"Huh?"
I stared at the notification in front of with a blank expression.
’One minute? What do you an I have one minute...?’
This had never happened to before. While I wasn’t flustered, I was still surprised. Nonetheless, I quickly snapped out of it and frowned.
"This makes the situation more troubleso."
I had purposely saved up my points in order to spend them at the gate. However, it seed like this was no longer an option.
I frowned before thinking about all the items that were available in the shop.
Unlike the past, I was quite aware of the scenario of the gate.
Looking around the room, my gaze settled on a small wooden table resting in the centre. An unlit candle sat beside it, its wax cold and cracked from years of neglect. Next to the candle lay a weathered wooden board etched with strange runes and letters. It looked no different than an Ouija board.
’No, that’s exactly what it is.’
The room was empty besides .
The other mbers were all in similar rooms.
The goal of the mission was simple. It was to use the board to ask questions and figure out who the ’possessed’ was. The main issue was that we all had one question each, and the only questions we could ask were ’Yes’ or ’No’ questions.
Furthermore, the ’possessed’ could make the board lie once.
At the sa ti, the possessed could hunt the others and turn them into possessed to hunt the others. There was a ti limit of 66 minutes, and in that ti, if the ’pri possessed’ wasn’t found, then the gate would fail and we’d all be stuck here.
This wasn’t supposed to be a hard challenge considering how we had a direct list of questions we could ask to figure out the possessed.
However, I understood that things were probably not going to be this simple.
’There’s a good chance that the possessed can lie more than once.’
This was the main issue.
If it could lie more than once, then it would make the entire situation more difficult to solve.
I pursed my lips and sorted through all the available items in the shop.
In the end, I decided to buy one item.
---
[Salt of the Sacred Rite]
: Pure white salt with an unusual crystalline pattern. Sprinkling it around a door or window creates a temporary ward that blocks spirits once.
Beware: Ineffective after one use.
Consumable.
Price: 12,000 GP
---
*Puff*
A small bag appeared from above as I caught it.
Imdiately after that, notifications appeared on my screen again.
[The ti limit is up]
[The shop is now closed]
[Best of luck!]
’Luck my ass...’
I shook my head before looking at the small bags in my hand. Opening up and seeing the salt in it, I looked at it before closing the bag again.
’This should be able to save once.’
I wanted to buy more, but it was only useful once.
"Okay, I think I’m ready."
I turned my attention towards the wooden table and the flickering candle. The candle was a sort of tistamp. The mont it completely burned out was the mont that the ti was up.
At the sa ti as I moved to the table, I opened up the salt bag and scattered it around . I also put so near the door.
There was just enough that it could cover the entrance, too.
’This should be able to guarantee that I won’t be the affected one.’
Taking off my bag, I retrieved a small walkie-talkie.
I pressed on the communication.
"I’m ready. Is everyone ready?"
I waited for the next couple of minutes before I received ssages from the others.
—Yes, I am here.
—...I am also ready. I’m inside a weird room.
—We’re all in rooms.
—I am also ready.
— too.
—Mhm.
Seeing that all six mbers were ready, I nodded and took a deep breath, ntally prepping myself for the upcoming scenario.
If there was one thing that I noticed while entering the scenario as opposed to the tis in the past, it was the fact that I wasn’t as scared as I expected myself to be. This wasn’t even because of the weird ’side effects’ that I had been experiencing.
It really did seem that after everything that I had gone through, my tolerance for horror had increased.
’I honestly didn’t expect this, but this is good.’
Clearing my throat, I brought the walkie-talkie to my mouth.
"Okay, light up the candle next to you. The mont you do, the scenario will begin. Most of you are already aware of what will happen, so proceed as planned. If sothing out of the ordinary happens or you notice anything, report it imdiately."
My words were t with silence, but the silence was confirmation to that they had all heard.
"Start."
Taking out a lighter, I lit up the candle.
A faint flicker manifested the mont I did, and the atmosphere changed. Suddenly, the torches that were around the room turned off, and the door that had been open slamd shut.
Bang!
I didn’t flinch and kept my expression firm as the surroundings seed to shift.
The shadows ford by the candles seed to stretch around , almost as if they had turned into invisible hands that were trying to grasp .
Certain whispers that I couldn’t quite make out lingered in the air for the next several seconds until...
Silence.
The room turned incredibly silent.
I pressed on the walkie-talkie.
"Is everyone done?"
—....
—....
—....
—....
—....
—...
My words were t with silence.
I opened my mouth and asked again.
"Anyone?"
But...
Yet again, I was t with silence.
It was at this mont that my heart slowly sank as I closed my eyes and put the walkie-talkie down.
"As expected. Things are never easy when I’m participating."
The scenario...
It had, without a doubt, already changed.
This was sothing that I had expected, and as such, I wasn’t very flustered. This was also sothing that we had already discussed in advance.
We had already taken into account the possibility of the walkie-talkies not working.
As such, staring at the candle, I slowly turned my attention towards the board, and placed my hand over the plachette. I waited like this for the next several minutes until a change occurred.
Skkrrr—
I felt a cold touch over my hand as the plachette moved on its own.
The candle next to flickered violently as the plachette continued to move and the room plunged into a state of coldness.
Then...
’Is... the possessed a female?’
A soft voice whispered in the air. The voice was cold, but it was recognizable. It was Joanna’s voice.
Holding my breath, the pointer stopped at ’No’
I wasn’t relieved by the answer.
The possessed could lie.
Thankfully, we had already planned this in advance.
The fla danced again, shadows crawling as the cold deepened. My hand, nearly numb now, returned the plachette to its starting point.
"Is... the possessed a female?"
Another voice.
Min.
The pointer moved once more...
Yes.
I froze and felt a noticeable shift in the air.
One yes. One no.
It suddenly beca clear.
One of the two... was lying.
And just as if that wasn’t enough...
Kh, Kh—
A sudden static sound ca out from the walkie-talkies. Slowly turning my attention towards them, the walkie-talkies started working again.
This...
Wasn’t this a little too coincidental?
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