Somewhere beyond the veil, Amy watched and Dale and the others ran through the corridor towards the last flight of stairs.

— He’s starting to piss me off a little bit. Maybe I’ll have to teach him a lesson.

— You have to admit it was an interesting answer, most either skip the room entirely or end up fighting an obviously losing battle. He’s the first one to play on that thing’s inability to control its emotions — Said Korathkthu.

Amy quickly replied — That “thing” has a name. It’s Mr. Tentacle arms. I wish Mr. Thoth were here to see who’s the real incompetent one when it comes to names.

— No… I’m pretty sure that’s not its name…

— Whatever, what matters is that the child used me as a distraction and he needs to be disciplined. Who’s the host for the next part?

— Mr. Abzhorrathoth.

Amy looked disappointed — Then I can’t meddle. Why is Mr. Thoth busying himself with small things? Isn’t he busy keeping those monsters at bay?

— The Harbinger of Insanity decided to help. Don’t bother asking why, I don’t know.

— Interesting, but not enough to make me forget the boy. I need to find a way to — Amy stopped. Her face lit up and wearing an unsettling smile she looked at Korathkthu — There’s a way. I’ll make him pay by letting me have some fun. Mr. Thoth won’t be able to stop me either, keke.

— Are you sure you want to interfere with Mr. Abzhorrathoth’s hosting? He’ll come for you if you mess something up.

Rapidly blinking her eyes, Amy put a hand on her cheeks and said — I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just an innocent little girl playing by the rules. There’s no way I’d do something to make Mr. Abzhorrathoth angry.

She called him by his name. She’s definitely planning something weird, I’m sorry Mr. Abzhorrathoth, there’s nothing I can do. In his mind, Korathkthu apologized.

***

While running through the corridor, the group felt the building trembling. They didn’t need to think much to know why.

Nina broke the silence.

— Can you explain what happened back there? Why didn’t we stay to kill that thing like the other ones?

After organizing his thoughts, Dale spoke.

— I’m not sure what, but that one had something different. Since we arrived, I’ve been able to handle frightening situations with relative ease, but this time I was truly afraid. The tentacle monster we’ve killed almost took us with it and I didn’t feel anything from it, I couldn’t begin to imagine what the thing that caught Mr. Oliver would do to us.

After a brief moment of silence, Kyle interjected.

— How did you know we’d be able to escape?

— …I didn’t. It was a shot in the dark.

Kyle gulped. Dale continued.

— I just picked up some pieces of what it said and went with it. It said it had detached from its main body, so I guessed that the tentacles we were stepping on were part of it. It also mentioned that it needed to concentrate to feel what was happening, so a distraction was likely to work. That coupled with its hate towards Amy gave me an idea for us to make our escape, but it was still just a guess. I’m glad it worked.

Dale felt the look of awe on his back and said jokingly.

— It helps when over-thinking is your specialty.

Before anyone else could express a reaction, the loud sound of walls bursting could be heard behind them, getting closer with each second.

I think you’ve just created your number one hater — Said Nina, with a pale face after looking back and seeing the rubble and dust getting closer with increasing speed. Inside the chaotic scene, several tentacles could be seen wriggling around.

The access to the next staircase could be seen further ahead.

— Just run with everything you got and hope it can’t reach us on the next floor because I don’t think it just wants to hug it out — Answered Dale.

The group stopped talking and focused on running for their lives.

Reaching the access, rather than going down the steps, they jumped down. The sound of destruction was almost reaching them, so there was no time to waste.

When the tentacles were about to hit them, the vine-like appendages hit a transparent barrier that formed in the passageway for the staircase. After a loud thud, the tentacles burst into flames and quickly retreated. A deafening shriek could be heard, but the expected rumbling of the building didn’t occur.

After checking that everyone was safe, Dale looked around and realized they had reached the reception area. A system prompt appeared in his vision.

INTRODUCTION MISSION

REACH THE RECEPTION OF THE BUILDING YOU’RE ON

REWARDS: AN ACTUAL WEAPON (1), PATRON OPPORTUNITY.

TIME LIMIT: 12 HOURS

PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES

—

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

COMPLETION TIME: 3 HOURS 45 MINUTES (NEW RECORD)

REWARDS: AN ACTUAL WEAPON (1), PATRON OPPORTUNITY, BONUS NEW RECORD REWARD

THE REWARDS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED AFTER THE TIME LIMIT OR ALL REMAINING GROUPS ARE ELIMINATED

In a daze, Dale was unable to react. Kyle cheered throwing his arms in the air.

— We did it! Barely, but we did it!

For the first time in a while, Nina seemed relaxed. The sisters hugged each other in silence with smiles on their faces.

The reception hall was a large circular room with a round reception desk in its center and several tables scattered throughout its space.

Around the room, six passageways led to six staircases, including the one Dale and the others came from, which was odd because the layout of the corridors on the floors above implied that the building had a rectangular shape. But considering the previous events, a space-bending building wasn’t that hard to believe.

After a few minutes had passed, the group heard steps coming from the direction of the reception desk. Seemingly out of the shadows, an older gentleman moved towards them, clapping his hands.

— Impressive. Not only you’ve arrived ahead of schedule but also most of your group survived. I guess she wasn’t lying when she said you were competent.

He stopped in front of the group and, after seeing their stiff reactions, proceeded to speak.

— I’ll be your host for the next phase. My name is Abzhorrathoth, please refer to me as Mr. Abzhorrathoth. You should rest, that’s an advantage most groups won’t have. The patron ceremony and rewards distribution will happen soon. Any questions you might have will be answered then.

He turned his back and returned to the reception desk without saying anything else. All four let out a sigh of relief, glad they wouldn’t need to fight for their lives again so soon.

Setting at one of the tables, the group decided to rest and assess their situation.

— It looks like we’re not out of the woods yet. I’m not sure about you guys, but I’d like us to stick together for a while longer. It seems it’ll be safer that way.

— I agree. I guess it’s not surprising that we’re not the only ones in the building, but since we don’t know what the others went through, I’d rather stick with you guys — Said Kyle.

— Same here. After the bloody room and the tentacle creep, I think it’s better to stay together to avoid further problems. Not to mention we have experience fighting together, which will make a difference in the future. — Answered Nina.

Hazel bowed her head and spoke in a soft voice — Thank you very much for helping my sister and saving my life. We’ll be sure to pay back the favor.

I’m glad we all agree — Said Dale — We should take this time to rest and check on our current status. It was so frenetic back there that I didn’t have the time to read the last few notifications. I wonder what’s changed in my status.

Opening his status window, Dale was surprised.