“What do you mean this room is a tomb!?”

“Slayer Han did read the word…‘tomb’ and…what was the Irish word again?...”

“Does it matter!? I'm freaking out more about the room being the final Beast itself! Like how can an inanimate object be a living thing such as a Beast!? It doesn't make any sense!!!”

“There’s got to be a mastermind, possibly a mage, hidden somewhere in this tomb!!”

“Even if that's the case, how on scorching earth are we supposed to locate a very powerful mage who’s obviously a higher rank than us!?”

Everyone is losing their minds except Ms Han who seems to be thinking deeply on what else to speculate about this cursed-like room. As for myself, my left hand keeps on shaking despite my determination to get out of this wretched place alive. I glance at Jung-han once more to see him sweating at least a bucket of cold sweat. I guess even the strongest tanker can feel traumatized especially when the enemy is an inanimate object like this room. I wonder if that'll be the case for Chun, but then again, I doubt he'll be scared that easily if he accidentally gets put in this room to begin with. S-rank Slayers don't have any reason to be fearful against Beasts of the same rank as them.

Anyhow, it’s gonna be a psychological warfare on us from now on. The second rule is about to be imposed on us. While everyone exchanges words that represent their panicked state, a loud static is heard above us. All of us look up at the purple-painted ceiling. The runes change their silver color into a crimson color almost like what we had seen the blue-painted floor turning into such color as part of this living room/tomb’s killing method. Then, I start to realize that this is the next killing method. My eyes notice any of the other Slayers’ equipment that's made of metal suddenly starts to wiggle.

“Everyone, remove any metal items from your body now! Hurry!!” I shout out loud in a hurry as I can see the painted ceiling is emitting lightning-like patterns above us. Thus, everyone proceeds to remove any metal parts clinging on them. The archer girl unbuckles her crossbow weapon; Ms Han unsheathes her rapier, even if it's her necessary item for her swashbuckler subclass, tossing it from herself as far as possible. I notice Jung-han is unable to take off his full armor properly. In fact, his trembling fingers make it harder for him to unbuckle the armor parts. I swiftly have myself do the unbuckling for him as fast as I can be.

It's a good thing that I've learned to unbuckle this armor of his a few times before in some of our previous raids. Each part of his armor clunks to the ground after I've managed to unbuckle one by one. I've made it just in time for whichever metal items have begun to hover for a while; then they zap past us towards the magnetic ceiling where many black lightning-like waves appear when the metal items are stuck onto it.

“Help! Someone! My bag’s strap…is stuck!”

“So does mine!! Why now of all times!?”

All of us turn our heads to see the healers having trouble unbuckling their metal belts that have their “healer’s toolkit” in leather sling bags. I tell them to just take out whatever huge metal items out of their bags, but they don't pay attention to my words. They're too focused in their fearful minds that we see one moment they're hovering above the painted stone-made floor we're standing on. The next moment we see their bodies fly towards the ceiling in a flash. The lightning grows bigger once the healers’ bodies get stuck onto the magnetic painted ceiling. The rest of us can only look in horror at the sight of the healers having their limbs get contorted. Their piercing screams almost have our ears, at least in my case, bleed out. The final moment of their physical appearance has every single part of their bodies get torn apart like fragile dolls. Their screaming stops; their blood spilling onto the floor in front of the current surviving members. The magnetism has come to a stop once the rune letters change back to its original color and the lightning-like waves have faded.

Back to my point of view, my vision becomes a bit blurry seeing another pool of blood. My hearing becomes deafened though I know the other Slayers are almost descending into madness after so much massacring is happening within this wretched room. I can feel my heartbeat about to stop, panting heavily as my fearfulness resonates stronger within me. I nearly faint due to so much emotional turbulence I'm experiencing right now, but I manage to stay awake as I hear the room's rocky walls suddenly start to rumble. The other Slayers look startled when the sudden rumbling is happening under their feet at this moment. It's as if a huge earthquake is about to happen. Unfortunately, there's no place for us to take cover. Then, the archer Slayer cries out words resounding hopelessness, pointing her finger towards the paintings.

“Hey! What are those things!?”

“Are those figures…faceless!?”

We all turn to see huge humanoid figures stepping out from some of the paintings. Their faces lack any facial features. These corporeal things have a mist-like appearance. They're not ghosts, but they almost look like one with feet to walk with. In fact, aren't they specters? Whatever they are, once all of them are outside of their paintings, they begin to trudge towards us even though their materialized state isn't like they're made out of a ton of rocks.

“Hey! What's the second rule, Slayer Han!?”

Normally, people should be rejoicing to see their most disliked person being a pathetic scaredy cat, but for the messed-up scenario we're in now, I can't even feel that way, let alone that I've to still maintain my consciousness in believing that following the rules of this room will let us live.

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“But if you have to feel your fear, use your fear wisely,” I reply as I remember each rule as clear as day despite my mind almost getting clouded just moments ago.

“Use your fear wisely…does that apply with what the magnetic ceiling did earlier, Slayer Kang?”

“Ms Han, these faceless figures won't kill us that fast. I mean, look. They're walking as slow as snails. We should calm down and analyze the second rule…”

Suddenly, a huge slab of stone crashes in front of us. We've no clue if it dropped down from the once-magnetic ceiling or from one of the paintings again. Alas, we can't afford to care about such detail like that because everyone here is focusing on the engraved drawing on the slab itself. I'm not sure what the others' reactions are like, but I can feel that they're having the same expression as mine as the drawing depicts an ancient ritual sacrifice.

