Returning to the stone pillar grove, Eric wearily leaned against one unmarked by a portal.
She had expended two healing kits during this mission; were it not for the ten kits procured through her exchange quest, this endeavor would have been for naught. Yet, she could not wholly deem it wasted, for it yielded valuable insights and reflection.
Megan had inspired her profoundly.
After the cruise ship's sinking, Eric realized she must secure a compass, commandeer a lifeboat, and acquire sufficient fuel—just as Megan had done.
"Can I truly accomplish this…" Eric gazed skyward at the stone canopy above, a shrouding darkness that swallowed all light and sight, and felt a pang of deflation.
The dungeon's NPCs were numerous and alarmingly lifelike, indistinguishable from genuine humans.
Eric could not dismiss them as mere game constructs; they adhered to the same order and laws as the real world.
She understood that Megan's approach was the most efficient path to victory.
Her own performance in this mission had been lamentable; on reflection, riddled with flaws. Without Megan's timely intervention, she likely would have failed disastrously.
This was a hard-earned lesson: if she persisted in arrogance, her demise might be gruesome and irreversible, rendering even healing kits futile.
Having completed her mission debrief, Eric resolved to rest at the inn, returning in the afternoon to resume her tasks.
Upon departing the mission hall, she noticed a new notice pinned to the bulletin board.
It proclaimed: The ordinary dungeon [Out-of-Control Elevator] henceforth elevated to supernatural dungeon [Midnight Elevator], with a three-day public announcement period.
Eric was taken aback; she had completed that dungeon already and had not anticipated its sudden transformation into a supernatural variant. She suspected the frequent deaths within the elevator had conjured restless spirits.
"Eric! Long time no see! Want to tackle a mission together?"
A familiar voice beckoned behind her. Turning, Eric beheld Natalie.
Indeed, it had been some time since their last encounter; with a smile she greeted, "I just finished mine. I'm not heading back for another now."
Natalie was surrounded by several mutual aid guild members—a group bound for a mission. While the odds of simultaneously entering the same portal and dungeon were slim, such collectives persisted in these attempts unyieldingly.
"You go on ahead; I'm returning to the inn."
Natalie grasped her arm, urging, "Our guild has grown beyond a hundred strong; there is strength in numbers. We share plentiful dungeon intel internally. Are you certain you won't join us?"
Eric shook her head. Disappointed, Natalie sighed, "Very well. Think it over—you can contact me anytime." Waving off, she rejoined her comrades and stepped into the ordinary dungeon's threshold.
Eric did not hasten back to the inn, instead browsing the marketplace. Unfortunately, only food and daily necessities were sold; gasoline was absent. Such a useful commodity—her lifeboat still held half a jug of it. She vowed to seek opportunities to obtain fuel within future dungeons.
Her understanding of the supermarket's utility deepened: not merely a source of sustenance but a convenient storage haven, enabling her to smuggle provisions from dungeons. Whereas other players entered each dungeon empty-handed, she possessed a treasured logistical vault. With such advantage came heightened standards; failure was unacceptable.
After a refreshing afternoon nap, Eric devoted time to organizing the chaotic stock within her supermarket. It was four p.m. before she ventured out to undertake another mission.
Stepping into the dungeon, she found herself seated aboard an airplane.
Glancing sideways, the cerulean sky and billowing clouds loomed close. Eric had never flown before, and the instant she realized her surroundings, a wave of vertigo engulfed her, followed by nausea threatening to overwhelm.
She was motion-sick!
Hastily, she seized the passing flight attendant and whispered, "Do you have any motion sickness remedy?"
The attendant quickly replied, "Yes, I'll fetch some for you—please wait a moment."
The attendant's figure receded from Eric's view. Clutching her thigh to steady herself, Eric composed her thoughts and surveyed the cabin. She noticed several other players quietly assessing the situation around them.
Suddenly, the airplane trembled violently, intensifying Eric's dizziness.
"Fire on the wing!" a passenger shrieked in terror, pointing out the window.
There was no time to hesitate. Eric reached into the medicine shelf in her inventory, extracted some motion sickness pills, popped them into her mouth, and chewed swiftly. She unclasped her seatbelt, stood up, and headed toward the lavatory.
NPC passengers screamed in panic, while the players instinctively sprang into action.
Some moved toward the lavatory alongside Eric, others proceeded to the first-class cabin ahead, and some rushed to the cargo hold… The plane was clearly doomed; they had to locate the portal before the crash.
"The portal isn't here!" remarked a stranger player, closing the cabinet door. "Let's check the cargo hold."
Eric replaced the lavatory mat and nodded silently.
Though strangers to one another, in this dire moment collaboration was imperative.
Flight attendants calmly instructed passengers to return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts, soothing frayed nerves.
But the players could not afford to pause—this was no ordinary airplane incident. They needed to find a means of escape before catastrophe struck, a reality the NPCs could never comprehend.
Eric and the player dashed toward the cargo hold. A concerned flight attendant hurried after them, pleading, "Please return to your seats—"
Ignoring her protests, they surged ahead. Inside the cargo hold, other players were already rummaging, and Eric joined the desperate search.
There's nothing on this side, there's something on the other side - "the player who came first stood up straight and asked. Eric was about to answer when he heard a gunshot.
Bang!
The player who spoke fell to the ground with a loud bang and died unexpectedly. Eric's breathing paused, and in the moment of gunshots, she instinctively found a pile of luggage and pounced on it. As soon as she hid, she met the eyes of the player who couldn't rest in peace.He just died like this!
Eric's heart was pounding, but she didn't have time to mourn for him when a bullet shot through her head.
"These few people are sneaky and have problems," "kill them all
Kill it, "quickly find the thing
Are these a group of hijackers?
Eric drew a kitchen knife from her inventory, moving with swift agility through the maze of luggage.
The relentless staccato of gunfire echoed ceaselessly, yet fortunately, Eric no longer heard the telltale sound of flesh struck. The players who had accompanied her had also taken cover.
"Damn it, where did they vanish to?"
"Go find them!"
They intended to exterminate without mercy.
Holding her breath, Eric pressed her back firmly against a crate, the sweat upon her palms slickening the knife's handle. Concealed within the shadows cast by piled baggage in the cargo hold, she listened intently as footsteps drew near. First, she glimpsed the tips of a pair of sneakers. The footsteps shifted direction toward her position; the figure was approaching.
This shadowed enclave, formed by heaps of luggage, offered scant concealment—any momentary inattention could betray her presence.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The rapid gunshots reverberated, and Eric's nerves quivered so intensely it seemed she could hear the pounding of her own heart.