Chapter 224. Seven Rooms (6)
The moment Dalgil raised the reliquia, Hawa saw the center of the altar hidden by the ingot revealed. The reliquia had been pushing down a button-like shape before Dalgil lifted it, and it was now popping out. Then they heard faint noises like a cogwheel turning, and Hawa looked around to see where the noises came from. It was then she realized the door leading from the fourth compartment to the fifth compartment was—
“Missing!” Hawa shouted, and several members of the expedition team looked around.
“I don’t see a door! The door leading to the next compartment…!”
The expedition team looked behind them with dazed looks on their faces. As Hawa said, they didn’t see a door on any part of the wall. It was unbelievable. The door they had clearly seen from the ceiling before they entered had disappeared without a trace as soon as they entered this room.
“Everyone—!” Dalgil shouted at the team to quickly return to the door they had entered through, but it was too late then. Bam! The door automatically closed and became absorbed into the wall. The room was now perfectly closed off without a way out. Moreover, the lights suddenly went off, and their surroundings turned dark. Soon, it became pitch black, and they couldn’t see a thing. Chi-Woo tried to remain calm, but he couldn’t help but feel frazzled. He thought his night vision had improved during his stay in the cave under the Evalaya volcano, and his eyesight in general had gotten better, but he was as good as blind at the moment. All he could see was darkness, and all he could feel was his companions’ backs and shoulders pressed against his.
Before they could think of what to do, they heard the walls on both sides crumble. It happened everywhere until the room fell still. Chi-Woo didn’t feel or sense any other presence, and his synesthesia and extrasensory perceptions didn’t catch anything. All he could hear was his companion’s anxious breathing. And after an ominous silence, Chi-Woo felt a chilling sensation graze the back of his neck as he clutched onto his club. It felt as if a sticky jelly soaked in water had flown past him. It was then a scream rang out. “Ahhhh!”
It was Bogle’s voice.
“Bogle!”
“What’s going on!”
Dalgil and Ru Hiana shouted, but Bogle didn’t answer. He simply screamed his head off and floundered around with a deeply distressed voice.
“Bogle! Bogle…kuh!” Dalgil was fumbling around to reach Bogle when he suddenly groaned. Soon, there were screams coming from other places, and the sensation of multiple people struggling. Some even seemed to be rolling on the floor or stomping, and the team formation was completely broken.
“Who is it!”
“Don’t push! I said don’t push!”
There was commotion and chaos everywhere. Chi-Woo also struggled. Some yanked at his pants and pushed him so hard that he almost fell over. Though he managed to regain his balance in the end, it was hard for him to gather his senses. He swung his club a couple of times, but stopped after a while. He’d like to swing it around like a great windmill without care for anyone around him if he could, but he didn’t; the possibility that he would injure his companions was high in this tight space if he did that. Furthermore, since he was holding Airi with one hand, he needed to be even more careful.
Unable to see and with none of his special senses working, Chi-Woo felt as if his hands and feet were bound. Time continued to tick in his helplessness.
“Everyone…back away…!” It was then Chi-Woo heard Dalgil’s voice from the front. It sounded pained. “Scatter…! Don’t stick together…! And run away for now…!”
Usually, team members shouldn’t move or run away by themselves and break the team formation. Not only was it a cowardly act, but it was also such a taboo action that a god might even cancel their contract with a hero if they did so. Still, there were always exceptions, such as when the expedition team’s leader gave his permission. After assessing that the situation was hopeless, and the whole team could get annihilated at this rate, Dalgil shouted at them to fend for their own lives. As soon as Dalgil gave his command, Chi-Woo felt something hurry past him.
A short while afterward, an urgent voice shouted from some distance. “This way!” It was Hawa. “A wall! A hole appeared on the wall!”
Hearing this, all the expedition team members scattered. Chi-Woo instinctively chose a direction and ran straight. He felt like he had stepped on someone or collided with something in the process, but reached a wall in the end. When Chi-Woo stuck his body close to the wall and walked quickly, he felt himself sinking inward. As Hawa said, there were holes. They seemed to have formed after the lights turned off and the walls crumbled.
“Ms. Hawa?” Chi-Woo called out nervously, still unable to see anything, but no reply came. He had run following Hawa’s voice, but had he picked the wrong direction? Nevertheless, Chi-Woo didn’t have the nerve to search anywhere else. He noticed that the voices behind him had quietened, and it seemed everyone else had found their own holes. It was too great of a risk to jump back into the open field when he couldn’t see anything. Above all, Dalgil had told them to scatter and run away. When they couldn’t make sense of anything, they needed to follow the captain’s words. Only then could they survive. And because Chi-Woo felt something looking in his direction from inside the darkness, Chi-Woo went further inside the hole. He ran with Airi in his arms despite how little he could see. He kept running and running straight without stopping to turn back.
