Floor 1 Joint Trial (5): Grace and Raphael

Their dungeon conquest was far from easy, not even as a joke.

"Hah...! Haaah...!"

Grace, drenched in cold sweat and gasping for breath. Raphael sat beside her, at a loss, constantly glancing at the dark underground cavern behind them.

"Damn it... Sorry, Grace. I thought attacking its eyes would let us win."

"Please... shut... up...."

"Ah, got it...!"

Clutching the ragged stump of her severed arm, Grace dragged her feet across the floor in unbearable agony, foaming at the mouth. The work of a monster that rolled around the vast underground cavern with only its head intact. They weren't safe yet. They'd merely hidden behind a pillar.

In this space that felt like a temple to Athena crammed into the cavern, the monster rolled about here and there, hair flying wildly. Building-sized, with a disturbingly grinning face. And its blind obsession with the living.

To evade it, they'd targeted its eyes. But the result was this disaster. Grace had lost an arm, literally torn off by the attack, and one of her own eyes was blinded by flying stone shards.

"Haaa... Hngh.... Ugh...."

Even a graze from a blade would make a person scream and collapse. How much worse for a frail woman with her arm blown off? It was a miracle she hadn't screamed outright. But the tears, cold sweat, and pained groans leaking out involuntarily couldn't be stopped.

The monster might hear and come running... but no one could tell her to stay quiet. The dangling flesh at the stump, the jaggedly protruding arm bone, the gushing blood... Just looking was painful.

"Don't worry, Grace... We'll recover fully once we're out of the tower, right? I'll handle it. Yeah? Hang in here. It won't know we're behind this pillar."

"Heh... hahaha.... Yeah... right.... As if... ngh... that'd... happen...?"

She who'd brimmed with self-esteem and confidence. That's why choosing the highest difficulty seemed natural to honor her family name and her own glory.

But Survival difficulty was hellish. Tens of thousands had died, survivors countable on one hand. That had bred arrogance. I'm one of the chosen, after all.

"We... can't... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beat... that thing...."

It wasn't some green movie monster, or a Dracula or werewolf from horror novels. A monster whose very existence mocked the gods.

Her fighting spirit shattered. No complex environments like other Survival floors, no traps, no poisonous plants or beasts or monsters coexisting in nature.

Just that one monster in this vast cavern. That was everything.

"We're... gonna die, aren't we?"

Too ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much blood lost. Her head felt fuzzy. Was this how she'd go? Not in her beloved family's arms, but on this filthy dirt floor? So wretchedly, so painfully?

"Ahh.... Better if...."

Even in death, if they'd cleared it... Her name would live in honor. But failure was certain. Even if Doom Tower and Cycle Tower cleared, it meant nothing.

Origin Tower... she'd been the anchor. Their failure meant the Joint Trial failed, humanity seeing it as countless climbers' deaths and bitter defeat.

Suddenly, cheers from lower-difficulty climbers who'd supported her. She'd deemed them inferior in status, wealth, family, ability—natural they'd praise her superiority. She hadn't spared them a glance.

But what was this? Defense succeeded, yet she failed. Her incompetence would kill them.

"Grace...! Grace! Damn it! Don't close your eyes...! Think of something, anything!"

Vision darkening. The annoying man's voice fading beside her.

Ah. I'm dying. This was the feeling of death... So young, dreams and hopes unrealized.

Flutter.

"Ah... huh?"

A paper ticket fell between them.

"What the... popping out of nowhere."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Grace could barely move her eyes from blood loss, so Raphael placed his hand on it. A message appeared before them.

Gaudily designed like an amusement park ticket. Instant Joint Trial clear—escape from here. Grace's body would heal too.

But....

"G-G-Glace...? This...."

Event points gone. Harsher penalties on remaining towers. Those were the issues.

"...Cycle... Tower... bastards...."

Grace, foaming blood, muttered in rage. Sudden memory: Cycle Tower clear, all points vanished, difficulty spiked, collapsing in despair. The unbeatable lich appearing, resurrecting corpses, dozens of giants from clumped flesh. All mysteries solved.

"Don't... use... it... nghhh...."

"Don't talk."

