Yuki led the group, walking through the stairwell on the second floor of the villa.
"Now, let me introduce you to the situation here.
This is the Cursed Villa. All of you were dragged into the villa just before your last breath.
Either you were in a car accident, or you were seriously ill, or you actively sought death. Except for some unlucky souls who simply encountered a bus and got on it."
Speaking of this, she looked back at everyone's pale faces. It seemed they remembered their past predicaments and were very scared.
Except for—Yuki's gaze stopped on Hayashi's calm face. Why did it feel like he wasn't scared at all... but rather a little excited?
Tsk~ Is this a case of a newborn calf not fearing a tiger, unaware of how terrifying the cursed are?
Hayashi's demeanor made her feel a little regretful. She hadn't managed to scare this newcomer, nor had she seen an interesting expression.
What a pity~
'But it's precisely people like this that are interesting when they're scared to tears!'
As thoughts flickered, Yuki's face still held an elegant smile. She paused, then continued:
"In short, except for the unlucky ones who actively got on the bus, everyone else was chosen by the villa at the last moment of their lives and will enter various dungeons in the future.
Here, the dungeon will cure your incurable diseases and mend your broken bodies. Afterward, you will travel to various dungeons through the Cursed Villa. The Cursed Villa will issue cursed instance missions to you every month.
You can refuse, but the difficulty of the next instance will increase exponentially. You must participate in one dungeon mission within a quarter. That is, if you refuse twice within a quarter, you must participate in the third one.
If you refuse twice within a quarter, the difficulty will increase, and the third time will be hell difficulty, almost certainly resulting in death."
As she spoke, Yuki had already led everyone to a cursed door.
Its eerie material and chilling aura made it clearly a terrifying ghost gate, giving the impression that opening it would release fierce vengeful spirits!
Yuki stood before the blood-mist-shrouded door, the skirt of her black and white Shuchiin Academy uniform swaying without wind.
Her fingertips brushed the inscriptions on the door. Her previous elegant and gentle expression changed; she lowered her head slightly, her eyes covered by shadow, and her gaze fell coldly on everyone, carrying the imposing aura of a superior and someone looking at the dead.
This made the newcomers reevaluate the young lady of the Suou family.
Her pleasant voice suddenly turned as cold as ice:
"After the dungeon, I hope you can follow my arrangements, so fewer of you will die.
At the same time, let me formally introduce myself. Suou Yuki—in the villa, you can call me senpai."
After speaking, Yuki's gaze intentionally or unintentionally fell on Hayashi, expecting to see his terrified expression, shocked by the horror of the dungeon she leveraged.
However, Hayashi still didn't give her what she wanted.
'This guy's mentality is quite good. Much better than mine when I first entered the dungeon.'
Hayashi's attitude inexplicably made Yuki feel a bit unconvinced. With her somewhat mischievous personality, she wanted to see a terrified expression…
As for Hayashi himself, he was thinking, It's a door, not a blood gate... It seems the setting is a bit different.
Putting aside Suou Yuki's petty thoughts, everyone's gaze was now drawn to the door.
On the door was written:
[The First Dungeon]
[Instance: Mad Gambling]
[Instance Requirement: Survive for seven days.]
[Hint: Accept the Consequences of a Gamble.]
After everyone had carefully looked for a while, Yuki suddenly pushed open the dungeon of Mad Gambling!
Beneath the peeling paint of the door panel, pulsating blood vessels were exposed, and the blood-red characters on the lintel were menacing.[1]
As the door let out a terrifying creak, it slowly opened, and at the same time, Yuki's voice continued.
"Finally, let me give you some common knowledge about this instance world. The things beyond the dungeon are different from the ghosts you know. Ghosts, or rather, the cursed, cannot be killed. They themselves possess certain killing rules.
Only by completing certain hidden missions or specific conditions in the instance can you obtain cursed tools. Cursed tools can help you resist the cursed in the instance for a while.
However, cursed tools can only be used three times. After three uses, the cursed tool will shatter. As for more information about cursed tools, I will tell you only after you emerge alive from the first dungeon.
For now, you just need to know that cursed tools are very precious, and infighting for cursed tools is common in instance worlds. Be wary of others. The cursed are terrifying, but humans are also dangerous."
As Yuki finished speaking, the blood gate fully opened, and mist enveloped everyone.
Everyone's vision darkened, and when they woke up again,
They were already at the entrance of a magnificent campus.
"Hyakkaou Private Academy…?"
Hayashi looked at the name of the academy at the entrance and was slightly surprised.
No wonder this instance world is called Mad Gambling.
"It's here!"
Yuki said, somewhat surprised.
"Suou-san, have you heard of this place?"
Asuna followed closely behind Yuki, nervously looking around as she asked.
"Yes, it was once an academy founded by the Momobami family. I heard the entire academy believed in the path of gambling, had a gang background, and was very arrogant.
