Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 82 : Refueling – 3

Chapter 82: Refueling – 3
The next moment, the ground began to tremble.
“What, what’s that?”
“An earthquake?”
“Ugh! Look over there!”
The ground began to split open around the altar.
Something reached out from the widening crack.
It was so massive that it was hard to recognize at once, but it was unmistakably a hand.
Another hand stretched out from a different fissure.
Dark blue hands that looked as hard as steel.
Those two hands pressed against the ground as if to brace themselves, and then...
–Urrrrgh...
It lifted its body up.
The ground completely overturned, revealing the true form of the “Altar Monster.”
A colossal creature so huge that one had to crane their neck all the way back just to see its full body.
“That’s... the true form of the Altar Monster.”
The altar we had been looking at was actually the top of the monster’s head.
At the crown of its head, the hellfire still blazed.
The Altar Monster, having fully emerged from the ground, stood upright on its two feet.
“E-Everyone, prepare for battle...”
“No. I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
“Mason?”
“That thing. It’s not interested in us.”
The creature blinked its hollow, void-like eyes a few times.
It was hungry.
It was looking for food.
“Go on, eat. Eat! I’ve prepared plenty of your meal for you!”
As if in response to my words—
–Hrrraaaagh!
It let out another guttural roar, then reached its arm toward the fifteen Hellfire Monsters.
The Hellfire Monsters began to flee in a frenzy.
But the gigantic hand caught them effortlessly.
Like sweeping with a broom, it scooped up all fifteen at once.
Then it placed its hand atop its head—the altar.
Soon, its palm opened, and it shook the captured Hellfire Monsters into the blazing altar.
“Ha.”
Berseum’s short exclamation summed up what all of us were feeling.
The Altar Monster twisted its massive steel lips into something resembling a smile of satisfaction—
–Kuuuuung.
Then it began burrowing back into the earth.
A few minutes later, all that remained were the cracks in the ground—
and the flames still burning on the altar.
Finally—
–49:26:37
That was the new time displayed on the greatly extended mini bulletin board.
If I remembered right, there had been only about a day and a half left until the quest ended, right?
I looked around at my companions.
They were looking at me, too.
We all smiled and said together,
“We survived.”
And so, time passed again.
At some point, Magireta’s voice rang out.
“Quest over! You’re all still alive—not frozen to death, I see.”
“...”
“They say ghosts who froze to death are the prettiest, what a shame.”
“I’ve never heard that saying before.”
“Still as cheeky as ever, huh, little brother?”
She chuckled softly and continued.
“Amazingly, all 100 participants cleared this quest. You’ve all worked hard.”
I couldn’t care less about empty compliments like that.
What I needed was the first-place reward.
“What was the first-place condition this time, sis?”
“Why do you always ask the questions I can’t answer?”
“Well, maybe you’ll tell me if you’re in a good mood...”
“As if. Though, I suppose I can tell you this—none of you got first place.”
I had already guessed as much.
‘First place probably went to the team whose mini bulletin board showed the most remaining time.’
And among them, the one who contributed the most—
In other words, the one who threw the most monsters into the altar—would be first place.
“...?”
Wait. If that was right, then something didn’t add up.
“If that’s the condition, we should’ve gotten first place.”
“I can’t read your mind, you know.”
“Ah, sorry. I just meant... the first-place condition seems to be whoever threw the most monsters into the altar.”
“Well... since you figured it out first, I might as well tell you. You’re right.”
“Then of course we should’ve been first!”
We had thrown every single monster in the mountain into the altar.
Sure, some of our firewood had been stolen by the Hellfire Monsters midway, but even those had ended up consumed—fifteen of them, in fact!
So how could we not be first?
Then Magireta spoke in a strangely meaningful tone.
“Don’t get too full of yourself. To be honest, your team was short by about a hundred monsters compared to first place.”
“...?”
A thought flashed through my mind.
What had Magireta just said?
Short by about a hundred?
Why would she give such a specific number?
Just... casually? Without meaning?
Out of kindness? Because she was being considerate?
...
No. That couldn’t be it.
‘No way...’
I asked carefully,
“Sis. There were other Frozen Season quests in Hell, right?”
“Of course.”
“And in those locations, the total number of monsters available as firewood—was it the same as ours?”
A faint, knowing smile crossed Magireta’s lips.
As if to say, You’ve figured it out.
“Mm. It was the same.”
With that answer, I realized it.
I realized how someone could have overtaken us to claim first place.
Thud.
Without thinking, I covered my mouth.
Magireta smiled slyly at my expression.
“As sharp as ever. Though you were a bit late this time.”
“...”
“Don’t make that face. The world’s always been a strange place, you know.”
“Who got first place? It wasn’t Edgar, was it?”
“Another question I can’t answer.”
I clenched my teeth, suppressing the nausea rising within me.
Armelia tilted her head curiously and cut in.
“Mason, what’s wrong? You look unwell.”
“I’ll explain later.”
“Mm. If it’s just because you missed the first-place prize, don’t be so down. We should be happy we survived.”
“...Yes. You’re right.”
I forced down my nausea and exhaled deeply.
My companions looked puzzled at my sudden change in mood.
Then Magireta snapped her fingers.
“Anyway, losers who didn’t get first place, here—eat this and be content.”
Crash.
Once again, gold coins fell from the sky.
The participants no longer even glanced at them.
They already knew Magireta would collect them later anyway—and besides, there was a more pressing issue at hand.
“P-Please send us back now. I don’t want to stay in this horrible place any longer.”
“How rude. You’re insulting my sweet home like that.”
“Ugh.”
“Well, I was going to send you back anyway. Don’t whine.”
I asked her to send us to the Deut Territory.
