Kairos was slightly concerned that he would suddenly end up near other people, and be in a position that could entice others to attack. From how rewarding killing the other person was earlier, he was fairly sure that anybody he met would be tempted.
However, it seemed those worries were unnecessary.
A bang abruptly resounded within the room as it jostled violently.
Kairos’ eyes flew open as he stumbled up to his feet.
He looked around, but his room looked like it did as before, despite such a huge impact. The projection was still smiling casually as it always did. However, the doorway that was originally blocked off was now open.
Kairos walked over, placing one hand on the side of the doorway before taking in the sight before him.
He didn’t really know what he expected, but it looked far more desolate than expected. A massive cavernous expanse was laid out before him, just as dark and dingy as his own room. At the very top, was a giant blue crystal that gave off a white light, making everything more or less visible.
Kairos almost thought that it was just an expanded version of his room, but there were a few differences. He could make out a stone spiral staircase off in the distance that didn’t seem to have a structural integrity that made sense.
There were no railings or support beams to keep it up, just stone that kept going upwards.
And to his left, he saw that there were several other empty doorways, just like the one to his own room. Kairos could presume that they were the rooms of the others.
And as expected, there were twenty-four of them off in the distance.
From what Kairos could tell, the vastness of this place was far larger than the mana crystal he had seen before. He wondered if it was actually just an illusion, but not actually that large.
“Hey, Twenty-Five is over here!”
While Kairos was caught up in his own thoughts, he heard the voices of others.
Three people had approached him. He was somewhat expecting people that looked like gangsters or hoodlums, but it seemed he was wrong.
There was a little girl, probably at a similar age as Ling. She had casual wear that was somehow not ragged or dirtied. Her hair was bright blonde while her eyes were sky blue. In her hand was a red karambit knife that seemed a little too big for her, but she still held it rather easily.
Kairos felt a little unsettled by the girl, and it wasn’t because of the weapon. Rather, it was because of how her eyes looked. They were slightly wider than normal, making her look quite innocent and curious. However, Kairos could tell that it was fake.
He could only tell because he had learned before that keeping his eyes open at a certain level would make people think you were innocent. Though Kairos usually didn’t like doing it because it stressed his head out a little bit, he still did so.
Sometimes he would even practice doing it in the mirror to fool others.
Kairos just had a feeling that the girl was putting on a facade, as opposed to actually being innocent. The difference was so small, that he couldn’t even really say what exactly made him think this way.
His best description would be that there was some sort of discordance between the eyes and mouth.
Another person was surprisingly an old man, using a cane to walk. From what Kairos could tell, while the old man did not have to use the cane, it helped him do so faster. He made the assumption that his leg was some sort of prosthetic because it didn’t seem to evolve to have the same strength as the rest of his body.
The old man wasn’t exaggeratedly old, to the point that he seemed to be on his deathbed, but in modern times he would be considered someone at the age where they were quite vulnerable and could use some help.
He had relatively long hair for a man, with most of them grayed out though the occasional strand was still black. His eyes were only barely open, revealing small slits. As such, it was very difficult to tell what his eye color was. His face wasn’t too wrinkled, just bunched up in certain sections.
The overall vibe Kairos got from the old man wasn’t a pleasant one either. For some reason, the way he stood almost made him seem like the type that would scream, ‘Get off my lawn!’.
Except instead of waving a cane, he would bring out a shotgun and cock it.
Kairos didn’t really know why he thought that way, but he did.
As for the last person, this was the one that had called out earlier. It was a young woman fitted in a suit that was quite tidy. From the way she looked, it almost made it feel as though there wasn’t actually an apocalypse, but rather just any other workday.
She had long brown hair that was slightly wavy that had reached her waist. Her eyes were bright green, comparable to emeralds.
It almost seemed like she was wearing some sort of lipstick, but that was actually just how it naturally looked. There were two swords resting on her belt, both in sheathes as of now.
The woman had her arms crossed and looked toward Kairos with a bit of curiosity as well as confidence. Though one thing that he had noticed was that there seemed to be vigilance in her eyes.
Kairos was about to speak, but suddenly saw something in his future vision.
Out of nowhere, the woman had drawn her sword and slashed toward him in one swift motion. He had prepared himself to dodge it, but suddenly found that his future vision warped to see that she didn’t actually do anything.
It seemed she noticed that he had figured out her intentions.
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“That’s not the nicest way to greet someone.”
The woman laughed.
“Oh come on, I haven’t actually done anything yet.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“You might as well have.”
The woman rubbed her chin with interest, indicated clearly by her smile.
“Why do you seem so scared of us? We are just a humble trio trying to get by.”
The little girl looked up to Kairos and slightly parted her lips as though trying to prove her innocence, while the old man looked down at the floor.
