Chapter 101 : Chapter 101

Chapter 101 - Who are you (1)

“So this is the ruins of the old cultists.”

It took less than half a day to cross the lake and arrive at the ruins.

“I can only see a cave?”

“This is the entrance to the ruins.”

The ruins were located in the center of a small basin.

And the peaks of the mountains surrounded the ruins without a single gap.

“Climbing the mountain is an option, but it would be faster to use the tunnel the cultists dug.”

“And we can avoid the cold as a bonus.”

Tersion shrugged at Reinard’s explanation and stepped inside.

“The problem is whether you can call this a tunnel.”

After following Tersion inside, Gerard understood what she meant.

“It looks like a natural cave.”

“That’s right. We have to wander through this maze to find the real path the cultists dug.”

Just then, Collie sniffed the air and his ears perked up.

“I can feel traces of black magic.”

“So they did come here?”

“Then what’s there to think about? Go, Bow! Find their traces!”

Tersion raised her middle finger in a gesture of thanks to Jeina, who confidently extended her arm.

“Being a pain is a disease…”

Tersion quickly began to survey the surroundings.

“Strange? There are too many traces.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are many recent traces of movement. More than a hundred people.”

“Does that include the traces of undead?”

At Reinard’s question, Tersion shook her head.

“No, purely humans, a hundred of them. There seem to be about twenty summoned creatures.”

“……?”

The Imperial expedition team consisted of two parties, just like theirs.

Who were the other ninety people, excluding the ten?

The answer to that question was revealed a short while later.

“Hold on.”

While advancing along the confirmed traces, Gerard stopped everyone and pointed forward.

“I see why there are so many traces. I can feel illusion magic.”

“Someone blocked the open path.”

Artier finally nodded his head.

“Just as I thought. There should be a passage around here, I was wondering why there wasn’t one.”

“…….”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

“Leader, have you been here before?”

‘Ah.’

Only after feeling Gerard’s piercing gaze did Artier hastily add.

“Uh, yeah. I have?”

“Then it would be nice if you could just guide us.”

“What? You knew and were making us find the way?”

The gazes from the others felt quite sharp.

Making excuses here would only make me more of a sinner.

Artier hurriedly stood at the front.

‘Geez… Did my brain stop working because my mana is low.’

The mana I had consumed in the previous battle was still depleted due to the environment’s influence.

It was because everyone was low on potions from the fierce battle.

Collie, unable to watch any longer, shared some of his mana, but it was just a temporary fix.

“There should be a three-way path here, from here, go to the center and then left again.”

“You, you’re more talented at being a guide than I thought?”

When Tersion asked, Artier just grinned.

“I just wandered around a lot.”

“Where? These old ruins that have nothing?”

“There’s no better place to gain experience than ruins.”

“You went in and out of ruins just to train? I’ve seen all sorts of strange weirdos.”

“Haha.”

Of course, by her standards, it was strange, but to Artier, it was common sense.

Ruins were dungeons with a high probability, and dungeons were excellent sources of experience points for players.

“If I touch this…”

As Artier tapped something, the illusion that was covering it disappeared.

Then, a trail of footprints, which looked obvious to anyone, continued towards a hill.

“Hmm?”

As they proceeded along the path, Artier discovered something new that was not in his memory.

“What is this?”

It resembled an elongated grain of rice, but it was a giant egg, the size of a person.

The three attached eggs were rooted to the cave wall, hanging in the center of it.

“Is it a monster egg?”

“But it looks like it already hatched?”

When Jeina touched the egg, it crumbled instantly like brittle paper.

“It’s a dangerous one,”

Gerard said.

“An egg of this size means the adult would be almost the size of a building.”

“A giant that big would come into a narrow cave like this to lay eggs?”

“Then there’s only one answer. It’s small but dangerous.”

Artier, who was listening to their conversation, asked Reinard.

“Have you ever seen an egg like this?”

“Not at all. Besides, my major isn’t monster studies.”

“Hmm…”

“Artier? Do you have any idea?”

“I feel like I remember something… but I’m not sure.”

He was currently trying to recall the eggs of numerous monsters.

‘What was it? Mermaids? Gnolls? No, Gnolls aren’t born from eggs. Is it an Acid Slime? Ugh, I feel like I’m about to remember.’

He kept wracking his brain, but his mind did not easily reveal the answer.

“Hey, what are you going to do?”

“……Let’s move forward for now. We need more information.”

Soon, the party arrived at a large bridge.

The natural cave ended, and beyond the tunnel they had dug, the ruins they had been searching for came into view.

“There are eggs here too.”

Traces of eggs were scattered all over the corners of the tunnel.

Collie, who was scanning the surroundings, lightly touched his nose to a shell and said.

“The eggs here hatched later than the one we found earlier.”

“Does that mean the creature that laid these eggs could be inside the ruins?”

