Chapter 92: Forward Progress

Curiosity be damned, the topic had to move along.

Little more was said about the Witch of Corruption. The only thing Peace could glean was that Ralph had definitely met her before, and that the encounter hadn’t gone his way. Ralph might have even known who she was...

’Though I doubt it.’

The government had gone to great lengths to hide her existence.

He also concluded that the Witch’s rescue had been Dita’s first encounter with her, and that Dita had no clue who the woman was.

’I’ll have to grill him later...’

But first, a ’later’ needed to exist. Survival was task number one.

Speaking of ’later...’

’How in the world am I going to get out of this one?’

Ashren would certainly ask about the Witch of Corruption. It was almost inevitable he’d have to reveal the contents of this discussion.

’Wait...’

An odd loophole wormed its way into Peace’s mind.

’I only know what I know. I can’t know what I don’t know.’

For as long as he was a subject of the state...

’I should seek out sources of information, but never learn what I want to know.’

Only pursuing answers when it truly mattered.

’Ignorance truly is bliss!’

It wasn’t the most foolproof logic, but it was enough for him to set aside his personal thirst for truth.

Another hour passed.

Most of that time was spent on recovery and helping Dita acclimate...

Or rather, on Yulis questioning Dita to see if she could be trusted. She had come there alone, after all.

’Besides the "why," there’s also the "how"...’

Dita wasn’t particularly strong, and definitely not strong enough to get this far on her lonesome. Yulis’s suspicion was entirely warranted.

’But if she’s a player, as I suspect...’

Then it made sense, at least theoretically.

When Peace played, he mostly focused on killing whatever his sister pointed him toward. When he played solo, his approach remained the same, just without her direction.

His sister, on the other hand, found her fun in hunting down bugs and glitches to optimize her gameplay.

Peace knew many of the rules and parameters of zones, particularly on the lower floors, but nothing too nuanced.

However...

’Serene... I think she’d be able to make it to the bottom of the Temple without fighting a single thing.’

Especially if she had certain Resonances that allowed for wall clipping and other shenanigans.

Peace lifted his head and looked at Dita.

’And a Resonance with self-knockback... That certainly fits the bill of something Serene would seek out for that very purpose.’

Especially in the early game.

And even though this was reality...

’I wouldn’t have believed those kinds of bugs existed here if I hadn’t seen it firsthand.’

Both he and ’Ghost Girl’ had clipped out of that weird bedroom.

’Ah, Serene...’

Peace frowned as he remembered everything he stood to lose.

Ralph, who’d been healed by potions and Maura, stood over Peace, now wearing the Temple Knight’s armor and helm.

Through the helm’s breathing slits, Peace caught a glimpse of his shit-eating grin as Ralph said:

"Hey, sourpuss, wipe that look off your face. We need your eyes."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Ralph still favored his good shoulder, wielding his sword in his off hand now, but he seemed able to move his injured arm with only minor difficulty.

Going forward, they had quite a simple strategy...

Peace would be pulled along on the reclaimed makeshift sled stretcher, using his darkness-piercing eyes to scout. He would identify the spawning zones and the exits leading to adjacent rooms.

The rest of them would be tasked with killing whatever they encountered.

Well, except Volkar...

The Giant had indeed woken up, but he still barely clung to life. He’d been mostly silent; he hadn’t even cheered upon learning they’d all survived.

Grunting and bearing the pain as he drank potions off cooldown was about all he could manage.

The most impressive part, perhaps, was that he’d insisted on walking. Using his half-broken axe as a walking staff, he shuffled along.

As for how Dita slotted into their formation...

None of them trusted her. In fact, they trusted her even less than they’d initially trusted Peace.

Her one and only job was to pull Peace along. And she was only allowed to accompany them under the condition that she kept her sword in her bag.

Like the genius she was, she immediately pulled out a mace, only to be informed that she wasn’t allowed to wield any weapons whatsoever.

Gripping the reins of the sled stretcher, Dita scowled.

"Night Elf, you’ve found quite the idiotic crew."

Relaxing as best he could, Peace replied:

"What other kind of party would accept me?"

"Fair enough."

With heavy heads, the discordant group set off toward one of the four exits of the stairwell room. The one directly ahead, which led to the weakest spawning zone among the four adjacent rooms.

Home to mostly D- and C-Class bug-type monsters, the spawning zone had done little to alter the room itself, leaving the space largely open.

This allowed Peace to see straight across it, immediately spotting all three exits.

[You have slain Tier 9 D-Class, Light Temple Termite]

[+2 EXP]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Overgrown Silverfish]

[+2 EXP]

Dodging as many confrontations as they could, killing only what was necessary, they eventually found themselves in the middle of the gigantic room, its walls white wherever the torchlight reached, fading to gray in Peace’s eyes where shadows held dominion.

Ignoring all the creepy crawlers skittering about, some directly overhead, he looked towards each exit.

Beyond them, he described the monsters he could see.

From there, Ralph identified the spawning zones. Then, they chose the next weakest and continued onward.

And so on and so forth went their journey.

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Darkness Dweller]

[+2 EXP]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Darkness Dweller]

[+2 EXP]

All the while, Peace’s EXP counter climbed, bringing him ever closer to his next evolution.

’I wish I could just tell them to hunt more...’

But revealing that he knew exactly how many more kills he needed to level up would expose him as a Soul Stealer.

[You have slain Tier 9 B-Class, Forgotten Hoplite]

[+3 EXP]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Light Fairy]

[+2 EXP]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Light Fairy]

[+2 EXP]

Until, after passing through three rooms, the group finally faced a dilemma...

The room of Light Fairies they found themselves in had three exits.

One led back the way they’d come, into the B-Class spawning zone inhabited by undead soldiers in bronze armor known as Forgotten Hoplites.

As for the two ahead...

One led to a Tier 9 A-Class spawning zone, the other to a Tier 8 E-Class spawning zone.