In the morning, Elin was one of the first to wake up. Jonas was awake too, but that's because he had the last watch. Which, as far as Elin was concerned, that didn't count.
As she went about starting a fire so someone else could get around to cooking something for breakfast, her eyes fell on the giant earthworm that had essentially killed Owen. In the morning light, it hardly seemed that dangerous. Even the rows of teeth didn't seem like they were that deadly. Not to mention that she couldn't help but wonder if maybe it was brought here to this world against its will to be a part of this competition. That the earth worm might have been confused or even scared itself when it had attacked them.
Elin was confident that the real problem was the people running this competition and that they were really the ones responsible for the death of the giant earth worm that likely attacked them because it thought that they were a threat to it. Maybe even the ones who had brought it here.
Elin was at least confident that there wasn't a reason for it to have been their enemy in the first place. That they should have been able to pass each other by without even knowing they had even gotten that close to each other.
"Penny for your thoughts," a voice asked Elin, startling her out of her thoughts as she finally got the fire going.
Elin looked at the speaker and relaxed when she saw that it was Patricia.
Elin shrugged as she sighed, not really sure how best to explain what she had been thinking of. "Just about the earth worm," she replied, kicking herself mentally at how vague she sounded.
Patricia nodded in response, seeming to have understood more than Elin had expected. "Yeah, that is a good question. How many of the creatures we've encountered here were brought by those running this competition and how many were the descendants of those who were brought here," Patricia mused, sounding like she was already a million miles away. "Kind of makes you wonder how much we should be trying to kill rather than avoid in the first place." Patricia paused before her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, I forgot about that mage. He did bring some other creatures with him, right? Oh, I can't remember his name, but he was the one who played with our memories, remember?"
Elin nodded, she wasn't sure she really remembered his actual name, but she didn't care that much. She would be just as happy to forget about him entirely anyway. Although, she couldn't help but feel it would be a bit ironic if he was forgotten when he played with the memories of others himself. "I remember him," Elin whispered, hoping Patricia would change the subject quickly.
Patricia either recognized that Elin didn't want to talk about him or she hadn't planned on saying much anyway. Either way, Elin was happy when she changed the subject. "So, what do you think we'll encounter today? More monsters like that earthworm or something else?"
Elin shrugged. She wasn't sure what to expect herself, but she doubted that they'd be able to make it through without encountering something that would be either hostile or a problem for them to deal with. If not both.
"Maybe it'll be a quiet day?" Elin asked, not believing what she said, even as she asked it.
Patricia snorted. "Yeah, that'd be nice. Though, I doubt those running this competition would like that. They'd probably create a problem for us to solve just to give their viewers something to watch."
"You know, just because you can't sleep doesn't mean that you need to wake the rest of us up," Owen croaked, his voice heavy with sleep.
"If you wanted to sleep, you should have stayed dead then," Jonas remarked, his voice carrying his own amusement of his words. "Because then you wouldn't have to worry about how loud others were talking."
"Maybe, or maybe you're just an anomaly of a person yourself," Owen grumbled, earning a giggle from Elin. She wasn't sure what that meant exactly, but it sounded amusing to her. Though, she couldn't quite explain why.
"If all of you are going to be that loud, the rest of us might as well get up too," Kim grumbled, sounding annoyed with that fact.
"Hey, we gotta start out at some point, right?" Jonas said, though his eyes reflected fatigue themselves.
Elin wasn't sure if they really should push themselves, but she also doubted that any of the others would listen to her if she suggested that they rest a full day before continuing on. Not when they were so close to reaching their end goal. The goal that had almost seemed like a fantasy to Elin when they'd first started. Yet now the end was in sight and it hardly felt real to her.
"Well, that was a restful sleep," Patrick commented as he got up, even though he didn't sound very well rested. Although, he did have the first watch, so Elin had a feeling that part had something to do with how tired he sounded. "Maybe we should take it easy today and continue on tomorrow morning."
Elin was surprised at the looks Patrick got. Even though it was likely that he was merely joking, it felt almost like he'd be the next casualty if he tried pressing the subject. Elin wouldn't be surprised if he'd have regretted making a joke if he persisted on that, but fortunately, the topic was shifted when the morning announcement was made.
"Well, it seems there was an eventful night. We appeared to have had a casualty, but then someone used an ability to cancel that death out. While it wasn't the first time that had happened, it at least made it so our viewers could witness that contestant's death live rather than his thoughtlessness of nearly dying during the night.
"Aside from that, one of those we mentioned previously have made it to the dungeon everyone started in with the book they thought was the correct book. However, if they haven't realized it's wrong by now, I don't think there's anything we can do to help them, but the other group is nearing the dungeon even now. We'll see if they're correct on their assumption, but if they're not, we'll see if anyone will be able to find the book they're supposed to find. From the reaction we're getting from our viewers, we know that we're on the right track here. That however this ends up that we'll be able to get another renewal for this series."
Elin couldn't say that she was happy for whoever was running this to be able to have whatever a 'renewal' is, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. Not when she was one of the contestants and didn't have any access to those running this competition in the first place. Maybe that could change if Kim could figure out how to move between worlds, but Elin doubted it would be as simple as merely showing up in the world where those running this live. Especially since she had a feeling that there were several worlds out there that could potentially be the correct one and they wouldn't have any way of knowing if they'd be able to locate it in their lifetime. Even if they tried to go to every single world there was. As Elin certainly didn't know how many worlds there were in the first place.
"Well, looks like our time was made even shorter to get in the dungeon before we're faced with a certain confrontation with Stanley's group," Kim sighs. "Which means whatever is getting made for breakfast needs to be quick or we'll lose even more time that we probably don't have."
"Or we could take our time and assume we're going to encounter them anyway," Patrick suggested.
"Or, say we wait and get attacked by another of those worms tonight," Elwin snapped, looking annoyed with Patrick. "If we wait and rest more, who knows what will be thrown at us just to increase their… whatever the hell this is."
Elwin looked like he was getting more worked up than he usually did about these things and Elin suspected that it was because they were so close to the end that it was making him itching to move like a horse that had been kept too long in the stable. While she understood what the problem was, she couldn't say that she had any ideas of how to fix or resolve it other than to get him moving. Doing something that would make it feel to him like they were getting closer to the end.
"Actually, if you want to rest more, why not get through this first?" Elin found herself speaking before she could stop herself. She wasn't sure if it was because of what she realized about Elwin or if it was because she was a little like that herself, but since she'd already started talking, she couldn't see a reason to stop now. Not when she could think of more to say. "I mean, if we get through this quickly and complete this last challenge, then we should be good on all the challenges and can rest as long as we want. Especially if we return back to our own worlds."
"You know, she has a point," Patricia said, looking at Patrick, her eyes sending a clear message. "If you want to rest, we should finish this up first and then we can get all the rest we need back on our own worlds, assuming any of us reach the threshold for winning this stupid competition."
"And what if we don't get that?" Patrick asked, sounding almost like a defeatist. "What if we're still stuck here because we guessed wrong on the book. I mean, just because the book had that title doesn't mean that it's the book we're looking for."
"Then we can rest in the dungeon where there shouldn't be any dangers at that point," Elwin remarked. "Which means you'll be able to rest without worrying about anything coming to attack us while we're there."
Silence occurred then, making Elin feel a little uneasy. That Patrick wouldn't agree and that they'd have more to deal with while the debate continued on. However, after a minute or two of silence, Patrick sighed.
"Fine, you make a good point. Which means I'll join you on making it to the dungeon, but if we encounter Stanley and his group, don't expect me to do much to help, okay?"