บท 107: The meeting
Snow wanted to talk more about Levian with Rye, but Angie didn't seem to let her go. She was adamant about trying to get Snow's attention to teach her a few things. Snow was ready to kick her out if it wasn't for Rye's glare that silenced Angie.
Angie took one of the four beds in the room, snuggling up to get ready to sleep. The rest took a short nap.
For a full day, the ship continued down the river peacefully. The tense air around the Players quickly dwindled, realizing that the ride was possibly safe as they all fell fast asleep, trying to recuperate.
Many wished for it as they were tired from the long fight that they had gone through. Even still, many were weary for a possible attack.
The next day, a blaring sound of manic laughter echoed endlessly in the loudspeaker. Many bolted up, thinking that they were being attacked. Some even fell out of their bed in fright, scrambling to make heads and tails.
The goofy laughter of a voice continued to drone on, eventually, silencing as it followed by the conductor's voice that seemed a bit dead in tone.
"We will be landing in ten minutes."
Snow, who was luckily up, slightly tilted her head towards the loudspeaker. She waited for more announcements, but nothing followed after.
"Why that stupid, clown!" Angie, who had fallen off the bed with her hair disheveled, got up angrily. She snapped towards the loudspeaker and started to cuss a few more words before she finally settled down.
Rye opened the door, coming back in. He stood in the doorway, leaning against it. "You guys not up yet?"
"No," Angie growled, she rubbed her eyes a few times.
"We're disembarking; I suggest you get ready in less than five minutes."
"Yea. Yea." Angie waved her hand; she was clipping on her armor.
Rye gave her a heated glare, but Angie didn't pay attention to him at all.
Snow, on the other hand, got up from the bed. She was ready to leave and face the next challenges, but she was glad for the short rest. She didn't realize her body was aching pretty badly. The previous fight did make her stiff muscles lock up a few times because she did not stretch correctly.
Snow got up and walked past Rye. Angie scrambled to put on her armor, half jumping into her pants. Ryan tiredly followed behind half asleep. He dragged his feet and yawned. Rye, silently waited, following behind her as they made their way to the exit.
The ship let out a loud toot, telling them that they had arrived. Even the rocking that Snow had felt for the past twenty-four hours was a lot more tamer than before.
Players congregated towards the exit, talking in a different array of emotions. Everyone knew that once they stopped, the next "fun" event would start.
With a loud metallic clunk, the door groaned open. A Bridgeway opened for them to cross.
The waves of Players disembarked, standing on the pier.
A thick wave of mist was present on the ground, making it very difficult to see. Only a faint outline of strange waves were current in the fog. It didn't take long for the unnatural sound of broken recordings of the amusement park song played up again.
"They need to stop doing that." Ryan was next to Snow, searching around him for any familiar faces, but only the Players that were alive were present.
"Bah," Angie snorted as if it wasn't a big deal. "It's all just mind games. Don't take it too seriously."
"Easier said than done."
Snow moved forward, carefully observing the surroundings around her. The wet, muggy air made it a bit difficult to breathe, but as she continued towards the shadows. It wasn't that she wanted to, but it was the only landmark that was present that could give them a direction without getting lost in the fog.
The music continued to scratch and hiccup. Other times, the song would uncomfortably slow down, leaving behind a demonic-like voice that would crackle.
Eventually, the fog started to clear up, allowing them to see. The long, humpy shadows were rollercoasters that snaked around the ground and in the air. There were twists and sharp turns wrapped around more rails, creating an exciting sculptural art.
Snow stopped in front of a giant oni-looking gate. Two monstrous human figures stood with swords ready. Their elongated horn curved upwards as even their tusk jutted out from their lips.
They wore ugly expressions of anger, scowling down at the people below them as the group headed to enter through the gate. A rotten outboard that was written in faded black ink wrote: Demon Mine was scrawled across. Dead branches and fallen debris littered the very floor, giving a crunching sound as they continued.
Some wearily walked forward, wondering if the giants that guarded the gate would move, but nothing happened.
