsteps proved that we were walking down the road ourselves.
There was nothing in Shay’s chosen path. Even after walking for at least tens of minutes.
I think I walked for at least 30 minutes, but I can’t see any traps or monsters?
‘It’s an angle. It’s a portal or a secret room!’
Of course, this was a dungeon. Certainty was out of the question. But… The happiness circuit was heating up before I knew it.
“Shay. Can you see anything?”
“No. Nothing…”
After thinking about how the crossroads were portrayed in The Long Terror for a moment, I continued to walk in silence without getting excited. If I brought it out in words, it seemed like it would take voodoo again.
「To think that there is such a secret space inside the dungeon. He thought he would wither to death on that unknown road… Heaven helped me.”
Looking at the nuances in the lines, such as “I thought I would die after just walking for such a long time, but it turned out that it was a detour without stopping at the room.” According to the setting, almost all of the warriors in The Long Terror were veterans, and when you see the words coming out of their mouths, such a long time because it’s luck…
“Hendrick…”
“Uh.”
“Me… Not heavy… ?”
“I said something. It’s not very heavy.”
“Cook cook… It seems heavy… ?”
“I’m not the type to talk empty words.”
The silence was broken by the conversation with Illumina. Originally, she would have told her to be quiet, but since a long march was expected, she tolerated her small talk. I don’t know if she meant it, but her timing was pretty good.
“Shay, who was wearing her heavy armor… It was quite heavy.”
“What, Captain?”
“I agree. At that time, Shay was much heavier because her strength was also drained.”
“Sister?!”
At my acquiescence, Kaya naturally joined the conversation and Shay showed a reaction. Just as we looped several times for hours in an unknown space during the Fall of Bestia, it was impossible to maintain the same atmosphere as when walking through a normal passage in the current situation where we do not know how long we will have to walk.
As the words came out, I changed the hand supporting the Illumina. She hugged my neck tighter as if she was ashamed of the touch of her ass. She asked.
“Hendrick… What are you planning to do when you get back?”
“What? Are you asking that already?”
“No, not Salem… The place called Earth you were talking about.”
“So that’s a more distant future.”
“I’m talking about the distant future. The other day, I heard that there was a different world and what, breaking through dungeons to survive… Now, simply going back is not the goal… ?”
“Didn’t I tell you then? If I go back alone, I will be here with you guys.”
“What if we could go together? Then?”
“What?”
Together… Are you going back? To earth?
It was unexpected. It’s the concept of returning to the place where I originally lived, so even if I could do that, it was a new transition for the girls from this world.
‘No. If you think about it, I didn’t say that I was a complete former, but only came with a soul. Then, even if we all go to Earth together…’
I didn’t spit it out and sprinkle cold water on it. Imagination is imagination anyway, isn’t it a conversation to kill time. It was not a resting place, but in an atmosphere that seemed strangely like a resting place, I began to unravel the threads of my happy imagination that I sometimes used to do when I was tired and tired.
“There are many surprises. From food to furniture, buildings, appearance, religion, culture, and other things to enjoy… I’ve experienced Salem indirectly, so I adapted quickly, but you guys won’t be able to recover from the shock for a while, right?”
“Is it that much of a different world?”
“Okay. And… My true self is also very different from this body.”
Skinny, unattractive, gloomy, and even small… It’s relatively inferior compared to what this body has. It may not be that they love me based on my appearance, but when I think of my appearance on Earth, I naturally smiled bitterly.
“I’m worried about everything, Captain. No matter how the captain’s body changes, the things I follow and love will not change.”
“Oh. Shay. My face went red.”
“Oh, it’s not red.”
“I can feel the heat all the way here.”
“Oh, sister! Then what about Kaya-sister!”
“You mean that? Me of course…”
Kaya turned her head slightly, met my eyes, and quickly put her head back.
“It’s the same idea as Shay.”
“Uh? Your sister got her blush too?”
“Can that be? She said the obvious, so there is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Oh hot. Can she roast the meat over her sister’s face?”
“So Shay, I think you can put a kettle on her face.”
Seeing the two of them bickering with each other, their faces became more red, I was able to get away from the mentality level for a while. In the meantime, I thought that I had become a skilled warrior by not taking care of the boundaries of the saju.
“You two are cute…”
“Why are you acting like you aren’t?”
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you?”
The front has been quiet. Kaya and Shay were looking at me, more precisely at the Illumina carrying me. I could feel the Illumina flinch.
“Or what? There is spiritual love, and there is physical love. Is not it?”
“Oh no! Me, I had the same thoughts as Shay!”
“And. Are your ears perky?”
“You don’t think your ears will twitch.”
“Is that so?”
“Sir, it’s noisy…”
Embarrassed, I squeezed the bad Illumina’s butt, who had bitten my ear for no reason. He felt the heat on the back of her neck against her face.
‘I haven’t lost much of my mentality… Good. Let’s just go like this.’
There was no break, but thanks to the good atmosphere, we started moving at a faster pace than before, and we took a 5-minute break every hour, repeating it 9 times.
‘I need to rest soon, but.’
After a forced march, my body was exhausted. However, when I was worried about getting a good night’s sleep, not just a resting place, I heard the sound of Shay’s footsteps.
“Shay.”
“Captain.”
Her claymore pointed in front of her.
“It is a monster.”
A monster of a kind I had never seen before, stood in the way of a certain door.
