Death
Death
Death
Death
I'm going to die.
I'm going to die.
I'm going to—
"Shut up!"
I shouted, grinding my teeth and clenching my hand so hard it began to bleed, while my mind wouldn't stop screaming and chills kept running through my body.
"I know I can die, I know I'm going to die!" I muttered. "Even so, I need to save that idiot. So shut your damn mouth! Stop getting in my way!"
No matter what I said, the screams only grew louder. It felt like they were frying my brain—so many voices shouting at once.
Sigh
"Where am I?" I asked myself, walking through an endless fog.
I was alone. there wasn't even a single shadow to guide me. Not knowing what else to do, I kept walking aimlessly.
"What?"
Suddenly, my feet disconnected from the ground and I began to float. My body started accelerating toward the sky, and then—
BOOOM
I shot off at the speed of light, a myriad of colors flashing past me like a kaleidoscope, a delirious journey.
WOOSH
I stopped all at once.
My body now floated amid the fog, my clothes swaying in zero gravity.
WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH
Countless beams traveling at the speed of light appeared from all directions and then vanished, leaving a person behind each time.
I watched each of them, trying to make out their features. However, the dense fog didn't let me see much.
[ Welcome, Dreamer, to your first Conquest. ]
A holographic window projected itself in front of me, drawing my attention.
I raised my hand and passed it through the window several times in succession, amazed.
[ Waiting for challengers for the first scenario (2/5) ]
WOOSH WOOSH WOOSH
More and more people appeared around me every instant, while all I could do was wait.
"So it's going to be a test. At least it looks like the test will be in a group," I murmured. "That's great! This way we can compensate for each other's weaknesses. It will be easier than doing it alone."
[ You have been designated as a special observation target. Difficulty increased from Normal to Infernal. ]
"Yuri, you son of a bitch—when I get my hands on you—"
[ Preparations complete! ]
Suddenly, beams of light came from the opposite side and swallowed four people in succession.
"ARGH!!!"
My eyes went blind as a beam of light engulfed me completely. My body accelerated once more through the delirious scenery.
THUD
The air left my lungs as I collided with hard, cold ground. My entire body ached.
The screams of death kept crashing into me with increasing force.
Again, I ignored it.
It was dark, and only painful groans could be heard.
Slowly, I pushed my chest off the ground and briefly looked around.
There were four other people still getting their bearings in the ancient stone chamber.
Meanwhile, along the surrounding walls were heavy stone torches with blazing flames.
'I don't know them,' I considered. 'They could be violent people, or even have a breakdown in here.'
'I need to arm myself and prepare to eliminate them if necessary.'
Discreetly, while everyone was still disoriented, I stood up and looked around, feigning curiosity about the surroundings as I approached the walls.
I grabbed one of the torches—it was heavy enough to be used as a weapon, and the fire at its tip was an interesting bonus.
Tap Tap Tap
"Good idea." A tall blond man approached me with slow steps. "It's very dark and we need to find clues around here."
He moved closer to grab one of the torches.
My eyes scanned him quickly.
He is tall, dangerous.
He is stronger than me, dangerous.
He has the demeanor of a gangster, very dangerous.
'I'm not going to let him arm himself, I want to have an advantage to deal with him if necessary.'I pondered. 'But how can I get rid of him without starting a conflict?'
I decided to improvise.
"Stay back!" I extended the torch toward him, blocking his path. "Can't you see this place is some kind of dungeon? Do you really want to kill all of us that fast?"
His eyes narrowed as he looked at me.
"You say that after already having picked up a torch? Why do only you get to?" he said in a deep voice, snapping his fingers. "We need to see too, don't we?!"
I took a step back while holding the torch in a defensive stance.
"I'm a scholar," I said briefly. "I know what I'm doing—and even if I didn't, I doubt there's anyone else here who does. Or do you think the opposite? If so, it's better to say it now."
"A scholar, huh?" he said, analyzing me from head to toe.
At this point, everything could go wrong. My plan relied on my appearance deceiving him. I had to seem scholarly, otherwise even more aggressive questions than before would be asked.
That's why I purposefully changed the way I spoke to sound more proud and tired. Perhaps even a little arrogant and sarcastic.
His eyes wandered over my entire figure until they met mine. He then squinted and sighed.
"Well... Maybe I judged everything too quickly, sorry about that. Anyway, sounds useful... It's good to have someone like that on board. Especially since I don't know how useful those idiots can be."
Sigh
"I'll let you do your job. Meanwhile, I'm going over there." He pointed to the end of the hall. "It looks better lit anyway.Besides, it seems to have a different vibe, I think that's where we should go. But don't rush, let's take it easy."
He turned his back on me and went to rejoin the rest of the group, who were still disoriented. Believing that I was looking for clues in the room. Clearly, he was relieved to have me with them.
My eyes wandered over them briefly, then ignored them for now.
The priority was figuring out where I was and what was happening.
WOOSH
The flame flickered in my grip, revealing the walls in greater detail, as well as the floor beneath us.
Everything looked old, ancient, yet ordinary. There was nothing suspicious there. Beyond the fact that they are archaic materials with a spiral design. The brown tone was indeed very stylish.
I calmly admired the scenery.
Then I raised the torch toward the ceiling.
My eyes widened immediately.
"Damn…"
Dragon heads made of stone descended from the ceiling in rows, leaving no gaps between them. Their jaws were open, filled with a terrifying black void.
I checked all four corners of the room. The dragon heads were everywhere.
None of them looked even remotely friendly.
It was easy to see that the room contained some kind of inactive trap. It was also easy to say that it was simply not active because some condition had not been met, rather than because it was defective.
"Tsk! I don't like this," I muttered, heading toward the group at the end of the hall with a dark expression.
My gaze sharpened, analyzing them from a distance.
Before long, I realized a faction had formed. The group was no longer united.
The man from before had teamed up with two others of similar build, while the last one was a skinny young man.
I wonder what I would do if a fight broke out. I need to be prepared to deal with those three.
"Yo!" he called out to me. "Find anything yet? We've been eagerly waiting for your discoveries, hahaha."
I stopped a few steps away from them, staying alert around them.
"Yes," I said, making their eyes light up along with their smiles. "But first—introductions please. I want to know who I'm dealing with. Otherwise I'll start calling you: idiot one, two and three, and lab rat."
"I'm not against the idea, hahaha."The man from before nodded several times in succession, agreeing.
"But You're right, you're right!" he said enthusiastically. "We were waiting for you to start introductions. But you see…"
He chuckled softly and looked at the other two, who did the same.
"When we got here, we realized we already knew each other, so we were more curious about you two."
My eyes hardened at that answer.
'I'm not liking this.'
"And who do you think the three idiots were?"