There was a monster in the room, but somehow Shelly looked far more terrifying than it did.

"Shelly, can we talk about this later? As in...right after we deal with the monster behind you?"

Rin asked hopefully, and Shelly’s smile reassured him a little. Maybe Shelly did understand him better than he thought, and he would not have to worry about it—

But she was still walking toward him slowly with that unforgiving smile on her face. She got too close, causing Rin to close his eyes and accept his fate. He was at Shelly’s mercy.

The monster decided it wanted to start moving again, and it immediately attacked Shelly and Rin to get the core.

"Shelly, we can resolve our differences right now. I’ll fulfill one wish if you just help me avoid the boss for fifteen minutes."

Shelly’s eyes widened, and she immediately made a decision.

"This is a promise I will make you keep once we’re done here."

Rin was immediately picked up, and Shelly dodged the boss’s attacks gracefully. She was really skilled, and Rin had no doubt she would be able to keep up.

The monster started attacking from the sides as well, but the others blocked it. Even Amelia had started participating in the battle despite having no offensive skills.

The longer they kept going, the better their odds became. Rin kept an eye on the timer and felt relieved once it showed only one minute remaining.

’Finally, we’re at the finish line.’

Rin let out a sigh of relief, but unfortunately, the monster suddenly started thrashing around violently, and Shelly lost her grip on him.

The boss aimed for Rin’s chest, but he used an enhanced sword to block the attack and numb it for a few seconds.

Those few seconds became the difference between Rin keeping the core and losing it.

"Here, you want it? You can have it—"

Rin threw the core outside, and the monster followed after it. That gave them a few precious seconds to get out of the attack range.

"Let’s get out of here."

A second later, the boss reached the egg and crashed into it. One second, everything was quiet, and the next, the surroundings exploded.

"Did anyone get caught in the blast?"

Reina asked from the other side while checking on everyone around her. She breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like no one had been caught in the explosion.

Now, they just needed to wait for the monster to run out of time. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Are we sure this was a good idea? What if this causes the monster to come after us next?"

"Don’t worry too much about it. We can trust Rin. He hasn’t led us astray yet, so I trust him not to let us down this time either."

The people around Rin were trusting him, and he, in turn, was trusting the system to keep its word.

[Don’t worry, Rookie. This system has a foolproof guarantee to ensure you won’t look like a fool. Do you want this system to put it in writing?]

There was no need for that.

...

"Shelly, please stop pouting. I promised to give you what you want. Just wait a little longer, alright? I just want to make sure we’re out of danger."

Rin tried to reassure Shelly, but her expression did not soften. She was single-handedly dragging down the whole group’s mood.

But speaking of the group, there was no one around Rin he could really call a group. Everyone else had abandoned him.

’Traitors!’

"So, did you at least get what you wanted out of all this? I feel like it would make me feel a little better if you did."

Rin had not gotten what he wanted from the monster, but admitting that in front of Shelly felt like a mistake.

So Rin chose the one solution he could rely on—he decided to lie.

"I got what I wanted from the monster. You don’t have to worry about it."

Shelly’s gaze softened, though whether she actually believed him was another matter entirely.

Thankfully, the atmosphere between them improved slightly, and Rin breathed a sigh of relief...right as a second huge explosion shook the area.

The monster’s body had started to evolve, and new features began appearing throughout the swarm. The creatures also became calmer and stopped attacking humans without reason.

It was almost as if they had gained a collective consciousness and decided humanity was not worth pursuing.

Instead, they all began converging around the main boss and attaching themselves to it.

[Buzzzz]

The radio and the system both began glitching as an interfering frequency filled the area.

"This is..."

[There is no need to worry—bzzzzz—things are under control—bzzzzz—the task will end at the right time.]

The system’s reassurance was not very comforting. Not only was the main system malfunctioning, but the one connected to Rin was also glitching.

As much as this felt like a curse, it was likely also a blessing. Mainly because the monster seemed to have started regaining consciousness. It was slowly gathering more and more swarm creatures to break through Shelly’s defenses.

[Time left until the task ends: 4 hours. Good luck.]

__________

’Where am I? Who am I? My head...it hurts. There are so many things inside it.’

The entity tried to clutch its head, but its limbs would not move. Nothing responded to its will. Instead, its body moved as a single entity under the system’s control.

And yet, the entity was certain that it had once been human. It had done something to end up like this.

’Then...if my consciousness is returning, does that mean I succeeded? Did I somehow reach the objective?’

The monster did not remember what the objective was. All it knew was that it needed to reach it somehow.

[Congratulations, you made it to the end and obtained the core. However, it seems like you won’t be able to make it in time.]

[Thank you for trying. It was nice knowing you, Miss Nina. May you be less adventurous in your next life.]