Takumi found it difficult to describe how he felt at this moment.
In front of him was ground where water droplets continuously fell, already forming a shallow layer of pooled water.
Within the gloomy cave, silhouettes could be seen appearing in the darkness, only to quickly vanish beyond the reach of the light.
The Blood Puppet tightly bound two deathly pale figures who had been stripped of their clothes. Takumi then reached out, grabbed the shoulders of these two "people," and directly threw them into the fissured hole in the wall over by the Big Slide.
The two new players who had forgotten their own names had already taken off the rescue team clothing and changed into Explorer clothing. The process of switching was a bit less than harmonious, but with the help of the Obsession Item, it ultimately ended in a result that satisfied everyone.
However, this was not what Takumi was concerned about. Although the two players had avoided continuous erosion and complete assimilation into the [Rescue Team] by switching identities, the [Explorer] identity was also erosive—and its speed of erosive assimilation was even faster than that of the rescue team identity, which only produced erosion after rule violations. Whether they would ultimately survive could only be left to chance, to whether those two had the fate to make it through.
What concerned him was the sensation at this moment, as if his senses had been split in two.
'Is this merely a simple spatial separation and overlap? Or has time been affected as well?'
In the cave where Fujiwara Chika existed as a security guard, at this very moment, the team member summoned by the Rescue Team Badge was standing right in front of Takumi.
Standing right in front of Takumi, who himself was standing amid falling rain, inside a cave filled with pooled water.
He could not see the other party.
To the naked eye, all that existed was a cave where water currents churned and splashed.
And yet he could see the other party.
He could clearly sense that something was standing directly in front of him, aware that the other party was right there.
He reached out, attempting to touch the other party's body.
He touched nothing.
Yet at the same time, his senses produced a bizarre reaction, as if he had truly touched something invisible.
"What do we do now?"
Sato Takao, standing beside him, asked nervously at this moment.
At the beginning, when Takumi had changed clothes for those two players and Sato Takao saw them vanish into thin air, he had originally thought that he would be changing clothes along with them. However, Takumi had said that those two had merely been sent to another dangerous area, and decided not to change Sato Takao's clothes. Because he was still able to maintain his sense of self, changing identities under such circumstances would be more loss than gain.
Although he could understand Takumi's reasoning, the fact that he had to continue staying in this anomalous cave left Sato Takao feeling deeply uneasy, with more or less a sense of nervousness. Seeing Takumi stop and remain motionless, he instinctively spoke up to ask.
"Wait for now. Don't rush."
Takumi gestured for Sato Takao beside him to stay calm, then began directing that rescue personnel within his consciousness to start moving through the pitch-black cave.
According to the Rescue Team's rules, the two identities of staff member and security guard seemed to be eroded extremely quickly, with a maximum of half an hour before the wearer would be eroded and assimilated. In that case, Fujiwara Chika's current situation was extremely dangerous, and he had to help her find a replacement set of clothes as soon as possible.
The rescue personnel within the dark cave had already taken long strides past the Big Slide.
Through this rescuer's line of sight, Takumi could see that the Big Slide on that side was completely sealed off, blocked tight by concrete walls.
Over there, the sealing of the Big Slide in that cave was still intact. Did this mean that the time in the area where Fujiwara Chika was located was earlier than the time of the cave he himself was in?
These thoughts swept through Takumi's mind. Meanwhile, on the other side, the rescue personnel had already taken off that tattered security uniform, then directly vanished from that cave and, in an instant, appeared in front of Takumi.
Immediately after that, Takumi tossed one of the rescue uniforms left behind by the two new players to this rescue personnel. Holding the rescue uniform, it put the security uniform back on, returned once more to Chika's side, walked to the guard booth door, and knocked a few times. After confirming that the girl could hear, it placed the rescue uniform at the doorway. Because he could not be sure what would happen if the rule in the security regulations requiring the booth door to remain locked were violated, Takumi only controlled the rescue personnel to say a single sentence toward the room—[The Rescue Team uniform is at the door. Please change into it as soon as possible within half an hour]—and then left again.
The next objective was to have that rescue personnel leave the cave, travel along Stone Forest Path all the way to the entrance, and head toward the surface area of Red Nut Grey Cave on the other side.
"Help me keep watch on the surrounding situation. If any abnormal conditions appear—such as rescue personnel climbing up from the Big Slide, or the water level rising—inform me immediately."
Takumi said this to Sato Takao beside him. He then focused even more carefully on controlling the rescue personnel on the other side, using the justification of "quickly seeking support personnel to carry out a rescue" to drive it to pass through Stone Forest Path at the fastest possible speed.
