Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 81 : Refueling – 2

Chapter 81: Refueling – 2
Time kept passing.
98 hours remained until the end of the game. 59 hours until the flame would die out.
80 hours remained until the end of the game. 41 hours until the flame would die out.
61 hours remained until the end of the game. 22 hours until the flame would die out.
43 hours remained until the end of the game. 4 hours until the flame would die out.
No matter what we did, we couldn’t make up for the missing 39 hours.
Instead of wasting energy on what we couldn’t change, we decided to prepare for the coming cold.
Then Darhen approached and spoke.
“Um…”
“Yes. What is it?”
“Are we not going to put the last monster into the altar?”
“There are still four hours left. Until the flame dies out.”
“Y-yes, that’s true, but the participants are starting to worry.”
“The last monster is bait to hold down the Hellfire. If that one burns too, the Hellfire outside might scatter in every direction.”
Darhen nodded as if he understood, then said he would go convince the others.
But their patience wouldn’t last long.
They would soon demand that we burn the final monster before the flame went out completely.
And truthfully, that made sense.
‘But…’
For some reason, I felt that we shouldn’t do that.
I had an instinct that there was still a way — a method I simply hadn’t realized yet.
Until I could make that instinct concrete, burning the last monster had to be put on hold.
Swish.
At that moment, Armelia came over and sat behind me.
“Mason.”
“Your Highness? Why are you sitting behind me?”
“Because I want to.”
Tap.
She pressed her back gently against mine.
We sat leaning against each other.
“This way, the cold won’t feel as bad.”
“It’s still room temperature here, though.”
“I mean in spirit. In spirit.”
“Heh. Yes.”
“You looked like you were worrying alone again. I feel bad that I can’t be much help at times like this.”
“Not at all, Your Highness. If it weren’t for you, we’d never have made it this far. Same goes for everyone else, of course.”
Maybe it was just my imagination, but her back felt a little closer than before.
Armelia spoke softly.
“Still, no one could match your ideas or quick thinking. I won’t deny that I’ve helped, but you’ve always been the main player.”
“Your Highness.”
“Thank you for coming this far with me. Even if this quest ends here for us…”
“Please don’t say that.”
“Sorry. That was weak of me. I just wanted to say thank you.”
I smiled.
“I was grateful too. Truly. And so that I can keep being grateful, I plan to survive this quest with you.”
“Hehe. Of course you will.”
“Yes. Don’t worry—hm?”
It was then.
Something suddenly brushed through my mind.
The moment I looked at the wild Hellfire outside.
‘Wait a second.’
My mouth opened on its own.
“That Hellfire outside… Why is the range of its light so small?”
Armelia turned her head to look outside.
Hearing me, Aina answered instead.
“Isn’t it because they’re wild Hellfires?”
“You were listening?”
“Yup. It’s already freezing out here; don’t give me goosebumps too.”
“What?”
“Anyway, wild Hellfires don’t even raise the temperature, right? So does it matter how much light they make?”
…
No. It mattered.
I gathered the group together.
Once everyone was seated nearby, I spoke.
“As I was just saying — the light made by those wild Hellfires is far too small.”
“……”
“That by itself doesn’t matter. What I’m curious about is this.”
I took a deep breath and said,
—Then why is the light in our campsite so large?
Large enough to house a hundred people comfortably.
Everyone tilted their heads.
“Well, it’s a special Hellfire, isn’t it? It even keeps this place at room temperature.”
“……”
“The ones outside can’t even warm the air.”
“But to my eyes, the flame on the altar and the flames outside look exactly the same. The same Hellfire, the same type of monster.”
Everyone nodded, agreeing.
Sienne asked,
“Couldn’t the Hellfire on the altar be a special one chosen by Magireta? Even if it looks the same on the surface.”
That would have been the reasonable answer.
But I kept thinking.
There was something I’d missed.
What was it? What was I not seeing?
“Ah!”
Rule number four.
Putting ‘firewood’ into the altar extends the burning time.
“What about rule four?”
“The rule says to put the firewood into the altar, not into the flame above the altar.”
“That’s the same thing, isn’t it? The flame’s on top of the altar.”
“No. It’s not the same. The ‘Hellfire’ and the ‘altar’ are two entirely different things.”
My heart pounded violently.
“When we first used the compass to search for ‘monsters,’ there was one red dot here in the campsite.”
“That was pointing to the Hellfire on the altar, wasn’t it? That’s how we realized the Hellfire was a monster.”
“Correct. But in truth, there were two monsters.”
“What?”
“Two monsters overlapped in the same spot, so they appeared as one dot.”
I stood up abruptly.
Unable to contain my excitement, I hurried toward the altar.
The others followed after me in confusion.
“What in the world are you saying?”
“Everyone, this thing—this altar—is also a monster.”
“A monster? What do you mean…?”
Tap tap.
I rapped my knuckles against the altar.
“This altar. The altar itself is a monster.”
“……!”