Because it did not align with the core values of the imperial court, and due to the crackdown on organized crime, the Momobami family was directly eradicated as a prime example.
Before the Momobami family's impending downfall, the insane Momobami Kirari took the initiative to burn all the teachers and students, along with herself, into human candles.
The incident was quite sensational at the time. In fact, due to her actions, the imperial court directly launched a comprehensive anti-terrorism operation across Japan, thoroughly cleaning up the entire country."
When Suou Yuki mentioned this, Asuna and the others also recalled the news reports about Momobami Kirari's madness.
"So, is the cursed being of this world Momobami Kirari?"
Asuna asked in fear. Such a madwoman, let alone becoming a cursed being, was terrifying even as a human.
"Most likely, but don't panic. This is your first dungeon, after all. Unless you actively increase the instance difficulty, it shouldn't be hard to survive."
Suou Yuki comforted Asuna.
Hearing this, both Asuna and the other newcomers breathed a sigh of relief.
Except for Hayashi. What news? He had only been in this world for a year; he didn't know.
And Momobami Kirari? Shouldn't the female protagonist of Mad Gambling be the Queen of Facial Expressions—Jabami Yumeko?
However, listening to Yuki,
He pointed to the students coming and going within Hyakkaou Private Academy, easily numbering over a hundred, and asked,
"Is the difficulty considered low with so many cursed beings?"
As soon as Hayashi said this, everyone felt a chill spread from their spines to their brains.
At the same time, they noticed—those students in exquisite uniforms all had a circle of flame-scorched marks around their necks. Everyone also realized that these students had all been burned to death, yet now they were walking in front of them...
"This is... impossible! So many?"
Asuna's delicate, pretty face seemed to be stained with lunar glaze, cold white and grey, her eyes filled with terror, and her legs trembled uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Hayashi remembered that Asuna was very afraid of ghosts.
Even in the original work, after experiencing the world of Sword Art Online, she is known as 'The Flash,' yet she still faltered when facing the terrifying ghost-themed floors. She didn't participate in the clearing of those few floors.
"Asuna! Fear won't help you survive!
The dungeon will restrict these cursed beings for the first few days. What we need to do now is find out the cursed beings' killing patterns and the way out."
Yuki reminded Asuna, her voice somewhat stern. However, what she didn't finish saying was that the killing patterns of the cursed, in most cases, had to be tested with human lives.
"Yes, I understand!"
Asuna quickly replied, but fear, this instinct etched into genes, was not so easily overcome. It seems Asuna will have a lot of hardship to endure if she wants to adapt to the world beyond the dungeon.
Watching this scene, Hayashi shook his head. Indeed, it wouldn't be easy for Asuna to become 'The Flash' Asuna, but the girl had that potential.
He hoped she could overcome her fear of ghosts soon. At the same time, Hayashi had no intention of wasting any more time here.
"I'm going to check out the school. You all do as you please."
Hayashi said to Yuki and the others.
"You dare to act alone in a place like this!"
It was the Glasses Man in the suit who spoke. As an adult male, he was no better than Asuna at this moment; his voice was distorted.
"Why wouldn't I dare?"
After saying that, Hayashi left without looking back, then found a beautiful Hyakkaou Academy girl and started chatting with her.
"This guy, in this situation, instead of following Suou-senpai, he's going to hit on a female cursed being!! Foolish!"
The Glasses Man, feeling ignored, angrily exclaimed with personal emotion, while also expressing his respect for Yuki.
However, what he didn't notice was a hint of disdain that appeared in Yuki's eyes. The Glasses Man still didn't seem to understand that the instance world behind the dungeon was not a workplace.
Suppressing others and fawning won't work there, especially not on a veteran like Yuki, who had experienced the dungeon multiple times.
Or rather, even without entering the dungeon, Yuki, who was a little devil in personality beneath her ladylike exterior, would not be swayed by his flattery.
"Alright, the first day of the instance should be relatively safe. Let's go gather information about this instance as well."
She didn't pay much attention to this self-proclaimed smart guy.
Yuki said with a smile to Asuna, but the smile lingered on her face only briefly, then was replaced by a serious expression.
After all, any dungeon was dangerous, and even as an experienced veteran, she wasn't immune to failure.
After speaking, she led Asuna into the academy as well.
Even if they were psychologically unnerved by the Hyakkaou students who might be cursed beings, the remaining three newcomers quickly followed.
After all, in a place like this, only a veteran of the dungeon like Suou Yuki could give them a sense of security. Even if she looked like a very young and beautiful young lady.
There were some who wondered what would happen if they tried to leave this academy directly and escape. At least the Glasses Man had thought about it, but he looked at the mist outside the academy and remembered a certain dead guy.
Ultimately, he still chose to follow behind Yuki.
TL Notes:
[1] a horizontal support of timber, stone, concrete, or steel across the top of a door or window.
I swear this author is very fond of "!"…