It has been three hours since they were trapped in the Labyrinth. From 15 people, it dwindle to seven people left. More than half of them either dead or incapacitated. Every time they managed to clear a floor, Faust avatar will come and tell them the number of the remaining floor.
It is not like they didn't try to search and destroy the core but every damn time they tried, they end up facing endless metal dolls. The Trap Artifact is too big for them to search every corner so they came to a conclusion that the core is at Faust.
This is also the first time that they entered the building so they couldn't recognize any kind of irregularity. They were stuck here. Right now they have just arrived at the last floor.
They saw a table. On the table there are two big round marbles. There are words floating on top of the table.
'Choose. Which one is the true core of this Artifact?'
"Alright it's time to do this again."
A man with a sullen haggard face wearing some sort of mechanical armor and cyan robe brought out a metal mug filled with seven sticks. He shook the mug lightly a few times. He then pick one stick. The stick has red line on the bottom.
"Not me this time."
Other people slowly and unwillingly picked the sticks each.
"I-It is me."
A woman with a short turquoise hair wearing dark blue full body suit stuttered. She picked out a stick with a green line at the bottom.
"Well go then. We don't have much time."
The woman walked slowly to the table with a tearful face. With a shaking hand, she choose the right marble glass. She quickly closed her eyes to brace herself but 10 second, 20, 30, a minute, nothing happen.
She opened her eyes and looked around. She is still alive. There is a text floating in front of her eyes.
'Congratulations. You manage to clear the Labyrinth. Here is you reward!'
A door appeared behind the table. The door open itself revealing a man sitting on his chair inside his office.
"HAHAAHHAHA! I managed to do it guys! I manage to clear it!"
She turned around and saw that all of them are gone.
"Wha- What. Hey!!! Where are you guys? We managed to do it. We managed to clear the Labyrinth."
"Ar...e yo..u su...re yo..u clear..ed t..he Labyrinth?"
She turned around and saw that Faust's mouth moved. He is the one talking to her.
"Are you sure that this is the Truth?"
She looked around and become terrified. She could not believe the reality.
"NO!Nononononnoonoonono... I am still alive! I am still ALIVE!"
She fell on her knees and started crying.
"NOOOOOO!"
The people around her looked at her on her knees crying her eyes out.
"It seems the right one is Lie."
"Yeah, it seems she is gone now."
"I will go and pick the left one."
A man with the mechanical suit touch the left glass marbles and the reality distorted. The scenery all started to crack little by little until they shattered and become dust.
He then woke up.
"What? What? I wake.... up???"
He tried to raise his body but he can't. He looked at his body and he was in his underwear. He looked around and saw that all the Mercenary were all in their underwear and tied up with a carbon fortified chain.
*Clap*Clap*Clap*Clap*
He saw Faust on a chair in front of him clapping his hand.
"You are the first one to wake up. Amazing. Three hours and 5 minutes."
"First to wake up? Where am I? Are they all still alive?"
"Yes they are all still alive. You are composed for someone who is kidnapped."
"Well I just admit in my heart that I just lose. That is all. The moment I woke up earlier, I realized that there is no Trap Type Artifact. Is it Illusion or Dream series?"
"None. Game series. Entertainment Type Artifact. You need to fall asleep to activate the Artifact. You play random games in your sleep. You will only wake up if you realize you are in a dream or when you clear the game."
"So will you let us live?"
"It depends. This is an abandoned factory. Here used to be a place to process clear water and all of you in the large open tank to store the water. You know where this is going. Time limit. Water level. Survived or die. Painless death."
*Sounds of mechanical gears turning* * Click!* *Guduk guduk* A square holes opened up and water started flowing in.
"The water actually take three hours to flow in but you woke up earlier than I thought. I have a lot to learn from this. Anyway, good luck. Bye~"
Faust got up from his chair and climbed a ladder out of the tank.
" *Sigh* I really regretted taking this job."
The naked man can only looked up at the roof hoping the water to flow in slowly really slow.