As Kairos made his way back to the spiral staircase, he noticed that the two people arguing earlier had already begun making their way there.
As for Aria and the others, they were in the way, but hurriedly scampered off to the side after noticing the others making their way forth. Kairos didn’t think too much about it, instead opting to go towards the staircase at the same pace he had before.
It did not take long for Aria and the others to see where he was going and decide to meet up with him once more.
Aria smiled cordially.
“Hey, you are going back to get some points, right?”
Kairos nodded absentmindedly, not even pausing in his travels.
Kyle did not make direct eye contact, but spoke up roughly as well.
“We can help you with the acquisition process so that we would all have an easier time with it.”
Kairos did not pause, instead waving his hand dismissively.
“I’m just going to try and find some more red crystals, alright? I won’t need much help.”
Aria cleared her throat.
“Um, one thing I forgot to tell you earlier is that those red crystals are very rare. Your best bet will be to find a way to kill the monsters.”
Kairos sighed.
“But I don’t have the points to give that guy the food that he wants.”
Alice balled her hands into fists.
“Don’t worry! With all of us here, he will have to listen! That’s why we should go together.”
Kairos furrowed his brows.
“…There’s no need.”
The longer he spent with those people, the more he wanted nothing to do with them. That was what discouraged him from accepting their offer, but the biggest reason was that he wanted to try out the hallway with doors.
Kairos had no intention of wasting his time trying to kill monsters.
Nonetheless, the three were persistent.
Kyle coughed roughly.
“This is simply so that we can all gain points. We can split them fairly regardless of who obtains them.”
Aria nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes! This way, we can not only live, but live comfortably. Buying comfort items is not out of the question either!”
Kairos took a peek at the people behind him before turning forwards once more.
“You seem to put a lot of trust in me.”
Alice raised one hand high into the air and waved it around.
“That’s because big brother looks like a trustworthy person! We know he would never betray us.”
Kairos’ expression twitched when he heard that.
“…So you trust me enough to let me get all of the points?”
Alice fell silent, not knowing how to respond. That was when Kyle responded curtly.
“Of course, if the situation calls for it, you will kill the monster thus gaining the respective points. However, for the sake of everyone’s survival, whoever can end its life should be the one doing it.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I suppose that could make sense.”
Aria clapped lightly.
“Alright, then let’s get to it then!”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“I’m not exactly used to working with other people, so I think it would be better for me to do things by myself.”
Aria laughed.
“Oh don’t worry about that, this will be the perfect opportunity to learn!”
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
“…Then don’t blame me for any mistakes that I make.”
Alice giggled.
“Don’t worry! Everyone makes mistakes!”
Kairos tilted his head to the side.
“I guess…”
He cursed internally, unable to find a reasonable excuse to reject the three that were being as unreasonable as they were. Though they did seem rather pathetic, Kairos still didn’t want to make an enemy out of them yet.
After all, to reach this place, they had to have cleared the first floor.
Though Kairos wasn’t sure if they had some other version, it couldn’t have been much easier. And frankly, if it wasn’t for his future vision, he wasn’t sure if he could’ve even cleared the first floor.
It meant that each person here wasn’t one to be taken lightly.
And so, the four of them walked up the spiral staircase. Though there would be occasional attempts from Aria to bring up a casual conversation, Kairos shut them all down rather flatly.
From there, the group reached the top.
“You killed Mark, didn’t you? Are you looking down at us?”
In the bloody hallway, the man that had short blonde hair grabbed onto the shoulders of the starving one guarding the way. To the side, the woman with messily cut short black hair crossed her arms.
“You really are willing to do anything, aren’t you?”
The man that was so hostile to Kairos earlier had raised both hands in the air.
“I didn’t do anything! I’ve just been standing here…”
The woman narrowed her eyes while holding onto a roughly woven together bag.
“Then how is Mark dead, huh? I bet it’s because your crippled ass saw the opportunity and decided to kill him!”
The man being corned frowned.
“I didn’t do anything!”
He then caught a glimpse of Kairos and pointed at him accusingly.
“Wait, I saw him go down there, to the black hallway! He must’ve done something!”
The man with blonde hair turned around, before glaring at Kairos.
“The new face is so bold?”
The woman turned around and raised an eyebrow.
“Tell me, twenty-five, is the dumbass here telling the truth?”
Kairos raised his hands in the air.
“I did end up going into the hallway with red crystals, but I can assure you that I did nothing myself.”
The woman frowned and walked a few steps forward.
“So you did do it, but you’re just too scared to admit it?”
Kairos rolled his eyes.
“The only thing I did was get a red crystal from inside the place, alright?”
He then furrowed his brows.
“…I would prefer not being reminded of that.”
The woman tilted her head to the side slightly, while her eyes widened.
“Reminded? Reminded of what? How you killed Mark?”
Kairos clicked his tongue.
