As we prepared our tents and our mattresses, the ten people held a conversation. They talked about many things, including their past lives they have remembered. But it was painful for me to listen to. I knew that these people were just fabricated inside the mind of Vulcan. That old man just gathered the data from the people he knew and placed their memories inside these puppets. There were no side effects or consequences in copying the exact memories of these people. In spite of that, these people still believed that they were real even though they weren’t. The topic soon curved and brought me to the centre of their conversation. These survivors kept asking me questions about my personal life, which I half-heartedly obliged. They were saved by an adventurer. And it wouldn’t hurt to share my life with them and tell them that I was still a human being like them. “Some adventurers bluntly tell us that we don’t have to know about them. I’m sorry for asking about your personal life, adv
When I was too focused on watching the place, someone tapped my shoulders. As I averted my gaze and turned around, the boy who I had first saved met my eyes. He had a worried look on his face, as if telling me that the boy feared, not only for his life, but also for his mother as well. That kid came to me and tugged the ends of my attire. I had my mask on, but it appeared that this child saw right through me.“Is everything alright, Aoi? Are we going to be alright?”This child knew my name after I held a conversation with everyone else. Although I told them to not use my name willy-nilly, it didn’t matter right now, considering that we were inside an artificial portal. And the government or the Crimson Guild wouldn’t breach this dimension.I shuffled the boy’s already crazed hair and patted his head. “It’s fine. Don’t worry. It’s just the…” I paused before continuing my sentence. “The boars and a wild forest fire happened away from us.” “Are you sure? You’re not lying, are you?” the
Another panel came across my face and blocked my view. When I opened the message, Vulcan’s name was written on the sender. That old man knew what I was up to. [Don’t worry about the fifty remaining survivors, kid. They are waiting for you near the exit. But you need to be quick on your toes, Aoi. Those monsters - rather, Pests - are coming after them as well. The more time you spend here, the less people you could save.] That was the trick that I had anticipated. Vulcan deliberately placed the fifty survivors beside our only exit filled with Pests surrounding the area. And even though the rest of the survivors were only fifty, they were still people I had to save. This was a simulation. But these occurrences could also happen in real time, so I had to make my decision count. The things the survivors and I had prepared were already on the ground. Our necessities contained some packed food reserved for the next few days, including berries, cooked and preserved meats, spices, salts, a
I computed inside my head the overall distance of the place and the amount of time we would need to reach the other side, including other casualties we might face once we reached the latter area. We still didn’t know if the horizon would lead us to the stairs, so I just had to multiply the distance and time twice after gathering the results. As it turned out, the road measured around five kilometres. By adding another five kilometres for good measure, we would have ten kilometres in total. Our group could walk for around ninety minutes or run continuously for seventy seventy minutes to reach the goal. However, there was one problem. Given our circumstances and the age related to our group, most survivors couldn’t run fast enough compared to me. And our party wouldn’t run consistently, given the aforementioned problems. So I deduced that eleven of us would arrive at the end of this line around eighty to ninety minutes, as long as nothing obstructed our way. But I doubted that would ha
The two scouts returned to the main party and joined themselves with the rest of us. Everyone who had their weapons prepared them in their hands and glanced in every direction. I also heightened my senses and attempted to locate any anomalies approaching our way. It won’t be long until that monster appears from those sea of trees, so I had to be wary about them. We had the chance to escape and let the old man die a noble and lonely death. However, everyone refused. When I raised that question to the survivors, each of them said the same thing “We will fight together and escape together. Nobody should be left behind!” It was a poetic line, yet risky line. However, it was better than nothing, as everyone presented their defensive stance and remained in formation while waiting for the intruder to come in. But we didn’t let mothers and their children fight for our stead even though we lacked the manpower to fight a horde. These people were the ones we had to protect. So we didn’t let the
“What do we need to do, Aoi,” one survivor asked.The mother and her child braced themselves for impact as the monsters kept creeping closer in our direction. There were creatures in front of us and monsters at our flank. There was no way for us to escape. And the only thing left for us to do was to fight our way onward, together with the people and my sniper. This would be a mesys battle, but it was the only option left for our group. Even though my sniper and my magical bullets could deal tons of damage, the beasts ambushing us were far too many. I could save myself and kill them while dodging their attacks, but I wasn’t alone. These people behind me needed my protection, and if I let my guard down the survivors might die. “Everyone, move if I move. Stop when I stop. Let’s proceed one little step at a time.”If Neil Armstrong took baby steps on the moon and finally achieved his goal, we could do that too. We couldn’t risk it and charge straight onward without a plan. If we do just
Two people died in front of me. It was not even the old man. These two powerless individuals protected everyone from the Pests and ended up giving their lives. Vulcan was behind this. But could I actually blame him for this?No. This was reality. Once everyone had a taste of those portals, they knew what was coming for them. Everyday, people die from those dimensions. And it was the adventurer’s job to stop those madness from spreading further. However, it was a difficult job, let alone to one adventurer surrounded by a horde of monsters.Even though I only needed to protect ten people, two had already died. We were now down to eight people fighting for our lives, nine including me. As soon as those individuals died, I clicked my tongue and vowed to make their sacrifices worth it.I aimed my sniper at the monsters who killed my comrades and killed them with four bullets. When the shells from my rifle penetrated the creature’s bodies, those Pests fell on the ground and became corpses t
I had a hunch that something was off. There was something odd about the abyss below this floating land. But no matter how hard I pinpointed it with my finger, the cat had already caught my tongue. With that in mind, I returned to the base, which was already prepared by the survivors. Even though we survived the deadly chase, our hearts were filled with sorrow and despair.I wanted to cheer everyone up. However, I knew that effort was pointless. There was no reason for us to carve a smile on our faces after losing someone close to us. Those two individuals were two men that fought an already losing battle. They died with honour, and a heroic one to top it off.The only sound that reverberated through the campfire was the twigs burning from the fire. And the only company we had was ourselves huddled around the crisping logs the survivors placed. As we gazed upon the sky, the moon basked us with its moonlight. It was a picturesque sight. But I knew that the night was still young and dark