madnovel Chapter 155: Room 201, The Cursed Room - ‘□□□ □□□□’ (4)
Chapter 155: Room 201, The Cursed Room - ‘□□□ □□□□’ (4)
Chapter 155: Room 201, The Cursed Room - ‘□□□ □□□□’ (4)- Kim Ahri
With the power of the Nightmare Butterfly, the gorilla began to suffer from intense drowsiness and mental anguish.
Mooksung and I ran over, panting, and relentlessly unloaded our rounds into the gorilla’s twisted flesh.
- Bang!
Elizabeth again!
With the sound of gunfire, Mooksung staggered as he clutched his shoulder.
Mooksung and I quickly moved to positions where we could use the gorilla's body as a shield.
Luckily, the gorilla was now partially incapacitated.
And we had our own invisible fighter as well!
In one part of the white space, we were unloading bullets into the gorilla to finish it off, while in another part, an eerie battle between the two invisible fighters began.
"Why won’t this bastard stay down? We’ve pumped over fifty rounds into it, and it’s still moving?"
Mooksung, who gritted his teeth in pain, stood up with a grim expression.
"I think it’ll die eventually if we keep this up. But a shot to the head will probably be the decisive blow we need."
Mooksung approached the gorilla’s already collapsing head, jammed the muzzle into its eye socket, and pulled the trigger.
Only then did the gorilla's writhing finally cease.
What an insanely tenacious vitality!
As I sighed and turned my head, I noticed that the battle between the invisible fighters was unfolding in a surprisingly comedic fashion.
Elizabeth couldn’t find Eunsol’s location and was wasting bullets shooting into the air, while Eunsol, only taking deep breaths when Elizabeth was looking in the wrong direction, was holding out.
On the other hand, Eunsol seemed to be able to pinpoint Elizabeth's position despite her invisibility thanks to her keen eyesight, but her poor marksmanship dragged out the fight.
This delicate balance was bound to end as soon as reinforcements joined the fray.
As Mooksung and I flanked Elizabeth from a distance, shrinking the area in which she could move, Elizabeth suddenly revealed herself, took off her helmet, and—
- Bang!
With one shot, the chaotic battle came to an end.
“Damn it! That bit—”
“Mooksung, there are kids around.”
“Ahem. That lunatic really gave us a hard time. Jinchul is going to be pissed.”
Eunsol was checking on Songee and Seungyub, who were lying on the ground.
When she quickly removed Songee’s bulletproof vest, there were multiple dark blue bruises the size of an adult man’s hand on her upper body.
Songee sighed and got up.
Seungyub’s condition was worse.
Despite wearing the Protective Suit, the impact from the gorilla’s overwhelming punch had not been fully absorbed.
He struggled to move as he gasped for breath.
Recovery was out of the question.
We needed to escape, at least.
At least the thought of the escape button was comforting.
If worse came to worst, we could use it to survive.
Eunsol rushed over.
"Ahri, you were right... I'm sorry."
"It’s fine. Next time, we’ll deal with Elizabeth first."
"Let’s make sure we take her gun away next time. We didn’t even get a chance to learn anything before she killed herself."
Looking around, this strange space had three exits, including the one we entered through.
Should Seungyub choose again this time?
Eunsol asked curiously, "This room is a ‘trap’, right?"
"Yeah. This means the rooms we have been going to so far were actually the right ones. We thought they were wrong because they all had monsters, but compared to this room, they might as well be heaven."
Songee, with a weary expression, approached.
"Ahri! I’m sorry..."
"It’s fine. It was a confusing situation."
Aside from the apologies, I reflected for a moment.
Our group tends to avoid conflict by nature.
This tendency has certainly contributed to keeping our party from fracturing, but when a tough decision must be made, it causes hesitation.
That’s probably why they didn’t agree with what seemed like an extreme suggestion from me.
After all, it was a decision based on intuition, so I couldn’t provide solid reasoning.
I understood this, so I didn’t hold any grudges against my comrades.
