Peer pressure was a thing I had felt before. Honestly, it was hard not to cave when people around you were expecting something from you, but the situation now was different. These people were expecting me to somehow solve their situation with a solution that I had already used.

I tried not to look them in their eyes. “I- what happened to you guys? What’s going on?”

“A Face Stealer Centipede.” One of the Samurai laughed as the Exorcist began trembling in the corner. “I dunno if a Gaijin like you knows what they are, but they’re nasty beasts. Copy the stats, faces and experience of wherever they look, meaning there’s no use fighting them cause they already know what you’re going to do. Even if you figure out how to get around those, its hard to get around their exoskeleton and poisonous legs.”

I felt my heart stop in my chest before I just slumped my shoulders. Great. It was just one thing after another. First the wall demon and the endlessly growing corridor, and now there’s a deadly, giant centipede that reminds me of some copycat protagonist.

The corners of my mouth pulled into a frown. “What about the stuff Minamoto left for you? I remember him talking about some help.”

“Gone. Why do you think we’re like this, huh?” The Samurai who explained what a Face Stealer Centipede was spoke. “They were merely defensive protections, and a Face Stealer enjoys playing with their prey in any case.”

“Everyone’s gone… they’re all dead. This- this was a mistake.” The panicking Exorcist was rocking in the corner. Thank you for your exposition, but holy shit, this is not looking good.

I flinched as I met the fake smile of the first Samurai. He was still looking at me with expectation. Though, as I tried not to meet his gaze his smile slowly disappeared. “How many were, um, lost?”

“Five others.” The Samurai answered and I felt my skin crawl. There were only so many others within this Dungeon, but a total of nine people couldn’t handle a single creature. However, now that I thought about it, how many people could have fought that wall demon and skeleton giant in such an enclosed space without Minamoto’s Shikigami?

Slowly, a terrifying thought entered my head. It made so much sense when I started putting the various things I learned together. Minamoto had said that Dungeons were a way for gods to influence the physical world, but that begged the question on how much control they had over their Dungeons. If the answer was even just nudging things towards a certain direction, then the bigger picture was fitting in my head.

My hands were drenched in sweat as I started going over it again. Panic was settling in my bones, but it wasn’t something I hadn’t felt before. This was just like back in the tunnel while getting chased by an enemy who I couldn’t escape from. The familiar experience was something I didn’t know would come in handy when not freaking out over getting caught in what I thought this Dungeon was.

“This was a trap in the first place.” I stated, failing to meet everyone’s gaze. The endless skeletons we met when we first came in here were there for a reason. They forced us deeper into the more dangerous parts of the Dungeon, and even if we knew the exit, I doubt Minamoto would let a Dungeon go without checking it out. Which meant, “Someone planned this. Or more accurately, the god and its contractee planned this against Minamoto. But for what?”

My vague question to myself was overheard by the rest of the group as they scowled and slumped to the ground. I had no idea what experiences they had in Dungeons, but where there were profits to be made, I doubted that people hadn’t made a Dungeon for the sole purpose of training their soldiers or something. It was just that this one was made for the purpose of setting a trap.

“Shit!” One of the Samurai beat his fist against the wall. “It makes sense. We split up the unit, and as the weaker group overall, we’re easily grinded down by the weakest creatures. The stuff we’re facing now is the final nail to our coffins.”

I nodded along with his words. It wasn’t hard to put together when being given clues, but I didn’t have all the details. “Minamoto has a grudge against Dungeons, but its most likely a singular god. Could that be the culprit?”

The Exorcist shook their head rapidly, finding my seeming calm words as a source of stability. I wasn’t going to correct his wrong assumptions. The only reason I hadn’t started to bawl and shake in a panic was because I didn’t have a comfortable pillow to scream into. “N-no, the Exorcist of Sleeping Woods is known to have conflicts with a god of nature. This Dungeon is obviously a mix of some god with ties to Yomi or death in general and a yokai.”

“Then, I’m stumped.” I sighed. There was only so much information I could scrounge up, but I wasn’t omniscient enough to figure out why the god wanted to trap us nor could I figure out who it was. “In the first place, we need to figure out a way to get past that creature.”

“And who made you leader? You’re just a Gaijin; a weakling one, too.” The Samurai with a fake smile finally seemed to realize that I wouldn’t answer his first question, and opted to go back to disliking me on a general basis. You’re on my list, buddy. Not sure what list, but you’re on one now.

There would have been a time where I would defer to the stronger members of the group. Honestly, I would have loved to just sit in the back of the group and just cruise along with the flow. It would be great, really. The situation now was too volatile and dangerous to put my life in someone else’s hands. That didn’t mean that I didn’t want to desperately run away. Just this was a larger tunnel where I couldn't escape without a struggle.

