I Realized It Was An Academy Game After 10 Years – Chapter 38

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The face of the doll hit by the shovel shattered into pieces.

I confirmed that the doll was no longer moving and let out a sigh of relief.

They should have moderated their concept.

Just what were they trying to achieve with such an unnecessarily annoying concept?

The doll’s interior was completely hollow. Was it purely a gimmick? Or the pursuer concept commonly seen in horror games?

If I were a civilian, I might have died on the spot.

I would have panicked, cursed while holding the doorknob, and then dropped dead.

Were there similar dolls in the next room too? Renny would be fine, right? It’s probably an unnecessary worry.

Even if hordes of such dolls swarmed her, she wouldn’t get a single scratch. It’s uncertain who should be worrying about whom.

I grabbed the doorknob again.

The door opened anticlimactically.

I poked my head out and surveyed the corridor. The corridor was still quiet.

I pondered while looking at the fourth room and the second room.

Should I revisit the second room first, or should I check all the rooms before going there? Or should I briefly meet Karina?

I approached Karina, who was sitting in the corner of the temple, leaving the corridor.

As I approached, Karina spoke to me with a delighted face.

“Johann! Are you done with the exploration?”

“No. I just came to check the situation. How’s Millia?”

“She seems to have calmed down a lot.”

I looked at Millia, who had become docile in Karina’s arms.

Indeed, she seemed much more composed compared to earlier.

“I’ll go back to solve the puzzle.”

“Okay. Be careful… If you get hurt, come to me right away.”

“…If anything happens, shout immediately. I’ll come running.”

Although it seemed unlikely that anything would happen… I glanced back at Karina several times as I walked back to the corridor.

Given the dungeon’s theme and the possibility of something like a doll popping out, as it had before. I walked to the fourth room.

Before returning to the second room, I decided to visit the last room to gather information.

The key I obtained from the third room might look like the key to the second room at a glance, but it could also be the key to a different room.

I gripped the shovel with one hand, grabbed the doorknob with the other, and opened the door to the fourth room.

Creak-

As the hinges creaked, the door began to open. I didn’t immediately step into the room but observed the scene beyond the door.

It was the same as the third room.

Only the room was in a mess. There were bloodstains on the floor, leading from the bed to the door.

What had happened to the room that was intact until the third room?

According to my assumption, the order of the rooms would reflect the chronological order. What had occurred at the point of the fourth room?

I carefully stepped into the room.

“…It’s such a mess that I don’t know where to start searching.”

I slowly examined the thoroughly disarrayed room.

The window that had been closed in the previous room was open. The wind blowing through the open window was eerie.

Should I examine the window first? Since the window was the biggest difference between the previous room and this one.

I cautiously approached the window. I carefully looked outside the window. A city?

At least it wasn’t an island. Should I stick my head out?

Just in case, I tried reaching out my hand. It was the moment I had extended my arm up to the elbow.

“…It’s overflowing with malice.”

I glared at the window that had closed as if it were about to cut off my arm.

Was it a trap purely designed to shatter the moment a limb was extended?

If I had stuck my head out and failed to react, my neck would have been snapped, and I would have died.

What a troublesome thing to set up. I shifted my gaze from the window and looked at the blood-soaked bed.

I thought there might be dangerous elements on that bed too, so it seemed difficult to approach it recklessly.

I took out the shovel and lifted the blanket.

On the bed where the blanket was pulled back, there was a notebook similar to the ones I had seen in the previous rooms.

I carefully pulled the notebook towards me with the shovel and grasped it in my hand.

Let’s give it a read.

The situation unfolded in my mind.

Was Millia, who had discovered a secret, dragged away by her parents?

Considering the altar, it seemed that Millia’s parents believed in some kind of cult. There were still not enough clues, so should I search for more?

I searched the room further after that, but I couldn’t find any notable points. Instead, a hand suddenly popped out from under the bed and grabbed my ankle.

“Hmm. Should I go to the fifth room…”

Without obtaining any significant clues, I left the fourth room.

