Had the hidden path been left unattended for quite a long time after all?
From the cobwebs and rust stains scattered along the road, it was easy to tell that it had gone without maintenance for a considerable stretch of time.
That aside, what was that up ahead...?
After advancing some distance along the abandoned path, we could make out a strange entity standing before us.
"Hostile contact spotted ahead."
It was human... no, it wasn't. It had some parts that resembled an Inquisitor's build, but it was different.
Its appearance was clearly different, but, hmm... how should I put it?
The feeling that it was the same kind of being, or more precisely, not a person, stirred my instincts.
"Looks like it's been infested by an [Abnormality]."
Infested? Was that a thing too?
An unfamiliar concept naturally raised questions in my head.
All I could vaguely guess was that it was related to that [Abnormality] thing again.
We kept our guard up against the newly appeared enemy type.
It didn't seem to have noticed us yet, but if it was deeply tied to those incomprehensible [Abnormality] things, then nothing would be strange no matter what happened.
We approached carefully and quietly, doing our best not to be noticed.
And the moment we got close enough that we could have lunged in and struck, they noticed us.
"We've been spotted. Everyone, prepare for battle! Surround the enemies!"
At Ms. Otis's command, everyone moved in perfect coordination.
There had probably been people who would have ignored her if this were the old days, but after dying countless times, they must have learned.
That if they fought separately, their heads would get split open again.
After all, if we wanted to make use of our thirteen bodies to our advantage, a full-frontal clash was far better than a chaotic melee.
"Puri... fi..."
Now that we were facing it up close, its form was clear.
It looked like an Inquisitor's body had been overlaid with some unknown muscle-like mass.
Starting from the right arm and spreading all the way up to the head, it had something like eyes peering out from between the muscles, making for a thoroughly repulsive sight.
In fact, the Sinners with weaker stomachs seemed to have gone a little pale.
While I was lost in idle thoughts, I felt a signal from Mr. Dante asking permission to equip an Identity.
There was no reason to refuse.
Soon, new clothing and familiar memories began to form around my body as I finished my thoughts.
"······."
I studied it closely.
Is its main ability regeneration?
For things that expose their muscles on the outside, there's hardly a better ability than that.
Or maybe it was simply tough. It wouldn't make sense for something like this to expose its weak point so openly.
[Abnormalities] are usually no ordinary creatures, but saying that the muscles covering nearly half its body were all weak points would be a stretch too far.
Ah, though those eye-like things might be different.
As I calmly analyzed it, the thing finally lost patience and charged first.
It's got a short temper too. I don't know whether it still has any reason left, though.
Clang!!
"Ghk!"
The attack landed heavier than expected.
This didn't seem like an opponent to underestimate.
"Hraaah!"
Mr. Heathcliff swung a wide slash at it after it finished its attack.
And then—
Thud.
"Tch...!"
It cut him down with exactly the same force as the blow Heathcliff had just struck.
...?
Something's wrong here.
Even so, was it really possible to counterattack with the exact same power as the person who attacked you?
It was clearly an absurd phenomenon, but my eyes were certain.
They had seen it strike back with precisely the same force as Mr. Heathcliff's attack.
No way...
"That thing looks like it counterattacks with the same force we attack it with."
"What do you mean?"
"The attack it just landed on Mr. Heathcliff was identical in power to Heathcliff's own strike."
It was more of an intuition than anything, but I was already more or less certain.
It was an [Abnormality], after all. A filthy gimmick pattern like this wouldn't be out of place.
"Ah, of course, I'm not certain yet. We only have one sample."
"...Still, there's no harm in being careful. Did everyone hear that?"
Ms. Otis, who could at least understand what I was getting at, gave the Sinners another order.
With this, we'd know for sure.
If its counterattack came in weak, that was the correct answer. If not, it wasn't.
We might lose one or two if we were unlucky, but that was a risk worth taking.
If my guess was right, then while we were figuring out the pattern, far more people would have died.
Though in the end, we would have killed it anyway.
The prediction hit the mark beautifully.
Its own strength wasn't all that monstrous, so after that, things weren't too difficult.
Among the Sinners, there were even a few with overwhelming power in a single specific technique, so if my prediction had been wrong, it could have gotten dangerous.
"Oh, isn't this a key?"
Ms. Rodion, looking around the fallen enemy, found a key.
A key... so there's a box ahead?
