Chapter 78 In The Aquarium
The night after three days after meeting Shibuya Tamotsu.
Like always, Nick entered the apartment building's entrance and set his respawn point.
There wasn't much interaction with the Special Forces afterward, and a bit of frustration was building up.
Tonight, he thought about visiting 'Nada Kyouko' to relieve the stress.
──But suddenly, his vision went dark.
Nick, lacking a movement skill, was familiar with this feeling.
It was a skill used by the party members in the other world - [summon].
However, normally, consent should have been sought beforehand, but for some reason, he seemed to have been forcibly teleported.
It was a dim place.
In a somewhat spacious room, there was something square.
That is...
(An aquarium?)
It's a bit large for a private residence.
Having that impression...
"Ga..."
He groaned involuntarily.
Suddenly, his legs felt weak, and he tried hard not to fall forward. He put his hands on the ground...
Thud.
But his face hit the ground awkwardly. Pain spread through his limbs, making it worse.
"Uh, why... what..."
He rubbed his face against the ground, trying to understand, but his body wouldn't move. He looked at what was in front of him.
It was his right hand—probably his. It had come off and was rolling on the ground.
Then, a sharp pain hit his head. It felt like someone had forcefully pulled his hair away from the ground.
"Ouch, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!"
While screaming in pain, he saw a man's face—a young man.
Yes, it was Higashimura Tadayuki, the recently mentioned returnee from the Japanese side.
As he looked around to understand what was happening, he realized that not only his right hand, but both hands and both feet were cut off.
In simpler terms, he only had his body and head left.
Now, the young man man came closer, holding a knife in his left hand and a sword in his right hand.
"What's the password? Didn't I tell you to say it within ten seconds?"
Everything happened so suddenly, followed by a sudden question.
He couldn't think quickly enough.
Unable to come up with an answer, Nick stayed quiet, making Higashimura annoyed.
"Tch, it seems like this is your first time... How troublesome."
With those words, the man's right hand moved.
It was so fast that it made even Nada Kyouko's technique seem like a child's play.
Before Nick could even react, he realized that his head was cut off, and at the same time, he was thrown back into the tank from before.
Even as he felt his own head, which was all he felt right now, sinking into the tank, Nick felt something strange about it.
The feeling of imminent death never came.
No, instead, since being thrown into this tank, he doesn't feel any pain.
Just struggling to breathe.
His lungs are gone, and he can't take in air.
Even though he's suffocating, death never comes.
It's a new and unbearable feeling, the most painful so far.
Outside the tank, it seems like Higashimura is saying something.
His mouth is moving.
But he can't hear his voice while submerged in the liquid.
Maybe Higashimura realized that and reached into the tank.
He pulled his ears, and as soon as they touched the air, intense pain shot through him.
"──, ──, ────!"
With no lungs, he can't even scream.
But when his ears emerged from the water, he could hear Higashimura's voice.
"Sorry, sorry, should I explain the rules? To escape this never-ending cycle of death, you need a password. Once you've understood this much, blink three times, okay?"
Nick, blinked three times quickly, even though he wasn't sure what the other person meant.
"Okay. So, I asked for the password in the previous scene. If you happened to remember the password after I asked, you'll be stuck in an endless loop of trouble... If you updated your 'record' since you got here, blink once. If not, blink three times again, please."
Nick understood the word 'record'.
Higashimura also understood Nick's "return from death".
With this understanding, a certain plan had been made for this situation.
"Hey, blink."
Nick stopped his thoughts and blinked three times quickly.
"Okay. So, you might be wondering why you won't die, right? Let me explain. This tank is filled with elixir, so you can't die. It's incredible, isn't it? Elixir, man. It can sustain life even with just the head. I wonder how it works, haha!"
Elixir tank?
Can't die?
"So, according to my calculations, with this amount of elixir, you can survive for about five years."
Five years?
Will this torment continue for five years?
"Just relax. Once you convey the password, at that point, this loop will come to an end temporarily. These five years are just to make sure you can 'reset' if you happen to die during the 'search.' Well, I doubt you'll understand, but it's basically insurance. If you get it, blink three times."
Nick blinked three times.
"Because this is important, please remember, okay? So, if it's the longest five years, which means if you don't come back, please say 'not returning' at the end of the password. If you forget this, the pain of this repeating cycle will continue for another five years, okay?"
Even though the exact number was not mentioned, Nick blinked his eyes three times.
"Well, let me summarize at the end, okay? To escape from this cycle of death, you need a password. When I ask you, you have to answer within ten seconds, and if you don't come back, add 'not returning' at the end of the password... Did you understand?"
Nick blinked his eyes three times again.
"Don't worry, I won't lie. Once the password is complete, I will definitely release you from this longest five-year cycle."
Blink.
"Well, make sure to use your skills to step on and control others, knowing that your actions will have consequences! Well, if you die, it will be as if nothing happened, so it's okay, right? So, wait for me until I find the password!"
Higashimura let go of his finger, and Nick went back into the water tank.
After putting the parts, except for the head, into the item box, Higashimura moved and left this place.
It hurts.
He wants to get out of there as soon as possible.
But he can't think of a way to do that.
After thinking for a while, an idea comes to mind.
He will try to guess the password, even if it's random, just to die somehow.
It would be impossible to guess the password itself.
But he wants to have his whole body back, even if it's just for a short time.
Of course, even if he manages to die somehow, he will immediately be forcefully brought back there and have his limbs taken away, so avoiding that is probably impossible.
That man's technique gives him a sense of fear, making him think so.
But still, even if it's just for a moment, he wants to be temporarily freed from this pain.
He has lost control of the muscles below his neck, and he can't even move his mouth properly...
*Crunch!*
But even so, after a long time, he manages to bite his tongue somehow.
However, that gets better quickly with the elixir.
Now, he must face the truth.
He has to bear this pain until that man tells him the "password."
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