From that rescuer's perspective, Takumi saw a spotless Red Nut Grey Cave.
A Red Nut Grey Cave with no trash at all, no discarded clothing, with many benches along the way, railings built on both sides, and a large number of lighting fixtures present.
Along the route of the rescue personnel's movement, multicolored lights continuously illuminated the path. There was no need at all to rely on flashlights or other lighting equipment; Takumi could clearly see the scenery inside the cave. It seemed that only the lights on the Plains side were not on. No—perhaps the lights in the direction of the gentle slope were dark as well. That did not sound very promising, but the Rescue Team uniform had already been left for Chika. He trusted that she would understand what she needed to do now, and he had no way to devote all of his attention solely to Fujiwara Chika.
Getting closer.
Passing through Stone Forest Path, he arrived at the entrance of Red Nut Grey Cave.
The entrance that, when traversed downward as a Rescue Team member, had been spread with muddy water.
The entrance that, when moving upward as a Rescue Team member, was clean and extremely orderly.
Takumi controlled that rescuer to walk up the stairs and arrive outside the cave.
Outside was a dim night sky, sparse starlight, and the Red Nut Grey Cave scenic area lying quietly immersed in darkness.
Was this the Red Nut Grey Cave where nothing had yet happened?
Or was it the Red Nut Grey Cave before the anomaly had truly erupted?
Takumi had no way to reach a conclusion immediately.
However, he had already seen lights on at the scenic area entrance over there, and had seen another security guard standing watch there. He therefore had the rescuer approach the guard booth on the surface, wanting to confirm what exactly was going on over there.
Then, Takumi felt malice.
Intense malice transmitted through the blessing, coming from somewhere.
Was it on his side, or on the side where the summoned rescuer was now located?
No—perhaps it was neither.
That intense malice seemed to come from within some deep, thick barrier, or rather, from beyond some vast distance.
The other party seemed not to exist anywhere.
And yet, it was as if it existed everywhere at once.
Takumi shuddered.
He felt that he had been locked onto by something.
That thing had first seen the Rescue Team member standing beneath the night sky at the Red Nut Grey Cave scenic area.
Then, directly through the summoned entity created by the Obsession Item, it instantly locked onto him—the user himself.
He was being watched.
That sensation surged in an instant, overwhelmingly enveloping all of Takumi's senses.
He immediately removed the badge from his chest.
He had not even seen what that thing was.
But the intense premonition of death had already told Takumi that the moment he truly saw that thing, he would no longer have any chance of survival.
The summoned rescuer had already vanished, and Takumi had severed the visual link with it.
"Ugh… what place is this this time? Takumi-kun—ah, we finally ran into each other again."
A mournful cry from Chika sounded behind him.
The girl, wearing an ill-fitting Rescue Team uniform, had fallen into the muddy water and struggled to get back up. After voicing a brief complaint, she saw Takumi not far away and immediately showed a look of delight.
After struggling in this anomalous cave for so long, the girl had developed a measure of trust and reliance on Takumi; seeing him allowed her to relax.
But Takumi could no longer pay attention to what Chika was saying.
Because that intense sense of being watched had, at this moment, completely enveloped him.
"Found it…"
Takumi murmured softly.
He had found the exit.
The Red Nut Grey Cave where the security uniform was located—the surface of that cave—was absolutely the clearance point of this instance.
As long as one reached that place, players would certainly be able to leave the instance and complete the clearance.
The reason Takumi had not been able to clear it just now was because the one who had "reached" that place was an anomalous existence summoned by an Obsession Item, and thus could not count as him personally clearing it.
However, even if he himself were to reach that place, he still would not be able to clear the instance.
Because at the exit—at every place from which one could leave Red Nut Grey Cave—there was something watching.
And that thing had already noticed him, the one who was trying to escape.
Splash—
The flowing water beneath his feet, without him realizing it, had spread and risen past his calves.
Takumi raised his head.
He saw "people" almost filling the entire cave.
All the floating clothes were gone.
In their place were pale figures wearing clothes—those that had long since died, yet had now appeared once again—things that were watching him.
Not far away, in the direction of the Big Slide, bloated rescue team members and firefighters were slowly crawling out through a collapsed breach in the wall.
Suppressed wails and sobbing came from the direction of the gentle slope, as if something there were struggling, drawing closer to this thing step by step amid that struggle.
All gazes were focused on Takumi alone.
Overwhelming malice completely engulfed Takumi at this moment.
"This really makes no sense…"
Facing this suddenly deteriorating situation, Takumi could only let out a sigh and show a helpless expression.
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