Season 2: Chapter 176: Rules (3)
The dense thicket of dark tree trunks twisted and tangled to form a forest resistant to anyone's intrusion. Not even the sky was an exception to these tightly intertwined vines, making it a zone of darkness where light scarcely penetrated. The deeper one went, the stronger the darkness became.
Only the mystical fruits scattered here and there, emitting a pink glow, served as the sole light sources.
People called it the abyss, a dark place that didn’t permit humans, yet humans never asked for permission. Even such damp and dark places unwelcoming to life were nothing but objects of conquest for humans.
"Do not come any closer! I'll slash you to death!"
Thus, the noise echoing mightily within the abyss could only be a human voice. The voice soaked in greed and fear trembled.
"Just one step closer and you're dead!"
The one screaming was Swift. He was shouting to protect the ninja with the entrance. He wasn't addressing anyone in particular. He was just shouting at any random participant lurking around the dark.
In other words, he hadn't spotted Almond hiding in a thicket on the outskirts.
Almond felt relieved and whispered into the mic channel only the viewers could hear, "He hasn't seen us."
— Yeah, not detected yet
— Free hit opportunity
— Surprise attack?
A surprise attack seemed unlikely. The enemies were on high alert whether or not they saw him, so a surprise attack seemed difficult.
"It doesn't look like a surprise attack will work."
— Too many, yeah
— Why? Show them how you killed 100 in Kingdom
— So a total annihilation instead of a surprise attack?
The viewers envisioned Almond sweeping away all the enemies with his bow.
Indeed, it wasn't impossible if he started shooting from his current location. This bow, which eliminated the delay of drawing an arrow like Raina's bow, felt familiar in his hands. Moreover, his position allowed for some time to freely attack them.
"It's not just about Swift, but killing the other party members seems a bit too much."
It wasn't a matter of whether he could kill them, but rather if it was the right thing to do. Killing all those party members would be no different from killing all the minions in Raina's story mode because they were obstacles.
— Is that so?
— Yeah, that makes sense
— Save the minions
— Aren't they all in it together?
— It's complicated...
The viewers felt confused.
Almond subtly asked Luna, "Can we kill all those guys?"
"...!"
She was startled and twitched while hiding in the bushes.
"Ah..."
She couldn't easily answer. Perhaps Luna considered them as comrades, but a more definitive reason existed.
"If you kill them all, we can't go to the next floor."
Almond didn't understand.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember the rule. We need exactly twenty people. Why do you think this was specified?"
"?"
He still didn’t understand.
— Ah, could it be...?
— Damn
— Wow, those rules are intense.
"You need twenty people to open the entrance, meaning only twenty can enter. If you kill everyone, how will you gather twenty people?"
"… Oh no."
This was unexpected. It wasn't first-come, first-served for twenty people. It required twenty people to enter. No more, no less. Exactly twenty people.
‘One, two, three…’
Almond counted the members of Swift and the ninja’s parties.
‘Fourteen.’
They had fourteen people in total, which was far too few.
Perhaps that was why Swift exclaimed, "Only six more! I'll choose the six!"
He planned to select six from those gathered around to proceed.
— He'll probably pick the weak ones.
— Sly dog, LOL
— The ultimate loser selection competition, so intense.
As the viewers surmised, Swift was likely to choose only the weak ones he could easily kill upon reaching the next floor.
There was no way he would choose Almond. They would desperately try to stop him.
‘This…’
Originally, Almond had planned to hitch a ride with the team that had the entrance to move to the next floor.
‘I'll have to take it from them.’
Almond adjusted his plan.
***
Almond agreed to stay with Luna and they moved through the bushes while crawling with their stomachs against the ground in a prone position.
"Ugh… ugh…"
Luna struggled as if she was dying.
— This is why you need to serve.
— ??? "Recruit 23, keep crawling. Just keep crawling. Don't stand up."
— I went to eat and these guys turned into worms?
Even though Luna had spent so long in the abyss, it seemed she had never done anything like this before.
"When do we stop crawling?"
"Quiet."
"Oops."
Luna quickly covered her mouth when Almond told her to be quiet.
— Cute, LOL
— They're determined to catch the bus.
— She listens well.
Almond quietly placed his ear to the ground. No one was nearby.
He carefully lifted his body from the ground.
“Gulp,” he swallowed dryly and peeked out cautiously.
‘They’re there.’
The ninjas were still in the same position.
"Stay here for a bit."
After telling Luna to stay, Almond began to climb a large tree beside them.
Luna looked on with wide eyes. It would all be over if they were discovered, yet Almond trusted his senses and continued to climb.
The swaying branches made noises in the wind and the enemies paused momentarily.
— Did they get caught?
— Uh.
