Hour Empty Child

Vol. 9 Chapter 4: The Crystal Dungeon Part 2

They walked forward through the cream-stone hallway as they head to the next floor. Despite only reaching the second floor of the possible hundred-floor dungeon, the tension was already beginning to rise within the party.

It was as if a heavy presence was on top of the party, holding everyone down. Kudo himself could feel it after all the time he spent being with the party. He turned his head to glance at his party members. All of them had hard-to-discern expressions on their faces. He then turned forward, to notice Saka's back in front of him as she led the party for some reason.

It was as if a single word could make everything blow up. One single word and everyone could go into a fight with Saka. Kudo knew before that Saka had difficulty being with the party, but he didn't think it would happen so soon.

"Kudo," Hinota stepped forward, whispering to Kudo with a low voice. "This was bound to happen either way. There's not much we can do."

"Yeah..."

The party continued to walk under the heavy atmosphere till they reached to a large room with a row of doors that were closed in front of them. There were four doors each with a white color and a silver knob for each. There was some sort of insignia displayed at the front, but they had no clue on what kind of insignias they were.

"So this is the second floor?" Raika asked.

"Doesn't seem very impressive..." Kuki commented, tilting his head.

"So we gotta choose one of them, huh?" Tsuchi walked forward to one of the doors but was hesitant to choose. "But one might be a trap, right?"

"Probably," Mizuri said. "Still, this is kinda lackluster, ain't it?"

"Well, it's still the second floor," Kudo said. "Maybe the good ones are at a deeper level?"

"Does it matter?" Saka intervened, her eyes furrowed. "Let us choose one and let it be over with."

Saka said with a direct tone, leaving the other party members to furrow their brows at her. Kudo expected this, but he pursed his lips at the sight of this happening.

"Now, now," Hinota stepped forward, ready to diffuse the situation. "It might be possible that each of these doors could be a trap except for one, So let's rely on our own luck." She then turned to Kudo. "It's your turn, leader."

"Yeah," Kudo nodded, thankful for Hinota's quick thinking. "I'll go ahead."

Kudo moved forward to one of the doors in front of him. In this small time of thinking, Kudo was thankful that Hinota managed to diffuse it so easily, but as a leader, he should be the one to try to do something like this. It was his responsibility to try to mitigate the issues regarding the new member he brought in, but it was already turning out to be sour at the moment they partied.

During his thought, he took a moment to choose a door. Sometimes, his luck is great, but it can sometimes bite him in the arse. He wished he could just have reliable luck like Hinota said, but rather than that, he wished he could have the luck to turn over the entire situation into a fun one like he imagined.

He sighed in his mind as he nevertheless chose a door out of just pure luck once again. He pointed at the door that Hinota was actually close to.

"That one," Kudo pointed as he said. "I got a good feeling about that."

"Then, I'll open it up."

Hinota said as she grabbed the silver knob and turned it. The door unhinged with a loud clunk and opened up with a slow grind. Hinota was pushing it normally, but the door was already making a loud sound that made their ears upset.