In a torrent of sandy explosions, Cobalt's torso was flung against a column of sandstone, cracking the foundation up and down in spirals.
Erupting cracks inched up the lined tower of orange brick, spewing sand onto the playing field as its spiral fracture spelled imminent danger for any of the surroundings… But Cobalt's eyes were glued directly ahead, to the molding and malleable sea of sand which rose and fell as each segment of a foul underground creature morphed the landscape in quick movements of worm-shaped mounds.
His eyes twitched, wincing against the Sea of Sand he had found himself thrown into. As he slowly stood himself against the unsteady orange bricks, he grinded his grainy gums between his molars, realizing wiping the sand from his eyes would be pointless.
In this Sea of Sand, Cobalt didn't have a single weapon, an ability, or any knowledge of his surroundings… And on top of that, every further second spent in this Hell left him closer and closer to being unable to see entirely. But that thought, too…
"-!!!"
Finally drawing his attention to the sandstone pillar he had fallen against, he watched as segments slid out under segments, one at a time, until all at once the pillar collapsed on all sides like a house of cards.
He was just barely able to kick off in time, rolling against the light sand as a loud eruption shook through his grainy ears. Looking back, though… Even a structure as large as that had almost disappeared entirely, being enveloped into the Sand Sea faster than Cobalt could even process.
Just like that… The structure was gone, swallowed up into the figurative mouth of the hungry Sand Sea… But Cobalt knew well he didn't have the time to mourn for it.
Kicking off against the thin and tiny grains of yellow sands, he found himself bolting as far as he could towards another one of the sandstone walls, and before he could even figure out a plan… His feet had already tried scaling it.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
That wormlike creature had obliterated the foundations under the labyrinth of sand bricks, but Cobalt knew the high ground was just as dangerous as being down there.
The first time it lunged for an attack, Cobalt barely managed to avoid getting pummeled by the side of the creature and barely even got a decent look at it. But he knew just from the split second of seeing its disgusting form, that the creature was an absolute behemoth, likely 20 meters in length.
"Christ…"
Grinding his teeth against one another, he once again scratched at the sandstone walls, just hoping he could get to a higher ground before it reared its face at him again.
I still don't know a single damn thing about this Hell.
But as he found a niche for his foot to slide into, hoisting the rest of his body up to match, he scrambled to put together the pieces of what he knew. Sure, he hadn't a clue as to what he had gotten himself thrown into—but he could still try.
He could hear the rustling of an enormous body under the grains of sand as its moving mound swept closer, collapsing entire blocks and pillars of sandstone in the process.
The first thing Cobalt should figure out is whether he's still in the Tomb at all. After all—
That voice from before… It sounded like—
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
"Alright! Break from storyboarding for a sec!!!"
Cutting his thoughts short, Cobalt screamed out to his nerves, bracing for impact.
As the sand burst open all at once, an enormous insectile face reared its teeth and buggy mandibles, clacking them up in down hungrily as it stared down the petrified Cobalt, who just barely clung two meters up a wall of sandstone.
Just a few minutes ago, I swear to God I had pretty much given up on life as a whole…
But in a place like this—sharing the same space as a monster like that…
"GO AHEAD, WORM-BASTARD!!! GIVE ME A REASON TO FIGHT!!! GIVE ME A REASON TO BEAT YOUR ASS!!!"
It tore its mandibles open, revealing rows and rows of sharp teeth, descending down and down in a spiral making up its oral cavity. It could probably swallow Cobalt whole—
But no. If Cobalt couldn't be given as glorious of a death as saving Arabelle from that Horror, then that was all the proof he needed that he wasn't supposed to die today.
Pounding his fist against his chest at his declaration of war against the Sand Worm, more and more orange and chalky segments rose from the ground, and with each one, bizarre patterns of black circles, along with two pairs of hairy feet each.
"HAVE AT ME THEN!!!"
Jumping up as high as he could, the Sand Worm—or more accurately Sand Millipede?—blitzed through the wall of sandstone, shredding it to grains…
High above the destruction and carnage, he jumped high enough to see over the walls of sand, and from within them…
"A maze…?"
Flesh pounded against flesh as Cobalt's bold and brazenly stupid move played out its second Act: Leaping onto the monster's back.
