[LD-1] 43. Game Rules (Patreon)

Author note: I changed part of the priestess her description in the last chapter. Instead of a rock, she's sitting on a cloud. Think of Goku's flying nimbus. I liked that idea more :)

XLIII

Game Rules

The reception hall, where Principal Jose would’ve given his speech on the day of the Initiation, was packed. And it was only becoming more jammed.

One of the three remaining gates rippled, and another student phased through.

“Lisa, oh my god!”

One of the guild members stationed as a guard dropped her weapon and rushed forward to sweep the girl off her feet.

‘Amateur,’ Kaiser sighed.

No concern whatsoever. A monster could’ve stepped out behind the girl, or worse, she could’ve been a clone.

The methods of monsters out of an unknown dungeon should never be underestimated.

Though it wasn’t quite unknown in this case. He eyed the biggest portal of the remaining three—it was the only one that hadn’t released a single student yet.

‘It should be about time.’

The main stage this entire plan revolved around had been going on for over two days now. That was a good sign. There’d been concerns that the group would’ve got wiped out on the first day. Which was why many of their society had still advocated to sneak in members of their own. But that would’ve ended badly. This was the domain of gods and Monsters they were treading. Deals should be honoured, no matter how delicate the situation—

“You’re looking troubled.”

Kaiser smoothed out the frown he didn’t know he had. He turned and found Julius strolling to his side, hands placed behind his head.

“Just worried about the children,” Kaiser said.

Julius huffed. “Cut it out—worrying isn’t like you. Besides, isn’t this exactly what your society wanted?”

Here, Kaiser’s cheeks puffed. “We’re not heartless bastards. The measures we proposed would’ve been a lot more safeguarded than just throwing a bunch of students inside some gates.”

There was a pause. Then Julius shrugged.

The Destroyer reached for his wristband and produced a chair. “Well, not like I care. How long do you think it’ll take for the remaining dungeon to complete? I’ve got a date planned this evening.”

“How would I know? Also, you could’ve at least produced a chair for me, too.”

“You have your own storage item!”

Shaking his head, Kaiser produced his own chair. He eyed the gates.

“Today,” he said.

Julius flicked a sideways glance at him. “You sound sure.”

Kaiser nodded. “There’s no way around it.”

The surface of one portal flickered again. Julius did not twitch or even turn towards the two figures exiting the gate. Of course he didn’t—even among Destroyers, his senses were extraordinary.

Kaiser did turn their way. A boy was carrying an unconscious girl. The boy in question swivelled, his mind registering the safe place he was in. Whatever strength remained within him left his legs, and he dropped to his knees.

A healing wave burst from the side of the room, where a blonde in a long white coat was sitting.

Julius flicked his old guildmate a thumbs-up, but she was too deep in conversation with Ruby to notice.

Cassie’s healing spells were the best in the city—perhaps the best of any Tier 3 city—so the boy suddenly found strength he did not have, which kept him from falling over together with his charge.

The girl did not stir.

One of the hired hands near them cursed under their breath. “That’s another one.”

The expressions of the people in their company turned dark.

“If we find the bastard who did this…” a second uttered.

Kaiser could feel the gazes burning into his rear, but he kept his face pointed forward.

A woman clothed in all-black, wearing a marbled veil, approached the boy and girl. She was a priestess the local Black Church had stationed here.

Though not everyone, many in the room inclined their heads as the priestess began her prayer.

“No way around it?” Julius repeated, closing his eyes.

Kaiser nodded. “No way around it.”

Then he, too, lowered his head.

I was a fan of horror movies. The good ones. The ones that made your stomach churn without the Big Bad being on screen, had the fear crawling inside you and made you bite your nails, despite knowing it was a movie.

Because genuine fear needed no conveying. Required no physical entity to bind itself to. The fright simply entered your system and took root, never letting go until it became clear you were no longer in danger.

The priestess’s smile grew while the fear burrowed deeper into our souls and touched the core of our beings.

“Formation!” Alexa yelled.

Our president’s commands had pierced both chaos and cacophony many times during this dungeon to push our forces into action.

Except for Douglas conjuring a barrier, no one moved.

A low chuckle rippled through the space.

The woman held up her hand. “At ease. We’re not here to fight.” A subtle push had her sliding off the cloud she was sitting on. Her landing was lithe, graceful like that of a cat, and her sandals produced not the faintest noise as they touched the floor. “Not yet, anyway.”

Her shoulder-length hair twirled as she turned. “Rhaast, since you were betting on them to make it, would you mind sharing with them the rules of the current scenario?”

The goblin bowed over his arm. “Of course, Milady.”

My heart pounded in my skull. ‘Milady?’

Rhaast was a talking goblin. By sheer virtue of what he was, every action he took seemed half-serious. However, the manner in which he acted did not seem a mere show or joke.

Master, Kil whispered. His tone was low. As if he feared the woman might overhear our telepathic conversation.

From the way her pointy ears jerked before spinning my way and staring at me, I couldn’t exactly say his fear was wrong.

‘What is it?’ I asked.

