64 Trapped

The veins on Alex's neck turned purple. Soon after, the rest of the party started coughing as well.

"On your stomach! Go down on your stomachs!"

Everyone unconsciously followed after Shesmu's command. After he crawled on the ground, they all imitated him. After a few fits of coughing, the situation became calm once again.

"What was that?" Julia asked. She looked around at her teammates to find that everyone's skin was back to normal.

"Shesmu, how did you know that we should go down?" Arthur asked in a curious tone. He was surprised by Shesmu's quick actions and decisiveness.

"Yeah, how did you do that?" Julia added. "We actually would have wiped if you didn't tell us to crawl."

"It's just that I remembered the notification," Shesmu responded. "You know, it told us that in all three we shall walk and crawl. I guess that the other parties have something similar going on."

Julia laughed and said, "But that could have meant anything. You really are a betting man. If you got it wrong, it would have been the end."

Shesmu just smiled and didn't reply. He looked around, made sure that everyone was good to go, before crawling on the ground. Even with Ryan on his back, he was still able to keep up a good pace.

"Let's go. We can't waste time here."

The party followed after Shesmu's lead. This time, it was Arthur that approached him and crawled next to him.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Arthur coughed twice and said, "Hey, Shesmu. You're really perspective and you don't succumb to pressure easily. Were you a pro player before?"

Shesmu looked at Arthur for a few seconds, before he chuckled. "Well, something like that. I've been playing Demon Heart for a while now. What about you? You seem to be the natural born leader type, were you in some guild before?"

"Ah, a guild? Well, a small one. We're all just friends."

Julia giggled from behind Shesmu and said, "We always told him to go and find some bigger guild to play with, that he would be good as a leader in any game he played, but he never listened. In the end, look at him now, broke and without a girlfriend. This is just sad."

"Oh come one, don't say that."

Arthur's reaction only made Julia laugh even more. With tears still in her eyes, she pointed at Arthur and said, "You should see the look in your face. I haven't seen something that screams "I'm a victim" more than that."

Shesmu just shook his head at the two's antics before focusing back on what was in front of him. He could see in the distance that the cave forked in two directions.

"Damn, do we need to split up once again?" Julia asked. She started biting her thumb before Arthur answered.

"Not necessarily. Let's get there first and see what's happening before we reach any conclusion."

The party crawled its way to where the cave forked before Shesmu suddenly stood up.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing?" Julia almost screamed.

Shesmu took a deep breath before saying, ��See, there is nothing wrong with the air?"

The players stood up one by one cautiously. They took a few small breaths at first before their eyes widened in surprise.

"How? How did you know?" Julia stood right in front of Shesmu's face, a bit more and she would have choked him.

Shesmu took a few steps back to give himself space before he answered, "I didn't. I just assumed that with the cave forking in two directions like this, the earlier trial must have already ended. You know, video game logic. Plus, even if I was wrong, this doesn't seem to be the type of poison that would kill you instantly."

"You're actually crazy," Lancelot commented from the side.

"This is not just crazy, this is insanity. I thought before that you were a betting man—scratch that! You're just a lottery player. Do you have some gambling problem IRL?"

Arthur chuckled at Julia's joke. "Guys, don't bully Shesmu too much. He is the only reason why we made it this far." He then focused back on the cave fork, more precisely, the right side. "Plus, seems like there is a room or something there."

Shesmu followed Arthur's line of sight. He saw light coming out of an opening in the cave.

"Well, it's basically telling us to go and check it out," Tybalt remarked. He then looked at all of his party members before he continued, "What do you guys think? We should check it out?"

"What do you think we should do? Just leave it be?" Julia answered Tybalt's question with a rhetoric question of her own.

The latter just shrugged at Julia's unwarranted hostility, while Arthur tried to calm the situation down. "Let's keep it cool guys. No need for arguing."

The party marched as one towards the room. Once Shesmu entered it, he covered his eyes with his arm from the blinding light.

Once adjusted, Shesmu opened his eyes and looked at the new scenery. The first thing that jumped right in front of his face was the giant clock placed on the wall in front of him.

The room itself didn��t lose to the clock in size. It was gargantuan. Statues covered the majority of the chamber—statues of all kinds of beasts. Dogs, coyotes, foxes, wolves, lions, and tigers, every named and unnamed beast had a statue dedicated to it.

The party walked amidst the statues. Their eyes were captivated by the diversity of species represented.

"Guys," Arthur's voice brought back from their stupor. "I think I found what we're looking for."

Shesmu followed Arthur's line of sight. There was an altar in the middle of the room, and implanted within it was a crystal of red, blue and green.

"You know, the moment that you take out that crystal, shit will hit the fan," Julia said in a flat tone. This was such an overused trope that she couldn't believe that it would be part of the trial.

"Yeah, it's a little bit too obvious for a trap," Lancelot added.

"So what do you guys think we should do?" Arthur asked, trying to get everyone's input.

Shesmu scratched his chin for a second before saying, "Well, why not actually look around in the room to find clues before we do anything stupid?"