“Then,” I asked, looking him in the eye. “Do you have a plan?”

“Does it matter? What are you going-”

“Wakao.” The last Samurai spoke up, putting his hand on the man who was slowly working himself up. Wakao sputtered and glared at the other Samurai. “Just let the Gaijin speak. You have a plan, right? You noticed things out before we came to these tunnels, so you are smart, right?”

I swallowed heavily at his words. My eyes darted to the fog covered opening in front of us. Fog was now beginning to wander into the safety of the tunnel, and I felt that when it reached us so too could the Face Stealer Centipede. I half expected my sixth sense to fire off because of that but it didn’t.

“I think I have one… the centipede’s copying ability. How does it work?”

The Samurai who calmed down Wakao met my gaze, and I was suddenly conscious of how nervous I was. Just a few moments ago, I had almost died to two massive creatures, and now I was going to go into another fight with a creature that was just as if not more terrifying as they were. Was I ready? Hell no. I wanted to curl up and just decompose, but just sitting around and waiting to die was something I vehemently despised. After two weeks here and a small jaunt in a Dungeon, I had forgotten about the time where I had just given up in my room. Now, I wanted to at least not do something that reminded me of that time.

“Its based on eye contact.” The Samurai said with a nod. “It automatically switches its stats to whoever locks eyes with. And we have confirmed… with some losses, that it has a skill to release a cloud of poisonous gas.”

“Some losses? What the hell are you saying, Yasuda?! They were our comrades! My- Our friends just died in front of us, and you’re acting like they weren’t just killed by that bastard!” Wakao stood up, gripping the armor of the Samurai who had been talking to me. The man butted his head against Yasuda’s head while the other two of the group just watched on without doing anything to stop them.

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This was… dumb. I felt like I was watching a drama unfold in front of me. Did they really have no training about this? Sure, it was a tragic situation, and I was definitely sad about it, but should I really care about these already dead people? I didn’t really have any friends here, and while Minamoto counted, I doubted he would die here.

“What do you think I am trying to do?” Yasuda said in a level voice. “We have a chance to fight against it. I would rather die tired, then wait to die here. I do not want to do nothing.”

“I think we need to cool off for a bit.” I cut in.

“And who made you the leader? You’re just a Gaijin. It’s because of you that we’re in this mess in the first place!”

I winced. It was a gut punch of a statement. I had tried not to think too hard about it in the first place, but the whole reason why most of them were here in the first place was because there was an Oni. An Oni that I had announced was here.

“Wakao.” Yasuda warned.

Wakao sneered at the other Samurai. “What? You think we should follow along with what the Gaijin is shitting out? He’s the weakest one here. If anything, he should be our bait!”

“I am saying he’s the calmest one here, Wakao. We’re soldiers, not commanders. Right now, we need some leadership.” Yasuda said back. To me, this man was calmer than me. The fact that he said otherwise was a rather large shock.

“Yasuda’s right. Takamori is…” The Samurai who hadn’t spoken yet shipped in, pointing to the Exorcist who was now pulling his hair out. Damn, that looked like it hurt. “Not really in the right mind, and we all aren't in the best condition. Whether the Gaijin is shitting or not, do you have any better ideas on fighting an Amaterasu-damned Face Stealer?”

“I- uh, fuck. Fine.” Wakao gave in finally, giving me the stink eye as he shuffled to lean on the wall opposite of me.

I coughed as now the men’s attention was on me. This was probably the weirdest way I had been shunted into the leader position. Did the others really not want to take it?

“Well,” The unnamed Samurai prodded. “I gave you my vote of confidence, but spit out whatever plan you got. If it’s stupid, don’t blame me for punching you.”

“Uhm.” I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Do not worry about Shinohara punching you.” Yasuda interjected. “I will punch you first, so you will not feel anything after. Despite how it seems, I am seething in anger, and am barely restraining myself from trying to kill the creature who killed my friends.”

“Uhm… Well, I was, uh, gonna offer to be bait.” I backed away as Yasuda stepped forwards and raised my hands quickly. “Wait, wait, I meant I was going to keep its eyes on me. I have the lowest stats of everyone here, right? So, we just need to make sure that it keeps eye contact with me while you all fight it out. Unless you know a way out without fighting the uh, creature?”

I breathed a sigh of relief as Yasuda stepped down. “It is reasonable. However, how are you going to keep its attention on you? There is no guarantee that it will not target the group that is attacking it.”

“That is a bit… more complicated.” I said, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a marble. A prompt then displayed in front of me.

[Do you want to absorb skill jade “Presence Correction” into your G rank skill slot?]

