SSEI | Chapter 3.1

Strangely enough, the straightforward path to the Descent Hatch was actually much faster and simpler than the so-called ‘shortcut.’ Yuan and the Blue Dot had eaten so much, including snacks, that they were full when the announcement echoed through the dining hall again.

[Attention. The rest period has ended. The path to the Descent Hatch is now open, so wanderers, please proceed to the hatch and board the descent devices assigned to you.]

As soon as the voice resonated in the dining hall, the Blue Dot took Yuan and opened the door. Yuan, about to step into the hallway without a second thought, was startled. The hallway, which had a normal wooden floor just moments ago, now had no floor at all, leaving nowhere to step.

“Where are we supposed to go? Wait, Blue… Aaaah?!”

Without a word of explanation, the Blue Dot grabbed Yuan by the scruff of his neck and jumped into the open floor. Do people here have a habit of acting before explaining anything?! Yuan was terrified by the dizzying sensation of falling, but this time, even without an explanation, he could understand the situation.

The open floor was directly connected to the ceiling of the space where the Descent Hatch was located. They were so close, yet the Red Man had gone through that bizarre maze to use a shortcut? The spatial sense of this place was truly baffling.

Landing without much impact, Yuan realized that about a quarter of the vehicles attached to the wall were already gone. It seemed that roughly that many people were willing to endure the hassle to leave early.

The Blue Dot immediately took Yuan to a vehicle. He fiddled with something like the control device inside, but unlike what Yuan had seen before, the operation was very simple.

“Look, this red button is the descent button. Press it and wait, and you’ll land on the ground. After landing, press the green button next to it to open the door. If you know these two things, you’ve basically mastered the descent device.”

“In the last match, the Red Man was pressing a lot of buttons.”

“Maybe he was trying to force the door open before landing? He must have had some purpose.”

“…Maybe he just wanted to kill me as quickly as possible.”

Yuan pouted as he replied, and the Blue Dot chuckled as if he found it amusing. They couldn’t know the Red Man’s true intentions now, but the two maintained a fairly friendly atmosphere as they descended to the ground.

Fortunately, the vehicle landed smoothly. When the Blue Dot pressed the green button, the door slid open. Seeing the dusty, ash-gray wasteland beyond the door, Yuan felt oddly relieved.

It was strange that, having only visited three times, this place felt cozier than the sanctuary. It was as if his instincts knew this was where a wanderer should be.

“Alright, let’s go. You know how to move in the beginning, right?”

After wandering the wasteland, the two found a fallen supply box, divided the materials into two bags, and chose their weapons. It didn’t take long. Maybe they were lucky to find the box early, or perhaps they had just gotten used to the endless walking in the vast wasteland.

“Just so you know, I’m strong in long-range attacks but pretty weak in close combat.”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that. You’re probably wondering why I was holding a sword in the last match. Many effective weapons against calamities are melee weapons. Long-range weapons are good for ambushes or human opponents, but not so much against calamities. Strangely, they don’t work well.”

“That’s how it is. By the way, is your strength in long-range due to some special skill?”

“It’s not just a skill. So, while I’m using long-range weapons, it’s better if you support any potential close combat…”

The Blue Dot trailed off, looking Yuan up and down. As Yuan pondered the meaning of this gentle yet somewhat bitter gaze, the Blue Dot sighed deeply.

“Never mind, let’s both use long-range weapons. I’ll be careful to keep the enemy from getting close.”

“Do you think I’m too weak to wield something like a sword?”

“Of course. Have you ever stabbed someone with a blade?”

“As far as I remember, never.”

“Then I’m right. Here, take this spear. When you decide to aim and shoot at the enemy, ice will shoot out from the tip. If you hit accurately, you can freeze the enemy and their surroundings for a moment.”

Feeling a bit dismissed, Yuan considered arguing but decided against it, thinking it wasn’t an incorrect judgment. Still, this match felt pretty good. From the start, his partner didn’t appear without a body, and he wasn’t attacked by his partner and decapitated.

‘It finally feels like I’m starting a proper match. It’s already the third match, but this is the first time I’m starting normally, isn’t it?’

Of course, Yuan had no memories, so he couldn’t grasp what normalcy was exactly, but he was sure that this match started in the closest way to normal among the ones he’d experienced so far.

