Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 432: Impossible Gate [3]

“Haaa! Haaa—!”

The scream continued to rip through the surroundings.

It was heartwrenching, and the moment it sounded, everyone swiftly got into action, moving towards the member who had touched the stapler and swiftly removing it from his grasp.

“Quick!”

“Get it off of Samuell!”

“Let go of the stapler!”

But—

“Haaaa!”

The damage had already been done.

“H-haaaa!”

Screams filled the surroundings as blood spilled from the member’s body, his entire hand covered by staples.

Thankfully, a Mender was present.

“Let me pass.”

“You handle it.”

With short brown hair, deep-set eyes, and a thin frame, Lawrence stepped forward. He was also a member of the Comet Guild, and with an indifferent expression, he approached the injured man and leaned down slightly.

“H-help.”

He was still squirming on the floor, holding onto his hand as blood leaked out from every direction.

Lawrence didn’t say anything and just observed the wound.

Then—

“Michael.”

“…Yes.”

Not even a moment after the mender spoke, a bald man stepped up beside the victim. With a single, swift motion of his hand, blood sprayed in every direction, and a severed hand dropped to the floor with a dull, wet thud.

Thud!

Besides those from the Comet Guild, everyone froze on the spot, unable to react.

But soon…

“Haaaa!!”

“What are you doing!?”

“You…!!”

The place instantly turned chaotic, the members of the BlackRose Guild flying into rage as they all shouted at the Mender. But as if he was completely unbothered by them, he simply reached for the hand on the floor before picking it up and tossing it in his hand a couple of times.

“…Not bad.”

The sight made the stomachs of a few churn, with the members of the BlackRose growing even more enraged, shouting all sorts of curses.

Only the Section Chief remained calm, turning to them and holding them back.

“Just stop making a scene.”

“But—!”

“Just shut up and let him do his thing!!”

His shout was loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Kyle, watching all of this from the side, was still staring at the stapler.

’I’m sure of it. That’s… VILE-042. How did it…?’

“He’s one of those crazy ones.”

Zoey’s voice interrupted Kyle’s thoughts.

“Those bastards love healing in the most twisted ways.”

And sure enough, with a small grunt from Section Chief Rasmus, more likely trying to get him to hurry, the Mender closed his eyes, and a soft yellow glow enveloped his body. A moment later, the staples began to loosen and drop from the severed hand, clattering onto the floor one by one as the flesh slowly knit itself back together, returning to its normal form.

Tossing it a couple of times, he moved towards the BlackRose member before placing his hand onto the severed spot and using his node again.

In just a few breaths, the hand recovered.

“See? All done.”

He patted the victim on the face a couple of times, a thin smile gracing his lips.

“There was no need to scream so much.”

He then returned to where the Section Chief was. Although the members of the BlackRose Guild were still seething, their anger had subsided a bit as he had truly healed the hand of their member.

“Let’s not waste any time.”

Section Chief Rasmus spoke again, turning his attention towards the stapler and frowning.

“Be careful of touching things from this moment forward. There’s a chance they’re anomalous objects. But…” The Section Chief frowned, turning his attention towards the short-haired girl next to him. Of the Hunter Decree, Cassandra should’ve been able to spot something like this. For her not to have spotted it…

“I-I…”

“Forget it.”

Seeing the astonished look on her face, the Section Chief understood that the situation was complicated.

’I expected nothing less from a Gate of this level.’

He once again moved towards the desk and sorted through the files. This time, he didn’t touch any of them, simply waving his hand.

As he did, his gaze fell on a particular paper.

[The Boss needs the work to be done soon.]

[He is very strict.]

[We lack workers.]

[We don’t have much time left.]

[I should hurry.]

’The Boss…?’

The Section Chief’s eyes glinted. He seemed to have finally found a sort of clue regarding the scenario.

He was just about to relay this when a voice suddenly spoke.

“VILE-042, the Blind Stapler.”

When he turned around, he saw the Section Chief of the Severed Stars Guild bending over to look at the stapler on the floor.

“This is an anomaly that our Guild contained. Taking into consideration what had happened recently…” He raised his head to look at Section Chief Rasmus, “There’s a high probability that all the anomalies that have disappeared on the island will be located in this Gate.”

“…..”

“…..”

Suddenly, the place grew silent.

All eyes fell on the Severed Stars Section Chief as he analyzed the stapler on the floor. However, just before he could get even more words out, Section Chief Rasmus spoke.

“I won’t dismiss your claims, but there’s no proof of that. For now, this is what I found.”

He showed the paper to everyone.

“I believe I have found a clue regarding the Gate.”

Immediately, all eyes fell on the paper.

“This…”

“Could this be…?”

“Yes.”

Philip nodded, his expression turning grave.

“I believe the key to this scenario is to find out what the task they are working on is and finish it. The ’Boss’ is most likely the anomaly that we need to watch out for. I’m afraid that given the words written here, we don’t have much time to figure out what the task is.”

From just a simple paper, the Section Chief was able to deduce the entire scenario.

This came from experience. Having cleared many gates, he knew the general rules of them, and as such, he was very confident about his guess.

The same went for the other Section Chiefs.

“Let’s not waste any time then. Let’s search the other cubicles and see what they are working on. Once we figure it out, let’s get started.”

Everyone immediately dispersed from the cubicle, shifting their attention towards the nearby ones.

“Let’s separate into different teams. Since we’re in eight teams, let’s do this in pairs. Four teams in total.”

Looking around, the Section Chief settled into the group from Malovia Island.

“You pair up with me.”

“…Hm?”

This order somewhat took Kyle, Zoey, and the others aback. However, there was nothing else they could do, as the other squads formed teams of two. Eventually, they all dispersed towards the other cubicles.

“I’ll cut straight to the chase. All you need to do is follow what I say, and you should be fine. If you can follow what—”

CLANK!

All of a sudden, the sound of one of the doors sliding open echoed through the space, jolting everyone present to attention.

“Huh?”

“What…!?”

Everyone turned their heads, watching as a black haired young man made his way into the cubicle, displaying a familiar scene.

“Seth!?”

“What are you doing…!”

His actions startled everyone present.

In particular, the member of the Comet Guild.

“It’s him again?”

“Fucking reckless bastard.”

Section Chief Rasmus’s brows furrowed tightly at the sight, burning Seth’s image in his mind. This wasn’t the first time he had done this. For him to do it again…

’…He’s a liability. I should find some time to get rid of him. At this rate, he’ll disturb our operation.’

His mouth opened, ready to speak, but under everyone’s watch, Seth pulled the chair back and sat down.

He then booted the PC up, placing his hands on the keyboard.

Everyone stood stunned, unable to make out his actions.

But then—

“You should hurry.”

He spoke, his voice low.

For some reason, the moment he spoke, the air seemed to shift, growing incredibly tense.

“…The boss is strict. There’s not much time left.”

He repeated the same words on the paper.

Flick! Flick!

That was the moment the lights above flicked.

All of a sudden, the repetitive clicking sound coming from all around stopped, and the surroundings plunged into a deep, uneasy silence.

All the air appeared to be sucked away from the place.

And then—

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

The clicks returned, louder and more hurried than before.

Step.

What followed was a single step.

One coming from a certain direction nobody could point out.

But the moment it sounded, everyone held onto their chest, sweat pooling down the sides of their faces while feeling the rhythmic thumpings deep within their chest.

Ba.. Thump! Ba… Thump!

It was here that they understood.

The Boss…

He was coming.