VIP Chapter 173: Witch’s Box (1)
Just like that, Will brought the only two male members of the team and opened the door to his right.
Why did he choose the door on the right?
Will wasn’t sure. Everyone had their own habits, and choosing the right side was Will’s long-standing “habit.”
“Phew…”
After entering the door, the world behind them vanished at the moment they closed it.
*Click.*
Will raised his head and lit a small flame in his palm, then looked up.
They had also arrived at Floor 59-Right.
Before them was still a cave-like grotto, like an ice cave.
In the Dungeon Ghost Stories of Moonlit Ice Extreme, most of the floors were shaped like these grottoes, with icicles hanging from the ceiling and walls that felt frosty to the touch on either side.
It was less like entering Floor 59 and more like an extension of Floor 58.
Will didn’t lower his guard, standing still and looking around.
The reason he didn’t lower his guard.
It was because he felt that as soon as he opened this door, something had been “watching” him.
No, just the word “watching” sounded too mild.
It was…
“Monitoring” him.
“Monitoring” him as if staring intently at his every move.
However, compared to the feeling, Will felt that dwelling on it was more terrifying.
Because he knew very well…
With his “overly dull” body’s senses here, how could he possibly “acutely” sense someone watching them? How could he discover the enemy’s gaze before anyone else?
Will looked up and around. In such a “closed” grotto, if there was a gaze, it might be a monster like an ice bat clinging to the ceiling.
None.
The grottoes of Moonlit Ice Extreme were clean above, with only frozen icicles.
And he looked forward.
No, no, no, no…
The most terrifying thing seemed to be more than just a gaze.
But…
The two people behind him, whether for self-comfort or genuine reassurance, had already started celebrating in place—
“It’s nothing at all! It looks no different from the floor we were just on!”
“Exactly, I think you guys just read too much and became too restricted.”
“It doesn’t feel like anything.”
“We just need to walk through safely.”
“Is… is that so?”
Will responded perfunctorily.
“Yes… yes. It doesn’t look like anything.”
He chuckled and patted the shoulders of the two men. Although he seemed too small next to these two big men, patting their shoulders as “captain” felt very inappropriate.
“Alright, alright! Nothing to worry about then, let’s keep moving forward—Ahahaha…”
The louder he laughed, the more he was masking his inner unease.
Something’s wrong, too wrong.
He looked at the path ahead, and the louder he spoke, the more he concealed his unease.
Because…
He was the only one among the three who had truly done his homework, especially the one who had memorized the map of every floor.
So he knew very well.
Looking out by the firelight, although the environment and atmosphere seemed the same as Floor 58, and the same as Floor 59 written in the guide, it was…
A “mirror image.”
This was no longer an era where information could only be recorded in text! There were cameras now!
Will had seen the photos taken by the first team that entered Floor 59 provided in the guide.
The torn shale on the left side in the guide was clearly on the right side in the photo.
The frosty ice that looked like it was peeling on the right side in the guide was clearly on the left side in the photo.
A mirror image!
If one hadn’t studied this floor beforehand and was unfamiliar with it, they wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss, because the scenery in Moonlit Ice Extreme was too similar.
Yet, Will was someone who remembered maps exceptionally well—of course, because he had personally entered and adjusted the maps during previous game updates, so he naturally remembered these details that could cause bugs at any time!
“There aren’t even many minibosses.”
“Hahaha, you were so scared just now, it was completely unnecessary.”
“Now it seems like we don’t even need a Priest!”
“Exactly.”
…
The sounds of his teammates’ laughter reached his ears, making Will decide to swallow his discovery of the mirrored anomaly.
Never mind, let’s move forward first.
No matter what, at worst, they would just stop and wait for rescue.
It’s just…
[After a team entered a door, they discovered the anomaly behind it. Inside this door, everything was a “mirror image” of what they had prepared for.]
In Will’s mind, he recalled a follow-up story to “Two Doors” that he had seen that day in “Dungeon Ghost Stories.”
No… it couldn’t be, could it?
Was this event slowly…
Leading closer to that ghost story?
Will clutched the staff in his hand.
The iron staff, though made from materials scavenged from a fire-attribute dungeon and primarily used for fire magic, felt exceptionally cold in Will’s grip now.
Looking up, Will saw that his two teammates had, at some point, foolishly run ahead again. They had rounded a corner and were out of sight—and this very corner was mirrored in his memory of the map, making Will extremely uncomfortable.
“Don’t walk too fast, let’s try to stick together.”
Always…
He couldn’t pretend to be as indifferent as they were.
He called out and jogged a few steps to catch up.
However…
“Ah—!!!!”
Screams had already echoed through.
[When the team first entered, they were unconcerned about the mirror image and walked forward with large strides.]
