Chapter 232 44.2 Roguelike?

In hindsight, maybe I should've thought about my decision to take a random path through before I went all in on this path.

"I'm lost..."

With my torch still inexplicably burning, I let out a small sigh as I found myself in the middle of a room filled with nothing but passageways. As opposed to my first choice where there were only two options, I was currently being presented with a whopping six hallways for me to go through. I don't even remember where I last came from, only that the last hallway I went through was pretty nothing in terms of presentation.

"Seriously, is this a maze or something?"

I couldn't help but grumble to myself as I tapped my foot on the metal floor beneath me. I haven't encountered another robot like the first one I saw, but the deafening silence that surrounded me the deeper I went only added to my anxiety instead of removing it. I mean, if this place was truly empty, then what in the hell happened to Guidance?

"Not even a sign around or something to guide me," I clicked my tongue in annoyance, my [Manifest] already holstered in favor of just using the torch to explore. "Is this really a secret facility or what?"

Surely, any facility worth their salt wouldn't fail to put in signages or directions to avoid people getting lost around them. Just looking around the place was screaming out OSHA violations as I resisted the urge to scream. I mean, why in the world were there no directions in a secret facility!?

"Ughh...." I groaned as my feet tapped even faster. "Where to go from here..."

Looking around, these hallways were practically the same inside and out. I don't even know why I was agonizing over this when I was already lost in the first place. It was only a good thing that I didn't need to eat or sleep anymore, because I'm pretty sure I've been at this for hours now.

"I might as well..."

Shrugging, I chose hallways number four as I walked forward. I thought about leaving some kind of mark on the floor, only for me to realize that I didn't have anything to use to mark out the place.

"Unless I plan on leaving a bullet hole or something... wait..."

I blinked as I quickly unholstered one of my [Manifests], a passing thought going through me as I lazily aimed it at the nearest wall to my right. Would my attack even dent it enough for me to use it as a marker though?

[*BANG!*]

With a pull of the trigger, I took my chances, the wall smoking as my attack burrowed into the metal. The sound of my gunshot echoed painfully across the hallway, a part of me cringing at my decision as the fear of being discovered suddenly came back to me in full swing.

"Stupid..." I shook my head at my own hubris. "Should've tried something else first..."

Still, what's done was done, and a small hole had appeared in what was once a pristine, if dusty wall. Nothing seemed to have happened so far, so I guess there was nothing to worry about.

[*CLICK!*]

And just like that, I jinxed myself...

[*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*]

Before I could even let out a sigh, blaring alarms echoed across the entire facility, red lights flashing like sirens as the darkness was suddenly replaced with an ominous glow. I didn't think that there were still some things in this place that still worked, but apparently, there was still some kind of security systems in place.

"Fvck me..."

Putting my torch in my inventory, I ignored the fact that I'd somehow stored a burning item in my hammerspace as I wielded both of my pistols. The red lights were distracting and blaring, but they were more than enough for me to ditch the burning rubber that I'd been using for hours now.

[*BEEP BOOP*]

Sure enough, here came the robot that passed me by earlier. And it wasn't alone this time. It actually brought friends along with him.

[M.D.S: Level 40]

[M.D.S: Level 40]

[M.D.S: Level 40]

"Okay then, I'm being swarmed by robots now," I sighed as I aimed my pistols right at them. "Thank the lord that I have decent [HP] regen now..."

[*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 123]

[MP: 180]

[+500 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

With a flurry of [Moves] and a bit of clever thinking, I managed to dispatch of the rust buckets with little to no fanfare. Granted, my ears were still ringing from all the shots I just doled out, but at least I was free to move around again. Also, they actually gave me some [EXP]. It wasn't much, but it was still progress to add to my ridiculously bloated requirements.

"Guidance?!"

With my stealth completely blown to bits, I decided that I should just go and toss caution to the wind as I ran through the hallways, shouting out Guidance's name as I looked for her. There were a few more of the robots that tried to stop me, but none of them really posed a challenge. In fact, all of them fell surprisingly quickly.

[+600 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

[+500 EXP]

"Okay, this is actually decent [EXP]," I chuckled as I rounded yet another corner of this god-forsaken facility. "Too bad I still can't find Guidance anywhere."

Shaking my head, I found myself pausing as I came across yet another room filled with passageways. This time, however, there were notable signs above each hallway, denoting some kind of symbol or number corresponding to each one. Looking up, it kind of ranged from intuitive to nonsensical. Currently, two of the passageways had a skull symbol above them, while one had some kind of coin symbol etched onto them. There were also what looked to be question marks in some them, as if mocking me to even dare and try to take that path.

Wait... "Are these actual game things?"

I blinked amidst the blaring red lights coming out around me. Even now, nothing was chasing me. The moment I arrived at this junction, the robots stopped coming. And now, as I stood here staring at these random passageways trying to look for Guidance, these symbols started appearing as if to try and guide me through these confusing hallways... I must be going insane or something...

"Okay then, assuming that these denote what I think they do, what do I choose?"

I wracked my brain for what few games I played with these specific kinds of mechanics. Roguelikes, if I remembered correctly, would usually be randomly generated, with the maps never repeating unless you had a specific seed you wanted to load. So assuming that the skull would mean death or hard monsters, the coin must mean that there was some kind of treasure there. The question mark was self-explanatory at least, but I couldn't discount the possibility that there were more than three kinds of rooms available here.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward and went into the skull room. I was back to full [HP] anyway. And if there was something like a boss here that I have to fight, then at least I'll have some kind of reward for doing so... Well, hopefully, at least.

Walking through the narrow passage, I kept my [Manifest] ready as I found myself in a room filled with darkness. Unlike the others, the alarm didn't reach this place. Instead, I was greeted by silence as a red shimmer shone against the black sea of nothingness.

[*BEEP BOOP!*]

[M.D.S. Elite: Level 45]

I blinked at the massive robot standing before me. As opposed to its smaller counterparts, this one was actually looking rather shiny with its slick and clean design. It wasn't rusted over, and its arms sported a pair of mean tonfas that clearly meant business.

Well, time to get to work then.

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

Not giving it any time to respond, I showered it full of shots as I strafed across the room. Throwing in a few [Blood Shot]s for good measure, I also made sure to use [Marked for Death] on it to speed up the process... Well, the debuff didn't really do anything, but at least I'll keep healing once it died.

[*BEEP!*]

[HELICOPTER ARMS: 88%]

My eyes widened as it suddenly moved, its arms rotating from side to side as it attempted to swat me out of combat. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be too bright as it just spun in place, completely missing me by a few meters as it just sat there and took the punishment.

[*BEEP BOOooopp....*]

Eventually, it died as it lived, spinning around in circles while trying its best to hit me. It took a lot more punishment than the normal robots, but it was still laughably easy.

[+5000 EXP]

"Oooh..."

I couldn't help but scoff at what I just got. Well, a good chunk of [EXP] was decent enough as a reward. And if they're just as braindead as this one, then I might as well take all the skull rooms I can-

[FLOOR CLEARED]

-get... What is this now?

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