104: Shock!

The staircase leading to the darkness was narrow in width. Two adults in a row would be the limit. The hunters looked at each other, and silently one of the vanguards descended with a lantern containing a glowing stone in his hand.

"You don't even hesitate."

As for me, I assumed that they were going to discuss whether to proceed or not, and I was ready to prepare for the oracle, but they went in easily. From the way they've been fighting so far, I wonder if they've decided that this group of people can overcome anything.

The villagers didn't seem to have any complaints about the hunter's group's decision, and they followed quietly behind.

Gams was in charge of the long line. The image of the area illuminated by the magic light was extremely bleak, with concrete walls and concrete stairs.

If you just look at this place, it looks more like a fire escape than another world. When I go to clean old buildings for cleaning work, I sometimes find places like this. The sound of the soles of my shoes hitting the concrete was echoing. The eeriness is even more pronounced because everyone is silent. It's not the kind of situation I can talk about lightly.

A couple of minutes had passed since then. The group arrived at the end of the stairs. A small room surrounded by concrete. It looks about the same size as my room. There were eleven of them, so it seemed quite cramped. Deciding that fighting here was impossible they temporarily moved to the stairs, except for the hunters group.

Their attention is drawn to the only iron door that exists in the room. It was a simple door with just a doorknob, but just looking at it made a strange sweat ooze down my back.

But that's – I've seen it many times in real life Japan.

The round metal doorknob, the hinges on the corners of the door. It looked exactly like the ready-made door I had seen while cleaning the house three days ago. However, my knowledge of other world is limited to the Forbidden Forest. It might be the type of door that is commonplace in the cities of this world.

It's not surprising that a player like me would be able to pass on modern knowledge to the villagers and spread it around. I'll try to convince myself that...is the way to go.

"I'll open it."

The explorer who had been examining the doorknob turned around once and asked for confirmation. Seeing that everyone nodded, he oiled the hinges and the bottom of the door, then slowly turned the doorknob and pulled the door without making a sound. Light flooded in from beyond the open door. The vanguard rushes to the other side of the door, weapons and shields at the ready.

"Don't move! If you resist, I will cut you down!"

The hunter warned in a strong tone of voice but no one answered him. There were five men in the room, all wearing shabby clothes. All of them were just looking at him with surprised and frightened expressions, unable to utter a single word. Not the boss, but people? In a place like this?

"If you make even the slightest suspicious move, I will not tolerate it. Just move to the side of the wall, put your hands against the wall, and turn your ass around."

The hunters remain on alert, weapons at their sides, gesturing and giving orders to the five men. The men hurriedly retreated to the wall and obeyed without showing any resistance.

They looked like non-combatants, dressed in plain prison uniforms and carried no weapons. Their faces are disheveled and stubbled, their expressions weak and far from fearless. It's a bad way to put it, but they looked like small fishes.

"We don't know who these people are, but the surprise attack worked."

I let out a breath of relief and looked around the room, feeling a little less tense. There was no other way in or out of the room except for the door I had come in through. It was underground, so of course there were no windows. The room is about the size of a school classroom. There are several beds lined up in the corner of the room.

There were two areas surrounded by a simple threshold, which the hunters were examining with caution, but they turned out to be the bathroom and toilet. The rest of the room was a large box in the middle of the room, big enough to hold one person.

"Hey, you guys. What the hell have you been doing here?"

The hunter grabs the head of the man who is trembling with his hands against the wall and asks him a question.

"Oh, we're just trapped in here! What are you doing dressed like that?"

"What are you talking about? You're in the middle of nowhere and you don't speak the common tongue?"

The hunter stares at the man who is speaking quickly and tilts his head quizzically. Are they not communicating? My ears can clearly understand both of their words, but is this thanks to the function that automatically translates the language of another world? That's right. Just as there are Japanese and foreign languages, it's no wonder that languages differ depending on where you live.

"Hey, does anyone understand a word these guys are saying?"

Chem was the only one among them who seemed to be slumped over in thought. I looked at her to see if she was going to say something, but she just shook her head from side to side and let out a small breath. That was all.

