As Min-ho and Ji-su stepped into the room, the wall immediately began sliding shut behind them—sealing them in before they even reached the puzzle.
Min-ho cast one last glance past the narrowing gap, where Sae-wee and Dok-su were still locked in combat. A moment later, the wall thudded shut.
'They had better stop fighting,' he thought, then turned around.
Ji-su was already at the puzzle, fiddling with it and analyzing its entirety.
Min-ho joined him in silence, observing.
"You there yet?" Pink-hair's voice emanated.
Min-ho lifted his gaze to the holes on the walls, where the voices were coming from.
"I am. You can begin to solve the puzzle now," Min-ho said.
"There's a problem," another voice rang in.
"What is it?" Min-ho asked, scanning the room for any potential danger. His words lingered for a moment before he got a response.
"I don't know what I'm doing," one of the Z-Streamers said, causing Min-ho's stomach to sink.
After another moment, the other Z-Streamer spoke up.
"Me either, each time I put a piece in place, the whole thing scatters again."
"There's a sequence," Ji-su said, pulling everyone's attention.
Min-ho turned to him with a semblance of relief in his being.
"Each piece has a marking, a scratch representing a digit," Ji-su said as he drew each piece together. "One, two, three and so on. You have to find the pieces that match, and then place them consecutively according to the numbers."
Min-ho was astonished watching Ji-su move like a machine, putting each piece together without faltering. He had just gotten here and yet, he already knew how it worked.
"Once you get all pieces with the corresponding digit in place, you can move on to the next. But if you delay—"
Ji-su made a mistake, and the whole thing dispersed.
"They will scatter," he added.
Just then, a set of numbers appeared behind the puzzle pieces.
2:00
"We're running out of time," Min-ho said, his body tensing up.
"Fuck, what the hell are we going to do?!" a Z-Streamer shouted, panic spilling from his voice.
"Solve the puzzle," Ji-su commanded, his usual reserved and diminutive demeanor gone. "Don't rush, because if you fail, you'll have to start all over again. Failing is not an option."
Min-ho froze, lingering on Ji-su's words as he watched the timer closely. Despite trying to stay strong, a faint fear echoed in his mind that they wouldn't survive this day.
At once he shook this fear away.
'We're going to make it,' he thought, clenching his fists.
Outside the rooms, Sae-wee and Dok-su had been forced to fight together as opposed to fighting each other.
The Spectors had advanced, growing in number and pushing them back.
Now, they were in the middle of the hall, and quickly reaching the glowing finish line behind them.
Sae-wee took a quick glance at the timer.
1:58
Her heart sank, but she did not let herself falter.
'They'll make it,' she thought, before sidestepping an attack. Though she acted as fast as she could, the Spector managed to get her left arm, tearing a sizable chunk of her flesh and sleeves.
With a cry of pain, she left herself open to an attack, which the Spector wasted no time capitalizing on.
CLANK!
Dok-su rushed in, deflecting the attack. Despite giving it his all, the Spector was much too powerful, as its blow was enough to knock him back as his arm screamed from the pain.
Yet again, the Spector's attack left him wide open. But before it could attack, a Z-Streamer rushed in, slicing the Spector's already half-sliced tentacle off.
It roared from the pain.
Sae-wee rushed in and shoved her dagger into the Spector's eyes.
Behind her, Dok-su dove at the Spector, stabbing it in the chest.
The Z-Streamer that helped them leaped toward the Spector and kicked the hilt of the sword.
It drove deep, impaling the Spector.
Once it fell, another Spector came in from the back, attacking ravenously.
Dok-su pulled Sae-wee back as other Z-Streamers filled the void.
She fell onto the floor, panting hard as blood ran down her arm like oil spilling from a punctured container.
Dok-su took off his shirt and wrapped it around her arm.
"Go back, your friend will—" she shook her head, cutting him off.
