Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, whenever I played a game, I never skipped any events, any cut scenes--even any dialogue; I wished to know the lore--to see the effort that other programmers had put into the game. I also had the bad habit of even if I disliked the game, I had to finish it, before taking it to a second-hand store.”

“Muhahaha, it’s a failure, huh?”

“Yup, a failure.”

 

Two glowing purple orbs emerge from Zen’s ash.

 

“Goodbye, hero.”

“This is your victory.”

 

As they speak, I instinctively cut the orbs with Gjallarhorn, since I feel a strange evil, a deep maliciousness.

However, my blow only manages to scatter the orbs into thousands of points of violet starlight for a few seconds--before they gather back together and continue rising.

 

“Let’s meet again,”

“See you.”

 

The orbs easily penetrate the ceiling and disappear.

***

What were those?

Could they be angels?

Well, I felt evil from them.

But I don’t have the leisure to think about it because--<System message: This maze will now initiate the self-destruct sequence. Staff members and Trainees are to evacuate immediately--I repeat-->

An announcement rang out.

I quickly rush over to Mia and make her drink a HP Potion, since she is still unconscious and can’t swallow, I have to give it to her mouth to mouth--this isn’t an excuse to make out with a cute loli-baba elf--it’s not--it’s life saving measures.

However, since the medicine hasn’t been tested, I gave it to her at a mouthful at a time, and then waited to make sure nothing bad happened.

She woke up after she finished the bottle, though our lips were still touching, and I was using my tongue to keep her lips open.

Her eyes opened, she looked worried for a second before she saw me and relaxed--seeming acting on instinct she relaxed again and her tongue moved a little--before she woke up completely and moved back, her cheeks a deep crimson.

“Ahem, Mia, do you recognize me?”

“Tek.” She sounded a little embarrassed, her eyes stayed glued to mine however, “Here is?”

She didn’t look around as she asked, strangely.

“The Master Room of Trazayuya Maze.”

Hearing my words, Mia twitched and hurriedly looked around for the Mage.

“It’s alright, he is dead--he won’t bother you anymore.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

However, now isn’t the time for carefree conversation like this.

<The self-destruct sequence has been initiated. Staff and Trainees are to evacuate immediately.>

I have to see if I can stop it.

“Mia, can you stop the maze from self-destructing?”

“I’ll try.” Mia quickly gets to her feet, sways for a second, before walking unsteadily to the machine that the Mage used to operate the maze.

She tries to operate something for a while, but then she shakes her head.

“Impossible. But I can delay it.” She seems to have given up quickly.

I ask her to delay it for as long as possible, and then ask a few details--it seems that she can delay it for almost half an hour, but the deactivation sequence has somehow been locked.

So it’s useless, even for the maze’s master.

I also have the feeling that if I tried to destroy the Maze Core, or to store it, the maze would explode immediately.

Well, let’s bet on my physical strength and escape by running.

But before that, I have to take care of the unconscious Homunculi. It would be impossible to carry them all out one by one, so I look at Mia and ask her.

“Is it possible to somehow change the floor into a lift? Or does it only drop like a pitfall?”

“Pitfall.”

“Can you control the size of the hole?”

“Yes.”

That’s good.

“Please open a hole with a diameter of three or four meters.” I ask as I carefully wake up the Homunculi. They stare silently up at me without moving, though their eyes do take in the room--their eyes and hair are still crimson, but they don’t give off a demonic feeling.

A hole opens in the floor like I asked, Mia is watching me with curiousity.

“Are you going to kill us?” One of the women speak, her voice completely monotone.

“No, I saved your lives.”

“I see. Where is Master?”

She probably meant Zen when she said ‘Master’.

“He, is dead,”

All five of the Homunculi sigh in unison, their eyes seem a little sad, but their faces are completely blank, “--What will you do with us?”

“I will tie you together with a rope, and lower you down that hole; you will be in an underground lake with an exit outside, though it will be a five meter drop after that, which you can use the rope for. You can swim right?”

“We can.”

“Good, stand up and come here.”

The Homunculi all slowly, and dizzily stand up, before standing in a row in front of me. I take a long rope from storage and tie it around each of their thin waists--once they are secured, I hold one end of the rope and ask them to walk to the hole--which they do, unhesitating, stepping into the hole.

I lower them down, and down.

The rope I used was a Magic Tool, allowing it to lengthen almost indefinitely the more Magic Power supplied to it. When the rope went slack because the last of the Homunculi entered the water--I released the rope, so the Homunculi could use it to escape the cave as well.

“5 minutes.” Mia spoke up, telling me how much time remained.

She seems like she has given up, just watching me calmly, but with a look of resignation in her eyes. I roll my eyes as I walk over to her and pick her up in a Princess carry--eliciting a slightly embarrassed noise.

“Well, this will probably be a little dangerous, so hold me tight.”

Feeling Mia wrap her arms around my neck and squeezing tightly, I begin to run.

***

I’m running through the passage, jumping over the remains of enemies and even sometimes along the walls when the floors are trapped. I use my skills Sprint, 3D Maneuvering, and Jump, allowing me to move in ways a normal human couldn’t.

At first, Mia screamed surprisingly loudly--but soon she just stays silent, her face buried in my chest, though she trembles a little.

Debris is beginning to rain from the roof, as the maze falls apart--it’s a little tough to protect her completely from this debris.

We finally get to the midway, the large central room.

“Sorry Mia, I will need to shift how I hold you. Please hold on tightly.”

