Chapter 0084: Whispers (1/4)

With the doors opening, a gust of wind blew back the trio's hair and the surrounding snow.

The area behind the double doors was what could only be called a mirror house.

Every single wall was like a mirror. Reflecting everything perfectly. At first glance, it seemed like the place was made of mirrors but it was all ice.

That ice was so clear that it perfectly reflected everything.

The mirrors reflect each other in a way that made it seem like the paths and walls were stretching infinitely.

Even the floors were perfectly reflective.

The path itself wasn't straight, some twists and turns made traversing the place more difficult.

"Let's go. Don't get lost girls!" Masashi warned them and handed them both a cufflink to put on their wrist.

"What's this?" Mai asks while putting it on.

Yue put's it on while looking at Masashi curiously, waiting for him to answer.

"See for yourself." Masashi raises his wrist showing a light string connecting his cuff and the girls' cuffs in a triangle with all three of them being connected.

The moment the girls put the cuffs on, they were connected by a dense string made of enchanted Azantium that Masashi made into a fiber-like material. He made this to not let anyone get lost in this maze of mirrors.

The strings' lengths are enchanted so when one of them makes an abrupt move the other two wouldn't get disturbed unless they mean to disturb them, that's why Masashi enchanted it with Spirit magic.

He didn't need to do anything with Mai since the tattoo was enough of a connection but Yue needed that.

Although he had [Observation Haki] another measure of protection wouldn't hurt any of them.

He connected Yue to him and Mai so that she wouldn't end up lost somewhere.

As they walk in, the infinite reflections of the path are disturbed by the presence of the trio.

All three of them have infinite reflections within the hall of mirrors.

The only thing that isn't reflecting their faces is the floor since it's opaque.

Each footstep left behind a continuous echo that only weakened after a considerable amount of time.

"These mirrors aren't only reflecting light but also sounds." When Masashi said that, his words started echoing within the entire maze.

The loud echoes made Masashi flinch a little in embarrassment.

Both Mai and Yue nod lightly.

As they took a turn, Yue got mesmerized by her infinite reflection.

She swayed from left to right and saw how her reflection changed. 'Cool…'

Yue raised her hand and tried to touch her reflection in the mirror as if it were sucking her in.

Masashi realized Yue's predicament and hurriedly pulled on the string that connected him and Yue.

"Yue!"

When Masashi pulled on Yue's string she was yanked back by her hand and pulled out of her reverie.

Yue blinks her eyes a few times.

"We got you, Yue." Masashi keeps walking forward and turns his head back, smiling at Yue.

"Yeah!" Yue continues with renewed enthusiasm.

"The echoes are more unnerving than the images," Mai comments and instantly regrets it since her voice started echoing in the hall.

'We can turn [Gamer's Mind] back on with a thought. I didn't make it inaccessible for the duration of this section. Although the moment this section ends it'll turn back on by itself since I'm not risking it with mind stuff.'

Masashi decided to communicate telepathically from now on since all three of them had Spirit magic.

'I'm thinking of making some kind of artifact that helps us to telepathically communicate with Yue constantly.' He says to Mai.

'Sounds like a good idea. See if you can make it like a three-way kind of artifact where it opens up a telepathic channel between all of us.'

'Yeah, I'll do that right now. And make an artifact later.

(It'll happen again.)

Yue hears a whisper that makes her stiffen up for a moment before she keeps on walking.

Masashi notices Yue's momentary unease and opens up the telepathic channel between him, Mai, and Yue using Spirit Magic, 'You heard something, Yue?'

'Mhm.' She nods.

'Want to tell us? I think it'll be better if we tell each other the whispers. They target our insecurities to make us mentally weak and susceptible to temptations.'

'It'll happen again. That's what I heard.'

'It won't, you know that right?' Mai comforts Yue.

'Mmm. I know.' Yue answers without hesitation.

They don't stop moving because they knew that Yue was fine and didn't have any issues.

(You think you matter?)

This time Mai is the one who heard a whisper.

'Most of these whispers seem pretty generic?'

'What did you hear?'

'You think you matter?'

'…Generic indeed.'

(You don't deserve what you have.)

This time it's Masashi's turn to hear the whisper. He has a light smile hearing the whisper as he keeps moving through the maze with the girls unimpeded.