“This thing has been holding down the Hellfire — like a carnivorous plant trapping an insect to absorb its nutrients.”
“W–wait. That can’t be…”
“The wild Hellfires outside and the Hellfire above this altar are completely identical in nature. There’s nothing special about this one at all.”
Everyone trembled in shock and excitement.
Armelia cautiously asked,
“B-but I don’t understand what you mean by not special. The Hellfire on the altar is special.”
“……”
“The size of the light this thing produces is far greater than that of any other Hellfire. It’s also the only one that gives us warmth at room temperature.”
“No, Your Highness. That was only our preconception.”
I took a deep breath and continued.
“Hellfire provides neither warmth nor light.”
“But in reality—”
“Don’t you see?”
Tap tap.
I struck the altar again.
“It’s this thing. The one emitting the light and warmth has been the altar itself!”
My words must have been quite shocking—no one could speak for a moment.
But soon, Aina hesitated before saying,
“Wait. That sounds strange.”
“How so?”
“Think about Rule number six.”
She pointed toward the bulletin board.
Anyone who tries to obtain fire through any means other than Hellfire will be disqualified.
“It says anyone who tries to get fire by a method other than Hellfire will be disqualified. If what you’re saying is true, why would that rule even mention Hellfire?”
“Look carefully. The rule says ‘fire,’ not ‘warmth.’ We’ve been assuming that fire and warmth were the same thing.”
“……”
“In fact, Rule number six is more like a trap. By phrasing it like that, it naturally makes you think, ‘Ah, so Hellfire gives warmth.’”
“Oh, like I just did a moment ago?”
I nodded.
Here was my deduction.
This altar’s food source was Hellfire.
Just as Hellfire’s food source was ordinary monsters.
“This was the food chain of the mountain. Ordinary monsters at the bottom, Hellfire monsters above them, and the altar monster at the very top.”
“……”
“The altar monster trapped Hellfire monsters within its altar and lived by absorbing them as nutrients.”
“……”
“When we threw ordinary monsters into the Hellfire, the Hellfire’s lifespan extended. And since the altar fed on that Hellfire, its own life was also prolonged.”
That was why each monster added three hours.
By extending the Hellfire’s burn time, we were lengthening the survival time of the altar that fed on it.
“In that light, it’s clear why the Hellfires outside can’t enter this area.”
“……”
“They’re afraid of the altar monster. That’s why they never cross the ‘radius of light emitted by the altar monster.’”
Everyone’s jaws dropped open.
Moments later, Aina scratched her head and said,
“Haah. So you’re saying those obvious flames of Hellfire give off no heat or light, yet this pile of rocks does?”
“As I’ve said repeatedly…”
“I know. Because this is Hell, right?”
“Exactly. A place where common sense doesn’t apply.”
A brief silence followed.
Then Benjamin spoke.
“I understand up to that point. But what do we do next?”
“……”
“The Hellfires outside still refuse to come in, and we have no means to lure them.”
“Well…”
I fell silent for a moment.
He was right.
Even knowing the food chain here, there wasn’t much we could do.
Hellfire was like a ghost—our weapons passed right through it, and we couldn’t communicate with it either.
“…Wait. Maybe…”
“What is it?”
“If my theory is correct, and this altar monster really is the apex of the mountain’s food chain—something’s off.”
“What do you mean?”
“A stationary, plant-like being can’t possibly be the strongest monster. Maybe Magireta put the altar monster to sleep.”
A predator that didn’t wake up even while starving to death—
That couldn’t be natural.
Most likely, Magireta had set the stage before the game began and put the altar monster into slumber.
“So… we’ll wake it up.”
“W–wake it up?”
“Whether we beat it, strike it, or stab it—whatever it takes, we’ll wake the altar monster.”
“……”
“Once it wakes up, it’ll take care of the rest itself. After all, we’ve gathered fifteen Hellfire monsters out there, haven’t we?”
The moment the altar monster awoke, it would realize its hunger.
And right before its eyes would be countless prey.
Of course, it would prioritize its natural food over us humans.
“W–will that really be okay?”
“Do you have another way?”
“…No.”
“Then let’s prepare. Sir, please set up defensive magic. Your Highness, inform the ordinary participants of my plan so they can get ready. Everyone else—prepare for combat.”
At this rate, we were doomed to freeze to death anyway.
Everyone nodded solemnly.
Soon after, Berseum cast his defensive magic, and Armelia ordered everyone to get ready to evacuate.
After a flurry of activity, we finally received word that preparations were complete.
I turned to Sienne.
“Please.”
“Yes.”
“Ah—don’t kill it. This altar monster is our last hope.”
“I don’t even know how to kill it… but I’ll be careful.”
Shrring.
Sienne drew her sword.
After a deep breath to steady herself, she thrust the blade in the direction I’d indicated.
Her sword pierced sharply into one of the stones stacked upon the altar.
Crack. Crunch.
And then—
—Uwooooooooh!!
A deafening roar tore through the air.