38. Is It Wrong to Try Shoveling in a Dungeon? (10)
38. Is It Wrong to Try Shoveling in a Dungeon? (10)
The mannequin's face shattered under the flat of the shovel.
Once I confirmed that the mannequin had stopped moving, I let out a relieved sigh. There was a limit to how far you could take a gimmick. What were they even trying to accomplish with a gimmick that was nothing but a pain in the ass?
The mannequin was completely hollow inside. Was it nothing more than a gimmick? Or perhaps it was meant to be the kind of relentless pursuer that appeared in horror games. If I had been an ordinary civilian, I might have died on the spot. I would have panicked, clung to the doorknob, cursed, and gotten myself killed.
Were there more things like it in the other rooms? Would Reni be all right? It was probably a pointless worry. Even if a whole swarm of those mannequins attacked her, she wouldn't suffer so much as a scratch. Who was worrying about whom?
I grabbed the doorknob again.
The door opened with surprising ease.
I stuck my head out and scanned the hallway. It was still silent. I stared at the fourth door and the second door, mulling it over.
Would it be better to return to the second room or inspect all the rooms first? Or should I check on Karina? I stepped out of the corridor and approached her where she sat in a corner of the temple. Her face brightened when she saw me.
"Yohan! Are you finished searching?"
"No. I just came to check on you. How's Millia?"
"She seems to have calmed down considerably."
I looked at Millia resting quietly in Karina’s arms. She seemed much better than before.
"I’ll get back to solving the puzzles."
"Yes. Please be careful... If you get hurt, come straight to me."
"...If anything happens, scream immediately. I'll come running right away."
I did not expect anything to happen, but I still glanced back at Karina several times as I returned to the corridor. Given the dungeon’s theme, another mannequin or something similar could appear without warning. I headed for the fourth room, intending to gather information from the last two rooms before returning to the second.
The key I'd gotten from the third room looked, at a glance, like it belonged to the second room, but it could just as well open a different one. One hand gripping the shovel and the other on the knob, I pulled the fourth door open.
Creeeak—
The door began to open with a screech of hinges. I did not step inside immediately, instead watching the room beyond it.
It was the same kind of room as the third one.
It was the same room as the third, except that everything had been thrown into disarray. Bloodstains ran across the floor from the bed to the door. What had happened between the third and fourth rooms? If my theory was right, the rooms were arranged chronologically. I stepped inside with caution.
"...It's such a wreck I don't even know where to start searching."
I slowly surveyed the ruined room. The window that had been closed in the previous room now stood open, and a bleak wind blew through it. Should I inspect the window first? It was the greatest difference between this room and the last.
I approached the window cautiously and peered outside. A city? At least it wasn't an island. Should I stick my head out? Just in case, I tested it by extending a hand first. The moment my arm was out past the elbow—
"...This thing is overflowing with malice."
I glared at the window, which had slammed shut as if trying to sever my arm. Was it a trap designed to crush anyone the moment they leaned outside? If I'd stuck my head out and failed to react, my neck would've snapped. What a pain in the ass. I tore my gaze from the window and looked at the blood-soaked bed.
The thought that the bed might contain another danger made it difficult to approach carelessly.
I pulled out my shovel and swept the blanket aside. Under the blanket, on the bed, lay a notebook like the ones I'd seen in the previous rooms. I carefully used the shovel to drag it toward me and picked it up.
Time to see what it said.
[Month X, Day XX.
I can't believe it!]
[Month X, Day XX
It's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie it's a lie]
[Month X, Day XX
Why are you doing this to me?]
[ Month X, Day XX
The door's about to break. Help me. I don't want to be dragged away.]
A scene formed in my mind. Had Millia discovered some secret and been dragged away by her parents? Judging from the altar, her family appeared to have belonged to some kind of cult. I still didn't seem to have all the clues, so I searched the room further. I found nothing unusual, aside from a hand that suddenly reached from beneath the bed and grabbed my ankle.
"Hm. Maybe I should check the fifth room..."
Without any major findings, I exited the fourth room.
Now for the last room.
What would be waiting inside? I took a deep breath and gripped the doorknob.
What would come lunging out this time? I cautiously pushed the door... Huh?
What the hell was this? The door did not swing open—it simply toppled inward. I let out a baffled laugh. What kind of setup was that? I looked past it. The smell of blood hung in the silence. The room was far wider than the others, and red letters carved across its gray walls filled it with an ominous air.
What was this place?
I scanned the room and slowly read the words written in blood on the wall opposite the door.
"Offer a sacrifice if you desire eternal life... Predictable as it gets."
Wasn't this an absurdly common horror-game premise? Cult fanatics sacrificing their own child. So was Millia the sacrifice they'd offered? I looked down. Blood. Entrails. Four corpses lay strewn across the floor. They seemed ready to rise like zombies if I approached. Even so, I had to investigate.
I stepped carefully into the room. The reek of blood was overwhelming, and the air itself felt different. I prodded the corpses with my shovel. They did not move. I crouched beside them and examined them more closely.
Their familiar hair colors suggested that they had been Millia’s family. Why were they dead? If they had been responsible for this disturbing ritual, there seemed to be no reason for them to have died. I'd assumed they'd sacrificed Millia to obtain eternal life or something similar. Had I been wrong?
It seemed I wouldn't know anything more until I investigated further.
I let my eyes roam over the bodies.
One corpse had its abdomen torn open and its intestines exposed. Another had been decapitated, another had a hole through its heart, and the last had been hacked into pieces. The sight was nauseating, but I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and stood. Even I couldn't remain unaffected by carnage like this. When I looked away, I noticed a pile of clothes in the corner.
The clothes were familiar. They matched the outfit worn by the doll modeled after Millia in the third room. The blood made their original appearance difficult to recognize, but I was probably right. I carefully lifted them.
As I lifted it to get a better look, I heard a soft thump of something hitting the floor.
A notebook? I picked up what was probably the last one. What would it contain?
I rapidly flipped through its pages. Unexpectedly, I had to pass the halfway point before finding the first entry.
[I wish they'd all just die.]
[I'm going to kill them.]
[I don't need a family anymore.]
That was a horrifying conclusion.
I closed the notebook and put it in my pocket. Was there anything else to search? I looked around, but there was nothing noteworthy—only the corpses and clothing strewn across the room. Were the objects meant for the altar in the left corridor, then?
I quietly left the room, returned to the second, and inserted the key into the cage door. Fortunately, it fit. The door opened with a nerve-racking screech, and I went inside and picked up the doll.
"Nothing unusual... Wait, there's something inside."
I turned the doll over, found a hole with stuffing poking out, and reached inside. The interior was soft and strangely unsettling. I carefully pulled out the disturbing object hidden within.
"...Fuck."
Why the hell was there a human eye inside this thing?
I wanted to throw it away immediately, but it was probably one of the offerings meant for the altar. I tucked the eye inside my coat and left the room. The hallway was silent.
I looked toward the altar. No one stood in the opposite corridor. Were they still searching the rooms? I'd check on Karina and then move to the left side. Just as I started toward the altar—
"..."
Goosebumps rose across my entire body.
Something was behind me.
Something...
Was it the same kind of gimmick as before? I forced my stiff neck to turn and looked behind me.
The end of the hall. A dead end.
A figure stood shrouded in darkness.
Headless.
And the sound of something scraping across the floor.
Naturally, my gaze followed the sound downward.
A very familiar blade, the kind used to cut wood.
"...Right, I'd have been disappointed if something like this didn't show up."
The headless killer launched itself forward.
I adjusted my grip on the shovel.