Chapter 217
Everyone died.
In the blazing flames, not only Samsao and Osai, but Cheonchilbaek himself and even the always-relaxed Paradox crumbled into ashes.
And in the remaining space, the Inmate suddenly appeared and manipulated a small controller. Then, ace, unable to resist the red light of the suddenly activated suppressor, fell to his knees.
Having achieved his goal, the inmate burst into a madness-filled laugh. “Bwahahaha!…”
The surroundings darkened and the space shook. The sound of something dismal crawling over could be heard. The Inmate was seen startling in fright.
That was all Cheonchilbaek was allowed to see.
As he snapped out of the vision where it was hard to distinguish virtual from reality, bright red blood trickled down his nose, just as Paradox had shown several times. His head hurt as if it were splitting.
What he saw was not reality. The Companions were still alive, though it was clear they were all in danger of burning to death by the enraged ace because the suppressor hadn’t worked.
However, even amidst the confusion, there was a clear fact. If the 'danger' sensed by his supernatural ability was not wrong this time either… the Inmate was alive.
He didn’t know how he had deceived everyone’s eyes and ears, but it was certain that he hadn’t died in ace’s fire and had survived completely unharmed, hiding his presence nearby.
He couldn’t see him even when he looked around. It was a hair-trigger situation. Cheonchilbaek abandoned the thought of solving it himself and urgently shouted.
“The Inmate is alive! I saw it with my ability! We have to find him!”
The Companions didn’t question him. They urgently looked around, searching for the Inmate just as Cheonchilbaek did.
No matter how much they searched, he couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, but there were other means.
As Paradox placed a hand on his temple and concentrated his mind, one side of the wall distorted, revealing the human form of a flustered person.
It was the Inmate. He had been giggling and watching the others' predicament, but his complexion turned pale now that it became his turn.
Even if he couldn’t be found with eyes, the hidden Inmate could be found with telepathy that interfered with the mind.
“You bastard!”
Osai immediately dashed forward nimbly and grabbed the Inmate by the collar. He had an ominous aura as if he wanted to chew him up, but dealing with the disaster right in front of them took priority over venting his anger.
He shouted, pointing at ace, who was on the verge of an explosion, emitting heat and a crimson-red glow from his cracking skin as if undergoing nuclear fusion, growing brighter and hotter.
“Hey, you bastard! If you don’t want to die, stop that right now! If you don’t stop it, we all die together! Activate the suppressor, you bastards!”
“Keeheehee, I’m not sure what you mean…”
Unable to endure the sight of ace, who had somehow become like the sun, to the point where just looking at him would damage one’s eyes, Cheonchilbaek shouted.
“I already saw everything! You have a machine that can control that suppressor! Hurry!”
“…What? Don’t tell me you-“
At Cheonchilbaek’s words, the Inmate cried out in a fluster.
He looked like he had a lot to say, but if ace unleashed his ability over a wide area without holding back like that, the Inmate would die just the same.
Having barely escaped this far, there was no way he would want to face closing tasks as a handful of ashes. In the end, the Inmate had no choice but to pull out a small suppressor control device from his arm.
As he pressed the button firmly, the suppressor fastened around ace’s neck activated with a Beeeep- sound.
As if absorbing the light and heat generated by ace, the suppressor trembled violently and spat out a warning sound while turning red-hot.
Everyone watched tensely, preparing for any unforeseen events, but just like that, ace lost his strength helplessly and collapsed.
“Wow, that was dangerous. Good job, everyone! As expected of Dusk’s strongest supernatural ability user, he’s on a different level, huh? The suppressor almost exploded because it lacked capacity. At this rate, even if it’s not at the inquisitor’s level, the firepower is quite… Kkueeeek!”
A fist smashed into the Inmate’s jaw with a satisfying thud, who was obnoxiously clapping and chattering now that everything was over.
It was Osai. True to his nature, he couldn’t hold back and beat up the Inmate!
Actually, there was no need to hold back in the first place.
That was the perfect treatment for a cunning human who went around stabbing others in the back. For Cheonchilbaek as well, it felt like his insides were completely cleared out.
“Shut up, you bastards! You dare open your mouth so confidently? I’ll just kill you right here!”
The sight of him knocking his teeth out with a satisfying crack and raising his fist again looked as if he would truly beat the Inmate to death and then some.
Cheonchilbaek wanted to watch with the refreshing feeling of munching on popcorn, but something suddenly came to mind.
He saw the last scene of the hallucination. The space darkened and cracked.
This was another disaster foretold by his supernatural ability. This was no time for this!
“We have to run! The inquisitor is coming!”
