Chapter Five: The Final Area

Ok, right now we are going to the next area with a better situation than before.

"What do you say?" Gara is shouting.

Unfortunately, I can't hear what he is saying, and I can predict that it is something very bad. Gara never shouts only if necessary.

"George…there is a problem the voice has told me about now" fear and panic get control over Gara.

In fact, I became a little more confident because of the gear.

"Gara I don't want to know it" Gara's calm features have disappeared and his enthusiasm has evaporated.

I continued "it seems that this information has broke your enthusiasm that you kept all this time, and I know that I will not stand a chance if I knew it, so it is better for me to not know it"

Gara calmed down then smiled… "You…"

"Do you know that I'm better than you in everything…and the village and the people always thanking you"

"At first, I thought it was because of how I deal with them…or because you are so kind and reachable…"

Gara continued and smiled "I didn't want to admit it, part of me is telling me that whatever difficulties we encounter, you will not break before I do"

Fear started to get into me, I grabbed Gara's shoulder "I don't know what the voice is telling you and what it will say, but remember that I'm with you. Don't trust him. Let's go".

"George, after this door lays the final area"

Gara opened the door and I followed.

The final area then we go back to the cave…the mere thinking that we have gates other than this weakens my resolve.

The most important thing is that I must never show my vulnerability to Gara who looks like he knew something that broke him.

When we entered, Gara fell down holding his head and screaming…

Before I could think about him, I felt a strong headache.

Whispers and so many voices with un-understandable language…a very hurting headache. I was sweating and my eyes started to darken, I got near to Gara hurriedly and grabbed his shoulder.

He didn't turn to me "Gara… Gara" I shouted and shook him hard.

He turned to me…with a featureless face.

"Who are you?"

Then he passed out.

Because of being busy with Gara, the pain and headache have vanished, I wanted to know what is waiting for us here.

When I raised my head, I realized that we will die here a lot.

Everything is dark except the corpses before us. I dragged Gara into the house then I decided to go alone to the new place to know the situation out there. I packed all my gear and covered my body with the hardened Slime, and I took a regular sword. It was for the sake of study then getting back in a better shape.

⾨

I entered the final area and found a sign that has an arrow points to a single way.

I started to feel afraid again along with the sound of whispers that cause me headache. The reason behind this fear was the sight and the road.

There was a very bright light at the top of the peak in front of me. The round peak that its stairs was from the uncountable corpses, so if you want to reach the top, you had to step on those who came before you.

I know that I can reach it because of that amount of corpses which were enough for me to know how many people failed before me.

Right now, I am going to death.

My feet were trembling at the first corpse. I have to arrive, so I raised my head and run to the top. I can feel the blood texture and the bones were breaking beneath me on my way up.

I must know what is there at the top to ease my conscious.

I have arrived, the light was so dim… thankfully it is a good thing for the hardened Slime around me. I told myself to not think about anything except for arrival and knowing what is there.

My eyes adjusted to the light and I wanted to know the light source.

It was something disgusting, every corpse was opened and hanged and the soil was on it so it will radiate.

The peak's ground was of black rocks and the hanged radiant soil was falling like rain.

All the hanged and skinned bodies were radiating.

What happened here?

The enormous number of bodies is proof that everyone give up here.

When I arrived to the center of the peak, I was able to see the edges. It was hard to see the number of corpses with the radiant light.

It was a circle with 30 meters diameter, but I'm not sure of the edges because of darkness.

While I was counting the corpses, I felt something came out of the light.

I wasn't wrong, a fiery chain came out and it is heading towards me!!!

I considered to block it with my shield, but my body informed me that the best choice is to avoid it and save my energy.

Luckily, I trusted my body's hunch as the nearby corpse torn to shreds and flew away.

The area around me became dim.

The attack and targeting corpses never stopped, I don't know who is behind the light, but according to the size of chain, the attacked spots and the usage of light, it is my second time confronting intelligent monsters… this incident occurred 15 years ago which means that this beast should be in my world after limit 10.

I must not be afraid now because I came to die, so I decided to hold up my shield and rely on the hardened slime because the defending force will be greater if there were more lights, and the beast is hiding in a very luminous place.

I raised up my shield and ran, and I bowed my head down to beat the fear from the attack as I increased my speed. All the blows were near me and I felt that I have arrived and the lights have disappeared, and the enemy has become behind the light. The strokes hitting my shield became stronger, and I didn't care about the fire because I have the slime advantage.

The attacks increased and my feet with my left hand began to get numb because of the continuous defense.

I don't know what to do, there is no solution for me except to arrive. I can't attack since he is in front of me behind the light.

There is no way, after the coming attack I will go…

This is the last hit before I die. I tossed the shield forward, and luckily he changed the direction of the fiery chain. I held the sword with one hand and was able to stretch it strongly to cut the corpse and hit the enemy behind. I felt it stabbed something.

