I sat crouched near the man, staring blankly at the burning red desert.

By the entrance of the cave, people were already gathering in droves.

"Can’t you just let me in, even if it’s just one person?"

"Please, at least let my child in!"

A large crowd had formed at the cave entrance, pleading to be allowed inside.

I asked the man if we could admit up to 99 people, but he said it wouldn’t work.

If the man said it was impossible, then it must be.

I sat on a flat rock, resting my chin in my hands, and watched the people.

"Isn’t this 100-person limit just something you made up?"

"If interpreting Objects were that easy, why would there be so many research labs?"

"Have them re-interpret it! Look at the size of the cave. It could probably hold a thousand people!"

The atmosphere grew tense as angry people crowded the entrance, protesting.

It felt like they were about to force their way in at any moment.

Inside or outside the cave, the only things people wanted were water and shade, so why were they so desperate to get in?

A mutilated body with its legs cut off still lay discarded at the cave entrance.

When someone suggested removing it, the adults insisted it should stay as a warning.

The man was sweating profusely as he carried water and handed it out to the people at the cave entrance.

I wish he’d pay even half that much attention to me...

"We’ve reached the limit."

One of the Trinity researchers spoke in a low, ominous voice.

"Huh?"

What does he mean by ‘limit’? I turned to look, but the Trinity researchers who had been loitering by the entrance were already gone.

When the angry crowd finally dispersed, the man looked tired and darkened as he took a moment to rest.

"Is there a problem?" I asked him.

"The shade outside the cave is nearly full. If more people come, it’s going to cause trouble."

"A limit?"

"Yes, miss. We’ve reached the limit."

It was only now that I understood what the Trinity researchers had meant.

As I was chatting with the man, the atmosphere in the cave suddenly shifted.

"A monster! A monster has appeared!"

A grotesque creature was crawling along the ceiling, glaring down at us.

It was so terrifying that I instinctively grabbed the man’s hand tightly.

Its arms were long and whip-like.

Its eyes were grotesquely large.

With blue skin and bulging black veins, the creature was horrifying.

"What is that?"

"No one said anything about something like this appearing!"

Panic spread among the people, their voices filled with terror.

The creatures, drooling black saliva, seemed to be licking the air as they looked over the crowd.

Were they searching for something?

A low, rumbling growl emanated from the creatures, sounding almost like mocking laughter.

"Miss, keep your voice down and follow me closely," the man whispered urgently.

His voice, calm and steady, reassured me, making me feel a little safer.

The man skillfully moved us to the center of the cave, cautiously scanning the area.

He spoke in a hushed voice. "I don’t see the two Trinity researchers."

"They’ve been missing for a while. Could they have been the first victims, deep in the cave?"

"That’s possible, but we should consider the alternatives. Two intelligent monsters and two missing researchers... It’s suspicious."

I whispered back to the man, feeling less afraid now that I was holding his hand.

The monsters, which had been observing the crowd closely, suddenly scuttled down from the ceiling like cockroaches and positioned themselves to block the entrance.

At the same moment, the man yanked my arm, almost painfully, and started running deeper into the cave.

"Screams and the sounds of blood and flesh being torn apart echoed from the entrance as I glanced back.

The monsters were thrashing their whip-like arms, slicing people to pieces.

We ran as far as the altar beyond the lake, but it was a dead end.

In no time, the monsters caught up to us.

As they slithered closer from both sides, the man shouted at them.

"Why are Trinity researchers doing this?"

"Huh? Well, obviously..."

One of the monsters suddenly began to speak like a person.

The man was right—the monsters were the Trinity researchers!

But just as the monster started to talk, the other monster struck it with its whip-like arm, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Ah, Team Leader, if you hit me out of the blue, I’ll be hurt."

"Do you want someone to hear you blabbing on?"

The monsters, though their speech was awkward, were definitely speaking our language.

"Didn’t you just finish counting and killing everyone? Who cares if someone hears?"

"Did you think someone outside might hear? I told you to be cautious!"

The monster, called the team leader, turned and said, "It doesn’t matter why. Just kill them."

With a nod from the team leader, the other monster lashed out at me with incredible speed.

Even though death was looming, I couldn’t quite grasp the reality of it.

A loud crack sounded as blood splattered everywhere.

