Chapter 30: Nightmare Floor 3 (2)

I plunged into the dark passage as though I had been sucked inside.

The darkness was absolute, so thick that I should not have been able to see even an inch ahead.

Thanks to Diul’s ability, however, my vision remained perfectly clear.

I checked the ground below, landed securely, then looked back up.

I had been worried that the Undead might follow me into the passage, but none of them came down.

...Had they stopped moving the moment I disappeared from sight?

I could only hope so.

“Phew...”

I caught my breath and surveyed my surroundings.

A straight corridor stretched out before me.

So I had chosen the right answer, at least.

I stopped time and recovered my Willpower. Then I released it and waited for my stamina to recover as well.

Once I was ready, I began walking slowly down the passage.

There was no telling what might leap out at me, so I kept every sense honed to a razor’s edge.

The corridor continued straight ahead for a long distance.

Nothing attacked me as I walked.

No traps.

No monsters.

Somehow, that only made it worse.

If something was going to appear, I would rather it just get it over with...

Hm?

A faint light had begun to appear ahead.

I raised my guard even higher and cautiously approached.

The light came from torches.

Beyond the corridor lay a vast cavern, with torches mounted here and there along the walls.

In the very center stood a single boulder, conspicuously isolated from everything else.

I crept closer and examined it.

‘What is this?’

Something had been carved into the top of the boulder.

It was a circular design surrounded by radiating spikes.

Clearly, it represented the sun.

Unknown characters encircled the emblem like a magic circle.

And along three lines extending east, west, and north from the sun, small grooves had been carved into the stone.

As though something was meant to fit into them.

“Hmm...”

I looked around.

Apart from the passage I had entered through, the cavern branched into three separate paths: left, right, and straight ahead.

Three grooves.

Three paths.

I was beginning to form a vague idea of what I was supposed to do.

Each path probably led to something I needed to bring back and insert into one of the grooves... right?

The sun emblem certainly looked like it had something to do with clearing the floor.

“Which way first, Diul?”

I spoke to Diul out of habit.

Hovering above my head, Diul radiated complete indifference, as though telling me to figure it out myself.

Mm...

Alright.

Let’s try the left path first.

I tensed and proceeded down the left-hand corridor.

The passage was short and quickly opened into another cavern-like space.

In the center of this smaller chamber, an amber gemstone rested on the ground.

‘Is that it?’

So I just needed to insert that into the groove, I supposed.

But I did not rush forward.

...Walking up and taking it would be far too easy, wouldn’t it?

This was so fucking obviously a trap.

I took a single step closer, and the inexplicable sense of dread inside me sharpened immediately.

Sixth Sense was warning me as well.

I picked up a loose stone from the ground.

Then I tossed it toward the gemstone.

The instant the stone touched the floor, spikes erupted from every direction.

KRAKRAKRAKRAK!

Massive iron spikes shot out at terrifying speed, repeatedly extending and retracting as they shredded the entire area around the gemstone.

Only after several seconds did they slide back into the walls as though nothing had happened.

“...”

Pretty obvious, right?

I threw another stone to test it.

KRAKRAKRAK!

The trap activated again without fail.

So it was not a one-time mechanism.

It would keep triggering.

And it appeared to react to contact with the floor.

The method for retrieving the gemstone came to me easily enough.

“One, two...”

I leaped from where I stood toward the gemstone.

The instant my feet touched the ground, I snatched it up.

Then I stopped time, performed Mental Concentration, and Teleported back to where I had started.

KRAKRAKRAKRAK!

The spikes stabbed through empty air.

And the gemstone was safely in my hand.

Easy.

Having retrieved it without incident, I returned to the central cavern.

Click.

I inserted the gemstone into the western groove.

An orange glow traveled along the carved line and filled approximately one-third of the sun emblem.

“So that’s how it works?”

Two left.

I headed down the right-hand path next.

Alright.

What kind of trap would be waiting for me this time?

Not that I was enjoying any of this, but I forced myself into a cheerful mood as I walked.

After a short while, another small cavern appeared, much like the one on the left.

There was a gemstone in the middle of this chamber as well, but...

This time, thick chains were wrapped tightly around it.

As before, I threw a stone first.

Nothing happened.

Sixth Sense did not detect any danger either, so I approached carefully.

Was I simply supposed to remove the chains and take the gemstone?

Clank.

The blue chains binding it stretched out in every direction, anchoring themselves to the cavern walls like a spiderweb.

I reached toward the gemstone.

