"Loki. Even the Asgardian who likes you the least can't deny your wisdom. But I know that in truth, you're an emotional person. Between the two of us, you're the less rational one. That's why you're not suited for the battlefield."
"Every decision made on the front line is hard, and there's no room for even a moment's delay or escape. At that time, you must be rational enough—cold‑blooded, even—be a commander who can regard your own life and others' lives as chips to be weighed on the scales of strategy. What it takes to choose the optimal solution from an impossible polygon isn't just wisdom; most importantly, it's the courage to be the one who survives and faces everything."
"Yeah, you've never lacked courage." Loki looked utterly dejected. He even forgot his image and sank down onto the ground. "You're the brave one. And I'm a coward who runs away."
"That's not true, Loki. What we have isn't just a superior and subordinate, or just a General and his commander. We're also brothers. People see you and me as one, and we're entangled even deeper than that. And if the world leaves us for last and one of us has to die, the one left behind can't claim to have truly survived either. Because we will have lost a part of ourselves forever, and from then on we'll never be whole again." Thor sat down as well.
"I once said I had the courage to bury Asgard, to be the one who survives to face everything in the end. But if you die too, then there are no survivors at all. I wouldn't be able to summon the courage to rebuild Asgard. All my strength and love would drain away from the wound where that part of me was cut off, until there's nothing left."
Thor reached over and wrapped an arm around Loki's shoulders. "But I know you can, Loki. Your abundant love won't be exhausted so easily. You can not only mend yourself, you can rebuild the whole of Asgard. That is why I made this decision.
"If I were to leave you here and go on alone, then even if the rest of the trial were just a straight, safe run to the finish, I might still not make it. I'd lose control of myself, maybe even be unable to move. I'd burn myself out."
"But if I stay here and you go on to the next stages, then just like before—when I threw you into that room and left you alone in the water—you still managed to solve the puzzle as fast as possible and pull me out. You'll definitely be able to clear the rest as fast as possible too.
"That's your strength. In all those times I've fallen into danger and you've led people to find me and pull me free, you've done it perfectly, never once failed. So when I'm faced with this kind of situation, I'll always make this choice. Loki, this isn't a form of protection, it's a form of trust and entrustment. I'm counting on you."
Loki bit his lip hard, his arched brows drooping, green eyes like leaf‑tips hanging with rain after a storm; his expression was an unreadable mix of aggrieved, sour, and sad.
"Enough, look on the bright side." Thor ruffled his black hair again. "Maybe the plan will work out. The mechanism might stop before you even leave."
Loki had nothing to say. And he had no time left to say anything. The ceiling had already dropped so low that the two of them could barely stand straight. If they didn't get under the platform now, it would be too late.
The two of them took one side each, half‑kneeling beneath the platform, shoulders braced against it. Thor reached out and pulled the lever under the platform.
With a click, the entire ceiling sheared loose and crashed down onto the platform. Thor and Loki both let out muffled grunts. Thor drove strength from his waist, pushing his body upward, testing the weight of the platform.
The whole ceiling was heavy; even a regularly trained adult man couldn't bear it for long. With two of them sharing it, some of the pressure was relieved. But if Loki was to leave, Thor could last at most a dozen minutes.
Thor took a deep breath, settled his stance, and said, "You have to go now."
Loki tried to turn his head to look at him, but the column between them blocked his view. He clenched his fists, only to hear Thor growl, "Go, Loki, now!"
Loki gritted his teeth so hard it hurt, but still slowly crawled forward, toward the secret room that had opened. There was still enough space underneath for now, and crawling wasn't too difficult. The gleam of the steel needles hanging above his head was icy and terrifying, but Loki still quickly crawled into the secret room.
He heard Thor grunt again as he left. The weight of the ceiling now rested on Thor alone, bowing his back. Barely tens of seconds had passed and he was already breaking into a sweat.
Loki rolled over, slowly sat up inside the secret room, then used the wall to push himself to his feet. Looking toward the far corner, he saw that there was indeed an opening above. As long as he stepped onto the ceiling, he could climb up easily.
But suddenly, Loki froze. In just those few seconds, he completely fell apart, hands braced hard against the wall. "No… I can't… I can't…"
He sank back down, and cried out loudly in helplessness, "Thor… I can't do it…"
The entire ceiling shuddered violently. Hearing the tears in Loki's voice, Thor seemed about to straighten up right then and there. "Loki!! Don't cry… Loki…"
Loki was trembling all over. Because just now, he had realized the most vicious aspect of this mechanism: he had to step on Thor's shoulders to clear it.
The weight of the ceiling was already at the limit of what could be supported; even someone as powerfully built as Thor was only holding on through gritted teeth. Under those conditions, adding another adult's weight—one could imagine the result.
