"Everyone present here will survive and clear this dungeon; the only exemption would be me. I'll take full responsibility for your lives."
"PFFT," Nova laughed out loud. He was totally caught off guard; he never expected something of this caliber from Xerxes. "Oww ouch," his ribs ached from the unexpected strain.
"What?"
"Why are you talking in riddles?"
"What does that mean?" Kai persisted xerxes relentlessly.
"Idiots," Lucas muttered to himself.
Even if they didn't really believe Xerxes when he made that claim, it felt like they were given life insurance for free, which was enough to cheer them up in such a depressing situation. To put it mildly, it felt good to even have a phony guarantee. Sometimes just the hopeful words of someone can bring the other a sense of comfort.
"I don't fully get it, but we are getting out of here together, Xerxes." Kai replied, "I noticed the natural light in the house decreasing with time, so I looked outside the window. The moon is gone. We are in the last stages of the story. After the moon becomes small, the last step is to give it to Mary. After that, we don't have anything more to do other than wait, and the dungeon should be cleared subsequently."
"It's the waiting that's dangerous more than the tasks." Lucas spoke, which everyone agreed to: "I don't think the house is as safe as it seems." Xerxes had also deducted the same. The most agonizing thing was waiting with having nothing else to do, and the house might seem like the perfect place to wait and rest. But it was all just so they would end up in here. This dungeon got what it wanted, being the only house on the map. Everyone naturally fell into its trap.
"I think so too, even if it's not the house itself. The only other thing we are afraid of bringing harm to us, is the little girl Mary, and guess where she lives." Nova hinted bluntly, he hadn't even shown them the restroom yet, but everyone was already convinced because every time something unpleasant happened, it was in this house.
Nobody wanted to stay in the house any longer after the confirmation, so they decided to leave after throwing some essentials, like water, out the downstairs window in case the front door sounded a secret code or something. First in line was Xerxes, who cautiously opened the front door.
"Meow," the white cat was perched directly in front of the door. Xerxes was a bit taken aback by it because the cat never got this close to the house and it would never enter it. Now that he thought of this again, maybe the cat was warning them but they failed to notice before, Xerxes picked up the cat to move it aside so it doesn't get hurt.
Following Xerxes, Nova and Lucas emerged from the door, "Kai?" Xerxes waited a few seconds for him, but he never made his way out the house. "Wasn't Kai with you, Lucas?" Xerxes asked, holding the front door open nervously.
"He was right behind me until the last moment." Lucas had become less sharp due to being severely weakened; he couldn't even notice when Kai had disappeared. "I'll go look for him," Lucas declared, moving back inside, but he was immediately dragged out by his hood. "Give me the lighter, I'll go look for him." Xerxes extended a hand towards him.
Lucas took out the lighter from his pants zipper pocket and handed it to Xerxes, knowing his condition was the worst and he wasn't the best choice to look for Kai, he complied obediently.
"I should go with Xerxes. You hold Elise and wait here, Lucas." Nova placed Elise in Lucas's arms; she was still sleeping and breathing, which was a huge relief for them since not a single one of them knew how to take care of a baby.
Before Nova could move, however, Xerxes had already shut the door, locking from the inside. "Your also injured, and being alone is not safe," his voice sounded from behind the locked door.
"But aren't you also alone? Xerxes open the door." Nova knocked on the door recklessly, but Xerxes didn't open it and stayed silent. "Damn it!" he kicked the door aggressively. Xerxes wasn't genuinely committed to being the goat sacrifice, was he? Nova pondered tensely.
"The window." Lucas pointed to the window next to them, which connected to the bedroom. Nova instantly understood, the bedroom door couldn't be locked from outside the bedroom, and the window was always wide open because the windows didn't have any shutters or blinders, meaning it was the best way to sneak into the house.
"Will you be okay alone with Emily?" Nova asked as he climbed onto the window, not receiving a reply from Lucas. Nova looked back at him. Lucas was intensely looking up at the house as if he had seen a ghost, but when Nova followed his line of sight, it was worse than a ghost.
"Is that a giant spider?!" Nova was terrified to be standing right under it. He moved away from the window in a panic. Nova was more scared of spiders than flying ghosts; he took them very seriously, especially one as big as the one above him on the house.
"Does that look like a spider to you?" Lucas gravely said, making Nova take a double take at the spider.
The moonless night was truly a bit too dark to distinctly see if it was a huge spider or not, but do spiders usually have hair this long hanging down from their heads? Also, shouldn't there be more than just four legs?
The realization slowly hit Nova, and his beautiful features further contorted, "That's Bailey, right?" Lucas spoke the cursed words Nova was avoiding.
"Don't move rashly now; she hasn't moved; maybe she still hasn't noticed us." Lucas held Nova by the arm, who kept stepping back in disgust and terror. "How is she staying in that position? Do you think when Xerxes said that she disappeared out the window, she was just crawling on the outer walls of the house beside him?"
Nova had just finished speaking when Elise suddenly woke up and started wailing loudly, startled by the unfamiliar sight of Lucas and not her mother.