Chapter 233 44.3 Rougelike?

I couldn't help but squint at the new prompt that just appeared in front of me. It said that I cleared this floor somehow... And that's it.

"So, what am I supposed to do now?"

Without any sort of instructions available, I was left to instead roam around the room as I tried to find a way forward. The boss room itself seemed unchanged, all except for the fact that the door I came in was pretty much sealed shut. There were no other hallways for me to take, and the only thing I could even think of going through was the hatch that had inexplicably appeared right where the boss died.

Well, I guess that's my only option then...

Walking towards the hatch, the sound of the metal floors tapping beneath me almost made it sound like there was a whole other hollow space beneath me. I guess it made sense with the hatch pointing me where to go, but I was pretty sure that wasn't the case earlier.

[DESCEND?]

"Huh..."

Blinking at the prompt, I couldn't help but laugh at the utter lack of options I had in the first place. What else was there for me to do other than to say yes? It wasn't like there was a save or a quit button that I could press that would magically place me back above ground. And speaking of which, the rest were probably starting to get worried about Guidance and I being missing.

"[Yes]"

But was there any choice for me other than to mount a rescue? I had no idea what Guidance was doing right now, or if she was even safe or alive, to begin with. Of course, I wouldn't think that she'd die that easily, what with her power basically being a cheat code, but I wouldn't put it past this buggy game to somehow gimp her [Manifest] and take away her ability to code. It had happened once. It might just happen again.

Jumping down the hatch, I braced my legs for impact, only for the ground to rapidly approach my feet as I felt myself land on yet another metal flooring.

[Marquee]

[Secret Hallway A2]

The prompt changing aside, I looked around and surveyed my surroundings. Sure enough, the place looked practically identical to what I was used to seeing above, only this time, there was a bit more variety in terms of lighting fixtures. The red blaring sirens had been reduced somewhat, replaced by actual light bulbs by the side of the hallway. In fact, the whole place looked cleaner somehow, the smell of rust and dust disappearing in favor of the familiar scent of sterilization wafting over the air.

"Feels like I'm almost back at the hospital..."

Shrugging, I walked through the only path I could take, the hallway inevitably leading me to the first choice I had to make after reaching this level.

"Four paths, all question marks..."

With the illusion of choice playing out in full force in front of me, I couldn't help but chuckle as I randomly took the center path. Not like it'd make much of a difference anyway, so I might as well not agonize over this stuff any more than necessary.

Guidance was out here somewhere... And if she was down in the deepest and darkest depths of this ridiculous place, then I'll just have to dive in and get her out.

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GUIDANCE

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Guidance was not having the best of days at the moment.

"Oww..."

Rubbing her glutes, the dev shook her head as she tried to regain her bearings. She didn't even know what had happened to her. All she knew was that she was talking to Moriya about her being rather testy, only for the world around her to suddenly go black on her.

"That hurt..." Guidance winced as she stood up. "What the hell happened to me?"

Blinkingly, she took a look around. Based on her aching bottom, it was clear that she had just fallen from a decent height. Looking up, however, the lack of a light source above meant that whatever hole it was that she fell into was most probably closed off, leaving her alone in what looked to be some kind of hidden facility.

"Strange... I don't remember designing this at all..."

Ignoring the feelings of guilt coming from her prior discussion, Guidance began wandering around, using her [Manifest] as a source of light as she took in the pristine metal walls of the room she was in.

"I'm still in Marquee, at least," she noted with a thankful sigh, having noticed the futuristic make of her surroundings. "But I'm still stuck in here... Alone...."

And just like that, she remembered the argument she was having with her nominal boyfriend Moriya. She could freely admit that she had a habit of being bossy and commandeering at times, but she at least hoped that she was decent enough to adjust if she was told that she was starting to push her boundaries. Sure, it wasn't the first time she was told such a thing, but hearing it from Moriya kind of stung a bit more than she had liked...

"I have to get out of here..." she whispered to herself. "Have to at least apologize..."

Taking in a deep breath, Guidance zoned in and focused on the task at hand. After her cursory glance, she quickly surmised that she was underground in some kind of Marquean facility that she had no recollection of designing. Sure, she had painstakingly crafted every single major city in her game, but she gave the rest of the world to the Re:Mind Engine to save some time. She could only assume then that this was one of the things that the Engine had generated, something completely out of her radar that she didn't even have the slightest clue on how to navigate her way out.

"Well, the only way to go is up..."

Shrugging, Guidance sighed as she took the nearest hallway that she could walk through. Navigating the dark hallways, the utter lack of enemies was both comforting and anxiety-inducing. Surely, this place was a dungeon of some kind, only it didn't somehow play the scripted sequences that a dungeon should have...

"Moriya?!"

Calling out his name, she knew it was a futile endeavor. While she was sure that he'd try and jump in after her to save her, she wasn't even sure if they were in the same place in the first place. For all she knew, she might just be in some kind of instance cut off from the rest of the world, with Moriya jumping into yet another instance far away from hers.

Just the thought of it made her want to shudder.

[*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*]

"W-What the-!"

Guidance flinched as the world around her suddenly blared to life. Red lights flashed across the hallways, the dim blackness replaced by an ominous red as the facility had clearly gone into high alert.

"D-Did I do something wrong?" she couldn't help but ask herself.

Shaking her head, the dev had no choice but to abandon the line of thought. Shouting out his name might've been a mistake, but what's done was done, and she had to live with the consequences of her actions.

Brandishing her [Keystroke,] Guidance primed herself for a fight before she moved forward, ditching the light her keyboard provided in favor of having her [Manifest] ready to fire at a moment's notice.

"What is going on?" she wondered aloud, foregoing any sort of stealth seeing that her cover had already been blown. "Is this really a dungeon the Engine made for itself?"

It wouldn't be the first time it happened, at least. But unlike the one before they disembarked, this one hadn't even been in her notebook of ideas to make. The concept of a futuristic facility as a dungeon crossed her mind, sure, but it never even left her fingers to be written out on some random doodle at work. No, this was something that had been procedurally generated like some kind of roguelike game.

[FLOOR CLEARED]

Guidance blinked. That... That was a prompt, right?

"I can see it?" she couldn't help but ask out in confusion. "I shouldn't be seeing this, right?"

To make matters even more confusing, the fact that such a prompt existed in the first place should be the first thing that crossed her mind. She couldn't remember a single instance where she strung up those two words together in a box while coding. In fact, it was so out of the left field that she was pretty sure that her mouth was agape for a solid minute before she saw the next prompt that showed up.

[DESCEND?]

Guidance didn't know what to say. The fact that she was seeing these things pop up when they shouldn't was already throwing her for a loop. Add in these nonsensical prompts, and she didn't even know what to think anymore.

After all, she never made the game to have roguelike elements like this in the first place.

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