[BONUS]
Back in Jibblinplip’s lair, while the rest were taking a break, Dimitri was seen walking to Silvia. He found it awkward to be alone, and Ren’s piercing stares were giving him the chills.
Silvia was Fate Academy’s student body president. She was also a top beauty in school and they had their fair share of talks with each other. They weren’t friends, but they had interacted enough to be called acquaintances.
It wouldn’t be awkward if he talked to her, or so Dimitri thought. He instantly knew that he was gravely mistaken when he hadn’t even crossed that five-meter threshold, and Silvia’s stern eyes had already stopped him in place. It got worse when all her friends looked at him like he was a stalker or something, making Dimitri skid to a stop and turn the other way.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Dimitri thought. Silvia was usually approachable in school. Although he wasn’t the most handsome nor one of the wealthiest within the campus, Dimitri was sure that he had influence and great fame, enough to get himself a fan club. He was, after all, the leader of the Fate Alliance Guild.
While Dimitri wallowed in his shattered pride and self-esteem, the groups readied themselves to enter the whirlpool.
Ren briefly looked at Evie, and the latter reciprocated his gaze and asked, “What is it?”
He wanted to tell her to be careful if they ever got separated. But considering that Evie was an Illusionist who currently had far higher ATP than most players in here, she’d be fine.
“If we ever separate, remember to not linger in a single room and move swiftly to the next.”
“Gotcha.”
Ragnar rolled his eyes when he felt that familiar suffocation by Ren and Evie’s constant mutually stolen glances. He pushed the two into the whirlpool without waiting for a second more before he leaped into the vortex himself.
Fortunately, Ren, Evie, and Ragnar didn’t get separated. They were even together with Sebastian, as well as some other players and armies. Unfortunately, their second saving grace, the Princess, wasn’t with them.
“What is this?”
All their fine hairs stood on end when they felt like they were inside a brain matter. Their surroundings were in the shade of fleshy green and yellow, and there even seemed to be a lump of flesh scattered here and there. The lump looked like cancer cells, only they were bigger and grosser to look at. It constantly pumped and moved as if something would come out from it.
“This thing had turned into a horror movie real fast,” a player commented.
“Not good . . . We’re currently inside a clone lab,” Sebastian said and urged the group to find the door to another room. “Let’s hurry and not waste time here. No matter what, don’t ever touch those lumps.”
‘I won’t even if you gave me a thousand — though a million might change my mind,’ Evie mused.
“Clone lab?” Ragnar questioned as they walked with hurried steps to find the exit. “What does this room do exactly?”
His question was met with silence when they skidded to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” Evie asked the centaur when Sebastian turned rigid as stone.
Sebastian didn’t say anything, so the group sneaked behind him and found the reason for their sudden halt.
At least twenty meters in front of them was another Sebastian, minus its equipment, with a body made of jelly. It kind of looked creepy because it was green throughout, and its eyes which had no pupils, stared at them with menace.
“This Clone Lab creates ooze-born variations on living creatures with alarming speed,” Sebastian answered Ragnar’s question from earlier. “The ooze-born copy is identical to its living counterpart. It has all its hit points, spell slots, and other limited-use abilities — fully recharged and ready to use. It does not, however, have any of its target’s equipment.”
Ren was caught by surprise at that knowledge. He only had a general idea about Jibblinplip, and he didn’t know the specifics. He might have an idea about the clone lab, but he probably forgot, or nobody had stumbled upon this room in his past life, which could explain the lack of information.
The screams and cries that soon followed were loud and crisp in their ears, enough for Ren to wake up from his thoughts.
“I think this is the part where we should run,” Ragnar said.
“Go,” seconded Sebastian. “I’ll hold my clone off while you search for the exit.”
“But what about you?” Evie was hesitant to leave the centaur. She had grown close to the NPC even without sharing many conversations. She felt like they had known each other for so long and didn’t know if this was the effect of inheriting Meriyaah’s will.
“There’s nothing you can do here,” Sebastian said kindly to Evie before he faced Ren and Ragnar with a stone-hard face. “You’ll only be a hindrance. Go. I’ll catch up with you soon.”
“Let’s go.” Ren grabbed Evie by the elbow and pulled her along.
“Sebastian will be fine. He’s the key to banishing Jibblinplip, remember? As the main character here, he wouldn’t die,” said Ren when he noticed Evie repeatedly looking back at the centaur.
Though he had to admit that he was a little worried now that they had to separate from Sebastian. One of their guardians was gone, and Ren could only hope that the Princess was in the next room.
They avoided Sebastian’s other self and took a turn on a fork. The Ooze centaur left them alone because it focused on its other self.
Only this time would Ren be glad that the Princess was in another room, or else they might not get out of here alive. Having an enemy like Sebastian and the Princess was like facing another World Boss, and they certainly wouldn’t want to face that.
“Is Sebastian going to be okay?” Evie asked as they navigated through the clone lab, trying to avoid as many clones as possible.
The good news about the clones was that they only attacked their other selves, and once they consumed the original . . . (continuation are in NOTES)