“There’s a high possibility.”

At that moment, something came to Artier’s mind.

“Right, I think I know. This is…”

“Ugh.”

At the familiar sound from behind them, everyone turned their heads.

“……Ben?”

While the eight of them stood in the middle of the tunnel, Ben was watching them from the entrance.

His complexion was so pale that he looked like he could faint at any moment.

“Ben, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. My body suddenly… hurts…”

Jeina, confirming the cold sweat running down his chin, immediately strode forward.

But an arm stopped her.

It was Gerard.

“Looks like there’s something here after all.”

“Gerard, move. He says he’s in pain!”

“Think about it.”

Gerard did not hide his frustrated expression.

“I clearly confirmed that he was fine until a moment ago. But as soon as he came inside, his condition worsened to the point where he could barely move?”

“Please stop being so stubborn! Ben is just coincidentally sick at this moment!”

In the end, Jeina’s expression contorted as she roughly pushed Gerard’s arm away.

“There are things like miracles in the world!”

“What did you say?”

“Was I wrong? You couldn’t protect them, so you just concluded that you couldn’t. The leader was always like that. You never even looked for the benefactor who raised you your whole life!”

“……Don’t do something you’ll regret, Jeina.”

The atmosphere was getting more and more hostile.

Artier felt the need to resolve this situation quickly.

“Both of you, calm down for a…”

“No, Jeina. You’re right.”

Ben was still sweating profusely, half-collapsed on the floor.

Ben, who was panting heavily, continued to speak in a dying voice.

“My body… is strange. This place is so comfortable… and familiar. There’s no way it should be.”

Ben, trembling, suddenly grabbed his own left arm as it shot out.

The left arm, as if mocking him, shook it off and pressed a device hidden on a pillar.

A frustrated Ben shouted.

“Everyone, run!”

Kwarreung!

As soon as he finished speaking, cracks began to form in the place where they were standing.

“Everyone, run to the other side!”

Artier, who grasped the situation, was the first to turn his body.

But before he could even take a step, the floor was already falling.

In an instant, a dizzying sensation consumed his entire body.

‘The floor…!’

Surprisingly, when the floor collapsed, there was an endless darkness.

A space of pure nothingness.

Anyone could tell that this was not a normal phenomenon.

“Everyone, be careful!”

Artier almost reflexively grabbed a nearby arm.

Because, according to what he remembered, this was the only chance.

Hook!

The moment darkness covered his eyes, Artier lost consciousness.

[You have stepped on a magic trap.]

[You will be moved to a random location.]

***

“Heok!”

Artier opened his eyes.

He had fallen inside a cave with a complex structure.

“Is everyone okay?”

Artier said as he got up, but there was no one around him.

…Except for one person.

“Jeina?”

It seemed she was the closest person he had grabbed.

Artier carefully shook her awake.

“Ugh, my head.”

Even after waking up, Jeina couldn’t grasp the situation for a while.

“What in the world is going on? Ben was being controlled by something. Right?”

“No.”

Artier shook his head.

Jeina’s expression immediately hardened.

“Are you suspecting him like Gerard?”

“It’s not that I’m suspecting…”

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

“……It’s more like I know.”

One should always listen to what people have to say until the end.

Artier sighed and swept his hair back.

“Jeina, listen carefully. From now on, you can’t trust anyone except me.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I remembered what kind of monster the egg on the wall belonged to.”

He said in a cold and firm voice.

He wanted to laugh at his past self for not remembering this sooner.

A bizarre monster whose larva and adult forms were almost the same size.

Its size was ordinary, but it was very dangerous and specialized in toying with humans.

And it could survive well enough even in a place full of Hellmorphs.

That monster was none other than…

“Doppelganger.”

“Doppelganger? The monster that changes its appearance?”

Artier nodded his head.

Doppelgangers appeared quite frequently in <Cross Destiny>, but they were not memorable monsters.

That was because Doppelgangers were not very threatening monsters to humans.

Who are you?

The one on your left. You moron.

Didn’t the people of this world use communication like the whisper function in games?

By relying on the voice they heard and just stabbing with a knife, no matter how identical the appearance was and even if they used the same abilities, they were bound to be caught.

“But communication isn’t working right now. There’s no way to distinguish anyone who comes.”

“But Ben clearly tried to resist at the end. Is that really a Doppelganger?”

“If it were Ben, what do you think he would have done when his body wasn’t moving according to his will?”

“……”

“Right?”

Even after Artier corrected her, Jeina could not erase her dazed expression.

“No, it can’t be… We talked just last night. He said he missed Dina!”

“Jeina.”

“Damn it! You don’t have to be like this too!”

She slapped Artier’s arm away and started running somewhere as if escaping.

“Jeina!”

Artier hurriedly chased after her.

If she disappeared from his sight, he could no longer trust even her.

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