"Hey, you. You're not just pretending you don't know what's going on, are you?"

The stubbled man with the cutting edge pointed at him turns pale and kneels down, tears streaming down his face as he begins to beg for his life on his knees.

"I came to this village to shoot a video, but I got caught by some strange people and I'm just trapped here."

Hearing that cry stopped me from thinking for a moment....What did this guy just say? Filming a video?

I grabbed the computer display and pulled my face closer to stare at the stubble man's face. I couldn't tell from the shaggy hair, stubble and the worn out clothes, but the face looked familiar.

"Could it be the guy who recorded the video of Iryu Mujin Village?"

I checked the faces of the other men and found that they had the same face as the ones who had also broadcasted a video saying they had found Iryu Mushin Village and were now missing.

"...Really?"

I was so surprised that I couldn't think straight. I thought I was used to being surprised ever since I started playing this game, but I never thought I would encounter a video streamer here. Does this mean that Japan and the other world are connected here?

But the God of Fate said that she sealed the hole so that people couldn't come and go. Did she lie to me? Or am I caught up in a situation that even the God of Fate doesn't know about?

"What do we do with these guys? They'll just get in the way if we keep them. Do you want to get rid of them for good?"

The leader of the hunters made a disturbing proposal. I couldn't let him do that. I thought about using the oracle to stop him, but my villagers would never allow such brutality, so Chem, Gams, and Niles intervened between the leader and the video distributor.

"No! They may just be victims. And I have a feeling about their language. It's like the language Carol speaks sometimes....to the language she learned in God's world."

Oh, yeah! Carol has been in Japan for a little while, but she has been exposed to the language here. Even after returning to the other world, she would sometimes use the Japanese she had learned with joy and bragged about it to her parents and others around her.

Chem in particular was envious of the fact that she had gone to the Kingdom of God, so there were many times when she would deliberately speak in Japanese. I didn't realize that her bragging would come in handy in an unexpected way.

"The language of the divine world. Your village is actually one that is watched over and blessed by the gods. It would be imprudent to laugh at it. I understand. If there is any chance that the gods are involved, I will take them back to the village."

Chem pats her chest in relief when she sees the leader lowering his weapon. Although they don't speak the language, the video distributors seem to understand that their lives have been saved, and they thank Chem and the others with teary eyes.

A quick inspection of the room before taking them out revealed that their clothes were folded and placed in a large box in the center of the room. They seemed to have decided to take only that and return to the village. The goal was to take down this stronghold, but right now, they should be our first priority, right? I have nothing to say about the villagers' decision.

I'll have to think of an oracle text to tell everyone what happened when they get back to the village.

"And, uh, I'll have to call Makoto."

Just before I picked up my phone to call him, I heard a ring. It was Makoto. It seems that he was watching the same video. That's what I thought, and answered the call.

"Yoshio-senpai! Did you see that?"

As soon as we connected, he got excited and started talking fast. It's only natural that this would happen after seeing that.

"'Yeah, I've been watching them too. They're streamers, right?"

"Yes! I don't know why they're in the other world, but I'm pretty sure they're the missing streamers.

If Makoto, who watched the video more often than I did, says so, I'm sure of it.

"When they get to the village, I'll send a vague oracle about them, so can you hold off on that oracle for me in case something strange happens?"

"All right! If anything happens, please contact me immediately. I'll do some more research on the streamers."

"Thank you. I'll see you later."

"Bye!"

Good. I was able to calm down a bit by talking to Makoto. First of all, we should retreat while keeping an eye on our surroundings and ensuring our safety. It would be troublesome if they attacked us all at once when we were careless like this. As soon as we got outside, I looked around to see if there were any enemies waiting for us, but there was no sign of them.

I'm sure the enemy players know we're here because we attacked their base, but the fact that they haven't reacted is rather eerie. It's possible that the players are not aware of the intrusion because they happen to be away from their computers or phones. If that's the case, it might be better for us to retreat quickly without doing anything unnecessary.

