Chapter 6: Thoughts and Time Spent Discussing Horror Story Rules

Chapter 6: Thoughts and Time Spent Discussing Horror Story Rules

The stone columns stood firm in the structure of the cave, silently standing in the darkness, like silent giants.

Takakai and Chika took a little time to find an iron sign standing in the cave, on which some words were written and a brief description was provided.

[Great Space]

[This is area 12 of Nutty Dutty Cave, a vast natural area, second only to the 'plains.' Passing through this area, you will reach the 'blood vessels' area and enter the deepest part of the cave, the 'heart' area.]

[Please note, the temperature in this area is quite low. It is not recommended to stay for long, especially after strenuous activities.]

The content was not much, there wasn't much to analyze.

However, at least it was possible to confirm their position a little.

"So, if this is the great space, where were the others before?"

Chika raised her hand to her mouth, showing a doubtful expression as she spoke.

"Who knows, the terrain here could change. It's best not to guess using conventional logic."

Takakai said this while looking back at the path they had walked through. At this moment, the cave entrance was still there, and one could see the safety ropes and the corpses sitting upside down, leaning on the safety ropes and lying at the top of the cave.

He blinked.

There were no corpses, it was just a very small and narrow cave.

"Let's check if there's a branch. Don't split up, we'll walk around the cave. If we discover another cave besides the entrance, we'll immediately return to the place we entered."

Takakai said this and gestured for Chika to follow him, his eyes accidentally glancing at the girl's chest.

Earlier, something had followed him in the cave and mimicked Chika's voice, trying to deceive him to start a conversation.

Thanks to the blessing, Takakai immediately recognized that it had ill intentions, and wasn't human. Of course, even without the blessing, he wouldn't have fallen into the trap because the rules clearly stated the things that were prohibited. Furthermore, when he was in the Shirakawa apartments, he had encountered this trap before, and he would not make the same mistake again.

However, when that thing mimicked Chika's voice, it specifically used the excuse of being "stuck" to deceive him, which was really worth noting.

Although the protective suit could be considered a tight and close-fitting outfit, just a quick comparison would allow Takakai to confirm that this perfectly developed girl, though her shoulders weren't as wide as his, still had an impressively large size.

Earlier, the narrowest part of the cave only required them to bend down, but when encountering a place so narrow they had to crawl, could she really not get stuck?

This possibility needed careful consideration.

"Announcement, discovered a new entrance."

Chika raised her hand, pointing toward an entrance behind several stone columns.

This entrance was quite wide; even with Takakai's height, he could enter without bending down.

Leaving Chika to stand guard, Takakai walked toward this entrance and discovered that it slanted upward slightly, feeling a vague breeze, which might indicate this was the path leading out, the way out of the cave.

"Keep searching, we need to confirm that there is no third entrance here."

After briefly confirming the entrance, Takakai turned back and spoke. He clearly remembered that the rules emphasized that in this area of the cave, there should be no branches. If a branch was found, they must return to the old path.

Previously, when they were in a chaotic area whose location was unknown, this rule couldn't be applied. But now that they might be in the correct area, they needed to reaffirm this rule.

This time, both of them searched for quite a while but couldn't find a third path. They also checked the cave ceiling and various other angles, but still found no results.

Bam—

Takakai let out a relieved sigh, took out a bottle of water from his backpack, opened the cap, and took a sip. He then handed the bottle to Chika and gave her two energy bars.

"Next, there must be more branches waiting for us. Drink some water, eat a little, don't let yourself get too tired. We can only rest here... for about five minutes, then we'll go back to the place we were earlier."

Takakai said this while looking up at the empty cave ceiling, where the stalactites stood straight.

This time, he didn't see any corpses stuck to them.

Speaking of which, when they met the other four people, he heard the sound of the corpses talking. The tour guide had instructed the tourists to look up at the stalactites above. But stalactites are formations that grow from the ceiling of a cave, with sharp tips descending from above, while stalagmites are those that grow from the ground, rising upward. When stalactites and stalagmites grow longer, and when they meet and merge, they form stone columns.

Was the tour guide not skilled enough?

Or...

Takakai thought about the corpses that had fallen on the cave ceiling and the things above his head when he passed through the tunnel.

Flipped upside down?

