The next morning, after breakfast, everyone was packing up to get ready to leave.
"Hey Hans, Kael, did something happen last night?" Godfrey approached and asked.
Because of that sudden question, the two of them paused in their tracks, then, they looked at him with a hint of pity, but quickly returned to normal.
"Nothing happened. Everything was perfectly fine last night." Kael spoke up.
"That's right. If something had happened, we would have definitely woken you up. After all, there's no way we can defeat a Tower Creature with just two people." Hans added.
The captain was silent for a long time, as if checking to see if the two of them were lying or not.
He didn't find anything suspicious.
"Haha, good to hear! But I still want to remind you that if anything happens, don't leave us behind!"
He laughed loudly, patting Kael's shoulder a few times.
Like what best friends did to each other.
Even though they weren't.
Godfrey was indeed a friendly and warm person, but… after hearing what Hans said, Kael couldn't tell if this man was acting or not.
If this was really just a role in his play…
…Then he would act with him until the end.
Just like that, after everything was packed up, the journey continued once again.
***
Four days had passed since Kael and Hans entered the Deadly Forest.
And during these four days, many strange things had happened.
Every night, when the clock struck 0, the protagonist would enthusiastically check to see if there were any spirits around.
The result was that nothing of the sort entered his sight.
This was not abnormal.
Because in the game, the probability of those spirits appearing was 50%. That meant there would be 1 success in 2 attempts.
But what was the result?
4 days had passed, and the spirit was still nowhere to be seen.
And Kael, who had planned this, was starting to feel discouraged, and began to doubt himself.
But, that was not the strangest thing.
"Hey Hans, other than the first day, did you see that Tower Creature again?"
" Unfortunately no. I always stayed up until 3am to keep watch, but in the end, I still didn't see that Tower Creature anywhere."
He shook his head dejectedly.
It was as if… that Tower Creature had decided to spare their lives.
But… that was almost impossible.
If that was the case, then there was only one other answer:
It was killed by another party.
…That truly sounded unbelievable.
To be able to defeat that thing, 3 or more Rankers were needed. But right now, were there any Rankers free enough to worry about that thing?
There were only 3 days left until the 20th floor of the Tower would open, so right now, all of them were probably rushing into preparations.
But in the end, they weren't dead yet. That meant everything was fine, right?
Kael and Hans just needed to find that temple, return to the safe zone, and never return to this forest again, right?
…
Just when people thought something was fine, the world would throw them another challenge.
***
Day 5, afternoon.
Today was no different from the previous days.
Walking at the end of the line, Kael couldn't help but let out a long yawn.
Noticing that, Hans chuckled slightly.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"…Nothing, it's just that I haven't had enough sleep in a while. You know, we've been staying up all night lately, and always having to be on guard…"
"…" An uncomfortable silence stretched on.
He didn't receive any reply from the protagonist.
Moreover, it seemed like the voices of the four people in front had also disappeared.
But Kael didn't pay much attention to that.
Closing his eyes, he began rubbing them, trying to clear away the eye mucus clung there.
And as Kael opened his eyes again, an unimaginable scene entered his vision.
Only darkness.
At some point, it had already covered the entire area around Godfrey's party.
Imprisoning them in a prison of death and despair.
Furthermore, this was no ordinary darkness.
Kael still remembered very clearly, just a moment ago, the sun was still in the sky, not yet on the horizon.
But when his eyes were opened again, everything had changed.
Hans, along with Godfrey's party, instantly took out their weapons, preparing for a fierce battle.
From here, he could observe everyone's reactions.
The three members of Godfrey's party were trembling. Fear was written clearly on their faces, proving that they were not mentally prepared for this battle at all.
Meanwhile, the protagonist was different.
Unlike them, his eyes were dead serious, without a ripple, or a single wavering.
Was it because he was a regressor?
Tap… tap… tap…
Just then, an inappropriate sound of footsteps rang out from the pitch darkness.
It was gentle, not urgent, but enough to impose fear on all present.
The footsteps grew closer and closer.
And accordingly, the bodies of the others trembled even more uncontrollably.
And then, when the footsteps stopped, it was also the moment when its master appeared.
Shock. That was how everyone - except Hans - felt at this moment.
The members of Godfrey's party, including the captain, were all shocked to the point of speechlessness by the murderous aura that the Tower Creature emitted.
Kael was the same. He was also shocked, but not because of fear, but because he realized who was standing there.
Hiding in the dark, instilling fear in humanity, using the night to move, killing others brutally, but leaving no trace.
That thing had a humanoid body, but it was covered tightly with a tattered cloak, revealing only two pairs of lava-red eyes.
That was definitely it.
Shadow Slayer - a Fiend rank Tower Creature.
Kael - who had once cleared the game Tower of Glory, and Hans - a regressor who had reached the 99th floor in his previous life, both knew who it was.
And at the same time, they also understood how terrible that thing could be.
In addition to the name Shadow Slayer, it was also given another nickname in the gaming community:
The Nightmare of Amateurs.
Nevertheless, Godfrey's party was different.
They had no idea what they were facing.
So instead of running away, they decided to stand still.
"You bastard! Who are you?" Godfrey - the leader, gripped his sword, and took a step forward.
"..." Shadow Slayer did not respond.
It was not because it did not understand human language, but because it felt that the other party was not worthy.
Then, it slowly vanished into the darkness.
"What?" Godfrey was bewildered, still not understanding how bad the situation was.
A second later.
"AHHHHHHH!" The young man - the supporter of Godfrey's party, screamed in pain, as if he was being tortured in the 18th circle of hell.
Everyone immediately turned towards the direction of the scream that had just sounded.
But…
…Nothing entered their sight, not even a pool of blood, or a trace of resistance.
That young man had completely disappeared from the world.
First person were slain.