Takumi loosened up his body, stretched his legs, twisted his waist, and jumped a couple of times. After finishing his basic warm-up exercises, he lifted his head and looked toward the cave entrance above.
That place was very likely the entrance to the next area—that is, the location of the [Turnback Point].
As for why there was an area called the "Turnback Point" inside the Red Nut Grey Cave—an area whose naming style was completely different from everywhere else—Takumi had thought about it many times and considered all kinds of reasons. But before any concrete verification, those ideas were ultimately just speculation without evidence. In the end, he still had to try it himself to find out.
"Hah!"
His feet sank slightly, then he exerted force sharply.
In the next instant, Takumi leapt up nearly three meters, reached out, and easily grabbed onto the rock wall, climbing straight up into the rocky cave.
The pitch-dark rock hollow was very narrow and somewhat damp. But for Takumi, none of this was a problem. Using both hands and feet, he quickly climbed up the cave, moved onto the platform at the bend, then turned the corner and looked down at Fujiwara Chika below.
"Hurry up."
Takumi extended his hand downward and said seriously to the girl.
"Mm, I—I know."
Fujiwara Chika obviously couldn't jump straight up in place like Takumi and reach a height of over two meters. So she dragged a desk over to beneath the cave opening, climbed onto the desk, then with a "heh" jumped upward—only for Takumi to easily catch her by the arm and, with one hand, lift the girl up and pull her into the cave.
The headlamps the two of them wore on their heads swayed along with their movements, casting flickering light and shadow within the cramped cave.
The cave here was truly far too narrow—so much so that Takumi and Chika couldn't even squeeze in side by side, and had no choice but to go one in front and one behind. And if they moved forward just a little more, they would enter an even narrower and lower area where even turning around or crouching would be impossible.
Takumi suddenly felt a trace of unease.
He couldn't explain why. Clearly, he had experienced narrow areas like this before. In the area named the [Artery], he had already gone through what it was like to crawl forward lying flat. But now, faced with this unknown cave, he felt an extremely ominous premonition—one he had never had before.
As if he had been to this place before.
As if this place was somewhere he had seen in the past.
"Hah… are we setting off?"
Fujiwara Chika took a deep breath and looked at Takumi as she asked.
"Mm. Are you ready?"
After a brief moment of silence, Takumi looked at Chika with no change in expression and simply asked.
"Of course! Rookie explorer Fujiwara Chika is ready at any time—ow!"
The girl immediately lifted her chin with a proud expression as she spoke, only to let out a small cry when her head bumped against the rock wall.
It seemed that no matter the situation, Fujiwara Chika was always a cute girl who could smile and liven up the atmosphere.
Takumi let out a faint sigh in his heart, then turned his head and looked toward the pitch-dark, unfathomably deep passage ahead.
"Then, same as before—I go in front, you go in back. Do you still remember the rules?"
Takumi asked at last, his tone gradually becoming solemn.
"Mhm, mhm, I remember. We have to make sure we're crawling inside a natural cave with no signs of human activity at all. If we encounter a fork, we must retreat and absolutely cannot keep moving forward. If we crawl into a place where we can't turn around, we have to stay quiet—don't talk, and don't respond to anyone's voice."
Fujiwara Chika nodded repeatedly, clearly having the rules firmly ingrained.
"Alright. Let's move."
Without any further idle talk, Takumi was the first to lie flat on the ground and begin advancing toward the depths of the cave.
Damp.
Cold.
Those were the first sensations Takumi felt.
His exploration suit scraped against the uneven ground, pushing aside small stones and preventing them from cutting into his skin.
At this moment, his helmet collided with the rock wall. Takumi realized he had lifted his head too high and had no choice but to lower it, his chin nearly brushing the ground, before he could continue forward—continuing to crawl and wriggle deeper ahead.
Drip—
A drop of water fell onto the back of his neck, bringing with it an even colder sensation.
Takumi himself slowly stretched out a hand, grabbed a rock wall in front of him, and then slowly dragged his body forward, crawling bit by bit toward the depths.
"Huff…"
His breathing inevitably grew heavy.