If the statue is here, I can be reckless, but right now, they are slowing us down.

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We're out of the basement and moving through the abandoned village, but...there's nothing. Back to that tunnel, the hunters entered first, followed by the rescued, who stopped as they tried to step into the tunnel.

"What's wrong?"

When Gams called out to them, suspicious of them not moving in front of him, they turned around with faces that looked like they were about to cry.

"I can't get into the tunnel....There's some kind of transparent wall, and I can't go any further. Why…..?"

"You're not letting me off that easily, are you?"

Seeing the scene, the villagers seemed to understand the current situation and all gathered together as they exited the tunnel.

"It seems that there is some sort of warding. We are fine, but they seem to be the only ones who can't get through."

Niles stroked his chin and spoke his opinion.

"But I don't know if that's possible."

The young hunter had a valid question. That's what I thought, too.

"It's quite difficult, but it's possible. The Dark Elves over there can create wards to keep only humans out."

"Elves can do it too. But it was a trick only the elders could do."

If Sudhir and Murus say so, then I guess it's possible. Is it a condition of the wards that no earthlings can pass through?

"If that's the case, the only way to get rid of the wards is to defeat the monsters that rule this land."

Chem nodded at Gams murmur.

"It is possible that there is a triggering element somewhere in the village that is the source of the wards. If we destroy it, maybe they can leave."

Niles was staring at the wards and seemed to be examining this and that. We had planned to retreat for a while, but this was a different story.

"Well, it's a good way to destroy the monster pool so I don't mind."

The leader of the hunters and his companions seem to have no objection.

Should I use the oracle to tell the frightened distributors what's going on? They've been looking at the villagers with pleading eyes, wondering if they're going to be left behind.

"Hey, you're not going to abandon us, are you? You're going to help us, right?"

"Just get me out of here! It's bad here. There are tons of zombies, skeletons, and other monsters here! You have to get me out of here before that most dangerous monster arrives!"

I have something to say to those who rant and rave selfishly. I'd like to say that they deserve what they get for stepping into a place that is off-limits to them.

"No choice. I'll have to use the oracle here to persuade them to do it?"

As I was typing, there was a change. Dead bodies and skeletons were appearing again from all over the abandoned village. Their numbers incomparable to the previous ones, at a rough count, there were more than a hundred.

The leader of the hunters shouted loudly as he looked at the enemy.

"Chief Priest, can you do that spell again?"

"It's a little hard, since it drains a lot of magic power."

If Niles can't activate his magic, we're in a lot of trouble, since they're all tired after the earlier fights.

There are more than a hundred monsters, at least. I can't....I can't tell you to fight to the death, and I'm not going to. The streamers were only captured, not killed. If that's the case, then we have to decide what we're going to do here. I can't force the villagers to make a cruel decision, can I?

"How can I help...? The oracle!"

Chem hurriedly opens the Bible and reads the text. Not believing what she was reading, she read it again, but the words did not change.

"Chem, what does it say?"

"Brother....God said to leave them and run."

It was a hard decision, but it was the only one I could make. Even if it means that the rest of them have to be killed. I will not change my decision. I feel bad for them, but the lives of the streamers and the villagers. If I had to weigh the two, I would choose the villagers without hesitation!

Besides, there must have been a reason why they were being held alive. I hope that they won't be killed just because they tried to escape....I would like to believe that if this was a player from the evil god side, he would not go as far as killing people. They may kill the inhabitants of the other world without mercy, but they still have the humanity to hesitate to kill the inhabitants of the same world.

"If God commands it, we have no choice but to obey! You guys, let's dump these guys and run!"

"Understood!"

Without hesitation, the hunter jumped into the tunnel, followed by the villagers.

"No way! Please don't leave me!"

"Please, please, please, please!"

Even if they didn't understand the meaning of the words, the villagers looked back again and again, perhaps drawn back by the sad cries. Chem and Niles, in particular, almost stopped in their tracks several times due to pangs of conscience, but they gritted their teeth and kept running, praying for the people they had left behind.