Chapter 211
Pitch-Black Energy spewed from the cracked rift in the void. Despite the complete mess, the surroundings sank into a dark and quiet stillness.
Screeeech-
A leg scratched at the crack and slipped out. One could say the Companions' expectations were about half right.
The sharp leg was that of a moving robot, connected to a metal frame by joints and motors.
The 'half' of their expectations was due to the opposite sex, as that wasn’t the full extent. A crimson flesh mass squirmed over the iron skeleton.
Bubbling and popping out, a bloodshot human eye scanned the corridor. After the eye confirmed the supernatural ability users emitting different energy waves, the exterior of the flesh mass drew a deep arc.
It was a smile. That was certain.
Crunch!
The leg grabbed the crack and pulled it wider. The hole torn in the empty air gradually grew massive, and a bio-machine with a brute seemingly twice the size of a normal person shoved its head through and emerged.
The inquisitor, an assailant and a combination of human and machine, shouted in a bizarre voice full of joy.
=Oh, there are so many to judge. Fifteen! How has the Lord prepared such a grand feast for me?=
At that moment, Cheonchilbaek perfectly understood why every single prisoner in the Simulation’s Glitch Hall, without exception, extremely feared and avoided the inquisitor. No, he empathized with it.
Who could maintain their composure after seeing that terrible entity? Even the great Paradox was holding his breath, trying to avoid the inquisitor’s gaze.
It might have been possible if the inquisitor didn’t have multiple eyes. But it had many eyes.
Eyeballs of various colors popping out from all over the hideously covering flesh mass spun around, looking at the surroundings in 360 degrees.
The eyes on its back locked onto the Companions all at once, like a scene from a horror movie.
As it particularly looked at Paradox, and Cheonchilbaek next to him, tongues darted out from the split flesh mass and smacked their lips.
Everyone’s faces turned ashen at the creepy sight. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire; they had somehow fended off the Model prisoners, only for a monster worse than all of them combined to pop out.
What on earth should they do? Their gazes naturally turned toward Paradox.
However, there was no way he had a countermeasure either. Who could have known the inquisitor was such an absurd entity!
What saved the Companions in their crisis was a single ice pick.
Swoosh!
“Die! You monster!”
Was it because they had lost the opposite sex due to Paradox’s telepathy?
One Model Prisoner, utterly unable to withstand the mental pressure, vomited a bizarre scream and manifested his ability.
The icicle flew like a bullet.
Thwack!
The powerful ice pick that had smashed skulls by lodging into human heads looked closer to a tiny ice cream cone in front of the inquisitor.
Whether the rumor that supernatural abilities didn’t work was true or not, all it did was stick with a thud to the squirming flesh mass and melt away.
It couldn’t inflict any harm on the inquisitor.
But that didn’t mean the inquisitor wasn’t enraged.
=Kikikikikikik…=
A creepy laughter echoed out.
The figure of flesh and machine cloaked in darkness flickered for a moment and vanished.
Right on cue, Paradox’s telepathy rang out urgently.
[We have to run. Right now!]
Even without Paradox’s instruction, they were already fully prepared to flee.
The Companions, without exception, swiftly but incredibly quietly dashed down the Corridor and headed for Sector 1.
From behind came the explosion of abilities of various kinds, the sound of people being torn apart alive, the sound of something being chewed and eaten, a roar filled with satiety and pleasure…
Terrible noises that they didn’t even want to imagine echoed out.
Osai entered the sector transfer code he had found out from the officer, and after crossing the blast door that opened so slowly it made him want to curse, he finally reached Sector 1 in the innermost part.
As soon as they arrived, everyone collapsed onto the floor.
Even the steadfast Samsao spoke while dripping in cold sweat.
“…To think I’d feel this much fear toward an entity in a Simulation.”
Beggar Beyond simply being strong or weak, the inquisitor was an entity whose appearance and demeanor maximized the instinctive discomfort and terror that any human couldn’t help but feel.
After catching his breath for a moment like that, Paradox stood up from his spot and spoke.
“We need to move again. The Model prisoners will buy us some time to an extent, but… you all saw the inquisitor, so you know. They probably won’t last long.”
