Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Through the ordeal they just went through, Cyanide leveled up to Level 33. The others didn't gain as much EXP since they didn't do much damage to the plant at all, but ultimately, Cyanide was the main reason they managed to beat that miniboss anyway. Someone had to the dirty work—and the person who did, would reap the rewards.

Since he's leveled up his other stats decently by now, Cyanide decided to return to focusing on the two major stats he believed to be most important for combat: STR (strength), and AGI (agility). For the purpose of the 10 CP he obtained from this level-up in particular, he chose to use it on AGI. And like usual, he conserved the SP, since now wasn't the time to decide on what to spend it on.

Even though they had defeated the giant flower, their journey in Envy's lair was still not quite finished. That was just the first gatekeeper—there were many more challenges coming their way.

First, however… Cyanide (and Luna both) needed a good cleaning. They both smelled like stomach acid, which—quite frankly—was not a great smell. Thankfully, just when they were debating what to do…

"… Woah, look over there!" Kirika cried, pointing at what was ahead of them:

A pool.

"… Damn, that water looks nice," Ragnar remarked, stretching his arms a bit. "These two really need a good wash," he continued, glancing at Cyanide and Luna.

"As if you're any better," Luna muttered.

"Well, it's true. My sword needs one too."

"Hm…" Dianna fell into thought but didn't say anything, closely observing the water. Cyanide was the same. The others were wary as well, but just didn't show it on the surface. After all, they'd just been caught by surprise by a massive carnivorous flower. It made sense for them to be careful.

Here, there was a bit of sunlight peeking down from above from a few slight cracks in the ceiling. It wasn't much, but the aesthetic setting was perfect. Just the right amount of lighting, just enough to create a glamorous gleam on the surface of the water. The pool was separated into two halves by a semi-broken log of decent size, diagonally lodged in the water. It was clearly not part of the tree it once belonged to anymore, but strangely, it still carried the aura of life on it.

As the group approached the water, Cyanide bent down and hovered his hand over the pool surface. Then, after closing his eyes for about a second or two, he stood up again.

"… No poison."

"There doesn't seem to be any sign of intelligent life anywhere, either," Luna murmured. "It's hard to believe, but… this water may truly be safe to enter."

"Any hidden mechanisms?" Ragnar asked, arching an eyebrow. "It could suddenly, y'know, cyclone us into a deathtrap or somethi-"

"Shut up, before I make you shut up," Cyanide said coldly, shooting him a glare. Ragnar gave a laugh.

"Bet! We're both low on HP, this will make for an intense fight!"

"Both of you, please…" Kirika sighed. "In any case… this doesn't seem to have any hidden mechanisms or anything in the water, at least as far as I can tell. That being said… it never hurts to be more careful. So, just for experiment's sake…"

She picked up a stone nearby, brushed off the dust on it, and lightly tossed it into the water. The stone drifted down a bit from the initial impact, then slowly rose back up out of buoyancy.

"See? Nothing happened," she said with a shrug, and after exchanging glances with Luna, Cyanide tenderly reached his hand inside the water.

"…!"

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his entire body froze up.

"What's wrong, Cyanide?" Luna asked hurriedly in worry, but Cyanide didn't take his hand out of the water. Instead, he merely took a deep breath of relaxation.

"This water… it's healing."

"… Come again?"

"Use Inspect on me," he said calmly. "Tell me what you see."

Kirika was dubious, but did as told. And as soon as she did, her eyes widened.

"Your HP… it's being restored back to full?"

"Oh, so it's a pool of regeneration," Ragnar said with a smirk, and began to undress. "Well, give me some of tha-"

"Hold on," Luna said, pointing at the log splitting the pool in half. "Look closely at what's flowing through the log there."

"Red water…?" Kirika tilted her head. "Huh… it seems to be heading into the other half of the pool, though."

"Red water…" Dianna narrowed her eyes and folded her arms. "That's not it. That… is blood."

"What…" Kirika was taken aback by surprise, and blinked several times.

"… She's right," Ragnar said in a lower tone than usual. "I've seen enough blood to tell. There's no doubt about it—that's fresh, organic blood."

"So the question becomes…" Luna began, as Cyanide took over, standing up from the pool and taking his hand back out.

"… Where the blood is coming from," he concluded, then walked around to the other side of the pool and bent down to inspect it. "This water… it's poisonous."

"So one half is good, but the other half isn't, as soon as someone touches the first half?" Kirika raised an eyebrow. "What could that symbolize…"

"Envy," Lust interrupted, twirling around in the air a little. "When one half sees the other half's enjoyment and happiness, it falls into jealousy. This is a depiction of that. Had you all not been careful and tried to use the entire pool, you would've been met with a horrible death."

"And you chose not to watch us, only observe?" Ragnar grunted, frowning at the flying drone.

"Of course. If you could not even handle this much, you are not worthy of being the Sentinels' vessels. I am still testing you."

"… Hmph." Ragnar gave a disapproving snort, but didn't say anything further on the matter and instead turned back to the pool. "So… we can only use one half? Well, that sucks. It's too small to fit all of us."

"You all can go first," Luna said. "Cyanide and I will go second-last, since our smell may pollute the water."

"Uh… second-last? Who's last then?" Ragnar asked, and everyone's gaze focused on him.

"… Wait, you're kidding, right? How come I have to be last?"

"Your weapon needs a cleaning too, doesn't it?" Kirika said. "That's why."

"Still-"

"Relax," Cyanide said, interjecting the conversation. "The rest of you can go first. Ragnar and I will go last. Split by gender.. Easiest method."