***
A while later, after running continuously in the dark, Chi-Woo suddenly felt a strong shock. He felt around until his hands found a crevice. Following his instincts, Chi-Woo pushed hard, and the wall opened from side to side, allowing light to scatter in. Chi-Woo got knocked down by inertia, but quickly pushed himself off the floor and raised his head.
There was no monster. In fact, there was nothing in the room, but the atmosphere was different from before. The impression Narsha Haram had given Chi-Woo until now was that it was a strange and holy place, all painted in ivory white. But this place was like a prison. Everywhere was dark and dreary-looking, and the light constantly flickered like it was going to go off any moment.
‘A door that I came in from…and another door leading outside.’ After checking that there was a door to exit this time, Chi-Woo decided to enter. He glanced behind him and saw that the space past the door he came from was still shrouded in complete darkness, and the light in this room seemed unable to penetrate it. Chi-Woo quietly closed the door and leaned against the wall. Instead of immediately going out, he inhaled and exhaled deeply.
Though he had survived, the expedition team was all separated. What should they do now? Chi-Woo glanced at Airi as she limply lay over his hand and thought deeply. Three possible options immediately came to his mind. The first one was for him to go back and check the situation in the fourth room again. The second was to wait patiently in this room. And the third was to leave this room and wander around. Chi-Woo worried his bottom lip between his teeth; he didn’t feel confident in any of the options.
Then Chi-Woo searched through his belongings and felt a die in his grip. If he threw the World’s Milestone, it might be of tremendous help in telling him the next course of action to take—that was if he got at least five stars. Chi-Woo agonized for a long long while, but in the end, he left the die be. He had promised his brother. Chi-Hyun had said that he was going to trust Chi-Woo one last time, and Chi-Woo couldn’t muster up the courage to use it. More importantly, there would be no turning things around if he got less than three stars after rolling the die.
“Haaa….” Chi-Woo slouched. He thought things were going well, but he was now at a complete loss again. Still, he couldn’t stand here in despair forever.
‘Maybe I should wait a bit and go out…’ While wondering between the second and third options, Chi-Woo felt the small being on his palm twitching.
“Urm….” After groaning softly and wiggling slightly, Airi opened her eyes. Chi-Woo’s eyes widened.
“Ms. Airi? Are you awake? Ms. Airi!”
“Huh…Uh…?” Airi’s eyes rolled around, and she looked a bit stunned by the situation. She seemed to be wondering where she was and why she was alone with Chi-Woo.
“Ms. Airi, I know you just woke up, but the situation isn’t very good right now. I will explain to you what happened…” Thus, Chi-Woo explained everything, and Airi’s confusion faded. She was also a warrior who had survived multiple battlefields. No matter how bad her condition was, she placed the most importance on the expedition.
“So…when you heard the walls crumble in the fourth room…it didn’t crumble in only one spot….”
“Yes, that seems to be the case.”
Airi mumbled in a very hoarse voice, and Chi-Woo nodded.
“Dalgil told you all to run…and you each went into a hole…cough, cough!” Airi broke into a coughing fit.
“Ms. Airi, don’t talk. Your condition…”
“No, that’s not important right now.” Airi shook her head and told Chi-Woo to put her down. Then she forcefully got up, but collapsed again after only a couple steps. She needed to do something in such a dire situation, but her body wasn’t listening to her right now.
“Ah…!” Airi squeezed her eyes shut at the pain shooting through her body. Chi-Woo hurriedly poured exorcism mana into her, and she looked a bit better.
“…Sorry…”
“No need to mention it. Don’t push yourself too much.”
“If only I’d seen the map once…no…if I’d at least gained my senses before going inside the room…” Airi mumbled regretfully. Whatever choice she made, she needed to make one based on proper reasoning; but for her to reason, she needed information. She had zero information about Narsha Haram because she had been asleep before they even entered the place. At this point, she was nothing but baggage.
“You should just leave me here… That’ll be better…”
Chi-Woo smiled bitterly. Airi probably didn’t really want to be abandoned, but Chi-Woo knew what she was feeling.
“Even if it’s tough, please hold on. We will try to find each other as soon as we can. And once we get back together, we will speed run all the rooms in an instant.” Although Chi-Woo wasn’t sure if they could really do that, he said in a forced cheerful voice. Airi trembled quietly. It seemed she was tearing up.