Kairos clicked his tongue.
“I would prefer that a group of gangsters rolled up on me.”
The woman made an overly shocked expression.
“Eh? Why is that?”
Kairos narrowed his eyes and held his spear out to the side.
“At least then I wouldn’t be judged for attacking a woman, an old man, and a kid all at once.”
The woman casually raised her hands up in the air and laughed.
“Hey, hey, no need to be hostile…”
She tilted her head to the side slightly.
“How about we start over, my name is Aria, also known as Nineteen.”
The girl stammered.
“U-Um, my name is Alice, and some people call me twenty-four.”
As for the old man, he spoke rather bluntly and forcefully.
“…I’m Kyle, and I’m the twenty-third person to clear the first floor.”
Kairos raised an eyebrow before letting out a soft sigh.
“People usually call me Kairos, but I guess you can call me twenty-five as well, since you guys seem to care about the order that we cleared the floor in.”
Aria clapped her hands.
“Haha, that’s great, hello Kairos! I hope you enjoy your stay here.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“…Since you’re so hospitable, do you mind giving me a quick rundown of this place?”
Aria chuckled.
“Of course, of course. This is the place where most of us spend our time, casually talking to one another just like we are right now.”
She then pointed towards the spiral staircase far off in the distance.
“After you climb up that staircase, you can get to the second floor where you can earn points to buy food. Speaking of, how many points do you have?”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I think three? I used most of them to buy steak and wine, I’ve never had something like it before.”
Aria kept a cordial smile on her face, but her body still flinched when she heard what Kairos had ‘spent’ his points on.
“Ah, you must be joking, right?”
Kairos looked at her with a straight face.
“What do you mean? Is it funny or something?”
Aria let out a soft laugh.
“Well… if you want to gather more points for more, you will have to climb up that spiral staircase and get to work.”
Kairos looked at it.
“Guess I should go there after I get a little hungry. Speaking of, do you know how to get to the next floor?”
Aria smiled bitterly.
“Ah, we are trying to figure that out.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“Nobody has done it before?”
Aria blinked a few times.
“Well, there might be. None of the top ten are here, so they either died or advanced to a higher floor.”
Kairos nodded.
“Well alright, thanks.”
Aria tilted her head to the side.
“Say, what is in that bag you are carrying around.”
Kairos responded without a second thought.
“Explosives.”
Aria was speechless for a few seconds.
“Explosives?”
Kairos nodded.
“Never know when you need to blow something up.”
Aria slowly nodded.
“I see.”
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
Alice walked up.
“Um, big brother, could I have some bread and water? I’m a little hungry.”
She pouted slightly and put her hands behind her back, hiding the knife.
Kairos raised an eyebrow.
“Big brother?”
Alice nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes! I’m sure big brother is a generous and kind person.”
Kairos nodded to himself.
“Ah, it must be nice to have a big brother like that.”
Alice looked slightly confused.
“Um, yes?”
Kairos waved his hand.
“You should introduce me to him sometime.”
With that, he began walking towards the spiral staircase while the others looked a little dumbfounded.
His footsteps reverberated within the large cavernous expanse.
Kairos had underestimated how far away the staircase actually was, despite traveling for a few minutes, he was still relatively far away.
Aria caught up with him, along with Alice and Kyle following close behind.
“Hey, wait, wouldn’t you like a rundown on how to get points?”
Kairos turned around.
“Uh, I guess?”
Aria smiled as she had before.
“Why don’t we make an alliance?”
Kairos let his spear rest against his shoulder.
“Is that the only way you would give me that information?”
Aria laughed.
“Well, it would just make me feel more reassured to share with a person I can call a friend.”
Kairos thought about it for a moment.
As much as he didn’t like the three, he was sure that the others probably wouldn’t be much better. Even if the alliance would be rather fragile.
“…Clearly outline the terms of the alliance and I will consider it.”
Aria smiled.
“Oh, it’s nothing big. We will just sleep in the same room and keep watch for each other, just so that nobody… disturbs our rest.”
Kairos blinked a few times.
“…That’s it?”
Aria nodded.
“Yeah.”
Kairos couldn’t find fault with it.
“Alright then. Could you explain how I can get points then?”
Aria smiled brightly.
“Yes, yes. Once you climb up the staircase, you will find three pathways. You will see one with lots of blood, that’s where you could find monsters to kill and earn points. Another one is pitch black, and once you go inside, you won’t be able to see at all. There are red crystals that if collected will get you a point.”
Kairos nodded.
“And the last pathway?”
Aria pressed her lips together.
“It looks like the hallway of an ordinary house.”
She muttered under her breath.
“Never go in there.”