It was only the beginning, yet Takumi already realized that the environment here was more oppressive than the Artery, far more suffocating than the Artery area where one could at least squat while moving forward.
He had no way to straighten his back.
The moment he tried to lift his upper body even slightly, the cold, damp rock wall would block him.
Takumi could only crawl—slowly, very slowly.
In this rock cave of unknown length, inching his body forward little by little.
For a moment, he felt as though he were imitating a snail, advancing at an unbearably slow pace.
And in that fleeting lapse of concentration, one side of Takumi's ear was scraped by the rock wall, cutting it open on the spot. Blood was drawn, and waves of sharp pain followed.
This immediately made Takumi lose any desire to joke around. He reined in his thoughts and continued crawling forward in silence, slowly making his way deeper into the cave.
Drip—
Another drop of water fell, landing beside Takumi.
The rock cave here was extremely damp. This brought Takumi a bit of convenience in his movement—crawling through a moist cave was still somewhat better than crawling through a dry one. However, in such an oppressive and dark environment, he had no spare attention to think about these things and could only keep crawling forward step by step.
Ten minutes—perhaps twenty minutes, or even longer than that.
Takumi finally crawled past this section and arrived at a new, slightly larger cave.
The space here was roughly equivalent to the interior of a van. There were not many stone stalagmites or stalactites; it was an open area where one could take a short rest.
On one side of the cave, while eating an energy bar to replenish his strength, Takumi found a rusted iron sign. Written on it were the words Turnback Point, and beneath them was a sentence left behind:
[Now do you know why this place is called the 'Turnback Point'?]
The sentence made Takumi pause slightly, then he could not help but laugh.
"Indeed. You understand right away why this place is called the 'Turnback Point.'"
Murmuring softly, Takumi looked toward one side of the small open area—the path he would be heading to next. It was another narrow cave passage. Just from the entrance alone, it was clear that this cave would definitely be narrower and darker than the section he had just crawled through.
The so-called Turnback Point was the path that made people retreat in the face of difficulty.
If it were a timid person, after reaching the Turnback Point, they would more or less lose their courage and be unable to continue forward.
But he would not retreat here.
Not to mention a narrow cave—even if it were hell itself, he could only push through it now.
"Ugh… ugh…"
As Takumi was thinking this, Fujiwara Chika's wail suddenly reached his ears.
He turned his head and looked toward the cave entrance he had just emerged from. A small hand was flailing about wildly there, struggling to grab onto the rock wall, yet unable to break free.
Takumi stepped forward and squatted down, looking into the cave opening at the pink-haired girl who was exerting herself to crawl out.
"Ta-Takumi-kun, I'm stuck."
Upon seeing Takumi appear, Fujiwara Chika immediately put on a pitiful expression.
Through the power of the blessing, it could be confirmed that the other party was a living, breathing person—it was indeed Chika.
However, considering the rules mentioned on the rules board, Takumi did not speak. He only reached out, grabbed the hand she had extended, and then pulled hard.
"Uwaaa, it hurts, it hurts, it really hurts—waaah, woo—!"
With Takumi's strength, the girl was pulled out quite smoothly. But judging from the painful expression on her face, and the way she immediately covered her chest after crawling out, that moment's experience was clearly extremely unpleasant.
Mm, you could clearly see abrasion around the chest area. So this girl really did get stuck in the cave. How should I put it… is this what you'd expect from E-level combat power? Compared with Maki and Kaguya, who were only AA-level, it really was a dimensionality-reduction strike.
It was just that this combat power, in terrain like this, was a complete and utter disadvantage.
Takumi pondered, looking at the cave the two of them had just crawled out of, then looking at the obviously narrower area the two of them needed to head into next.
It could be said for certain that if they just went in like this and did nothing, with Fujiwara Chika's figure, she really would get stuck inside the cave—unable to crawl out until death.
In that case, he could only use some methods.
"Take off your top."
As Takumi spoke seriously to Chika, he was undoing his backpack.
"Huh?"
The girl, not understanding what Takumi meant, froze for a moment.
"Move it. Take off your top."
