It was around the fifth week since the last mission ended. So... according to Mr. Vergilius, April 6.
The morning of that day began with the same deafening noise as when the mining dungeon first opened.
Wheeeeeee—! Woooooo—! Woooooo—! Woooooo—!
No matter how many times I heard it, it was still obnoxious.
Now then... it was still supposed to be rest time...
At this rate, there'd be no more resting. I'd better get ready and head to the driver's seat.
I had no intention of dragging my feet until the end and then getting chewed out by Mr. Vergilius for being late to work.
Even if rest time was said to be up to twelve hours, that was only a flexible twelve hours.
Creeeak—
When I finished getting ready and headed into the bus, most of the Sinners were already seated, quietly watching Ms. Faust as she tapped away at the screen.
"Sinner No. 14, Saramago... you're rather late."
"Sorry. I only just got up..."
"If you understand, sit down. I'll hear your excuses later."
Geez... a person can be a little late because they're getting ready...
"...Hmph."
Doesn't seem likely.
Yeah, that was my fault.
"......"
After my rebellion was crushed in an instant, I quietly took my seat.
Maybe I should just watch Ms. Faust for a bit too.
Tap, tap-tap.
"......"
Hmm... how was she checking those rapid strings of characters while doing other things? Are the geniuses of the City all like that?
"That is because Faust is one of the City's foremost geniuses. Please refrain from comparisons."
"...Huh?"
Did she just answer my thought?
"You seemed to be thinking that."
Damn it... now she's just openly reading my mind.
At that point, I figured it was probably fine to treat her as the genius among geniuses.
...She probably wouldn't deny it if I told her that to her face.
Well, then I might as well look into our possibilities for a bit.
I peered into the possibilities we usually ignored unless we were in battle or feeling uneasy.
The possibility that bread would be rationed instead of breakfast... the possibility of getting beaten senseless and retired in the Mirror Dungeon... no, not that kind of thing.
The mining dungeon... and... what the hell.
Why is there a possibility of Mr. Vergilius, in an uncharacteristically gentle tone, painstakingly saying his own name as "Ve.rgi.lius" to Dante?
Ah, shit, and there's also the scene where he's clutching a collapsed Dante and crying, "Doctooooor..." in utter despair...
And then the one where he turns into words entirely... ugh, why is this kind of thing in Mr. Vergilius's possibilities?
The unexpected ambush left my mind a little blank.
"......"
...I should keep a bit of distance from Mr. Vergilius from now on. Mm.
I'd also better restrain myself from peeking into possibilities too much. Stuff like that is not something you want to see twice. Seriously.
Wait, that wasn't what I was looking for. Where was it... ah, found it.
A blue, elongated train.
A new door in the corridor leading to Dante's room.
The image of an old subway station, slipping past in fragments.
And, most importantly, the words that would soon come out of Ms. Faust's mouth.
"The newly added room is the Mirror Railway."
"Mirror... Railway? What's that?"
Heathcliff asked in a tone that made it clear he didn't understand.
"To put it briefly, it seems to be a Mirror Dungeon connected to the back door, a place or simulation like the mining dungeon, intended to raise Dante's and the Sinners' overall capabilities."
...If we're not really growing through fighting alone, then the growth from the resources we get in the mining dungeon is much bigger right now, so is this supposed to give rewards too, like the Mirror Dungeon?
"Overall capabilities... you really stretched out 'a place to fight' in a disgustingly long way."
"That is a rather condensed expression, but not an incorrect one."
""
"As with the Mirror Dungeon, it does not appear that death will occur."
"Good. Then let's give it a try."
About a week before we received our new mission, the first expedition into the Mirror Railway was decided earlier than expected.
The place we reached after passing through the corridor leading to Dante's room.
The sign beside the mining dungeon and the Mirror Dungeon clearly read Mirror Railway.
""
Tap.
Creeeak—..
The place gave off a bleak atmosphere.
A wide empty space that was dark and felt as though it hadn't been used in a long time.
At its center, like some old, abandoned subway station, sat a large blue train that suited the eerie mood perfectly.
So this is the Mirror Railway... it really does look like the City's subway system.
"...It looks like a subway."