— What are they doing?!
Almond paused his ascent momentarily. He was hidden behind the tree and invisible to the enemies, but someone carefully looking could spot him from behind.
Fortunately, that didn't happen. Almond resumed climbing the tree and the moist wind also helped him.
The leaves of the forest continued to make noise. Meanwhile, Almond successfully reached the top of the tree. Now, he became completely invisible hidden by the leaves.
He stood on a branch.
Creak.
It made a slightly unstable noise.
"Just a moment."
Almond didn't plan to stay on this branch for long.
Then Swift shouted, "Six people! Just six! First come, first serve!"
He called out to the numerous participants hiding around. Shadows hiding in every direction hesitated about whether to abandon their team to join or steal the entrance.
They all faced a dilemma. If they went, they could be annihilated on the next level due to being outnumbered. If they chose their team, they risked not even making it to the next level.
"Here… We’re a team of six!"
Rustle!
Someone burst out of the bushes and raised their hand.
"How about taking all of us?"
"…"
The ninja hesitated to answer immediately. A team of six had arrived together?
This was not at all favorable for them. With Swift's team having eight members and the ninja's team having six, introducing a third team of six would mean a three way battle at the next level. That was not the scenario they envisioned.
The ninja shook his head.
"We can't accept all six at once! Only half of you can come!"
"What!? That's just like saying you'll kill us all at the next level!" the challenger shouted in disbelief. Then, he tried to rally the other participants hiding nearby, "To the many participants hiding around us! Listen! Do not agree to their deal! You will all just end up dead on the next level!"
Murmurs filled the forest, indicating his words had struck a chord.
"Let's just take it from them! We are willing to compete again to ascend!"
"Yeah! We feel the same!"
Tension appeared on Swift's face.
"So then..."
It seemed he would back down, but he drew his sword instead.
"... You all will die."
His threat carried a deadly intent.
Then, a blue light came flying from somewhere.
Fwoosh!
It headed straight for the center and caught everyone's attention.
Thunk!
The arrow pierced the ninja's throat.
"Gurk...!"
It instantly destroyed his carotid artery and windpipe. The perfectly accurate shot resembled the Grim Reaper himself.
"Gak... Gack...!"
The ninja struggled to breathe and vomited blood as Swift turned around in shock.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Seizing the moment, Almond rapidly fired several more shots.
Thunk! Thwack!
The ninja's head turned into a porcupine. He couldn’t use his unique abilities due to the pain and helplessly took all the arrows. More importantly, the arrows flew too fast for him to react.
Splat!
Almond shot four more arrows in quick succession.
"!"
Arrows covered the ninja's face and he collapsed. The blue arrows pierced every critical spot on his face, neck, forehead, and temple.
In the blink of an eye, Swift became speechless with his mouth agape.
The others also froze, knowing any motion could make them the next target. This was the terror of a sniper. One would die without a proper chance to resist. Their lives could unknowingly end at any moment.
— Wow, holy...
— Incredible...
— I’m trembling here...
— Shocked...
"Now—”
A voice came from above.
"I have the entrance now."
It was Almond.
"I won't discriminate. I'll accept twenty people. It's first come, first serve."
He didn't forget to address Swift.
"Swift, I'll include you too. Protect me now."
Swift's face turned a mix of red and pale.
"This... This son of a...!"
Swift wanted to throw his sword and blink immediately, but he realized that even this would not work against Almond.
Every time he used blink, he had never gained an advantage.
"We, we'll join!"
The individuals who claimed to be a team of six were the first to rush toward Almond. Almond designated all of them as entrance wait listers and they all accepted.
A white light hovered above their heads.
"Us too! Me too!"
One by one, the number of individuals with a white light floating above them increased.
Swift's party members trembled with unease.
"Sw-Swift... at this rate..."
There was a chance that only Swift's party would not make it to the next level.
"Alright. There's no choice."
Swift had no option. Almond had even offered to include him. Why would he choose to fight here? He would lose the trust of his party members.
"Include us too!"
He raised his hand and rushed forward.
The crowd laughed and mocked Swift's quick change of stance and submission. His party members also joined and Luna was added along with them.
[Rule Established]
A massive magic circle appeared around Almond.
"A bird...?"
Up in the barely visible sky, another giant bird flew by.
[Proceed to the next level]
Was it an illusion? It seemed as if the bird had issued this command.
Flash!
The screen turned white and their vision disappeared for a moment.
[The Abyss - 2nd Level]
They had arrived at the second level of the abyss.
The viewers felt thrilled about finally entering the next level.
***
[Beginner Tip: The abyss is usually composed of three levels. Colloquially, the topmost level is called the Leaf, followed by the Stem, and finally the Root.]