Turmoil (5)
['Sub Writer 1' activates
A sudden change.
All the colour and vibrancy that could be called life seem to drain away, leaving a pale, ashen world dominating my vision.
['Main Author' rejects the proposal.]
['Sub Writer 2′ is currently unavailable.]
['Assistant Writer' rejects the proposal.]
As Leonardo rushed over here with Vittorio and the Count charged at me with gritted teeth, the turbulent water swirled violently, all of it frozen in that moment. The world had come to a halt—only I, those figures, and that messenger remained in motion.
[Sub Writer 1: It would be better not to waste your strength. Haven't you experienced this several times already? This development will be reflected. It's pointless to rewind over and over again.]
[Main Author: Shut up, you intruder.]
The status screen was in a form I had never seen before. Or was it really something I had never seen?
[Abnormal access attempt! The development…]
[Notification: Some aspects of the proposed revision will be reflected.]
Memories of things long forgotten surge back like a tidal wave.
[Correction: The amendment has been reflected as 'The seal of the underground breaks.']
[Resuming the narrative.]
The pale, sickly grey world transformed into a game board, and the water moved according to an unseen will. An invisible, colossal hand rearranged the little puppet theatre.
The puddle behind Leonardo and Vittorio erupted with splashes as the surface of the water tore open. The sharp point of something pierced through, breaking the water's surface. They say parting the waters is proof of divinity. However, the phenomenon that emerged from the water felt more like a wretched aberration than something sacred.
The world had undergone a simple and clear realignment. With a swell. The world, once drained of colour, transitioned from a momentary freeze to a continuous scene.
Leonardo and Vittorio turned their heads in unison, as if synchronized. From the depths of the central pool, water surged forth, black and rippling, as a mass that constantly shifted and expanded began to replicate itself, emerging from the depths. They were flooding out.
['The Suspicious Innkeeper of Sinistra' current status check: Health (40/80), Mental Strength (15/100)]
"Leo!"
Leonardo quickly closed the distance and ran toward me. He pulled his arm back as if drawing a bowstring and then thrust his sword forward. The heavy blade shot straight through the air, lying flat as it traveled. The blade pierced something behind me. As liquid splattered on my cheek, I turned to see the Count's henchman falling to the ground, the great sword embedded in his chest. He began to slowly disintegrate into ashes.
"You need to take the kid and go up."
Leonardo said this as he handed me Vittorio.
"What do you mean?"
"The seal has been broken, and they're coming. The moment they leave this labyrinth and head for the surface, the second erosion will begin. With this kind of tremor, the church has definitely noticed. I'll hold out here until reinforcements arrive. I can't let them escape to the surface."
As he spoke, he yanked the great sword out of the ground. Looking at Leonardo's resolute profile, I realized he wasn't just talking nonsense. He meant that he would stay behind to hold them off while Vittorio and I escaped.
'I've experienced this scene before.'
In that moment, a sharp pain pierced my head as fragments of memories rushed through my mind.
It was the scene where Leonardo, drenched in sweat, fought off the creatures until he was cornered. But soon after, he convulsed and dropped his sword, and the world turned suddenly dark. In that darkness, I raised a dagger and slashed at my arm. <Ò.L // F.O> marked the end of the memory.
It was a memory of the first reset that occurred in the labyrinth. A warning that I couldn't leave Leonardo behind alone—this was both a future and a past I had experienced. I firmly grasped Vittorio's hand and said to Leonardo with a determined expression.
"No, we're going together."
"I—"
"I have no intention of leaving you behind, so stop with the nonsense."
In front of us, the creatures writhed and churned like a bubbling cauldron. Perhaps because there were few samples to mimic, most of them were imitations of Leonardo or the Count, with sporadic copies of Vittorio. There were no replicas of me among them.
We gradually retreated until our bodies touched the wall of the labyrinth. I couldn't tell if the moisture left on the wall was soaking my back or if it was cold sweat trickling down. Dozens of identical faces were closing in, their hard collisions creating a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Looking at Leonardo, I saw his mouth tightly shut, his prominent jaw showing fierce determination. Finally, when they solidified their forms into imitations, Leonardo stepped forward and swung his weapon horizontally.
The leading imitation of Leonardo lost its limbs, and his severed arms and legs rolled on the floor. With another slash, Leonardo's heads fell and rolled away. His expression as he cleaved through his own form showed no hint of hesitation. Perhaps it was because he was not his true self, but the body of "Leonardo Ertinez." I couldn't help but imagine that when he was Leovald, he would have effortlessly sliced through those figures as well.
