Hell Difficulty Tutorial Chapter 435 – F*cked-up situation

Tess says.

Sophie asks.

Tess shakes her head and continues to talk through the link,

Lily joins in.

Sophie disagrees.

I confirm.

So far, I haven’t gotten anything from the metal plates I’ve been examining, nor have I deciphered the field. Not even with my Irises and senses. Well, maybe "nothing" isn’t the right word for it. "Nothing useful" would be more accurate.

I can now guess how it all works and see parts of it, but whoever made all this is operating on a higher level than me. So there’s nothing I can do about it.

Tess stands up and gestures to Sophie and the twins, who rise as well,

Maya asks.

the mind manipulator shrugs.

I note.

I shake my head,

Maya asks curiously.

I explain.

Tess says, jumping back into the conversation,

Another day passes, and everything goes well. There is no trouble, not a single attempt on the life of a guide. There are stronger monsters attacking, and I’m forced to use a bit more mana to create bigger projectiles to take out the flying scarab-like monsters.

I kill one of them and make sure that his corpse falls to the deck so I can examine it, and Sophie joins in as I start cutting it apart while using my eyes.

The Dawnslayer stands nearby, his group having been scheduled alongside us.

“What?” I ask. “I’ve killed plenty, more than the other two groups combined, so you guys can pick up the slack for a moment while I examine it.”

He doesn’t voice any complaints and returns to his group instead.

I ask Sophie as we drop into a squat over the corpse of the scarab.

She sighs,

I note.

She stares at me, blinking slowly,

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Now that I think about it, It was Ruby who told me that only for her master to repeat the sentiment a few weeks ago.

Sophie pokes the scarab again, and I notice her smiling,

I take a moment to think about it, and then I grab the scarab and throw it off the deck. Watching as the corpse falls down to the sand I turn back to Sophie, who is still seated on the ground. Around us, the monsters’ attacks have begun to weaken.

As expected, a few hours later, another guide dies. We get no message through the secondary web the twins and Sophie set up. My anchors also disappear before the attack happens.

The five people guarding the guide are dead as well. The same terrified expressions, pale skin, and not a single speck of mana on their bodies.

Four guides remain, and we still have three days until we reach our destination.

The panic among the other passengers is readily apparent at this point and this time we allocate 50 guards to each guide. This time our group goes on shift as well, and we ditch the secondary web.

Every group is allowed a bit of rest once in a while from guarding the guides to sleep and eat. When we get back to our shift, we get to follow one of the guides as they control the ship. It’s something I’m excited for.

But the mood in our room is different now than it was before, and now everyone sits in a manabloc chair of my creation. I even added a circular manabloc table seated in the middle of the room.

Honestly, I kind of did it on purpose. Maybe this wasteful use of mana will calm the others, showing them my lack of fear and my confidence in our ability to get through this situation.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to work all that well. I don’t know why.

Tess opens the conversation,

Maya laughs wryly.

Tess asks as multiple eyes turn to me.

As she speaks her voice becomes weaker and weaker.

Tess says, smiling gently and taking a moment to squeeze Maya’s hand.

Sophie adds.

Maya sighs, leaning back in her chair.

Izzy glances rapidly between Maya, Sophie, and Tess, the stress clear on her face. And Noodle coils his way up to her face and rubs his head against her cheek in response.

I let go of Biscuit, who proceeds to approach Izzy and nudge her shin until she lifts him into her lap.

Min-Jae asks, finally joining in the conversation.

Huh, maybe Min-Jae does have a good head on his shoulders.

He continues,

Dennis looks at me,

Dennis looks at his brother, probably intending to exchange some rude message, but he doesn’t go through with it in the end. He knows I would sense it.

Amused, I answer,

Dennis pauses mid-sentence as Aaron shoves his rib with his elbow.

I see confusion in their expressions, and continue,

This information starts another round of conversation, and I watch with interest, as they theorize about what each class should be capable of, and what the potential is for said class to cause any degree of significant damage.

Some shade gets thrown my way for not sharing this information sooner, a criticism for which I have no answer.

The danger might be real, to me and to my group, but I already have my own ideas on how to deal with the current situation. I even have plans in place just in case all the guides die and we find ourselves having to control the ship. I know if I needed to I could do it. I could even power the ship on my own for a while with the amount of mana I have.

It might not look like it, but I take the task of keeping the members of group 4 alive very seriously. I also know group 4 isn’t going to be easy to kill. Split into two groups, there is no way for someone to kill them before I rush to their aid. They even have a good chance of taking out the killer before I can join them. If the enemy was truly all that powerful, there wouldn’t have been any need to be so covert.

So the question remains, do I enjoy the mystery and watch things unfold while trying to solve the problem on my own? Or do I just… who am I kidding, of course I do.

I enjoy this fucked-up situation way more than I should.