[Yes/No]

There were many reasons for my decision. March of the Dead seemed cool, but I wasn’t really knowledgeable about what it was or did. Presence Correction was more useful to me in a variety of situations. First off, it was what made the wall demon seem almost natural compared to the tunnel when I first went in there. Sure, it was suspicious as hell, but my attention didn’t want to stick to it. I thought it was just a wall until it wasn’t. And then, I thought it was the most terrifying thing in the world. This skill seemed to be the culprit.

And if I wanted to be bait, this was probably my best bet as being the most tantalizing bait there was.

“That’s a skill jade. What the fuck? How in Yomi do you have a skill jade? Where did you get it?” Wakao stomped up to me, and I hid the marble behind my back. He peered down at me, biting his lip in a seething rage.

“I got it from a monster. Back that way.” I answered calmly, pointing behind me. If I had gotten from anyone else, I might have felt a bit apprehensive. However, I earned this. Sure, Minamoto’s Shikigami helped, but I almost died for this. It was mine.

“Some lucky shit, huh.” Wakao snorted. “What skeleton dropped it? These things are only guaranteed for monsters Rank D and up. You telling me you killed a young Oni back there?”

Thanks for the information, asshole. I had tried being civil and calm, and now this guy was getting on my nerves. “What’s it to you? This is part of the plan, so just step back. Or are you offering yourself as bait with stats lower than mine?”

Wakao just huffed to himself, glaring at me before moving back to his previous spot. Yasuda pointed at me with an upwards tilted eyebrow in question. “What rank is the skill?”

“Uh, its a rank G one, I think.” I answered and he nodded.

“Specifics?”

“I uh, am not too sure, but it can definitely modify my presence.”

Yasuda nodded, standing up and calmly walking up to me with a finger posed. “Can I see? I can help.”

I hesitated for a second. There was a bit of apprehension about letting someone I didn’t know touch my stuff. He could have also been desiring to steal the skill jade, so I was slightly on guard of him even if he had stood up for me a few moments ago.

“Do not worry. Everyone here does not have a Rank G slot. We used it up through the military.”

I sighed and presented the skill jade in my palm. He tapped it quickly, and I saw his eyes focus on something in front of him. I idly wondered if that’s what I looked like when I gazed at my own notifications.

“A powerful and versatile skill. This definitely came from a creature with a rank E or higher.”

“A fluke.” Wakao added from the side.

Yasuda ignored him and looked me in the eyes. “This can probably make you the bait, but you can also desert us should the situation get dangerous.” Looked at the Exorcist, Takamori, who was now eyeing the skill jade in my hands. “I want a promise that you will not do that. Takamori has a skill that forces a god to watch over our promise. Should you break it, they will know.”

I felt the intensity of Yasuda’s gaze on me, and there was nothing I could do but nod. The man didn’t really show much emotion, but he definitely wasn’t someone to ignore. Carefully, I made my way over to Takamori as the Exorcist gazed at me with unfocused eyes.

“Will you promise not to abandon us in this time of need? P- please, help me…” His hand stuck out towards me, and even if I wanted to say no, I didn’t. I couldn’t. The man just looked too pathetic as he asked desperately for help.

[Amaterasu looks reluctantly at your actions.]

I guess there was no going back now. “Yeah, I agree. Let’s get out of this shitty situation.”

The second after, I finally pressed “yes” on the screen about absorbing the skill jade. Everything changed moments later. I felt a burning sensation in my palm, and saw the marble sinking into my skin almost as my flesh had become some pond of water. However, things got weird when the image of the swirling abyss of chaotic geometry met my skin.

In that moment, I was laying back in the pond of water again. It was like the time where Minamoto had let me visualize my Spiritual self, but this time it was vague. As if there was something blocking me from seeing everything again. That mattered little when I actively felt something jabbing into some spot in the waters of my soul. It tugged and pulled, forming something. A building? A monument?

I wasn’t able to tell before I was back in the tunnel inside the Dungeon. My head was down, facing the ground as I realized I was on my hands and knees. The wounds that had healed from before were throbbing despite no blood flowing through them.

Despite all that, there was something in the back of my mind. I could feel it like a physical object, and while it wasn’t all that informative on the specifics, I knew how to use it. A screen popped up in my vision as I felt my lips tug into a grin.

[Presence Correction: The ability to correct everyone’s perception of you through Life Energy.]

I looked out to the fog outside before turning back to the rest of the random group I was suddenly leading. The whole situation was horrible, and perhaps I could die at any point. Yet, I felt a grin split my lips. This just might be enough.

“Ah, let’s not get addicted to this feeling, though…” I warned myself.