The silence was suffocating.

He could hear his heart beating loudly, signifying that the sound was back.

After the monster stopped its thunderous roars and the cold feeling in his back disappeared, he slowly opened his eyes trying to gauge the current situation.

What he saw puzzled him, the towering monster was nowhere to be seen. He even glanced behind him to see nothing of note as well, just another hall leading to somewhere his eyes could not fully see due to the sheer length of the hall.

Now for the next problem, he looked at his leg and saw that his lower leg was bent. The creature did not go quietly into the night, at least not before inflicting a fatal wound on him.

He gritted his teeth and crawled to a nearby table and used all his faltering strength from hunger to break it apart using his knife making a makeshift splint, using his pouch to bind. Completely inefficient but it was better than nothing.

He used another leg as a cane to move around. He slowly limped over in the direction of where the monster was.

"Everything's back to normal now so I should be safe for the time being."

He normally would've immediately run back, to get out of this place as fast as possible but still riding off the high he experienced he wanted to know what happened to it at the very least. Maybe even getting a sample of its flesh so that the priests and alchemists outside could figure out what happened.

After nearly stumbling due to his failing body his cane hit something, making a clanking noise.

"Huh? What's that?"

He looked below, his cloudy eyes briefly focusing to see a pile of coins at his feet.

"Don't tell me-"

He immediately fell down and saw twelve coins, he rubbed the symbol on top of the coins.

"Red."

Countless questions about this job that previously eluded him now made much more sense. Putting the pieces together it seemed to be an open secret.

His eyes widened in realization, he opened the pouch now wrapped around his leg. He brought out the coins in his pouch but to his dismay, he only saw three coins.

"Whatever that thing was, took it. Still better than taking my life."

Resting for a few minutes and gathering his thoughts together he planned the next course of action.

"If dying to a trap means turning into a coin then it makes much more sense about the disappearance of people in this mansion. That monster killed them and ate their bodies, they must've lived within it merging their souls. Such a terrifying thought."

He stood up, body weak and leg broken. He examined the door he used to block off both his group and that monster.

"Found it."

It was engraved on the other side of the door. The symbol that kept occurring everywhere, a cross piercing a circle. Rubbing the point where the cross pierces the circle showed a blue color.

Confirming the existence of this symbol on both traps in the mansion led him to look out for these specific symbols as he was stumbling forward.

The man then examined the tattered bags on the floor, the only thing remaining from his team. Looking through all the contents, other than a half-blood-stained piece of bread and two bottles of water, everything else was inedible.

He tore off part of the blood-soaked part of this loaf and ate the other half. He drank one bottle immediately and left the other one just in case something happened.

At the corner of his eye, he saw a brooch, immediately recalling a promise he once made before setting off here. Unfortunately, he failed to keep his promise, he took this brooch and stuffed it in his pocket.

Staring into the hallway he marched forward. Following the path of destruction made it easier for him to recall where he came from.

There were still threats looming in the mansion, he was still not safe. The inlaid traps were already a problem but since he was already aware of the symbol being an alarm it was much more manageable. No, the bigger threat was the two people who forced this tragic situation upon him.

He couldn't run, couldn't fight back, and could not survive if those two people were out to get him.

Slowly, step by step he ventured forward.

The traps that were already solved did not reactivate leaving him much safer than he anticipated. As long as he kept following the path filled with ruined ornaments and torn walls, he would be safe, as ironic as that sounded.

Eventually, after an hour of slow progress, he finally made it. The giant room splits off into numerous unknown routes. The very place where they first met that monster.

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Multiple pillars supporting the entire room went straight up to the ceiling. Stone statues filled the area similar to how a museum would showcase its pieces of art.

"Tch! Do I really have to come back here? Just make those guards you're so fond of work! Skilled my ass! All I've seen them do is drink booze and play cards all day!"

"Now, now, don't be like that. They'll play their part soon enough we just have to set the stage."

The man heard two distinct voices, a rough and rash one with a very violent tempter and another as calm and soothing as the ocean breeze. Good thing those two men were speaking loudly, otherwise the man wouldn't have heard them coming his way.

His weak body already assaulted by the cold due to his bare chest now had to struggle with a shiver sent straight down his spine. He looked around and immediately placed his back on the pillar trying to stay out of sight.

Step by step, the footsteps came closer, he covered his mouth with both of his hands limiting as much noise as he could make. His sudden movements made his posture quite uncomfortable, especially on his broken leg, the numbing sensation he felt made him look at it.

"It's bleeding again," he thought to himself.

The aggressive man looked at his partner, "Do you smell that?"

"Oh no," the man hiding behind the pillar shivered.

"Smells like blood, what of it? It would be stranger if this place didn't smell like blood."

