All four of them moved independently while waiting for Hershey to wake up.
Therese went to the kitchen, preparing lunch for everyone. Her repertoire was vast, and thankfully, the fridge had ample ingredients for her to use, allowing her to offer a lavish meal to everyone.
Shymine and Khamish decided to clean up the house and the surroundings. That included clearing out the pieces of flesh scattered here and there.
Their combination of freezing things then chucking them inside Khamish’s Storage Bag—having infinite capacity and where the flow of time stops—is really perfect for this role.
Finally, Raive was sitting by Hershey’s bedside, watching over her while trying to use his "premonition." Of course, that was a bald-faced lie, but everyone bought it and let him be.
The information they could get from his premonitions was what would be keeping their lives, after all.
Time passed, and after Hershey woke up, everyone began eating their meal.
"Eat up! Forget everything and just enjoy the meal for now!" Therese declared with a wide smile.
The dishes she cooked were all a hit, thankfully.
Even Hershey was all smiles while filling her cheeks with as much food as she could, chewing cutely like a busy squirrel.
The rest smiled while watching the little girl eat, while also bringing food to their mouths.
Their day was far from over, after all. They need to get stronger. And for that to happen, they need to enter dungeons and risk their lives once more.
And as the saying goes, an army marches on its stomach.
Not only does food raise their morale, but it also gives them energy to fight.
After the meal was over and everyone rested long enough, Raive returned from somewhere and spoke. "Alright, everyone. Are you ready?"
The other four stood up, stretched, or confirmed their physical states before nodding firmly. Seeing them silently affirm his question, he smiled.
"Alright. Then, let’s head to the gate."
They marched forward in formation, with Raive at the lead, and Therese and Hershey at the back. Of course, it didn’t even take a minute for them to reach their destination.
The green dungeon stood literally at Hershey’s home gate.
Raive stepped forward, touching the dungeon again. And as he predicted, his skill activated once more. But with a small change.
[Detected a Pseudo-Trial (Green). Creating a new checkpoint...]
[No save slot is available. Please select which slot to overwrite.]
"Hmm..."
Raive paused, thinking.
Right now, he only has two save slots. One set right when they were claiming the trial rewards, and another when they just arrived at Hershey’s home.
As he was lost in thought, five seconds passed, and...
[Automatically overwriting oldest save....]
[Success.]
To his shock, the skill automatically chose a slot by itself.
With this, Raive realized that the skill wouldn’t wait for him to choose, but would choose by itself automatically when enough time had passed!
"What a waste..."
Raive actually was thinking of preserving the first save right after they completed the trial so that he could "restart" everything if the need arose. To be the fastest to clear dungeons, and to gain all rewards they could.
"But well, it’s just a loss of a few hours." He shrugged. "I’m sure we can make up for it later."
After confirming the save was finished, he then turned to the rest and shook his head.
"Sorry, everyone. My skill... didn’t give us a detailed peek into what’s waiting for us. Maybe it’s just my skill being too low level, or that it only works on the trials themselves, but..."
Of course, since he hadn’t loaded yet, he had no info to share.
And rather than bullshitting his way through and misleading them, claiming that his skill failed would be a better option. This was their first attempt, after all.
"That... feels like it’s going to be dangerous, doesn’t it?" Therese said worriedly. "What if we look for a weaker dungeon first instead?"
Of course, she had a point.
Rather than jumping straight to green, testing a violet dungeon first would be a better option. However, they had no idea "where" such a dungeon could be. It’s not like there’s a map to show them which dungeon is where.
As such, Raive shook his head firmly.
"I’m sure most of the easy dungeons would already be swarming with challengers by now. And if we add the time loss for finding one, then we’d be losing out instead."
Then he spread his arms wide and exclaimed.
"Trust me on this. I will make sure that we all survive, even if the gate we’re entering is a red one!"
He felt like some religious cult leader trying to lead his members astray. But well, that way of speaking worked wonders. The other four nodded, albeit a little wary.
By then, they already had their resolve made.
They already had a "wish" they would want granted if they ever reached godhood.
That meant they were now willing to risk everything if it meant having a higher chance at winning in this crooked death game.
"Good!"
Raive nodded, seeing everyone so resolute.
He turned around, then fearlessly took a step through the glowing green gate, saying. "Then, follow me!"
As soon as he entered, Raive’s vision was filled with infinite brightness, before slowly fading out, revealing a new space.
They... were standing in what looked like a limestone cave.
Raive didn’t lower his guard. As soon as they entered, he crouched down, checked his dark surroundings, and prepared for any sort of trap... but nothing happened.
"...It looks like it’s safe here, for now." He said.
But then, when he looked back, he noticed an anomaly.
"Guys...?"
There was no response.
He thought that they hadn’t come in yet or something, but since they were standing in a row, that shouldn’t be the case. The dark cave made it hard to see even his fingers, but he still tried to take a step.
One tiny step to the right.
Splat!
And as he did, his footstep rang. As if he just stepped on a puddle of water.
"..."
No.
The smell. The sickening iron-like stench. And the thick texture of the fluid...
It wasn’t water at all.
"Shi—!"
And just as he realized what was wrong, something snapped.
Raive felt that "something" swallowed the upper half of his body before biting hard. He could feel his spine snap. His intestines slipped out of the wound, and his shit leaked out like broken plumbing.
But most of all.
The pain.
The searing heat, as if his skin was burning.
And the countless rows of teeth that buried deep into his body.
Before he could even raise a peep—
[User’s Heart had Stopped Beating.]
[Please select which save slot to load.]
[Confirmed selection: First Slot.]
[Auto-Load activating...]
[Success.]
"Gasp...!"
Raive fell to his knees.
He breathed deeply, feeling that his lungs were still in one piece.
It wasn’t yet punctured by a dozen holes.
His skull was still in one piece. And his lower body was still there.
He was alive...
But the pain of his brutal death lingered inside his mind like a phantom that refused to die.