Second World Novel

Everyone stared at the green gas. It didn’t take a genius to know that the gas was nothing good.

Jack looked at Kramer on the other side of the room. The circular saw was halfway down already. Kramer didn’t have much time.

Jack squatted next to the open floor and stuck his hand into the green gas.

“Grrgghh…!” He gritted his teeth as he felt his hand burn. Damage numbers appeared above him every second.

He took his hand out and looked at it. There were burn marks. His HP recovery kicked in soon and the burn marks on his skin slowly healed.

He made some estimations. With his speed, it shouldn’t take him too long to get through this tunnel. His HP should allow him to last quite some time inside the gas.

Unfortunately, all his skills are locked, even the passive ones. Hence, he didn’t have HP recovery during combat. He was considered in combat when he was damaged by the green gas. His HP only started recovering after he stopped being in contact with the gas.

His HP was not the problem, he had an unusual amount of HP pool compared to standard players. The biggest problem was the pain. The agony the gas inflicted on his hand just now was rather extreme. He honestly wasn’t sure if he could bear the pain for long.

The others saw Jack’s expression and understood his intention.

“Do you seriously want to enter that?” Naomi asked.

“This is our only way in,” Jack answered. “If I go fast, I shouldn’t be down there for long.”

“Don’t count on it,” Master said.

“Why do you say that?” Stefan asked.

Master pointed to the room where Kramer was in.

“Do you see a hole in the other room?” He asked. “This tunnel most likely leads to a dead end. There should be another puzzle down there to open the other end. This means that you will have to stay down there for as long as you are solving the puzzle.”

Jack was actually aware of that. When he said he would go fast, he also meant about solving whatever puzzle that was down there.

“Just come back here if your HP gets low,” Naomi said with a concerned expression.

The others except Master showed the same expression. They were touched that Jack was willing to go this far for a stranger. The two other natives were especially moved.

“I’m afraid we will lose time if I do that,” Jack responded to Naomi. “I will act accordingly. Wish me luck!”

Before going in, Jack asked Master. “Care to give a hand? Your HP is even higher than mine. You can last longer. Having two minds down there will help solve the puzzle faster.”

“If you want to be a hero, do it yourself. Don’t lump me in with fools such as you,” Master replied. “My concern is to keep as many members in the team for the end match, but I would rather lose one member if it poses a risk to myself.”

The others gave Master a disgusted look. But then again, they were also unwilling to risk themselves. What right did they have to judge him?

Jack wasn’t surprised. He already expected Master’s answer. “Well, at least pray for me then.”

“I will do no such thing,” Master said.

Jack already disappeared into the green gas when Master was still speaking. They then heard painful screams from inside the tunnel. They expected Jack to come back out any second. Yet, the scream was getting softer. It could either be Jack was getting weaker or he was getting further.

They hoped it was the latter.

“That guy was one brave f*ck,” Winson remarked.

Inside the tunnel, Jack was relying on his mana sense to navigate the tunnel. It turned out the tunnel was not a simple straight path. It had several turns. With the green gas obscuring the view, it was easy for people without mana sense to lose their way. They could be walking back to where they came from for all they knew.

But as Jack had expected, what was most disturbing was the pain. He felt like he was being burned alive. This green gas worked like acid. If he wasn’t sure his game body would recover once he got out of this gas, he wouldn’t have been so daring to enter.

The anguish caused him to have difficulty thinking. On several occasions, he lost grasp on his mana sense and had to stop to focus. Luckily, Peniel was with him. She couldn’t come out to heal him or show him the way, but her voice helped him regain focus.

After stumbling through the tunnel for he didn’t know how long, he finally hit the end. His throat was sore from all the screaming. He wasn’t even aware of doing it half the time. Now, after reaching the end of the tunnel, he screamed again. Partly out of pain, the other part out of fear and frustration because he didn’t see anything that looked like a mechanism or a door. He looked at the walls and the ceiling above. They were plain stone surfaces.

Did he make a wrong turn? No, his mana sense told him although there were many turns, there were no branching paths.

“Down there!” Jack heard Peniel’s voice.

𝓷𝚘𝓋𝑬𝒍𝑵ℯxt.𝕔𝑜𝓂

He looked down and saw it. At the corner of the floor was a small square panel. He was confused at first, but after a closer inspection, he realized what that panel was.

‘F*ck me!’ He cursed in his mind. ‘So, they did include children’s game, after all.’

The panel contained a kid’s sliding puzzle. It was a four-by-four puzzle that contained fifteen blocks. One block was empty, allowing someone to slide one piece at a time. Each block contained part of a drawing. If all the blocks were arranged correctly, it would form a proper image.

Jack secretly celebrated. This was child’s play for him. He used to play this a lot when he was a kid.

But after working on the puzzle, he found it easier said than done. He was constantly in pain due to the acidic gas. He was also not sure how long he had spent down here. Was Kramer even still alive up there?

He had trouble focusing due to these physical and mental tortures.

“You can do it!” Peniel never stopped encouraging him, for which he was very grateful. He wasn’t sure if he would have turned back by now if it wasn’t for her.

After several mistakes, he finally managed to complete the puzzle. When all the blocks were properly arranged, it showed Aglea’s smiling face.

“F*cking hag…!!” Jack cursed loudly despite Aglea’s beautiful face.

The ceiling of the tunnel above him suddenly opened upward. From that opening, Jack saw the ceiling in the room where Kramer was.