episode_0168

“Gasps.”

“Ugh… my head…”

Hanna and Aries felt as if they had woken up in a hazy darkness. Their heads throbbed, feeling like their blood vessels might burst. Fatigue washed over their bodies, making it difficult to even stand. The pain was so intense their vision blurred.

“Take a deep breath.”

Following the gentle voice, they breathed in and out slowly. The headache still pierced their brains, but their chests felt a little calmer. They had a splitting headache trying to recall what had just happened.

“Ju, just now… what were we…?”

“Water… thirsty.”

“I’m sorry. There’s no water.”

A burning thirst. Their bodies were sticky with sweat, making them feel even worse. After several more deep breaths, they felt slightly better.

“I used a few recovery skills. Both of you should feel better soon.”

“Um, um, something… my memory is fuzzy…”

There was a certain bitterness in Erina’s usually graceful and elegant demeanor. Shifting their gaze, they saw a completely unfamiliar room. They were clearly in a moldy basement filled with plant roots, but this room was excessively clean. It was a clean, empty room, though filled with dust. Really, there was nothing here. The room was brightly lit, clearly showing its emptiness; only their colleagues and dust were present. The desolate scene only worsened their headaches.

“I’ll explain what happened as soon as Levi-ssi and Asti-ssi wake up.”

“Ah… right. They’re both strong, so they’ll be up soon.”

Behind Erina, two figures lay collapsed as if asleep.

“I, is it serious?”

“Oh, no, no,” Erina chuckled awkwardly, waving her hands before continuing, “…we were just exhausted from, you know, the… activity.”

“B, but… I don’t think that would cause this much of a headache…?”

Hanna’s observation earned a nod from Erina.

“Ugh—”

Just then, Levi groaned, clutching his head and waking up, followed by Asti. As with Hanna and Aries, they were in pain, but Erina calmly helped them. Once everyone seemed somewhat composed, she sat them all down.

“Are you all feeling better? Let me just say this isn’t a serious story. It’s a simple one, so please listen calmly.”

She wanted to offer them some tea, seeing how exhausted they were, but there was nothing here.

“First, we were simply exhausted from mating activity. It wasn’t anything like a raid.”

“…”

“And the reason we’re in this room is because of Levi-ssi and Asti-ssi’s help, and my decision. Do you two remember that?”

Both Levi and Asti shook their heads.

“It’s my fault. I was too careless. There seems to have been an odorless, colorless aphrodisiac gas in the air…”

Erina bowed her head in apology. However, as everyone knew it wasn’t her fault, instead of reproachful glances, they offered encouraging ones.

“Aha. So the cause of the headache is inhaling too much of that gas.”

“R, right… Even without that gas, having stayed in such a closed space for years….”

“In that sense, it’s probably best to escape quickly. Levi-ssi said he could climb the walls unaided, but carrying four people would be a burden.”

“Possible. Maybe. If I rest just a little…”

Saying that with a haggard face lacked persuasiveness.

“I can try too… but…”

“No. Let’s move together. Let’s proceed cautiously. Hanna-ssi, do you know anything about this building?”

“…! Y, yes, it’s definitely from my world. I, it might sound strange… but it’s also from my era….”

“Ugh, can we leave the complicated stuff for later? My head hurts…”

The throbbing in their heads was excruciating. If there was no water, at least clean air would be nice.

“Know the way?”

“To the exit… I have a vague feeling of the structure?”

“That’s enough. Let’s go.”

Everyone desperately wanted to escape this hellhole. While their heads throbbed, their uteruses ached—the consequence of being so full of semen. Hanna honestly lacked confidence, but she knew this was no time to back down. In this closed-off structure, they should eventually find some stairs, but inhaling more gas could be problematic, making it crucial to find the shortest possible route.

“Um, how did we get into this room?”

“I’m not sure of the exact route, but we definitely ascended one floor. There were no stairs leading further up.”

“I see. It might be best to retrace our steps from before we lost consciousness.”

Based on the sensations he’d felt while walking, Asti erased dust on the floor to create a rough map. Looking at the incomplete map with many missing parts, Hanna pondered.

“…To be honest, I don’t know the answer. Just possibilities…”

“It’s okay. We just need to get out.”

“…”

Erina suddenly felt a headache. Considering the amount of strange gas they’d inhaled, her reaction was slow. Her vision doubled and distorted. Overwhelmed by dizziness, she braced herself against the floor.

“Wh, what’s wrong? Are you okay? Maybe we should rest a bit?”

Aries grasped Erina’s hand with her small hands and asked, worried. Her noticeably worsened complexion prompted worried glances from the others.

“This is bad…”

“Ugh… mm…”

Erina frowned, clutching her temples, before speaking.

“This is… because of my skill…”

Thanks to her answer skill, she could instantly grasp the cause of the problem. Therefore, she didn’t need to worry about the symptoms themselves. The problem was the severity of the cause. She could only blame herself for not even considering disabling the skill. No, it had been necessary. A hazy, though perhaps more accurately a sensed than visibly seen, image came to her when she closed her eyes. The situation was heading for the worst.

“Quickly, we need to get out. This isn’t the time. Really.”

Urged on by Erina, her companions exchanged glances before nodding.

“Can you walk? Let me help you.”

“Asti-ssi’s stamina’s low too. Whew… It’s okay. I just cut the connection.”

Aries and Hanna were extremely curious about what Erina had meant, but it wasn’t the time to ask, so they resigned themselves.

“Hanna, let’s run. You can run right? I’ll follow.”

Since Hanna was the slowest of the group, following her was not difficult. They all quietly got up, only to realize their remaining strength had almost completely depleted. There was nothing they could do even knowing that. Confronting whatever mysterious woman they’d left behind would have to wait until after they escaped. Overthinking things was pointless.

The path was rough, full of plant roots and lacking light. Reliance on memory alone for navigation was challenging, yet Hanna expertly grasped the building’s structure and guided them.

‘What? This structure… totally bizarre! Who would design stairs like this?’

Stairs ran down both sides of a central area; to reach the second floor, they had to climb the stairs on one side, pass to the opposite side, then climb again — an incredibly illogical structure. The method through which one might fall down was a more realistic pathway than utilizing the stairs.

“This is ridiculous. What is this design for?”

“I agree. And it’s not a small building…”

The structure was impossible to ignore, igniting complaints.

“…it was designed to prevent… escape… haah, it seems so.”

Erina provided the answer. Even with a slight increase in stamina, she had very little to begin with, and her heavy breathing reflected it. And, of course, given the situation and their exhaustion, their consumption rate was even higher.

“Something…”

Hanna flinched as if she sensed something, but didn’t say anything. Escaping was the priority, and it might just be a hunch.

They focused on walking, avoiding conversation. Running and talking simultaneously was too taxing. They refrained from speaking for the sake of Hanna and Erina. Aries, though a magician, was trained in close-quarters combat, so running was of no trouble to her.

They climbed four floors in rapid succession, their speed gradually slowing until they were merely walking.

“Almost there…”

“Definitely clearer air. …But we should rest a bit. A fight might be coming.”

Only Levi and Asti remained seemingly unaffected.

“Let’s avoid combat as much as possible. While we rest, I’ll tell you about what I just saw… what I noticed.”

They didn’t stop, walking slowly.

“First, let me explain what happened.”

It would be too long if given from the beginning, so she tried to be concise. They had mistakenly thought they were in conflict with orcs, they encountered the royal army, and had given a skill designed to target magic.

“I had no idea that skill was still active. Apparently, we ended up confronting demons there…”

“…So the demons have finally started to move?”

“The worst case scenario…”

Erina nodded.