Even Snow wasn't sure how they were going to manage the two giants guardians if they decided to attack, but such worry was quickly thrown out the window.
The smog of mist completely cleared away, revealing the leading group ahead. Thousands of Players were crammed inside, waiting and searching for clues. Compared to the size before, she noticed that the number of Players had shrunk. A massive air of darkness was settled in the group. They nervously spoke in quiet whispers as if they were trying to hide their unrest.
Snow wondered what they had faced and what kind of trouble that they had gone through, but she was glad that they were able to meet the main force and didn't need to search far and wide, cutting down on the much needed time.
With confident steps, Snow led the group. The Players following behind her walked in an orderly fashion; their voices were filled with hope and excitement as they noticed who they were once again meeting while the Players from the main force turned their gazes at the sudden voices.
They instantly realized the familiar faces that they thought had possibly died brought excitement in their voices. They rushed over.
"Oh my god." A female Player called out in disbelief. "They are alive?!"
"They're back!"
A joyous voice shouted in unison as both parties rushed to meet each other.
Off in the distance, in the middle of the group, Tommy, Dairen, Mike, and Rodney were in their little world, talking amongst them. They turned around, wondering what was going on.
Snow beelined towards the four, her gait steady. The Players broke apart, allowing her to step through unhindered.
"Well, would you look at that?" Tommy said with a chuckle. Pleased to see Snow back safe and sound. "She's back."
Dairen stood frozen for a moment, his eyes wide. Unable to say anything for a moment. "Snow?!" Dairen squeaked.
"Yea?" Snow stopped in front of them. Pleased to see them all alive.
A small body flew towards her.
With an oomph, air escaped out of Snow's lips. She felt a tight hug. She gazed down and noticed that it was Red.
"Snow!" A whimper followed, "I'm glad that you are okay."
Snow wiggled, trying to break free. But only one of her hands was able to be free. "Red, you're squeezing me too tightly."
"I'm sorry!" Red pulled back, she blushed, realizing that she had overstepped her bounds. "I just got too excited."
Everyone laughed.
"It's alright." Snow reached over to pet her on her head. It was like petting a small animal at the way Red acted.
"I'm glad that you are back," Mike spoke up, a big smile dashed across his lips as he proudly stood in front of her. "I knew you would make it back alive. I never doubted you."
"The past days, all Mike was talking about was if you were alright." Rodney's voice cut through the air. He stepped forward, crossing his hand in front of him as he took a good look at her. "No injuries and…" He peered over her shoulder. "Everyone is alive. Not a single one dead."
"We were forced into a few problems, but it wasn't too bad." Snow shrugged as if it wasn't too big of a deal.
But Rodney didn't think so. "You being there saved my people, thank you." Rodney took a deep bow. Everyone was shocked by Rodney's sudden change of attitude. He even bowed, which wasn't like him at all that it brought an unnerving silence.
Snow mouth gaped open and closed, trying to get her voice to squeak out a few words. But for some reason, it wasn't working.
Rodney stood up, a bit more elegantly before. He seemed to radiate a soft light around him as his feature gently changed to warmth.
"Y-you're welcome." Snow stuttered out her words that took a bit of convincing. "I just thought we needed all the helping hands we would need."
Rodney nodded, but he didn't say anything else.
"Anyways, what's going on?" Snow tried to change the uncomfortable air around all of them.
"When did you guys get here?"
"Two nights ago," said Dairen. "We couldn't leave this area even if we wanted too. After killing that bastard of a monster, we were roaming around the place, until we ended up here."
"Was it that bad?"
"We lost a good three hundred Players," Dairen sighed. "Luckily, it's not too bad, but the dungeon is definitely getting stronger and weirder."
Weirder was an understatement. Snow had a feeling that this dungeon just loved anything that had to do with amusement parks, pitting them against each other, or throwing them into the waves of monsters-- just to shave them down. It was like the dungeon master was torturing them slowly.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง