65 Heartfel

Shesmu looked around the room before his gaze rested back on the clock. Both of its arrows were unmoving and pointed at two and a half.

"Okay, just take out the crystal," Shesmu finally said.

"What do you mean, just take out the crystal?" Words couldn't describe the outrageousness in Julia's face. "Did you forget about everything we just said? Do you need me to repeat it to you?"

"Calm down, Julia," Arthur said. "I'm sure that Shesmu has something in mind."

"Yeah, we can't really just ignore the man that saved us twice," added Lancelot.

Shesmu walked towards the clock before pointing at it.

"This clock, it probably won't run until we take out the crystal."

"And? What does it matter if the clock runs or not?" Julia's impatience was clear from her tone.

"Well, think about it," Shesmu responded. "What did the notification at the start say?"

"Oh, I understand now." Arthur's face beamed with a look of enlightenment. He looked at Shesmu with a smile before saying. "This is not a killing game, it's a survival one. We just need to stay alive for 30 minutes."

"Bingo." Shesmu winked. "Now, let's start this game so we're done early."

"Okay then." With those words, Arthur walked towards the altar and took out the crystal.

The sound of a crash and rumbling startled the party. They looked back at the opening of the room in which they entered and a door of steel fell down from the ceiling to block it.

"Damn, that almost gave me a heart attack," Julia complained. But before she could say anything more, she was cut by the sound of barking and howling.

The statues of a wolf, a coyote, and a dog turned to life, and they were not happy. They growled, barked, and howled before pouncing at the party of players.

"Don't kill them all!" Shesmu shouted. "Leave one of them alive."

Even though Alex was the least comfortable looking of the group, he was the first to react. The moment Shesmu issued his orders, he dashed behind the wolf and stabbed its nape. With a twist of his hand, his dagger cut through the beast's muscles and tendons—killing it instantly.

Julia was not to be outdone. She unsheathed her rapier and received the pouncing coyote head-on. She thrust with precision at the beast's throat, piercing it. The tip of her blade poked out its nape, dripping with blood. The coyote's claws couldn't even reach Julia's face before it fell down on the ground, lifeless.

Rapier user, huh. That's rare. Shesmu stood by the sideline while Arthur's party took care of the beasts. Alex, who had just killed the wolf, set his sight on the dog. He ran with all of his might, dagger ready to strike.

Damn, he is tunnel visioning. Shesmu put Ryan on the ground before dashing towards the dog. He blocked Alex's hand just as it was about to pierce the beast's chest. He turned and positioned himself behind the dog's back and put both of his hands in a chokehold around the creature's neck. He pressed the blade of his arm on the dog's throat and put all of his weight on its back.

The beast whimpered and cried for a few seconds before it lost all consciousness.

"Good boy. Take a rest, won't you?"

"Why did you not want me to kill it?" Alex asked, his voice hiding a tone of hostility.

Shesmu didn't respond right away. He kept scratching the dog's back before he slowly looked up at Alex.

"By three they come, at three they fall, in all three you shall walk and crawl. Tell me, what do you think that means to you?"

Alex took a deep breath to calm himself down. His expression that was clouded with worry and suspicion cleared.

"We already understood the last two. We needed to go in all three directions, and we needed to crawl to pass through the poison cloud. "At three they fall", we just need to wait until the clock hits three. For the first part, I don't know."

Shesmu nodded at Alex's words before looking at the rest of the party. "What about you guys? Any idea what the first verse could mean?"

Everyone stood silent thinking when Arthur spoke up. "I think I understand what you wanna do. The first verse is probably talking about these statues right here."

Everyone looked around at all the statues surrounding them. All of them looked so lifelike as if they would come pouncing at them at any moment.

"These statues, they turn into living creatures three by three," He continued.

"Bingo," Shesmu responded. "So, what do you think we should do? Just kill them as they come or…" Shesmu's eyes drifted back to the dog in his hand. "Keep them unconscious until the time passes."

"You smug little bastard." Julia smirked at Shesmu's deduction abilities. She walked towards him with wide steps and scratched his head with her fist.

"Dammit, Julia. That fucking hurts."

"Teach you a lesson on not flexing too hard next time." Julia laughed at Shesmu's misery. Everyone soon joined in the laughter and sat next to him.

Time flew by as the party talked and joked around, telling stories about their past misadventures. When the arrows of the clock hit three sharp, the room quacked and rumbled. The steel door opened, leaving way for the party to escape the death trap.

"Seems like it's finally done," Arthur said. He stood up and led the way to the door, the crystal still in his hand.

Julia stood up right after and said, "Well, I guess it's time."

She skipped her way towards Arthur and tapped at his shoulder. "Hey, Arthy, can you show me that crystal, please? It looks so beautiful."

Arthur was surprised at the unexpected demand, but he still gave it to her. "Sure, here you go."

Julia looked at the crystal with amazement. "Woah, it really is beautiful. Even more gorgeous when you look at it from so close."

She nodded and said, "Hmm, I like it." She then showed the most innocent smile to Arthur, "Now, you can die."

And she pierced his heart.