Escaping the Mystery Hotel

User: Han Kain (Wisdom)

Date: Day 46

Current Location: Floor 1, Room 107 (Gate Room)

Sage's Advice: 1

- Han Kain

- Bang!

With a deafening crash that sounded like a hammer strike, the door shook violently.

Ahri urgently called out, "Perro! Can you use that wail again right now?"

Songee, naturally acting as Perro's spokesperson, responded.

"Not right now, maybe in about 10 more minutes—"

- Crack!

Before Songee could finish speaking, a sharp object pierced through the window glass of the captain’s cabin door.

"What the heck is this!"

- Bang!

Ahri immediately shot the hand holding the spike, but the fight had only just begun.

There was another loud banging sound.

Someone brought an oxygen tank-like object and started pounding on the door!

It was clear that the door would not hold much longer.

With no other choice, I turned to look behind me.

"Harrison! You don’t expect us to handle all these people by ourselves, do you?"

"Of course not. I’m preparing my own moves, so just hold out for a bit."

As he said, Harrison was busy fiddling with the control panel and inscribing something on the wall.

Seeing the scene of the spike breaking through the glass gave me an idea.

"Both of you, give me all the capsaicin spray you have."

I gathered all the spray bottles we had.

- Ssssss! Ssssss!

"Ugh! What the heck is this!"

"Mustard gas? It’s bright red! Where did they get this stuff?"

I sprayed the area beyond the broken glass window, not aiming at anyone in particular but just filling the area with the irritant, which bought us some time.

- Bang! Bang!

"Ah!"

"Kain-oppa! Are you hit?"

"No, it just grazed me."

The staff members started shooting through the broken window, forcing us to back away from it.

The door’s hinges were soon pried loose by the battering, and as the door finally broke down, something grotesque erupted from the floor accompanied by an eerie noise, blocking the entrance again.

Harrison must have done something.

A disgusting mass of tentacles and flesh held together by sinew blocked the way.

Beyond the barrier, dozens of people could be seen glaring at us with murderous hostility.

Without the door, we could now see each other clearly.

Amidst the tension, a voice filled with killing intent rang out.

"You bastard! I’ll skin your face alive! Don’t think this flesh barrier will hold for long!"

As I pondered whether to curse back, Grotesque Perro suddenly lunged at the opposition, opening his beak!

Perro tried to unleash his wail without warning, startling us.

I quickly expanded the filter and covered my ears.

Those who had experienced Perro’s wail before also quickly covered their ears and dropped to the floor.

“...”

“...”

“...”

What?

Perro just opened his beak and did nothing?

“...”

"That damn bird tricked us!"

Wow! Perro’s smart!

Was it a bluff?

My admiration was cut short as a man with a square beret and a staff appeared from the enemy ranks.

As he tapped the wall with his staff and chanted something, the flesh barrier began melting away.

Is he one of those who learned some Arcane secrets during the decades they wandered the frozen sea?

Ahri tried shooting him, but the flesh that shielded us from their bullets also blocked ours, leaving us no way to stop him.

As the flesh melted away, Grotesque Perro moved his beak close to the hole.

A mocking voice came from the other side.

"Do you think we’ll fall for that again? Get ready to be roasted—"

- Piyooooooooo!

This time, it was real.

Since many of them had already drawn their guns, the effect was even more severe than before.

- Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunshots rang out wildly from the other side, accompanied by the chaotic sounds of them fighting amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, Harrison’s voice rang out from behind us, "It’s almost done! You’ve held on well. A little longer and I’ll be able to bind them all at once."

Is the horrific spell Harrison has been preparing finally ready?

I moved closer to Harrison to check and took Ahri’s gun when I passed by her.

- Bang!

"Ah! Fuck!"

"Captain Harrison, why are you cursing?"

"Wouldn’t you curse if you got shot in the head?!"

"I wouldn’t even be able to talk if I got shot in the head. The fact that you can still speak with a bullet in your head is abnormal, you crazy bastard!"

Even as he cursed, Harrison’s burst-open head started to knit itself.

"Songee! Tell Perro to swallow this flesh barrier!"

"Wait, wait, hold on! Didn’t we agree to deal with the ones outside first?!"

Ahri’s urgent voice rang out, "Kain! Just leave it for now! The effect of the wail is wearing off, and they’re regaining their senses. Harrison! What about that ritual you’ve been preparing?"

"If this crazy bastard hadn’t shot my head, it would be done by now."

Though he blamed me, it seemed we needed to give him more time.

"Alright, fine. We won’t interfere anymore, so hurry up."

Amidst our chaotic conversation, a mocking voice reached us from the other side, "Captain Harrison’s leadership never ceases to amaze me. How do you always manage to team up with such idiots? If people constantly betray you, maybe you should consider that you’re the problem, not them."

"Stevenson! Shut the fuck up!"

I also chimed in.

"Captain, instead of arguing, how about you finish your spell already?"

"You! Prepare to be roasted alive!"