As they keep going, the whispers start getting more and more frequent.

They keep telling each other about what they hear but about a few hours in, Yue stops sharing the actual content of her whispers.

She still told them, but it wasn't the true content. Masashi easily caught on to it since the whispers. had been getting more and more descriptive and personalized.

Slowly, the dungeon was able to analyze their insecurities and capitalize on them.

Yue wasn't even putting much thought into her lies since she was mostly preoccupied with the whispers' contents.

(You'll be left behind, again.)

This whisper makes Yue flashback to the time she spent sealed within the abyss. Those feelings of loneliness and betrayal that festered within her for centuries on end kept coming back to her.

Yue's head was down looking at the ground which didn't help since even the ground was reflecting her face, forcing her to face herself.

'Can we take a break? I'm tired.' They are still talking telepathically since the echoes are very unnerving.

'The whispers getting to you?' Masashi catches on to Yue's thoughts.

'It's not that, I'm just tired of the incessant voice in my head.' Yue doesn't want to admit it.

'Mai?'

'I could take a little break.'

Masashi conjures a portal back to their house.

'Let's go.'

Masashi takes a seat on the couch and opens his arm, inviting Mai.

Gladly she hugs him and sits on one of his legs as he hugs her.

Seeing their actions, Yue, for the first time since she met them, gives the duo a nasty look.

"Yue… Honey, come over here." Mai calls out to Yue soothingly.

Both Mai and Masashi easily notice the negative feelings that are festering in Yue's heart due to the whispers that directly targeted her insecurities.

Masashi was also looking at her concernedly.

Although the constant whispers are getting to both Mai and Masashi too, they could tell that Yue was in a bad situation and they had to deal with everything delicately.

Yue narrows her eyes at Mai and walks to her with a somewhat angry look, "What?"

Mai doesn't say anything but just brings Yue into the hug too, bringing her to sit on Masashi's other leg.

Masashi hugs Yue with his other hand, bringing her to rest on his chest.

'Harem?' Masashi jokes a little with Mai to lighten her mood since they're both also a little unnerved.

'I dare you to try.' Mai's intent tells Masashi that he shouldn't test her.

'I wouldn't.' He has a little shiver in his tone.

"Let me go." When Yue sat on Masashi's lap, she started struggling to get up.

"Talk to us, Yue." Neither Mai nor Masashi are budging which makes it impossible for Yue to win and get up.

After a few minutes of futile struggles, Yue loosens up with a sigh.

"It's nothing."

"You wouldn't be like this if it was nothing." Masashi caresses Yue's silky gold hair which soothes her slightly.

Yue doesn't say anything and enjoys Masashi's caresses.

After a minute of silence, Masashi can feel Yue's steady breaths on his chest.

"…Mai?"

"Mhm? What is it?"

"Did we get together just because I found you on that day wearing your bunny suit in public?"

"…I don't know, honestly." Mai is silent since this was the only thing that the dungeon could capitalize on.

Mai and Masashi didn't have any weakness that the dungeon could exploit so it focused on the only thing that it could find, their bond.

By constantly making them hear whispers that targetted their relationship the dungeon tried to create a rift between them.

Constantly capitalizing on the tiny things that they had fought over, or things that they'd already solved.

It was making them focus on all the negatives in their relationship. There weren't many, but after almost 10 years of being together, there were bound to be some problems.

"Does it matter?"

"What?" Masashi is confused by Mai's question.

"Does how everything started matter at this point?"

"…"

"We're together now, right? We don't need to worry about how it happened. What's important is that it happened."

"Yeah, you're right." Masashi smiles lightly, pulling Mai in for a light kiss.

"Funny how once we got away from the whispers, everything got so much easier, no?" Masashi said after pulling back from Mai while looking into her eyes.

"Yeah… I pity the poor shmuck who'd have to clear the whole section in one go. Their group might not be filled with infighting but they'll sure as hell get stressed the fuck out."

"I don't think other people are as codependent as us. We do everything together. The thing is that we don't have any other weaknesses, at least ones that we know of… Other than each other. I don't know what I'd do if you were ever separated from me with no way to reach you instantly."

"I know…" Mai caresses Masashi's cheek lovingly, "I'm the same."