Cracks were instant dungeons that existed on every floor, such as the Bloody Citadel and the Glacier Cave. A crack had two main characteristics: The essence drop rate increased exponentially, and a special monster called a guardian granted special rewards that could not be obtained on normal fields.
«Abman, where is the crack?»
Mr. Bear closed his eyes to concentrate his senses before opening them again. «Over there. It doesn't seem far».
In that case...
I smiled satisfied. The chances of entering successfully had just increased. Thanks to the fact that five Stairs of Wisdom came out on the first day, we could now reach stage twenty-seven. It was fifteen minutes to midnight; The seventh day was not over yet. It was safe to say that there were hardly any competitors, as a crack in the fourth floor only formed above stage twenty-five. But it also just so happened that it was close.
«Mr. Yandel, let's go find him, right?»
«Of course.»
A crack was the flower of the labyrinth, an opportunity that no explorer should miss. Awake from our sleep, we cleared the camp with unanimous consent and stood in front of the door leading in the direction indicated by Abman.
¡Voom!
After waiting a few minutes, a light came on in the engraving on the stone door. It meant that the four-hour waiting time was over and the door was ready to be opened.
«Ugh, no me gusta esto…»
«I really hope it's not a hallucination.»
Speaking from experience, Missha and Mr. Bear made sounds of pain. On the other hand, Raven and Ainar reacted as if their anguish was difficult to understand.
«I would prefer it to be a hallucination. I've heard that's not very effective against people with a lot of willpower.»
«Hahaha! Then I won't have any problems!»
Come to think of it, this would be the first time for these two. I was a little curious too. A wizard armed with rationality and an intrepid barbarian warrior: How would these two react? If I saw that, I could tell if my case was unusual or not.
[You have chosen the Ladder of Patience.]
A hallway stretched straight for about 100 meters. As soon as I set foot in that place, my classmates disappeared and a new background appeared, the pediatric ward where I spent most of my childhood. The sky on the other side of the window was clear, and the face of the boy lying on the bed was also illuminated.
It's a visual hallucination.
When I took a step towards the boy, the environment changed. Beyond the window, the sun had begun to set. In front of the bed, a young university student had brought a chair closer. He was someone I once trusted more than my parents.
Ha, this again?
I chuckled and took another step. Then the conversation between the boy and the student began. Playing together, the boy asked if he could stay and play a little longer, but the student refused. It could have ended there, but the boy was small. As the boy continued to press, the student's face hardened. Like an explosion, he jumped out of his seat and blurted out humiliating words, words that hurt more than any hospital treatment at the time.
Step.
I took another step, letting it go in one ear and out the other. Now he was an adult. The same words no longer hurt me. He also didn't point the arrow at me telling me that I must have had a bad day that day. It was something that could happen to anyone in life. It could have been someone's fault, but it also could not have been. That was all.
Step.
Inside the car just before the accident; an apartment on red flames; abandoned in an amusement park; my first apartment after being hired at my office job: Every time I took a step, the environment changed and the characters that appeared changed accordingly.
Step.
My mother, my father, my uncle and my ex-girlfriend; In each place a new person would come out and utter words that left me with deep scars. But so what?
It's still easy.
Even though they weren't hallucinations, they were scenes I could draw vividly in my head. This was nothing new anymore. Even the pain came with tolerance.
What is this?
As I continued walking, new characters appeared that had never appeared before.
«Oh! Ah, are you here Bjorrrn?»
«Haha, why are you so late?»
Missha and Dwalkie smiled happily with their arms linked. Despite the warm welcome, their faces grotesquely contorted as I took another step.
«If it weren't for you, everyone could have been happy».
«Are you glad you survived instead of me?».
It was a pattern I often saw in cartoons and movies. Geez, didn't they have anything new?
Yes, it's not my fault. Go complain to God.
Without taking my eyes off them, I continued my steps in silence.
«Bjorn, great warrior and son of Yandel!»
«Give me back my friend's body!»
Besides Ainar, who appeared next, the connections I formed as Bjorn Yandel appeared one after another and told me strange things. None of these events were in my memory, but they were not unknown to me. They were all things he had thought about at least once.
Yes, it still doesn't work.
I still didn't stop. I didn't cover my ears or close my eyes.
[The test is complete.]
Soon, the hallucinations ended. I was in front of the door, but before I knew it, I reached the end of the hallway and the stairs were in front of me. The rest of the team was there too.
«¡B-Bjorrrn...!»
«If you cry again I'll really leave you behind».
«Hnng...»
Looking away from the tearful Missha, I checked on the rest. Mr. Bear had a calm expression. He had an offended look in his eyes, but that was it. Ainar was also unexpectedly fine.
«Are you okay?» Asked.
«Huh, oh... I just felt a little unpleasant».
Well, thinking about it, the barbarians were all mentally strong, as they were a race taught to fight a problem instead of running away from it. So what about a magician?
Raven had a lost look. Even from afar, he could see that his body trembled like a poplar leaf. What had he seen? I was curious, but I didn't bother to ask. I didn't think he would respond.
«Everything has already happened».
«Oh... yes. True...» Raven came to as soon as I approached and touched her shoulder. A cold sweat had formed on his forehead.
«We'll take a break upstairs, so hold on a little longer».
«Wrong...»
I comforted my companions and went up the stairs. Then we took a ten minute break. The truth is that I did not choose the Ladder of Patience for this reason even in the game. It drastically reduced resistance. However, I didn't think this was the reason.
«Abman, where should we go from here?»
«Over there.»
After the pause, scanning resumed. I judged the crack to be the top priority right now. We selected the Staircase of Wisdom below, and cleared the maze in about two hours. Then came the next stage.