"Just, smells fresh."

The man hiding behind the pillar heard all of this and was overcome with such a helpless feeling. His nerves were tense.

If they find him now, there's only one outcome.

"Might've been some poor chap who came in hoping to strike it big. Don't worry about it, do you think the homunculi I made could've been killed by them."

The man hiding behind the pillar's eyebrows slightly eased.

"Makes sense," the aggressive man gave up the topic and went forward, his instincts telling him there was something wrong, but his partner's logic was more likely.

Just this small encounter made him as terrified as when he was running away from the monster they created. If such a monster possesses such terrifying strength then what about the even greater monstrosity that created it? He shivered at the thought.

Eventually, the footsteps faded into obscurity, and he got up trying to get a foothold still trying to limit the noise he made. He brushed against death too many times during this expedition, the money he would get from exchanging the coins wasn't worth it at all.

At this point it he was home free, all he needed to do was get out.

Stumbling forward, he kept going, he found the entrance to this giant room since it was the most eye-catching entryway out of the countless halls. Decorated with golden statues with delicate carvings of a single repeating phrase "Welcome to the Hall of Trails."

The man couldn't care less about what was written, he cared much more about where this path led him, survival.

An inch forward was an inch towards safety, there's still a massive chance that something could go wrong.

After a while, he started to calm down a bit more solely focusing on the task at hand.

In the distance, where the trap with a symbol inlaid with a red dot in the middle stood two men.

The polite man picked up a tattered shirt that was almost ash, "The trap activated so the coins should be here but they're missing, how odd."

"So, what's happening."

"Either the coins were already distributed ahead of schedule breaking its own rules or…"

A cold glint appeared in the man, "Someone took them."

"I knew it! My instincts are never wrong! That little rat just let me get my hands on you."

Cracks appeared below the aggressive man's feet as he ran back at inhuman speed, already reaching the giant room of trials. He searched around and saw a puddle of blood, with bloodied footprints leading the way.

"I found you."

Unbeknownst to the weak man, he was already found.

He heard sonic-like steps behind him, this thing stopped just behind him creating a forceful wind that nearly made him fall over. He covered his ears as this over-simulation was too much for him.

"Gahahaha! Found you, you thief! I'll make sure you- huh?"

As the aggressive man was rejoicing in having the plan still on track, the appearance of the person in front of him was far too different from his expectations.

A weak frail young man leaning on a wooden leg as a crutch, he apparently had a broken leg. One could see that he was well built but the days of hunger made his rib cage pop out. His eyes were dull but held an insatiable desire for something, something the aggressive man could not fathom.

Right after his appearance, the polite man appeared right behind him as illusive as the wind, barely noticeable.

"Well, hello there friend, it seems that you have something that's ours. Oh?"

The young man seeing this scene gave up.

"Hahahaha!"

The aggressive man looked at his partner once more, "Is this kid right in the head?"

"I've seen this before, he must've broken down mentally," the polite man leaned his head on his palm.

Endless laughter came out of the young man's mouth, laughing at his pointless actions up until now. After all that struggle, after all that suffering, there was only death.

"Make it quick. It doesn't matter anymore."

"I'll do it," the aggressive man pulled out the sword from his back, this giant broadsword seemed impossibly large to handle by a normal man, yet he did so with ease.

"If we didn't meet like this, I would've raised you like one of my own! As unfortunate as it is, breaking down like this is no way for a warrior like yourself."

The aggressive man raised his broadsword with one hand readying for one clean slash right between him.

The young man mocked his sentence, "Warrior?"

The scene of him promising his neighbor to keep his son alive and letting his group die due to his fear of the monster. There was even his flawed dream.

"I'm just a hypocritical coward. Maybe this isn't so bad, I don't need to think anymore. I just want to sleep forever in bliss. Goddess Uyioh, this may be the path of salvation you're giving me as your devout follower."

The aggressive man sighed in disappointment, expecting something more from the young man in front of him. Still, getting this far, surviving against odds greater than anything he had ever experienced yet now doomed to die by his hand, he felt forlorn.

The aggressive man had a slight hope in his gaze towards the polite man, "It's one person."

He merely replied, "And an obstacle to the plan. I believe your judgment for humankind."

The aggressive man softened his voice, "Kid, tell me your name, I'll remember you and engrave your name as one of the necessary sacrifices to cleanse this land of the corrupt."

The young man mindlessly looking at them muttered, "Reinhold… Reinhold Wyres…"

"Goodbye Reinhold. Sleep well."

The aggressive man slashed down with all his might, fearing to make a single mistake. This was all he could do for someone who tried to defy death.

Reinhold closed his eyes and awaited what was to come.