That… he swallowed. That is a Qirin.

‘Qirin?’

My gaze whirled into that of the woman, guided inside as if through a tunnel.

Lightning wreathed in her eyes.

One of the Ten, he whispered.

One of…

My mind went blank before I could complete the sentence. By the time my thoughts returned, Rhaast was standing in front of us.

The goblin paced in front of our tanks, which followed his movement as if he were their conductor. “Instances are like dungeons within dungeons that can have their own set of rules. This place is no different.”

Rhaast stopped, then peeked at a boy who’d fallen to his knees from the pressure. A slender but crooked finger pointed at him. “You, can you tell me what the number right of your screen says?”

The student startled into alertness.

“Huh…what…”

Rhaast huffed and shook his head. “The number right of your screen. What does it say?”

19:40

“Twe—twenty minutes,” the boy stumbled over his words.

“At least your eyes are still working,” Rhaast nodded gravely, then continued circling around our shoddy formation.

I couldn’t rotate with him, lest I put my back to the other two monsters in the room. So I had Char follow him around instead.

“It’s the time you have left until you need to run.”

“Run?” Lily asked. She fastened her grip on her blade. “Where to?”

The goblin motioned to a door on the left. “That exit will take you to the ground floor of this temple. From there, all you need to do is reach the first floor, and you’re done.”

That last word echoed.

“Done?” Alexa said.

“Done!” he repeated. “There’s a gate there that will let you leave the dungeon.”

The world paused.

Le—leave? Unbidden, my gaze went to the Monster standing some ways away from us. Her aura was so overwhelming the idea of leaving this place didn’t want to stick in my head.

‘Monster…’

I was looking at a being considered a legitimate part of the Ten.

The other students didn’t know what she was. Yet they couldn’t bring their bodies into a semblance of order, couldn’t react at all to the reveal of safety being near.

Rhaast raised his finger. “Though I will mention that gate is—”

“—only one of two exits,” the woman finished.

She strolled toward us, elbows flared out behind her head.

We collectively jolted awake. Purple light flashed between the muzzles of Shota’s technos, and both Lily and Alexa shimmered, creating copies of themselves.

I blinked.

When my sight returned, the Monster was standing in our midst.

Mana spiked in my core. I lunged and brought Cull down.

She didn’t try to dodge, choosing only to eye me with an amiable smile.

I hadn’t lunged. Mana pooled in my muscles and they contracted, but an invisible rope held me in place.

“I told you not the worry, didn’t I?” she drawled. “All attacks are blocked in this room. This is a safe zone.”

Her graceful gait brought her in front of me. She reached out and ran a finger over the bottom side of Cull’s blade while I was still being held in place.

“That’s a nice weapon.” Her head tilted. “Where did you find it?”

I let Cull dissolve on instinct. She waited for me to answer, but I didn’t.

Her smile grew as she continued to stare at me.

Rhaast’s long groan broke the quiet. “I thought you’d let me do the explaining, Milady.”

She raised her shoulders and spread her arms. “I couldn’t help myself.”

Her pointed ears twitched. “Ah, by the way, my name is Lei’Aila. You may simply call me Aila.” She jabbed a thumb at the orc lord. “The dumb brute over there is called Ogram.”

Control over my faculties slowly returned, and my brows furrowed. She spoke of him as if they were familiar with each other.

“Lei’Aila,” Alexa tasted the name. She sheathed her blade. “Why is there a second exit?”

Leave it up to the president to stay level-headed in a scenario like this.

“For if you want to claim victory over the dungeon,” Aila said.

We waited for her to continue.

“To get to the first floor, you just need to beat the guardians I send your way. But the gate on that level is an emergency exit. Leaving through there won’t let you win. To do that, you’ll need to head to the second floor and break the Realm Core.” Her chin inched past her shoulder. “Or kill Ogram, I suppose.”

An emergency exit. I shifted in place. That sounded like…

Alexa heard what I did, too.

“What happens to those outside if we take the emergency exit?” she asked.

The priestess turned back to us. She smiled. “They’ll all die.”

“Either you guys or Lord Ogram destroy the core,” Rhaast added with something akin to sadness in his tone, “or the dungeon collapses once Princess Aila’s victory is established. In both scenarios, the spatial fallout will annihilate anyone outside that doesn’t crush a return stone or a similar item.”

“That,” Aila said. She gave us a moment to digest the information before speaking up again. “There’s a safe zone on the first floor. Reaching it will give you some rewards—a little boost to help you get to the second floor, should you choose to do so. If you do, I’ll be waiting on you there.” Here, she cupped her chin in thought. “Did I miss anything…ah, you have three hours to complete the scenario.”

She glanced at Rhaast.

He confirmed that was everything they needed to share.

The goblin regarded us. “If I were you guys, I’d think long and hard about what you’re going to decide.”

He needn’t have warned us. The same fear as before had crawled deeper into our bellies. I could literally see the hesitation clawing its hooks into the sunken eyes of my fellows.

Many had friends outside. And all of them would die if we abandoned them.

I turned to Aila.

But how could we ever fight a monster like this?