[10, 09, 08, ...
"It's soon the moment of truth," Isaac mutters with tense nerves as he looked at the time in front of him with fierce eyes.
His adrenaline was at its peak and his blood was bubbling in his veins because of his nervousness.
Maria was no different from him. Her skin had almost regained a reddish color because of the rise of her blood.
-Ding.
[Your time has passed!]
[The safe zone will lose its charm; it will no longer be able to keep the monsters outside.]
The two looked at each other before smiling ironically when they saw each other's severe look.
-RUMBLE!!! RUMBLE!!!
Black clouds came out from nowhere and swallowed up the sunlight that had been shining above them since they had reached the second level of the dungeon.
'Haha, what bastards. They (game masters) put more pressure on us to force us to choose the second option.' Isaac whispers in his mind as he watched a familiar phenomenon occur in front of him.
The sands gathered in front of them and the pyramid reappeared in front of them with the Sphinx.
[Choose your test. Answer the Riddles of the Sphinx to move on to the next step. Or choose to defeat the black magus and his acolytes to free them.]
Isaac looks Maria in the eyes; but when he sees latter nods her head,
A sneaky smile emerges on his lips. 'She's really an idiot.' He couldn't help but repeat himself in his mind.
In the same second, his smile vanished on his lips. "We choose the Sphinx's ordeal." He pronounces these words soberly.
[...Your choice has been taken into account.]
[...]
At the same time, the Sphinx opened its colorless pupils made with sand.
This simple action on its part made Isaac and Maria breathless because its eyes resembled that of an entity that transcended wisdom.
[The Sphinx has woken up. You must answer five of its questions within ten seconds. Only one wrong answer and you will be affected by retribution's curse.]
'Fuck! They not kidding!' Isaac's heart begins to beat fiercely in his chest as he read the rules.
He then looks at Maria. 'Let's hope she gets out of it; if the plan doesn't follow its course, we'll move on to plan B! But I'd like to avoid it at all costs. I'd really have a wet ass if I tried to escape a divine beast.' He said, clenching his fist.
-Flashbacks, a few minutes rather.
After seeing the notification stating he had obtained the parchment of invocations of his two subordinates.
Isaac immediately checked his inventory. But to his great amazement, a black parchment with golden runes was in his inventory.
His smile became grandiose when he saw this.
"Something's wrong? Why are you all pale all of a sudden?" Noticing Isaac's agitation and silly smile, Maria asks in a restless voice as if she were worried about Isaac.
But the latter ignore her.
He immediately takes out the invocation parchment from his inventory.
His heart beats in his chest when he sees the black scroll appear in his palm.
Worried about wetting the parchment made of old paper, he leaves the lake without worrying about Maria who blushed at his sight.
But before he unrolled the parchment, another notification appeared in front of him.
[If you invoke other people, you will have thirty seconds before the dungeon expels them.]
[The team limit is set at two and the maximum level is 60. Any other ally of a higher level will be automatically expelled by the dungeon.]
Seeing this notification, Isaac bites his lips with an ironic smile. "Sigh, there is a self-defense system." He mutters with boring eyes.
He then looks at Maria, who was looking elsewhere in a detached mood. But she couldn't erase the redness on her cheeks.
On the other hand, Isaac didn't pay attention to her or how he could get the parchment.
"Maria, if we fail the trial, we will have to face the Sphinx!" He says with ferocious eyes.
The latter looks at Isaac's eyes before focusing on the parchment in his hands. "Those you count invoked will be strong enough to defeat a divine monster!?" She immediately guessed Isaac's strategy by the simple fact to see the parchment of invocation between his hands.
Isaac nods his head. "It's true that divine beasts or monsters are at least level 500. But those who are in this parchment have already obtained the title of demigoddess; a level higher than 900! But we'll only have thirty seconds."
"...Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm serious. You said your knights hadn't lost the level they had in the game, didn't you?"
Seeing Isaac's eyes, Maria had no choice but to believe him, as disbelieving as Isaac's words were. "Yes, they're both at the level of one hundred and fifty; as in the game."
Isaac nods his head. "In this case, we'll have a chance against this fucking Sphinx!"
"...What's the plan?"
--
'To make it short, we'll try to answer the riddles of the Sphinx as best we can. In case of failure, I'd invoke Cindy and her sister (Rendy) before the Sphinx dictates its verdict. Personally, as a disciple of a goddess, I'd have a chance to survive against another god's curse, but this won't be her case since she hasn't a divine blessing.
-Even if I would lose two subordinates of such caliber, I'd only have to look for another chance to find another parchment and call them again. Let's hope that everything will go smoothly.' He remains deeply immersed in his thoughts.
But he woke up immediately when he felt Maria's cold hand squeeze his.
"??"
"That passes or it doesn't; we'll see what happens next." She mutters while looking straight into Isaac's eyes.
'...She has become more receptive since then. I wonder what's going on in her head. Sigh, she's really an idiot; how can she have affection for someone she's just met? Tss~ I may be the one saying nonsense, but I can't help but wonder how I got this parchment.
-As I didn't know what to do to accomplish the class quest, I played caution instead of trying to charm her and take action. After all, the quest didn't specify that I had to sleep with her. In short, I'd seriously think about it once we survived this shit.' He then focused on the Sphinx.
"You smell the unpleasant smell of Kronos and Mogis." The Sphinx looks at Isaac with contracted eyebrows as it pronounced this sentence in a thunderous voice.
Isaac frowns.
But as if it wanted to be sure, the Sphinx continued to sniff in Isaac's direction. "Your smell isn't the smell of friendship, but that of blood. You may be a weak unimportant creature, but I discern Mogis's blood on you. Do you...
