The only conclusion I could draw was that the path the lions had initially come from was the exit. I called out to Geralt, pointing in that direction.
"Hey, I think the exit is the only path ahead," I said.
Geralt, in the midst of a fight with a lion, temporarily knocked it down and looked in the direction I pointed. He yelled back at me, frustration in his voice, "It is a dead-end. The entrance is closed, and they come from a portal. We don't know anything about it."
Examining the path closely, I caught a glimpse of a metal gate ahead, alongside a swirling blue portal, just as Geralt had described. It seemed that there was no further way forward as the gate had fully closed.
As I ran out of ideas, my gaze turned once again to Yuffie. Her invisibility had worn off, and she was being overwhelmed by the lion's strength. It landed a hit on her arms, causing deep wounds and blood to splash on the ground. However, with incredible speed, she managed to dodge another attack.
Setsuna, her eyes filled with determination, glanced at me and shouted, "What is your next plan?"
I couldn't help but wonder why I was expected to come up with a plan when the exit had never been mentioned. But then it struck me. The exit wasn't necessarily a door; it could be hidden, just like the surveillance room. The hint about the mother deer encountering a dead end must be metaphorical. The path ahead, seemingly a dead end, needed to be tested.
Taking a deep breath, I concentrated all my strength on my legs. With determination, I sprinted towards the only path that led to the metal gate. Everyone looked at me with concern, but I knew what I was doing.
Reaching the dead end, with the tall gate standing before me alongside the portal, I realized it wouldn't open or verify my access. I deduced that I needed to solve a riddle in order for the entrance to open.
I first attempted to touch the portal, but a spark burnt my pointing finger, causing me to retract my hand immediately. It appeared that this portal was a one-way entrance. I couldn't determine if it was magic or created by advanced technology, but I knew it wasn't my concern to question its origin.
The second option was this entire narrow passage created by the stainless steel wall with a small gap in between. As if a gear in my mind began to turn on its own, I recalled a murder mystery novel I once read. The protagonist discovers an entrance behind a wall when faced with a dead end in his investigation to find more clues to the mysterious death of the victim.
Without thinking, I touched the aluminum wall, hoping to discover a hidden exit.
"Watch out!" Setsuna's warning pierced through the air.
I turned around to see one of the lions swiftly approaching me. Trapped in the narrow path, I had nowhere to escape when the lion jumped to attack me. Instinctively, I leaned on the wall, narrowly avoiding the deadly swipe of the lion's claws.
And in that instant, I heard a clicking sound behind me emanating from the wall as I leaned against it.
To my surprise, the wall behind me sunk and opened from within, causing my back to lose balance and my body to collapse into a brightly lit room. In a split second, the wall slid closed, as if there was never an entrance to begin with.
The last sound I heard was the voices of my friends calling out my name, but then all the voices ceased.
Luck seemed to be on my side only when I narrowly avoided death....
Without questioning my whereabouts, my sole focus remained on finding a solution for the exit. As I glanced around, I noticed that there were no more doors, only a white desk adorned with countless floating displays, showcasing the actions of Geralt fighting the lion, Setsuna attempting to open more doors, and Shan and Yuffie battling another lion.
Suddenly, a massive screen materialized, and footage of the masked man played before me. This masked man bore a golden sun cross symbol on his mask, which set him apart from the other masked people. His mask was entirely white, with only the golden sun cross as its decoration.
With a mysterious tone, the masked man spoke, [Congratulations on solving the riddle. You can escape alone and let everyone else die, or you can choose to sacrifice yourself and let everyone live. Will you become the mother deer or the fawn?]
Stunned into silence, I clenched my fists in anger and slammed them against the desk. My brows furrowed, and veins appeared on my forehead as I took a deep breath, attempting to regain my composure.
As I stared furiously at the screen, the voice of the masked man resurfaced.
"The lifeless bodies you witnessed were the sacrifices the winners chose, they chose to save themselves. They had successfully overcome the game and moved on to the next floor. Consider yourself fortunate to have found the exit."
Did this mean that each floor had its own game and players? Was there someone before me on this floor who had survived and progressed to the next level?
"So choose, kid. Your life or theirs? I will give you one minute to think," the masked man declared.
Closing my eyes, I sought to calm myself and contemplate. The answer became clear to me. Geralt would guide and protect everyone until they reached safety. As for me, I was an orphan with no defined purpose in life.
However, I still harbored a desire to not perish at such a young age...
"I will sacrifice—" I began to stutter.
Bang! Boom!
I opened my eyes and turned to face the screen, which now displayed the figure of a muscular man relentlessly pounding the wall with his modified arms until his hands bled.
On another screen, Yuffie, Shan, and Setsuna managed to defeat one of the lions. Shan fiercely wielded a chair, repeatedly striking the lion's head until it lay lifeless.
Meanwhile, the other two lions were already sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily. They had successfully defeated these fierce animal!
Suddenly, a forceful voice resounded, reminding me, [Such a shame. They chose to sacrifice you and themselves by defeating the lion.]
I opened my eyes widely and asked "What do you mean, we already defeated the lion? You must allow us to exit this place."
