CHAPTER 63: HUNT YOUR HUNTERS

***

"THEY’VE ACTUALLY DONE IT!"

Lothar and the rest weren’t feeling anticlimactic, however.

"THE FIRST COHORT TO PASS THROUGH THE MAZE!"

Though it was nothing more than walking, they celebrated it!

"AND IT SEEMS THEY WON’T BE THE ONLY ONES!"

Not so far behind Xenos’s cohort were a few unknowns.

"LET’S SEE WHAT THIS COHORT BRINGS TO THE TABLE!"

A bit too unknown for a certain man’s liking.

***

The six stood on a hill’s peak.

Above them, the sky was still a weird red, but it was a bit lighter now.

And below them, before the Hanged Tree that stretched across the dead horizon, was a kingdom.

Well, that was what they thought it’d look like at first.

Because, up close, it wasn’t really a kingdom; it was just... a town.

Yes, it was no castle, only a town of houses walled off on all sides, looking no different than most villages they saw outside this dungeon, only now a dump of broken roofs, cracked roads, and crooked houses eaten through by black veins of Death, many structures kept together by nooses likely taken from the tree.

"...A kingdom, huh?"

Xenos stared down.

"I expected more... but I guess it makes sense."

Deianira laughed tiredly, hands on her knees.

"Way better than that damned maze!"

Arc exhaled hard, his ears twitching in disbelief.

"We really made it out alive."

Aspen smirked.

"That’s worth shouting about."

And they did...

"WE DID IT!"

Gaia surprisingly being the first of them.

"WE SURVIVED!"

They screamed together, letting it all out.

All of them, well, except Arc, who gave a Noble little humph, and Ariadne, who was too monotone to scream even if her life depended on it.

"We’re going to make it... finally..."

Gaia nearly teared up.

"Hopefully."

Deianira bumped her shoulder into her.

"Hm."

Xenos, who screamed only for the fun of it, now took a few steps ahead.

With his arms crossed, his eyes scanned the silent town below.

There was something off about it.

Still, that didn’t matter...

He was searching for a place for them to crash.

Though this was a dungeon, they obviously didn’t expect them to clear it in a day.

And besides, he was sure that those behind him needed a break.

"That..."

His eyes squinted.

"That looks like an inn."

The cohort turned, and...

"What?"

Xenos pointed at a sagging building in the middle of town, a crooked sign hanging half-off. "An inn. We could crash there for the night."

Gaia blinked.

"Do we even... know what time it is?"

"Nope."

Xenos shook his head.

"But I’m sure you’re tired, so it’s night now."

No one argued; like he said, they were too tired to care.

The walk down the hill was filled with creeping dread.

The closer they got, the more worried they became.

Would those in the kingdom be hostile towards them?

Were they going to have to clear the entire place out just to sleep?

Were they really going to have to kill other Runebearers?

Soon, they would find out, as before them a wooden gate loomed high.

It hung open, one door barely clinging to its hinges.

Aspen stopped just before entering.

"...this place feels wrong."

"Everything in this dungeon feels wrong."

Xenos shrugged off his worry.

"You should’ve gotten used to it by now."

He walked first through the gates, past the... guards?

Yes, there were guards there, two of them, standing on either side.

They wore no armor, only rags, and held on to something resembling a spear.

And when Xenos went by, they didn’t even look at him.

It wasn’t because they were too tired or something, no...

They simply didn’t see him, nor did they see the others.

Even when Deianira waved a hand in front of one’s face, nothing.

No reaction at all, like they didn’t exist in the same realm.

"They didn’t even blink..."

Gaia shivered.

"Creepy~."

Deianira giggled.

"They feel dead."

"They are dead."

Xenos pointed at the Hanged Tree towering over them.

"They’re just pretending to be people."

That did not help but rather made Arc rub his temple.

"Can you not say things like that so casually?"

"I could, but I don’t want to."

With that, they moved through the main street, their boots echoing on cracked stone.

The town was a ruin of collapsed homes and black sludge that leaked from windows.

