"Are you sure that the misfortune is not in the right tunnel?" Ash asked.

"Ninety percent," Aster replied. 'After all, the coin alters Fate. At least, I understood it that way. In other words, I can nullify its effects.'

Aster was Fateless. He couldn't be affected by Fate. In other words, as long as the description of the coin was true. As long as the coin affected Fate, it couldn't affect him.

In its radar, Aster was nonexistent. And so, Ash's decision to go left had a high likelihood of the coin leading him to a bad place.

"Well, I'll trust you." Ash nodded with a smile.

"Why are you smiling again?" Aster asked him.

"Because it's fun." Ash's reply made Aster shake his head. 'This guy is a lunatic.'

As they reached their decision, Aster and Ash embarked on the journey through the right tunnel.

It was a long and arduous journey full of fighting epic monsters and forging deep friendships. Or at least, that's what the two of them expected to happen.

In reality, both of them only traveled for ten minutes, killed a random chameleon and a painting, and found a door.

Aster and Ash embarked on the journey with five candles each.

Currently, out of the ten total, almost three were extinguished. In other words, they would have had to rush back after the seventh candle.

But a sudden change appeared.

There was no need for candles.

Because the door Aster and Ash arrived at had light.

It was the door that led to the outside!

Ash gulped. Aster blinked twice, watching the scene in disbelief.

"The escape door is just behind the boss arena?" Aster asked rhetorically.

"Can you believe it?" Ash couldn't help himself but answer the question.

Then, they approached the door and opened it.

Light seeped out, bathing Aster and Ash with its presence.

The darkness that surrounded Aster and Ash disappeared as if it was never there, replaced by clear rays of light.

Aster looked at the scenery outside.

Currently, they were on the second floor of the temple.

Just by jumping, the two of them could reach the outside.

And that outside... looked beautiful but lonely.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The dark atmosphere was gone, replaced by lone holiness.

The ambient reminded of the late evening, just before the full night. Enough to be able to see.

A half moon decorated the sky, along with countless stars that could barely be seen because of the 'light' ambient.

The moonlight decorated the whole place, giving it a holy feel.

Around the Temple of Trickery were several more temples and churches. All were abandoned, giving off an eerie feeling.

Aster and Ash looked each other in the eyes before crossing the door together.

Although they were still on the temple's roof, officially, they were out of the temple.

[ Quest completed: Bird in a cage ]

[ You have received Rare Gacha Ticket 1x ]

[ Random Option Unlocking... ]

[ New Option acquired: 'Character' ]

Aster looked at his notifications and sighed in relief. Finally, he didn't have to worry about his mana being blocked.

Another reason he sighed was that the System had just confirmed that he had actually escaped the temple and that this wasn't another of the temple's tricks.

He looked beside him.

Ash was looking at the scene with bright eyes.

Aster couldn't help but slightly smile when he saw Ash's reaction. 'He really is just like a kid that found a new toy to play with.'

Cecil was dark on the outside but with a pure heart on the inside. A person who deeply cared about justice and was incredibly strong.

Nyle was the leader who single-handedly allowed the survivors inside the temple to survive. He led the exploration that resulted in them escaping the temple.

Asher was an easygoing person who deeply craved fun and was a really good person. A fun one, at that, if Aster had to add.

And Boar... although he was usually curt and easily got angry, he seemed like a person with many stories.

Aster remembered hearing about Boar being a priest before he arrived in the Temple of Trickery.

All of them had rich backgrounds and seemed like good people.

So how.

And why.

Why was there a traitor?

Especially now that there actually was an exit.

'Is it possible that the traitor didn't see the exit?' Aster wondered as he munched on the meat of the painting.

[ You have gained 0.03 strength ]

[ You have gained 0.03 agility ]

[ You have gained 0.03 vitality ]

To eat the chameleon's meat, he had to roast it at least somewhat, and Aster currently didn't have any way of doing that.

"Aster, let's go down," Ash said.

"Let's go down, but first, check for any enemies. It's possible that this is the front of the temple, and you remember what is in the front of the temple, right?"

"Alright." Ash nodded.

He walked around, checking all corners just to make sure that no abomination was lurking and waiting for them to jump.

Then, once they confirmed that there were no enemies, Aster and Ash jumped down, landing on dried-up grass.

"It looks as if its life is sucked out of it," Aster commented as he looked at the grass.

"Interesting." Ash grinned, picking up a blade of grass.

It was orange and crispy.

"Is it autumn?" Aster asked.

"What's autumn?" Ash asked back.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot I am from another world. Why does the grass look like this?" Aster felt like scratching his head.

At that moment, he also noticed his psyche ending up better. He wasn't as emotional as before. Nor was he as cold and extreme.

'I don't know if the effect is fully gone, but I can confirm that my mind cleared up a lot.'

Which confirmed another thing. Ash wasn't lying. Their minds were really corrupted by the temple.

"I don't know." Ash shook his head.

"Should we explore around first?" Ash asked.

"No, we should return to the temple." Aster shook his head.

"What? Why?" Ash felt as if Aster was hit in the head when he was a kid. 'Why would he want to return to that cursed place so soon?'

"We should get the survivors out of the temple. And also, let's deal with the traitor." Aster said.

"Alright." Ash nodded.

At that moment, Aster and Ash noticed a shine from the distance.

With a curious expression, Aster approached it. It was a small pool full of water.

Aster took a look at it, seeing a reflection of himself inside.

Ever since he had arrived in Cursed World, this was his first instance of looking at his reflection.

He could see a young man with black hair and blue eyes looking at him. The young man looked slightly above average. His clothes were worn out and battered.

And there was a knife sticking out of his chest.

Aster had been stabbed.