Escaping the Mystery Hotel-Chapter 272: Room ???, Cursed Room - ???? (10) - End

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- Han Kain

This isn’t easy.

There hadn’t been a single easy moment since we entered this room, but this was by far the most dire crisis yet.

Setting aside the unknown yet overwhelming power of that beam, Ahri alone shouldn’t have been able to completely overpower the party.

The only one among us with that level of combat strength was me, but that was only when I used Descent.

Yet, right now, Ahri was trying to kill us all on her own.

There were two main reasons: her use of the terrain and the penalties imposed by the Hotel.

Unlike us, who were struggling to adapt to the ruined city’s geography, Ahri moved seamlessly through it—appearing here one moment, then there the next.

She knew this place inside and out, giving her a massive advantage in mobility, securing attack opportunities, and tracking our positions.

On top of that, the Hotel’s penalties heavily favored Ahri in this fight.

Jinchul-hyung, arguably the strongest in raw physical combat, had lost much of his power due to his Blessing being weakened.

Meanwhile, I had lost my Life Warning, meaning I couldn’t take the initiative and was reduced to merely running between buildings for cover.

Ahri, on the other hand, never relied on Blessings within the Cursed Room in the first place.

But worst of all—the most devastating blow—Elena had died in an instant.

The strongest among us had been killed in a surprise attack before the battle even began.

If we scattered, we’d only be hunted down one by one.

Our only option was to stick together and avoid exposing any weaknesses.

In that sense, Grandpa’s decision to call for formation the moment the fight started was exactly right.

By moving together—Grandpa, Jinchul-hyung, and me—while using the buildings as cover, we forced Ahri into a standoff.

At the very least, it prevented her from charging in recklessly.

That didn’t mean the stalemate was to our advantage, though.

- Shringg!

A blade sliced through the air, instantly tearing apart Grandpa’s glove along with the hand he had raised to aim his pistol.

His attempt at a sniper shot had failed before he could even take it.

Not that it was certain he would have landed the shot at this distance, anyway.

“Grandpa! When the hell is Ahri’s blood going to run out?!”

That had been nagging at me for a while now.

Isn’t endurance one of Ahri’s weaknesses?

Ancient Blood consumed the user’s own blood to function—there was no way she should have been able to keep fighting for this long!

“That damn Glass Bottle! She must’ve gotten one and stocked up on extra blood—now she can keep going indefinitely!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake! When we get out of here, I’m burying her in the snow for a week.”

“Great idea, but does anyone know where Seungyub is?”

I wondered about that too.

Where is he?

I’d seen Grandpa toss him somewhere at the start of the fight, but after that, he’d gotten up and run off somewhere.

He hadn’t been seen since.

“That kid’s always been good at handling things on his own. Let’s focus on ourselves. Anyone got any bright ideas? Kain, what about your Descent?”

At his words, my gaze instinctively shifted toward the air.

Zdskoepw: X

“I can’t use it.”

Like my Status Window, the Descent text was distorted, with an X beside it.

Do my Blessing restrictions extend to Descent as well?

Even if I could use it, I would’ve hesitated.

It was my last Descent.

The moment I activated it, something irreversible would happen.

That certainty pounded in my skull like a warning siren.

Of course, if it came down to everyone dying, I wouldn’t hesitate.

“The Star is still available.”

“Without your Blessing? That’d be suicide.”

“At this rate, we’re all dead, anyway. Might as well take her with me.”

“Wait, listen to me—“

- Shringgg!

If I hadn’t reflexively ducked just now, I might have had the surreal experience of seeing my own back with my own eyes.

But dodging that attack gave me absolute confirmation—

The moment Ahri unleashed those razor-sharp slashes, she had to reveal her position.

“Attention!”

***A moment later, Jinchul-hyung and Grandpa Mooksung simultaneously rose from their cover between the buildings.

Ahri, who had been about to unleash another sharp strike, quickly retreated behind a wall to avoid their aimed gun barrels.

At that exact moment, everyone lunged toward the building where Ahri had taken cover.

Ahri had been using the city’s structures like a personal bunker, securing advantageous positions while we, unfamiliar with the layout, struggled to adapt.