But catching himself in a roll, he couldn't help but still feel utterly disgusted at the amount of sand which was starting to fill his eye sockets. Caught in this massive storm of sand particles, there was no possible way to make it out of this without goggles. And to even attempt such, would be completely insane…
"Guess I'm insane today, buddy!!! Feel like sharin' the spotlight with me?!"
As Cobalt picked himself up to his feet, he watched as the worm carried him higher up, twisting in all sorts of shapes to demolish any of the walls in its wake—but unlike Cobalt's last opponent, this one clearly didn't have the brains to back up its immense strength.
Catching a ledge of sandstone, Cobalt flipped himself over it, scaling down the other side as his fingers failed to stop his momentum, simply clutching the loose sand on the edge of the walls.
But despite the uncomfortable fall, Cobalt had made it over one of the walls. And from what it looked like—
"One step closer to the exit!!"
He just barely managed to catch himself on the ground, making extra sure he wouldn't leave himself vulnerable enough to be swallowed up by the Sand Sea.
Because in a place like this, with the very world around him as malleable as it was, Cobalt guessed it wouldn't even take half a minute to be swallowed up in a torrent of sand.
"Alright brain! Turn back on!"
Running down corridors of the maze, he flipped his thinking cap back on, mindlessly running through the maze, one hall at a time.
So—these locations so far have felt like Boss Battles… Before, we were fighting a creature similar to a Wendigo, with the parameters that magic as well as normal lights wouldn't work… And now, I'm fighting what's essentially the cross between an Antlion and a Millipede in a sand maze… But who the hell would design parameters like these…? It makes no sense.
But at the end of that thought…
"I wonder if these weird corridors have anything important in them? Maybe the start of a new Trial?"
Arabelle was dismissive when she had spoken those words, but Cobalt could tell there was weight behind them.
Could a Trial be like a level in a videogame? Or more specifically, a Boss Level?
So, if Arabelle's hiding that from me, and I'm right in terms of the parameters, then this whole damn place is like a Videogame.
Suddenly, the whole "Tomb Raider" setting didn't feel like a culture clash.
No, it isn't a culture clash… This place is like a high-level dungeon from an MMO game.
But the question is—who's the sick mind who would possibly try to simulate something like that in the real world? Even with magic, this still isn't a videogame. This is real life—with real stakes and real lives being gambled with.
Given all the lessons Cobalt was forced to learn since coming here, that was the only rational conclusion.
Meaning…
Some freak actually designed this place… Someone put this whole Tomb together like a game…
But of course, Arabelle just brushed it off because she thought it was something too confusing for Cobalt to understand. Of course she wouldn't know what this was.
She wouldn't have any idea what a videogame is…
For some inexplicable reason, Cobalt felt a frosty chill run down his back.
Hypothetically… If Cobalt was correct, and this place was really structured just like a videogame… And that through all of the hardships he had undergone, all the close-calls, all the times he'd almost given up, there was a Developer to it all…
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
Looks like I don't have a damn second to spare against this thing…
Raising from the mound of slippery sand, an enormous insectile visage rose, twisting and turning as it spiraled towards Cobalt with incredible speed.
Braced against the wall, Cobalt swallowed down his turbulent thoughts, clenching hard at his fists as he stared down the disgusting creature that charged towards both towards him, as well as the wall he needed to break through to progress closer to the end of the maze.
Staring into the gaping oral cavity of the beast, he simply cocked his grinning head to the side while pounding his shaking fist against his chest.
"YOU READY ANTLIOPEDE?!?! Let's put on one hell of a show—right before you blast my way outta this shitty game design!!!"
The two sole competitors faced each other on, preparing to clash head on with all their force and will included…
But swallowing down both the existential and physical fear he was feeling, he couldn't let himself get distracted for even a second.
"Phhheeewwww…"
『Level Two... LET'S GO!』
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"
* * * * * * * *
Slowly, a lone girl allowed her mind to adjust to the change in setting.
Feeling the weights and pains of the physical world drain away softly, it felt as if her body had tasted a breath of fresh air, free from the dark swirling pool of her cluttered thoughts.
Mere moments ago, she was placed in a situation that could have resulted in her death. But alone in this darkness, the pain all of that caused her seemed to vanish inexplicably.
