[Finding players nearby]
[…]
Hiro had already spent over two hours staring at the transparent screen that appeared before him. It continued to refresh the selection of finding players while Liberty was already asleep, leaning against his shoulder.
Luckily, the room they were trapped in that had no existing door was warm and comfortable enough, so the two of them could rest safely. No monsters had come this far because the place was probably a safezone.
Even so, they couldn’t wait there forever. Besides, Hiro repeatedly heard the sound of Liberty’s stomach. The girl was indeed asleep, but her empty stomach continued to growl. It managed to make Hiro worry.
[three players have been found]
Hiro reflexively stood up when he saw that there were finally players nearby.
Because they appeared together, Hiro guessed that the three of them were from the same party.
[Finding the party nearby]
[1 party has been found]
“Gotcha.”
[Request to join the party]
[Raid party has been requested]
[Noah’s party has accepted your request]
“Wait–Noah?”
Hiro could see the information on the three players who were part of Noah’s party, and he felt that he was lucky because the three names were very familiar to him.
[Party chat (Noah): Where the hell are you?]
Even the party chat could be used freely. There was only one reason why the party chat could be used by them. They were in the same dungeon.
[You: Give me the lead, hurry up.]
[NightFall has been appointed as raid party leader]
After being appointed as a party leader, Hiro could see the complete party settings, including managing who entered party one and party two. And the most important thing… there was an option to summon the party members.
[You have requested your party members to follow you]
.?O,m [Request accepted]
A very bright light appeared in front of Hiro, it formed the silhouettes of three people.
“Finally.” Hiro muttered again, feeling relief and saved, although he didn’t know whether there was another boss he had to fight after the room in front of him.
“Hiro, what are you doing here?” Jacob immediately ran over to Hiro and tapped him on the shoulder a little harshly. Hiro greeted Cara, Noah, and Jacob with a smile.
Liberty, who could hear the commotion, woke up from her sleep. The girl’s eyes immediately widened when she saw three other people had joined in with her and Hiro.
“Wow! How did you guys get here?” Liberty asked in disbelief at what she saw.
“Hey Libe. Are you okay?” Jacob said. The only person of the three who had a fairly good relationship with Liberty.
“Oh, Hi, Jake! It’s been a while.” The girl gave Jacob a warm hug.
Meanwhile, Hiro and Noah had already moved towards the boss’ gate, touching the surface of the door.
[Are you sure you want to open this gate?]
[Once you enter, you can’t run. Make your choice wisely.]
Hiro looked at Noah before the two nodded together. However, even though he had two parties right now, with only 5 members, Noah looked a bit hesitant to enter the door. He held Hiro’s hand from pushing the door.
“Are you sure you can beat whatever’s behind that door?” Noah asked, while frowning.
Hiro nodded slowly. There was no other choice but to give it a try. Whatever awaited him later, he had to find a way to defeat something there.
However, before he touched the door again, Hiro suddenly thought of something.
Why did a party have to be made up of at least two parties? Wasn’t it usually more common to provide a BR recommendation or a full party?
Remembering what he had just experienced with Liberty twice, both when he fell into a hole and when he found a chessboard patterned floor, they were involved in an unexpected one-on-one match.
What if the two parties that were used as a condition for entering the boss gate were to be fought against each other?
If that was the case, Hiro couldn’t possibly sacrifice any of them but himself.
[Liberty has been moved to 2nd party]
[Liberty has joined Noah’s party]
“What are you doing?” Noah asked, not understanding Hiro’s action when he saw the notification he had just received. Hiro didn’t say the reason, but he looked at Noah expectantly.
“I know what I’m doing, Noah. Trust me,” he pleaded a little.
Liberty, Cara, and Jacob were waiting for the two of them in the back. They were all ready with their weapons before Hiro pushed the gate open.
[The gate has opened]
[Too late! There is no way back!]
A very strong wind suddenly pulled the five of them into the dark room behind the gate, as if the system wouldn’t allow them to run at the last second.
Slam!
The gate was locked again behind Hiro’s back. At the same time, a strain of traditional music could be heard from within the darkness. From the soothing strains of its voice, Hiro was sure that the instrument was plucked using the trained fingers.
As the music got faster and faster, a dazzling bright white light suddenly appeared in streaks throughout the room. On the floor, on the walls, and even above the ceiling.
From the light that appeared, Hiro and the others knew that the shape of the room was an isosceles triangle.
“Who’s that?” Jacob pointed towards the corner of the room, which was about 20 meters from where they were standing right now.
From her silhouette, we could see a woman in a unique black and red traditional Chinese dress, Qixiong Ruqun. It was the woman who was playing a long traditional musical instrument on the floor that looked different from the other floors.
In that quite big room, there was no one other than the woman who didn’t even show her face.
“Get ready. Maybe she’s up to something,” Hiro muttered confidently.
Even so, they couldn’t stay silent and decided to walk up to the woman warily.
Hiro walked in the lead with Noah who was ready to activate the fire magic in both hands. The man was even ready to shoot the fire magic if there was a threat approaching them.
However, after they arrived at a distance of three meters from the woman who was playing the music, suddenly the floor in front of them pulled out sharp iron like thorns that reached Hiro’s waist.
The road was impassable. And at the same time, the woman stopped playing her music, then looked at the five of them in turn.
Jacob swallowed his saliva nervously when he saw her face. The woman looked very beautiful with natural makeup and a petite, oriental face, typical of Asia’s women.
“What does she want, Hiro?” Jacob asked, pulling Hiro’s robe from behind.
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