Chapter 104 - Stairway to Breakthrough

6-8 minutes 11.06.2023

Seconds turned into minutes as the rays of the sun slowly began to tilt. Soon, 5 p.m. arrived on silent feet. As luck would have it, the Players were not harassed by a single supernatural entity, nor did any strange incidents occur while they had their late lunch.

By now, each Player was in the best shape they could be, given the circumstances. Traveler estimated that they had one hour before sundown, when all would be plunged into darkness once more. In other words, it was do or die—if they failed to complete the quest objective in that time, then they were surely headed for another reload. The party would have their memories wiped, and would have to start over from the beginning.

Reloading itself wasn't something unpleasant, but another reload meant facing off against more supernatural entities, without the advantage of experience—a terrifying prospect. If it came to that, it was no exaggeration to say that they were in for a hellish time.

"Whaddayathink? Can you break through?"

Six people stood around the stairwell, looking up.

The stairway that should normally have continued up to the roof exhibited a strange deviation as it shot straight up into the ceiling. There was no door or any form of opening, so the only way to get to the roof was to smash their way through.

Going through the window was not an option, since that would draw the attention of the invisible creatures that crawled up and down the outside of the building.

The other Players stood on the fifth and sixth steps of the stairs, just behind Iron Blood. The ceiling was so close that they could almost touch it if they reached their hands out.

To answer Bai Zhi's question, Iron Blood let his actions speak for themselves. He retrieved a set of steel knuckles from his Inventory and put them on. They gleamed a deep ruby color.

[ Item Name: Flaming Knuckles ]

[ Type: Weapon ]

[ Class: Rare ]

[ Wight: 5kg ]

[ Durability: 30 / 45 ]

[ Effect 1: Flame - Attacks are imbued with fire and inflict burns. ]

[ Effect 2: Heavy Blows - Upon activation, Strength is increased to twice the normal value for one minute. ]

[ Effect 3: Explosive Blows - The next attack causes an explosion. ]

[ SE Consumption: 10 SE / min, 50 SE, 50 SE ]

[ Requirements: Strength of 12 or above. ]

[ Creator: M-Reimu0 ]

[ Note: Do you want a one-of-a-kind weapon? Call 173XXXX1532! Order your next equipment with us, genuine buyers only, perfectly fair prices, no haggling. All elemental knuckles are on sale! ]

Iron Blood took a deep breath and activated Effects 2 and 3 simultaneously. Guarding his face with one hand, he wound up the other and launched a devastating punch directly at the ceiling above his head.

BOOM!

The room reverberated with the sound of the heavy impact as shards of concrete flew outward. With one punch, Iron Blood had managed to crack a pinprick-sized hole in the ceiling, which let in a thin ray of sunlight.

"How's it going, Iron Blood?" Traveler yelled over his shoulder, his eyes firmly fixed on the stairs going down.

The loud explosions threatened to alert the supernatural entities that still roamed about the orphanage to their location at any time, so before the way to the rooftop was open, it was imperative that the other Players guard the entrance to the floor and stop any threats.

Traveler's question was answered by a flurry of slamming sounds.

To ensure their success during this final phase, Bai Zhi had spent all his remaining store of Sun to stuff the staircase to bursting with Wall-nuts, which he hoped would buy them at least a little more time.

If Iron Blood could not break through the ceiling fast enough, they would have no choice but to go head-to-head with the monsters, thus everyone—except Bai Zhi—was on high alert.

Fortunately for them, for the next three minutes, while the pounding noises behind them continued relentlessly, there was no sign of any supernatural entities breaking through the barrier of Wall-nuts.

In fact, all was quiet downstairs. It was an unsettling silence, and it felt wrong, but there was no time to wonder. They were already poised to fight, and whatever happened next, they would simply have to overcome it.

Four minutes in, Iron Blood's pounding slowed to a stop.

He had successfully punched a hole in the reinforced concrete ceiling that was just large enough for a person to crawl through. It had not been easy, as evidenced by the blood dripping from his fist, but his face was stoic and expressionless.

"Let's go, one at a time. Iron Blood, you first. I'll bring up the rear," said Bai Zhi in a tone that brooked no argument. He turned his head toward the stairwell, where he could hear a chorus of chewing noises coming from below, and narrowed his eyes.

Soon, it was Traveler's turn to go, followed by Bai Zhi, but before they could move, a horrific unfolded before them.

Several cockroach-like creatures, each as large as a cat, were nimbly hopping up the stairs. These were the same type of creature that Traveler and Viridescent had dispatched, but not without suffering severe injuries.

And this was only the beginning—behind the cockroach-fiends was a rotund, white form so large that it nearly filled the stairway, steadily dragging its massive bulk up the stairs.

One of the cockroach-fiends did not get out of the way in time, and was promptly crushed and absorbed by the white blob, which seemed wholly unaffected by the highly-corrosive acid blood that could melt rock and steel alike.

The monsters were coming in force.

"Huh, it's not here... Perhaps certain entities only show up when specific conditions are met, like that upside-down zombie that searches the rooms one by one when the sun goes behind the clouds..." Bai Zhi muttered thoughtfully as he stroked his chin.

"Now's not the time to be pondering such things!" Traveler chided. He punted several exploding robots toward the containers of gasoline that had been strategically placed at the end of the staircase earlier, then urgently tugged Bai Zhi toward the hole in the ceiling.

"You—! Don't you know you could die?!"

"Death lingers like a breeze, never far from me," Bai Zhi said without looking away from the blazing fire, his face a mask of tranquility.

"By the way, the way you handle your summons is too callous. Just think, if those little exploding robots had a heart, they would surely weep tears of pain."

Traveler looked at him in stunned silence.