"Huff… huff…"
Amid the heavy breathing, a woman with slightly torn clothing and clearly visible injuries on one arm slowly walked in.
After her, a young man and the Japan man who had spoken with Takumi earlier also followed into the cave. The three of them did not look to be in good condition; all bore injuries to varying degrees, as if each of them had rolled hard across a field of rubble several times.
They were the three players they had encountered before.
Takumi almost immediately stood up and gestured for Fujiwara Chika to retreat a bit farther back.
As Takumi's side reacted, the three on the other side also responded quickly. The woman walking at the front drew her handgun and asked coldly. "We are Explorers. Who are you?"
"Explorers."
After giving this simple reply, Takumi likewise drew his handgun, grabbed Chika by the shoulder, and retreated a bit farther. The two sides faced off in the cold cave at a distance of a little over twenty meters.
That all three players were still alive was somewhat surprising, but considering that they were likely not novice players, it was not incomprehensible.
However, considering the corpses he had sensed one by one while passing through the tunnel earlier, as well as the phantoms that appeared from time to time, Takumi did not believe that these veteran players who were still alive were in particularly good condition. At any moment, one of them might be completely contaminated and transformed by anomalous forces, becoming a serious threat to other players.
"Hehe, everyone calm down first. There are only this many of us left now. There's no point in doubting each other. Cooperation—only cooperation will help us survive better."
The Japan man stepped forward once again, waving his hands to signal both Takumi and the woman to lower their guns.
"This instance is stabilizing, and the rule sheet we obtained clearly points to content related to identity role-playing. This means that there absolutely exist certain instant-death rules and contamination transformation rules here. Under rules like these, gathering more people has no meaning at all. On the contrary, a single person violating a rule could lead to total annihilation."
At this moment, the woman spoke coldly, her gaze sweeping over Takumi and Chika, the sense of rejection in her expression very obvious.
She did not trust Takumi and Chika.
"Don't be like this, Shelby. Our current situation isn't very good."
The Japan man had not expected the woman to show such an attitude, and for a moment he awkwardly tried to persuade her in a low voice.
"It's precisely because our condition isn't good that we need to be even more cautious. I don't want to be dragged down by others, and I also don't want to become a burden to anyone else. Besides, Mr. Kawano, we're only moving together because our paths happened to coincide. If you think that team over there is better, you can go over. I have no objections."
As the woman called Shelby spoke, she directly sat down on a relatively high rocky platform, took off her backpack, and immediately began bandaging her wounds.
Kawano's expression did not look very good, as if he was on the verge of saying something, but in the end he held it back.
As for the last man, he still did not join the conversation at all. He simply found a place to sit down and began bandaging himself.
From Shelby's actions and those of the other man, it could be seen that both of them likely possessed professional medical skills. Shelby, in particular, was clearly very skilled; many of the small details and movements during her bandaging showed that she knew what she was doing.
"Are we going to move together with them?"
Chika moved closer to Takumi, stood on tiptoe, and asked quietly.
"When we ran into these people earlier, just one person saying the wrong thing almost directly led to a total wipeout. In a place like this, having more people isn't necessarily a good thing. We've rested enough. It's time to continue moving."
Takumi shook his head, having no intention at all of getting deeply involved with the three of them.
If they were new players—newcomers like Fujiwara Chika—Takumi felt it might still be fine to help them along. At critical moments, they might even be able to play some role. But these three veteran players, although they appeared to be acting together, were clearly not the type to cooperate fully and clear the instance as a united team. Shelby, Kawano, and the man who had not said a single word the entire time were all obviously in a state of being forced to band together. Moving with a team that was united in appearance but divided at heart would likely only make Takumi die faster.
It was just that sometimes, things did not always develop in the direction you wanted.
Takumi had just turned his head back to look at the narrow cave entrance they had come through, when he saw a figure slowly crawling out from the cave.
The pungent stench of blood was rapidly spreading.
Meanwhile, that man had already lifted his head—half of it crushed inward—and smiled as he looked at everyone present. Behind him were a bluish-purple boy, about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing nothing but boxer shorts, as well as a woman whose entire face looked almost completely smashed in, enough to make Takumi think of a "failed dive."
[Are you also Explorers here to have fun?]
The man with half his face collapsed, one eyeball hanging near his mouth, smiled and asked.
Takumi first glanced at Fujiwara Chika, then noticed that although the girl had been frightened, she had not screamed at all, keeping her mouth tightly shut and forcing herself to remain calm.
He then turned his gaze toward the three "people" and realized that in just that brief moment, the three of them had already moved quite a bit closer.
The gazes of the three "people" were all fixed on him, all waiting for him to give an answer.
Very clearly, just like that thing earlier with the back of its head split open, when encountering these kinds of things, if the other party had already shown an intention to communicate, trying to keep silent and muddle through would not be so easy.
"We are Explorers."
Takumi answered as he spoke, while reaching out to give Chika a push. The girl hesitated for a moment before following up with, "I'm also an Explorer," though her voice trembled slightly, making it hard to completely hide her fear.
[Oh, oh, the two of you came together? That's really nice. This time, my wife and I came to Red Nut Grey Cave because we wanted to bring our son out to have some fun. Have you reached the Heart yet? It seems like there are especially many people here to play today.]
The man spoke once again, smiling as he addressed the two of them.
