The Isekai Game

Swing

The platform rose smoothly into the moon. The Wild Bunch covered their eyes using their palms. Yet all they felt was the blinding light turning their closed vision to purple stains.

A loud click was heard followed by an odd sound that resembled a glow. The light was no longer shining. Thus allowing the team to open their eyes to a large oval room. The center of this room was well lit in contrast to the exterior which was dark.

Four entrances were seen at different ends of the room. Each had a number 1-4 over it. Nothing could be seen inside the rooms except pitch darkness. But that piano began playing once more.

Its tune was more cheerful this time. The sound itself was accompanied by a saxophone and a guitar. Despite the empty room, Vanessa pondered on the trick being played. 

Jeff attempted to make out each entrance, yet couldn't find anything worth noting except their numbers. He called for the team to go through entrance 1 in a wedge formation.

Andres took the lead while Logan guarded to the left as the two-man. Dani stood to the right as the three as Vanessa remained in the back as the fourth. Jeff and the two girls stood safely in the center.

One by one, the team ran through the entrance. They noticed the variety increase of instruments to include trumpets, trombones, bass', and drums. But there was no special meaning to these sounds.

Upon running into the next room, it was all the same. The rhapsody continued its lively play. the center where the team somehow stood was bright while the rest of the room was dark.

"How did we get to the center of the room?" asked Mina.

Before anybody could answer, Vanessa called out a cow lurking their way in the dark. It was just outside entrance 3. Dani began firing at the cow until it fell over. Andres failed to detect any existence from the cow.

A pack of grey hairless foxes approached Vanessa from the darkness by door 4. They were dismembered and sewn together with other foxes.

The first one jumped towards her for a bite. She easily dodged, slicing through the second fox.

Jeff shot the first one while Leira shot the fifth. Vanessa attempted to slice the third, but it bit her sword down. The fourth aimed to bite off her leg.

She kicked its nose as it got near and pulled the third fox between them.

Just as Jeff finished shooting the three foxes, Andres announced that many more were coming. Both Dani and Jeff responded firing at the onslaught of forsaken animals heading their way.

After realizing the animals were appearing at a rapid rate, Jeff decided to run back through the entrance they had come from.

The animals were easy to beat. Though they never remained dead for long. Andres took the team past the undead army. The light in the room appeared to have remained fixated on the team.

Once again they ran through the entrance, appearing in the center of a room. It was the exact same oval room with a beam of dull light shining down on the team. The rhapsody continued with no pattern to its swing. 4 Pitched black entrances rested at each end of the oval room just as before.

A cow appeared much quicker as blood oozed out of its rotten flesh. It stampeded towards Dani as did many other undead foxes to the team. She responded with a flurry of bullets that tore the cow down.

Jeff yelled for the team to run through entrance 3 given that it was the safest route. But just as they came near, the cow stood up.

Andres knocked his shield into the cow's head and pierced its neck with his sword. He tossed the cow away enabling the team to safely run through entrance 3.

For the third time, the team found themselves at the center of the same room. There were three cows stampeding from entrance 3, nearly hitting Dani, Jeff, and the two girls.

Vanessa and Andres timed their swings to decapitate the heifers. Logan watched as a cougar with a dead baby hanging from her uterus mosied her way from the 2nd entrance. Blood dripped from her jaw as it did from her baby.

Vanessa herself noticed the plastic portholes in the cow's stomach dripping their blood.

"What do we do?" yelled Jeff.

Logan held up two fingers towards Andres, avoiding his fight with the cougar. Andres took charge just for the moment to lead everybody through the 2nd entrance.

Nobody saw the purpose of running through the entrance just to face another herd of undead animals who were growing in fury. Luckily when they stepped inside the 2nd entrance, they found themselves centered in the same room with nothing in it.

"Gotcha," said Andres, "So it's a pattern. We need to figure out the pattern of the entrances we need to go through before we can escape".

Neither Vanessa nor Logan could find any anomalies within the room. Leira and Andres took the moment to enjoy the heartbeat of the full sound echoing in the room. Jeff was carefully planning his approach to these next couple of rooms.

It was hard, but he knew the wedge was the best option. Jeff made a plan as to whoever's name he called, would take charge and lead the team their way through the entrance they faced. It was a solid plan that everybody agreed to. The problem was that the creatures appeared not only to be getting fiercer but also stronger as they continued.

As before, Andres faced the 1st entrance. Logan the 2nd. Dani was on the 3rd and Vanessa on the 4th.

"Andres!" commanded Jeff.

Andres trotted through the 1st entrance, revealing the same cheerful room. Punching his fist into the air, Jeff was excited that they now know the code so far; 2, 1. He looked around trying to game the system and called out Vanessa's name.

She gripped her sword, running through the 4th entrance. In the center of the room, they stood as three cows stampeded through them.

Logan was sure to dodge while the team defended themselves. Jeff yelled Logan's name so they could return to the stable room. However, he was preoccupied watching the cougar gently step her way across the room.

As Jeff ordered, everybody ran away from their attackers, through the second door without Logan's lead.

Shortly after the team passed him, Logan trailed away as well. Never did he harm the cougar, nor her dead cub.

Once in the center of the calm room, Jeff called out Logan's defiance. His response wasn't mad nor defensive. Logan merely revealed that the creatures were only getting stronger and vicious as they killed them.

Vanessa recalled the fox's attack, in the beginning, being weak and had only appeared after they attacked the cow. Dani further noted that the hoards only appear after they remain fighting in the room for an extended period.

Now thinking of a new strategy, assembled his team back into their wedge formation. He knew they needed to move fast through the violent rooms. But he was stuck on the best method to do so.

"How about Andres carry Leira and Vanessa carry Mina," suggested Dani.

With little options, Jeff listened. It was scary placing Dani on the front lines. He created a box column with his team.

Dani and Logan were in the front to defend everybody with low-level lightning abilities. Jeff straddled in the rear to give fluid commands. Vanessa and Andres held the girls in the middle to swiftly get them to each entrance as needed.

"So we just came from 2," said Jeff, "Now we are going to 1, then 1 again".

As ordered, Logan and Dani led everybody through the 1st entrance and later the first entrance again.

An onslaught of dead animals attacked them. Logan tossed his cards out calling paralyze while Dani shot a few with stunning magic bullets.

They aimed for the 2nd entrance as fast as they could to start over followed by the first. Everyone caught their breath before daring the 2nd entrance. Luckily it was peaceful.

"2, 1, 2," thought Jeff.

Logan held the team in place to make sure there wasn't anything extra popping out at them. After a brief moment, he waited for Jeff's orders.

"You got this man," said Andres to reassure his buddy.

Jeff took a deep breath before leading his team through entrance 1. It was the wrong one, but his team had the gist. They dodge the cows and ran towards the 2nd entrance. Vanessa had to slice a fox's mouth for getting too close. However, she outran the rest of the undead.

Jeff repeated the cycle twice before selecting entrance 3. They exited to a dark stone-walled hallway that had columns every couple of feet.

The ceiling resembled outer space as the blue-tinted moon hovered directly over The Wild Bunch. At the end of the hallway was a stone framed doorway that had a bright light shining out of it. Dani even pointed out that the music had stopped.

The team had each sprinted down the hallway. But the moment they took a step, a light shined from above. They felt it happening again. They were blinded by the light that stung their eyes, What's more, they were being transported somewhere else again.