A weight was removed from her shoulders. A tension was set free from her neck.
And the new situation wrapped itself around her like a blanket, allowing her to feel the new sensation of comfort, something almost foreign at this point.
Almost like a kind and gentle Abyss was wrapping itself around the girl, freeing her from all of the polluted thoughts she was muddled in—
"Cut the shit."
Cursing the sense of bliss she felt, she called that out to the Abyss that was enveloping her—or more accurately, those were the words she had spoken in her mind.
In this entirely new realm, she had no lips to utter those words, nor did she have the lungs to sigh.
She didn't even have her own eyes to open… In this place, she had absolutely nothing.
"This isn't a funny prank. Taking away my most basic bodily functions… Just who the hell do you think you are?"
Placed within this serenity, she housed absolutely no love for the darkness it gave her. Instead, she wordlessly spat out her aversion for that motionless Hell.
Trapped in a world of darkness, with no thoughts, no obligations, no pain, nor regret or responsibilities.
"There's seriously no bigger slap in the face than something like that."
Her disdain growing more second by second, she fumed knowing she had been dragged into a place like this, unable to see, speak, or feel, as well as knowing that the wicked being that sent her here didn't even have the most basic respect to greet her.
Feeling trapped and alone, she waited as impatiently as possible. If she had fingers, she would surely tap them. And if she had eyes, she would surely roll them.
Seriously… Something as demeaning as this…
"Ah—I'm sorry about that. I simply wanted you to feel a bit more at peace here, but that's my own bad, I suppose."
Greeting the lone girl, a voice called out.
A feminine voice—one that was clear, soft, and modulated.
She felt the honeyed words permeate through her very being, echoing softly and gleefully around the girl's spirit itself. As she had no ears to hear, this was likely the only way information could reach her.
But despite the friendliness of those words, the lone girl had already built up an understanding in her mind—that this was a being that she would most certainly hate, no matter what.
"You're annoyingly bad at reading the room. Don't know who the hell you are but I doubt any guest would ever feel 'at peace' in a state like this… So consider that next time."
Speaking those words in her mind, her harsh retort would cut most people like a knife… There was certainly no care in them.
But calling back to her spirit again…
"Hm. I did say I was sorry, didn't I? Well—no matter. You clearly aren't one for smalltalk. And to think, I was even going to ask you if you slept okay, and if you were hungry."
The girl's spirit coiled at those seemingly friendly words. Though the accompanying spirit likely attempted to share her own warmth and friendliness, Arabelle simply felt disgust within its words. She felt fuming, even though she wasn't even sure if "fuming" was something a spirit could technically feel.
"That's your idea of smalltalk? Ignoring the fact that I doubt you could do anything about either of those things even if you wanted to… My own idea of smalltalk would be more like, 'why did you take away my ability to fight back against whatever type of poison you're buttering me up for?', yeah, something like that."
Her snakelike tongue retorted once more as it lowered, conveying clear as glass that there was no room in any of her own words for accommodation.
In short, she understood from the second she felt this strange sense of "comfort" around her, that any type of witch who could put someone through this couldn't possibly be someone worth trusting.
Though she had no eyes to perceive it, she could somehow sense that the opposing participant in this chat was shaking her—or rather its—head, disapprovingly. But before the lone girl could inquire about that perception—
"Ah, I suppose there's no sense in being hospitable towards the overly-perceptive… Although that's rather cold, well…"
The voice paused, tossing over its words in its own mind, or perhaps spirit.
Then for the first time since arriving into this senseless place, the lone girl felt the form of a sensation take place besides her own distrust, a tinge of alarm washing over her spirit…
And as not her eyes, but her spirit suddenly awoke to the sight of an entire scene playing through its very soul…
"Perhaps you'll play a different tune when I tell you why I've brought you here, no?"
There, in that senseless world, a young red-headed girl was running around the outskirts of a polished stone structure, chasing a tattered and faded ball around the grass—completely alone, but happy.
"…"
Watching that little girl run as if there wasn't a single care in the world filled Arabelle's heart with more anger than she even knew she had been carrying along with her.
And all at once, the weight and pain and sorrows this place had tried to hide from her returned with interest, doubling down on the resentment and hate she was already feeling.