The man, who had been shielding me with his body, took the hit.

"A... Are you okay?"

As the searing pain in my stomach intensified, everything went black.

When the Black Agent and the blonde girl collapsed into a heap on the ground, the Trinity team leader shouted.

"You idiot! I told you to leave one of them alive!"

"I didn’t expect anyone to shield someone else in a moment like that. They didn’t even look like family, given their different hair colors..."

As the teammate grumbled, inspecting the bodies, they suddenly called out to the team leader.

"Team Leader! This kid is still alive!"

"What? How is that possible? With our power, we should’ve been able to kill ten people at once."

"This girl has a valuable Object. It’s one of those from China, rumored to be made from ten thousand people’s lives. It’s said to guarantee survival at least once. It’s pretty effective."

The teammate noted as the girl, who had only lost consciousness, continued to sleep peacefully.

"Could she be the daughter of someone important? This complicates things."

The team leader, though troubled, began placing the girl on the altar.

"Well, there’s no turning back now. As long as we don’t get caught, it won’t matter."

The Trinity researchers, now back in human form, began retrieving clothes they had hidden in a corner and dressing.

Once fully dressed, the team leader picked up the ceremonial dagger from the altar, preparing to stab the girl in the heart.

As he did so, the teammate voiced their concerns.

"Are you sure about this interpretation?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, to be honest, your interpretation rate is just over 50%. I’m a little uneasy about this. Why don’t we just hide in the cave and wait for rescue?"

"Hmm, that might seem safer, but after attacking someone’s important daughter, we can’t just sit and wait."

The teammate whispered in agreement, "Ah, right. There’s no turning back now."

The team leader then drove the dagger into the girl’s heart.

In that instant, the team leader disappeared without a trace.

"Team Leader? Team Leader?"

Frustrated, the teammate scratched his head.

"Ugh, what a pain."

It seemed that only one person could escape for every sacrifice.

"Well, if I clean up the cave, someone else will probably show up as a sacrifice."

The teammate muttered to himself as he started walking toward the cave entrance.

Hmm, this definitely looks like the red skull.

Even after inspecting it from different angles with my hand camera, it was clear that this was indeed the red skull.

The massive skull with its mouth wide open and its arms creating shadows on the ground.

It felt as though, once the destruction condition was met, it would spring to life and wreak havoc.

As I approached the rock that looked like a red skull, I noticed people loitering around it, clearly afraid.

"They say the monsters came out of the cave and killed everyone."

"What are we going to do? If we don’t go there, we won’t be able to find any water..."

As I stealthily approached in my ghostly form, I overheard their serious conversation.

This area hadn’t been reached by the Golden Reapers yet, so none of the people had them on their shoulders.

The Golden Reapers were moving a bit slower than I was, focusing on rescuing people, so there was no helping it.

There were too many people hanging around the rock.

If I awakened the red skull, too many people would get hurt.

As I pondered this, a thought suddenly popped into my mind.

Hehe.

I just came up with a fun idea.

Boom!

Sand exploded everywhere.

"It’s the Gray Reaper!"

"The Reaper is here!"

The Gray Reaper appeared suddenly.

It ambushed us while we were resting in the shade near the cave.

Having recently witnessed the massacre at the cave, we were terrified and began to flee.

The Gray Reaper burst out of the sand, grabbing at our feet and dragging us down.

If you get dragged off by a top-tier dangerous Object...

It’s almost certain death.

"Gasp, gasp."

Catching my breath, I looked down to see the Gray Reaper, half-buried in the sand, glaring up at me.

"Ahh! Help!"

Another one of my companions was caught by the Gray Reaper and was struggling desperately.

Why is the Gray Reaper here?

"Haha, the rock! Get to the rock!"

A companion who had climbed up onto a rock laughed and called out to us.

"You idiot! Run!"

But behind him, the Gray Reaper had already emerged, its head sticking out from the top of the rock, staring blankly at him.

The Gray Reaper’s hands emerged from the red rock, grabbing his ankles.

"Aaahhh!"

My companion, who had climbed onto the rock, tried to escape by climbing higher, but the rock was only so large.

Eventually, our desperate flight continued until we were far away from the cave.

And when I looked back to catch my breath, I saw the Gray Reaper’s head moving through the sand like a shark’s fin.