"If you mean a subway... yes, that's probably the thing the Manager saw in my memory. A train that runs underground."
"...Subway, then. That's not really wrong, I suppose."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If my guess is correct, this train is connected to the mental worlds of each Abnormality."
Mental worlds... is that something like resonating with a Golden Bough and opening one's ego depth?
"Since it is a train that leads into the Abnormality's mental world, its purpose will be no different from a subway's."
Is that how it is... Hmm? That's...
"Dante, doesn't that look like a route map over there?"
The Sinners' gazes followed the direction of my fingertip.
"That is..."
A sheet of paper that looked very much like a subway route map.
It was posted on the wall we had just passed.
"Line 1... MADNESS?"
Line 1 MEDNESS.
Of course, if it were a subway route map, lines 2 and 3 should also be open, but on this map only Line 1 was glowing blue.
Did that mean only that line could be operated?
It was a little ominous that only Line 1 was lit up... but still.
Well, whatever. Even if Lines 2 and 3 existed, we'd be the ones suffering either way.
We didn't even know what kind of difficulty Line 1 would be, so thinking ahead to the others would be arrogance.
For now, it was easier to only have one, so I didn't mind.
After finishing my thoughts, I turned my gaze toward the train.
It was about time to board. There was no reason to drag this out.
Just as I was about to step onto the train with that thought in mind, Ms. Faust spoke to Dante.
"Dante. In this battle, you will proceed to the final station of the train with the first Identity you select. Please choose carefully."
"
Dante fiddled with the employee ID cards for the Identities they usually carried around.
What would be best?
What combination would create the strongest synergy?
That seemed to be what they were thinking.
For now, the confirmed lineup was the Identities of the two N Corp higher-ups, me with the DH Association Identity, Yi Sang's Blade Lineage Identity, Gregor's G Corp Identity, and Hong Lu's Kongkongi Gang Identity, I guess?
They were all Identities I'd finished training, and I'd confirmed their actual performance was pretty good, so there probably wouldn't be any changes.
As for the rest... Don Quixote's W Corp Identity, which we drew recently, and Rodion's Black Cloud Sect Identity, though its performance was a bit iffy.
The remaining Sinners still didn't have Gold Identities, so it seemed they planned to advance by making proper use of Red Identities.
If I had to name the better ones, maybe Ryoshu's Seven Association Identity and Ishmael's LCCB Identity?
The lineup was solid, and everyone had become much stronger than before.
Let's give it a try.
Feeling a rare sense of tension, I quickly boarded the train.
"
The inside of the train wasn't anything special.
Just seats lined up on both sides, like a subway.
A soft blue light coming in from outside.
Bright lighting shining down on us so strongly that I couldn't even tell where the power was coming from.
It was a scene you could see in any ordinary train... but.
The unusual part began after we sat down in our seats.
The doors automatically closed after we all took our seats while wearing specific Identities.
For a moment I was startled by the doors slamming shut without warning, and then an announcement began to echo through the train.
[The next station is the trial station, Encounter. The next station is the trial station, Encounter.]
Encounter...?
Before I could even interpret the meaning of the station name, a strange sensation began to creep over my body.
As if the world itself was rejecting me... a bizarre yet fascinating feeling.
It felt like I might be expelled beyond the world if I made one wrong move.
I wondered if I was the only one feeling it and looked around.
Fortunately, the others seemed to feel it too. Everyone's expressions were a little strange.
...No, in this case, bad would be the right word.
The moment my thoughts reached a certain point, a possibility flashed before my eyes.
A scene of us fighting without any dialogue in the middle of this alien sensation, where we could barely hear or properly feel anything.
Judging by the situation, the farther we go past each station, the stronger this alien feeling will become.
...I guess I need to stay even more on guard than I thought.
The sensation of actual combat returned to my body after a long time.
My dulled senses sharpened, and the peculiar feeling of my eyes activating woke my mind.
A body state close to perfect condition, if not exactly there.
A level of alertness similar to when we faced Kromer.
Just as I was getting used to the newly changed sensations in my body,
at last—
Wheeeing.
""
The doors of Line 1, trial station Encounter, opened.
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