Could it be that the corpses of the tourists and the tour guide, in their perception, everything here had been turned upside down?

If that was the case, why didn't the first corpse they encountered with a "flowering head" face this situation? Usually, in a dungeon, strange things should have certain common points, right? Could it be because of their different identities?

And... Maki and Kaguya, up to now, he still hasn't found any trace of them. He wonders where they could be...

These questions and pressures weighed heavily on Takakai's mood at the moment.

He took a vanilla-flavored energy bar, peeled off the wrapper, and ate it, then crumpled the wrapper and stuffed it into a small pocket on the side of his backpack.

"That's... thank you, Takahashi-kun, for the food and water."

Chika, having drunk the water and eaten the energy bar, handed the nearly empty bottle back to Takakai and carefully folded the wrapper of the energy bar, placing it in her jacket pocket.

"It feels like it's getting a bit cold. Let's rest for another three minutes, and after three minutes, we'll head back. With the safety rope, we should be able to reach the [heart] position."

The temperature in this area started to drop gradually, Takakai spoke while continuing to observe the surroundings.

This time, he saw a faint figure pass by in the distance, as if someone was wandering through the cave.

Throughout the journey, it seemed Chika hadn't noticed anything too unusual, but Takakai felt like there were many strange things. Could it be that the reaction from that guy Dennis earlier had affected him?

As Takakai was thinking this, he felt Chika's gaze beside him growing stronger.

So, he turned around to face her directly, and upon realizing he was paying attention to her, Chika hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"That rule board, there are some points that make me confused. Some of the rules in it actually contradict each other, but Takahashi-kun seems to trust what's written there. Is there a reason for that?"

Was she referring to the contradictory rules about identities and the descriptions inside the cave?

It seemed that throughout this journey, this girl had been thinking a lot about those rules. Perhaps she didn't understand why such contradictory rules existed clearly, so she wanted him to explain.

"The fact that the rules contradict each other is quite normal. What decides how this place operates are the things that are not human, the distorted obsessions. Therefore, some rules may be outdated, and strictly following them could cause problems. There could also be true and false rules intertwined, influenced by many forces that change the contents of the rulebook. However, as for this rulebook, I tend to believe that every rule in it is true."

"Do you really believe every rule is true?"

Chika looked slightly dazed, not fully understanding Takakai's point.

"Any rulebook, the first rule that the players get always has meaning and can provide clues to analyze and deal with the current situation. Even if the rulebook is outdated and inaccurate, it will still hide things that are very important, affecting survival chances."

"And this rulebook, if we ignore the superficial details, its core is actually about identity. We are [explorers], that's our identity, and right now, holding onto this identity is not a bad thing. Through this identity, we can improve our chances of survival. Starting from this point, I lean toward the view that this rulebook is true, and we need to act based on the rules written in it."

Takakai thought for a moment and then continued to share his perspective with Chika.

"But, if we look at it this way, there is a rule that contradicts the principle of identity."

Although Chika didn't point out which rule, Takakai knew she was wondering about the fact that when facing rescue teams or firefighters, the identity of [explorer] cannot be used. Instead, they must declare themselves as [tourists], which is a strange contradiction.

"Although it's just a guess, I think it might be because, as [explorers], we can't avoid drawing attention to ourselves with this identity. In other words, the essence of the contradictory rule is 'it only works under limited conditions, and once those conditions change, it no longer applies.' However, how exactly this works, we can only know when we face this situation for real. So, it's best to pray that we don't encounter an opportunity to confirm the truth of this rule."

Takakai patiently explained, but as he was speaking, he suddenly raised his hand to cover his face, his mood turning dark.

"Eh, eh, what's wrong? What's going on?"

Chika, not understanding why Takakai suddenly became so disappointed, was a little panicked.

"It's nothing... it's just that, if back when my newbie mission started, I had met a veteran player who was willing to explain the settings and information in detail to me, that would have been great..."

Just thinking about how the experiences he was now explaining to Chika were things he had to search for after completing his newbie mission, while she just had to sit there and listen to him, Takakai felt really sad.

However, it didn't take long before he stopped dwelling on those small emotions.

Because he had heard footsteps, heard the sound of someone talking to each other.

The sound came from a wide corridor in the [great space], as if someone was approaching.