Even so, she couldn't curse Cycle Tower climbers. She'd nearly used it herself in panic.

Who wouldn't fear death? It terrified her madly. The pain was insane. She missed her parents, friends. Wanted to go home. This death seemed merciful.

Such intense temptation. Like a desert traveler finding an oasis before thirst's end.

Rip—!

"Sorry, Grace... Can't grant that request."

Raphael tore the ticket before her eyes. He feared death too. And...

Doom Tower's sole failure was certain. Using or not was irrelevant. It was choosing who died.

That made it easier.

"Anyone'd think the same, right? Yeah, Grace? Sorry... I don't wanna die either. Got a sick little sister, parents who only see me."

Unknown faces versus them? And not sacrificing Doom Tower's tens of thousands for two lives—Origin had more climbers.

Yeah, this is rational. Self-brainwashing justification. Guilt crawled up her spine, body trembling.

Kyaaaaaaaah!!! A woman's ear-piercing scream. Even in the shrouded darkness, its presence rushed toward them rapidly. It had spotted their light-wrapped position.

But it meant nothing. Enveloped in light, they were forcibly transferred out of the Joint Trial in an instant.

"Haaa.... Hngh... nghhh.... Sorry... I'm sorry...."

Grace finally burst into tears. Feeling new flesh regrow on her arm, pain vanishing—yet her soul's wound tore agonizingly.

Her last thought: Thank goodness Raphael used the ticket instead of me. It stung bitterly.

*****

"So it came to this after all?"

Still, it took longer than expected. Thought they'd use the ticket right away once I gave it.

What good were words?

I was the one who'd found and delivered the Supplies Delivery 200,000p ticket to them.

Even in this rippling white mystical space, [Lekatria's Dungeon] interior was invisible.

Given just in case... Guess they couldn't clear it.

'No wonder it cost 200k just for supplies delivery.'

The ridiculous [Doom Tower Joint Trial Free Pass Ticket!] in my hand crumbled to dust.

"Time to enter."

All dungeon entrances were in the same spot. Didn't matter—they couldn't communicate across towers anyway. But it made it easy to find.

No way they expected someone like me peeping freely.

Splaaat!

A sticky, pitch-black wave crashed like a tsunami, a massive baby's maw bursting from it to chomp the golden lion knight commander.

Like savoring a snack. Chomp chomp.

The valiant, mighty knight captain, who seemed unbeatable, spilled guts and blood with an incredulous look.

Beneath, countless sticky baby forms gaped wide—chomp—and devoured it.

Mimicking innocent baby laughter grotesquely after chewing human flesh.

Like an oil spill, dark sticky liquid oozed from the ground everywhere, faces of countless big and small babies emerging within.

Ngaa~ Ngaa~ Ngaa~

The cry pierced not ears but brain—I stifled a silent scream, ass dragging backward.

Knights, soldiers, climbers atop the walls... Lost will to fight, dropped weapons, fled at the sight.

"Fuck. How the hell do you fight that? Heartless bastards?"

I didn't blame the cowards. Couldn't, really. Humans don't fight natural disasters.

"Enter!"

[Lekatria's Dungeon]

No dawdling or cowering like idiots. Dove straight into the glowing entrance, entering the dungeon.

*****

Szzzzzt—crackle—zzzzzt!!

A familiar Status Window. Mind foggy like sinking into ocean depths.

Vaguely felt. Ahead, something I called the system guarding me clashed with the tower's origin.

A colossal, humanly incomprehensible will slammed down on me—felt like an asteroid strike.

Ding~!

That childish, clear tone now welcome. Against absolute evil's vast malice, my [System] seemed tiny.

Like blocking a missile with thin glass—power gap absurdly comical.

Then, collision—blinding light.

"!!"

Dimensions warped. Staring at myself, then swimming neural pathways in my brain's microcosm, or hurled to space's vastness, galaxies filling my eyes.

One second decades, decades one second. Transcendent knowledge curses flooded my brain from unperceivable heights.

Ding~!

White light swallowed the world, nullifying the curses.

A message shouting to an ant-like human, ignoring its polar opposite. After that, hazy—like forgetting a dream. Only remembered running hard somewhere.