The masked man chuckled, and he said [Kid, in this game. You must sacrifice someone or die together, that is the difficulty of this floor. It is not about defeating the lion, now I will still give you a chance to survive, so choose.]
I slammed the desk once again and shouted at him "Who the fuck are you? You have no power to decide who gets to live and die!"
The masked man responded with a cold voice [I am the hypocrite prophet, to declare the beginning of the judgment that you hypocrite self-righteous people so desire.]
"I am not the follower of Yatia." I stated angrily.
This time he didn't respond to me, it seems like he still wanted to see my decision and not killed everyone after we defeated the lions like he mentioned.
A moment later, he extended his hand widely with pride, and then a video of people being killed across the city by playing various survival games that this masked man set up appeared on the screen.
What is this?
How can a terrorist overrun a city like this?
Where is the world government?
And what is the prophet having to do with this?
Then I realized how this situation had escalated beyond my comprehension, this was the first time I realized how truly insignificant my life truly was.
Of course, the world could change. Nothing would stay peaceful forever. I didn't see this coming and like everyone else, I was ignorant. But that didn't mean I deserved to die! and everyone else didn't deserve to die as well.
The masked man said to bring me back to reality [I give you a second chance to chose but it seems like you are running out of time, kid.]
I slowly lifted my head up to stare at the screen and I responded in a low tone "I will sacrifice myself."
The man paused for a second without any words, he then raised his hand. After that, a drop of water hit my shoulder and as I looked up, I saw water leaking from the ceiling above me, the water became denser and it only took a few seconds for the flood to reach my feet.
[Your sacrifice will not be remembered.] The masked man said.
Then all the screens shut down and as the water level increased, I realized I would be drowning if I didn't find any escape route in time. However I made another realization, I made the decision to sacrifice myself.
So this game was always about sacrifice.
Yet a flame lit up in my spirit, I was longing for life, I ran around the room searching for the exit but to no avail.
The holographic display in the room also ceased to exist along side any source of light, now I was left alone in this dark room as my heart pounding knowing I would be drowned to death.
The bang on the wall from the other side also became louder and I did not know what happened to them since the live display of them had been shut down.
The water level had reached my knee, and at this point, I realized it was pointless to search for the exit and about to accept my fate. But then the loud noise from the wall became louder and finally, I could see a crack in it.
The crack ran across the wall and extended, then the wall was broken apart which revealed a huge hole that caused the water to leak from the room into the narrowed passage.
I escaped death, once again.
I saw Geralt with his arms covered with blood and his body filled with the wound caused by the lion. He seems too exhausted to the point he could collapse at any moment.
Once I exited the big crack hole created by Geralt, I ran toward him to support his body from being off balance by carrying his shoulder.
I noticed his fist was so messed up and filled with damage.
I asked him "Are you fine?"
Gerald responded calmly but his voice carried a deep anger "That should be my question, what the fuck is going on with you in that room?"
I shook my head and responded, "It is a long story, right now let's find the exit."
He gently pushed me away and said "First explain everything to me, and never try to do anything alone again."
I nodded to him as he was like my father's figure so it made sense that he was concerned for me, but before answering him, I shifted my gaze toward Setsuna, and Shan covered in bruises and wounds stood not far away looking at me with a smile.
Their clothes were slightly shredded, and their eyes showed no more vulnerable aura, yet they still stood firmly as they were always determined to fight till the very end.
It was impressive how they could defeat a lion with an immersion strength.
"I am glad you are fine." Said, Shan, with a clearly concerned expression.
Setsuna ran to me and slapped my back with a faint smile, I knew this was her way to express her concerns.
Meanwhile, I heard footsteps and glanced to see Yuffie was walking this way when she finished checking the lion if all of them were truly dead or not.
"This seems like a scenario from a survival game movie.." Yuffie stated while she patted her wounds on her shoulder.
I swallowed my Silva and let out my voice.
"I have bad news for everyone, this isn't just terrorism. This is a massacre on a grand scale, the only way to survive is to win the survival game they design."
Geralt and everyone weren't surprised to hear my words, in fact, their expression seemed to acknowledge this fact and knew it from the beginning.
"You don't need a genius to know this, the entire city is now involved in this stupid survival game," Yuffie stated.
She walked back to the hall, and everyone followed Yuffie from behind, including me.
Then, she halted in front of the glassy windows and pointed at the chaotic view on the surface as well as the balcony of another skyscraper visible to us.
On the surface, people were being seen running away from the masked man equipped with laser guns, they randomly shot down people they came across mercilessly.
Meanwhile, on the balcony of one skyscraper, I could see a few high-rankers with superhuman strength battling against tigers with all their strength to survive.
As I was observing this chaos, unexpectedly, countless explosions emerged from many buildings and now the entire city is engulfed in smoke and flame.
"What the fuck is this?" Setsuna opened her mouth in anger.
Shan just stood there rooted, speechless to what he witnessed, while Geralt displayed no emotion as he was exhausted from the deadly battle with a lion a moment ago.
As for me, I clenched my fist with ominous emotion. An excitement filled with rage, this was beyond evil, and yet deep down inside I knew this was the way out of my ordinary life, an adventurous life awaited me filled with thrill just like the web novel I once read.
I subconsciously smiled at the guilty frenzied emotion I felt.