Chapter 137

Even if the progress resets upon death, the status gauges do not, so they had no choice but to eat their chocolate bars. The five of them chewed their snacks aggressively, resolving to steel their nerves as if it were their very first attempt. Somehow, they managed to reach the fork in the road again and headed left.

After trekking through the debris of the crumbled ruins and pushing through thickets, they emerged into a wide, open clearing. It looked like a courtyard, surrounded by buildings on all sides but lacking a ceiling. In the center was a small spring bubbling with water and a crackling campfire, with small fruit hanging in clusters from nearby trees.

Water, fire, and food.

“…….”

“They’re just toyin’ with us now.”

“This is crossing the line.”

Blaine gritted his teeth in indignation, while Theo and Father muttered in disbelief.

If they hadn’t made the mistake of going right at the fork, they wouldn’t have wasted their matches and chocolate bars.

They filled their canteens at the spring and tried to gather the fruit, but the berries could only be eaten on the spot; they couldn’t be added to their inventory. Ultimately, they gave up on the fruit and huddled around the campfire to recover their remaining stamina.

“Do you think spaces like this will keep showing up?”

“Probably… which also means we have to be really careful about which path we choose.”

As Blaine and Theo talked, Father, Holanghee, and Noquia could only let out heavy sighs. No matter how they looked at it, they were still at the very beginning of the dungeon. Yet, they had already lost count of how many times they had died.

Noquia, who had been sitting quietly by the fire, scanned the courtyard and tilted her head in confusion.

“But when does the treasure room show up? I haven’t seen so much as a speck of gold yet.”

At his question, Holanghee replied flatly, as if talking to a child.

“We just started. Do you really think it would show up this early?”

Noquia looked even more puzzled.

“The traps showed up right at the start, though.”

“…….”

There was no comeback for that.

Once they had rested enough, they dusted themselves off and stood up. Leaving the comfort of the clearing brought a sense of lingering regret and a budding headache, but they couldn’t clear the dungeon without moving forward.

They topped off their hunger and thirst—which had depleted by a hair’s breadth during the break—and prepared to depart in peak condition. However, they hit a snag before they could even take a single step out of the courtyard.

“Come to think of it… where’s the way out?”

There was no path. They had followed a single track to reach this courtyard. Logically, there should have been a path leading away from it, but the courtyard was enclosed on all sides. There was no exit.

Stranded and unable to move forward or backward, everyone’s expression turned grave.

“Did we take a wrong turn?”

Blaine asked, looking at Theo. Theo turned to the group to double-check.

“Did anyone see a side path on the way here?”

Everyone shook their heads. Theo rested his chin in his hand and pondered for a moment. If there was only one way in and no side paths, then the exit had to be somewhere within this courtyard. Theo scanned the area once more. Several suspicious spots caught his eye: piles of rubble from collapsed buildings, and thick vines or branches draped over the walls like curtains.

“There might be a hidden path around here.”

At Theo’s words, everyone’s gaze scattered. Without needing orders, they began moving around, shifting debris and searching for a hidden way out. However, no matter how much they poked and prodded, no path appeared.

After a while, having achieved nothing, they gathered back in the center to brainstorm a way out.

“Hey, if there’s no path, what are we supposed to do?”

“Is this a bug?”

“Are we gonna get stuck here until we turn into skeletons?”

Amidst the complaints from Father, Holanghee, and Noquia, Theo pointed somewhere and spoke in a low voice.

“You know, when you play these kinds of games… have you ever thought, ‘Can’t I just climb through the window?’”

“…….“

In silence, everyone looked at Theo, then followed his hand to a window set in the wall blocking the courtyard. Then, they thought:

The window?

They were speechless for a moment. But as if possessed, they approached the window. It was worth a shot. They tried to climb over.

“…….”

It worked.

It was absolutely ridiculous.

It was absurd, but at least they had found the way. Plenty of other players had likely wandered in circles here. The space they entered through the courtyard window split into two paths: one leading up and one leading down. Once again, they had to choose.

“Blaine, which way do you think it is?”

Father asked, her eyes full of blind faith—the kind that said, ‘If it’s you, you’ll find the right path.’ A flustered Blaine looked at Theo for help, but Theo’s eyes held the exact same expectation.

Though the pressure was heavy, Blaine spoke up tentatively to meet Theo’s expectations.

“I think… going down is the right way….”

“Okay, okay! Let’s go.”

