80.
‘……Get up?’
The suspicious man began nudging me now.
“I said, get up.”
‘No way.’
Very slowly, little by little, I opened my eyes.
Beneath the not-so-bright indoor lighting, a scrawny man and a short, plump man were looking down at me.
Both of them wore masks that covered them from the nose down to the jaw.
They weren’t surprised even though I had opened my eyes.
I lowered my legs out of the cargo compartment and sat up.
At that moment, a vast cavern filled my vision.
And people like me…….
People who had undoubtedly been dragged here were following the assailants’ orders.
Their staggering gait, their strangely unfocused, empty eyes, and their faces that showed not the slightest emotion.
The cavern was eerily silent.
‘This is……. Hypnosis?’
When I got to my feet, the short man shoved me in the back.
“Go over there and move with the rest of them.”
‘No helping it.’
I staggered along slowly.
Then I went over to the people who were moving and joined them.
How should I put it? Once I actually tried, mimicking their movements wasn’t all that difficult.
Maybe because it was something I did all the time when I was drunk…….
The problem was that it was hard not to be conscious of the assailants standing guard with hawk-like eyes over the moving sacrifices. If I wanted to look hypnotized, my eyes were important.
‘Julie has been holding me there and nagging me for thirty minutes straight…….’
My eyes quickly went hollow.
In the end, I blended in naturally among them and began to slowly make my way out of the dark space.
After walking across the cavern for quite some time, we were herded into a nearby room.
There were already many others inside.
‘There are more than I expected.’
There seemed to be dozens of people who had been kidnapped as “sacrifices” and even hypnotized.
However, only a few assailants stood guard in front of the iron-barred door.
“Wait here.”
People staggered and sank to the floor, or curled up against the wall.
They didn’t scream, didn’t cry, and didn’t speak, so of course there was no way they’d have the will to escape.
It wasn’t strange that the assailants thought a single order would be enough.
I stifled a sigh inwardly and sat down in a suitable corner.
In any case, those classified as “sacrifices” would be safe at least until the ritual.
Though conversely, that meant that the moment the ritual began, there was no guaranteeing our lives.
Still, there was plenty of time until midnight…….
Together with everyone.
Safely.
That was all I needed to think about.
I closed my eyes. But not long after.
Bang, bang, bang!
Someone was striking the iron bars fiercely with something like a club.
“Get up!”
“We’re moving right now!”
Already?
Now?
We just got here?
I forced my body, which had been about to spring up, to remain lying down as my mind raced.
My heart was pounding like mad.
‘What do I do?’
I clenched my palm tightly.
That was when it happened.
A familiar face entered my sight, swaying as she walked among the people.
‘Romi!’
I bit my lip, then quietly got to my feet as well.
‘There’s no option of staying here and holding out anyway.’
Would they really kill the sacrifices the moment the ritual began?
Hadn’t they mentioned something like a crystal stone earlier?
Something they didn’t know, but only I did.
‘That I’m in my right mind.’
Let’s not forget that.
An opportunity would definitely come.
I had been watching the black hood the assailant wore, but quietly lowered my gaze.
* * *
Romi Ebishu frowned.
As if she had been forcibly awakened from sleep, an unpleasant floating sensation wrapped around her entire body.
Some kind of sobbing that gnawed at her nerves moment by moment, whispers, a rough tone like sandpaper, a smooth voice that coaxed and cajoled…….
Her head spun as if it would split apart. She felt as though she was going to retch.
At last, Romi Ebishu came to her senses, gasping.
“……!”
She was in the middle of glaring lights that seemed to stab straight into both eyes.
Her shoulders, surrounded by people, staggered and bumped this way and that.
“What is this……?”
“Where are we?”
The murmuring that had started faintly gradually spread. It began to grow louder.
Romi Ebishu looked around.
Where is this?
It’s so bright. My head hurts like it’s going to split open.
Why am I here?
Who are these people?
Then, at last, she realized.
That’s right. Back then, there, someone attacked me, and then I lost consciousness…….
A chilling shudder climbed up her spine.
The moment her tension surged, someone screamed not far away.
At last, as if that had been the trigger, people fled in all directions.
But they were quickly blocked by iron bars.
Iron bars surrounded them on every side.
Hundreds of figures in black hoods stood outside the bars, gazing at them in utter silence.
The hearts of those trapped inside the cage began pounding madly.
What is this?
What’s happening?
Under the flood of light, the fine hairs at the nape of her neck stood on end.
Cold sweat gathered in her palms.
Just then, a terrible scream rang out from one side.
A person in a black hood was standing on the stage…… or rather, atop the altar, at the entrance to the cage, holding a knife.
On the floor, someone lay face down, trembling violently, their eyes rolled back.
Blood streamed out and pooled on the ground.
People screamed and backed away.
Every one of them had gentle-looking faces. Ordinary citizens who had never killed anyone, nor ever witnessed anyone being killed.
However…….