The imitations of Count Bermont were cleaved in half, collapsing to the ground. Human limbs piled up on the damp floor. They soon turned to ash and scattered, but their presence was brief.
A splitting headache returned, accompanied by flashbacks.
In the remnants of my memory with Leonardo, I instructed Vittorio on how to escape through the elevator connecting the labyrinth to the sanctuary. I stood by Leonardo's side, supporting him in battle, but at that time, the exploration rate of the underground map was not 100%.
As a result, we allowed the Count's henchmen to ambush us, and just as I raised my dagger once more against the sword rushing toward Leonardo, the wound on my arm marked <Ò.L /// F.O>, severing the memory.
This is the memory of the second reset that occurred here.
"Leo, above!"
I warned him, feeling a strange sensation as if a thin, transparent cellophane drawing was overlapping with the present. The attack that had successfully stabbed Leonardo in the side during the second reset this time couldn't even graze his collar.
Leonardo, as he usually did when facing monsters, stood upright with his weapon and drove it into the ground, creating a makeshift guillotine. The Count's henchman was struck back and scattered into ash.
Yes. During that second reset, I had assisted the injured Leonardo while filling the exploration rate of this underground fourth level. Thus, half of the 100% exploration rate revealed on the map now was a product of Leonardo's blood, used as ink to leave traces and illuminate the map.
The memory of wrapping my blood-soaked hands around Leonardo's wounds, which threatened to spill his insides, weighed heavily on me. I vividly recalled the slippery sensation and the face of the man who had been gasping for breath, along with the voice he had used.
"No, no."
At that moment, Vittorio, who I had been holding in my arms, began to squirm. The child suddenly shoved me aside and picked up the sword that was lying on the ground. And just like that, he thrust the sword upward.
A milky white liquid flows and swirls above my head. When I look up, I see the Count's imitation, with five pairs of eyeballs stuck to the wall of the labyrinth, gaping wide. Its limbs appeared unnaturally thin, to the point that the bones were almost visible, and there were far too many of them. The sight of that human centipede clinging to the wall resembled a scene from a mythical monster illustration.
The liquid that flowed from the wound pierced by Vittorio's attack seemed to be blood, though I couldn't be sure. It cascaded down over my body. It was cold. With the return of searing pain came flickering flashes of memory.
In the previous loop, Vittorio had also sensed its approach and protected me. At that time, I realized, 'The kid was a discerning being just like Leonardo.'
However, Vittorio was still young. The height of its activity was ten years ago, and people had refrained from mentioning it. Therefore, the child didn't understand it well. Unaware that an unstable imitation like that wouldn't die from a stab, the boy immediately allowed an attack and got seriously injured.
As I carried the severely wounded Vittorio, I was caught by the Count, who clung stubbornly to the trail of the child's blood. Once again, the sharp pain engraved in my arm accompanied a moment of clarity as the memory faded into <Ò.L //// F.O>.
Click, swoosh!
I immediately adjusted the crossbow upwards and fired. The creature, which had pretended to be incapacitated after being struck by Vittorio's sword, was pierced by the arrow and halted. As I stepped back, cradling the child, I whispered that we shouldn't feel too secure, as it wouldn't die easily in its incomplete form.
Vittorio, trembling, adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword and wiped the blood flowing from his forehead with the back of his hand, nodding firmly. I recalled the loop where this child had been attacked so severely that half his face had been disfigured. The moment the numbers indicating Vittorio's condition gradually dropped to (0/60) also flashed in my mind.
Instinctively, I reached out and cupped the child's cheek. There was warmth. He was alive. This was not the time when he had been turning cold. Gradually, as the nausea churned in my stomach, I began to regain my composure. What remained was one thing: the memory of the immediate previous loop.
A painful flashback followed immediately. The memories intertwined. The previous loop had conditions similar to the current one: a map with 100% exploration rate, Vittorio having just learned its weaknesses, and Leonardo having avoided injury. We had been running to escape the labyrinth.
But we could not escape. The Count had blocked the entrance to the labyrinth, trapping us inside with those creatures. It was as if he had anticipated this situation and was already prepared to seal off the labyrinth, and then I realized:
'The Count is Sub-Writer 1.'
It wouldn't be possible for him to prepare so thoroughly and devise an exact response otherwise. The overflow of those creatures had not been anticipated. As the tide of them surged forward, blocking my breath, I raised my dagger with the last of my strength amidst the pain of being crushed. Everything was a clue for the next loop.
I carved the longest wound across the centre.
<Ò.L //// F.O> was etched onto my arm as my memory faded.
I opened the map.
The blue triangle indicating the Count was already far ahead of us, positioned in the middle of the labyrinth.