Without needing to hear another word, Father took the lead down the stairs, followed by Holanghee and Noquia. Theo gave Blaine a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a smile, which immediately made Blaine’s face light up with pride.

The path into the basement wasn’t smooth, either. Traps were hidden everywhere, though the saving grace was that they were fairly obvious to the eye. After a frantic struggle to survive the descent, they reached a three-way intersection.

Right in front of them at the intersection stood a massive arched door. It was a magnificent, antique-style embossed door decorated with gold and various jewels.

Dazzled by its brilliant appearance, the group swallowed hard, their mouths dry with tension. Holanghee whispered:

“Isn’t that… the treasure room?”

Wordlessly, everyone nodded and moved forward as if possessed. At that exact moment, a sharp click echoed as someone stepped on something. By the time they realized a trap had been triggered, it was already too late. The floor swung open, revealing a vertical, slide-like drop.

Everyone went tumbling down, sliding at a breakneck speed.

“Ack! What is this?!”

Their voices blended into a chorus of chaotic screams. With nothing to grab or brace themselves against, they slid down the chute like madmen. A roller coaster would have been slower and less terrifying than this.

“Look at that!”

“Th-there too!”

In the midst of the chaos, doors identical to the treasure room they had just seen flashed past them on both sides of the slide.

Thinking quickly, Father pulled out her skinning knife and tried to stab it into the floor to stop the slide, but it was futile. It only made a grinding screech; her speed didn’t drop, and she couldn’t catch a grip. Father shouted in frustration, looking completely panicked.

“Hey, what are we supposed to do now?!”

Asking didn’t bring any answers. No one else had a solution either. All they could do was continue sliding down into the abyss amidst the shouting.

After sliding for what felt like an eternity, the floor finally became visible in the distance. They shot out of the chute with a loud roar proportional to their speed, tumbling across the ground with the impact of a fall and groaning in pain.

They lay there for a while, clutching their bruised bodies, but as the pain began to fade, they regained their senses and stood up one by one. They began to survey the place where they had landed.

The first thing they saw were giant pillars. They stood at regular intervals, and when the group looked up, they saw a ceiling so high the end wasn’t even visible—it was a ceiling swallowed by pitch-black darkness.

Theo swallowed hard and looked forward again. The path they stood on was over a kilometer wide and incredibly long. They looked up at where they had fallen from, but climbing back up seemed impossible.

Since there were no branching paths in sight, it seemed they had to walk along this road. The others, seemingly of the same mind, began to move forward slowly, glancing around nervously.

Given the depth they had fallen, there were no windows and not a single speck of natural light. There were no torches or light fixtures, yet strangely, the immediate area wasn’t dark—even though the high ceiling and the distant path were shrouded in black.

Wary of potential traps, they moved forward with careful steps when suddenly, a loud thump echoed from somewhere far above them.

Everyone looked up at the ceiling, but nothing was visible, and the sound didn’t repeat.

“What was that? It’s giving me the creeps…”

Father muttered uncomfortably, and Holanghee instinctively rubbed her arms. Theo, who had been walking silently while staying alert, suddenly stopped and stared at the floor with a puzzled expression.

Following his lead, the group stopped and looked at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Noquia asked, but instead of answering, Theo turned around to look at the path they had just traveled. It might have been his imagination, but the floor seemed to be on a gentle slope.

“Doesn’t the floor… look like it’s slanting a bit?”

At Theo’s words, everyone turned back to look. Just as he said, the path was following a slight incline.

Father nodded and said, “You’re right… it does seem a bit tilted.” The fact that the floor was subtly slanting was unsettling, but this was the only path they could take.

Still, unable to shake the sense of dread, everyone hurried their pace. After walking for a while, they were forced to stop by the sight ahead.

It was no longer a subtle slant—it was a clear downward slope. The center of the path was a ramp, while the sides were stairs. The incline wasn’t incredibly steep, but it was so long that they couldn’t see the end of it.

The sound of everyone swallowing their spit was loud in their ears. After glancing back at the way they came one last time, they steeled their hearts and began to descend the slope.

Not long after they started down, Noquia heard a faint noise and turned around. From somewhere far in the distance, a low, rumbling sound like thunder echoed.

Still walking down the slope by relying on the sensation in her toes, Noquia kept her eyes fixed behind her. As the sound grew louder, her face went pale. She screamed to the group:

“F-Father! There’s a boulder rollin’ our way!”