Alain and Millie walked to the door. After gently closing it, he looked up again. "Here...is?"
Millie glanced around; in the pure darkness, only a trace of crimson light could be seen.
What entered their vision seemed to be an enclosed corridor. The bright red decorated walls were covered with clearly visible scratch marks of some kind.
Alain looked ahead, his gaze extending to a corner of the corridor.
The crimson light obscured the corner, revealing a shadow undulating like a sea wave beyond it.
It seemed to be liquid, its entire body ebbing and flowing.
Alain tentatively offered his hand to Millie. She didn't refuse, instead, in her inner urgency, she gripped it tightly.
"Stay behind me. If something's wrong, I'll grab you and run immediately."
As the girl grasped the corner of his clothes, Alain once again confirmed the version number on the ring.
Strangely enough... their original target should have been version 1.5, followed by 1.3B.
However, at this moment, what was displayed on the ring was version 1.3B.
"What on earth... is going on?"
The only thing Alain could think of was: the ring's guidance function had malfunctioned, causing them to arrive at 1.3B ahead of schedule.
Since they were already here, exploring a bit wasn't a bad idea.
Holding Millie's hand, Alain slowly walked forward.
At this point, the best course of action was to first see clearly what the shadow in the corner actually was.
He whispered. The fire axe from before had been thrown by him as a projectile when fighting the human-headed spiders.
Now his hands were empty, which made him feel rather insecure.
"Want to borrow my hammer?" The girl pulled out the rubber inflatable mallet from her equipment bar.
Taking the hammer, although its lethality didn't look like much, it was better than nothing.
Continuing forward, the darkness surrounding the two grew deeper. And the light from the corner became more elusive, even the menacing shadow seemed to fill the entire corridor. The distance to the corner wasn't long, about ten seconds or so, and they reached the end.
And Alain, leaning against the corner, poked his head out and looked towards the outside.
There... was a corridor leading to an unknown place, but a figure blocked the way.
It had six to eight long, narrow legs like a spider's, propping its body high up, reaching the ceiling.
And the gap beneath its encircling legs seemed to be composed of a large mass of flowing black water, irregularly overlapping and then loosening.
It seemed to emit a sound that was difficult to discern as words, and it was unclear if it had discovered the two of them, but it slowly turned around.
And Alain clearly saw that this creature had a pale human head, seemingly of the same origin as the human-headed spiders, positioned in the center of the spider legs, on top of a slime-like body.
The head had long hair, the same deathly white as its skin, appearing to be female, or a woman. Its lips were black, like long-dried bloodstains.
Mumbling from its mouth, its hollow gaze met Alain's directly.
The first moment he saw it, Alain understood that this was an enemy he absolutely couldn't defeat in his current state.
At the very least, it was a creature of the same caliber as the perfected worm, perhaps even stronger.
Only the Altered Form could compare to it.
It began to move, its liquid-like body undulating, its legs walking in unison, moving towards the young man and the girl, a crimson light emanating from the depths of its eyes.
And at a certain moment, Alain noticed that something seemed to be floating inside its body.
In the dim light, it appeared too hazy. If only he could get a little closer.
Just then, as Alain leaned against the wall, a sound seemed to appear faintly beside his ear.
It was like the sound of a stylus etching words.
Alain followed the sound and found...On the previously empty wall, a line of writing had appeared.
Beside the writing, there was an arrow pointing towards the door they had come from.
"Alain, it's very dangerous now." Millie also spoke up from the side, trying to dissuade him. "That monster, once I have the greatsword, I'll definitely help you conquer it. But at least for now..." "Mm, I understand."
Millie was even calling him by his name, which was enough to show the urgency of the situation.
Reaching a conclusion, Alain, gripping Millie's hand, quickly ran towards the door behind them.
The monster, seeing its "guests" flee, also increased its speed, like a giant wave, closely tailing the two of them.
The distance between the corner and the door was about five meters. If they ran, it would be over in an instant.
His hand reached the door, the ring's dark green light faintly flickering.
The moment he opened the door, a line of writing flashed briefly on it, and Alain saw it clearly:
Stepping out of the door, they returned to the previous small, square room.
He didn't rush to close the door, but instead looked towards the corridor of version 1.3B.
The monster was still about 3 meters from the door. Given its speed, he still had a few seconds to observe.
Alain wanted to see clearly what exactly was floating inside that creature's body.
He used the light from the square room to illuminate a corner of the monster; its murky, liquid body was still not very clear.
If only he could get a little closer.
"Alain!" Millie, rarely so serious, gripped the corner of his clothes tightly, not stopping him, ready to pull him back at any moment.
Bro... Is really as foolish as my dear. Usually unreliable, but in such life-threatening situations, you can entrust your safety to them with peace of mind.
Then, I absolutely must see clearly."
He tightened his grip on Millie's hand, and Millie gripped his in return, ready to escape to safety together, to survive together.
The monster was still one meter from the door. Alain narrowed his eyes.
Finally, the light from the square room illuminated the monster's entire body. In the obscure, liquid body, he could finally make out somewhat clearly what it was.
Alain's pupils contracted suddenly, and he immediately slammed the door shut.
With a loud "Thud!", the square room returned to tranquility.
The peace after immense pressure made Alain lean against the solid wall to alleviate his apprehension.
To do such a risky thing when Clean Up Acceleration wasn't available...
So thrilling, I'll do it again next time.
"Th-this is too exciting! By the way, what on earth were you trying to do just now?"
Millie intended to let go of his hand, but Alain still held it tightly, so she had no choice but to let him.
"I saw just now, something seems to be floating inside the human-headed monster's body."
He explained, handing back the rubber hammer. Recalling the scene he had witnessed, "It's...a human figure."
Millie put the rubber hammer back into her equipment bar. Hearing Alain's words, her face turned slightly pale.
Looking at the girl's frightened face, Alain patted her hat.
Millie didn't care about the wrinkles in her hat this time, just gripped Alain's hand again.
And Alain recalled the scene he had just seen, illuminated by the light.
Inside the human-headed monster's liquid body, a human figure floated.
The figure, judging by its shape...
Greetings! āØ Walnut here with another translation! Saint Seiya united by their strength!
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