’Calm down. I need to calm down. There’s nothing good that will come from panicking.’
I chanted a mantra inside my mind. Based on what I had researched, this was supposed to help with anxiety and fear.
It didn’t.
If anything, it made things worse.
’....He said... huihahjklhjsd!’
’Cacalm...! He wants t.. khahdkhda!’
Constant voices whispered into my ears, tickling them softly with their whispers.
The eyes around me swelled and shrank, their edges twitching as they fixed on me. The chill around me intensified, freezing me on the spot.
’Focus, focus...!’
I tried my best to ignore the eyes, keeping my gaze fixed on the reflection. Time slowed down for me in that moment. The fire raged behind my charred reflection, with the silhouettes clawing at my shoulders and torso, as if trying to drag me back with them.
I just needed one look to know it was me and my team.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I kept staring at the reflection. The fire crackled behind it, and when hands reached for me from the flames, I lifted my hand.
The reflection copied my movement exactly.
Slowly, I turned my wrist. The reflection did so as well.
As it did, my gaze fell on my watch. The outlines were charred and burnt. Despite this, I could still see the time.
[13:03]
That was all I needed to see, and all I was able to see.
Blinking once, everything faded from my sight.
"Squad Leader?"
A hand grasped my shoulder, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Hm? Ah..."
When I turned my head, I saw Mia staring at me with a hesitant look. It looked like she even flinched.
Was I this scary?
"You’re making a scary face right now."
"Oh."
So, I was.
"...I-is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine."
It wasn’t.
However, I had to make it seem like it was as I stared at the elevator. There were a lot of things that I needed to process at the moment, but there was no time.
"Should we go to another floor? The elevator is open, and..."
Mia suddenly looked hesitant. I cocked my head as she looked back at me.
"Them, that... why are you wearing sunglasses?"
"Sunglasses?"
I blinked a couple of times before suddenly understanding.
Oh, right..
I thought about taking them off, but decided against it. I still needed them.
"...Let’s leave that aside. There are more pressing matters at hand. We’re not leaving this floor yet."
Truthfully, I had been tempted to leave.
Since the elevator opened, it looked like we could go to the next floor. The concept of the entire scenario was that there were eight floors in the entire hotel; of those eight floors, one floor was something that everyone was unaware of.
Normally, the scenario would be cleared once someone passed all ’seven’ floors.
However, was that truly the clear scenario?
’No, it’s not.’
I thought about the scenario again. More specifically, its description. The answer became clear to me.
’The goal of the scenario is for me to figure out the past of this place and find the eighth floor.’
It wasn’t to clear all floors.
’Clear all... floors... hahaihds.’
’...Floors... hwahs.’
But that was easier said than done. The eighth floor was something no one had managed to uncover. Finding it wasn’t going to be easy. Thankfully, I wasn’t completely helpless as I stared at the compass in my hands.
’It might not be working now, but it has clearly led me to this floor. It’s obvious that the key to finding the eighth floor is here.’
Lowering my head, I stared at my watch.
It was currently 12:58.
’I need to hurry.’
My heart thumped just thinking about the little time that I had available.
I only had about 5 minutes before the vision came to life. Before we all burned alive. I needed to figure out the key to get to the eighth floor. However, before I did that, I needed to figure out exactly what I was looking for.
’Eight floors...’
The idea that this building had eight floors was absurd to me. I had seen it from the outside, and the layout had been studied by everyone present. While it was indeed true that the scenario had changed, it shouldn’t be to the point where it fundamentally changed the entire layout of the gate.
In that case...
’The eighth floor must either be some sort of basement or a hidden room. In that case, what I should be looking for is some sort of key, or way to get into the hidden room.’
I hastily looked around, my gaze settling over the charred remains of the room, from the bodies to the burned-out paintings and furniture. I looked all over the place before eventually settling my gaze on the bodies of the people around.
A thought crossed my mind.
Maybe...
"Squad Leader?!"
Mia’s sudden cry snapped me around. Sarah was standing stiff, twitching, her eyes darting unnaturally before stopping.
"Wha..."
And then—
Her gaze settled on me, her head twitching a couple of times.
Chils settled down my entire body the moment I caught her doing that, as the eyes surrounding me started to swarm her, looking at her curiously from all directions.
But this lasted for a split second.
It all soon faded. Her gaze returned to normal.
My lips quivered as I tried to make sense of the situation, but checking the time, I knew that I had to prioritize different things.
For now, the glasses told me she wasn’t possessed.
I had no choice but to check on her later.
It was the only thing I could go with for now. Time was running low.
Too low.
[12:59]
"Search the bodies."
I gave them a simple order, trying my best to ignore the multitude of eyes that were staring down on me from all directions.
"There’s no time to explain. Just search the bodies of everyone present. If possible, search the bodies of the ’NPCs’ in the room. There’s no real point in looking at the bodies of the other teams. Look for anything. A key, or maybe even a small diary. However small it is, just look for it."
The good thing about the situation was that there was only one room on this floor. I was certain that the answer was here.
The issue was that the room itself was quite big. It was at least the size of an indoor gymnasium, with all sorts of furniture and paintings. It would take a bit to thoroughly search the entire place, but we didn’t have the luxury of time.
Thankfully, I wasn’t alone.
"Don’t ask any questions, and start searching!"
"But what about Sa—"
"Leave her for now, just search!"
I moved towards a certain direction.
The others looked at each other. In the end, they didn’t question my decision and split into different areas, moving towards the corpses and patting them down.
"Just look for something. Anything! We don’t have much time!"
I made sure to make it clear that we didn’t have time.
I checked my watch.
There were still four minutes left. I knew that I had to hurry before it was too late. This entire place was going to burn down in several minutes, and the chance of finding the ’key’ to getting to the eighth floor was going to be null.
’...There’s also the chance that I might be able to come back later, but I have a feeling that things won’t be this simple.’
I moved towards the nearest corpse. Judging from the charred clothing, it looked to belong to one of those weird people that we had met at the dinner table.
I patted down their body, hoping to find something, but—
’Nothing.’
There was absolutely nothing.
Twitch!
"....!?"
Suddenly, the charred body twitched, the ash coiling out of its charred skin, nearly causing me to shout as a foul stench entered my nostrils.
Thankfully, it just ended there.
The corpse remained dead.
’I need to... search more ’
I bit my lips, lifting my head to look around. The moment I did, my heart sank. There were just so many bodies, and even with the help of my entire team, I could tell that there wasn’t enough time.
[13:00]
Just three minutes.
’No, there’s no way that we can make it in time.’
Swooosh!
"Nnn!"
"Fire...!"
Something flickered in the distance, and my expression hardened at the sight of the fire that suddenly manifested over the walls of the room.
My entire body tensed, and I looked around me desperately.
For a moment, the thought of going to the elevator and leaving crossed my mind, but as it did, my gaze couldn’t help but wander back to the cult member.
A thought crossed my mind in that moment.
’Maybe...?’
I clenched my teeth, knowing that this was my only shot at finding the solution to the situation.
With no choice left, I pressed my hand to the corpse and reached for the node.
[Inetermediate Node : Anamnesis]
Please work.