Tutorial — Floor 2
"Is this it? The place we're supposed to go?"
"Looks like it."
"...It's a little creepy."
Joo Ha-yeon said it as though a chill had just run through her.
For something called a shrine, it had the peculiar feel of a small wooden church. I remembered imagining a Parthenon the first time I'd heard the word — and the odd disappointment when the real thing looked nothing like that.
I didn't have much else to add, but there was no reason to be careless.
"Let's go in as carefully as we can, just in case."
The others nodded, tension flickering across their faces.
I took point. Joo Ha-yeon stayed right behind me, and Kim Insil brought up the rear with his sword and shield. Kim Jung-heon, the man who'd been summoned alone, had nothing but a single blade, and the sisters Na-yeon and Na Seoyun carried only daggers, so they took the center.
In the previous cycle we'd scavenged weapons off the dead. This time I'd swept the first floor myself, which left Na-yeon and Na Seoyun with nothing but the daggers they'd originally chosen. I had two tickets I was saving for something else, so I'd kept them hidden on purpose. Without me here, the two of them probably would have been dismissed out of hand.
Once everyone had settled into position, I eased the shrine door open.
Creeeak.
The neglected wood groaned as it swung inward. The interior was filthy. Abandoned long enough to slip entirely from human hands, it was thick with cobwebs, and barely any light reached inside. Fortunately, the path from the door to the altar stood wide open, so confirming there was no immediate threat was easy. It was a small, church-like building to begin with — not particularly spacious — and checking the interior wasn't difficult.
Out of habit I scanned everything, ceiling included, then stepped slowly inside.
"...It doesn't look like there's any particular danger."
Joo Ha-yeon spoke cautiously as she followed me in.
"Yeah. Hmm... that. That looks like it, doesn't it? The vessel Johann asked us to bring back."
We left Kim Insil outside on watch, and the rest of the party came in. There was no sign of danger, so we approached the altar at an unhurried pace, the floorboards creaking underfoot. When I carefully lifted the vessel, a simple status window appeared.
A replica grail crafted for ceremonial rites. High artistic value.
...The name is Abandoned Shrine, the building looks like a church, and the ritual vessel is a Holy Grail? No matter how I looked at it, the whole thing was a hybrid that refused to make sense. Then again, a church and a Holy Grail weren't that strange a pairing, were they? The Tower already broke Earth's common sense in plenty of ways. This wasn't anything special.
It was definitely the item required for Johann's request — the Imitation Holy Grail.
"This is it. A message popped up. Imitation Holy Grail. It matches the request."
"This is... yes. It's definitely the one."
Joo Ha-yeon nodded as well after checking the Grail I'd handed her.
Item secured, we left the shrine quickly. The atmosphere was unsettling, and there was no reason to linger. Maybe it was because the mood was better than in the first cycle — we'd gotten our hands on the Grail earlier than expected, which meant we'd have time to check the traps as well.
Following Johann's instructions, we inspected every trap marked on the map and collected the animals caught in them using our inventories. Plenty of people flinched at the sight of deer and wild boars dead in the snares, but most of them had never seen anything like it. It couldn't be helped.
After finishing with the traps, we arrived back at the campsite where we'd first parted ways with Johann. He didn't seem to have returned yet.
"Let's take the trapped animals out first."
"...Ugh. Can't we take them out later?"
I shrugged.
"If the inventory is a skill unique to us, it could get inconvenient. We didn't see Johann using one yesterday either. Better to take them out now."
The others nodded, however reluctantly. We pulled the stored carcasses from our inventories, piled them in one spot, and sat down to rest.
In the previous cycle, we hadn't finished this early. The parties hadn't meshed this easily either. The atmosphere had been razor-edged, our pace slow, opinions split — it had eaten more than twice as much time. Johann had even beaten us back to camp.
This time, the party had coalesced around me. No sharp edges, no friction. We seemed to be sailing through the request without any of it.
Around the hour when the sun hung at its highest — when our appointed meeting with Johann was nearly upon us — a strange sound cut through the quiet.
Rustle.
Every gaze snapped toward it.
"Johann?"
Joo Ha-yeon called his name.
"That's not him — enemy!"
I knew in an instant that it wasn't Johann.
Grrrr!
Wolves.
I drew my weapon in a flash, the thought already forming.
There was no attack like this in the past.
Even as the question rose, I understood. The party had acted completely differently from the previous cycle. The pile of recovered game had grown, and we'd arrived earlier than planned. The scent of blood must have carried. A pack of wolves had come for the carcasses.
Damn it.
There were about twenty of them — a fairly large pack. Our side was underpowered. The Tower's wolves were actually more dangerous than goblins. They weren't humanoid. They were bigger, and stronger.
One of them lunged at Na Seoyun.
"No!"
Na-yeon threw herself around her sister, but that was as far as she could go. She simply wrapped her body around Seoyun, as if she were ready to die in her place and nothing more.
My physical abilities were lacking, and of all the luck, I was standing a little too far away. My reaction came late. If I ran for it, I wouldn't make it. They were faster than I'd expected.