“So, don’t talk anymore…?” Chi-Woo said when his eyes suddenly narrowed. He heard something outside the door, and Airi seemed to have heard it as well judging by the twitch of both her ears. Chi-Woo focused all his senses on his hearing. He was sure of it. It sounded far away, but he was sure he heard it.
“Mr. Dalgil?” Though he couldn’t be certain, it sounded like Dalgil’s voice. It sounded like he was shouting something and looking for his companions. Chi-Woo’s face brightened, and he was about to respond to it.
“!” Chi-Woo flinched and closed his mouth again. Airi had propped herself up with great difficulty and raised her tail to his lips, telling him to not speak.
“Shh…”
“…Why?” Chi-Woo asked in a hushed voice.
“Wait…it’s a bit…strange.” While heaving, Airi glanced across the walls. “To search for his companions…he’s wandering around a path where monsters can pop up…? While shouting so loudly at that…?” She squinted and continued, “The captain I know…isn’t that dumb…though he can be a bit reckless at times…”
Chi-Woo stopped. He realized Airi had a point.
“But it could be him.”
“Even if it is him…the problem remains…” Airi groaned. “You guy…didn’t catch the fourth room’s monster, right…?”
“Yes.”
“Then…what is the possibility it’s been chasing you…?”
“…”
“What if it is leaving Captain be….so that it can lure you all out….because it doesn’t know where you all are hiding…?”
Chi-Woo’s face stiffened. He hadn’t thought that far.
“Then…” This could be a trap whether it was actually Dalgil or not.
At that moment, the shouting stopped. But the silence was soon broken by piercing shrieks. Though it was still unclear, the voice was fiercer and more urgent than before. It sounded as if someone was fighting or screaming.
“A monster…? Help…?” With her keen hearing, Airi caught some words from afar.
“A monster? Is he telling us to help him? Is it Mr. Dalgil’s voice?” Chi-Woo asked, and Airi nodded. “What should we do?”
Airi didn’t immediately answer. Since she didn’t know the situation well either, she couldn’t say much.
Chi-Woo glanced at Philip, but he shook his head.
—No. Did you forget that I can’t go too far from you?
Chi-Woo had asked on the off chance that it’d work, but ended up disappointed. The problem was they didn’t have much time left.
“…” It could be a trap as Airi said, but it could also not be, and Dalgil could really be in trouble.
“Don’t go…” Airi said pleadingly as Chi-Woo made up his mind.
“Even if it’s Captain…you’ll likely die if it’s a trap…”
“I’m gonna go check out the situation. Just checking.” It wasn’t like Chi-Woo had absolutely no plan either. Philip was a tethered spirit; though he couldn’t stray too far from the person he was tied to, he didn’t need to stay right next to Chi-Woo. Thus, Chi-Woo planned to approach the source of the scream as closely as he could and send Philip to check the situation first before making any decision. Of course, he couldn’t guarantee anything.
As Airi said, this all could be a trap. But in the end, Chi-Woo chose to undertake the dangers since doing nothing would bear nothing.
“Ms. Airi…stay hidden in this room quietly.” Chi-Woo carefully placed Airi down. He wasn’t abandoning her, but preparing for the worst-case scenario; it was better for one person to die than two.
“If it really is Mr. Dalgil, I will save him and bring him back here with me,” Chi-Woo said. He didn’t mention what would happen if it wasn’t Dalgil, or if he failed to save him or got killed because it really was a trap. If Chi-Woo died, and Airi was left alone, she was basically dead; yet there was a possibility that other team members would find and save her. In the end, Airi quietly agreed. She knew she was nothing but baggage in this current battle.
“Be careful…” That was all she could say to him.
“I will come back. I promise,” Chi-Woo said repeatedly to assure her before moving out. The door opened and closed. Airi was left alone, and she let out a deep sigh. She lamented her current condition. The more she thought about it, the more miserable and pathetic she felt. If only she had been more careful. In some ways, she wanted to knock herself out again. How nice would it be if she closed her eyes and woke up in Shalyh City? Even dying like this would be more helpful for her companions right now. However, her eyes didn’t close easily, nor did she feel sleepy. Perhaps it was because Bogle had cared for her so earnestly that she persisted even after being inflicted with such a serious injury.
“So…useless…” Airi thought of Bogle and blinked. Time continued to pass. Without being able to make a sound, Airi waited quietly and felt anxiety rise inside her. What happened? Why didn’t she hear anything? Wasn’t it time for him to come back? Did he…? All sorts of thoughts whirled inside her mind, and most of them were negative. Airi craned her ears harder and heard something then. Someone was walking hurriedly across the corridors. The sound grew closer and stopped before the room she was in. Clack!
The door suddenly opened wide.