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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 208: Room 104, Curse Room - ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’ Re (2)
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[User: Han Ga-in (Wisdom)
Date: Day 97
Current Location: Level 1, Room 104 - Curse Room ‘Hotel High, the Prestigious Academy’
Sage’s Advice: X]
- Han Ga-in
Heavenly light settled over Aurelia.
We couldn't move rashly. It was better to yield the first strike than attack first and prevent Elena from using Justice. Wearing the Protective Suit and apparently prepared to take the first blow, A-ri stepped forward again. Aurelia, faintly glowing, was just as mysterious as before. How could an ordinary human not worship a being like that?
“As the Daughter of Heaven, I declare that none of you here today shall die.”
?
“Before that, I wish to question the daughter of the Newly Risen One regarding the truth. At this moment, toward whom do the Scales of Justice lean?”
??
“I have done you no harm. None of the believers here attacked you. Yet you arrived here after cutting down teachers and believers alike. I ask you, do you truly believe justice is on your side?”
The shock was so great I nearly stopped breathing. Elena answered, flustered.
“Do you think we don't know you're carrying out an evil ritual here? You're replacing people!”
“We did not replace them. We merely saved them. Even if we did replace them, as you claim, did even one of the ‘originals’ die? They are all here, safe and well.”
“You brainwashed people and kidnapped them-”
“That is nothing more than an absurd distortion, but I shall accept your claim. To the ignorant, it may appear that way. Even if there was brainwashing and kidnapping, can you, who killed teachers today, truly call yourselves innocent? Do you intend to punish us as criminals?”
I frowned. The moment we brought up the cultists' crimes, she countered by asking whether we were without sin? Wasn't that a textbook tu quoque fallacy? Still, the fact that there was a term for that sort of logical fallacy meant it worked remarkably well on people. Sure enough, Elena was flustered and couldn't answer.
“Of course, you may have wished to protect your companions, and that too could be called a kind of greater cause. Therefore, I swear once again in the name of God. I will not kill any of you here today.”
That statement, that conversation. There was no room for misunderstanding. Aurelia knew the mechanism of Justice! By pointing out that we weren't in the right, she blocked the condition for Justice to manifest. Then, by swearing in God's name not to kill us, she was trying to block even self-defense.
This was bewildering. She wasn't even a Prisoner, only an Adversary, at most an NPC within the Hotel. How could she understand the principles of a blessing so thoroughly? The principles of Justice weren't even fixed. They differed every time depending on the person who received the blessing. Aurelia wasn't merely aware of the blessing of Justice. She was responding as though specifically countering Elena's Justice.
Think calmly.
During the first attempt, Aurelia hadn't said anything about the Newly Risen One, nor had she tried to understand and counter the mechanism of Justice as she was doing now. That meant it wasn't information she'd known from the beginning. Once this became the second attempt, someone had fed her information she couldn't have known otherwise.
‘Father has delivered His word...’
The situation was clear. A being within the scenario couldn't possibly realize the Hotel's system on its own. But the Lord was different. It would be stranger if the Lord didn't know. Prisoners knew about the Hotel in the first place.
Questions kept leading to more questions. It was natural enough that a Prisoner would know about blessings. But how could the Lord convey that information to Aurelia?
It was strange. If Prisoners could run free like this, Curse Rooms could never be resolved. If this were possible, other Prisoners would have told the Adversaries about us from the first attempt onward.
Why could the Lord do something other Prisoners couldn't? The Owl's advice from long ago faintly crossed my mind.
‘The Lord set up a situation where everyone could benefit.’
Was that arrangement the cause of this incomprehensible situation?
... For now, stop thinking.
At this rate, Justice would remain sealed while Aurelia alone would transform into an angel to face us. Her oath in God's name not to kill us probably wasn't a lie, but didn't that mean she could do anything she wanted as long as she didn't kill us?
A pillar of light descended. At the same time, everyone shouted.
“Attack now!”
We weren't the same as before. Just because we didn't have Justice didn't mean we had no power to use!
A wave that felt as though it were pressing down on my skin spread outward. With a white flash, the cultist at the front turned the muzzle toward the rear. The girl in the Protective Suit charged in, treating the bullets like BB pellets. A nightmare beast born beyond Ominous Imagination began to howl.
Then a book appeared in my hand.
“I-I'll move to the rear with Eun-sol!”
Of course, not everyone was suited for battle. Kim Sang-hyeon moved to the rear.
* * *
The instant the battle began, every cultist who had pointed a gun at us collapsed. The Star and the bracelet didn't even need to unleash their power in earnest. The grotesque larva that appeared beside Elena!
That being, too horrifying to dream about, seemed to sing a strange song. Less than three seconds later, madness spread like wildfire. Everyone, even us, stared at Elena in amazement as dozens of soldiers lay on the ground. Of course, there was no time to be impressed. We had never been worried about a cultist army with such poor equipment anyway.