However...
- Whack!
I smacked Mooksung on the head while sending him a private message.
Kim Ahri: You should’ve had my back!
This guy owes his life to my intuition more times than I can count, yet he didn’t listen to me?
If he had supported me, the others might have thought, "Hmm, maybe there’s something to it," and followed suit!
Mooksung, despite his age, just chuckled sheepishly.
"But there’s something a bit scary I want to talk about."
"We’re already in a terrifying situation, but go ahead."
"This gorilla, it had a ‘master’."
"..."
"Remember how I said I could slightly read the minds of Being of Chaos after Affinity got enhanced?"
***- Park Seungyub
Ah... It’s so hot.
My whole body feels like it’s on fire.
I haven’t been able to pinpoint where it hurts for a while now.
For some time, I’ve been thinking more about how tired I am, and how sleepy I am, rather than how much it hurts.
Grandpa Mooksung, who was tending to me here and there after removing the Protective Suit, eventually pushed me back into it.
I forced my mouth open.
“Grandpa...”
“Don’t talk. Just drink this.”
Grandpa handed me a syringe filled with red liquid.
“Is this the legendary elixir Kain-hyung searched so desperately, Ahri-noona’s blood?”
“...You’re still talking nonsense, so you must be okay.”
“You should probably just leave me here and take the Protective Suit back. It’s a waste for me to be wearing such a powerful tool when I can’t even move.”
“Come on, have a little faith.”
“But I can’t even move—”
“Your ‘Heaven’s Luck’ hasn’t triggered yet, right? Not even in front of that gorilla. I believe you still have one more moment to shine.”
“...”
After saying that, Grandpa placed the “Escape Button” in my hand.
Where does this unwavering faith come from?
Has Heaven’s Luck really activated every time I was in danger?
Honestly, Heaven’s Luck feels more like my patron activates it whenever they feel like it.
Maybe because I drank that legendary elixir? Somehow, I felt a bit more energetic.
I heard that Ahri-noona’s healing powers weren’t that strong when she was healthy, but it seemed to have some effect.
Or maybe it was just the placebo effect.
Lying here blankly, I think I could understand Grandpa’s mindset.
The truth was, we were in a pretty desperate situation.
We had lost most of our firepower, two of our comrades had died, everyone was exhausted, and we had no idea how to escape.
In this situation, Grandpa’s last hope seemed to be my Heaven’s Luck.
In other words, it was less about believing and more about wanting to believe.
Somewhere nearby, I heard the sound of something breaking.
Grandpa jumped up, startled.
For the first time in a long while, a notification appeared on its own.
Heaven’s Luck Activated!
The energy of the universe is protecting you.
Isn’t Heaven’s Luck a name Ahri-noona made up...?
Now that even Grandpa’s calling it Heaven’s Luck, have you decided to call it that too, Patron?
And the message changes every time. It used to say something like “777!”, but now it’s about the energy of the universe.
Ah, whatever.
If the energy of the universe is protecting me, I guess I’ll be fine somehow!
I just closed my eyes and relaxed.
I suddenly felt envious of Kain-hyung, who had been asleep for a long time.
***- Kim Ahri
As I looked around, I continued my earlier train of thought.
Assuming Seungyub collapsing itself is a form of choice, why didn’t Fortune choose the next room?
“...”
Because this room is the right one!
Hoping against hope, I began to examine my surroundings.
I touched and inspected every object, and looked over the walls and tables.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Is it just my imagination after all?
As I continued stalling, familiar words appeared in the mirror near the sink.
Move!
Who exactly is sending these messages?
Our group is mentally and physically exhausted. Most importantly, Seungyub, who is supposed to guide us, can barely stay conscious.
We can’t keep following these instructions.
Using my Ancient Blood, I wrote a reply.
No!
“...”
“...”
“...”
[Fine. Then let’s play!]
- Crash!
A hand shot out of the mirror like a blade, piercing through my body in an instant.