Faded banners hung limply across the road while lamps flickered below poles.

Ariadne—Ari, as Xenos decided to call her in his head because her name was too long and he was lazy—somehow kept her voice level even now, when the others’ nervousness returned.

"If we do find this inn, we’ll need to pay for rooms."

"Pay?"

Xenos blinked, like he’d just heard a foreign word.

"Oh, that’s funny."

Aspen raised a brow and asked:

"You don’t plan to do that, do you?"

Xenos tilted his head.

"You saw the guards, right? Do you think anyone here cares about currency?"

Arc spun on him, indignant.

"I’ll have you know, as a noble, I will not cheat the less fortunate!"

"Cool."

Xenos nodded at him.

"Do that."

He walked ahead.

"Hey! Don’t ignore me!"

Arc shouted, storming after him as Dei snorted.

"You’re adorable when you’re mad."

"Shut up!"

Aspen sighed, looking half amused.

"Your constant banter is going to get us killed."

The cohort stuck out like sore thumbs, a rowdy bunch walking through a ghost town.

Eventually, the streets began to get filled up by people, or things that looked like people.

They moved about their business like actors in a play, repeating movements that didn’t make sense. A woman poured water into a bucket with no bottom while a child ran in circles, laughing, as if playing with friends, and a man hammered a wall that wasn’t there.

Again, like the guards, none of them even glanced at Xenos or his group.

"Since when did this turn into horror?"

Xenos would’ve sounded rattled if he could.

"I-It’s... it’s soo creepy...."

Gaia nearly whimpered.

"This is officially the worst village I’ve ever been in."

Dei’s smile faltered, and even Ari’s calm fell.

"Please don’t speak. Let’s just walk through."

And they did just that.

Step by step, through the crowd of hollow puppets.

Until eventually, they reached the inn, a crooked three-story thing with windows lit by soft, flickering light. The sign read {THE STILL HEARTH,} though the letters looked burned.

Inside, it was somehow worse.

Full of people talking, laughing, and drinking, but every sound was muted.

They only mimicked the motion of such actions; none actually left their lips.

The barmaid passed in between them, making Xenos simply give up on thinking about it while the others jumped in fright.

He walked up to the counter where an old man stood, wiping a cup that wasn’t dirty.

The man, of course, didn’t greet them, but interestingly, he placed two rusted keys on the counter.

Xenos stared at them.

"...so they do know how many of us there are."

He scratched his neck, a small grin forming.

"I bet the spell is the reason."

No doubt the spell that brought them here had something to do with this.

Perhaps this place was the usual testing ground for the Academy before the game began.

And these people, though they didn’t see them, the Disciples, they came to learn of them, helping them despite feeling hopeless, perhaps thinking that one day, they would be saved.

"S-Stop smiling!"

Arc tapped Xenos forward.

"Just take the keys."

Xenos picked them up.

"Sure."

He turned and led them upstairs.

Soon after, they found the two rooms. One for the girls. One for the boys.

They said their goodbyes in tired voices and shut their doors behind them.

Xenos kept the keys for the girls with him, claiming that it was for security.

Again, no one bothered to argue; at this point, no one doubted him as a leader.

Xenos collapsed on the bed without even bothering to take off his boots.

And for the first time since his transmigration, he didn’t care about the bath either.

He was done for today, so even when his new roommates tried to talk, with Arc muttering about how "dishonorable" it was to not pay and Aspen asking if the ceiling looked like it was moving, perhaps a little tramatized from earlier, Xenos didn’t bother to listen.

He was already halfway to sleep.

It claimed him for a few hours until—

’Xenos, MOVE!’

His eyes snapped open.

Instinctively, his head snapped to the side.

Something cold and sharp brushed his cheek.

It was a blade, slicing through the pillow where his head had just been.

The thing buried itself deep, missing by less than a breath.

"...yeah, I figured."

He smiled faintly.

Ding!

—

╔════════╗

║NEW QUEST!║

╚════════╝

[SECOND HUNT]

[Objective: Hunt Your Hunters!]

—

Nap time was over.