Ren was hatching a plan in his mind. There was still at least a fifty meters or so from where they stood to the shore that had the door to the next room. He deducted that they would need at least fifteen minutes or so to get to the other side.

[Teleportation] and other skills related to escaping the viscous liquid didn't work here, leaving them any choice but to wade the waters.

"What's the plan, Ren?" Roxy asked, biting her nails to keep herself from jumping on her toes.

After a short second of pause, Ren faced the others. "How good is your math?"

Roxy grumbled at just the thought of numbers. "Terrible."

"Passable." Ragnar shrugged.

"Please, don't tell me that we need to solve calculus or something while going in there blind."

"Better yet," Ren smirked, "Estimate. See those walls?"

Ragnar and Roxy looked over to where Ren was pointing. "In every dungeon, each room always has hidden clues that can help with solving the puzzles. The objects stuck on the wall might appear random at first, but it actually indicates the coordinates of all slimes."

"If my theory is correct, each object is equivalent to about a meter, give or take."

"There's a lot of margin of error," said Ragnar. "You can't just measure things with your eyes."

"Don't worry, I measured it with my feet. That's how I came out with an estimate," responded Ren.

Ragnar was stunned, but then he burst out laughing. "So that's why you've been so slow." They were at the very end of the group, and that was all because Ren was taking the lead.

"I'm just amazed that he even thought of doing that."

"So you want us to measure with our feet?" Ragnar got the point easily, and he had to admit . . . he was impressed with the idea. If you know the size of your feet then with just simple conversion they could indeed measure using that as a parameter.

Ren nodded. "That's right. But to make sure that all of us get out of here alive, I'll do the counting," he said it more to Roxy, and the latter looked away, whistling with a I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about face.

Ren then added, "You guys hold hands or something while Roxy, you hold my robe so none of us would get lost and trigger some slime."

Roxy was very much into what Ren said, and she looked over at Ragnar with her grey eyes that shone with expectation. "Should we hold hands?" This was Ragnar Axis they were talking about!

How many people had the chance to hold hands with him in their entire life? Yet a nobody like her would get that chance right now!

However, Ragnar's reply smacked Roxy back to reality, giving her a mini heartbreak.

"You can hold my axe," Ragnar told her.

"Wait!" Roxy shrieked when she remembered something. "What would happen to us down there? Can we breathe? We're already blind, and we can't speak down there much less hear something, so breathing is . . ."

"It's fine," Ragnar answered her. "I've been into a lake once. We can't breathe, but we won't die of suffocation. At most, our HP will just be depleted two times as fast."

"Egh . . . That doesn't sound good."

"If you two are done talking, then let's go." Ren stared at the deep pool of thick yellow water.

Everyone else was already ahead of them, and it had been quiet since a long while ago.

With his lead, Ren stepped forward into the deeper parts of the pool. For the last time, he reminded them again, "Don't stray, and wait for me to move. No matter what, don't let go."

"Oh . . . I'm not going to even if you cut my arm," Roxy replied.

'You have no choice if you don't have hands anymore,' Ragnar mused to himself with a shake of his head.

Submerged in the unknown, Ren could still open his eyes, but he couldn't see anything but yellow. At this moment, he decided that it would be much better to close his eyes since this shade of yellow was nauseating.

There was also the deafening silence that oddly made his mind ring. He even felt like his head was splitting into two. In a way, this was also torture.

This could make anyone easily lose focus and succumb to their fear, eventually leading to panic. Subsequently, mistakes would be made, and they'd be eaten by the slimes.

Fortunately, Ren was made for this task. He prided himself on his sharp memory and intellect. This wasn't the first time that he had been faced with this kind of situation where he was pressed from all sides, forcing him to think of a solution pronto.

His past job as the head of the Information Gathering Department trained his brain to think, store, and analyze even the smallest of clues.

As long as he didn't touch any slime, all was good.

Ren counted the meters he walked foot by foot and step by step. Despite being submerged in gooey waters, he still felt like he was sweating. This was the first time that his brain was in full concentration ever since he was sent back in the past.

He was reminded of himself in the past when his brain's only rest was during sleep. And even then, it only lasted for four hours a day, with occasional fifteen minutes of naps here and there.

They were no match with the slimes here. One wrong move, and that was it . . . they'll be wiped out, and there went his goal of defeating the first-ever world boss.

He must not let that happen at all costs!

This room . . . Ren swallowed hard . . . This room's difficulty suddenly increased exponentially. Just like Roxy said, they might die without being able to put up a fight.

Ren closed his eyes and concentrated hard on his steps. His mind cleared, and his nerves calmed as his body moved like what he had imagined before.

Left. Right. Left. Left. One step at a time.

Of course, the party hadn't forgotten to take [Health Potions] every now and then to replenish their HP. Ren just hoped that the others brought plenty because they'll be wading the waters for at least another ten minutes.

Ren stopped for a moment when he suddenly felt ripples. A wave grazed his skin, alerting him that something was going on in front of them. Perhaps someone got eaten by the slimes? That was the only possible cause he could think of, not considering that there might be something underneath here -- like a sleeping slime leviathan.

Ren panicked a little, and his mind played all kinds of scenarios of what might have caused the ripples. He really hoped that it was the slimes instead of the worst-case scenarios he had in mind.

He shook his head and forced his mind to focus on the things he knew. There was not a lot he could do when faced with the unknown, so he would just focus on the things that he was sure of.

As he moved forward, inch by inch, the ripples intensified, and this time, it was coming from all sides.

Ren could feel it, but he couldn't see, hear, or speak to know what was happening, which added to the fear that was building inside him, waiting to break and destroy his composure.

He shook his head once more to disperse those thoughts. He couldn't die now. If he did, then all would be lost. There were only four of them attempting to kill the World Boss. If they get wiped out, the death penalty would be enormous enough to zero all their ATP in one go.

But if they win . . . Ren's focus sharpened at the thought of rewards waiting for them. And for a brief moment, his mind showed him the way as if he could open his eyes and see the path.

After an agonizing fifteen minutes of being underwater, Ren's head finally emerged from the gooey pool, gasping for air like it was the first time he had taken a breath. His heart pounded so hard against his rib that his eardrums rang from the force.

He did it!!

Ren let out a huge breath of relief. Even HE didn't want to experience such an ordeal again.

Looking over his shoulder with a smile on his face, Ren was surprised to find that he was alone. Checking his surroundings, he was even more surprised that there was no one left in the room except the glaring door that opened to the next room.

'What happened to the armies and generals?' Ren thought. 'Did they get eaten too? Was it even possible for NPCs to die here?'

Or maybe they already went to the next room. That was also a possibility –– until a notification popped on his screen.

[CONGRATULATIONS on being the very first player to survive The Spillway of Absolute Doom!]

[REWARDS!

¶ Platinum Chest

· 100 000 EXP

¸ 100 000 gil ]

Ren was stunned for a whole minute before finally processing what was going on. Immediately, his laughter boomed in the area.

( . . . continuation on NOTES)