“This drawing looks familiar…it's…”

“What is it, Slayer Han!? Does that mean we've to perform a sacrifice just like that?”

“Are those humans being stuffed in a huge doll?...burning…”

“Yes, Mrs Park. They’re put in a wicker man. It's an ancient Celtic ritual.”

“That many…but surely it just needs one person to be sacrificed, right?!”

“Jang, don't jump to conclusions. We don't know if this stone tablet is a demand sent by this room’s consciousness.”

“The fact that it came out of one of the paintings should be a sign of demanding something from us! If a human sacrifice is needed, let's choose the person who brought bad luck to this team.”

Everyone else is shocked at what Jang is saying right now. Him believing that a person carrying bad luck needs to be sacrificed is the most ridiculous reason to be choosing one. While I can't prove that he's actually referring to me, I know in my heart that he’s persuading the others to choose me based on my rank. It all comes down to ranking for Jang that I can feel the rage slowly burning within me. I know I should expect unfairness even in this worst case scenario we're in, but never have I ever felt more upset listening to these awful words from the worst person I've ever met.

“Slayer Jang is right! Healer Kang is the weakest out of all of us so it makes sense she should…”

And that's Mrs Park speaking out with her glasses almost falling off from her face. To think a timid-looking middle-aged woman like her is the first person to agree with Jang…

Why am I not surprised?... After all, she's the second-weakest. Still…I can't believe she…

“Mrs Park! How can you say that to Joo-yeon!? She's the only one who knows how to understand the meaning of the rules!”

“This isn't time for being emotional, Park Jung-han. You really want to defend this weakling for the rest of your life? Whatmore, you're the strongest tanker for that rank of yours in the whole of Korea. It’ll be in vain if all of us die in this wretched Labyrinth!”

“Listen to your hypocrisy, Jang! Do you wanna die that badly?”

“Slayer Han, I'm in charge of making the decision…”

“You abandoned your responsibilities as the leader of this raid team the moment we got trapped in this tomb. And now when it comes to the person who did something right for us, you shamelessly decide to make this immoral decision? Whoever you're running errands for, Jang, that boss of yours is as disgraceful as you are.”

Once again I’m thankful enough, even though I still feel unwelcome fear in my heart now, that Ms Han has always been on my side despite her being a strong D-rank Slayer in her own right. As I ponder about the times I had private conversations with her during some of the previous raids we were in, a rumbling sound is heard once more; this time, we can feel the tremor beneath all of our feet. The next thing we know is that a huge cage, made out of earth and rocks, is formed over us. To think we're trapped for the second time in such a place like this…

“Hey! What do you think you're doing?!”

We all turn to look at who the archer girl is shouting at. It's the transmuter woman who is seen running towards the entrance door which somehow has appeared again the moment the cage was formed over the rest of us here. As she stops right by the door, she turn around to look at us with the look of denial, indirectly telling us that what she's doing now is the right thing to do.

“Don't blame me for this, y’all! Blame on that old man’s greed and the rest of you being doormats for him!”

“How…how dare you betray us?! Wait… it can't be…this cage looks like…”

A wicker man. While it's legless, we can see two arms sticking out from the top. As for the head we aren't able to see from inside, but I'm sure from the transmuter woman’s point of view, it's definitely constructed by her Conversion Skill. I try my best to stay calm even though the archer girl’s cuss words to the betrayer in front of us is making the atmosphere feel heavier for me to breathe.

“I’m not doing anything wrong! Like what Slayer Han said, obeying the rules is the only way to get out alive. I'm making sure of that! I'm not gonna die here that easily just for strangers I've just met!!”

“You…You don't feel any guilt, do you!!?”

“Guess what!? I didn't even wanna be a Slayer in the first place. I wanted to do modeling! Heck! I'm getting out of this wretched place to do so! You all can just go slay the Beasts all by yourselves!! I don't even want to be strong, you know that?!”

Just as the transmuter woman finishes her ranting, we witness her getting her legs trapped by something or more like she’s getting grabbed by someone's transparent hands. She struggles to break free from those hands. Then, I almost forgot about the faceless specters (since that's what they look like to me). I begin to notice that there isn't a single one heading towards this group anymore. Instead, I see them gathering around the transmuter even inside the floor that brutally killed the elementalist moments ago.

We can only watch as the transmuter woman cuss at the specters until we see four of them, with their silhouettes drifting literally inside the wall, by the entrance door. A horrible death has occurred once all four of them push the door as if they're able to have physical contact with it. I can imagine a terrified look on her face as she can't even run away from something big and heavy coming towards her, not even a moment to make her final scream.

Splat!

The entrance door has plummeted onto her. Once more another member’s pool of blood oozes from all sides of the door. As soon as she died, her transmutation magic lost its powers and the earth-made wicker man cage we were once inside had crumbled down. Most of us just realize that she might have disobeyed the second rule.

“...she didn't want to be strong,” I muttered unconsciously. The other Slayers look at me with confused looks. The archer girl asks me if that second rule is still being applied in the scenario we're in right now. Before I can answer “I'm not sure” to her, somebody must have stepped on to a moving brick based on the sound I’ve just heard. I turn around to see a frightened Jung-han accidentally step on a “trigger button” among the floor’s rocky surface. The next moment has the whole room turning upside down with all six of us falling from the floor to the ceiling.