We didn’t dare enter the buildings, knowing they would be pitch dark inside.

As a result, she had been safely picking her moments to attack while we remained vulnerable.

If this dragged on too long and that beam recharged, we wouldn’t get another chance.

We had to go on offense.

Someone had to risk everything to enter the building where Ahri was hiding.

As expected, the interior was shrouded in complete darkness.

I could sense Jinchul-hyung and Grandpa flinching slightly as they entered, but we hadn’t come in unprepared.

“I’ll go first. You guys do your part.”

With a bold laugh, as if it were nothing, Jinchul-hyung summoned the Star in his hand.

The air trembled, sending rippling waves in every direction.

The outer walls of the building twisted instantly under the direct impact of the Star’s pulsations. Jinchul-hyung simply swung the star fragment like a blunt weapon, brutally smashing through the walls.

“Come out! Don’t think you can just hide in this fucking—cough! Already?!”

There was no time to delay.

Hyung could only use the Star for a fleeting moment without his Blessing!

Grandpa and I moved quickly, using the dim light filtering through the shattered walls to navigate toward the upper floor—where Ahri had been sniping at us.

I could hear her hurried movements as she sensed our approach.

We’re close.

So close that we could hear each other’s breathing.

Only a single wall—maybe two—separated us.

Everyone realized it at the same time.

The air was thick with tense determination.

Grandpa and I exchanged a glance, then immediately charged forward.

I took the lead.

If everything went according to plan, my body’s survival no longer mattered.

Ahri’s hand slashed through the air from behind a large sofa.

I felt the chilling force of her attack, but instead of dodging, I skipped through it.

“Got you!”

For just a moment, the Tattoo I had been saving flared to life, and my body crossed the space—appearing right in front of Ahri.

As she instinctively grabbed my throat, the Grimoire appeared in my hand.

And with that, I felt my consciousness drift.

***I was falling endlessly into vast darkness.

It was a strange sensation.

I had possessed countless people before, but had anything like this ever happened?

Usually, there was a brief moment where my consciousness floated, and then I naturally found myself in control of the body.

But now...

I see nothing.

It felt like I had jumped off an endlessly deep cliff, free-falling with no ground in sight.

Looking back, the first time I possessed Ahri, it was subtly different from when I took over other people.

I could control her body, but she forced me out in just a few seconds.

Back then, I thought it was simply because she was capable of anything.

But how had she so easily resisted the power of an Inheritance, the authority of the Grimoire?

Is it the power of Ancient Blood?

If so, I could understand. No matter how great an Inheritance was, it made sense that another Inheritance could counter it.

Is Grandpa managing things well out there?

Truthfully, this was the end of my plan.

The goal wasn’t to do something after possessing Ahri—it was simply to possess her.

I already knew from experience that Ahri could forcibly eject me through some unknown means. That meant possession alone could never be the finishing blow.

However, it still took her a few seconds to expel me.

And that short window was more than enough time for Grandpa—who had rushed in alongside me—to blow Ahri’s head off.

That was the core of our strategy.

Jinchul-hyung would break through the building to get us in range, I would possess Ahri to momentarily restrain her, and in that brief window, Grandpa would kill her.

[You are quicker at decision-making than I expected. How troublesome.]

A voice, cold as ice, rang from behind me.

That was when I realized—

I had stopped falling.

And someone had appeared behind me.

“Who are you? Where’s Ahri?”

[The Final Flash would have been ready soon. I did not expect you to interrupt before then. Did I push you all too hard? Perhaps that was my mistake.]

“Are you going to answer me or not?”

The entity before me had taken the form of a dark, writhing mass of gelatinous black-blue substance.

How is it even speaking in that shape?

Then again, this wasn’t the real world. It didn’t matter.

[Descendant of the traitors. Your judgment wasn’t bad, but possessing this body was a foolish choice. Do not believe you have captured me. It is quite the opposite—I have captured you.]

I saw eyes.

Countless eyes blooming all around me.

A vast mindscape.

Ahri’s mental world was staring at me from every direction.

