Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 75 : Harsh Winter - 3

Chapter 75: Harsh Winter - 3
Time limit: 15 seconds.
Aina darted forward like lightning and pulled off his shoes.
Benjamin ripped the brooch hanging on his chest.
Berseum unfolded a spell he had prepared in advance and dragged the compass out of the man’s inner pocket.
When the compass flew through the air and landed in Berseum’s hand, Aina and Benjamin returned as well.
That was exactly when Edgar resurrected again.
He didn’t look particularly shocked or flustered.
The moment our eyes met just before, he seemed to have already grasped the reason for our visit.
“...You took it.”
“Hey there. You sure went through a lot to die.”
“……”
“Choose your next words carefully.”
I continued in a low voice.
“Because they’ll be your last.”
“What?”
Bang.
His head burst open again.
What?
Would it be fitting to have that written on his tombstone?
Not that I had any intention of giving him one.
“Benjamin!”
“Don’t worry.”
He ran toward Edgar, carrying a bucket filled with my blood.
And then, over the corpse with its head shattered—
Shwaaa.
He drenched him in blood from head to toe.
Chzzzt. Sssss.
Smoke began to rise from Edgar’s entire body.
His skin started to melt away.
It looked as if his head was about to regenerate by the power of his immortality, but it failed to fully form and instead dissolved into the blood.
Edgar mumbled something with his half-formed tongue.
“Uuugk...beee...”
Strange words.
Should I count that as his last?
“……”
Before long, his entire body completely vanished.
All that remained was a pool of blood mixed with bits of his flesh—
something that looked like clumps floating in red water.
Would it be strange to say it reminded me of tomato soup?
But honestly, that was the most accurate way to describe it.
“Ugh...”
Armelia covered her mouth, looking sick.
“My apologies. You shouldn’t have had to see that.”
“I’m fine.”
“You were just about to throw up.”
“I only had too much for lunch.”
Sure, let’s go with that.
She straightened her back and took a few deep breaths.
In the meantime, Aina muttered,
“Fifteen seconds have passed, right?”
Probably had.
Still, just in case, we decided to wait a little longer.
One minute. Three minutes. Five minutes.
Thirty minutes. An hour.
We sat there and waited for nearly two hours.
Just in case Edgar might come back to life again.
Eventually, unable to hold back any longer, I muttered,
“Is he dead?”
Then Aina replied with a fairly confident tone,
“Yeah. I think it’s safe to go back now.”
“Really? Well, seeing that tomato soup, I guess that does mean he’s dead.”
“That’s not the only reason I said that. This.”
She pointed to her eyes.
When I tilted my head, not understanding, Berseum spoke up.
“Ah, right. You’ve been able to see souls since last time.”
“Yeah. When you poured the blood on him, I blinked three times to make sure.”
“And?”
“That jet-black soul of his lingered beside the corpse for nearly an hour. Just... standing there, staring down at its own body.”
That must’ve been a pretty creepy sight.
Good thing I couldn’t see souls.
“Then after about an hour, it disappeared.”
“Does that mean if a soul can’t stay in the body for more than an hour, it disappears too?”
“I’m not sure if it vanished or got dragged into hell, but that’s what I saw. I even waited another hour just in case before saying anything.”
Her words eased my mind a little.
I turned once more to look at Edgar’s remains.
That thick, murky mess of my blood and his flesh still soaked the ground.
No trace remained that could even hint at what Edgar had once looked like.
He was dead.
The man named Edgar Tyler, who had tormented us so much, was truly and completely dead.
And the cause of that death was my blood.
At that moment, Aina picked up the bucket.
It was, of course, empty, but since it had once been filled with my blood, thick dried stains clung to its insides.
She rubbed those blood marks around with her fingers.
“As expected, Mason’s blood doesn’t do anything.”
“That’s how it should be.”
“Right. Then why did Edgar end up like that? He looked like he’d been drenched in acid.”
“I don’t know either.”
That was when Armelia spoke in a serious tone.
“Edgar is a man from over three hundred years ago. The only reason he’s alive now is because of Magireta. His entire body could practically be called her omnipotence itself.”
“And?”
“In other words, Mason must be some kind of being that stands in opposition to Magireta. Not just another participant of the Game—but something that exists to oppose her.”
“Hmm... Normally, I’d say you’re just spouting nonsense because you’re smitten, but this time, you might actually have a point.”
“Smitten?”
Armelia tilted her head in confusion.
Then Sienne, who had been quiet, spoke up.
“I’m really curious about Mason’s memories from three years ago.”
“I’d like to know that too.”
“Well, that’ll come to light eventually once all these Games are over. What matters more now is that our long, dreadful grudge is finally over.”
She was right.
It had been over two hours, and Edgar still hadn’t resurrected.
There was no reason to keep watching over him anymore.
Benjamin asked Sienne,
“How do you feel?”
“Are you asking me?”
“Yes. I heard that your ties with Edgar ran deep since the previous round.”
“Hehe. Yes. But strangely, I don’t feel much. My revenge succeeded, but that doesn’t bring my lover back.”
“……”
“Of course, that doesn’t mean I feel bad.”
She smiled faintly, with a touch of sadness.
We couldn’t bring ourselves to say anything comforting, only gazing off at the distant mountains.
Perhaps disliking the gloomy atmosphere, Sienne clapped her hands together sharply.
“Let’s head back already.”
We returned to Deut Territory after achieving all of our objectives.
Among the first-place rewards we had brought back, I handed the brooch to Benjamin.
The compass—I decided to keep that myself.
