"We're here." Daniel looked ahead. They had almost arrived.
Within a few seconds, the platform reached the bottom of the mountain. Daniel grabbed the stick he had found while exploring the cave and stood up. It was just a piece of wood, but in that moment, he figured having a weapon wouldn't hurt.
The other two exchanged a glance before stepping off the platform. You could still see the traces of fear in their eyes, but at this point, they had no choice but to follow Daniel if they wanted to survive.
They walked for several minutes in silence. A strange stillness filled the air. Daniel kept glancing around as if he was searching for something.
The burning sun was slowly disappearing, almost fully set.
"What exactly are we doing?" One of them finally broke the silence. He was also hungry.
Not just him—the other one was hungry too. They hadn't eaten since morning. All the fear and stress had killed their appetite, but now that they were in a relatively safe place, their hunger had returned.
Daniel didn't answer him, which made the guy look a little embarrassed.
"Here." Daniel stared ahead. A frozen lake stretched out in front of them.
"Here? What are we doing here?"
"This will be the monster's grave."
"What?" Both of them looked at Daniel with wide, terrified eyes. They had barely escaped death because of that monster—and this lunatic wanted to lure it back?
Daniel ignored them and changed the bandage on his injured hand. He didn't throw away the bloody cloth but put it in his pocket.
"We're all hungry, and from what I've seen, we still have a long way to go before we can leave this mountain. It'll be night soon."
"At night, the whole mountain becomes that monster's home. If you don't want to die, we have to kill it."
Silence fell again. His words made sense. Even though they didn't want to take such a risk, they had no choice if they wanted to stay alive.
Seeing that they seemed to agree, Daniel nodded.
"You're an elf, right? From what I know, forests are your home. Are there any plants we can use to weaken the monster?" He turned to the female elf and asked.
"Well… there are some plants that could help, but I'm not sure if they grow around here." The elf—Lunaryl—thought for a moment and then said.
"Better than nothing."
Lunaryl began describing the names and appearances of the plants they needed.
The other two went off to gather what she had mentioned, and Daniel also went to look for some of the things he needed, along with something to eat.
It took about an hour for them to meet back at the lake.
"Good. Time to build the trap." Daniel and the others began building the trap, which took another hour.
After that, Daniel lit a fire and prepared a meal for them.
"Ah… come to think of it, I don't even know your names yet, haha. Anyway, I'm Lunaryl," said the beautiful elf with long golden hair and blue eyes.
"My name is Katri. Nice to meet both of you." Katri, a female demon, said as she turned the mushrooms over the fire.
Then both of them looked at Daniel.
"Daniel."
"Nice to meet you, Daniel."
"Anyway… why were you two tied up in front of the cave?" Daniel suddenly asked, shocking them.
"We don't know. It's our first time entering the tower, and we're not familiar with how it works."
"This tower randomly places participants in different situations," Katri said as she bit into a piece of mushroom.
"I see. I didn't expect this kind of trouble." Daniel glanced up at the sky. The time was almost right.
"Anyway, it's my first time seeing an elf and a demon, but from what I've heard, your races are very proud."
Both of them frowned slightly and glanced at each other.
"We've heard the same about humans—especially that you're cruel and racist."
Before replying, Daniel put a mushroom in his mouth.
"Well, I can promise you everything you've heard is a lie. Humans are actually very kind."
"…"
Lunaryl and Katri looked at Daniel's face. He really did seem innocent and kind, but remembering what he had done just a few hours ago… it was hard to believe his words.
Katri looked at Daniel and then at Lunaryl. Why hasn't the poison worked yet?
"Sigh, whatever. Lunaryl might have the right to call me cruel, but you? The one who tried to poison us? You don't get to talk." Daniel picked up the cup of water beside him and poured it onto the fire.
"What do you mean?" Katri suddenly felt a sense of dread in her chest, but before she could do or say anything, her head started spinning and she collapsed to the ground.
"You—why did you do this to her?" Lunaryl stared at Daniel in fear, grabbing the stick next to her to defend herself.