Exciting fear~

On another floor with no one around, the person with the "Treelover" tattoo shouted, "Mr. Sakasa, where are you? It is almost time; we have to leave for the 3rd phase!" His voice echoed through the empty space, but he received no reply. "Did he leave without me for the next phase? I'll wait at the exit," he thought and started to move.

Grabbing a projecting tile protruding from the wall, he leapt onto it. Then, he side-jumped to grab a small brick jutting out before jumping to the opposite wall, which had a vertical column. He tightly locked his hands and feet around it. The person leapt upwards, swiftly locking his hands and feet around the vertical column. With each successful grip, he propelled himself higher, repeating the motion—jumping, securing a hold, and jumping again—inch by inch ascending the column with agility. Reaching the ground, he quickly covered the large hole with the fake basement and started leaving.

Soon the hour started to fade as people came out of the exits—exactly 140 exits—which were just opposite the entrance to a new hall that almost looked like a large graveyard. The person with the "Treelover" tattoo was visible standing and waiting at the agreed exit, with a worried expression, looking here and there among the huge crowd then head back inside.

“Do you think it was fair to hide it that deep?” Draven’s partner asked him.

Draven paused and looked at him, muttering to himself, "Why is our team made up of idiots?" Then he replied, “Do not underestimate others and their greed.”

“Rurit, you really have a knack for treasure hunting,” Tenn commended Rurit as they were exiting.

“It was just a coincidence we were able to reach the 20th underground floor as we planned,” Rurit replied humbly with a smile.

As more members from Party 2 arrived from every team, the atmosphere in the hall became charged with excitement and tension. The massive, intricate gates began to close one by one, creating a cacophony of heavy metal clinks and thuds that echoed through the space. The crowd of participants started to converge, sharing hurried updates and strategizing for the next phase while looking at the ranking board.

Phase 2

"Looks like the time is up, and now we are about to start Phase 2. Here are the basic things you need to know:

Do you see those 4 big screens at the top? They are in every hall and show the hottest broadcasts of each phase. Look there, Phase 1 has already started.

All the traps, death doors, fakes, bonuses, and treasures will now be activated. Once a trap is activated, it can be lethal, so try not to activate too many of them.

Any member falling out of any team due to injury, death, emergency, or being lost will disqualify the whole team.

Rankings will now be displayed on the tokens. The ranking tables will be visible on any floor and right here. These boards will show your ranking, each member's status, and points contributed. Let's see who is gatekeeping the most token: Team 767 with 700 token points, followed by Team 45 with 695 points.

When any team member is within 5 meters of their G-token, they will hear a tune indicating their proximity.

The use of any weapon is legal, and killing is also not prohibited.

You all have 20 hours to find your team's token. While searching, you will definitely find some treasures. These treasures may include weapons or additional tokens.

If you find your G-token and get out, you will receive token points based on the time taken and treasures found. And you can join your team in phase 3 quicker than anyone and get advantageous.

and please keep wearing the mask provided to you inside

Phase Tip: The G-token feature of betting tokens on any teams has also been activated. So you can bet tokens on any team that will have the highest point at last, and if you are right based on your bet and stakes against that team, your team will receive tokens.

And yeah, these are some of the basics of this treasure hunt,” Yuhart said, releasing his grip of his body with the pole. He started to fall and, just a few inches above the ground, gripped it again and said, “Start.”

Soon, the building began to descend from the top. Initially, it resembled an intriguing structure that looked like an inverted staircase. As it slowly descended, the building underwent a fascinating transformation. The steps, which originally pointed downwards, started to shift and realign themselves. Gradually, the structure inverted its orientation, flipping the steps to form a conventional staircase. This seamless transformation continued until the entire building resembled a normal staircase, leading upwards from the ground.

“Why are you not going?” Yuhart said to everyone who was shocked by what was happening.

People started rushing inside based on their team numbers, divided into 140 entries. Yuhart descended from the pole and stood on his feet, revealing his unusual attire. He wore a formal suit and pants, but his pants were peculiar—one leg was significantly shorter while the other was excessively long. His shoes matched this oddity perfectly; one shoe had an extended upper part that covered his leg, compensating for the shorter pant leg, while the other had a smaller height than regular, aligning seamlessly with the longer pant leg. “Better call them before the storm swallows the whole sector,” Yuhart thought with an expressionless face and left.

Everyone was entering, including Mihak, whose eyes were looking somewhere else. “Just a bit more,” Mihak said to himself and again started looking forward. It was a surprise how Vel’s team was on the 10th rank with 630 points.

Inside the building, things were completely mixed up, with portions of the upper floor mingled with the lower portion. As the first person entered the floor without caution, they crossed the inauguration thread, breaking it. The moment the thread snapped, a huge rock above dislodged and fell rapidly. With no time to react, the rock came crashing down, sandwiching the individual beneath its immense weight. The impact was sudden and devastating, leaving no chance for escape.

out of total the 100 entrances, each equipped with an inauguration thread, 90 of them triggered similar traps as the threads broke. However, the size of the rocks varied; while most were small to medium, they still posed significant dangers to anyone caught unawares. The traps, designed to test the participants' alertness and caution, created a chaotic scene.

Participants who managed to avoid the falling rocks moved quickly, ignoring the crushed body. The atmosphere became tense and filled with a mix of fear and determination. Meanwhile, the unlucky Mihak, who seemed to be passing through the same entrance, was slowly moving with his eyes trembling as he looked through the dust towards the crushed body. “He is moving his lips and finger,” he thought. People coming from behind collided with his shoulders, urging him forward, but he was overwhelmed with memories of the past, haunted by the sight of a headless person. He slowly and somehow passed the body.

“Mrs. Rita don’t try to touch anything and leave everything as it is,” said George as they ran through the maze somewhere.

Somewhere on the 5th floor, “Aaaah, this feeling, I really feel alive,” a voice could be heard from behind the fake wall. Barely visible pipes were coming out of someone's neck into something, and a round neck of someone filled with “Treelover” on that bodyless head’s cheek.