And at that moment, I understood.

I understood how Ahri could use the power of Ancient Blood to resist my possession.

I understood why this entity could so confidently say, “I have captured you.”

[You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing. You can do nothing.]

An endless number of phrases burned themselves into my mind, over and over again.

Just before my consciousness faded, I realized—

This place was suggestion hell.

There was no way to win against Ahri in her own mindscape.

But I already knew possession wasn’t a viable strategy.

Learning the why didn’t really change anything.

Our defeat came from something else.

Why...

Why hasn’t Grandpa killed Ahri yet?

Why... is she still alive?

***- ???

- *Splash!*A small puddle of blood, barely deep enough to soak a single step, splashed against the ground.

The girl stepped lightly into it, her thoughts swirling.

This outcome was unsatisfactory.

A somewhat disappointing result.

That was how she felt.

The descendants of the traitors had boldly walked into Paradise of their own volition.

If she had only intended to tear them apart and kill them, she wouldn’t have needed to step in personally.

She could have simply remained in a secure location and summoned all the security units scattered throughout the mountain range to Paradise.

The traitors’ descendants had no means to fight against the full force of the security units. The only one who could have resisted had already been reduced to ashes by the Final Flash.

She had wanted to collect samples.

It was strange.

How long had it been since the blood of the traitors last surfaced in this Era of Silence?

Hadn’t nearly 2,000 years passed?

Their bloodline had been steadily degrading for over 500 years.

And yet, in just a few short years, incredibly powerful descendants had appeared—so powerful it was almost absurd.

They weren’t just inheritors of their treacherous ancestors’ strength.

If anything, they were even stronger.

What happened?

She needed to secure multiple bodies from the traitors’ bloodline and conduct a thorough examination.

But—

[And yet, they were annoyingly strong, and everything ended up like this.]

Even upon reflection, their final strategy was incomprehensible.

The tactics themselves weren’t anything special—The Star Fragment of Another World user broke the building, the Grimoire user restrained her, and Kim Mooksung delivered the finishing blow.

It was a simple strategy, yet it sent chills down her spine.

Cha Jinchul had no chance of survival the moment he summoned The Star Fragment of Another World.

Han Kain had no chance of survival the moment he used the Grimoire to invade her mind.

The entire strategy was a suicide mission from the start!

What kind of mindless collective were they? “We’ll die, so you finish the job?” How did they execute such a plan so effortlessly, as if it were second nature with no hesitation whatsoever?

It was an utterly unpredictable strategy, so she had been forced to rely on the security units.

Unfortunately, the security units had no concept of firepower adjustment, so Kim Mooksung had been reduced to nothing but a puddle of blood from a single shell.

『Because they believe there is a ‘next time’.』

A strange set of words flashed before her eyes.

She clutched her head, a sudden headache overtaking her.

“What... is this...?”

『Was this attempt a failure? At least two of them escaped. Let us await the next opportunity. That child... turned out to be an unexpected variable. They saw something important, so I’ll be looking forward to the next chance.』

A vision of a blue, star-infused being flickered before her.

And then—

An incomprehensible notification appeared before her eyes.

All participants have either escaped or perished. There are no remaining participants inside the Cursed Room! The Cursed Room will reset in 3 seconds.

***

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 131

Current Location: Floor 2, Snow Globe Tundra

Sage’s Advice: 3

- Han Kain

I lost consciousness, unsure if I would wake up this time.

But fortunately, someone had managed to escape, and I came out safely.

The joy of reuniting with everyone lasted only briefly.

Before anything else, there was something that had to be done.

Grandpa, Jinchul-hyung, and even Elena—after hearing the explanation—all agreed without hesitation, making the process smooth.

“...Do I really have to stay like this?”

“Shut up!”

The vast, snow-covered landscape stretching endlessly beyond the second-floor balcony created an oddly fitting atmosphere.

And seeing a certain girl buried up to her neck in the snow, with only her head poking out, made it feel even more appropriate.

“...But seriously, I don’t remember anything.”

Ahri’s genuinely frustrated expression was quickly buried under a final scoop of snow that Grandpa dumped over her.