"I can't… I can't!!" Loki screamed, his voice tearing. "I can't do it! I can't get through! I—!"
He was curled up in the corner of the secret room, as if he were about to melt into it. Very soon he didn't even have the strength to shout, just kept calling Thor's name. "Thor… Thor… big brother…"
The entire ceiling began to shake. Thor's whole body had turned red from the blood rushing through him, the burning anger and killing intent in his eyes almost impossible to hide. But he still lowered his voice and said, "Get up here, Loki. I can hold on, you have to trust my Strength…"
"It's not like that, Thor. Even if… even if I could get up there… I still wouldn't make it…" Loki choked out.
Because he had already seen that the vicious part wasn't just that he needed to step on Thor's shoulders; the key was that the room he was in now and the exit were on opposite corners. He would have to move along the ceiling to the opposite corner of the room.
This ceiling wasn't fixed all that securely; if he stepped on it, it would wobble. It was already almost too heavy just to lift; with someone stepping on it, constantly shifting their center of gravity, the person underneath would be even less able to hold it.
The difference is like lifting a sandbag versus lifting a living person. The hardest part of hoisting a living person is that they move. Because their movements keep changing, their center of gravity keeps changing, and it's very hard to find the right angle to exert force. You can only keep switching the muscle groups you use to match their movement, so it's far harder than lifting a sandbag of the same Body Type.
Under normal circumstances, Thor had no problem at all picking Loki up; even after becoming an ordinary person, it still wasn't that hard. But in this situation, Loki's weight was very likely to become the last straw that breaks the camel's back. Loki absolutely, absolutely, absolutely could not accept that this suffering was brought on by himself. No way, no matter what anyone said.
Loki took several heaving breaths there. Then, with grim determination, he burrowed back under the steel needles, returned to Thor's side, and lifted the platform on the other side.
"No… no, don't even think about it." Loki muttered. "I'd rather be pierced through by these steel needles and die here than… I can't do it… I can't do it…"
Thor tried to say something, but Loki barked at him, his tone harsh and fierce: "I said no!!! If you dare force me out, I'll go complain to Odin and Frigga. I'll let them know what you're trying to force me to do!!! Odin will punch you straight into the wall of the Fairy Palace!!!"
"It wouldn't be that light," Thor was forced to comment.
"Not bad, not too heavy." Superman let out a long breath. "You okay there, Batman?"
"I'm okay." Batman's voice came from beside him. "If the two of us share the load, we really can hold on for quite a while, I'd say maybe half an hour?"
"No, I think we can last at least an hour." Superman said. "With you talking to me and distracting me, it won't feel as tiring. This stage is probably meant to be played like that."
"We can indeed do something to distract ourselves." Batman said. "There's no point in analyzing whether the plan will work anymore; after all, we have no evidence to infer who else is in the dungeon, nor how they'll react. Let's talk about the dungeon itself."
"Escape room? It's actually pretty creative. Before this I played a prison breakout dungeon, but that one wasn't this hard. It was mainly a battle of wits with other players, seeing who could escape the fastest."
"You never told me about that." Batman said.
"Uh, because I came in second-to-last in that one." Superman sounded a bit embarrassed. "I helped the warden with tons of work, but he actually tried to molest me, so in the end I had no choice but to use violence to get out. Let's just say it was very realistic."
"What about the others? How did they get out?"
"Some stole the keys, some used Persuasion, and some just dug their way out. Oh, and of course the guy digging the tunnel was slower than me, but had a much easier time—other than eating and sleeping, he just kept digging. In the end I was the one who was both exhausted and slow." Superman shook his head. "Honestly, if it weren't for you, if I had been queued into this dungeon alone, I really don't know what I would've done. This difficulty is way beyond my capability."
"If it weren't a two-player dungeon, the level designer probably wouldn't have built a mechanism like this." Batman said. "Besides, I think this dungeon should have a backstory. Even if it's not a strong-narrative mode, we should be able to roughly piece together the main plot by the time we reach the end."
"Sounds like you've got some ideas?"
"Yes. The key is the electricity. Don't you think it's strange? The decor is clearly a Middle Ages dungeon style, but there's electricity in the keyhole of the door lock. The torches are off too; they look like they're disguised electric heating coils."
"You can still notice details like that?" Superman exclaimed. "I'm so busy dealing with the level itself I'm about to drop dead."
"Observation isn't extra expenditure, Clark. It helps us conserve Strength. All right, enough about that, let's get back to the story. My guess is this might be another human experimentation-type scenario, trying to select the best team among us as test subjects."
"That really is possible." Superman nodded. "Maybe some high-tech organization built this dungeon, then kidnapped us to play this dangerous escape game with them."