«¡A portal!»
A crack was open in the empty stone chamber. The color of the violently bright portal was green.
Bosque Doppelganger, ¿eh?
Bloody Citadel, Glacier Cave, and now the third crevice I would explore.
***
[You have entered the crack on the fourth floor.]
There were two types of cracks on the fourth floor, the Golden Ruin where money entered, and the Doppelganger Forest.
So it's not the Golden Ruin.
Erasing my disappointment, I called the magician. «Raven».
«Leait.»
When the sphere of light floated in the air, I could see the new environment around us. We were locked inside a huge iron cage. Nothing beyond the bars could be seen due to the darkness of the labyrinth.
«Bjorn! What's going on?»
Should I explain it?
As I wondered this, Raven opened her mouth. «Don't be surprised. It will open on its own over time».
«Hey? What do you mean?! Explain it in detail!»
«It is because the number of participants has not yet been reached. Up to three teams can enter this location.»
This was the point that differed from the first floor. Up to 15 people could enter the Doppelganger Forest through three different portals. If the previous one was a collaboration between individuals, this one was a collaboration between teams.
«Is this place also written in that book?»
«Yeah. We're lucky. I don't know much about the Golden Ruin«.
Hmm, since you've read The Complete Book of Cracks, you can take care of the hidden piece... Wait, should I leave it all to her, including the strategy?
The decision came quickly. «Very good. Then you can give the orders this time. I will follow everything».
«Do you mean I should take on the role of leader?»
«Isn't there a proverb about following the magician in places like this?»
«Heehee, sure. Leave it to me». With a bit of adulation, Raven straightened her shoulders and declared that she would take care of all the annoying tasks. It was definitely easy to handle.
If any problem arises, I can step forward.
Following Rotmiller's advice to hide my specialty in the new team as much as possible, care had to be taken. Running wildly like in the past was meant to make Raven and Mr. Bear feel like something was wrong.
«So here are the things you need to be careful of. First, all the monsters we find here will be doubles...»
After that, Raven's briefing continued. Except Ainar, everyone listened attentively. I already knew all that, but I listened thinking that there might be parts that I didn't know or that I had to correct.
After who knows how long, I interrupted her. «It seems enough to me».
«Excuse me? I haven't even told you about the herbs that appear here...».
«You can tell us as you go. Rest comes first».
I stopped Raven's endless explanations and we took a break. After the patience test, the crack opened so soon that we couldn't sleep. It was necessary to maintain resistance for the real game.
¡Honnnnnkk!
Ainar started snoring right away. Missha and Mr. Bear also sat against the iron bars.
And Raven... For some reason she was chattering next to me. «It's a little strange. Getting the mirror on the first scan and then a crack on the second...» It seemed like his excitement about entering a crack hadn't gone away. «Seeing this, I feel very lucky. I was also able to enter the Bloody Citadel».
Is that so?
«Yes, you are absolutely right».
«...Are you making fun of me?»
«No way.»
«Erase that smile before you say that».
She was too fast for her own good. «Anyway, I'm going to rest so you should too». I ended the conversation there and closed my eyes.
Time passed before I knew it, and it became the morning of the eighth day. It was just over seven in the morning, that is, about five hours since we entered the crack.
"Clunk!
The tightly closed iron bars moved upward. This meant we were at full capacity.
«Okay then, come on.» When I came out of the cage, the exploration officially began.
«Leait.» Raven increased the number of light spheres to three to ensure her sight. Then, the shape of the cave hidden in darkness was revealed.
Ainar tilted his head. «Hey? Didn't you say forest?»
«I thought I explained it before».
«Oh, sorry. I wasn't listening at all».
It was too sincere an answer. Raven couldn't even get angry. «...The forest appears after this cave. So it's after all the teams that have entered come together in one place.»
«¡Ya veo! »
Raven just clenched her fists and trembled with rage. I felt empathy for some reason, but right at that moment I was in Normal Barbarian mode where all I had to do was follow orders. Yes, there had to be days like this from time to time.
«Mr. Yandel, what kind of life have you been leading?»
«…Let's go.»
«Oh yeah. Let's go. We do not have time.»
Following Raven's instructions, we moved along the trail at a slightly faster pace. The reason for the rush was simple. The first chapter of the Doppelganger Forest was the Cave of Shadows. It was a format in which each team started from a different place and met with the others in the center.
«We have to get to the center as soon as possible. This way we can also take the rewards of the other routes. If we are late, it will be the other way around».
Although in the end we would catch the final boss together due to the structure of the crack, until then it was no different from a competition. Who would get more? That depended on us.
As we ran down the straight passage, Mr. Bear felt a presence and stopped us. «There's something ahead!»
After waiting for a while, a person appeared from the darkness.
One step.
He had randomly grown brown hair, a bushy beard, a breastplate made of titanium that encompassed a muscular body over six feet tall, and even a giant shield and mace.
«It's Bjorn!» Ainar looked at the two of us alternately and fell into confusion.
Seeing that, Raven screamed impatiently: «I told you he's a doppelganger!».
«¡¿D-doppelganger?!»
«Ugh, really! It doesn't matter anymore. Prepare for battle!»
I think it was the first time I screamed like that. Was there really no one who could defeat a barbarian with words? Thinking this, I laughed to myself when the double dared to pronounce the name of our ancestral god.
«¡Behell-ahhhhhhh!»
At the same time, his body inflated like a balloon. It was necessary to be cautious.
[The doppelganger has launched gigantization.]
[The doppelganger has released Wild Burst.]
It was quite strong.