Thankfully, Gehrman did not kill Kim Dokja.
However, he glared at him a lot, and the reader decided to avoid the madman for a while.
For this reason, Gehrman was left behind as Kim Dokja's group decided to head to the Hidden Dungeon to rescue Yoo Joonghyuk a little earlier than planned.
With empty eyes, Gehrman looked at the scene below. Yoo Sangah also stayed back with them as Kim Dokja had given her the task to occasionally give potions to Gong Pildu every time he ran out of mana.
Next to Gehrman, Shin Yoosoung tentatively comforted him.
"Don't worry, I know ahjussi is not the kind of person who would kill for such a reason."
Probably.
"…"
Gehrman didn't seem to feel any better at these words.
'Should I have…?' he thought.
Actually, finishing off Kim Dokja appeared increasingly tempting.
Shin Yoosoung continued, "Ahjussi looks like the kind of person who doesn't have any friends."
If she was trying to distract him, then it was working.
Gehrman humored the child and gave her a deep look, "I have friends."
"Really?"
To not hurt the adult's feelings, Shin Yoosoung made sure to not show she didn't believe it.
On the side, Yoo Sangah also had doubts.
Gehrman thought for a moment.
「"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool~."」
「"Klein."」
「"Sherlock!"」
Friends, huh…
「"Mr. World, do you want coffee?"」
In his old world, there were many people he could call friends.
Gehrman became lost in past memories, staring into the air aimlessly.
Yet…
"…Ahjussi?" Shin Yoosoung pulled his sleeve.
「With so many secrets between them, could they really be called 'friends'?」
Gehrman came back to his senses. Remembering that the child was present, he pulled up his lips in a self-deprecating smile and finally answered.
"He looked and sounded so gay."
Shin Yoosoung tilted her head, not understanding.
…But, if he only took Gehrman's identity into account, didn't he really have no friends? No, didn't he have Danitz?
Gehrman shook his head and told her to rest for the time being. After putting up a spiritual barrier around the child to block sound from the surroundings, Shin Yoosoung soon fell asleep.
Yoo Sangah threw another recovery potion to Gong Pildu. It meant that at least 40 minutes had already passed since Kim Dokja and the others had left.
Gehrman went back to his thoughts.
The previous conversation kept coming to mind.
Indeed, he had many friends before coming here.
Yet, even then, he had always been lonely.
「And he may never be able to see them again now.」
Yoo Sangah's startled reaction attracted his attention.
"What…"
Immediately after, Klein realized why.
[Oh, what do I see?]
A dokkaebi floated above their heads.
[Everyone seems to have an easier time than expected.]
People looked up at the flurry creature in the air, their pupils shaking at the ominous words.
Thankfully, Shin Yoosoung was asleep.
Yoo Sangah turned to him worriedly.
"Gehrman-ssi…"
However, Klein's attention was fixed on the dokkaebi.
[Where are the promised deaths? The promised bloodshed? This scenario should make you struggle more! Constellations, aren't you bored?]
…Kim Dokja's group had already left. If any problem occurred now, he would have to solve it with only Yoo Sangah's help.
Due to probability problems, the dokkaebi that had been sent by the Management Bureau to increase the scenario's difficulty grinned wickedly.
[We should adjust the difficulty accordingly.]
Gehrman froze. No, it couldn't be.
The dokkaebi snapped its fingers.
[The constellation, 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon', laughs.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', screams.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', protests.]
[The constellation, 'Demon-like Judge of Fire', says that now is the time where his thoughts should be completely focused on incarnation 'Kim Dokja', so there should be no interruption.]
Ignoring the strange messages, Klein's expression hardened.
[Scenario difficulty: B- -> A]
[Is there any fun if you just hold on? Let's create a bit of atmosphere!]
The dokkaebi then disappeared, its laugh echoing in the room.
[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', looks forward to seeing your choice.]
The monsters surging towards the people downstairs suddenly doubled in number and demonstrated even greater strength. The outcome of the scenario with a predictable result had shifted in the monsters' favor.
At that moment, Gong Pildu's group was overwhelmed.
"Ahhhh!"
"Please, save me!"
The previous balance was broken.
Crunch!
With a cracking sound, a monster chopped off the head of someone next to it. It was so fast that the person in question didn't even have time to struggle.
"Ugh…"
Although in a safe position, Yoo Sangah got nausea as she saw the scene.
Chewing sounds and screams filled the station.
Pained sounds, desperation and pleas for help were intermingled, the space downstairs quickly becoming dyed in red.
Dududududu!
Gong Pildu's magic bullets barely harmed the monsters.
…At this rate, everybody would die.
There was a woman among them. The day earlier, Gehrman had seen her with a child. She was a mother.
A man reaching out toward another person. Maybe his lover. Pushing through others, he advanced toward the danger, even though monsters could kill him. Gehrman had exchanged some words with the man before.
Although the scar on his face could make him appear intimidating, he was actually quite friendly. Such a man who had been laughing a few hours earlier now had his side bitten off, blood pouring out in large amounts as he struggled to stand.
Gehrman stared at the scene, his face unreadable.
Everybody here had a life. Everybody here was a person, with a past, a story, people they loved and people who loved them.
Some were mothers, some were lovers, some were heroes.
If he remained upstairs, he could live.
