One moment, the air hummed with the eerie silence of an ancient tomb, punctuated by the occasional shouts of greed and dissatisfaction; the next, a deafening wave of sound slammed into everyone like a gravitational hammer. The force dropped them to their knees; their hands clapped over their ears.
All except Jin.
His body locked for a moment as the Anpu Statue, a monstrous effigy of black stone and pulsing golden engraving, lurched upright from its pedestal. Its massive fingers clawed at the air, and when it took its very first step forward, the ground shuddered. Cracked. Dust rained from the ceiling.
Jin managed to drag Eustace away by the tip of his thread from being trampled on. With the scout’s limp body slung over his shoulder, he ran toward the centre of the sanctum. There, around the sarcophagus puzzle they tried to solve earlier, Emilia, Ka Fei the nerd, the big guy, and three other Players lay sprawled like broken dolls, their chests rising and falling in shallow, uneven rhythms. Beyond them, near the far corners, the rest of the Players were littered – all motionless and vulnerable.
BOOM!
Jin turned around. Hundreds of feet away, the jackal-headed statue towered over them, its obsidian eyes burning with crimson light. In its grasp, it held a massive sceptre – not a weapon it had conjured, but one it had torn from the deep recess within the sanctum’s wall. The weapon was carved from stone, its top shaped like the head of a jackal, its eyes glowing with the same eerie light as the wielder. The sceptre hummed, resonating with the energy of the sanctum itself, as if it were drawing power from an ancient source.
The statue stepped forward, the sceptre dragging along the ground, leaving a trail of glowing runes in its wake. The runes pulsed, and the air thickened, as if the sanctum were responding to the statue’s will.
“My lord!” Fenrir’s frantic voice called out to Jin’s mind. “We are sealed within this place by a spell!”
“What?!” Jin’s eyes flickered to the exit. The massive stone door closed itself shut, its seams glowing faintly with the same eerie light as the statue’s eyes. No way out.
“Shit! What the hell is happening?! Fenrir, can you find another way to escape?”
“We can run, my lord. But escape, we cannot.”
Jin cursed under his breath. But there was no time to think. With each step the Anpu Statue took, the sanctum shook. Cracks split the floor beneath the statue’s weight as it inched closer to the Players. A reminder that his enemy would not wait. He slid Eustace onto the ground beside Emilia, then whipped his threads out.
It wove into a dense web barrier between the statue and Jin. The barrier stretched, groaning under the tremendous strain. The statue then lifted its sceptre high, and from the tip, magical runes flared. A wave of force rippled outward, shredding the first layer of Jin’s barrier. The threads snapped, recoiling like broken high-tension wire.
Jin gritted his teeth and as he pushed himself to reinforce the barrier. But it was a futile job. Like a piece of paper trying to stop a rolling boulder. But still, it brought him precious seconds.
If they cannot escape, like what Fenrir said, at the very least, all the other Players, especially those under Jin, would remain safe. Wrapped in cocoons, he heaved Eustace, Emilia, Ka Fei, and the rest – two at a time – toward the corner of the sanctum.
But the Anpu Statue was relentless. It slammed and then swiped its sceptre around, and the impact shattered the stone pillar, sending a shockwave through the sanctum. The barrier buckled under the falling debris.
“M-Master! I-I can’t hold on any longer.”
Cattleya warned Jin of the impending outcome. Three more hits. Tops. And then the enemy would break though the barrier.
Then again, it wasn’t the only barrier that Jin would weave. He threaded his fingers, summoning every ounce of focus and energy he could. If the door prevented them from escaping, then at the very least, he’d buy the others and himself the time.
Jin grinned, his face shining with fierce desperation.
“Come on, then. Let’s see what you got, you oversized paperweight.”
***
As his thread glistened under the dimly lit sanctum, by using the surrounding stone pillars as his support, Jin wove three additional web barriers, stacking upon each other. If the first was a combination of silk and adhesive, the second, third and fourth following barriers added the steel thread. Jin had hoped it could last them longer than the ten seconds it took Anpu Statue to tear the first layer away.