"I’ll make sure to roast your upper body and fry your lower one."

Getting threats about being cooked half roasted, half fried from both sides was too much for my sanity.

Even in this chaos, each side was meticulously preparing their next moves.

On the other side, the staff and passengers, having recovered from Perro’s wail, started melting the flesh barrier with some mysterious force.

Behind us, Harrison was holding his shattered head while preparing his spell.

Ahri approached me during the commotion.

"Stay close to Harrison and don’t leave his side."

"Why all of a sudden?"

"Just a hunch, just do as I say."

Puzzled but compliant, I carried the still-unconscious Elena and moved closer to Harrison.

Perro and Songee followed the order as well.

At that moment, Harrison’s reattached head turned toward us.

"You’ve got good instincts."

- Wooom!

A tremor vibrated throughout the entire ship.

"Aaaaargh!"

Wails filled the air beyond the captain’s cabin.

Earlier, Harrison had used some power to stick the staff and passengers to the ship.

Is this a more powerful version of that?

The staff and passengers didn’t just stick to the ship; they began to merge with it.

Cables, concrete, and metal plates protruding from the ship’s walls grotesquely covered their bodies, while their flesh seeped into the ship.

Even in this horrific state, they couldn’t even die. The only thing left for them to do… was to groan in agony.

They became one with the ship, and the ship became one with them.

The kind of power that could create such a monstrous transformation was beyond my understanding.

The tremor spread throughout the entire area outside the captain’s cabin and started to encroach upon the spot we had just vacated, leaving only the area around Harrison untouched.

Feeling dumbfounded, I shot Harrison’s head again.

- Bang!

"Were you planning to turn us into that?!"

"And you’re surprised after blowing my head off twice?" Harrison responded indignantly.

I was momentarily speechless.

I turned to Ahri.

"How did you know what would happen?"

"Just a feeling. Whatever spell he was preparing, I felt it would sweep us away too. But he’d at least make sure he wasn’t affected."

- Crack!

Grotesque Perro returned, smashing Harrison’s reattached flesh with an enraged peck.

...This won’t be the end.

Predictably, Harrison’s voice echoed throughout the ship.

"It’s too late! I have already become one with the 120,000-ton Esper Ho. A body made of flesh is like clay. I have shed the frail body of a mortal and gained a body of steel."

Sage's Advice: 1 → 0

Jump to the side immediately!

- Boom!

Before I could react, my body was flung through the air, crashing into the wall of the captain’s cabin.

What on earth was that?

It was as if the ship had grown muscles.

A giant muscle made of fused flesh lifted the metal floor of the captain’s cabin and hurled me roughly.

Is this the unity of ship and man that Harrison dreamed of?

“…”

But this damned Advice again…

Can’t it give me a heads-up 10 seconds in advance instead of 0.3 seconds before the danger?

I began to wonder.

Sometimes it gives enough time to react, but other times it warns just before the danger hits, rendering it pointless.

There must be some secret behind this difference.

The impact against the wall was so strong that I could barely move.

It felt like I was hit by the tongue that had emerged from the swimming pool floor before.

The pain was so intense that my entire body went numb, but my thoughts became clear.

I felt my consciousness become hazy from the impact.

Holding onto my fading consciousness, I thought about the "Clock of Contracts."

What is the meaning of the numbers the clock hands point to?

The first hypothesis was the number of time reversals that had been performed.

However, according to the captain, the Esper Ho was already sinking when it first made a contract with the demon.

The demon must have reversed time once back then, so if the clock hands were based on the number of time reversals, the hands should have started at 1, not 0.

Another hypothesis was the number of sacrifices made.

But that didn't fit either.

The Esper Ho had been wandering the sea for 40 years, likely offering many sacrifices, so it was strange that the hand was at 0.

Even on the now-lost first night of the past, a preliminary sacrifice had already been made before Grandpa Mooksung, so it couldn't be 0.

Of course, this stage was technically "created when we arrived", so it might only count from when we entered.

However, neither hypothesis explained why the hands moved to 2 when the party was disrupted.

Time didn't reverse, nor was a sacrifice made at that point.

Eliminating these hypotheses one by one led to another hypothesis.

The number of contract violations.

The revealed content of the contract between the Esper Ho and Marcas was that the Esper Ho offered feasts and sacrifices, and Marcas granted immortality.

When the first hand moved, we interrupted the ritual where Grandpa was being sacrificed.

I didn’t know exactly what happened then, but Elena likely destroyed the sacrifice ritual site.

Since the sacrifice wasn't made properly, the hand moved one notch.

In the recent situation where the second hand moved, Perro turned the party into a scene of madness with its wail.

Since the party couldn't proceed normally, the hand moved another notch.

Only one notch is left until it reaches 3.

All these assumptions and the information obtained from Harrison formed our Plan Z.

My consciousness was fading.

I looked towards Ahri and thought, “Plan Z, you'll handle it well, right? I trust you so I’ll be taking a nap now.”