Soon, a dizzying vertigo swept over us, and everyone’s figures began to fade away.
At that moment, voices from the participants echoed.
“Wait! We didn’t even get to say goodbye to them!”
“Thank you. Really, thank you.”
“If it weren’t for you, we’d literally have gone to hell.”
“Keep it up! I hope you all survive.”
“Please, let’s do another quest together next time...”
At the end of their words, the Diary Book spoke.
[You have safely completed the Sixth Quest ‘Frozen Season’.]
[The records during the Sixth Quest ‘Frozen Season’ have been modified.]
[Some parts of the Future Diary have been updated due to the changes.]
[The ‘Encyclopedia Lv.1’ function of the Diary Book has been upgraded.]
[Hidden Quest: Achieved Armelia’s survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Hidden Quest: Achieved Aina’s survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Hidden Quest: Achieved Berseum’s survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Hidden Quest: Achieved Sienne’s survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Hidden Quest: Achieved Benjamin’s survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Rescued 95 ordinary participants. Reward: 95 points.]
[Current points: 1,208]
Edgar’s consciousness slowly began to rise.
The last memory that surfaced in his mind—
It was definitely the memory from Bucklet Forest.
He had been drenched head to toe in Mason’s blood, his body completely dissolved by it.
But even then, Edgar had not given up.
He had believed he would resurrect one day, and for that moment, he had bound his soul to his body.
‘But those guys didn’t leave—they stayed behind.’
Judging by the case with Benjamin, it seemed that Mason’s party also had someone capable of seeing souls, like him.
Since his soul hadn’t left the body, they must have stayed and watched.
He had no choice but to take a gamble.
A soul that remained separated from its body for too long, too far, could never return again.
But if his soul didn’t disappear, Mason’s group would keep watching him forever.
So he bit his own soul—severed it.
And that gamble paid off.
Aina had believed Edgar’s soul had vanished, and Mason had released his guard and left.
Afterward, Edgar’s body slowly began to revive, overcoming the power contained in Mason’s blood.
His organs began to form one by one.
His brain took shape, and bones and muscles followed.
When his eyes, nose, and mouth barely formed—
By then, the Sixth Quest, the Frozen Season, had already ended.
He looked around with his newly formed retina and pupils.
Then someone spoke to him.
“You really had it easy this quest, didn’t you?”
“...”
“You should be grateful. This time, it was a quest where survival alone meant passing.”
“...”
“And you should thank me, too. You didn’t freeze to death thanks to all the firewood I threw in.”
His tongue hadn’t fully regenerated yet, so he couldn’t reply.
He observed the woman squatting beside his head, looking down at him.
‘I feel like I’ve seen that face before.’
But maybe because his body was still far from normal, he couldn’t recall who she was.
The woman spoke.
“You don’t recognize me?”
“Urrgh.”
“Well, I suppose that body of yours can’t manage a proper answer. Your rib cage isn’t even finished yet—I can see your heart beating through it.”
“Uhh.”
“What on earth did you get hit by? You should’ve been immortal under Lady Magireta’s omnipotence.”
Edgar thought.
‘Lady... Magireta?’
Then, from a corner beyond his sight, Magireta’s voice rang out.
“Is your touching reunion over?”
“Lady Magireta.”
The woman gracefully gripped her skirt and gave a polite bow.
Her manner was refined, but her expression was one of utter submission.
When Magireta waved her hand, she straightened up immediately.
“Here. Take this. It’s the first-place reward.”
Magireta flicked her wrist and tossed something toward the woman.
It was a small pill.
The woman’s eyes grew distant as she murmured.
“The first-place reward... Right. There was something like this.”
“You forgot? You’re quite forgetful, aren’t you?”
“It’s been ages. After spending so long in hell, most memories turn blurry.”
“For someone like that, you worked quite hard to get first place this time.”
“I didn’t do it for the reward. If you know what it takes to get first, isn’t it only natural to do it?”
She grinned slyly.
“Turning humans into monsters and throwing them in as firewood—that was the correct answer, wasn’t it?”
“Rather than a correct answer, I’d say it was one of several possible solutions. After all, you didn’t even get to see the Troiche.”
“Troiche?”
“It’s a thing. Mason’s group called it the ‘Altar Monster.’”
The woman had carried out the quest differently from Mason.
First, she had used her own ability to locate monsters in the mountains and throw them into the altar.
She couldn’t be sure she’d found every monster, but she had captured nearly all of them.
In truth, her passing had already been guaranteed at that point.
However, since she wanted first place, she had extracted the blood of monsters and force-fed it to the participants.
The participants who drank the blood turned into monsters.
No—into firewood.
And that was why Mason had lost first place—by about a difference of one hundred.
There had been one hundred participants, after all.
Then the woman asked,
“What is this pill? How am I supposed to use it?”
“It’s a growth pill.”
“...Pardon?”
“If you take it, you’ll grow taller.”
That was all Magireta said, yet the woman’s eyes sparkled.
“This... suits my ability perfectly. Thank you so much!”
“You earned it yourself; no need to thank me.”
“No, really. It feels like it was made just for me. What good would a height-growth pill do for normal humans, after all?”
“In your case, the effect truly will be physical growth—but originally, that pill enhances one’s innate aptitude. If a brooch enhances physical ability, then that’s a ‘talent enhancement pill,’ you could say.”
The woman nodded.
Then, as if she had received something precious, she clasped it to her chest with both hands—before quickly swallowing the pill.
Though she had merely taken a single tablet, the change was immediate and undeniable.
It wasn’t something visible to the eye... but she could feel it.
She had grown. Tremendously.
It felt as though she had become invincible.
Then Magireta spoke again.
“Anyway, there’s something I’d like you to do.”