The Cave

"This is the cave?" Hai-rong asked, "It looks like a normal cave for it to have a specific name." They had walked for about an hour, an hour that felt like an eternity. Otto helped them circumvent around monster portals while Ater led them around, the two working in perfect sync as they argued and bickered over which way to go.

"Inanis cave."

"Inanis cave is hidden to monsters and to players, but for players, sometimes, it's accessible if you have a skill-based on revealing, like Otto," Ater pointed out, "Portals can't open here." Otto entered the cave, view blending into a softer blue.

"Is it safe?" Ater asked, peering at Otto's expression.

"... Yes," Otto sat down on the ground before shivering, "It's getting colder and colder here." The others went into the cave and watched as the entrance became sealed. They had already joined the Strawberry Pudding party, although slightly disgruntled by the name and situation. William didn't seem to care as much as he plopped down on the floor and jumped back up, whining about the cold before dropping on his knees. It didn't feel as cold afterwards.

"Hey, cat, what do we do now?" William asked, "We can't just stay here, we need to get to the town before the reset thing that my familiar said something like, 'you will die if you don't kill the big monster thing'. Where is my familiar?"

"What?" Mei-wan looked around, "Mine's gone too?!" Everyone immediately checked for their familiars only to realize that they were all gone, other than Ater and Minerva. The loss felt sudden as Ater gave a laugh before he looked around.

"Because the world is fucking resetting," Ater laughed and laughed and laughed, sound near manic if not for the controlled feeling to it, "Everything turns cold to kill off people who are still here. The room you were in transported you here, but the unlucky people, aka you all, got transported late. There are exactly three spots like this; the Inanis cave, Solus cave, and Caecus cave."

"Wait the world is resetting?!" Elizabeth asked, "Shit."

"Wait, wait, wait," Hai-rong interrupted, "Then what will happen to the monster that we have to kill to go to the next area? Wait, is that why Jack had so many people around with him? They were people accumulated over a few days?!" Ater rolled his eyes, obnoxiously slow as he brought his hands together to blow into them. The cave was cold.

"Stop asking fucking stupid questions," Ater muttered, "The monster will be on a break for approximately five years before the next group comes. In that time, this space is cleared and cleaned of the bodies as such. Other than the cleaners, we'll almost nearly be free to walk to the next, infinitely open stage. But there is a catch."

"What, fucking spit it out," William glared at Ater, the mood immediately changing, "And don't hide shit from us." Everyone grumbled at that, there was a larger brooding mood at the omission. Calculating calculators clicking away as they did the math to see the likelihood of being betrayed. Paranoia stalked the group, being forcibly put into a party for safety wasn't fun.

"You have to be in a party," Ater replied, "A lot of people don't like to make parties because it binds them unless the creator allows them to leave. Most creators don't really care, but some don't. Nobody trusts anyone because we're all criminals. Other than that, some caves other expectations. The Inanis caves have two; a search skill and a party. Both Otto and Will have a search skill and your asses are in Strawberry Pudding. Why you joined something like Strawberry Pudding, confuses me."

"It's a food," Otto defended, "And it tastes good." Ater ignored him.

"He's also really stupid and slow and weak and practically dead weight," Ater whined, "Can't you see it? He may look smart and say cool things from time to time, but underneath it all is an idiot."

"He does look a bit stupid," Mei-wan admitted, earning a petulant look from Otto, "But he didn't look like a murderer and William trusted him. And William helped us out." Klaus and Hai-rong nodded along as Adrian beamed.

"Also, he hasn't lied once." Otto shook his head in disagreement.

"I did, but only to Elizabeth. The skill thing," Otto paused as Elizabeth turned to him confused, "When we were near Lola's camp thing. I lied about my skill; I don't have a skill called 'best aim'."

"What?!" Elizabeth exclaimed, "Seriously? You told me to tell you and not anyone else, but you don't tell me yours?"

"Well, I mean, I did say not to tell strangers. It's called the Eye of the Devil however," Otto explained, "It's basically appraisal with some extra stuff." Ater snorted at extra stuff. Extra stuff didn't block skills and extra stuff didn't include a map.

"This isn't like an RPG game at all," William muttered, "Or a manga, we're supposed to beat the monster and go to the village and shit. Feels fucking real too." He sighed as he rubbed his fingers. Everyone had a breaking point, a limit that once overreached makes everything hopeless. Klaus was quieter, Mei-wan was snappier, and Hai-rong was even more snappier. The first day was a slow working fog that had only just cleared. This was real, no hero or heroine was going to come in and save them.