“When I was walking through the place, I heard whimpers. There was a person mumbling to himself about wanting to be fat and how the food no longer sated him. Then I heard some gurgling sounds before I felt a head roll next to my feet.”
The man with blonde hair was still holding onto the other person.
“What? Are you trying to say Mark killed himself?”
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.
“Not necessarily, I’m just telling you what I know.”
The woman frowned.
“The dipshit twins are still fighting monsters right now… so the only person that could’ve been in the black tunnels would be Mark.”
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
“I guess it was Mark then.”
The man with blonde hair shoved the person he was holding onto before rushing forth.
“The hell? Mark wasn’t the kind of guy to kill himself, you lying sack of shit!”
Kairos’ eyelids couldn’t help but fall, showing how annoyed he was getting.
“I haven’t lied about anything. I just told you about what I know, alright?”
The woman clenched her fist tightly.
“…I was wondering who dared mess with us. Of course it was a newbie that didn’t know of our reputation.”
Kairos sighed.
“And of course, you aren’t listening to me.”
The man with blonde hair cracked his fists.
“Heh, there’s no need to listen anymore, we already know the truth. Next time, you should do a background check on people, Twenty-five.”
A confident smile appeared on his face.
“Because I’m so nice, I’ll let you know who you fucked with. The name’s Darren, the fifteenth person to reach this floor.”
A small smirk formed on the woman’s face.
“And my name is Ines, the thirteenth person to clear the first floor. Do you understand who you’ve messed with now?”
Kairos watched as the man that blamed him scampered away before laughing to himself.
“I’ve messed with a lot of people, but the only thing I understand now is that the two of you lack the basic intelligence to function as a human would. You must be monkeys, and with that consideration, it truly is impressive you learned how to communicate. I’m sure many scientists would go crazy to meet you.”
The woman smiled dangerously, while her hand spasmed violently, growing claws.
“Piece of shit, you asked for it!”
Aria, Kyle, and Alice were all quite far away from Kairos, right next to the pitch black pathway.
Upon seeing the situation get out of control, Aria called out.
“Hurry! Get inside here and they won’t be able to see us!”
Without so much as looking back, the three of them all dived into the black pathway, disappearing from vision.
Kairos clicked his tongue.
“Some alliance that was.”
A strange smile formed on his face.
“This is why I hate people. It would be so much better if they were all dead…”
He considered following after the others. However, he preferred being able to see his surroundings.
And so, Kairos leaped back towards the hallway with doors.
Unfortunately, that was when Darren’s figure blurred before appearing in that hallway. The ends of roughly ten or so red nails suddenly appeared from the palms of his hands, almost like they were hiding inside.
Kairos furrowed his brows and stopped in place.
Ines jumped down onto the spiral staircase before leaping up once again with a claw reaching out towards him.
In the end, Kairos ducked to the left, avoiding the claw.
Darren took this opportunity to rush forth and try to pierce him with the nails coming from his hands. However, Kairos didn’t have too much trouble evading it by twisting his body out the way. Nonetheless, he was off balance, meaning he was fairly open to getting hit.
Instead of pressing this advantage, Ines opted to back up.
As for Darren, he let one of the red nails fall out of his palm and held onto it between his two fingers. Then, he let it whip forth.
Kairos threw his head back, letting the nail shoot past him.
At the same time, he ran around the spiral staircase. Ines slid over with a smirk, blocking his path.
“Are you sure you want to come closer?”
Kairos narrowed his eyes, before whipping his spear back.
A metallic clang resounded as it hit Darren’s hand filled with nails. Despite his attack being blocked, this didn’t discourage him. His other hand plucked nails out of his palm before whipping them.
Kairos was able to dodge them fairly easily, despite facing both projectiles and swings. However, he was also being forced to take steps back to dodge, which brought him closer to Ines.
Once he was just two meters away, Ines suddenly lunged forth, opening her mouth wide as her teeth rapidly grew into fangs.
Kairos intended on turning around and piercing Ines through the heart. However, he saw in his future vision that she would just continue without so much as flinching.
And so, Kairos abandoned that idea, instead sweeping with the spear, trying to trip her.
Ines jumped over it easily, and she aimed to claw out his eyes while Darren aimed to pierce his back.
But Kairos immediately slid underneath Ines, almost like he was a baseball player desperately trying to reach home base.
His assailants seemed rather surprised, and taking advantage of that he began running to make some distance.
Ines spun around, while Darren’s figure blurred.
Kairos thrust his spear forth towards the air with furrowed brows.
A loud series of clangs resounded.
Darren suddenly appeared, holding his hands close together to block the spear.
Ines let out a roar awfully reminiscent of a monster before rushing forth as well. Lightning began coalescing around her body, while gales of wind began forming around Darren.
Kairos frowned as he quickly realized he could no longer hold back using his own spells, thus began charging up the pulse spell.
His eyes widened slightly as he reached out with his hand.