Heh, Merely the Wisdom of Mortals

"The hint... was given from the very beginning?"

Listening to the calm words coming from the other end of the phone, the Traveler turned to look at the Black Shadow that had been following them for about ten meters, but found no clues whatsoever.

"Yes, you're just overcomplicating things... it's just the Merely the wisdom of mortals."

The voice coming from the Walkie-Talkie remained unhurried.

"Speaking of which, that Black Shadow kept banging on the wall with its hand. Didn't its hand hurt?"

Traveler: "..."

VerdantRipple: "..."

... What the hell is it that you care if the other person's hand hurts?!

"... I also guessed that the reason the other party possessed that strange teleportation ability and that the reason we were trapped here was because they were playing tricks. Maybe the reason they slapped the wall was to represent some kind of ritual, but I couldn't even touch them, and that's the most crucial point."

He reached up and adjusted his Glasses, a hint of helplessness lingering in Traveler words.

"You also said that even up close, that Black Shadow was just a blurry Black Shadow, right?"

Without any intention of responding, the other person went on to ask a second question.

"... That's right."

"So it was Black Shadow hitting the wall then~"

"Well...?!"

A thought suddenly flashed through the traveler's mind, and the Traveler froze in place.

"So you mean... that's how it is!? This..."

For some reason, there was a hint of despair in the Traveler's words.

"That's how it is~ So don't overcomplicate things. That Black Shadow only has one ability. If it really had as many abilities as you say, you would have all died there already, okay?"

--Click--

The sound of someone biting into Apple came from the other end of the phone.

"Ah, the Merely the wisdom of mortals..."

"..."

"What are you two talking about? That guy's charging again!!"

Quite annoyed, VerdantRipple glared at the Traveler. Having been listening to their conversation from the sidelines with her sword in hand, completely bewildered, she charged forward again, forcing back the Black Shadow that had stealthily approached within ten meters of them.

For the previous ten minutes, she had been repeating this behavior.

"I finally know what I've been overlooking."

With a sigh, the Traveler, feeling utterly exasperated, used his hand to support himself against the wall and stood up from the ground.

"Actually, what Black&White said is right. I was indeed too clever for my own good."

"So what?"

VerdantRipple, who had returned, looked at him coldly.

"... This is Ghost Wall."

The Traveler continued to mechanically and tirelessly slap the Black Shadow on the wall with his finger, looking utterly exasperated.

"That Black Shadow represents a ghost, and it keeps hitting a wall, so this is called 'Ghost Wall'... That's right, that Black Shadow only has one ability from beginning to end."

"???"

Staring at the Traveler with a "you fucking kidding me" expression, VerdantRipple's words were laced with obvious anger.

"So what happened when your robot almost blew itself up!?"

"Because I did it manually at the time, just to be on the safe side..."

The Traveler sighed helplessly.

"Due to my personal biases, the Self-Destructing Robot naturally couldn't have hit the other side. And this corridor is at most twenty meters long, it's definitely not that long. We've been going around in circles in this 20-meter-long corridor."

"... So this is just Ghost Wall!?"

Seeing the Black Shadow in front of her still tirelessly pounding the wall with its arm, VerdantRipple, quite unusually, swore.

"Actually, I should have thought of that earlier, after all, it's Orphanage..."

A wry smile appeared on his face. The Traveler crouched down and summoned the Self-Destructing Robot again.

"This place is located in the suburbs, and there are no computers or cell phones. Although there are donated picture books, they won't explain these things clearly. We know what 'Ghost Wall' means, but when children hear it, their impression is probably just... a ghost hitting the wall with its hands, right?"

Looking at the Black Shadow not far away, and recalling the situation when he was chased by the other party, the Traveler's lips twitched slightly.

"Children's impression of ghosts is probably limited to something like that Black Shadow... If my guess is correct, then the truth behind the Anomaly unfolding at this Orphanage..."

At this point, the Traveler frowned deeply.

The Skill [RX-78 Chaser] summons a Self-Destructing Robot that automatically tracks down enemies and explodes. This Self-Destructing Robot can also be freely controlled by the Skill user.

After the Traveler completely released control of the summoned Self-Destructing Robot, putting it into automatic enemy-hunting mode, the Self-Destructing Robot automatically rushed towards the Black Shadow.

It seemed to be the same result as before, but the Traveler remained quite calm. However, when he saw VerdantRipple lift her foot again, he immediately lost his composure.

"Stop! Stop! Don't even think about kicking me again, this time it's for real!! It won't be like last time!!"

Are you sure?

VerdantRipple glanced at the small robot that was slowly rushing towards the Black Shadow at a pace slightly faster than a normal person's, and her face was full of suspicion.

"Of course I'm sure, you just need to wait."

Seeing VerdantRipple put her foot down with some doubt beside her, the Traveler wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and breathed a sigh of relief, but then inexplicably felt a dull pain in his abdomen again.

Although the Black Shadow had inflicted more than a dozen wounds on him, in his opinion, those wounds were far less severe than the kick VerdantRipple had delivered to his stomach.

After all, one was an external injury, while the other was not only a complete internal injury, but also caused him considerable psychological Shadow.

After all, back then, if the other person had moved their foot down even the slightest distance... then he would have been in serious trouble.

"Boom--!!!"

A few dozen seconds later, accompanied by an Explosion, the scene around them faded rapidly, the endless Corridor disappeared, and they were standing on the Third Floor corridor again.

At the same time, another System Prompt popped up in front of all the Player.

[A Hidden Anomaly Source has been resolved]