Now for the last room.

What would be in this room?

I took a deep breath and grabbed the doorknob.

What would pop out this time?

I carefully pushed the door… Huh?

What the hell is this?

I let out a chuckle in absurdity as I saw the door that had fallen over instead of opening. What kind of nonsense is this?

I shifted my gaze from the door and looked ahead. The smell of blood mixed with the stillness.

It was noticeably more spacious compared to the previous rooms. And the gray walls with red letters engraved on them scattered an eerie atmosphere.

What kind of place is this?

As I looked around, I slowly read the words written in blood on the wall opposite the door.

“If you desire eternal life, offer a sacrifice… It’s a clichéd story if it’s clichéd.”

Isn’t this a common setting that frequently appears in horror games?

Cult-obsessed individuals sacrificing their own children. Then is Millia a sacrificed victim?

I turned my gaze and looked down.

Blood.

Guts.

Four bodies sprawled around.

It seemed like they would rise up like zombies if I approached them. But I had to do it.

I cautiously entered the room.

It had an overwhelming stench of blood. The air felt completely different.

I poked the corpses with my shovel. They didn’t move.

I squatted down in front of the corpses and examined them closely.

Judging by their familiar hair colors, were they Millia’s family?

Why were they dead?

If the family was the subject of this unpleasant ritual, there seemed to be no reason for these humans to die.

I had assumed they were trying to obtain eternal life or something by sacrificing Millia, but was that not the case?

It seemed like I could understand something if I examined them further.

I rolled my eyes and scrutinized the corpses.

A corpse with its stomach torn open and intestines exposed, a corpse with its neck severed, a corpse with a hole in its heart. A corpse with its body dismembered.

It was a repulsive sight, but I silently stood up, suppressing the urge to vomit.

Even I couldn’t remain unaffected by witnessing such a horrific scene.

I turned my gaze and noticed some clothes scattered in the corner of the room.

They were familiar clothes.

The clothes worn by the doll that resembled Millia in the third room. Although stained with blood and difficult to recognize their original form, they were probably a match.

I carefully picked up the clothes.

As I tried to examine the clothes, I heard a thud as something hit the floor.

A notebook.

I picked up what was likely the last notebook.

What contents would be written in it?

I quickly flipped through the opened notebook.

Unexpectedly, I had to turn more than half of the notebook to find the first writing.

The conclusion was terrible.

I closed the notebook and put it in my pocket.

Was there anything else to search for?

I turned my head from side to side to look around, but there was nothing unusual. Just scattered corpses and clothes.

Then were the items to be placed on the altar in the left corridor?

I quietly left the room and entered the second room, immediately inserting the key into the iron cage door.

Fortunately, the key seemed to fit, and the door opened with a creepy sound.

I went straight inside and picked up the doll.

“Nothing particularly special… But it seems like there’s something inside.”

I turned the doll over, found a hole where cotton was sticking out, and put my hand inside. A

soft yet somehow creepy feeling. I carefully pulled out the unsettling object from inside the doll.

“…Fuck.”

Why is a human eye in here?

I wanted to throw it away immediately, but this was probably one of the offerings to be placed on the altar.

I put the eye in my bosom and left the room.

The corridor was quiet.

I looked towards the altar. No one was in the opposite corridor. Were they still investigating inside the rooms?

I should check on Karina’s condition and then move to the left rooms.

With that thought in mind, I was about to walk towards the altar.

“…”

A chill ran through my entire body.

There was something behind me.

Something…

Was it the same gimmick as before?

I forcibly turned my stiff neck to look behind me.

At the end of the corridor. A dead end.

A figure shrouded in darkness could be seen.

Without a head.

And the sound of something scraping the floor.

Naturally, my gaze followed the sound and lowered to the floor.

A very familiar blade used for cutting wood.

“…Yeah, it would be disappointing if something like this didn’t show up.”

The headless killer stomped the ground.

I gripped my shovel tightly.

[T/N: nope nope nope nope my boi needs to get out of lethal company ASAP]

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