"Phew… ah… phew…"
Amid the labored sounds of breathing, Fujiwara Chika lay completely without decorum on a protruding rock within the Big Slide. She was so exhausted that her entire body had gone limp, with only a bit of strength left to gasp for air.
Beside her, Takumi's condition was not much better. He too was panting heavily. However, compared to Chika, who was completely drained of stamina, Takumi still had enough strength to tend to his own injuries. Even so, due to the loss of his backpack, all he could do was clear away some of the gravel and mud stuck to his body.
His eyes were somewhat swollen and aching, likely the result of forcibly keeping them open while fighting an enemy in muddy water. After thinking it over, Takumi ultimately put on the Rescue Team Badge, slightly recovering from his injuries without summoning the rescue suit. He then put the badge on Chika as well, allowing her injuries to receive a certain degree of healing, before finally removing the Obsession Item and placing it back into the watch on his left hand.
Rumble—rumble—
The surging flow of water continued to pour downward.
At this moment, the upper area of the great cliff was also gradually beginning to accumulate water. It was clear that the interior of the Red Nut Grey Cave had already been completely flooded.
"Thanks for earlier."
Takumi turned and said this to the woman beside him.
"You're welcome."
Susan gave a light nod, her face betraying no particular expression.
This woman, who had previously used a security uniform to teleport away from the corridor of the fire department, was now appearing here instead. Takumi was very curious: the area that she and the player called Rex had entered via the security uniform was both the closest to survival and the closest to a dead end. Under the opening condition of [two security guards], which violated the rules from the very start, how had these two players managed to survive?
"Where's your teammate?"
Only after Takumi used the blessing to confirm this woman's goodwill and ill will did he shift into a relatively more relaxed sitting posture and ask.
"Rex is up ahead. His physical constitution is much stronger than mine. He planned to go up first to take a look at the situation, so he left me here and gave me this handgun."
Susan did not seem to have any intention of hiding anything. Very calmly, she explained the situation to Takumi.
"That bullet just now was very unusual. It actually forced back that guy who was almost completely turned into an anomaly. It shouldn't be an ordinary bullet, right?"
Takumi thought for a moment and then asked again.
"I don't know about that. It's Rex's thing. But he did indeed say that this seems to be something called [Black Blood Bullet]. It can briefly repel an anomaly, but it can only be used once on the same anomaly. If you encounter it a second time, it won't work anymore."
Susan explained again. She looked like she had no intention of keeping anything back at all.
Black Blood Bullet, huh? Why not just call it a mercury bullet? Somehow, this method of loading blood into bullets feels a bit like Bloodborne. Come to think of it, it does seem like I've heard of something similar. Items like this seem to be consumable tools that players can craft, like bone ash and purple talismans. It's just that the method for making Black Blood Bullets is only known to players in the United States and Europe, so there's simply no way to buy them in Japan. Even if you tried to smuggle them over, the price would be absurdly expensive. That's why Takumi's group had never managed to get their hands on this kind of item.
As an experienced player, would Rex really hand such an important item over to a newcomer so easily?
Takumi always felt that something was off. However, at present, the other party was, after all, the lifesaver of him and Chika, and Susan also had no ill will toward him and Chika. So Takumi chose to hold his position and did not continue probing.
They had rested almost enough.
Takumi moved his wrists and ankles a bit.
Although Fujiwara Chika still looked like she had been burned out, Takumi had already recovered his ability to move thanks to the powerful physique brought by the S-rank enhancement. He stood up, turned to look at the turbulent current that was still constantly rising, and made the decision to continue forward.
"We can't stay here any longer. Let's go."
As he spoke, Takumi grabbed Fujiwara Chika's hand, pulled her up, and carried her onto his back.
"Huh?"
Caught off guard, the girl let out a cute little cry of surprise, but her body obediently settled like that onto Takumi's back.
"You haven't recovered your stamina yet, right? I'll carry you up from here. This is something I can still manage—consider it a return for the help you gave me earlier."
Turning his head, Takumi smiled at the girl on his back as he spoke.
"Ah… ah, um, thank you, Takumi-kun…"
Fujiwara Chika, whose thoughts had briefly jammed, finally said this softly.
To be honest, even now the girl's mind was still somewhat muddled. The life-and-death moment beneath the cliff just now was still looping over and over in her head. And then Takumi suddenly did this, instantly making Chika's thoughts even more chaotic.
But there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, her body was completely out of strength…
With her heartbeat quickening slightly, Fujiwara Chika ultimately just lay obediently against Takumi's back.
"Going upward at a time like this? There's no helping it—the safety rope is over there."
Susan clearly did not think that going upward at this moment was a good idea. But seeing Takumi's firm attitude, she raised her hand and pointed toward a thick yellow safety rope stretched taut in the flow of water, one that was very easy to overlook.
To advance against the torrential water on this slope, which was more than a hundred meters long, without relying on the safety rope was absolutely impossible. Of course, Takumi clearly remembered that when using the Big Slide's safety rope, it had to be done while the rope was completely still. Once the rope began to sway, it was necessary to let go as quickly as possible and wait until the rope stabilized again before continuing to move.
Speaking of which, he had originally thought that under this kind of flood, there was no way the safety rope could remain motionless—but this thing really was not moving at all.
Despite being continuously scoured by extremely violent muddy water, the safety rope showed not the slightest sign of swaying in Takumi's view. You could not even tell that it was getting wet, as if it were the crude, simple modeling from an old game, where no matter what the player did, nothing would ever leave a trace on it.
