Vines?
“Hmm. Let's see...”
I stood before the massive hole where countless vines wove together, climbing down along the wall below.
Click!
I switched on the second flashlight I'd brought as a spare.
“Time to test it with a light first.”
I opened the gallery window and switched to camera mode. Then I stretched my right arm out over the hole and, giving the flashlight in my hand a slight spin, dropped it.
Holding the second flashlight in my left hand, I shone it down into the depths.
Through the camera-mode window, I could see the flashlight tumbling round and round as it fell endlessly...
“It's falling for quite a while...”
Watching the flashlight descend, I kept snapping photos at rapid intervals.
Just as I'd been staring until the light had shrunk to a faint speck far below—
Thud!
With that sound, the light vanished and the flashlight disappeared from view. Had it hit the bottom and the switch been pressed, turning it off? But the depths illuminated by my flashlight from above revealed nothing but an endless abyss.
“Something just...”
Come to think of it, I thought I'd glimpsed something moving, too.
By luck, I'd taken a photo right before the light vanished.
I tapped the saved photo to check it.
“Hmm...”
In the center was a tiny bead of light, falling far below. And beside it, something thin and black like a thread, reaching out toward that flashlight.
Perhaps the long, dark shape—silhouetted against the backlight—had whipped out and smashed the flashlight?
It did look dangerous. But just one strand? And if it was thin enough to be barely visible at that distance...
“Could I beat something like that?”
Of course, like with the Mud Men, knocking it away might just spawn a whole swarm more. Still, if I could think of this as another passage leading somewhere, if I could at least gauge it somehow...
How could I measure it, though...
Right. The flashlight was smashed, so—
Tap, tap.
I lightly rapped the flashlight in my left hand with the edge of my palm.
Pretty sturdy...
I hit it a little harder.
Absolutely not something that would break from bare hands.
Well, tools are better when they're durable—that's why I bought the side blade in iron, after all.
Shatter this thing in one blow...? Or maybe, rather than being smashed, it was snatched away in an instant...
“Okay. I'm not going down there.”
However I looked at it, it seemed dangerous. Thinking about it, it was probably too far away to be a mere thread—the perspective just made it look thin.
Judging its size by the flashlight, whose light was all I could see, was tricky. But considering how long the flashlight had fallen, the fact that it still looked small from here meant...
“At the very least, it's bigger than a person.”
Obviously in length, and probably quite thick as well.
A living, moving, thick vine.
“A tentacle monster, seriously?”
Tentacle monsters are a hard no. The target is even male, and I'm not a woman. Of course, if I *were* a woman, that would be a welcome thing—no, obviously not that either.
Either way, I couldn't advance through the Second Passage without dealing with that giant tentacle...? vine...?
I sat down on the ground, opened the gallery, and wrote a post.
Author: CaveEscapeRope
Explored the Second Passage today.
(Photo of the wall covered in moss)
The entrance was covered in moss. Probably because the neighboring passage has lots of water—the big moss patches must've grown fat drinking the water seeping in from there.
(Photo of lush grass and vines covering the entire ceiling and walls)
It gradually turned into forest-like terrain. And going a bit further ahead,
(Photo of countless vines hanging down into a massive hole)
There was a big hole. Climbing down the vines looks possible, but even shining a flashlight down, I couldn't see the end—felt like the future of us Backrooms gallery folks.
(Photo of a shrunken light far below and a long shape reaching out beside it)
That's the flashlight I threw a while back. I could tell something was targeting it.
After that the flashlight's light disappeared, but I couldn't tell if it broke or if that thing snatched it.
Definitely seems like a very dangerous place to go.
End of today's exploration diary.
“No, this is absolutely ridiculous...”
What do these people take me for—some kind of High Elf? Or a High Earthling?
I checked the other comments too.
“Hm? 'Not sure yet'? Did they find something in the photos? Should I check the hole again? Or is it actually safe enough to go...?”
Just as I got up and was about to climb down a little way along the vines, a new comment appeared.
“How did they know?”
They told me not to, so I stopped for now.
Suddenly, SaveMe, who had been replying, went silent.
“Did something happen...?”
They're still inside the Backrooms too. Don't tell me—don't go first...!
“I see...”
Reading UnderTheSea's comment, I waited, and sure enough, a new reply appeared.
“So the other places really aren't easy either...”
I was starting to understand a little why they called the Earth difficulty 'easy'.
Another command, huh.
“Could be, I suppose?”
I turned around and slowly began making my way back to the Central Cavern.
“Oh, right.”
It hadn't crossed my mind at all.
At that comment, I turned on my phone to check the time—and sure enough, four hours had really passed.
“So time is the same for the other galleries too?”
More importantly, at this rate, even if I headed back now it'd be cutting it close. Hadn't it taken me almost two hours to get here?
Rather than sitting down to rest, I should hurry back—regretting it, I immediately started running.
Dash dash dash!
Pushing through the undergrowth and vines, trying to move fast—
Thud-thud—
“Y-you damn nuisance...!”
As if determined to block my retreat, vines kept tangling around my body from every direction.
Thud-thud-thud—
Even as I forced my way forward, snapping them with brute strength, more and more vines snagged me.
Was the structure designed to tangle more when retreating? Or was it just blocking me because I was moving fast?
Either way, I spent a long while tearing through the tangling vines with sheer force as I pushed through the undergrowth.
“Good, I'm out...!”
I made it back to where the grass and vines had all but vanished, leaving only moss behind.
“The time...?”
I turned on my phone to check.
“Six hours gone, huh...”
At this rate, heading back now meant I'd definitely run into the Mud Men.
“Nothing for it...”
I pulled the pickaxe from my bag and gripped it tight in my right hand.
“I won't be harvested...!”
Step, step.
Cautiously, I advanced one careful step at a time.
By the light of the flashlight in my left hand, the end of the passage slowly came into view ahead.
Since I didn't know which direction it would come from, I moved forward slowly, little by little.
Just as I was nearly through the passage and the Central Cavern came back into view—
On the mud pile visible far across the cavern, nothing had erupted at all.
Clearly, the creature had already crawled out and was lurking somewhere out of sight.
Grip.
I tightened my hold on the pickaxe in my right hand.
Was it coming? Was it about to emerge?
Step.
I passed fully through the passage and set foot in the Central Cavern.
Looking around, looking around—
“It's not here...?”
The Mud Man wasn't in the cavern.
Still gripping the pickaxe firmly in my right hand, I turned my head this way and that with my left, checking thoroughly.
“Definitely not here, huh... Hm?”
The mud scattered along the trail leading from the mud pile to the Third Passage seemed to have darkened a shade.