"The cave's cold, we have to stay the night like this," Otto disturbed everyone, "Tomorrow, we'll head to the village. Hopefully, they'll have supplies." Ater opened and closed his mouth before chewing on his thumb, "What is it Ater?"

"Don't be stupid," Ater replied, "You all can sleep, sleep through the cold. No one is coming in here, no one can anymore. This room may be cold, but by now, with the monsters, it's going to be negative 50 degrees outside at most. Everyone outside these caves will die, if not they will nearly be dead and I can finally get a fucking thing to kill stuff with."

"There are three though? And a method to leave this place, What if other people find the other caves?" Mei-wan asked. Ater shook his head and looked at a piece of rock.

"What about the monster? Can't it be beaten?" Ater shook his head again before sighing. He turned back into a cat, the process was fast, done in less than a second as he shifted comfortable.

"It's a monster that blocks people," Ater said, shrugging.

"... There isn't a way to defeat the Arcturus Minor right?" Otto asked, "Not that its stats are high, but Past Time is a skill that turns back time right? So depending on the frequency of the skill, a player could be trapped fighting the same monster over and over and over again." Everyone turned to stare at Ater accusingly.

"No, it's doesn't turn back time, it turns back events, time means everything. You still are in your present time, but the health, tiredness, and strength are sort of revived," Ater replied, "You would need to instant kill it." The atmosphere tensed even further.

"I can't help but stress how stupid you all are. No one has killed the monster yet, even though there were groups like Jack's with up to 25 or so people. They haven't killed it not because they didn't know about it, but because they can't. Usually, after the first round, 200 of the 1000 or so are left, you can circumnavigate the monster."

"O-oh," Elizabeth muttered, "You should've told us from the start, Ater." Ater gave a roll of his tail before he settled near Otto.

"Can we really stay here? Or are you just omitting more shit from us?" William asked. Ater made muffled talks as he ignored the rest. The cave was silent as slowly everyone seated themselves on the floor.

The cave was covered up, sealed, blocked - There was no running away if anything happened. The only comfort was Ater. His calm demeanour gave others reason to believe that they were safe unless there was another guideline that made it so that he was safe and others were not and even then there could be a guideline that made it so everyone but him died.

"Hai-rong, can't you use your fire magic?" Hai-rong shook her head at Adrian's question, "Why not?" Her swirling ball was the only source of light, illuminating the cave in a soft glow that sometimes changed from colour to colour.

"Fire is hard to maintain, it's easy to shoot it at stuff, but it's hard to keep up," Hai-rong answered, "I don't have the skill for it yet. I prefer water and getting cold and wet didn't seem useful." William looked at her coyly.

"What? It's not as if we're here forever," Hai-rong argued.

William hummed before he stared at the entrance.

"Will the wall clear?" He asked, "If we're stuck here then at least let me die a happy kid." Klaus laughed at William's grumbles.

"It's not funny. If we're trapped I'm leaving a will for the next person telling them that it's all Klaus-something's fault." Then there was a scowl and everyone shivered, it was cold, "Fuck it's cold in here. D'you think we can get, y'know, hypothermia?"

"Hypothermia won't come in this case, it's still above zero," Otto answered, "There are tiny drops of water on the ceiling. None of us are wet either." William stared at Hai-rong before looking away quickly.

"So don't be cheeky or I'll douse you with water and leave you," Hai-rong snarled at William, "It'll be one less annoyance here." William visibly shrunk and Ater rubbed his ears, the two largest irritancies among the group. The cave grew silent again as everyone sunk into silence, after all there much to be said.

Scrutinizing a rock, Otto avoided looking at anyone with unnecessary attention, head down, eyes down. Just as everything was about to fall into a comfortable silence, the entrance, which was now blocked, was knocked upon as someone timid spoke up.

"H-hey if a-anyone is in here, p-p-please help us," The shivering voice bounced through the walls as Otto could see the faint blue dots that were just behind the wall. Elizabeth immediately stood up and tried to head to the door, but William pulled her down, furious. No one in the cave said anything as the pleading got more and more desperate.

"P-p-p-please h-help, i-it's r-r-really c-cold!"

"Don't help them," Klaus said, voice steely cold, "We can't trust them. Not when there's possibly a blizzard out. They might try to kill us for resources." Elizabeth opened and closed her mouth before she made a frustrated noise and turned her attention to anything but the pleading voices outside. William's grip went slack and the Li siblings looked down at worn shoes.