I lower her to the floor, and then carefully pick her up under one arm; She wraps her arms and legs around me. With a reassuring smile at her, I pick up the still unconscious blonde-woman, and then drape her over my shoulder--opposite Mia.

Even after carrying more weight, my speed isn’t falling--it just becomes a bit more difficult to keep my balance.

I jump down the stairs in a single leap, adjusting my grip and ablating the force--so neither Mia or the blonde woman feel even the slightest impact.

Okay, just four levels left.

I could feel strong vibrations, and hear explosions coming from the depths.

<System Message: Secondary Control System activating--Maze Core has lost power required to support facilities due to self-destruct. Staff and Trainees are to evacuate now--I repeat-->

While listening to the robotic voice, and noticing that the message had changed slightly--my feet aren’t stopping. Hmm, is there a Secondary Control System?

My map only displays the Main Room, but doesn’t show any control rooms--I wonder if they are on another map, or in Trazayuya’s Room?

 

3 levels left.

A block suddenly falls in front of me.

 

Without losing momentum, I kick the falling block and make it shatter--spraying away from me. I couldn’t completely keep Mia and the blonde woman unhurt when pulling that off--Mia let out a soft groan as a small shard of rock hits her arm.

I’ll let you two drink as many potions as you want when we get out of here, so please--bear with it.

 

2 levels left.

 

An especially strong vibration occurs, making the turn just ahead cave-in. Looking back at the opposite side, the upper level has collapsed too, blocking the path.

The ceiling also seems to be collapsing.

I carefully lower the blonde woman to the ground, and release Mia--she still hugs me tightly, her face now buried in my chest, refusing to look. I reach up with both hands, catching the ceiling--but facing my strength, the ceiling breaks, I manage to protect Mia and the blonde woman from the falling fragments.

Do we have no choice but to be buried?

I could easily dig us out, but it would take a lot of time, and the girls back at the wagon would be incredibly worried about me.

A piece of falling debris hits Mia’s back, causing her to cry out in pain, and lose 10% of her health.

<The Trainee’s health has decreased. In accordance to the top priority, trainee will be ejected outside the maze. Other trainees are to separate from the injured, so as to not get dragged into Teleportation Field.>

***

So, in the end, the three of us succeeded in escaping the danger because of the Trainee Safety Program--

I apologize to Trazayuya in my mind for making fun of his over-protectiveness.

I make Mia drink one of my HP Potions--I really need to make some more, since I am beginning to run low. I wake the blonde woman up and let her have one too.

The Heads-Up-Display shows that the woman only has ‘No.7’ in her name.

She doesn’t have a normal name, huh?

I recognize this place, it is near the entrance to the underground lake, I am standing near a cliff that has water gushing over the edge--that’s probably water overflowing from the underground lake.

Suddenly I spot the form of five women with blood-red hair standing by the river, they seem to be staring into the water with bored expressions. I walk over to them, with Mia and No.7 following me.

“No.7, you survived too? It seems only No.6 is missing.” The one who spoke is that same one who spoke in the Master Room--the others stayed silent, she seems to be their spokesman; her name seems to be No.1, and her chest is quite small, unlike the rest of the others.

I quickly look around the map, I can’t find No.6 unfortunately.

When I relay this, No.1 nods, “Thank you for saving the rest of us. No.6 looked after the Master’s room, so she wouldn’t have been safe and you probably would have died if you went there--Master disabled the Core functions around his room.”

No.1 seems to be rather talkative--much more-so than the others at least; but she speaks as though she is reading from a screen.

The six all kneel before me, as though they spoke with telepathy.

“What are you doing?”

“Master is dead--you saved our lives instead of leaving us to die; you are our new Master. Unfortunately, we cannot all come with you. There is one directive that is hardwired into all of us, except our youngest--No.7; with the death of Master Zen, we must search from his hometown and find any possible survivors of his bloodline--we are to then serve and protect them for a minimum of five years. If we disobey this directive--an unalterable command will activate and we will self-destruct. This was created so as to make sure we couldn’t be stolen. No.7, being the youngest, hasn’t existed long enough to have this command implanted into her.” No.1 makes a long speech.

No.7 looks at her sisters, before getting up and walking to in front of me and kneeling again, “Master, No.7 greets you.”; her information now shows: ‘Master: Tek’.

I look at her and help her stand up, “we will sort this out when we get back to my companions.”

“Yes, Master.” No.7 speaks in a monotone as she looks between me and her sisters, before walking over to my side.

“We must leave before the self-destruct directive kicks in. No.7 has access to our private network, if you ever need us, she can relay a message--we will do everything in our power to be of assistance.” No.1 lowers her head once more before she and the other five rise to their feet.

Without a single look back, they turn in unison and bolt off in a different direction.

Mia has stayed silent this hole time, holding my arm, grasping it firmly.

There is one last ‘boom’ from the direction of the maze, and then the log appears and begins to flow at great speed--it hasn’t been like this since since the time with the Meteor Shower.

I scroll quickly through the list of loot, and also written there is ‘Defeated all enemies on the map.’; which may also be a trigger. Though it only recognized the defeat after either the last explosion or the departure of the demonic-looking Homunculi.

However, there is no ‘Source’ this time.

Without looking at it closely, since I don’t really have time, I move all of the loot to a folder named ‘Trazayuya Maze’. But from a very quick scan, most of them are the remains of Monsters and broken machinery.

There are also several Magic Books, which probably belonged to the Mage, Zen.

 

>>Title: Survivor Acquired.