Jump, land, grab the rope.
Takumi firmly grasped the rope and planted himself steadily in the current, then began to move forward slowly.
Chika crossed her arms around Takumi's shoulders, using her own strength to secure herself to him, thereby freeing Takumi's hands so he could properly grip the safety rope.
Susan followed behind Takumi, jumped over, and grabbed the safety rope as well. She did not possess Takumi's kind of physique that could stand unmoving in a raging flood. She could only follow behind him, relying on Takumi to block the water flow and thereby reduce the pressure of advancing.
"OK, the rope isn't swaying. Looks like this thing really is pretty stable."
Takumi tested the safety rope with a light shake. Discovering that it was far sturdier than expected, he began to move forward little by little.
The surging muddy water slammed against his body with a thunderous roar, placing considerable pressure on his advance.
Bracing against the fierce current, Takumi inched forward bit by bit, while the corner of his eye caught sight of something around him.
Those were… firefighters?
Figures wearing firefighter gear were slowly walking toward the deeper part of the Big Slide.
The violent flow of water seemed completely unable to affect their movements, and the steep slope caused them not the slightest difficulty. Amid the rolling flood, those figures moved farther into the depths of the Big Slide, then disappeared from Takumi's view.
Back during the flood, had firefighters and rescue teams entered the interior of the Big Slide?
According to the rescue team rules, any rescue team that returned from the Big Slide was not to be trusted. In other words, all the rescue teams that crossed beyond the Big Slide back then had failed to leave alive. What kind of anomalous force had kept them there?
Takumi really wanted to stop and carefully ask Susan behind him—this person who seemed to know some inside information—to find out whether she knew anything important.
But now was truly not a good time. Compared to gathering intelligence, escaping this dangerous area as quickly as possible—at least reaching the Plains area first—was the priority.
Rumble—rumble—
The water flow was becoming even more turbulent.
And Takumi continued to push forward step by step against the torrent—ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters… little by little drawing closer to the space above.
As long as he maintained this rhythm…
While thinking this, Takumi suddenly began to feel a faint tremor in the rope in his hands.
The movement was extremely subtle. With Takumi fully focused on resisting the scouring force of the water, noticing this slight change was remarkably difficult.
But once he did notice it, Takumi understood that he had to act immediately.
"The rope is shaking—don't keep holding it!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Takumi abruptly released his grip on the rope. At the same time, he shouted loudly to warn Susan behind him, while reaching to his waist and pulling out the large iron spike he had removed earlier—the one he had used once while climbing the great cliff—and smashing it down hard, driving it through the rock to anchor his body firmly in place.
Whether Susan behind him had let go of the rope was no longer something Takumi had the spare attention to care about.
He simply bent his body, lowering his center of gravity as much as possible to steady himself, then turned his head to the side and looked at the rope beside him.
It was swaying.
Swaying lightly.
Gradually becoming more intense, shaking continuously.
In Takumi's eyes, the rope that had not moved no matter how he grabbed it just moments ago was now gently swaying.
As if someone were gripping the rope and climbing upward along it.
As if many people were grabbing the rope, desperately struggling together to climb upward.
Then, Takumi saw a hand.
A ghastly pale hand, tightly gripping the rope, right before his eyes.
A bloated figure was gripping the rope like this, slowly moving upward in silence.
And behind that figure, more bloated, rotting, foul-smelling figures wearing Tourist clothing appeared one after another, all gripping the rope together, all slowly advancing upward together.
Takumi looked forward and saw a bloated firefighter standing at the very front of these tourists, leading them forward at a slow pace.
Creak—creak—
The rope was shaking more and more violently.
More and more "people" were grabbing onto the rope.
Those long-dead, decayed figures that surfaced from the water, that emerged from who knows where, appeared at this moment and seized the rope at this moment.
The rope trembled as if it were letting out a scream.
And it was at this very moment that Takumi heard an angry roar sound out from above.
Rumble—rumble—
Amid the raging current, the rope snapped soundlessly.
Those who had clung tightly to the rope, those who wanted to escape this hell, those things that had long since rotted away, all fell together, plunging together into the depths of the cave, smashed by the violent flow of water and swept down into the muddy torrent.
However, all of this was nothing more than an illusion.
Takumi, standing motionless in place, was brushed by those things several times, and was even completely passed through by them.
But he felt nothing at all—at most, only a faint sense of chill.
Perhaps only those who continued to grip the rope without letting go when these things appeared could actually come into contact with them; otherwise, these things had no physical form at all?
Thinking this way, Takumi's gaze followed the rope that had already disappeared, falling together with it into the depths below.
He saw it.
That rope had been cut.
Relying on the enhanced, excellent dynamic vision granted to him, Takumi was absolutely certain that the rope had been cut by someone.
At the very moment when the survivors were exhausting every effort to escape, someone above had cut the rope, severing these people's path to survival.
And then...
In the blink of an eye.
Takumi saw that rope appear once again, just as solid as ever, unmoving within the raging torrent, as if it were not being scoured by the rushing water at all.
"T-Takumi-kun, just now those were…?"
Chika murmured softly, having never expected to witness such a scene.
"Don't be afraid. It's fine. Let's keep moving forward."
Takumi merely took a deep breath, pulled out the iron spike, then grasped the rope once more, continuing this arduous climb.
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