[Hiss… hiss… gurgle…]
The woman seemed to be trying to say something, but her face had already split open down the middle. Dark-red blood surged upward, and all Takumi could hear was the sound of air flowing through her trachea, along with the bubbling noise made as blood clogged it and was blown up.
[Dad, cold.]
The bluish-purple boy only said this blankly, his gaze fixed on Takumi and Chika. He tilted his head, looking somewhat puzzled.
Takumi slightly turned his head and looked toward the direction where the three veteran players had been, but he did not see anyone.
Had they run away the moment these three things appeared? They ran pretty fast.
"We haven't been to the Heart yet. We're heading there now."
Facing these three people—who looked dead no matter how one looked at them, yet were still chatting with him—Takumi's expression did not change at all. As he spoke, he pulled Chika, who was struggling to hide her fearful expression, and walked toward the direction of the narrow opening, intending to enter the small hole directly.
Then Takumi saw Dennis, whose flesh was mangled and who clearly had taken a severe fall somewhere. The man was slowly crawling out of the opening, using his already broken fingers to drag himself along the ground. He lifted his head and looked at Takumi with a face drenched in blood and filled with torn, rotten flesh.
[Oh, it's you. Have you seen my friends? Miss Shelby, Mr. Kawano, and Mr. Ed. I've been looking for them everywhere.]
Dennis said this with a wide grin. The corners of his mouth were torn open by the severe injuries to his face, and blood seeped from wounds large and small alike, making the underground cave—which was already filled with a foul stench—become even more unbearable and nauseating.
"I haven't seen them. Could you please move aside? You're blocking us."
Takumi's expression did not change as he spoke calmly, still holding on to Chika.
He could feel three gazes projected onto him from behind, along with three intense waves of hostility.
No, that probably could not be described as hostility.
Human hostility is the intent to harm or exploit someone. But these inhuman things no longer had something like "intent." What they had was only imitation of actions from before death, some kind of habitual repetition, and beneath that, an eerie power of killing and transformation.
How the hell was it that everything had been fine just now, without seeing a single one of these things, yet less than a minute after stopping here and running into other players, these things all came over to join in?
Could it be that staying too long in one place with too many living people had attracted them?
[That's really a pity. I've always wanted to find them. They're all very good people. Oh right, you wouldn't mind if I acted together with you, would you? I'd also really like to go over to the Heart and take a look.]
Dennis crawled out of the cave. His legs, already worn down to the point where bone could be seen, dragged along the ground, leaving trails of blood. Even so, he still lifted his head and spoke very kindly to Takumi.
"No. The two of us are already enough."
Takumi said this without changing his expression, and pressed slightly harder on Chika's shoulder, reminding her to keep her face tense and not reveal any weakness.
The three things behind them were already almost pressed right up against them. Takumi could hear the gurgling sound of air being forced through tracheas right behind him.
[Why? Is there something strange about me? Why can't I go with you?]
Dennis tilted his head and asked with obvious curiosity.
[Can we also go with you? If there are more people, it seems like it would be pretty nice. Why are you reacting so strongly?]
The man with half his face collapsed leaned out from beside Takumi's shoulder. His neck twisted at an angle impossible for a human spine, turning almost face-to-face with Takumi as he stared at him and asked.
[Hiss… gurgle…]
At some point, the woman had come to stand at Takumi's side. From behind her shattered face, the air she exhaled directly from her trachea rushed onto the side of Takumi's face, splashing a few drops of blood onto him as well.
[Big sister, aren't you cold? Are you scared? Am I scary?]
At some point, the bluish-purple boy had stepped in front of Chika. He looked up, meeting the girl's eyes, and asked.
These four things had now completely surrounded them.
A bone-chilling cold was spreading. Even though Takumi's physique, reinforced and blessed, already exceeded human limits, he still felt an almost unbearable sensation.
A faint dizziness also seemed to be gradually creeping into his head.
Meanwhile, the expressions of these several "people" had already begun to change—from their initial liveliness to the stiff look of the dead.
{Do we look very strange? Why is your reaction so intense?]
[Why aren't you talking—are you afraid?]
[By the way, where is this place? It feels like we've already walked around here several times. Do you know what's going on?]
The corpses opened their mouths.
Yet the whispering voices sounded as if something were crawling inside the ear canals, murmuring softly.
[Drip—]
A drop of water fell from a stalactite, striking the rocky floor of the cavern with a clear sound.
The four corpses had completely lost all color, all of them entering a state of decay.
Takumi slowly drew in a breath, then reached out and grabbed Fujiwara Chika by the arm, pulling the girl—who was just about to lose her composure—straight into his arms.
"I don't need to act together with anyone," Takumi said expressionlessly to the four things.
"I only need her."
"I came here to explore in order to experience some two-person cooperation time with my girlfriend."
"As for other people, I don't need them, and I'm not interested in having a few damn third wheels getting in the way."
"Wherever the hell you want to go, go there. Get the hell out of the way and don't block the two of us."
Takumi deliberately spoke in a harsh, hostile tone, then in the next moment forcefully shoved his way forward, squeezing past the man, the woman, the child, and Dennis who were blocking him, even stepping on Dennis's back as he went.
Chika was almost being dragged along by Takumi. By now, she truly could not hold on anymore and was relying entirely on Takumi holding her to avoid exposing her expression.
They kept going until Takumi and Chika reached the cave entrance, until Takumi crouched down and supported Chika, letting the girl—whose legs had gone weak—crawl into the cave, before he followed her inside.
The four things behind them did not make any further sounds, only silently watching them leave.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---