"We should help," Adrian suddenly said, "It is cold. They will die." The unspoken truth said as the mood became drearier

"They do not have resource to fight if they cold. Otto can confirm if they are safe." Adrian looked over to Otto, expectantly. He nodded, "See? They safe... They are safe." Adrian corrected himself.

The argument fell on deaf ears as suddenly screams were heard, loud shots, swings, slashes; a cacophony of dreadful sounds filled the cave. The people outside were being massacred by the monsters - the cleaners - outside as they cleaned out the remaining players.

A loud, booming footstep came. One step, two-step, three-step stop. Hai-rong stopped the light. They were now in complete darkness, hidden behind a wall of rock.

There was a sudden bang, a hammer smashing against the wall, silence; Another hit. The banging was nonstop as the monster tried to find exactly what was it that the small party wanted, except they weren't a party.

They were friends who had just arrived, latecomers who were doomed to die once they set foot in the freezing wasteland. The banging stopped as everyone took in a sharp exhale of breath.

Suddenly, a horrendous drilling sound was heard that dragged everyone's attention to the center of the wall. Ater was now awake and yellow eyes peering carefully before he gave strict orders, "Everyone shut the fuck up and don't move. Don't make light and stay close to the walls."

Mei-wan covered her mouth with her hand and Elizabeth held her breath. Everyone was holding their breath, "That should be Daubentonia*, I don't know why it's here though."

A long slender finger went through the wall and began to click. The darkness was slightly combatted with the tiny hole that bright in a tiny bit of light. A circle with an inch for diameter was the only source of light for the group as they clung to the walls, avoiding the finger that was tapping.

Suddenly, it twitched and aimed itself at Klaus who stiffened, unable to move, "Klaus fucking run!" Otto screamed, dragged the other out of a daze as he barely dodged the slam of a finger. He ran all the way over to the other wall, to William.

The long slender finger dragged itself across the inside of the cave before it stopped in front of Elizabeth, just poised right in front of her nose. She was the next closest person, right beside Klaus. The finger went down, hard onto the area between her feet as she squeaked and ran to the end of the cave, farthest from the entrance.

The finger rammed the ground a couple more times before it went at Hai-rong, who dropped to the ground. A single cut on her face as her narrow escape made her run over to Elizabeth. The two watched as the finger tried to reach them, the distance just nearly perfect if not by a meter.

There was an eerie tapping sound through it all, "It's an enlarge Aye-aye right?" Otto whispered, regretting it immediately as he and Ater immediately dodged and tried to run to Elizabeth. A finger slammed itself in front of them, nearly digging a small hole into the ground.

The two backed off as Ater turned into a person and slid across the ground, grabbing Otto's hand and pulled him down to crash land on the wall to the right. The finger followed them earnestly as Otto pulled a slightly disco-ordinated Ater along with him as he jumped to reach Elizabeth.

Otto landed right beside the two as Ater transformed back into a cat to save his limbs, the finger just barely missing his foot. He caught a glimpse of a disfigured inside-ear and stats popped up.

[Daubentonia

Level 10

HP: 10 000

M: 1000

S: 5500

AG: 180

DEX: 1500

RR: 15HP/min

Skills: Poke, Drag, Forever Touch]

"Holy shit," The finger tried to reach them but stopped as it turned, acting as a second head. The tapping began again as it slowly headed to Klaus and William. They were too far from where

Elizabeth was standing to make a run for it.

Mei-wan was situated on another wall, her eyes bulging as she covered her mouth and nose, trying not to make a single sound. The finger reached Klaus' foot before a small sneeze came from Mei-wan.

Her eyes went wide as the finger ran at her, but before it could hit her, Hai-rong shot a flash of blue light at the finger, making it shrivel before angrily trying to get her.

Mei-wan ran over to Klaus and William as a large squeak was heard from above, "Shut it off, shut it off." Ater whispered as Hai-rong quickly shut off the swirling ball.

"We need to get to the walls now, avoid any light."

The four gently headed to areas with no light as an electric blue eye peered into the cave, its sclera a shocking white with the pupil a dilated black. The iris was dyed in navy as it looked from side to side before muttering something in another language.

A hit, a squeak as the mock Aye-aye left. Everyone let out a sigh of relief and dropped to the ground, "Didn't you say there weren't any monsters?"

Ater glared at William, "That wasn't a monster, that was a cleaner. It's not supposed to check the caves on usual circumstances."