CHAPTER 268: STRANGE ROOM

A grand piano sat in the exact middle. Gleaming black. Untouched. It looked freshly polished, as though someone had been here maintaining it in secret. Its ivory keys shone in the ambient crimson glow of the dungeon torches.

Surrounding the piano stood seven tall mirrors. Each of them was gilded, warped, and glowing.

The group paused.

Because the mirrors were not mirrors.

They were windows.

Kaiden stepped forward first, drawn to them. As he approached, he saw what they reflected.

Versions of himself.

But wrong.

Twisted.

Warped by a cardinal sin.

In one, his Wrath-corrupted self stood shirtless, muscles swollen grotesquely and a wide grin on his face as he ground a crushed skull beneath his heel, reveling in the carnage.

In another, his Gluttony form lounged on a throne of bloated corpses, drinking thick blood from a golden chalice as women he didn’t recognize hand-fed him delicacies one after the other while dressed in skimpy clothes.

Pride showed him clothed in fine silks, surrounded by kneeling followers chanting his name. His eyes were aglow with divine arrogance, the image of a god among mortals.

Lust presented him in shadow and silk, limbs tangled with a dozen faceless lovers. His aura was both suffocating and addictive.

Envy revealed a hollow-eyed version staring at Kaiden with bitter loathing, clenching a broken mirror shard.

Greed had him armored in gold and diamonds, surrounded by piles of magical treasures, but still clawing at the shadows for more.

And Sloth? Sloth was the worst. A pale, ghostly version of Kaiden lay motionless in a collapsed bed, surrounded by faded friends and dusty memories, his eyes vacant, watching life pass him by.

Kaiden’s fists clenched.

It wasn’t his Paragon of Sin class and its Sin Stances that were being displayed.

It was what he could have become if he gave in to the seven cardinal sins. If he truly let those sins own him instead of wielding fragments of them for power.

Vaelira scoffed as she stared at her image in the Envy mirror. She didn’t like what she was seeing.

The Arcane Puppeteer snapped her fingers, wordlessly ordering her armored legionnaires to do her bidding. Two of them stepped forward and approached the piano. On her command, one raised its gauntlet and pressed down on a key.

*Thunk.*

No sound came from the instrument.

The key didn’t even go down. It was like trying to press a stone.

She tried again with the second summon. Same result.

"... What is this stone piano good for if you can’t even press the button?"

Nyx had a different opinion. "I highly doubt an obvious piece of the puzzle would malfunction... Our luck can’t be that bad. Instead, we should consider the piano not broken but in a sort of sealed state."

Aria agreed. "If this room is a puzzle, then those wings..." she pointed to the two symmetrical corridors leading deeper with her mage’s staff, "...must hold the clues."

The pathways were mirror twins of each other, vanishing into torchlight. The only way forward.

Diaz exhaled sharply. "We’re really doing this again?"

He looked back and forth between the two wings. "Splitting the group resulted in near tragedy the last time. Now that the dungeons have become so much crazier, it’s..." He didn’t finish that sentence. His expression steeled. "But we don’t have a choice. The clock is ticking fast."

Vaelira clenched her jaw.

She didn’t want to separate from Kaiden again because her stream numbers skyrocketed when she shared a frame with him, desperately wanting to see the next part of the drama.

But to demand a slot in his group now, when he already had four teammates... and abandon her own team in the process?

That would destroy her image.

She couldn’t afford that.

With a dramatic huff, she turned and strode toward the right wing, not even bothering to ask which side Kaiden preferred. "You lot. With me. Now."

Jack hesitated for half a second before following.

Sasha still looked shaken but obeyed. Leon gave one last look at the group, hiding his growing nausea as best he could, then moved to trail behind them.

Diaz sighed again.

But instead of walking immediately, he paused, glanced back over his shoulder, and locked eyes with Kaiden.

"Good luck," he said simply.

Kaiden gave him a single nod.

Nyx tilted her head as Diaz began walking away.

"I struggle to get a proper read on this guy... That sounded honestly supportive, having no sarcastic edge to it. I don’t get the feeling he wants us to fail."

"Yeah... I believe he genuinely wants us to succeed," Aria agreed.

"Maybe he really is trying to keep the guild from collapsing instead of trying to bring about its end."

But before anyone could add more...

"Wait, you dumb blond cunt!"

Luna’s voice suddenly burst into a shrill shout that echoed through the chamber, strong enough to make even the dead flinch. She took a sharp breath and cupped her hands around her mouth as she yelled after the retreating group:

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING WITH ALL THOSE SUPPLIES?!"

The echo reverberated.

Vaelira paused mid-strut, clearly annoyed at being shouted at and outright enraged at the choice of words Luna elected to go with.

Luna stormed forward and pointed accusingly at the line of summoned legionnaires hauling large packs of food and rations. "Your summons are carrying everything! If we split up and you take all the provisions with you, then we starve to death in like, what? Three hours due to the hungering curse?!"

Vaelira turned on her heel with theatrical annoyance. Then, with a disgusted look as if she’d been asked to share her lipstick with a peasant, she flicked her wrist dramatically.

*Fwip.*

Half her summoned warriors abruptly dropped their bags on the ground with synchronized thunks. The movement was perfectly timed, stylish, and extremely sassy.

Then, without a word, Vaelira resumed walking.

...

It was time to see what the left wing had in store for them!