Then I pulled with some force, trying to loosen the chains.

“Ngh.”

It did not move even an inch.

No matter how hard I tried to pry it free, it remained firmly trapped.

Alright, fine.

So brute force was not going to work?

I stepped away from the gemstone and prepared a spell.

Then I fired Flame Strike at the chains.

BOOOOM!

When the flames cleared, the chains were completely intact.

...Seriously?

They were absurdly tough.

Any ordinary iron chain would have been blown apart.

I tried Fairy Light Bullet and Blade Storm as well, unleashing sharp currents of wind against the chains.

SKREEEEECH!

Still no luck.

No matter how many attacks I used, the chains remained completely unmarked.

What the fuck were these things?

Adamantium?

Vibranium?

Something like that?

After thinking it over, I decided to attack the walls where the chains were anchored instead.

BOOM!

I blasted a hole into the cavern wall.

But no matter how deeply I dug, the chains seemed to continue endlessly into the rock.

If I kept blasting, I might bring the entire cavern down on top of myself, so I had no choice but to abandon that approach as well.

After struggling for quite some time, I finally dropped to the ground and folded my arms.

“What am °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I even supposed to do...?”

Was this some kind of puzzle?

Was there another solution?

I looked around the cavern.

“Ah.”

Then I saw it.

On the wall directly above the entrance through which I had come.

An identical amber gemstone was embedded there.

What the hell?

I walked over, pried it loose, and stared at it in disbelief.

“...I just take this one?”

So the gemstone wrapped in chains was a decoy?

Just like on the second floor, Nightmare really loved making people feel like idiots.

I returned to the central cavern and inserted the gemstone into the eastern groove.

The orange light traveled up the carved line, filling two-thirds of the sun emblem.

“Hah.”

Good.

Only one remained.

I steeled myself and entered the passage directly ahead.

“...”

What was that?

An hourglass?

At the end of the central passage, an enormous hourglass awaited me in the middle of the cavern.

It hung suspended in midair, held in place by some kind of framework.

There was something beneath it as well.

A tall, cylindrical stone pedestal.

Set into grooves on its surface were an amber gemstone and, of all things, a cube.

A 3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube—the kind whose sides you twisted until all the colors matched.

I tilted my head and reached for the gemstone first.

Naturally, it would not come loose.

I looked at the cube instead.

...Was I supposed to solve it in order to release the gemstone?

‘Shit.’

What now?

I had completely forgotten the algorithms.

There had been a time when I was obsessed with solving cubes, but that had been back in elementary school.

Naturally, the details were hazy now.

Instead of colored stickers, each square of the metallic cube bore a small illustration.

I lifted the cube from the groove where it sat fitted into the pedestal.

CLUNK!

The instant I removed it, the enormous hourglass flipped over with a thunderous sound.

Alarmed, I looked back and forth between the hourglass and the cube.

The meaning was painfully obvious.

Solve it before time runs out.

I stopped time immediately and desperately searched my memory.

How did it work again?

I needed to remember the method.

Come on, long-term memory.

I used to do this all the time!

Alright.

First, you make the cross...

Then what came next?

Right.

Was it something like that?

Now that I was actively trying to recall it, scattered fragments began resurfacing.

It felt as though I might be able to manage if I worked through the steps one by one.

I released time and began awkwardly twisting the cube.

After a few turns, I glanced up at the hourglass.

And then—

“Huh?”

Half the sand had already fallen.

Wait.

It had only been about ten seconds...

Only then did I realize that the hourglass was draining at an absurd speed.

I stopped time again.

The cube was not even five percent complete.

What kind of bullshit was this?

It expected me to solve a Rubik’s Cube in a matter of seconds?

Sure, a world champion could probably do it in five seconds flat, but that was obviously far beyond me.

Worse still, all I remembered was the basic method, and the basic algorithms were nowhere near fast enough.

...What happened when the sand ran out?

There was no way to know.

But it certainly would not be anything good.

And solving the cube within the roughly ten seconds remaining was equally impossible.

In other words, checkmate.

‘God damn it.’

What was I supposed to do?

Maybe destroy the hourglass?

...No.

That was obviously not going to end well either.

Rejected.

What if I put the cube back?

Would the timer stop?

With that thought, I released time and placed the cube back into its groove.

The hourglass continued draining without the slightest pause, as if declaring that there were no take-backs.

I stopped time again.

Only one option remained.

Get out of here for now.

I released time and scrambled out of the cavern.