It provided Jin a short breather, and while waiting for the rest to wake up and think of a plan to escape from this death trap, he created web mines made of Cattleya’s
While setting up the web mines, Jin called out to Bahamut telepathically.
“Oi, Bee. You said this dimension wouldn’t evolve for three days. So what in the world is this?!”
Bahamut’s voice dripped with dry amusement. “I also told you to escape this place the moment you stepped in. Did you listen? No. You humans never do.”
Jin gritted his teeth. The dragon had a point. A terrible and inconvenient point.
“Fine, fine. So how do we get out of here, Bee? You’ve got to know something.”
“If I intervene directly, Atheron will be furious. And I would rather not seek his repercussion either. Especially not in my current condition.” Bahamut’s tone was infuriatingly calm. “But I have given you the power to fight that walking pebble. So, use it. Your skills. Your summons. Destroy it.”
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Jin stared at the Anpu Statue, its hulking form pressing forward against his wall of webbing. “You want me to solo that monstrosity?! Forget protecting those guys and staying alive, how could I fight something that I don’t even have a bloody clue about?”
The words hung in the air. Then Jin paused.
Wait.
He was whining. Actually whining. Like some rookie who’d never seen a real fight.
Jin slapped his face a couple of times. He’d been in worse spots. Way worse. He and Viridiana had outrun a dragon, for god’s sake. And this? This was nothing more than a big, clumsy rock-pile with delusions of grandeur. That jackal’s head might be intimidating, but the dragon he faced before was a stuff nightmare. It still haunted his dreams from time to time.
“Sorry, Bee,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to snap. If you say I can fight it, then I will fight. And win. Prove to you that you didn’t misplace this power you’ve given me.”
“Excellent,” Bahamut purred. “Though you are right about one thing. To win, you do need to know your enemy. Consider this a gift.”
A sharp tingle shot through Jin’s eyes and forehead. He clenched them shut, waiting a few seconds before the pain disappeared. When he opened them again, a holographic status screen floated in front of him – not like any Player’s interface he’d seen. It was detailed. Alive. A 3D model of the Anpu Statue rotated, its stats and weaknesses laid bare like a page from a monstrous manual.
And then – the good stuff.
Jin raised an eyebrow.
“Great. I don’t have wind magic, and my strongest blunt weapon is my fist, which would shatter like an overripe tomato dropped on stone floor if I box that hulking stone,” he mumbled. “And that Gem of Life is on its forehead? I could amalgamate with Fenrir and reach it, but then what? Bite it?”
He glanced at the statue. The attacks weren’t as relentless as before – roughly thirty seconds between each bash from its sceptre and fist – but the threads snapped one by one. The sanctum trembled, dust and loose stone raining from the ceiling.
“Yup. Definitely not going up there. Unless I get some help.”
As if to answer his prayers, a few groans cut through the tension. Jin turned and found Ka Fei was first to stir, rubbing his temples. Behind him, Emilia’s face twisted. The others, too, started to come about, all except Eustace.
Alas, it was not the kind of help he wished for.
“The fuck?! Why am I tied up like a sausage?! Frank, is this your doing?!” Ka Fei snarled, struggling against the cocoon.
Jin shook his head and released Ka Fei, Emilia, and the others. Instead of thanks, the fool lurched at him, grabbing his collar. The others staggered behind, their intentions clear.
“The hell you’re trying to do, bastard?!”
“A-Are you that desperate to g-get rid of us, Frank?” Despite being shaken, Emilia's words were still sharp and poisonous.
If there was one thing consistent about these two, it was them being consistently annoying. But they weren’t the worst of the lot.
Led by the glass-wearing Player, they accused Jin of breaking the Players’ taboo of not stealing others’ work. Especially one close to completion.
“You fool! You think you can steal our work just like that! I’ll kill you on the spot!”
Even Daisy, who Jin thought was kinder, didn’t hold back. “If it wasn’t for your grub, I’d bash your skull in! What was that all about?!”
The big, burly Player loomed over them, his face warped with anger. “Do you have a death wish, boy? You know-”
Jin had had enough. “You blind?”
