IBHJ Chapter 983

"Artoria, Artoria—"

The desperate voice cut through the fog of unconsciousness. Shirou furrowed his brow and opened his eyes to find Mordred's anxious face hovering over him.

"I'm fine," he reassured her, sitting up and cradling his head. Though he had used [Evil] to shield himself from the brunt of UO's attack, the sheer force of the shockwave had sent him tumbling into the Resurrection Pyramid, knocking him unconscious in the process. Thankfully, Artoria's body was resilient.

He patted Mordred's shoulder, then surveyed their surroundings, murmuring, "Is this the inside of the Resurrection Pyramid?"

They found themselves in a narrow passageway, its walls adorned with ancient murals barely visible in the flickering light of blue corpse oil lamps. The dim, sickly glow cast writhing shadows across the stone, obscuring the details of the murals. The air hung heavy with the stench of decay and stale incense, an odor that clung to the back of their throats and made their eyes water.

He stood up and took a few steps forward, only to feel something unnaturally soft give way beneath his foot. A muffled squelch made his stomach turn. Looking down, his breath caught as he realized he had stepped on the arm of a dead, half-beast person. Matted fur was slick with blood and ichor, and the limb bent at an unnatural angle. He quickly withdrew his foot, feeling a pang of awkwardness mingled with revulsion. A trail of sticky blood clung to his sole as he stepped back, leaving gory footprints on the stone.

"We're not the only party that was thrown in here," Mordred observed.

Shirou nodded. They weren't the only adventurers trying to reach level 9.

He remembered clearly that when UO attacked the Tower of Light, many reckless adventurers had rushed towards the Resurrection Pyramid alongside him. Some were instantly obliterated by the impact, but quite a few were thrown in here due to favorable angles, and some were unfortunate, like the unconscious man on the floor.

He did a quick headcount. About fifty souls had made it, all in various states of injury.

"Ow, ow, ow..." A series of pained yelps drew their attention to a secluded corner. There, defying all logic, a large, animate ball was bouncing wildly.

Mordred's jaw dropped. "The... the big ball is talking!"

"How mean, Mordred. I'm not a big ball," a voice protested from within the ball.

Arms like wings opened from the ball, revealing Kiara inside.

She was clutching her waist, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Oh, so the big ball is Kiara."

Kiara glared at Mordred's innocent face, her waist throbbing even more. In the moment of UO's impact, Kiara had used the hands to wrap herself in the Beast's hands, shielding herself from the blast just as Shirou had. However, like Shirou, she had been unlucky enough to be slammed into the ground and bounced around the room. The only difference was that Shirou had hit his head, while she had landed on her waist.

"By the way, is this the Resurrection Pyramid?" Kiara asked, looking around with a puzzled expression.

"It should be, but..." Shirou frowned, glancing at the map section in the upper right corner of his vision. It didn't say "Resurrection Pyramid." Instead, the map read "Lonely Crevice."

"So... where exactly are Mordred's intellect and age supposed to be hidden?" Kiara asked, looking left and right in confusion.

He glanced at Kiara, sharing her question.

"Let's try contacting Morrigan first. She's the most knowledgeable in this area."

He pulled up his friends list, fingers moving to send a message to Morrigan. But instead of the usual confirmation, an unexpected system prompt appeared:

[System: Message sending failed.]

His brow furrowed. "Looks like we're on our own here. This must be some kind of special scenario."

Kiara nodded, and the group set off to explore the surrounding passages.

As they ventured deeper, Shirou realized they were in a large square with long, narrow paths stretching in all four directions – north, south, east, and west – each seemingly leading somewhere. But every time they reached the end of a path, they found themselves back in the square, emerging from the opposite side. It was as if they were trapped in an endless loop within a flat, two-dimensional space.

"We're... we're back again!" Kiara exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief as she returned to the center, staring at Shirou and Mordred.

"A Mobius strip?" Shirou muttered, rubbing his chin with a frown.

He had tried several times, but always ended up back where he started. At first, he suspected it might be a Reality Marble, so he attempted to use [Evil] to erode the end of the path. But the result was still the same - a loop back to the beginning. It dawned on him that this wasn't a Reality Marble at all, but a normal space-time structure, similar to a Mobius strip.

