Chapter 139

Having narrowly escaped the boulder’s threat, they caught their breath, which had risen to the tips of their throats, and stared down the cliff where the stone had vanished. Since the sound of it hitting the bottom still hadn’t reached them, the depth seemed considerable. A sudden chill ran down their spines.

“Now we can finally take a breather.”

Father wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead and stood up straight, letting out a long, held breath. As if to confirm they had descended safely, she glanced back at the path they had traveled and leaned against the wall in relief. A sharp click rang out. Simultaneously, the sound of wind being sliced echoed from above as a massive scythe swung down.

By the time they regained their senses, they were back at the very beginning.

“…….”

Curses rose to the tips of their tongues.

Shit, dammit, to hell with this. Muttering every swear word they knew, they sprinted down the underground slope once more. This time, they walked a wide distance from the wall to ensure they didn’t repeat the mistake of leaning against it.

The path—bordered by a wall on one side and a cliff on the other—stretched on endlessly. After walking for who knows how long, something appeared ahead. Everyone halted, wary of the wriggling movement visible in the dim darkness, and narrowed their eyes to see more clearly.

It was slowly approaching them. As it emerged from the pitch-black gloom, its form became clear. The creature revealing itself was a One-Horned Savage.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.”

They lost all tension. Glaring at the waddling One-Horned Savage while grumbling, they simply walked past it.

The One-Horned Savage, which had been snorting innocently and sniffing the ground, suddenly changed once everyone had passed. Its eyes gleamed as it turned around and charged straight at Theo. There was no time to sense the danger, let alone dodge. Struck helplessly by the One-Horned Savage, Theo was sent flying gracefully into the abyss. In an instant, they were all back at the beginning.

Blinded by rage, the five pig hunters sprinted back to catch the swine.

“Squeal!”

Returning to the same spot, they beat the One-Horned Savage into submission in a single breath. Perhaps because they had moved so frantically, their hunger gauges had also decreased significantly. It was infuriating that such a useless creature had drained their hunger levels on top of everything else.

Huffing and glaring at the One-Horned Savage, they blew their bangs out of their eyes and resumed their journey. After walking and walking along what felt like an infinite path, they finally reached the end.

It was a dead end.

To the left and front were sturdy walls stretching grandly upward; to the right was a desolate cliff whose bottom could not be fathomed.

Father looked back at the long path they had just traversed and ruffled her hair in frustration.

“Ah, dammit, seriously….”

Evidently, the opposite direction had been the correct path.

Everyone’s footsteps were heavy as they trudged back to the starting point. Not a single word was exchanged. Arriving back at the slope, they double-checked to ensure another boulder wasn’t coming before quickly heading toward the right-hand path.

Not long after they began walking the right path, their hunger gauges were completely depleted. Since there was no food to be found nearby, they debated whether to eat their last remaining chocolate bars. However, they couldn’t waste their final insurance policy like this, so they decided to keep going.

Moving around with empty stomachs caused their health to drain even faster. After some deliberation, they decided to light a campfire to restore their HP.

Unlike the left path, which only had traps at the very beginning, the right path was riddled with hidden hazards. They already had to worry about health consumption, so the constant threat of sudden traps made even their minds feel exhausted.

“…Huh?”

Noquia, who was walking in the lead, spotted something and stopped. Something was visible ahead. It was a large bird that looked like a turkey. It was peck-peck-pecking at the ground, busy scavanging for something to eat. Staring blankly at the bird, Noquia approached it cautiously, harboring a desperate hope that she might obtain some food.

Meat!

Noquia’s eyes grew wide. She considered turning back to call the others, but if the bird got startled by the noise and fled or went wild, it might cost even more health to hunt it. Making a swift decision, Noquia drew her skinning knife and hunted the bird right then and there.

As the bird collapsed with a mournful cry, Noquia turned around and called the others with a voice like a foghorn. Looking at Noquia with bewildered faces, they late noticed the fallen bird at her feet and came running over in a hurry.

“What is it?”

“Where did a bird come from?”

“Is it food?!”

“Did you catch it, Noona?”

Father, Theo, Holanghee, and Blaine asked in quick succession. Instead of answering, Noquia plunged her skinning knife into the fallen Piyo Bird.

“Let’s harvest the meat first.”

Soon, each person held a heavy hunk of meat. They looked back and forth between the meat and each other. Could they eat this? Was it safe? They constantly questioned and sized each other up.

But no matter how much they pondered, there was only one conclusion.

“Let’s eat…. We have no choice but to eat!”

With Father’s solemn shout, everyone busily prepared a campfire.

Sitting around the fire in the middle of the path, they skewered their portions of meat on branches and thrust them into the flames. Then, they waited silently for it to cook.

After what felt like an eternity, the surface of the meat turned golden-brown and began to emit a delicious aroma. Perhaps because of the smell, their hunger grew even more intense; to a man, they watched the meat with eyes so focused they were bloodshot, swallowing their saliva.

The moment the meat was fully cooked, they quickly snatched up their portions and began stuffing them into their mouths before they could even doubt if it might kill them.

Contrary to the smell, the taste was atrocious. The only saving grace was that it didn’t kill them.

Having filled their stomachs with meat that felt like rubber, they stood up with dissatisfied faces, walking with troubled brows.