Ka Fei tightened his grip on Jin’s collar, but the man was not bothered. “Who are you calling blind?!”
“Not just you. All of you. Blind. Deaf. Stupid. And most likely will die a dog’s death!”
Jin grabbed Ka Fei’s wrist, peeling his arm away. A sickening crack echoed before Ka Fei stumbled back, nursing his bruised wrist, his intense glare never wavering.
As Jin locked in confrontation with the four Players – and the others he’d saved – the whole hall shook. Debris showered from the ceiling. Worse, a visible tear split the final steel-reinforced web barrier.
It was then that the Anpu Statue’s face emerged from the tear, sending terror through the ranks. Except Jin. The only thing stopping it from trampling them was Cattleya’s sticky web mines. But it was only prolonging the inevitable.
Everyone froze. Ka Fei’s bravado vanished, scooting toward the exit alongside a few of them, only to find it sealed. Despair filled the group. Emilia fell to her knees, hands grabbing her dirtied red hair, muttering that this was a bad dream.
“I saved all of you without a single drop of blood. Now that you’re up, all mouthy and brave, the only way out of this shitty mess is to fight with me. I need help to defeat this thing.”
“Huh? Are you dense?” The glass-wearing Player jabbed a finger at Jin’s chest. “You did save our lives, but that doesn’t mean we listen to you. You’re a rookie. What do you know about RIFTs?”
The big-sized Player nodded. “We can find another way to escape. In my experience, there’s always a hidden-”
“Whatever!” Jin didn’t wait. “If you can find the way out, go on. I don’t give a rat’s arse about all of you. Except these three kids under me.” He turned to Ka Fei and Emilia, too shell-shocked to react. “As your team leader, you two have no choice but to follow me!”
To make his point, he dragged the two by the collar away from the group. Eustace was still unconscious, so Jin counted himself and the scout as one.
“Now, listen up, you useless pieces of cow shit. We’re going to die unless we’re in this together. That monster behind the web barrier is an evolved Boss Monster. Level 50 and-”
“What?!” Emilia interjected. “Level 50?! But this is an F-Rank RIFT! At most, it shouldn’t be more than level 10! Level 50 belongs to C-Class RIFTs!”
“Done talking?” Jin replied. “Now, shut up, or I’ll shut it for you. We don’t have time. I got a plan, and it needs all three of us to work together. As a team.”
“What? Work with you? Fuck off, man! I-”
“That’s it! I’m done babysitting your sorry arses,” Jin turned away. “To be honest, even without you two, I can still get out alive. You saw what I did back then with the Cleaners you left for dead, right, Emilia?”
The Lowenhald princess said nothing. She didn’t even dare look him in the eyes.
“The only thing keeping me from leaving you two is my promise to Chairman Heihachi. But since you’re all mules… well, he can’t blame me. I tried. Bye-”
“W-Wait!”
Finally. Someone took the bait.
“Y-You can win? Against that?” Ka Fei asked.
“Win? Maybe. Escape? Most likely.”
“But how? We’re sealed inside!”
“I got a plan. But-”
Before Jin could finish his point, a massive stone fell from the ceiling, smashing onto the spot where they had stood earlier. Jin's warning arrived too late; his action, later still. Screams of death followed instantly, sending Emilia shrinking into herself, hugging her body tight.
Even Ka Fei, stoic as he tried to remain, started shaking. Then again, there was still some defiance left in him. “Damn it, man! I’ll follow you! But if you fucking fail, I-I”
“Oh, shut it!” Jin turned to Emilia. “And you?”
The girl didn’t even answer as tears flooded her eyes. Seemed like witnessing firsthand how brutal a RIFT could be, with death at every step, had turned the obnoxious noble into nothing more than a pile of sobbing mess.
Jin had no time to console her. Or to motivate, hug or even slap her into her senses. Except for Eustace – and he needed a couple to finally awake from the stupor. All the time he bought for them had finally been used up, and they had no choice but to work together.
One way or another, Jin wasn’t dying in this RIFT. Again.