Figuring there was no harm in taking it, we handed the key to Mr. Dante and moved deeper inside.
"Ugh... I feel like bugs are gonna come out. Can't we just get out already?"
Having a woman taller than me shove me out in front as a shield made me feel strangely conflicted.
But why me? Gregor is a bit too short to put in front, hmm.
"That's pretty rude to the bug listening, you know."
Mr. Gregor shot back playfully.
"Are you pouting?"
"I'm not pouting! What do you take me for?"
My lightly teasing tone made Mr. Gregor react rather strongly.
After that, Ms. Rodion kept teasing him, I joined in, and Mr. Gregor kept reacting.
That kind of light atmosphere formed between us.
Letting our guard down in a place like this wasn't exactly a good thing, but it was far better than everyone keeping their mouths shut under a heavy mood.
If it went quiet again and someone brought up an old mission, it would be a disaster.
Honestly, pointless chatter was much better for the mind.
Well, either way, even in a mood like this, everyone would focus immediately once an enemy appeared.
As we talked without noticing the passage of time, we eventually found a door covered in quite a lot of cobwebs.
It looked like a place no human hand had touched in a very long time. What was this place?
"I'll open the way!"
Unable to contain her curiosity, Ms. Don Quixote quickly pushed through the cobwebs and went inside.
Creeeak.
The room was full of boxes. Most of them were destroyed and useless, though.
After clearing them away roughly, three large boxes were revealed beneath them.
"They're all locked."
"Looks like the keyholes are all the same!"
Was the key Ms. Rodion had picked up earlier meant for this?
"...But the key's material is rather soft. Once one is opened, it won't be possible to pull it out and use it again."
If Yi Sang said that, then the key must be in terrible shape.
In the end, we could only open one box.
As I sat there thinking about which box to open, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Come to think of it, no matter which box we open, we won't know what's inside, so isn't it meaningless in the end?"
Whatever box we chose, the contents would be random anyway, so agonizing over it didn't seem to matter much.
We might as well just pick one at random.
"Ahem, ahem. All right, all right. Anyone here think they're lucky, raise your hand."
"Me! Me! If it's gambling, it's me~ You saw it last time, didn't you?"
Hmm, was that so?
Someone who had actually shown results saying that did make it sound trustworthy.
I looked around to see if anyone else wanted to volunteer, but no one had raised a hand... or wait, there was one?
"Ms. Don Quixote?"
"Hmm! I am quite confident I can choose the finest box! Trust me!"
Since Don Quixote was always brimming with confidence, it made sense that she would step forward in a situation like this.
Ah, but in the end, the final decision-maker was Mr. Dante. Wouldn't he choose it himself?
That thought crossed my mind, and when I looked at our manager, he seemed unable to decide either and was looking back at us.
Was that a sign for us to just choose among ourselves?
Having received silent permission, I started thinking again about which Sinner would be best at choosing a box.
Even so, choosing Ms. Rodion would be... right?
No, but if I didn't choose Don Quixote, she'd probably stay sulking forever.
And if I considered combat efficiency, choosing Don Quixote would also...
"Why are you all so slow? Dante, give me the key for a second."
"Huh, huh?"
While we were still stuck in indecision, Ms. Rodion suddenly took the key from Mr. Dante's hand and opened the box.
Click.
And the key, having performed its final duty, promptly let go of all worldly attachment and departed.
Psssh...
"Ah! The key!"
While Don Quixote was in shock, we peered into the inside of the box.
"This is..."
A helmet?
"Oh?! Is this not a helmet that symbolizes a knight?!"
Don Quixote, who had just been pouting, suddenly reacted intensely to the helmet that had come out of the box.
...In the end, this worked out well?
I had worried she might lose motivation because she hadn't been the one to open the box, but Don Quixote seemed to have gotten extremely excited while touching the helmet inside, so it didn't seem like something worth worrying about.
I could almost hear a foolish "Uheheh-" laugh too. Yep, that was Don Quixote as usual.
Even after looking around more, it seemed there was nothing else left in the room.
I had considered smashing the remaining boxes too, but... if we broke them and destroyed the contents as well, it would become the worst-case scenario, one where the after-team couldn't even recover them, so I quickly gave up on that idea.
Then... was it time to move on?
Parting through the wreckage of the broken boxes and the cobwebs still hanging in the air, we advanced deeper into the dungeon.