"Stop telling bullshits and take care of what's up to you!" Isaac roars these words before the Sphinx finishes its sentence.
He looks at Isaac with dark eyes. "A frail creature as important as a fly dares to be arrogant in the face of my greatness? I hope you have enough intellect to answer my riddles correctly."
"Kehehe, throw your puzzles; I know enough about them."
"Humph, we'll see if your arrogance deserves my attention."
With this last exchange, Isaac gulps his saliva when he sees the Sphinx's severe mood.
As he had expected, the latter immediately begins with its first enigma.
"When they need me, they throw me away. When I'm no longer useful, they take me. What am I?"
"..."
Seeing Isaac silent, the Sphinx repeats his enigma with a sneaky smile. "When they need me, they throw me away. When I'm no longer useful, they take me. WHAT AM I!?"
"...Tss~, let's forget this shit. I knew it was a waste of time!" He shrugs his shoulders and takes out his parchment.
"The anchor! I'm the anchor!" Maria shouts these words next to Isaac.
Isaac looks at her with suspicious eyes.
Feeling his astonished look at her, Maria tilts her head. "But finally, everyone knows this answer."
These words, which she has just pronounced innocently, gave Isaac a bitter taste in his mouth.
He knew she had found the answer, just by seeing the Sphinx's grumpy expression.
"...I wanted to finish it as soon as possible." He mutters in a streaky voice.
"But you said to try our luck before moving on to plan b."
"It's... true." Isaac looked away and focused on the Sphinx.
'She surprised me. Did she used to travel on board a ship?' He mutters in his mind.
But finally, he attributes this to chance.
At the same time, Sphinx asks its second question.
"It doesn't have a hand, but it can hurt. It doesn't have feet, but it travels long distances. It can be true just as it can be false! Who am I!?"
'What!? Does this bastard think we have an encyclopedia for monsters with us? What kind of monster or divine beast can have such characteristics? Maybe abyssal ghosts? No, even if they have spiritual shapes and don't have feet, they can handle weapons with their hands.' As Isaac looks for far, he heard Maria's voice ringing once again.
"A word!" She screams in an agitated voice with her forehead oozing with sweat.
'...What the fuck is this!?' Isaac shouted almost loudly.
But the Sphinx state was worse than that of Isaac.
It had a dark and threatening aura around it when it saw Maria answer its two riddles before even five seconds passed.
Isaac frowns, guessing that the Sphinx's next enigma won't be pie.
"Say my name and I'll disappear! Who am I!?!"
"Silence!"
"THE ONE WHO CREATES ME DOES NOT WANT ME. THE ONE WHO BUYS ME DOESN'T NEED ME, THE ONE WHO USES ME DOESN'T KNOW ME. WHO...
"A Coffin!!"
"..." The sphinx becomes silent, and Isaac with it!
The two looked at Maria as if they were looking at a monster who came from deep in hell to humiliate them.
'This girl is... what the fuck she's exactly!? Did she predict and...- no, the sphinx asks random questions. All those who had attended his test came with new puzzles that no one had heard. It's therefore impossible for her to know the Sphinx's riddles in advance!' The more Isaac made efforts to understand the situation, the less he could.
"Last question!" The Sphinx mutters in a rumbling but nervous voice.
Isaac's jaw was almost unhooked when he saw such a scene. "Haha, it was worth putting my life in danger. This face you're currently showing is, something hilarious."
"Don't make the proud, miserable ignorant insect. You have no merit in this story!"
"Ugh! Cut the shit! Throw your last shit, don't be afraid...little cat!"
"...Sigh, I've no interest in ants. -Alright. So...
The sphinx looks at Maria as if it couldn't see Isaac it considers as an NPC.
'Uh! It's the first time I've seen this big cat take so long before asking a question.' Isaac started by having sweat pearls on his forehead as if he was the master of the game. 'Will she get by? I don't want to use my parchment anymore!' He mutters while looking at Maria who was as tense as he was.
"WHAT WAS THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN BEFORE THE WORLD DISCOVERED EVEREST?" The sphinx finally asks its question.
"WTF!?" Isaac lets out this flood of surprise. "What do you know about our world's mountains!? You had never left the game of God-like Online before the impact. These gamemasters are something!"
"Stop disturbing my trial, a useless insect with an ant brain. Be happy to stay on the bench and learn two or three things when two intellects exchange their knowledge." Sphinx retorts in a sarcastic tone before losing interest in Isaac.
'...' Isaac becomes silent.
"So young lady, do you have the answer?" The Sphinx asks when it sees Maria sink into her thoughts.
'Y-young lady!? This Pharaoh's head never changes it has always the same haughty air which makes me want to vomit. Haha, this time, I'll slay this bastard!' Isaac's face turns green when he hears the Sphinx address Maria with an honorary title.
His emotion regulator seems to be broken since he met the sphinx he already considered the most arrogant enemy.
As for Maria...
"Everest always had Mount Everest before the world even knew that Everest existed," She mutters as if she were thinking aloud.
Isaac frowns. "You mean..."
But Maria was ahead of him. "The answer is Mount Everest itself!" She says in a shrieking voice.
"...Sigh, You found the right answer."
"Huh!? It was as easy as that!?" Isaac couldn't believe what he had just heard. He would have sworn that the Sphinx would spouse Maria when he heard such a simple answer.
But the worst was he had looked too far; just like the other enigmas.
[You passed the Sphinx trial.]
[Tell it one of your wishes and it will grant it.]
'As simple as that? It's a nightmare!' He roars in his mind, unable to keep his cool; for the first time.