[04:27 a.m.]
My gaze moved from the screen displaying the time to Dion, who was lying just a few feet from me and muttering nonsense in his drunken stupor.
In all this time, he had managed to drink only four bottles of alcohol out of the ten I gave to him. Yet, he was as drunk as drunk could be.
'So annoying…'
The way he lay, with bottles scattered around, cradling two, hiccuping, and singing nonsense really made me want to kick him.
Feeling my gaze, Dion turned to me, scrambled closer, and leaned in until he was breathing right next to my ear. He laughed and slurred drunkenly, "You look like what would happen if a man and a woman had a baby."
I scowled, gritted my teeth in irritation, and shoved him away with all the energy I could muster. "I hate to break this to you, but that's exactly what happened."
He fell back onto the floor, crying out as he struggled to stop himself from throwing up, then burst into drunken laughter whenever he succeeded.
Meanwhile…
I looked back to the screen displaying the time:
[04:30 a.m.]
Then I exhaled hard, and tried to shake the tension away from my nerves.
It was time.
My injuries had now healed enough for me to move without pain, and Dion was now drunk enough to use his bonded ability.
During the past few hours, Dion had told me a bit about his bonded ability. Although it wasn't an ability that could outright kill or even injure enemies, it was certainly an ability that could help us get past the ghouls guarding the cave entrance.
We decided that once he was drunk enough, and I was ready to leave, we'd burn the vines, which would inevitably draw the ghouls to us. When they arrived, with the help of his ability, we'd somehow try to defeat or escape them.
It was a risky plan that could fail and end with us being injured or dying, but we had no other way.
I looked back to Dion, then said, "Oi, Oi, get your drunken ass off the floor and get ready, it's time."
"Oh?" Dion sat upright and chugged down even more wine.
I reached into the inventory and pulled out an oil lamp and matchsticks. I lit the lamp and crawled over to Dion. Since he was too drunk to manage it himself, I carefully burned off the vines binding his hands. Then, I quickly burned off the ones binding mine.
As I finished freeing my wrists, I turned to burn off the vines securing the door. But out of the corner of my eye, I caught Celeste and Evelyn looking at me with desperate, pleading eyes.
I sighed.
Regardless of the grudge I might hold against someone, I was still a human being. And in this horrible world, everyone, regardless of their feelings, needed to work together to survive.
Besides, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I just freed myself and left them bound.
Since Celeste was closest, I quickly went over and crouched in front of her.
She flinched and leaned back against the wall nervously, avoiding my gaze.
"Give me your hands."
At first, I expected her to tell me to leave her alone, or perhaps even push me away, but she didn't. Instead, she slowly brought her arms toward me.
I was a bit surprised, but with no time to dwell on it, I quickly began to carefully burn off her vines.
Then, right at that moment, something I never expected happened.
[You have acquired 50 Karma points.]
[Available Karma points: N 2,355 / P 50]
'What?!'
Upon reading the notification that had suddenly appeared, I was left completely stunned.
…However, before I could even focus on that, Celeste began coughing. The smoke from the burning vines had rapidly filled the cell, and the plume now billowed out through the bamboo walls. This immediate and highly visible signal meant that those ghouls guarding the entrance would be alarmed at any moment.
'I'll think about that later.'
Since it took a while to burn the thick vines off, I couldn't afford to also free Evelyn myself. While Celeste was rubbing her wrists, I dropped the oil lamp beside her, then urgently nodded toward Evelyn.
"Could you please burn off her vines?"
Before Celeste could even answer, I turned away and moved to the door. I pulled out a second oil lamp from my inventory, lit it up, and immediately began burning the vines binding the door.
I was still working on the thick vines when I suddenly began to hear the unmistakable voices of the ghouls.
'Crap! They are coming…'
My heart began to thrum faster, and my hand shook slightly on the lamp.
I could hear Evelyn already whimpering, while Celeste folded her knees up and began shivering while also scratching her arm.
'Come on, burn, burn, burn…'
Due to the thickness and number of the vines, and the small lazy flame from the oil lamp, it was taking a frustratingly long amount of time to burn them all off.
I swallowed and forced my hand steady, and soon, I severed the final vine. The door sprang inward with a creak, and I shoved it wider.
But just then, the guttural voices of the ghouls snapped my attention to the long path where I could see three of them, rushing straight towards us.
I immediately turned to Dion, and my eyes widened in horror as I saw the drunk guy with his back to us and nodding his head on the prison wall.
'Shit! Did I make a mistake to rely on this guy?'
"Dion!" I screamed in panic, backing away from the door as the ghouls crashed toward the threshold.
But right at that moment, Dion jolted and spun around, still swaying heavily, and his red-rimmed eyes locked onto the three ghouls now thrashing wildly in the doorway.
He grinned a very wide grin and spread out his arms wide like someone giving an invitation, then said in a drunken voice. "Welcome, sons of bitches, to my symposium."