He didn't have the strength to face these monsters alone.
Nobody expected him to, and he wouldn't be rewarded for it. He couldn't even access Sefirah Castle, so there was a high chance he wouldn't be able to resurrect.
「"Also, don't wear that thick mask."」
Yet.
Grrrr!
His gaze met one of the monsters. The beast's eyes radiated murderous intent toward him.
Yet.
The floor beneath them shook, probably about to break. In a few moments, there wouldn't even be any safe place for the survivors to take refuge.
Klein's lips curled up like a clown. He took his jacket and threw it to cover the sleeping Shin Yoosoung.
Yet…
…Was it foolish that he still couldn't let this pass?
With a self-deprecating thought, Gehrman jumped off the edge.
He wanted to save them.
"Gehrman-ssi?!"
[The constellation, 'Bald General of Justice', is surprised by your choice.]
Was it so surprising that he didn't like watching people die right in front of his eyes?
Klein didn't see himself as someone with a high sense of justice. 'Gehrman' would be even less so. However, when faced with situations like these, he would rather risk life than let one more person die.
At the notifications of the constellations, Klein's lips curled up even further.
Right, this wouldn't be something that Gehrman would do.
So.
'Let's take off the mask for a moment.'
Let's do as he wants for the next few hours.
In free fall, Klein threw matches on the ground before adjusting his position and shot air bullets at the monsters, testing their resistance. Then, right before landing, he snapped his fingers to lit a match and teleported through flames.
Appearing right next to another person, he shot the monster about to attack them and prevented their death. Yoo Sangah's threads wrapped around the survivor and enveloped them in a cocoon, pulling them out of danger.
Gehrman addressed the woman looking at them from above.
"Yoo Sangah-ssi, please create a new safe zone with your threads. Preferably suspended high in mid-air."
Yoo Sangah regained her senses. She was also aware that the floor she was standing on wouldn't last long. Once it broke, her and the other survivors would all fall in the middle of monsters.
While Yoo Sangah created a net in the middle of the room and moved everyone there one by one, Gehrman continued to rescue people from monsters from below. Although evading one attack would merely let that person live a few more seconds, if doing so over and over could ultimately save one more life in the end, then it wasn't pointless.
As he used his high agility to avoid the claws of another monster, he seized the Spirit Body threads around him.
After controlling monsters, he made them attack each other and used his new marionettes to protect the ones in danger.
However, the wave of monsters was endless.
His consciousness divided again and again as he shared senses with all his marionettes.
Controlling each puppet's actions, avoiding the monsters aiming for his body, and keeping focus amidst the excruciating pain felt every time a marionette died.
He couldn't let his guard down one second.
Feeling another marionette being cut off, he could only grab another creature's Spirit Body threads and endure it.
Claws reached his side, opening his abdomen.
Klein's mind blanked for a moment.
At the same time, every marionette under his control fell, now disconnected.
He regained his senses and gritted his teeth. Moving the wound to another less lethal location, he jumped through flames again and grabbed the monster's Spirit Body threads once more.
Klein didn't like pain.
His smile became a little brighter.
[The skill 'Flexibility Lv.6' is activated.]
Oh. It seemed his skills had leveled up.
Pulling out another match from his pocket, he spread them once more.
…He should try to save his matches as much as he could. There weren't many left.
Gehrman grabbed a potion thrown by Yoo Sangah and recovered his spirituality. Ironically, the potions meant for Gong Pildu were now used by him.
Klein invested some more coins into his stats and soon hit the scenario limit.
After an unknown amount of time, he looked around, searching for the next person to help.
Monsters' corpses were piling up, yet their numbers were still endless. His sight was also getting blurry from losing too much blood.
It seemed running around with your wounds open wasn't recommended for a reason, he lampooned.
"Gehrman-ssi! I rescued everyone remaining!"
The voice reaching his ears brought good news.
Ah, finally.
Now, he could join them and stop fighting…
[A new rule has been added to the scenario.]
"Haha."
[It is forbidden for the majority of incarnations in the station to be in a zone safe from monsters. The safe zone in question will be disbanded.]
Grrrr!
The monsters rushed toward the only person they could still reach.
[Due to the constellations' request, a condition has been added.]
[*Condition: As long as incarnation 'Klein Moretti' continues fighting, this rule doesn't apply.]
Now, if he died, everyone would be in danger again. As long as he stayed downstairs and fought until the end, everyone he and Yoo Sangah had saved would survive.
Yoo Sangah stared at him worriedly, her eyes widened in horror.
'I don't know if they're recognizing my efforts or laughing at me.'
A bright smile on his face, his body stumbled.
Tiredly, he looked around, watching the current chaos with exhaustion. At the moment, even breathing was hard.
Bodies torn into pieces. Not a place on the ground that wasn't stained with blood.
Although he had done his best to save as many as possible, a lot of people had perished.
"Haha."
Would he even be able to hold on until the end of the scenario?
[The constellation, 'Secretive Plotter', looks at you with interest.]
[The constellation, 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon', wants to see more bloodshed.]
[You have been sponsored 500 coins.]
'Are we only some source of entertainment to you?'
As he teleported through flames once more, his blurry gaze finally reached the timer.
[6:07:34]
It seemed there was no time to rest in this Star Stream.