“What’s wrong?! Did you encounter an ice snake or something…”
“He’s gone… he’s gone! Didn’t you see him?! He was just behind me, and when I looked away, he vanished!”
Before Will’s eyes, in the endlessly extending grotto that resembled the esophagus of some animal, standing at the seam of light and darkness…
Only the Shield Saint remained.
Ahead of him was deep darkness.
Behind him…
Was Will.
Will’s eyes widened…
He was certain that in the few seconds he had rushed over, he hadn’t seen anyone walk past him—of course, “anyone” here could only refer to the swordsman uncle.
And…
Was it condensation on his glasses?
Why was there such thick mist around… a mist that seemed to have a slight reddish hue?
[Slowly, their teammates began to disappear one by one in the deep darkness.]
[First, the person in the middle vanished after rounding a corner.]
“Don’t rush, don’t rush. Getting lost in places like this… is also… very normal. Let’s not stop here, there might be monsters ambushing us. Let’s keep moving forward… the exit should be closer.”
Will rubbed his forehead.
So strange.
The ghost stories were slowly becoming reality…
As if recreating a ghost storybook word for word.
“I can’t walk anymore, Brother Will. I’m too scared to move, Brother Will.”
“I’m at least one generation younger than you, don’t call me ‘Brother’!”
But what was even more terrifying…
With one person already missing from the team…
Will could feel the “gaze” on him intensifying.
It’s okay…
He remembered the map.
As long as the door he entered wasn’t the one without an exit, the door to Floor 60 would be visible not far ahead.
With a reduced number of people, they could just exit at Floor 60. It would definitely… definitely be okay.
But it was strange…
This wasn’t just a “mirror image.”
So far, they hadn’t even encountered a single monster.
It was deserted and quiet, in the pitch-black grotto, except for them fumbling their way forward on an unfamiliar path, there was nothing.
The more it was like this, the stranger it became.
…What if there was no exit?
[On that floor, there wasn’t a single monster. For a high-level floor in a dungeon, the absence of monsters was extremely strange.]
[The deeper they went, the less the remaining people dared to speak.]
[Because they were afraid that what awaited them was not an “exit” but “certain death.”]
“Ha… ha…”
Will laboriously climbed a slope.
Why did he feel hotter as he walked?
Moonlit Ice Extreme was theoretically a dungeon dominated by ice attributes, and they were wearing thick adventurer’s clothing…
Why did it get hotter as they walked?
Could it be…
That his body’s perception of temperature had started to blur as he reached this point?
“It’s okay… it’s just ahead…”
“Come here quickly, the door should be close ahead.”
Will turned around, intending to call out to the Shield Saint behind him.
But…
Like a stone thrown from a high place into a deep abyss below a cliff, his voice echoed into the grotto behind him, and only endless echoes answered, with no replies.
Without realizing it…
His two “teammates” had both disappeared.
Will swallowed hard, staring at the profound grotto that seemed ready to devour him, and stepped backward step by step.
He could feel the gaze fixed on him, more intently than ever.
As if it wanted to devour him bit by bit…
“Calm down.”
—That’s right, calm down. You are like this, always maintaining your composure.
“Since something like the Two Doors has appeared, we must also be prepared for the worst-case scenario…”
—Yes, as expected of a good student, you’re thinking of the best solution even now.
“No matter what, if there’s an exit, get out through the exit first, and then consider asking Shuna for help.”
—You’re still thinking of her. Will she really come to save you?
“Let’s see what’s left at the ‘door’ location on this floor…”
Will turned his head, but where a “door” should have appeared in his mind.
He touched an ice surface as smooth as glass.
There were even wisps of water clinging to the ice surface. Upon closer inspection, it looked so similar to the door they saw when they entered…
[They did not find the door leading to the next floor.]
[At the “end,” they found the “entrance.”]
By the time Will reacted, he was already running backward.
“I need to find the exit quickly.”
“As long as I can get out, it’s fine.”
“I can’t be trapped here, I can’t just wait for death.”
“The other two, it should still be in time to wait for rescue…”
“A mirrored map, where am I now, where should I be going?”
“It’s… it’s just me alone now…”
“Door! Door! Door!”
“The door that will let me out—”
…
He stopped.
His breathing grew more rapid, his heart pounding uncontrollably.
“Ha… ha… ha…”
Before him was a door he had dreamt of.
A red wooden door.
He squinted, patting his head. For some reason, after running just now, his mind had become even more hazy…
“I… I have to get out…”
Will’s eyes were fixed on the door in front of him.
He gripped the doorknob tightly.
He didn’t even notice that the surroundings were now enveloped in a blood-red mist.
He didn’t even notice that the door was no longer an ice door.
He didn’t even notice…
That the giant witch hat depicted on the door was identical to the pattern on his staff.