In a single motion, I hurled the mace in my hand at the wolf's face.
Yelp!
A cry of pain. The mace spun true and struck the wolf square in the head. It abandoned the attack and scrambled back, and in that opening I stepped in front of Na-yeon.
"S-Shin-hoo..."
"Get back. Everyone, group up! Inward — now!"
Times like this, I bitterly missed the physical abilities that had been stripped down to nothing. If I could even use mana, I would have sensed an ambush like this long before it happened. With the status window refusing to open, both my mana and my body were woefully insufficient.
Still, my armor was broken-tier at this stage of the Tower. I wouldn't die. Protecting everyone else was another matter. Na Seoyun especially had to live. She was an untainted talent of Supreme potential — something I'd finally found. I couldn't lose her this meaninglessly.
Every one of them looked terrified, and they had every reason to be. Goblins were grotesque, but they were only about the size of a child. Look at these wolves. Even Earth's wolves were dangerous, and the Tower's stood well over a meter at the shoulder, with a body length exceeding two. The intimidation rolling off that bulk was closer to a tiger's.
I watched them carefully.
...Their target is the game. They don't necessarily need to kill us. If we give them all of it...
Wolves were intelligent. Hand over the carcasses, and there was a good chance they'd simply leave.
"Everyone, move slowly to the left. Get away from the animal carcasses. They might just go."
The others nodded with difficulty and began to shift. Fortunately, the prediction held — the wolves were far more interested in the recovered bodies. Some of them moved in and took the deer and boar carcasses in their jaws.
I didn't let the tension drop, staring down the one that looked like the leader. The alpha seemed to have judged me the greatest threat as well, and never took its eyes off me.
Just when it seemed that unspoken agreement was being honored—
Bark! Bark! Bark!
The wolf that had gone after Na Seoyun earlier lunged again. I stepped forward at once and swung the mace. It connected — but not cleanly. Unlike goblins, wolves were tougher, and faster. The thing clamped down on my arm immediately.
Crunch.
A crushing pressure. Armor this light would normally have torn, or the bite force would have pulped the arm underneath. But my armor was broken-tier at this point in time. It didn't even tickle.
I looked the wolf biting my arm dead in the eye and swung the mace in a wide, heavy arc. The first blow landed with a dull, meaty thud. The wolf snarled. I hit it again. It whimpered. Two more strikes, and then a wet crunch — under the barrage, its skull finally caved in, and it died. I kicked the carcass aside and locked eyes with the alpha.
Meanwhile the rest of the pack, wary of me, had collected every last piece of game. The alpha stared at the dead wolf for a long moment, then let out a long howl.
Awoooooooo—
Attack signal, or a call to withdraw? I watched them, every muscle tight. Fortunately, it was the latter. The wolves pulled back, the alpha still watching me. I slowly stepped away from the carcass. Only then did the leader retrieve its dead and leave the clearing. If I'd looked like easy prey, it probably would have killed us too and dragged our bodies away with the rest.
A long while after they were gone, the party members sank to the ground one by one.
"Ha... haha."
"Hoo..."
They understood now. The Tower's wolves were predators that goblins couldn't even begin to compare to. They had come within a hair of dying — and lived.
"Hic... waaah..."
With the tension broken, the fear caught up with her. Na Seoyun burst into tears in Na-yeon's arms.
"It's okay. It's okay, Seoyun. Don't worry. Unnie will protect you... okay?"
"Waaah..."
Even Na-yeon's eyes, as she soothed her sister, had a few tears welling in them.
"...Let's keep it down. What if more wolves come? We don't even have the game anymore."
Kim Insil.
"I-I'm sorry. We'll be quiet. Seoyun. Seoyun, stop crying, okay?"
I walked over to them.
"Seoyun."
"Hic... O-Oppa..."
"Stop crying, okay? Don't worry. Even if they come back, I'll protect you somehow."
"Oppaaa..."
Before I knew it she had burrowed into my arms. I gave a wry smile and patted her back. It had been a crisis, but we'd gotten through it.
"...We survived thanks to you. We owe you..."
Just as Joo Ha-yeon was offering her thanks, the bushes rustled again.
"Eek!"
Everyone flinched — and in the same instant had their weapons in hand. Na Seoyun clung to me hard.
What now?
This time, fortunately, it was Johann.
"Ah... Johann..."
He looked at our party with a startled expression. I didn't miss the slightly awkward look underneath it. A sense of unease rose, and the moment I recalled his actions from the first cycle, I understood.
You son of a bitch.
The first cycle. Johann. There was usually a modifier that went in front of his name.
The first NPC. The first piece of trash to screw over Earth's trainees.
The first NPC we ever met — and the first piece of garbage to screw over us Earthlings, us trainees. The one responsible for burying Na Seoyun, with her Supreme potential, and Na-yeon, who had High potential and could even use magic, in the tutorial. A vicious existence who had gotten every other party member killed, except me.
And he was already making his move.