I wanted to see the enemy's shape. The plan was known, see the enemy then die. Because of that, I wasn't looking around me well. At first, I thought that the force of the chain caused the corpses to burn out…what I didn't know was once you stab the corps, its light would turn off. Then the worse happened.

The place became so dark I can see only the bright light coming from the fiery chain directed to me. There is no way for me to dodge because of my current position, so I forcefully stretched my body and hand to thrust. I have to keep thrusting and proceeding and make the chain pass over my back.

I can bear a little pain.

When it passed on my back, something strange happened…it made me feel that something exploded in my back and pushed me hard to the ground…my knees which were stuck to the ground hit my rib cage and smashed it, my face is torn, my breath is heavy, a painful headache, my eyes are full of blood and there is a sharp whistling in my ears.

All I wanted was to see the enemy. I didn't feel the pain because of the trauma maybe? Or because of the place?

The enemy put his chain on his shoulder so I was able to see only his human face.

George

Attack: 300 (★ 30)

Defense: 1000 (★ 100)

Special advantage: Attack x2 depending on the light spread around the body

(Fire causes double damage for defense)

Points of experience: 0

Price: 3

It seems that I died for the third time.

All I know was that the enemy never expose himself and use a chain that causes explosion to anything it touches.

I don't know the size or shape of the enemy, he is just using intelligence which is contrary to what we are used to.

Sounds and whispers cause delay in reactions, and I don't know where he was because he was disappearing behind the corpses and attack the other ones to make the place dark, then forcing and limiting me to the places that I move in.

I need Gara with me for attack and me for defense.

I turned around… I didn't find Gara.

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*an hour earlier*

The whispers and headache never stopped. When I opened my eyes, I looked for George but didn't find him or his gear…so my hunch was right, maybe he didn't enter the gate with me at the first place or he died at the first time. When I think about it, I find that he didn't defeat anything and didn't hear the voice I hear.

Then, Gara sat down and started to go through what happened and speaking with himself.

At the beginning of our entering the gate, he started to talk strangely.

I remembered him screaming that we entered the gate because of me.

But what happened is the opposite, it was him who entered the gate and I tried to save him, then the gate forced us to enter.

All what I saw from the beginning was illusion?

Was he there from the beginning?

Did he enter the gate with me?

Let's say he entered with me, was he dead because of the Goblin? And my mind couldn't believe it and created a copy of him?

For some reason my mind knows that he is here because of his annoying nature. But everything we have discussed I already know, I didn't hear him say anything new.

It could be that I made him up in my mind so I could survive in this place.

Is the voice real?

No matter how hard I try to calm myself down, I started to feel the whispers and headache in my left eye.

The voice we heard before entering the gate was different from the voices we have heard.

The voice at the first gate shared information that helped me to survive, like the first beast we encountered. He told me about his weakness spot, then about the secret place beneath the moving sands, then about the Slime, and thanks to him we acquired excellent gear.

Suddenly, the voice spoke "are you still shocked from the information that made you fall and go back to the cottage crawling"

"I remember nothing except when I passed out from pain, then when I woke up, I was here"

The voice "you have come crawling, look at the door and ground, it is dirty"

Indeed, then I searched for the gear around me, everything was there…George supposed to have it, why everything is here?

The voice "you were alone all the time carrying lots of gear…I don't know why, but if you reduced your gear, maybe you could have a chance"

Alone? I… "Wasn't there a person with me all the time…"

The voice "I have seen you talking to yourself each time, I thought that you were encouraging yourself so I kept silent"

I don't know what happened inside me, suddenly I became completely calm, my mind got clear and my doubts was confirmed.

I was alone from the beginning.

It was funny that part of me calmed down as the city will be fine because George is out there.

I stood up, stretched and chose the best gear "since I am alone, even if I failed and couldn't do anything, no one is waiting for me behind the gate"

The voice "it seems that the information shattered you a short while ago, because you think that there is someone with you and because of you, you will enter the death area"

"It is because of may extra caution and undying we have reached the final area which we have to reach after 5 areas"

The voice "yes, if you didn't die in this place and gained legendary gear and high experience points, you will be moved to the final area as a reward"

"Where is the reward… in this way, if we didn't defeat the leader of this place, we will never get out of here. And if our souls broke, we will lose."

The voice "don't forget that you have unlimited number of tries and you have the hardened Slime that it will be so useful against him, don't forget that. This is the last information I will provide, besides it is the last time I speak to you"

I took my most powerful gear and left some of it at the house, and I covered myself with the Slime.

After taking a deep breath, I opened the door and headed towards the final area.

The beginning of the gate was facing a place that I can't pass, there was an option to sacrifice everything and return to the start and your body, points and weapons will stay here.

That is why there is hope even if I couldn't do anything, but this time because I didn't die and I have high points of experience, and if I won I would get legendary tools, the gate has transferred me to the final area.

It took the right to go back away from me.

Which means that loss will keep me trapped here forever.

I opened the door and set off.