pearl of wisdom

[Season 2] Chapter 44 - Dreaming Earth

"Eliminate. Eliminate. Eliminate all those on this floor who may be dangerous. Eliminate!!" The platform adorned with numerous glinting spikes lined uniformly creaked, falling down onto you as you stared up at it, summoning your lighthouses around you and casting Androssi, who had fallen unconscious during the turbulent fall, into a shinsu bubble. The surface meant to eliminate you descended- you glanced at the wall's end, peeking out onto the safer horizons. Your lighthouse whirred, multiple squares coming to each face.

And in an instant there was a reverberating crash behind you, dust flickering in the atmosphere as the surface lifted from the ground loitered with cone-shaped dents. Diverting your attention to Androssi, you hummed to yourself, enabling your lighthouse to scan your comrade's physique and the new environment.

This must be the Hidden Floor's quarantine area- a beep came with the typical water-patterned glimmer of your lighthouse, the moonlight-dyed reflections fading as your lighthouse displayed the structure of the environment, two nearby blinking dots instantly gaining your attention, a plethora of other dots on different levels moving around idly.

Could one of them be Baam? I nearly have no doubt that he was quarantined too, however I'm not too sure who's with him. . . and this is . . . a sphere labyrinth?

You started walking after second, deciding to head over to Baam first, Andorssi's bubble following behind you as you navigated through the quarantine area. It doesn't take too long for you to teleport to him, encasing him in another bubble just as the sound of footsteps apprached- "Are you here to retrieve them?"

Diverting your gaze to the approaching data human, you surpassed a heavy sigh, "Yu Han Sung. . ."

I don't know if I should be surprised or not. . .

"Haha, I see you know me. I don't know you though." He grinned, holding a cup of coffee in his hands. You nodded plainly, "You're his data he left after clearing the Hell Train, I'm aware."

"Nice to meet you. It looks like you already know the outside me. Have a cup of warm coffee." He handed you the paper cup filled with steaming instant coffee- you promptly placed it inside your lighthouse as he walked away, expecting you to follow. Without much of a choice, you trailed after him.

". . . How did you know Baam would be here?"

The data human grinned over his shoulder, "I'm not sure. It's a kind of intuition. . . it's like I heard it somewhere."

". . . I see." Thusly, he led you around the area, into a spiral staircase without another word. For a while, there was silence, "What is the real purpose of this place? A quarantine area has no need for a complex labyrinth."

"You're quick to catch on. This place is called the Fruit of Good and Evil, a place for those who may harm the balance of the Hidden Floor. From the outside this place is a gigantic sphere. The heroes use stages as the set-up to clear the Hidden Floor, and whenever this stage ends, we're trapped deep underground by the giant holding this place. But first, we're going to the seed, the center of the sphere and the only safe place in this fruit where solider's can't enter to get my companions." Han Sung explained, walking up the staircase as you glanced at your lighthouses, ". . . I understand, you're in an everlasting cycle of being dragged underground."

"Right, we don't have much time. We have to escape from this place before then. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in complete darkness until the next heroes appear." He chuckled, "Oh, there's something else you should know. If you attempt to disturb the balance of this place, your sworn enemy appears from somewhere and tries to eliminate you. They are instinctively able to detect your location. In this world, you guys are currently designated as quarantined people so your sworn enemies may appear soon. Your sworn enemy keeps being generated somewhere no matter how many times you destroy them, so they're a real nuisance."