[Evil] could easily erode and destroy Reality Marbles, even those created by Age of Gods magi. But, it couldn't affect normal space-time domains.

"Maybe we should wake them up and ask," Mordred suggested, gesturing towards the unconscious adventurers.

Shirou shook his head, realizing their oversight. They'd rushed to consult Morrigan, the seasoned pro, but completely ignored the locals who actually lived at this connection point.

"Guess we fell into the trap of habit," he muttered.

But it was also inevitable. People aren't robots, after all. Sometimes they end up doing something ridiculous, like tearing the house apart looking for their phone when it's been in their hand the whole time.

Shirou and his companions roused the sleeping adventurers.

One of them rubbed his eyes, blinking in surprise. "We made it in!"

"The monsters are still attacking the city outside. We need to complete the level upgrade quickly!"

Another adventurer piped up, excitement creeping into his voice. "Hold on, if we all came in together, does that mean we're sharing the dungeon run?"

"Looks that way," someone else chimed in. "But here's the real question - who's gonna take on which sun? We've got four of 'em to deal with, remember?"

The adventurers burst into animated discussion, while Shirou and his companions exchanged bewildered glances. Clearly, they had a lot of catching up to do.

Shirou stepped forward, clearing his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but is this some kind of strategy for this dungeon?"

One of the adventurers turned, eyeing him curiously. "You're not with a guild?"

He shook his head, "No."

Another person asked, "Didn't a senior of level 9 tell you the strategy for level 9?"

"They, uh... didn't exactly have time to tell me," he said awkwardly.

"I see..." The person nodded and briefly introduced the task mode of level 9 to him.

It turned out that there were five maps to be cleared within the Resurrection Pyramid, namely Matlalcueitl, Ehécatl, Quiahuitl, Xolotl. Only by clearing all five maps could they reach the location of the Holy Spring in the Resurrection Pyramid. After bathing in the Holy Spring, they could complete the level upgrade.

"But hey," he added, "since you came in with us, we're all one big happy team now. If the party clears it, everyone gets the upgrade. Just hang tight while we pick a leader, then follow their lead."

"Got it," Shirou nodded gratefully. "Thanks for filling me in."

One of the adventurers furrowed his brow. "Matlalcueitli, Ehécatl, Quiahuitl, Xolotl... those we can handle. But what about that last one?"

"Yeah," another chimed in, worry creeping into his voice. "The others have set monsters, but that last one is random. Usually, we'd have a veteran guiding us through it. I was counting on my guild's senior, but then this whole monster attack on the city went down..."

Someone else sighed. "Looks like we're on our own for this one."

"Let's divide into teams first. However, someone must enter the last one to hold it off. Otherwise, it will interfere with clearing the other maps," another person suggested.

Everyone nodded in agreement and began to discuss party assignments. Shirou, not understanding the rules and strategies, stood aside watching. In the end, he and his companions were assigned to the team clearing the last map along with two others.

He sized up his new teammates. There was Sik, a half-beast with a perpetual scowl, and Sac, a fairy who looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. Great. They were even greener than Shirou - no guild, no level 9 mentors, complete rookies.

Sik and Sac watched with growing unease as the other adventurers effortlessly split into four well-organized parties.

Pollock, the newly elected party leader and walking stereotype of a cocky human, swaggered over. He clapped a hand on Sik's shoulder with a poorly hidden smirk. "The fifth team is all yours, champ! You're our secret weapon. The fate of our Quest rests in your capable hands."

Sik looked like he wanted nothing more than to introduce Pollock's face to his fist. But, outnumbered and outgunned, he could only nod, eyes glistening with what were definitely not tears of gratitude.

It was painfully obvious what was happening. Shirou and his ragtag bunch were being ostracized, served up as cannon fodder to buy time for the 'real' adventurers.

Classic move, really. In games, they called it "Gatekeeping." In the corporate world, it was just good old-fashioned office politics. Veterans circling the wagons, leaving the clueless newbies out in the cold.

Pollock dramatically swished his cloak, striking a heroic pose. "Onward to Matlalcueitl!" he bellowed, sounding for all the world like he was leading a glorious crusade instead of ditching the B-team.

As the other parties marched off, Shirou exchanged glances with his new party members.