[19:32 | May 03, 2035]
The party fought through the remaining floors. Minotaurs similar to the one they fought on the sixth floor came back as minor enemies on the eighth and ninth floors. They also fought some new enemies like gargoyles and lava elementals. However, the enemies that they fought weren't the only things that were new. Shin also felt a shift in the dynamics of the party. Geoff didn't seem as confident as before. Shin had time to speculate during their time resting but it was clear to him that something had changed after the encounter on the sixth floor.
"Being the 'leader' of the group and immediately getting knocked on your ass is not a good look."
When they had some time alone, Fuyumi also brought it up.
"I've had a bad feeling about Geoff this whole time."
Fuyumi's legs hung off the side of the cliff. Below her was a lake of steaming hot water. Its intensity would lead one to believe that it was acid. Shin sat down beside her, leaning forward with his chin resting on his hand.
"Do you mean his behavior or…?"
"He reminds me of Syros. Just when I thought we wouldn't have to see him again."
She stared into the pool of water. Shin followed her gaze into the lake to see her reflection. Fuyumi's eyes shone a brilliant blue hue as she gripped the cliffside tightly. Her cold ambiance canceled out the effects of the steaming lake below them.
"Paladin, fights using holy magic, leader-like… I don't blame you for thinking that. But Geoff is our ally this time. We've been relying on him for the past few floors already."
Her frigid intensity dwindled when she heard his words.
"Hey, sorry to ruin the moment."
Fuyumi turned around to find a long green-haired Nightingale. He squatted down between Shin and Fuyumi and put each of his hands on their shoulders. His hair coiled as it touched the floor.
"Try not to separate from the rest of the group for too long. I think they're starting to get suspicious." He whispered.
Shin and Fuyumi looked at each other in confusion.
Nightingale stood back up as he finished relaying his message.
"Sorry, didn't mean to third wheel!~" His tone turned devilish as he skipped away back to the campfire, waving back at them.
Shin sighed as he saw his friend prance away like a deer.
He glanced back at Fuyumi who returned her gaze to the lake. He couldn't make out her expression as her hair covered her face. They fell silent as all their thoughts of their previous conversation escaped their minds, replaced by Nightingale's teasing. The silence made each passing second feel like an eternity. She brushed her bangs to the side behind her ear and turned to face Shin.
"Let's head back."
He nodded back in awe, completely captured by her fair pale skin. She swung her legs back from the edge and stood up, patting off the dust on her coat. Confused when she didn't hear any movement from Shin, she turned around.
"Shin?"
"Right. Yeah, let's go back."
The two of them walked back toward the group, relaxing by the fire. Shin had his hands in the pockets of his coat, lost in thought.
"Does Fuyumi feel the same way? She must have felt awkward during the silence too. Maybe I'm just overthinking things. Anyway, now is not the time to be distracted by these kinds of things."
He cursed his mind for roaming but ultimately put the blame on Nightingale for instigating it.
"You ok?"
A curious blonde ranger asked Shin from the comfort of a homemade blanket wrapped around her. Malady sat upright with her arms around her knees and one hand peeking out of her makeshift shell, holding a cup. She would normally be the one tending to dinner but she asked Prezzo to keep stirring the pot when she got tired.
"Yeah, I'm just thinking about the battle ahead."
He lied as easily as he breathed. There was no way that he was going to talk about his feelings to Malady out of the blue. The embarrassment would end him.
"A person like Shin has nothing else on his mind after all. He's convinced me of that after what I saw on the sixth floor!" Scottie interrupted from the other side of the fire.
Shin sighed and hid behind his hand in embarrassment. He snuck a glance at Fuyumi from the gap between his two fingers. She stood on the outskirts of the semi-circle made by the party members with her arms crossed and eyes closed.
"Feeling tired?"
Nightingale asked her, nudging her with his elbow. She was slightly thrown off balance by surprise.
"Yeah… Just a little sleepy."
"Food is ready everyone!"
Prezzo imitated a dinner bell using the wooden ladle and bowl in his hands.
The group ate dinner together. Shin grew tired of having the same soup for multiple meals but he wasn't going to complain. It wasn't like he could do much better.
"So, is this Ghast guy ever going to show up?" Nightingale asked as he put his bowl down on the glowing green crystal next to him.
"Also what's up with these crystals?" He added.
The walls and floors outside of the ninth-floor arena were littered with them. The crystals' light pulsated every few seconds with radiant energy. Nightingale picked up his bowl again to inspect the crystal underneath. His brow furrowed in confusion as he couldn't discern any special properties from the crystal.
"Our party has been skipping over those for the past few times we've attempted Urumel. Though we've only cleared the ninth floor once before in our group of five so we didn't see them too often."
Geoff tapped the crystal with the head of his hammer.
"As for Ghast, he's a strange guy that likes to go off on his own. I doubt he'll show up anytime soon. He's too much of a skeptic to join you guys with the bounty. I would stop asking about him. He's just as confusing to me as he is to you, probably." Scottie said as he cleaned his bowl with a towel.
The party cleaned up after their meal together and decided to rest for the night. They didn't have a time limit to enter the next floor, so Geoff decided it would be best for them to tackle the guardian of the tenth floor with a full night's rest.
They didn't bring much in the way of sleeping gear. Each person had their own sleeping bag but they were just a series of blankets sewn together. Huddled around the warmth of the campfire, they slept on the floors of the ninth floor of Urumel.
+++++++++++++
[07:56 | May 04, 2035]
The team decided to meet in-game the next day at nine in the morning. Shin got up early and made himself breakfast in real life. He had groceries delivered to his apartment regularly with the money he stole from the Stormwatch guild. With the bills paid off and his mother in a comfortable position, he could afford to spend more time in Mythos Online to better his life.
He leaned back in his chair in reflection. The game he was playing for fun was now his job. It was everyone's job and livelihood. Some of the groups of people who were fortunate enough to avoid it were the global elite on private islands.
Shin rested his head on his hands on the computer desk.
"How much longer would this go on? Would things ever change or return to normal?"
With Pentrafil in complete control, he had his doubts. They're too greedy to change their minds now. After all, Miller got what he wanted.
His thoughts drifted to the game. There wasn't much else on Shin's mind. He was about to fight the hardest boss he'd encountered thus far. He groaned as he remembered that it was only the tenth floor.
Shin picked his head off the desk and put on his Zero VR headset.
+++++++++++++
[Mythos Online]
Shin's eyes were heavy as if he had just woken up again. He opened his eyes to find Fuyumi staring back at him from her own sleeping bag.
"Mornin'."
She spoke as she turned to stare at the ceiling.
Shin grew flustered as he mimicked her words and movements.
"Morning."
"Why was she staring at me?" Shin thought as he rubbed his eyes. He removed his hands from his face to find Malady's face suddenly blocking the glow of the green crystals on the ceiling.
"Time to get up!"
Shin yawned as he pulled himself out of his improvised bed. Fuyumi stayed in bed with her half-open eyes barely peeking over her sheets. Malady seemed like she had been wide awake for hours. Her companions were still sound asleep.
He pulled out his blade, turning the flat side toward him. Shin stared back at his reflection in the blade.
Today was the day they face their biggest challenge yet.