I was afraid that when the hourglass emptied, spikes might erupt from the walls like they had in the left-hand chamber.

From the entrance, I watched the hourglass with every sense on high alert.

Soon, the final grains of sand fell.

The immediate result was...

Nothing.

But a moment later, vibrations began rippling through the ground.

“...?”

I turned around, my expression hardening.

The sound was growing closer.

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble.

Then I saw it.

A flood of Undead packed the corridor from wall to wall, surging toward me like a tidal wave.

“You’ve got to be...!”

Panic seized me, and I fired Flame Strike.

The front ranks of the Undead exploded apart.

But their momentum stalled for only a moment before the horde surged forward again.

In desperation, I fired Fairy Light Bullets and unleashed Blade Storm.

At best, it bought me a few seconds.

There was no end to them.

I retreated into the cavern, drew Shelburn’s Ice Shard Dagger, and activated it.

KRAAAAAASH!

A blast of freezing air swept outward, encasing the suffocating mass of Undead in ice.

The frozen bodies formed a kind of barricade and brought the horde’s relentless advance to a temporary halt.

But...

Crack, crack...

It did not look as though the ice would hold for long.

I stared blankly at the Undead for a moment.

Then I stopped time.

Had the Undead from the surface somehow found their way underground?

Was this the penalty for failing to solve the puzzle in time?

‘...There’s no way out.’

The procession of Undead had completely filled the only corridor.

My sole means of escape was to break directly through them, and there was no way I could accomplish that.

Even Teleportation would only drop me into the middle of the horde.

I desperately searched for another way out.

But no matter how hard I racked my brain, this time there truly seemed to be no answer.

Was I...

Actually going to die?

For real?

With death pressing close against my throat, I let out a bitter laugh.

Dying because I could not solve a Rubik’s Cube.

What a joke.

I had never imagined my life would end in such a pathetic way.

‘You win, Nightmare, you son of a bitch.’

It must feel great to win after rigging the game this badly.

Motherfucker.

But I had no intention of dying quietly.

I might as well struggle until the bitter end.

Having made up my mind, I released time and tightened my grip on the mace.

The ice shattered, and the Undead were about to pour into the cavern.

“RAAAAGH...! Huh?”

I had been about to charge forward with a battle cry, but I suddenly froze.

Dark energy coiled around my body.

At the same time, every Undead rushing toward me stopped at once, as though they had abruptly lost sight of their target.

What had just happened?

I looked down at myself.

A hazy black aura shimmered around my body like heat distortion, and my form had become semi-transparent.

I looked up at Diul, who hovered above my head.

The little spirit radiated annoyance, grumbling as though this were an enormous inconvenience.

‘Is this your ability, Diul...?’

The Undead stood directly in front of me, staring vacantly into empty space like idiots.

I took a cautious step forward.

It was as though my very existence had been erased.

Even the sound of my footsteps had vanished.

So this was the dark spirit’s second ability?

Concealment, following Dark Vision.

Ha...

Diul, you little rascal!

So you only help me when I am actually about to die?

Wait.

This was not the time for that.

Still concealed, I hurriedly picked up the cube again.

I needed to solve it and retrieve the gemstone.

Only then could I do something about this situation.

With a horde of Undead standing right in front of me, I squeezed every last bit of knowledge from my brain and worked on the cube for several minutes.

‘...Got it!’

At last, I solved it.

I placed the completed cube back into the groove on the pedestal.

Click.

The gemstone popped free from its slot.

I grabbed it and looked around at the Undead.

Wait a second...

How was I supposed to get past all of them now?

I cautiously poked one of the Undead with my finger.

It did not react at all.

...So even physical contact would not reveal me?

Carefully, I began squeezing through the narrow gaps between them.

I forced my way shoulder to shoulder through the horde, like Sindorim Station at six in the evening. [TL: Sindorim Station is one of the busiest subway transfer stations in Seoul, notorious for extreme rush-hour crowding.]

Why had a scene from World W*r Z suddenly popped into my head?

I felt like the protagonist after receiving the vaccine, calmly walking straight through a crowd of zombies.

‘Hold on, just a little longer!’

I could feel Diul’s ability approaching its limit, so I hurried.

At last, I reached the central cavern.

It was packed with Undead as well.

I barely managed to reach the boulder in the middle.

Then I inserted the final gemstone into the last remaining groove.

The instant all three gemstones were in place and the sun emblem filled completely with light—

FWOOOOOSH!

A brilliant blaze erupted from the emblem and engulfed the entire cavern.