"You need… you need all the fighters you can… get," Sae-wee's broken words were spoken through gritted teeth with occasional moans.
"You're—"
A piercing scream erupted.
Turning around, Dok-su witnessed a Z-Streamer's insides being pulled out by savage fangs.
His stomach lurched due to the gruesome sight, and the evident fact that their numbers were dwindling by the second.
"I can still—" her vision blurred and she almost fell.
"Get her to safety and heal her," Dok-su said to Im-hee, who was being helped by a Z-Streamer she had healed.
Her eyes were sunken and she looked drained, yet she didn't relent.
She nodded her head, then turned to her helper.
"Help her up," Im-hee said, her voice barely a whisper.
The Z-Streamer obeyed and let Im-hee stand on her own. Once she lost the anchor of her helper, she began to wobble, trying to find her balance.
Since Sae-wee was in safe hands, Dok-su got up. Summoning his sword, it materialized from smoke in his hands. He gripped it tightly and dashed toward the fight.
Looking at the onslaught, Sae-wee felt her hope and consciousness wane as things kept getting worse.
The Z-Streamers—despite fighting valiantly as a whole—were being slaughtered one after the other. Their corpses fell to the ground, their Z-Eyes exploded and their essence was being siphoned out of them by the Tower, transforming into a glowing Gem.
Acting indifferent to the horrors unfolding all around them, some Z-Streamers still took the time to pick the Gems up, adding to their Coins.
To the far left of the hall, Jang-book did his best to support everyone. But now, that was all he could do—support.
He no longer had the strength to take on bulks of Spectors. Though he could still take down a single Spector by himself—a feat accomplished by three or more Z-Streamers—the toil from his Affinity had finally taken root.
It would seem he had a sort of Whiplash after all.
Yet despite the gnawing pain from his wounds and the physical exhaustion calling him to rest, he fought still.
Sae-wee on the other hand, could do nothing but be dragged away from the battlefield.
She glimpsed the countdown just as they were about to pick her up.
1:21
'Come on Ji-su,' Sae-wee thought, despair grasping her tighter by the second.
Inside the puzzle room, Ji-su had managed to complete about ninety percent of his puzzle, and so had the others, albeit with his help from time to time, they had managed to get this far.
While the inkling of hope dwelling in Min-ho's heart was growing ever larger, he couldn't help but feel a certain dread in his stomach.
There was something wrong going on, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He had thought initially that he was just worried the others were dead, since the voices from the outside had faded over time.
But he knew this wasn't the case, else their timer would have gone down as the Spectors rushed the finish line.
Not knowing why he was so uneasy made him restless, most especially as they were about to finish the puzzle.
Trying to calm himself, he spoke up, inquiring about the progress of the others. It had taken a second, as though they didn't hear him. But after a moment's pause, the answers poured in.
"Just ten more pieces for me," one said.
"Eight more," said the other.
"I have only two pieces left," Pink-hair said, his voice smug yet somewhat shaken.
Min-ho turned away from the holes on the walls and stared at Ji-su.
He had already completed the rest of the ten percent in the time it took Min-ho to run through his mind and to inquire about the others.
With just one piece floating beside the already completed cube, Ji-su paused for a moment.
Seeing this, Min-ho felt something ghastly stir in the pit of his stomach.
'Was he having this odd feeling too?' Min-ho pondered, dread creeping up his spine.
He wanted to ask what had happened, but with an exhale, Ji-su pushed the last piece into place.
They both held their breaths and waited.
"Done," Pink-hair said.
A moment later, another voice resounded.
"Me too."
"Finished."
Acting on instinct, Min-ho placed his sights on the timer.
'It should stop,' he thought, his mind's voice—weak and frantic.
Just then, the timer stopped.
1:15
Min-ho's eyes widened, his being flooding with an ocean of relief… at least, that was what he felt at first.
CLATTER!
The puzzle pieces shattered, and the timer began to tick down once more.
1:14