“Huh?”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re doomed if we separate.”
Like Ren expected, his suggestion was met with resistance.
“No,” Sumeri chimed in. “I think Ren is right. We should separate the group into two. It’ll increase our chances of finding the exit.”
The others looked at each other while Yumi’s cries and the dropping noises of trash and monsters were their backgrounds.
“But . . .” Leonel scratched his head. “Who’s going with who?”
“I’ll take Leonel, Sumeri, Nikolai, and one of the thieves with me,” Ren said. “While the rest, I’ll leave it to you.”
“Huh?” Roxy pointed at herself. Her face said it all. She wasn’t convinced with the plan. “We only have one Sniper. We need a sniper, right? Which group is he going to go to?”
“No worries, I got it covered,” Ren said. He wasn’t worried since he had already replaced [Torturing Venom] with [Long Shot] when he used [Probe] on their Sniper.
“Are you sure?” Rox asked with a serious voice and face.
“Yes. Stop asking any more questions, and let’s go.”
“Hey! As*holes! Aren’t you listening to me?! I said help!”
Yumi’s shouts cringed the ears, and Ren briefly closed his eyes to steady his ringing brain. He shot her the barest of glace before waiving a hand at the others.
“And don’t forget to rob her. She’s dead anyways. Her items will be more useful to us.”
Yumi’s face turned white when she heard Ren’s words. “W-what?!” At first, she was still processing what he said and thought he was only joking before a notification shocked her.
[Your HP Potion was stolen]
[Your MP Potion was stolen]
“What the F*ck!” Yumi cursed, and she trashed inside the Gelatinous Cube even more. But the more she moved the more the monster consumed her until only her head was hanging outside the creature’s body.
Yumi really thought that Ren would help her since she saw the guy a while back checking her out. She really believed that Ren liked her like most boys did.
Not knowing that Ren only checked her to know her stats using [Probe].
Leonel weakly smiled and apologized. “Sorry. Nothing personal,” he said before following after Ren while the others were used to Ren’s ruthless ways. They could only shake their heads in pity while the thieves loot Yumi’s items.
“You B*stards! As*holes! Wait till I get out from here! Every last one of you will pay!”
Yumi’s voice was high-pitched for a small girl her size and really got on the ear drums. But she could do nothing while she was robbed, and the acid inside the Gelatinous Cube chipped her HP. She couldn’t move inside, and it felt so slimy and icky. Worse, all her items were stolen from her, so she couldn’t use anymore [HP Potions] to save her life.
“Thank you,” Roxy said and clasped her hands in prayer.
“Don’t worry if we win. We will mention your name,” Rox butt in before going to the opposite turnstile together with his sister and the others.
It wasn’t their first time encountering players inside the Gelatinous Cube, so everyone was used to it. In fact, they preferred the players inside the cube since they weren’t any resistance when they robbed them.
While Yumi was trashing inside and cursing nonstop, Ren and the others resumed their lives like nothing had happened.
Ren and the others hurried to where the path would lead them. There was no clue to where they were going, and Ren was very tempted to let Pii go but restrained himself.
Little Pii was his saving grace, but it was also his bane.
There was no use in winning the war if his merchant self was jeopardized.
Taking another unknown turnstile at the fork, Ren and the others found themselves in a spacious hall with four wheels to choose from. However, this area was filled with nothing but trash everywhere, and worse; there were seven Gelatinous Cubes mixed in the fray.
“W-what now?” Leonel tried to eenie-meenie his way out of their situation but decided it was an idiotic move.
The Gelatinous Cubes were gaining on them from all directions, and some players were running to and fro avoiding each one of them. Falling trash and debris fell from the lofty ceiling above, raining nonstop every few seconds. The others tried to evade with no such luck. The more they moved, the more they bumped into either a pile of garbage or their fellow players.
“Let’s separate into two again,” Sumeri suggested.
“You want our already few numbers to lessen even more?” the Thief asked, not agreeing to Sumeri’s plans.
Sumeri argued, “It’s better that some of us made it into the finals than no one at all.”
Ren didn’t mind the two. If only Rox had his pet, everything would have been easier. But since they were already in this situation, there was no choice but to think of a way.
Blocking out the noises and his emotions, a vein pounded hard against Ren’s head as he concentrated on any clue about the turnstile. There was no marking on the walls. No evident or sign of where to go . . . so that only leaves . . .
Ren looked over at the high ceiling. Whenever the other players turned the wheel, a sound soon followed. And he focused all his might on that sound and the ceiling above whenever a player turned a turnstile.
“Anytime now,” Sumeri wanted her voice to remain calm, but it came out trembling. There were two monsters that were only meters from them, and there was no escape but the turnstile since there was trash wherever they stepped.
The monsters could get them if they didn’t move from where they stood.
“I think we should choose the center. It’s always the center,” hummed Nikolai. He was the only one who genuinely seemed to enjoy the war without worries.
Sweat coated the curve of Ren’s spine. He unblinkingly stared at the last wheel, and when no dropping sound came from it when it was turned by a panicking player, he faced the rest and shouted.
“Push the turnstile at the farthest left!” Ren instructed.
The others didn’t ask any more questions and moved from their spot just in time that a Gelatinous Cube reached its sticky arms in their direction.
“Leo, it’s to my left!” Ren hollered when Leonel broke from the group and ran the opposite way.
“Right! My bad!” Without stopping from running, Leonel took a curve and ran after the others.
Making sure that the rest made it to the turnstile, Ren was about to join them on the other side when he noticed a newly arrived group.
It was Roxy and the others!
“Roxy, Rox! Run to the farthest left!” Ren shouted, pointing at the wheel to his left.
Without having the chance to catch their breath, Roxy and the others were about to sprint in that direction when a Gelatinous Cube popped from above and blocked their way.
Roxy and Rox immediately evaded when it spat its sticky arms, but since their Sniper didn’t see it coming, he was pulled inside the Gelatinous Cube with one grab.
“No!” Rox yelled but realized that he didn’t know their Sniper’s name, and the name on top of its head was blurred by the gelatines of the monster.
“Quick, give your items to us!” Roxy said, and the Sniper could only cry inside as his group left him inside the monster’s belly.
His only respite was that he was not alone. There were other players inside the monster too. But since they couldn’t move and speak, all they could do was communicate through their stares.