“…That place gives me a very uncomfortable feeling.”
Silvia unconsciously wrapped her arms tightly around herself, her fingertips turning slightly pale, her pink eyes filled with intense anxiety and aversion.
“It feels like something terrifying is slumbering inside… No, that's not it. The ruins themselves give off a sense of… complete wrongness.”
Victoria, whose level had already reached LV26, also stared intently at the distant Shattered Temple that looked like a nightmare manifest, clearly sensing the malice transmitted across the great distance.
Though she felt a trace of fear, it was outshone by the fighting spirit belonging to a Hero.
“Could that be… where the second layer's Floor Boss is? It looks… completely different indeed. I'm already… a bit impatient to face it!”
However, Greg immediately threw a bucket of cold water on her enthusiasm.
“Don't get ahead of yourself, Little Gray.”
Greg's gaze was likewise fixed on the Shattered Temple, though there was no fear in his eyes.
“Going there now would be entirely meaningless suicide.”
He paused, then explained:
“The second-layer Floor Boss, while not a giant monster like Lady Eight-Legs, is arguably even more troublesome.”
The second-layer Floor Boss: Thirsting Maw.
Recalling his experience battling Thirsting Maw in the original game, Greg still felt a wave of trouble.
Although back then he hadn't checked a walkthrough and had beaten it once purely through overwhelming level and equipment,
the thought of fighting this thing again still struck him as immense trouble.
Because it possessed an extremely troublesome instant death skill—the moment it let out a specific screech, if one didn't have enough specific resistance or interrupt its spellcasting in advance… every target within range would instantly be turned into pieces.
This was precisely why many players gave up on clearing the dungeon altogether. Even if they came here decked out in high-tier equipment obtained after defeating the Demon King, if they allowed it to unleash this move unprepared, their character would die instantly—it was ridiculously broken!
“Anyway, if you want to take it on, you must make exhaustive preparations. Otherwise, you can only pray it's kind enough to spare your life.”
Hearing even Greg say such a thing, Victoria and Silvia's faces turned pale in an instant.
They had both witnessed Greg's strength firsthand, especially that dark power he used, which had practically one-shot every monster they encountered.
Yet now, even he held such deep apprehension toward this Floor Boss, meaning it was undoubtedly terrifyingly powerful.
“Then… what should we do now?” Silvia asked softly, looking at Greg.
Greg took one last deep look at the distant Shattered Temple, then turned around without hesitation and walked back the way they came.
“Let's turn back. It isn't the ultimate goal of our exploration this time.”
He turned back, offering a meaningful expression to the two somewhat bewildered girls.
“It's another… key that will give us a chance to conquer that Shattered Temple in the future.”
Victoria and Silvia exchanged a look. Though full of doubts, seeing Greg's confident back, they quickly suppressed their stray thoughts and stepped forward to follow.
The three retraced their steps, finally returning to the low black altar situated in the corner of the dead end.
The altar was covered in dust, forming a forgotten scene together with the shattered earthenware pots around it.
“Why are we back here? Didn't we search before and find nothing except this altar?” Victoria asked in confusion.
“You'll see when the time comes.”
Greg walked up to the altar, took out the complete closed eye from his pocket, and carefully placed it into a shallow groove at the center of the altar's surface that perfectly fit the eye's shape.
Hum…
The moment the eye made contact with the groove, the altar—or rather, the space of the entire dead end—trembled ever so slightly.
An invisible, intangible chill swept past, causing a faint prickling pain in their souls.
Afterward, Greg picked up the mirror that had been placed on the altar like an ornament.
Greg turned around, facing Victoria and Silvia. “Get a bit closer to me. Make sure your faces are reflected in this mirror, and don't let your eyes wander—just stare at yourselves in the mirror.”
Though full of questions and a vague unease, Victoria and Silvia's trust in Greg had become almost instinctive.
Without hesitation, they did as told and stepped close, standing pressed against Greg on his left and right, their shoulders almost touching.
Then, they lowered their heads simultaneously, focusing their eyes on the blurred ancient copper mirror.
Greg: “Now, follow my rhythm. Together, we're going to slowly step backward out of this room.”
Greg took the lead and began slowly shuffling his feet backward—one step, two steps…
Victoria and Silvia hurriedly kept pace, copying him as their eyes remained fixed on the image in the mirror, carefully moving their feet backward.
One step, two steps, three steps…
At first, nothing seemed unusual.
But soon, Victoria and Silvia felt something off almost at the same time.
The light was dimming.
It was not the natural fading of sunset, but a dark substance that seemed tangible, seeping out from every corner of the room and quietly devouring the already faint light source.
They could feel each other's breathing and body heat at arm's reach, but in the corners of their eyes, the room's outline was rapidly blurring, merging into an increasingly dense darkness.
Unease wrapped silently around their hearts like icy vines.
They could even hear their own gradually accelerating heartbeats, sounding extraordinarily clear in the deepening silence and darkness.
“Don't worry.”
Greg's steady voice rang out at just the right moment, piercing through the thickening dark:
“I'm afraid of dying myself, so I usually don't do things I'm not confident about. Trust me.”
His words were simple and direct, even carrying a hint of self-deprecation, yet they strangely dispelled part of the fear rising in the two girls' hearts.
That was true—although Greg was annoying at times, he prized his own life more than anyone. How could he drag them into something he wasn't sure of?
Trust once again triumphed over anxiety.
Victoria and Silvia composed themselves, locking their eyes onto the mirror's image with even greater focus, and continued stepping backward steadily, one step at a time, following Greg's calm pace.
The darkness had grown so thick it was almost physical, as though they were at the bottom of the deepest sea or in some starless void of space.
Apart from the copper mirror in hand and the faces within it, they could see nothing and hear nothing except their own backward footsteps and their gradually synchronized breathing.
Five steps, six steps, seven steps…
The instant the three of them were about to completely step backward out of the room's threshold—
the complete closed eye placed in the altar's groove suddenly snapped open without warning!
An eye so deep it seemed to lead to nothingness—its pupil swirling with countless tiny, fragmented lights and shadows—revealed itself!
“You have come...”
A strange female voice suddenly reached Greg's ears, nearly causing him to pull his gaze away from the mirror surface.
Just as he was about to ask the two girls behind him if they had heard anything—
Crack! Shatter!
The mirror of the ancient copper mirror in Greg's hands—the one they had been staring at intently—suddenly fractured into countless cracks without warning!
“Eek!”
“Ah!”
Unprepared for this sudden turn of events, Victoria and Silvia nearly shrieked in terror.
“Don't stop! Keep stepping back! One last step!”
Greg barked out a low growl.
Overawed by the urgency in his tone, the two girls suppressed their impulse to panic and took that final backward step along with him.
Three footsteps landed almost simultaneously.
The moment they completely stepped out of the room, the thick darkness behind them that seemed impossible to dissolve suddenly vanished like a receding tide!
Normal dim light flooded back into their vision.
Greg breathed a sigh of relief. “Alright, now we can keep moving.”
Victoria, who had just caught her breath, asked, “Where to now?”
Greg pointed in the direction of the altar.
Victoria and Silvia looked over.
They discovered that the original dead end had actually turned into a deep, dark corridor.
Rate on N.U.
