13 A Leap of Faith (Part 1)

The split second after Veef had voiced her explanation on how an exit to this room could be portrayed visually, Hans came to a dilemma.

He wanted the exit to be extremely apparent, yet not so enticing that one would immediately come upon and speculate over it in a positive manner.

Say for example Hans made the exit in the form of a portal. An adventurer from the outside world may or may not know that this was a portal, and if by chance they were familiar with portals (Hans honestly had no experience with the world outside this dungeon) there was the possibility that they would become curious and/or less fearful of the portal and try utilizing it. Thus, the adventurer would discover the exit (to the entrance rooms, Hans decided) and have the ability to enter and exit as they saw fit, which the dungeon core did not appreciate the thought of.

The goal was to eliminate adventurers right? - not to let them run amock all over his dungeon...

Hans muddled around in his thoughts for a good while before finally generating an idea. He had to make the exit apparent, yet in essence not seen as an exit itself. So what better way to make someone frown upon nearing something useful than making them fearful of it?

'So, how do I scare them away from it?' Hans thought aloud.

Veef, who was impatiently staring at the sky with her arms crossed, suddenly frowned in confusion.

"What? Scare who? What are you even thinking? Y-You dungeon, you always overdo things!"

Though honestly, Hans didn't even manage to hear her complaints over his buzzing thought process. And a moment later, quite a few more interesting notions crossed his mind.

'A heavily fogged area? No, too easy. A molten pit illusion? hmmm, no, that's still too much...'

In his mind, he imagined a seasoned old adventurer stuck here in his world, after decades and decades of vehemently searching for a way out and finally falling upon an accident, discovering Hans' little trick, then exasperatedly sighing; "Who would've thought I needed to run into that acid pit to escape from this place!"

Although Hans laughed and enjoyed the thought of fewer people escaping, that didn't mean he didn't want anyone to leave. It just didn't quite sit right with him, not to mention that it might deter people from coming in general.

He also failed to recognize the paling complexion of his resident pixie, who seemed to have heard the words he'd spoken earlier and was questioning him to no avail.

As Hans pondered over the possible subtle fears of others, he looked over at Veef, as if observing a prime specimen, and asking what possible fears might she have in wanting to possibly avoid something he might set up.

He noticed for one, that she was quite small.

'So tiny' He commented, earning a reddened and grumpy face from Veef, who levitated there grumbling.

And as he continued to observe this fact became ever more apparent. Not the fact of any other thing, but the fact that she was floating there in midair.

A click was heard in the confines of Hans' thought process.

'Say, Veef. Can adventurers... Fly?'

Veef, who had been previously unhappily frowning and gazing about the place, turned to look at the sky as if she'd envisioned Hans being there.

"What? What kind of dumb question is that? Do you think becoming an adventurer grants you wings? Of course, there are a few high tiers magical items that let one levitate, and a few beastmen tribes that have the ability, even some of the demon race can do it, but all of the above are quite rare, especially the magical items, and place amongst the minority. You understand?" Veef seemed quite confused as to why Hans would suddenly ask such a thing...

'Hmmm... Interesting....'

The idea Hans had developed further cemented its physical form in his head.

'But how to counteract the ones that fly?... Ah! I've Got it!' Hans thought aloud, much to the confusion of Veef.

Veef, much less not knowing the plan, wasn't even aware that it had been set into motion already. On a patch of wide empty and barren fields about a kilometer away, a strange scene was occurring.

Grey mists erupted in the middle of the few hundred-meter long expanse of land and were seeping from a wide section of the soil about 50 meters across.

The grey mist was Identifiable with which he used to create all the other previous doors for this room, surprising Hans, who expected there to be a mana cost to this action. Yet his surprise only grew as he viewed the spectacular and frightening scene of the soil in that 50-meter span begin to collapse downwards as if something below was suctioning it into the underworld. The pit grew deeper, circular, and deeper again until it was no longer a mere pit, but a 50-meter wide abyss that faded into black.

What Hans had meant by his short questioning of Veef was not merely about the flight itself, but the fear that fame alongside it; falling.

And as for those who could fly, there wasn't much leeway made for them either, in fact, some might say it was a tad harsher. If this was just some mere abyss of a hole in the ground, others might just look from afar or view its endless depths from the edges, but the harsh suctioning that came alongside its infinite darkness inspired a tad it of fear even in Hans.

From a distance of 20 meters away from the hole, one could feel a slight but bearable tug on their being, at 10 meters away they would feel the obvious sensation of being pulled harshly towards the center and at any length of distance less than that, they would most definitely be on the ground using every fiber of their being to pull away from the hole.

And for winged or flying beasts, adventurers and whatnot, the effect would be more devastating. The very air in which they flew had no resistance to the hole's powerful suction, in fact, it sped happily forward. Hans was positive any manner of flying creature would inevitably be suctioned inward.

Hans was also aware that if a weaker land-based specimen resisted the crushing force too strongly they may be torn apart.

.

And yet, for all of its formidable and terrifying personage, this "hole" had one fatal flaw. That was: if the person nearing it was actively moving towards it, they would cease to be affected by its prowess in any way. Though if they had stopped and begun moving away, there would be the opposite effect! Compared to being able to create independent dimensional spaces, or possibly making a sun with consciousness, this didn't seem all too impossible in Hans' eyes.

Although it seemed to contradict Hans' previous statements regarding fear factor, as long as one didn't resist, one wouldn't be harmed too badly and would be able to leave...

Hans was quite interested with what he'd created, even if he'd never end up using it. He still had a month left of his grace period left, after all, there was room for change, even scrapping this project altogether if necessary. At this point, even he himself had not noticed that Hans had completely sidetracked from helping Veef.

That was until he saw a purple speck of light slowly fly in from a distance as if they had somehow come to recognize that there was something happening in the general area.

'...'

Hans was at a loss for words. He looked at the enormous hole in the ground, suctioning all existence - even tugging at the leaves and stems of distant plants and trees, then back at Veef who was growing ever-closer...