Chapter 58: Chapter58-Invisible Barrier

'Alright, job's done. Now, let's get out of here.' Just as I was about to move away from Lia, a message popped up in front of me, grabbing my attention. [Ding, Congratulations, host! Hidden Quest: [Cucked Lia's secret fiance] has been completed!] [Objective complete: 1/1.] [Ding, Congratulations, Host! You've acquired 20 Quest Essences from the Hidden Quest, and they have been added to your Character Profile!] [Ding, Congratulations, host! Normal Quest: [Pussy Lover] has been completed!] [Objective complete: 1/1.] [Ding, Congratulations, Host! You've acquired 220 Quest Essences from the Hidden Quest, and they have been added to your Character Profile!] No way! She was engaged... I stood there, speechless. I couldn't believe it. I never expected her to be engaged to someone in the first place. Now that I think about it, I did see a white ring on her finger before, but I thought it was just another fancy ring. Who knew it was her engagement ring? I really didn't know. I tried to justify myself even though I knew it was no use. When my head was getting messed up from all those justifications, I tried to calm myself down. Calm down, Michael, calm down. Think carefully. It's not your fault; you didn't know. What can you do now? You've already committed the forbidden act. The word "secret" from the quest clearly meant the ceremony must have been conducted in secret. So, how could I have known? I touched my temples and, after a few minutes of massaging, I muttered, "So, without knowing, I messed with another guy's fiance." "Urghh..." After grumbling for a few more minutes, I finally let it go and went to bed to get some sleep. *** And, just like that, Four more days and nights passed until something mysterious happened on the fifth day. I was sitting in a chair under the scorching afternoon sun, diligently sharpening my daggers. For the past four days and nights, I'd been hunting down stray zombies that had escaped my earlier attacks, gathering their essences. It seemed like another ordinary day until two loud roars broke the silence. "What the heck?" I muttered. "Those roars, aren't they coming from those abominations?" Why are they roaring all of a sudden? In the last four days, I've been up on the rooftop, consistently fighting off zombies. During that period, these creatures remained silent, wandering the corridors without paying any attention to the zombies I was killing. I initially thought they were acquaintances, but I guess they're not. Honestly, for a moment, I thought they were robotic guards programmed to patrol the corridor rather than monsters. I mean, look at them. What kind of monsters stay quiet and locked in a room while others are fighting all around? Curious and alert, I quickly stood up, rushed to the rooftop's edge, and peered down to see what was happening. There, much to my surprise, I saw the two abominations emerging from deep within the building. Huh? Why are they coming out? Then, they suddenly dashed to the entrance of the high school and quickly went outside without even glancing at me, even though I was clearly visible from the rooftop. What's going on? They didn't even glance in my direction. That doesn't seem normal. Usually, they would have jumped onto the rooftop and tried to kill me by now. But, they didn't do it... Then suddenly, I heard Lia calling me. "Michael! Michael! Come here quickly, I have something to show you." I immediately went down to see what she wanted to show me. I rushed down the stairs, each step echoing in the silent building. As I reached the bottom, I found Lia pacing anxiously near the food storage room. Her face was pale, and her eyes wide with unease. "Lia, what is it?" I asked, my voice tinged with emotionless. "I can't get into the food storage room," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "Why not?" I asked, frowning. "What happened?"l "I don't know," she replied, shaking her head. "There's some kind of wall out there. It's not letting me enter inside." I stared at her, incredulous. "What are you talking about? Is this any time to tell jokes?" "I'm not joking, Michael," she said earnestly, looking me straight in the eye. "Believe me, there's something strange going on." I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Lia, this isn't funny. We need that food. Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?" She shook her head vehemently. "I know what I saw. I tried to push through it, but it was like hitting an invisible barrier. I couldn't get through." "Alright, alright," I muttered, still skeptical. "I'll check it out myself." Together, we walked to the food storage room. I reached out a hand, expecting to feel nothing but air. Instead, my fingers pressed against an invisible force, as if a solid wall had appeared out of nowhere. "What the..." I muttered, pushing harder. It was no use. What kind of barrier is this? It is just too strong to get through. "You see?" Lia said, her voice a mix of frustration and fear. "I told you, I'm not making this up." I stepped back, bewildered. "How is this possible? There's nothing here, but it feels like solid stone." Lia nodded. "Exactly. It's like some kind of magic or... I don't know. Something we can't explain." I looked at her and paused... Can you at least say something useful? What do you mean by "Can't explain"? Then, I stared at the invisible barrier, my mind racing. "We need to figure this out. We can't afford to lose access to the food storage." "Do you think it has something to do with those roars we heard earlier?" Lia asked. "Maybe," I replied, my eyes narrowing. "Something changed, and whatever it is, it's affecting the building. We need to find out what's causing this." We stood there for a moment, silent and contemplative, before I turned to Lia. "Let's search the rest of the building. Maybe we'll find some clues." She nodded, the nervousness in her eyes replaced by determination. "Right. Let's go." We headed off in different directions around the archery center. I tried to enter the left part of the archery center, but I couldn't. There was another invisible wall there. After wandering around, I realized it's just the same invisible wall continuing. I guess I'm trapped in here. After thinking about it, I figured out that this barrier might be an invisible wall surrounding some kind of zone I'm in. I've played many battle games, so it was pretty obvious to me. But I was still curious if my theory was correct or not. To find out, we have to wait. But if we wait, we might get trapped in this center. So, no, I'm not going to stay here for very long. Usually, in video games, the invisible barrier moves forward slowly, shrinking the safe zone. The safe zone becomes smaller, leading to a... Nah, nah.. Doesn't this mean that this barrier will also get smaller? Given that it suddenly appeared out of a think air, it is hard to predict but, this might be most likely scenario. If it does, then I'm doomed because in the end, the zone will be very small, causing a large-scale battle with monsters, and these will be high-rank types. Darn it, what should I do now? Sitting and waiting is not an option. Fighting the monsters is an option, but if a monster like an Abomination appears, I can only escape by using a dash kill. However, if the zone becomes too small by then, I might not be able to escape, leading to a life-and-death situation that could end up in my opponent's favor. So, I'm not choosing that either. After thinking for a few seconds, I finally came up with an idea that might help me survive: regroup and hide with others. Besides me and Lia, there should be many guests who got transported here, and surely at least two or three higher ranks among them. If I regroup with them and stay low, when they fight the stronger monsters, I can easily escape their battle and shift the pressure onto my team. They might be mad at me if they survive the battle, but there's also a chance they might get wiped out. But what if I pretend to be injured and stay out of the fight? During the battle, I could try to get injured by a low-rank monster and step ou- Oh, wait! They might have healing potions like me, so they could heal me, which would ruin my plan... Forget it... All these ideas are risky, and if not done correctly, they might fail. If I keep thinking like this, I won't come up with any ideas. Let's regroup with the others first and then make a plan. I immediately turned back and headed toward the previous place. Sometimes I bumped into the invisible walls, but I didn't mind since it was hard to keep track of where they were. When I got back, I saw Lia waiting for me. As soon as she saw me, she started to say, "Michael, the wall is" I cut her off mid-sentence. "I know, I know what you are going to say, so please don't say it. I already know about it." "Are you sure?" she asked. "Do I look like a dumb idiot to you?" I snapped. "No, no, I was just asking," she replied quickly. But still, I overheard her part of the conversation to confirm if I was on the right track. After hearing it, I realized I was correct, as she relayed the same information I had gathered a few minutes earlier, but in less detail. "Pack your stuff I mean, get ready. We are leaving this place." "But where should we stay?" she asked, sounding worried. "There are many places out there, so just do it fast," I said. She nodded and hurried off to gather her things. I took a moment to collect my thoughts, making sure I was in a good state of mind. In the last few days, I hadn't slept much because I wasn't used to sleeping in strange places, especially on a bench instead of a comfortable bed or sofa... Which is why It was important for me to check my mind... I didn't have a headache at the moment, and that was a relief. Then, I turned my attention back to the current situation. We didn't have much time to waste. Once we were ready, we moved out together, carefully navigating the maze of invisible walls. "We need to find the others and regroup," I said. "We'll be safer in a larger group." She nodded in agreement. With that, we departed from the school building and headed towards the inner city to find the others.