“Kill. Until only one person remains.”
Clang.
The black hood threw the knife onto the floor.
“If you do not, you will die.”
For some reason, the voice of the one wearing the black hood rang loudly inside their heads.
Everyone wore the same expression.
Confused, afraid, angry, and finally, watching one another’s reactions.
“……!”
Romi Ebishu instinctively stepped backward.
As if things weren’t bad enough, those standing near the iron bars suddenly screamed and began surging toward the center.
Outside the bars, figures in black hoods had closed in, surrounding them tightly.
Every one of them gripped a sword and began thrusting it through the bars.
Some were stabbed in the back, some had their thighs cut, and some unlucky soul rolled across the floor clutching an eye from which blood spurted.
All kinds of screams erupted at once.
People, driven out of their minds by fear, didn’t even realize that what they were stepping on was someone who had fallen.
Someone tripped over a foot and collapsed on top of them.
“Get away, get away!”
“Mom!”
An elbow swung in terror drove into a stranger’s jaw, and a desperately outstretched hand shoved someone else toward the iron bars.
The space atop the altar was cramped, as if it had been prepared for them and them alone.
It was a situation where someone had no choice but to be pushed toward the bars.
Other people were malice itself.
Someone retched at the thickening stench of blood.
Faced with the fear of death for the first time, everyone’s minds began to rot away.
“There is an exit here.”
Then, once again, a voice boomed through their heads like thunder.
“If you come out this way, you can escape.”
An exit appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“So kill.”
If they went out there, they could see their families again. They could escape this place! They could live!
A strange excitement took hold of them all.
At last.
Someone grasped a sword and rose to his feet.
“Everyone, move!”
Blood streaming from his slashed cheek, eyes bulging with veins, he swung the sword wildly.
“Get the hell out of my way!”
“Aaaah!”
In an instant, the people were driven to one side.
Rage welled up toward those blocking their path.
And at last, murderous intent surged.
If they had no blade, then with these hands.
The very moment they reached out to trample and crush others with all their might, to strangle them—
through the thunderous voice of the black silhouette,
“Stop.”
another voice, thin and alien, was heard.
But in their eyes, the world beyond the iron bars had already become a horrific pit of fire.
The ground was collapsing more and more. They had to get to the exit right now.
If I go there, I can live.
I have to go now.
Or I’ll die. I’ll die! I’m going to die!
I don’t want to die. I’m scared. I’m scared!
So you die.
Then, crack! Along with the sound of something partially splitting.
“Stop!”
This time, they heard it clearly.
As if they were coming back to their senses…….
One by one, the people tangled together lifted their heads.
Something entirely different gradually began to enter their vision.
The place they had thought was the “exit” was the edge of the altar.
On the floor, where a strange blood-red pattern was drawn, a stone coffin stood upright.
And inside the coffin, dozens of spears were embedded.
If they had leaped into a place like that…….
They would have been stabbed to death by the spears.
Without knowing a thing.
The people looked around in confusion.
Then lowered their gazes to their own hands.
There was…… no blood.
No wounds, either.
The person who had first collapsed to the floor, crying out in pain, had already vanished without a trace.
The sword they had picked up at his feet was gone too.
They had simply,
each other…….
“You crazy bastards.”
Just then, a single curse flew at them.
A clear, childish voice that did not fit the situation.
As if bewitched, everyone turned their heads that way.
Amid the pouring lights, beyond the iron bars, in the deep darkness, from a place so high they had to crane their chins up to see.
Someone wearing a black hood, no different from those creatures…….
had their left hand raised high.
What flashed at its tip, reflecting the light…… was a dagger.
The hood slipped back slightly, and long chestnut-brown hair spilled out.
“You cultist bastards lower than worms!”
With the strength of her entire body, her arm swung down.
And the woman struck something once again.
What rang out was a clear sound of rupture.
Something shattered into pieces, and a brilliant cluster of light spread in every direction.
The suggestion that had been paralyzing their reason was completely swept from their minds.
“……!”
The people trembled as they looked around. Their eyes, which had been vacant for a moment, began to shake violently.
The brainwashing had been broken, but the problem was the group of black hoods surrounding the altar.
More precisely, the grief and screams pouring from them.
“Oh, heavens, O God, the grace of God, the glorious path of seeking, the blessed traces of faith, the baptism of salvation……!”
“Aaaah, it’s collapsing, collapsing, collapsing, collapsing, collapsing……!”
“O God, forgive us, aaah, I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die!”
At a glance, they were in a state of panic so extreme it was chilling.
Amid the rapidly shifting situation, a group of them rushed up toward where the woman was.
The blades revealed as their black hoods fluttered shone with an eerie whiteness.
But while everyone watched, the woman raised the dagger high once more.
Almost at the same time that a large black hawk, impossible to tell where it had come from, let out a long cry as it circled the high ceiling of the cavern.
“You’re all dead.”
The swung dagger dug into the woman’s left palm.