And the shoes… well, since all the first-place rewards were already in our possession, there was no need for them right now, so I just stuffed them into my bag.
From that day on, we ran all over the place until our feet practically burned, gathering up as many winter clothes as we could.
“Didn’t Magireta say she’d prepare the winter gear for us?”
“With that witch’s tricks, she might just give us winter clothes that make you colder the more you wear them.”
Well, nothing like that was written in the Diary Book, so I doubted it—but still.
The others nodded as if that made perfect sense.
I added,
“Don’t overpack. We can’t carry that much anyway, so let’s keep it reasonable.”
Up to now, we’d always been summoned into Quests empty-handed.
Except for the clothes we were wearing, our personal weapons, and the bag Magireta had given us during the Second Quest.
That probably meant only those were items Magireta acknowledged as valid equipment.
So we stopped once we had gathered enough winter gear to fill our bags.
Then, after some time had passed—
Our surroundings changed again.
And Magireta’s voice echoed around us.
“It’s been a while, everyone. Let’s begin the Sixth Quest.”
The moment I heard that voice, I immediately looked around.
Our party was all still together.
Aside from us, around a hundred other people murmured among themselves.
We stood in a midwinter landscape, surrounded on all sides by snow-covered mountains.
And most importantly—
“There it is.”
In one corner of an open lot, a mountain of winter clothes and equipment was piled high.
We ran toward it.
Benjamin tried on one of the winter coats and said,
“It’s warm. Seems like proper clothing.”
Thank goodness.
Then, the Diary Book spoke.
[If you’re relieved, please check this.]
<Hidden Quest. Ensure Armelia Kerr Dneroum survives during the ‘Harsh Winter’ Quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure Aina Noel survives during the ‘Harsh Winter’ Quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure Berseum Ferux survives during the ‘Harsh Winter’ Quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure Sienne Katrin survives during the ‘Harsh Winter’ Quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure Benjamin Noel survives during the ‘Harsh Winter’ Quest.>
Just as I expected. I nodded inwardly.
Then Magireta spoke.
“You didn’t even wait for an explanation and already started unpacking the equipment. You clearly know what this Quest is about, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re such a sly one. I’m asking if you already knew this Game would be the Harsh Winter.”
“Oh, so it was a Harsh Winter Quest? That’s why you prepared all this winter gear for us. Thank you.”
Magireta snorted.
“Thank me? Please. Those clothes alone won’t change the big picture.”
I knew that.
Even the Future Diary said the key wasn’t the winter gear—but the purple flame.
Then Magireta snapped her fingers with a snap.
And the bulletin board appeared.
<Sixth Quest. Harsh Winter.>
You will live on this mountain for one month.
The area illuminated by the ‘Hellfire’ burning at the altar in the center of the clearing will maintain normal temperature.
The initial Hellfire on the altar will extinguish in three days.
Throwing ‘fuel’ into the altar will extend its burning time.
Each piece of fuel thrown in extends the warmth by three hours.
Anyone who attempts to create fire by any other means will be eliminated.
Survive for one month to pass.
Die within a month and you fail.
They were the exact kind of rules I expected.
Of course, Magireta didn’t bother telling us what the “fuel” was supposed to be.
Naturally, someone raised a hand.
“Fuel? There’s not a single trace of wood around here.”
“You should abandon that narrow-minded notion that only wood can serve as fuel.”
“Then what are we supposed to burn…?”
“Well? You could always try burning your own bodies.”
The man clamped his mouth shut.
Magireta chuckled softly.
“This Quest is quite simple, isn’t it? You don’t even have to think too hard or struggle much—just survive for a month. I’m being so generous.”
“……”
“See that over there? That’s the Hellfire mentioned in the rules. A rare flame you’d never witness in your world, so take a good look.”
She pointed toward the central altar.
An altar built from neatly stacked, heavy-looking stones.
At its center, a purple flame roared fiercely.
That was the Hellfire.
Hellfire?
Something felt off.
The name “Hellfire,” and her words—in your world.
No way…
I had assumed Magireta had merely brought monsters for this Quest.
But maybe that wasn’t it.
“Sis.”
“Yes?”
“Where are we? Is this not our world?”
“Of course not.”
She spread her arms wide, proudly introducing the place.
“This is my home, little brother.”
“……”
“You don’t need to bring a housewarming gift. We’re family, after all.”
I stayed silent.
Magireta’s home.
That meant—
Armelia murmured in my place.
“Hell…”
Exactly.
We were in Hell.
Realizing that, I looked around again, and saw how much the scenery differed from before.
First of all, the sky was purple.
From somewhere far off came echoing wails.
They didn’t sound like wolves or any other beasts of the mountains.
It was a sound so dark and grating it was hard to believe it came from a living being at all.
Even the shape of the distant mountain ridges was unnatural—
as if someone had carved and twisted the very mountains into grotesque forms.
“Hell, you say? Why bring us here?”
“Yeah! We’re not even eliminated players—why drag us into this place?”
“Send us back right now!”
Perhaps it was the weight of that word—Hell.
All color drained from the participants’ faces.
Magireta dug a finger in her ear and said casually,
“I only moved the stage to my home, that’s all. No need to panic. Pass this Quest, and of course, you’ll be sent back.”
“Ugh…”
“Well, shall I finish the rest of the explanation? I’ve piled up food supplies over there, so help yourselves. If you run out, I’ll replenish them, so don’t worry.”
“……”
“You can check how much time is left before the Hellfire goes out on the small bulletin board next to it.”
Just as she said, a small board appeared beside the Hellfire.
-71:52:50
That timer must be counting down to when the flame would go out.