Vol 5 Chapter 48

Blue Lady whispered worriedly while scolding Evan. Her expression was full of the desire to leave this place immediately. However, Rob had no intention of doing so.

"Let's count to 50 and then carefully move forward."

"What?"

"If anyone doesn't want to, you're free to leave. I can go alone."

When Rob spoke coldly to Blue Lady, who was showing her dislike, her expression soured.

"How can you say that? You're the one who forced us to come this far!"

"Hey Rob, do we really need to keep bringing her along? Let's just leave her behind."

Chow seized the opportunity and whispered to Rob with narrowed eyes, but Blue Lady wasn't one to miss that.

By the time they had calmed down Blue Lady, who was fuming with anger, enough time had passed that they didn't need to count anymore.

"Do we still need to count to 50?" Chow muttered, looking around cautiously.

Evan, who had been standing in the corner, raised his hand and mumbled sadly, "Um... I've been counting. I'm up to 78 now."

"Oh! Thanks, Evan."

"Great, let's go."

"..."

They patted Evan's back cheerfully, but Evan's expression wasn't very bright. The heartless group excitedly went ahead without anyone paying attention to Evan.

"Is that...?!"

The man they had expected to see was nowhere to be found, but there was no need to wonder where he had gone. A black hole-like thing sitting squarely in the middle of the cavern was buzzing, flaunting its presence.

Beyond the black hole, which looked large enough for a person to easily enter, they could see a shape that was clearly recognizable as a path, though it was dark. As the surprised group approached cautiously, albeit hesitantly, they could see the black hole in more detail.

"Did he go through here?" Chow pointed at the black hole with a pale face, looking towards Rob.

"I... guess so."

Although Rob spoke uncertainly, he was almost certain inside.

That man earlier had been focused on something, not paying any attention to the normal cave path that continued beyond. If the result of that was this black hole and the dark path that looked like another dimension beyond it, wouldn't it be natural to think he had gone that way?

"You're not planning to go in there too, are you?" Blue Lady asked with an uneasy face.

Rob nodded without hesitation, answering in place of words.

"Argh, really, why did I ever form a party with these stalker-like people...!"

"But honestly, aren't you curious too? This is the kind of thing you'd rarely see even if you played MIST for a hundred days. Don't you want to see what that man is trying to do, now that we've come this far?"

"...H-hmph."

Blue Lady's snort lost some of its force. Rob chuckled inwardly, circled the black hole a few times, then slowly stepped inside as the group's representative. At that moment, a chill ran through his entire body, along with the feeling of stepping onto completely different ground from his feet.

"What's wrong?"

Blue Lady, seeing Rob's strange expression, asked fearfully, unlike her usual self, but Rob just shook his head, trying not to show it, and took another step forward, completely passing through the black hole.

What he felt at the same time was the fact that he had moved to a completely different place. The air felt damp and cold, and the ground was hard but sticky. He couldn't move forward readily because he couldn't see properly even an inch in front of him.

When Rob looked back, he could see the rest of the group following through, as if visible through a mirror beyond a transparent membrane. Chow, who had passed through the transparent membrane with a swoosh sound, shuddered and shivered all over.

"Ugh, it feels cold..."

"Move aside."

Blue Lady, who had crossed over next, pushed Chow's back with a slap as she came forward. Chow glared at her with a frown, but Blue Lady pretended not to see and looked around.

"I can't see anything ahead. We'll have to ask Evan again."

The moment she said that, Evan, who had crossed over last, pointed at himself with a ghostly pale face.

"M-me?"

"You know, that skill you used earlier. Was it a life form detection skill? Use that and take the lead."

"..."

Poor Evan made a sad face but couldn't refuse. He quickly muttered something that sounded like a skill name.

"Holy Life Finder."

With a whoosh sound, Evan blinked a few times and started to move forward.

"I think I can see something in the distance... Follow me."

And so they moved in a line, hands on each other's shoulders like playing a train game, to avoid losing anyone in the group. It was a typical occurrence, just like before, that the other two had to deal with Blue Lady and Chow growling and fighting over minor issues like stepping on feet or bumping into each other.

"Hmm...?"

[ What is it? ]

As Kapros, who had been moving forward with a few Fireballs floating in front, suddenly stopped at the sound of faint human-like voices from behind, Superior immediately asked.

"I thought I heard something from behind."

[ Why don't you try searching? ]

Superior answered leisurely, but Kapros shook his head after a moment of consideration.

"It must have been my imagination. We're in a hurry, so I'll just keep going."

This place, where the visibility seemed to be only about 1 meter even with three Fireballs, was strangely devoid of any monsters that should have been there, making it even more tense. The slightly sticky ground that he felt with each step also contributed to the unpleasant feeling, but the damp and cool air was no less bothersome.

Kapros was currently using Strength and Haste, and even Detect Magic to try to find any traces of potential enemies while moving forward, but he strongly felt that this alone wouldn't be enough no matter how he thought about it.