When Aurelia stretched out her hand, blazing heat beams cut through the air. At the same time, A-ri leaped forward and threw herself in their path, blocking them with her body!
In that instant of opening, I quickly approached Aurelia and attempted Possession. A terrible pain shot through my head, as if a bundle of dozens of needles were stabbing into it. Had it failed? Was Aurelia, using the power of Heaven, at too high a rank for Possession to affect her?
But it hadn't been completely ineffective! Aurelia's entire body trembled for a moment, as though she had experienced something similar. Seizing that opening, Cha Jin-cheol pressed the Star against Aurelia's body, and all the light dwelling within her dimmed.
“Who exactly are you? Are you apostles of the Newly Risen One?”
A-ri spoke in disbelief.
“Sorry, but I don't even know who that is.”
Who was this Newly Risen One she kept talking about? Instead of answering, Aurelia kicked off the ground with enough force to shatter the concrete, then sent A-ri flying, Protective Suit and all, with a punch. Despite weighing nearly two hundred kilograms altogether, A-ri flew over ten meters as lightly as a rubber ball.
But someone inside the Protective Suit wouldn't die from that much. We had to keep up the offensive. Sure enough, A-ri got up and dusted herself off as though it were nothing.
I quickly looked around. Countless cultists had been incapacitated the moment the battle began, exposed to the power of the Star and Ominous Imagination.
... Ordinary humans who had lost their minds and collapsed couldn't possibly endure the aftermath of a battle between superhumans. None of us had attacked the cultists directly, but dozens had already become chunks of flesh from stray attacks and the shock waves emitted by the Star alone.
Aurelia's eyes filled with rage as she realized what had happened.
“How dare you! I will-”
“Try to kill us?”
“... I will never kill you.”
The ominous singing rang through the plaza again. As the larva beside Elena sang, Aurelia's brow furrowed sharply. Could that song target only Aurelia?
It didn't matter. I used Possession once more, and the bracelet on Song-i's arm flashed as she stood against the wall, as though waiting for that very moment.
“You fucking bastards! How dare you!”
“For a self-proclaimed god's daughter, you sure have a foul mouth. Have some of this!”
From behind the staggering Aurelia, Cha Jin-cheol brought down the Star on her like a hand axe. As Aurelia roared in rage and threw a punch powerful enough to send a car flying, A-ri caught it with the Protective Suit once again.
Without missing that opening, Cha Jin-cheol approached again and struck Aurelia with the Star. The waves of light that had never left Aurelia's body since the battle began slowly started to fade. The tactic was working. Elena, Song-i, and I restrained her with our own abilities, A-ri blocked her attacks with the Protective Suit, and Cha Jin-cheol dealt the decisive blows with the power of the Star.
A sharp sense of incongruity struck me. Since Justice was sealed, I had thought this would be a far harder and more painful battle, one where more than half of us would die...
While six superhumans fought desperately, there were people who stood a step away from the battle, thinking deeply instead of joining it.
Lee Eun-sol: This is strange. Why isn't she flying?
Kim Sang-hyeon: Could she fly originally?
The moment we saw those words in the Chat Window, everyone's faces filled with confusion at once!
That was the source of the strange feeling I'd had all along. Even if this was an underground city, there was more than enough space to fly. Then why was Aurelia fighting us on the ground instead of trying to take to the sky? If she simply flew up, a significant number of us would lose most of our combat ability.
Her inability to fly wasn't the only problem. Where had the strength gone, the strength that had revived the dead with a single prayer and overwhelmed Elena after she activated Justice?
Only about five minutes had passed since the battle began, yet victory was already tilting toward us. I had thought we could win if we combined everyone's strength, but not that we would seem likely to win within five minutes.
Confusion was one thing, but a fight was another. We couldn't suddenly pull back!
I attempted Possession again. When Aurelia's stance broke, A-ri pounced on her and held her down, while Cha Jin-cheol tried to shove the Star into her mouth.
--- Boom!
Was that the last of her hidden power? Aurelia suddenly unleashed tremendous strength, throwing both A-ri and Jin-cheol aside before firing heat beams from her fingertips. I had to roll across the ground in a panic. In an instant, the distance between us widened.
Aurelia and the rest of us both began catching our breath. Aurelia was a mess. The light her entire body had emitted was clearly dimmer than before, more than half her clothes were torn, and the torn areas had been contaminated by the Star until she no longer even looked human.
There was nowhere for Aurelia to run. We had the passage out of this underground city behind us! Despair appeared on Aurelia's face. Yet we, who had begun to harbor doubts, couldn't guarantee victory either.
Where exactly was the Lord?
“Fath-er...”
“Father? You mean the Lord, right? Where is that bastard, and what is he doing?”
Had Aurelia already stopped hearing me? She ignored my words and let out a despairing breath.
“Why do You not answer me...? Why have You abandoned me...?”
The instant Aurelia's cry, filled with pain, echoed through the underground city, flames appeared in the air, devouring the cultists' corpses scattered across the underground city.
Footnotes:
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