Inquisitor. It was a word that had been engraved as terror into all the Companions in a short time.
At those words, Osai stopped his swinging fist, and even ace and the Inmate, who were not part of the Companions, jumped to their feet.
They desperately wanted to chase away the Inmate who was shamelessly trying to run away with them, but even the time spent on that was a waste. This was when they were all trying to escape through the passageway together.
Gooooooooo――――――.
The lights flickered faintly. The dark red-stained atmosphere was ominous. A spine-chilling roar paralyzed their limbs.
CRACK.
The space split apart. Hairline cracks appeared all over the path they were trying to flee through, leaking a creeping darkness as if something would pop out at any moment.
Everyone faltered. They couldn’t help but be terrified, as the inquisitor might pop out right in front of them if they kept running like this.
There was only one person who seemed to have lost his sense of fear. It was only the Inmate.
Whether he was fearless, or rather, too terrified of facing the inquisitor, he quickly passed through the tearing cracks without hesitation, twisting his body.
'The inquisitor is designed so that it can never harm me, even if it harms others. It’s engraved in its DNA and Source Code like an instinct.'
Did he have some certainty that he wouldn’t be attacked by the inquisitor, just like he had said back then?
There was another person following behind him.
Surprisingly, it was ace, who had lost his strength while wearing the suppressor. His eyes showed a thirst for survival rather than a desire for revenge or anger toward the Companions who had brought him to his knees. Seeing even him desperately trying to push through the darkness, Paradox made a decision.
“It seems it’ll be hard to survive if we turn back anyway. Let’s go too before it’s too late!”
Saying so, he bent his chubby body flexibly and proceeded through the cracks. Samsao and Osai did the same. Cheonchilbaek also gritted his teeth and advanced into the terrifying darkness.
The cracking sounds of shattering that continuously rang in his ears, the inquisitor’s cries whose distance couldn’t be guessed at all, the Void Rift that was extremely dangerous just by brushing against it…
As they practically crawled on the sweat-covered floor, they barely reached the exit.
Ssssssst――.
The sound of something crawling out, dragging iron limbs, could be heard. The lump of flesh attached to the machine stuck to the floor with a squelching noise.
It was close.
The inquisitor was nearby. He could tell instinctively that the bastard would be smacking its lips in the darkness, searching for its target.
Cheonchilbaek squeezed his eyes shut, forgetting even to breathe. The sound of his own heart, which he usually controlled with Shin-Kyoto, sounded far too loud.
'Please, just don’t let it be me…'
Selfishly, he ended up making such a wish while trembling.
Fortunately, his wish came true.
“Kkeuaaaaaaaak!”
An incredibly desperate scream was heard. Cheonchilbaek gritted his teeth, feeling like he knew who the owner of that terribly and cruelly echoing voice was.
He had to keep moving forward, no matter what.
CRUNCH―slurp, chomp chomp chomp…
The sound of breaking, tearing, chewing, and smacking lips echoed. Splashing blood and innards, the fusion of flesh and machine finished its meal.
Even though one person’s life was blown away, it wasn’t enough to completely escape from the inquisitor.
=Lamb, lamb, delicious lamb. Where are you going in such a hurry?=
The sensation of dozens of gazes piercing him. The machine connected to the lump of flesh clanked and approached at a terrifying speed.
It was already close. Right next to him. He had to dodge. By any means necessary!
'Agility!'
『GM: At the Player’s request, an [Agility] check will be conducted. Please roll the dice. The difficulty is fixed: 3.』
His [Agility] stat’s base value was 2. It meant he could only survive if the dice rolled well.
Cheonchilbaek hesitated as he was about to throw the four dice. He picked the right timing among the hallucinations floating in his head and flicked his hand.
Once again, a nosebleed trickled down at the same time the result came out.
⚅⚄⚃⚁.
『
GM
:
[Agility]
stat 2 plus modifier <1 1 0 - 1> makes a total of
3 (Excellent)
, so the result is…
Success
!』
CRUNCH.
A hair’s breadth. With a microscopic margin that could only be described as such, the inquisitor’s flesh-tearing rake-like grasp grazed the tips of his toes.
Cheonchilbaek rolled straight out of the passageway, and at the same time, Paradox pressed a button on the wall.
RUMBLE!
The bulkhead came down like an arrow and closed.
The relief was brief. THUD!!!
A bizarre shriek echoed as something crashed against the bulkhead. The thick wall crumpled and left marks from multiple impacts.
Only then did the inquisitor beyond it quiet down a little.
Only then did Cheonchilbaek catch his breath and look around.
One person was missing.
He was called Osai.