Cheonchilbaek nodded. It was exhausting, but the fear instilled by the inquisitor made his legs move again.
There was no way the Model prisoners, who had already lost their opposite Sex, could stall for a long time against the inquisitor.
If they didn’t want to be caught, they had to run away in advance and keep moving steadily.
Recalling the shocking entrance of the inquisitor tearing through the empty air and crawling out of the darkness made it even more so. The distance could be closed at any time.
“I don’t know the way from here, but… let’s keep going in the direction we were heading for now. If we go straight in one direction, the Core Room will appear eventually.”
Paradox said so and led the way.
They had asked the officer for the way through Sector 1, but the only answer was that Sector 1's structure changed from moment to moment due to a random algorithm, making it unknowable.
If that were true, getting to the Core Room would also be a treacherous journey.
And it actually turned out that way.
They walked quickly through the same white corridors, white walls, and white floors every time.
As they walked, they heard sounds as if the entire sector was ringing, and felt as if the floor was shaking and turning. Was the entire sector really changing its structure?
“Samsao, try leaving a mark on the wall. I feel like we should leave some kind of trace.”
They were now sick of passing through rooms that looked exactly the same while filled with anxiety and nervousness. Paradox, at his wit’s end, gave the instruction to Samsao.
They had tried to refrain from using supernatural abilities as much as possible because of the inquisitor, but if they couldn’t find the way anyway, they would eventually meet an end no different from being caught by the inquisitor.
Samsao used his enhanced supernatural ability, punching the wall to leave a mark. It was so sturdy that he had to pound it several times just to barely create a trace.
They set off again, full of anxiety that the inquisitor might come looking for them due to the thumping noise.
And a few minutes later, the Companions returned once again to the white corridor where the trace of the fist remained.
“It seems my sense of direction has gone bad. It didn’t feel like we were going around in circles in the same place.”
Paradox spoke after some thought.
“Just going around in circles like this won’t have any meaning. I suppose we’ll have to take a risk.”
He pointed to a large door on the side. It was an unidentified room without a single sign.
Until now, they hadn’t paid it any mind because they had only walked along the corridors, but if Sector 1's structure really kept changing, the path they were looking for might be inside here.
“We need to take a different route.”
After everyone finished their mental preparation, they entered the room. Wasn’t it possible that the inquisitor or the strongest supernatural ability user, ace, could be waiting inside?
Whirrr.
No special procedure was needed to open the door. It just opened automatically when they approached. There wasn’t much inside, either.
Similar to the Model prisoners' rest area, there were seats, refreshments, and a few pieces of recreational equipment sparsely placed around.
They said external personnel also came and went in Sector 1. Was this a facility for them?
Osai grabbed a handful of chlorella cookies and munched on them.
“Hey, catch.”
Saying so, he tossed one over, and Cheonchilbaek, startled, caught it and ate it. He was so exhausted that he had no appetite, but having someone who always acted abrasively take care of him like this made him feel conflicted.
“Let’s go out through there.”
Paradox pointed to a door connected to another room. Upon moving to the room, what they saw was a laboratory where some kind of research seemed to have been conducted.
A reporter, a data interface, separators, measuring instruments, and various other equipment that Cheonchilbaek knew absolutely nothing about.
In the meantime, Paradox had picked up a few files and was reading them.
“U-um, weren’t we supposed to go quickly?”
When Osai asked, Paradox answered with a narrowed brow.
“That’s true, but… time is ultimately a resource too. Just as you have to buy daily necessities no matter how broke you are, if it’s valuable information, you have to obtain it somehow even if you have no time.”
Just what kind of information was it that when every minute and second was precious he would slow his steps at this point?
At the questioning gazes, Paradox spoke.
“We’ve removed the Control, and we’ve found a clue to breaking out. But isn’t there one quest we haven’t resolved yet?”
“What would the witches have done?”
.
The quest objective was to find out how to deal with the inquisitor. What it implied was clear. To break out, they had to face the inquisitor.
“We bought time by offering the Model prisoners as sacrifices, but as you all know, it’s nothing more than a temporary measure. In the end, we have to find a way to defeat that guy called the inquisitor.”
That ruthless monster? How on earth?
It didn’t seem possible at all, so Cheonchilbaek swallowed dryly.