They trudged along, lacking even the spirit to pull their slumped shoulders back, when a side path appeared in the previously seamless wall.

“?”

Tilting their heads in hesitation, they exchanged glances before stepping into the side path.

A wide clearing appeared. They saw a small spring bubbling with water, a campfire, and fruit-bearing trees growing around the open space.

“…I seriously want to smash everything to pieces.”

“Those bastards deserve to be struck by lightning.”

“I hope the developers fail miserably.”

Curse words filled with genuine sincerity spilled naturally from the mouths of Father, Noquia, and Holanghee.

It was frustrating, but the timing was actually good. Their fatigue levels were reaching a critical point. They filled their canteens and spread out their sleeping bags near the campfire.

After a short nap, their heavy bodies felt light again. They satisfied their thirst and hunger using the spring and the fruit before leaving the clearing. Compared to the tasteless Piyo Bird meat, the fruit tasted like a gourmet feast.

Not long after leaving the clearing, they spotted something different. A single torch was planted near the cliffside.

Approaching the torch, they found a small pressure plate. They scanned the surroundings. They figured stepping on the plate would trigger some kind of change, but no matter how much they looked around, they couldn’t see anything that might be affected.

“Let’s just step on it for now.”

Holanghee stepped forward and stood atop the pressure plate. A heavy grinding sound echoed as sections of a bridge began to rise from the depths of the abyss.

However, the raised sections were sparse and disconnected like stepping stones, positioned far too distantly to actually cross.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

As Holanghee grumbled, another torch flickered to life a short distance away. The group moved toward the next torch to proceed. Holanghee attempted to step off her plate to follow, but the moment she did, the grinding sound returned, and the bridge sections began to sink back into the chasm.

Startled, Holanghee scrambled back onto the plate. Watching the bridge rise once more as the weight was reapplied, she wore a look of realization.

“Hey, I think this is a co-op puzzle.”

In the end, with Holanghee left behind to hold the first plate, only the remaining four headed toward the next torch.

However, when they reached the second torch, they found two pressure plates waiting for them.

“…….”

With a face full of annoyance, Father clicked her tongue and brushed back her hair. She chose the plate on the right. A guillotine dropped from above, and they were sent back to the very start.

“Agh! Seriously—!”

Father’s roar of fury echoed loudly through the jungle.

They eventually made their way back to the torches. Holanghee took her place on the first torch’s plate, and Father stood on the left plate of the second torch. More sections of the bridge rose from the abyss, connecting to the first set. Then, a third torch ignited further ahead.

Theo, Blaine, and Noquia headed toward the third torch and looked absolutely fed up.

The third torch had three pressure plates.

After one failed attempt, they successfully activated the third set of plates. Leaving Noquia behind on the third plate, Theo and Blaine moved toward the fourth torch.

As expected, the fourth torch area featured four pressure plates.

“Does that mean the next one has five?”

Theo muttered while staring ahead. Blaine, who had been facing Theo, turned around to look at the spot where a fifth torch might appear.

“Which one looks like the right plate to you?”

Theo asked Blaine tentatively, clearly lacking confidence in his own choice. After deep deliberation, Blaine pointed to the first plate.

“This one.”

Once Blaine made the call, Theo swallowed hard. He squeezed his eyes shut and stepped onto the plate.

With a heavy grinding noise, the bridge began to rise. Theo, who had been tensed to the limit, looked up at Blaine and sank to his knees on the plate.

“Wow… on the first try….”

“H-Hyung, are you okay?!”

Blaine reached out to Theo in surprise. Theo took Blaine’s hand with trembling fingers and pulled himself up. Just as they looked forward, expecting a fifth torch to ignite, the three people holding the previous plates began to cheer and cause a ruckus.

“?”

Wondering what the fuss was about, Theo looked where they were pointing. Since Theo’s plate had been the final one, all the bridge sections had connected perfectly, creating a path to the other side.

Theo stared blankly at the massive bridge, which was now flawlessly linked without a single gap, and muttered as the realization hit him.

“Ah… I guess that makes sense…. If all five of us were standing on plates, there would be no one left to actually cross.”

Blaine was the only one remaining who could cross the bridge. Theo patted Blaine on the shoulder and pointed toward the far side.

“There’s probably a mechanism over there to keep the bridge active. You just need to press it or turn it on.”

Blaine nodded with a solemn expression. He walked past the rest of the party holding the plates and headed toward the foot of the bridge.

Standing at the start of the bridge, Blaine turned back to look at everyone one last time. Every single one of them waved and told him to be careful. Blaine nodded with a smile and began his trek across.

The bridge was quite long. Knowing there was no rule saying traps couldn’t exist on a bridge, Blaine moved forward step by step while keeping a wary eye on his surroundings. Suddenly, he stopped as if he had discovered something.

Blaine approached the edge of the bridge to confirm his find. He peered down into the depths, then looked up and shouted something back to the group, but the distance was too great for his words to carry. The others tilted their heads in confusion and shouted back that they couldn’t hear him. They even crossed their arms in an ‘X’ over their heads to signal their lack of understanding.

Blaine continued to point beneath the bridge and shout, but realizing his voice wasn’t reaching them, he gave up and stared back down into the chasm. He seemed to be deep in thought, his hand hovering near his mouth. After staring down for a long time, Blaine looked back at the group one last time, waved his hand, and jumped straight off.