On their trip, Lilith had been on edge the entire time, but she started freaking out especially at this point, clawing into her skin out of nervousness. She easily broke through the skin and began bleeding, but still didn't voice out any sort of complaint.
At this point, Lily couldn't stop herself from speaking out.
"Um, I think we shouldn't go further from here."
Jack took a few more steps before stopping on one foot. While maintaining a balancing act, he looked over his shoulder.
"Hm? But you said going further is the chance to escape!"
Lily gave a small nod before an awkward smile formed on her face.
"Yes, but the danger and unpredictability make the chances lower. Whenever I've had animal companions, at around this point, they would do everything possible to drag me back. This is probably the limit we should go to for now. Once everyone has gotten more comfortable and stronger, it shouldn't be as dangerous to go a little bit further. Over time, I imagine that process should let us progressively gain power as well as meet the requirements to reach the next floor."
Jack set his foot down and ruffled a hand through his hair.
"Hm... ok! Then let's try going into that building over there!"
He pointed towards a building that was mostly intact and had a regal look to it, colored purple instead of the common gray, and sparingly used golden designs that seemed to represent a bird, or at least the head of one.
Lily's eyelid twitched upon hearing that.
"U-Um, I know it looks really pretty, but these kinds of flashy buildings are the ones my animals tend to pull me away from the most. From what I know, if a building is intact, then not only are the games inside more difficult and confusing relative to other nearby ones, but navigating the building itself is unclear. Though I've only ever gone into an intact building that was closer to The Hub."
Jack let out a laugh.
"Then that means everyone will be able to have fun on this one! Let's go!"
Lilith rapidly blinked over and over again.
"A-Ah, ok! L-Let's go then!"
Despite being the most paranoid of the group, she ended up being the most excited. On top of that, Lily being the one who just explained why it may not have been the best decision didn't say anything further. Instead, she looked eager to go there, almost like she was a different person from just a few seconds ago.
In the end, nobody objected to his ideas. Jack himself raised an eyebrow slightly, surprised by the lack of resistance, but soon forgot about it and rushed ahead to the building rather happily.
The entrance consisted of two rather large double doors forming an arch and made from wood that was a deep brown.
Jack didn't really think much before opening up the doors to reveal the inside.
The place appeared purple, just like the exterior, adorned with various flashy orange patterns that appeared to be a minimalist representation of flames. At the center was a dark red carpet that led to a large statue at the back.
The statue was golden, and of a skinny person sitting cross-legged on top of a pedestal. It was depicted with one hand held up as a palm, as though the person was asking another to stop. However, the most notable feature was that the head almost appeared caved in, with the majority of it missing.
It took on the shape of a crater, but this didn't seem to be because the statue was damaged or unfinished, but rather how the creator intended for the statue to look.
And other than the statue, there was nothing else.
Despite being a building that stretched far into the sky, there were no clear places to participate in a game, nor was there a staircase leading to the second floor. It almost seemed like the entire place was just cosmetic.
Mia was the first one to point out this oddity.
"So how exactly are we supposed to navigate this? There's nowhere to go and it seems like there's nothing to do."
Jack scratched the back of his head, looking at the statue for a while.
"Hmm... at least it was fun to come and look at. I'm excited to see more cool things!"
At this point, Kenji let out a hum.
"Can I try something?"
Jack turned to look at him curiously before smiling.
"Of course! What are you going to try?"
Kenji looked at the statue for a while before letting out another hum.
"I feel like doing this..."
He proceeded to sit down cross-legged and held up his hand just as the statue had been doing.
Suddenly, a purple mist gathered around him before he disappeared altogether.
Lilith's eyes widened.
"What? Where'd he go?"
Mia furrowed her brows, immediately contemplating over the situation.
"That must be the entrance. To think the key could be something like that. I'd never have thought of that... it seems I'm still thinking too restrictively."
Jessica smiled awkwardly.
"I wouldn't say that. Honestly, I don't think any of us would've thought of that either..."
Jack let out an amazed 'oooh' before following Kenji's actions and doing the same thing, having the purple mist cover his body and send him away. The others followed suit shortly after.
The group appeared in a larger room that looked quite similar to the last, but there were no doors or windows. Instead, there was the statue once more in the middle standing this time while holding its hands up as though being arrested.
Once all of them appeared in the room, Mia got up and looked at the statue, then the surroundings.
"I assume we need to imitate the statue's actions to progress further. If I had to guess, this would be how we get into its first game. But... there's no indication of the punishment assuming we lose. That doesn't sit too well with me."
"The mind."
Kenji suddenly spoke up, still in the same sitting position. Though what he meant wasn't all that clear to Mia.
"Mind? What do you mean?"
Kenji slowly stood up, his gaze on the statue, though whether or not he was actually intentionally looking at it was unclear.
"It will... take away memories that it wants to. But if one person succeeds, then it counts as everyone doing so."
Lily scratched the side of her head.
"Well... there's not much else to do other than participate. It doesn't look like there's still a choice in the matter."
Mia narrowed her eyes slightly.
"I don't see anything indicating a participation limit. Usually at most there's only four that can partake... there has to be a catch, right?"
Jess shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, there's only one way to find out."
Jack got up and raised his hands just like the statue.
"I like that!"
A purple mist wrapped around him, but didn't fully overtake him nor did it send him anywhere immediately. The others followed suit without thinking about it too much. And once all of them did so, purple mist covered the statue before dispersing to reveal an empty spot, just like a vanishing act.
As for the room itself, the walls and ceiling disappeared, with mist appearing in its place.
The area had expanded significantly, though it was hard to tell how much exactly as the mist fully obscured their vision. Soon after, a prompt appeared in front of them.
[Playing cards will reduce the fog]
In particular, Lilith, who seemed to be handling things well enough before started to panic. She ended up hurriedly pulling out her playing deck before getting a full set of 3's.
Mia raised an eyebrow at that, taking note that nobody else was freaking out nearly as much. Though that was when a monster appeared in the mist, along with a hollowed out section of a cave.
As most of the people began readying their weapons, something peculiar about the image became apparent.
It was Lilith, or more accurately another Lilith. She seemed to be panicking in a rather similar way, but her clothes and appearance were remarkably different. She seemed a year or two younger, while her outfit was one of a highschooler.
Along with her, was a boy and girl of similar age and had the same kind of outfit.
Despite how realistic it looked, pretty much everyone picked up that it was a projection of something rather than a reality.
Before long, Lilith tossed out all of her 3's, prompting the entire vision to blur rapidly, followed by an incredibly muffled roar from the monster.
The three characters began talking between each other, but the only thing that could be made out were some panicked mumbles that shifted in pitch and tone. Despite how unintelligible it was, Lilith covered up her ears, pressing on them as hard as she could as though the extra force would help reduce the volume.
Though despite how it was impossible to make out any of the words, by remembering the positions, it was still possible to tell which one was Lilith.
And once her figure closed in on the others, before they suddenly moved towards the monster...
It wasn't too hard to tell what actually happened.