Takumi said impatiently. Then he took bandages out of his backpack, first tugged at them to test them, and after confirming that this thing's toughness was pretty decent, he lifted his head and looked not far away, at the girl who was bashfully unzipping her exploration suit and taking it off, one hand still covering her chest.
"Take off your bra too."
Takumi said without mercy.
"H-Huh? This too?"
The girl, utterly shocked, almost instinctively took a step back. Then she looked at the bandages in Takumi's hand and roughly realized what he was trying to do.
"If you don't want to die in this place, then listen and do as you're told. This isn't the time for you to act cute."
Takumi stepped closer and said only in a calm tone.
"I-I understand…"
Fujiwara Chika's cheeks were already completely dyed a deep crimson. Trembling, she turned around to face away from Takumi, then reached up and undid the final restraint on her body.
Not seeing the two big white rabbits head-on was honestly a bit disappointing, but this obviously wasn't the time for that kind of thing. So Takumi only tore off a length of bandage, quickly came to Chika's front, and said to her, "Inhale—push your chest out, lift your head," and then wrapped the bandage around her.
"Ugh…"
Chika almost immediately let out a pained whimper.
Takumi had already wrapped more bandages around her chest, tying a firm knot behind her back and tightly restraining the girl's proud curves.
"Can you still breathe? Try inhaling and exhaling," Takumi asked as he looked at the uncomfortable-looking girl after finishing the wrapping.
"I… I can. It's just a bit uncomfortable…"
After struggling to inhale and exhale for quite a while, Fujiwara Chika raised a hand, made a V sign toward Takumi, and then forced a small smile.
"That's good. Rest properly for a bit, then we'll set off. Here—eat something first and replenish your energy."
Handing a chocolate energy bar to Chika, Takumi maintained a slightly bent posture as he turned around and sat down on one side of the cave, deliberately turning his back a little.
"Mm, thank you, Takumi-kun. Without you, I don't think I could have made it this far."
Although the process of binding her chest earlier had been extremely embarrassing and heart-pounding, and even now breathing was still very uncomfortable, Fujiwara Chika knew it had been for her own good—for her survival going forward—and she thanked him earnestly.
"Mm. In any case, get some proper rest…"
Takumi's reply was still calm, as if it carried not the slightest trace of emotion.
Only his hands—hidden from Fujiwara Chika's view—were trembling slightly.
Just now, while wrapping the bandages, he had still brushed against it a little. That indescribable softness… tch, if only there could have been more…
{Takumi-kun, Oba-san and I managed to get hold of a cassette. It's a record from the base's early investigations of the cave. In this record, a six-person team passed through the "Gentle Slope" without being attacked by anomalies. It seems that after reaching the "Great Cliff" and advancing deeper, they encountered something. Oba-san and I both think they likely entered an extremely narrow cave area and then ran into something. The team members' records also mentioned… Takumi-kun? Why aren't you saying anything?}
{…I'm waiting for you to finish}
Maki's communication came through once again at just the right moment, leaving Takumi momentarily unable to think of an immediate reply.
However, he quickly adjusted his state and had a serious exchange with her. At about the same time, Chika had more or less finished resting, recovered her strength, and made preparations to continue exploring the next area.
"Staying in a place like this for too long always makes me feel like I'm going to end up with claustrophobia sooner or later. You know, the previous instance already made me a bit afraid of knocking sounds. Going through instance after instance like this, it really feels like my mental state is bound to run into problems sooner or later."
Murmuring softly, Takumi once again lay prone and looked toward the deep, narrow passage ahead.
Beyond the Turnback Point should be where the true Blood Vessel was located.
From the Heart to here, although he had encountered quite a few anomalies along the way, none of them were clearly of a level that a core obsession could reach.
If the Red Nut Grey Cave instance truly contained two core obsessions, then within the upcoming Blood Vessel would very likely be where the second core obsession was located. In other words, this was probably going to be one of the most dangerous areas he would have to face.
After thinking it over, Takumi took out the cloth doll and had it walk ahead of him to scout the way. Only then did he begin to crawl into the cave, inch by inch.
Under the dim light, a drop of water seeping from the rock wall fell within Takumi's line of sight.
Drip—
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