‘I hope it ends smoothly too. I want to earn a lot of points, feel triumphant and let my guard down, and then wake up back at the sanctuary after being sniped in the head…’

Wasn’t it Eren Noeul who said that before? The polite way to kill someone is to do it suddenly, in one shot, without them knowing who did it. At the time, it sounded a bit unsettling, but thinking about it now, it seemed like one of the most courteous methods.

‘Anyway, I hope I can learn about this world as smoothly as possible.’

Holding the spear as tall as himself, Yuan followed the Blue Dot, hoping vaguely that whatever awaited beyond the wasteland wouldn’t be terrifying or painful.

⌖♕⌖♕⌖

The ‘Evening Zone’ where the two arrived this time was a vast lakeside. If Yuan hadn’t heard beforehand that there was a lakeside in the Evening Zone, he might have mistaken it for the sea, even if just for a moment. When you think of a lake, it should be of a size where you can roughly gauge its outline at a glance, but here, no matter how much you looked around, only the endlessly rippling water stretched out.

The surface of the water gently shimmered with the flow of the breeze. The light of the setting sun appeared and shattered repeatedly with the movement of the water. At the edge of the lake, long plants resembling reeds grew in clusters, and the small boats placed at the dock were well-maintained, exuding a somewhat pastoral charm. It was a peaceful and beautiful scene that made one’s heart feel at ease just by looking at it.

‘It’s really pretty. But…’

However, that beauty only occupied half of the lake. The side of the lake where Yuan and the blue dot were was clean and bright, but the opposite side of the lake was covered in thick fog, making it impossible to see anything.

In an ordinary lakeside, it might not be so strange if there was some fog. But the fog on this lake was unusually thick and dark, giving off an eerie feeling as if it was absorbing and swallowing the surrounding light.

What could be beyond that fog? Could there be monsters lurking there? As Yuan pondered and looked around, the blue dot, who had walked far ahead, gestured for Yuan to come over.

“Come here, Yuan! You don’t know the structure here well, do you?”

He was standing in front of a large wooden sign. The sign had a drawing that seemed to be a map of the lake. Although it was overall old and faded, making most of the writing almost erased, the general outline of the lake could be discerned.

“Look closely. From now on, we have to go to the foggy area on the opposite side of the lake.”

“Beyond the fog…? Is it okay to go there?”

“That’s our destination, isn’t it? If we break through that fog, there’s the Night Zone beyond it.”

Yuan looked worried but nodded for now. According to the map, this lake was shaped like an hourglass laid horizontally, that is, in the shape of ∞.

The position where the two were currently located was at the lower left of the lake. If you go straight to the right from here, there is a concave part in the center, and it seems that you can cross to the other side by crossing the bridge placed there.

“Look closely, the shortest route to the Night Zone is crossing this central bridge. It looks short on the map, but in reality, it’s a long bridge that takes about 15 minutes to walk straight.”

“15 minutes… Still, it seems quite doable.”

“Is that so? The bridge is broken in places, making it precarious, and if you go that way, it’s easy to get ambushed. It’s too conspicuous.”

“Ambushed? Where would the ambush… Ah.”

Only then did Yuan realize the use of the boats. Earlier, he just thought they looked nice, but now he saw that some spots were empty as if someone had already taken the boats out.

“The second route is moving by taking these boats.”

“Surprisingly, this is quite a good method. There are secret elements you can only access by boat. Like loot boxes.”

“Is it hard to get loot boxes if you move through the bridge?”

“There are one or two boxes on the bridge too, but the harvest is much less than taking the boat. By the way, the third method is just walking along the lakeside.”

“That sounds good. Honestly, I think the third one is the best…”

“I understand wanting to use a familiar way of moving, but this is the worst choice. Even though it looks circular on the map, in reality, this lake is an elongated oval shape horizontally, so it takes a long time to walk. If you delay even a little, it becomes difficult to move to the next zone in time.”

“……”

“Moreover, this route has the longest time staying inside the fog among the three I mentioned. Are you still okay with that?”

Yuan felt a chill and shook his head. He didn’t know why, but he felt like staying in the fog for too long would be bad. It was similar to when he instinctively felt that he shouldn’t take the main road when entering the forest with Lork, even if it meant taking the animal trails.

If the main road was dangerous in the forest, and the overlapping village structure was dangerous in the maze village, then here, the fog was dangerous. Even without anyone telling him, Yuan realized this fact naturally.

“Alright, then let’s say you understand the general structure and plan our strategy going forward. In this game, we’re supposed to gather points, right?”

“That’s right. So which route should we choose?”

“What do you think? I’ll give you a little time, so think carefully and give your opinion.”