Kaguya-sama Wants Me to Surrender

Sayu covered her lips and lowered her voice.

"Doesn't that mean the shadow's source is in there?"

Amamiya Natsuki swept his flashlight around. The underground cavern was pitch-black, vast, and dead silent. The beam was quickly swallowed by the darkness. The air was cold and damp, raising goosebumps on their arms.

Just then, Shinomiya Kaguya said quietly:

"The game just sent out a notice. The instance mission is complete. The follow-up mission is to defeat someone called Four Hands. Then we'll meet the clearance conditions."

At that, Amamiya Natsuki looked at Yukino and Hayasaka and asked quietly:

"What about your missions?"

Yukinoshita Yukino nodded gently. "Complete."

Hayasaka Ai followed up:

"Mine's complete too."

Amamiya Natsuki made a snap decision.

"Go back. We're leaving."

"Huh?" Fujiwara Chika blinked and asked softly, "We're heading out already?"

"This is the shadow source's lair. It's definitely more dangerous than we think, and we know nothing about the place," Amamiya Natsuki said quietly. "We might be able to catch it off guard, but we'd be in just as much danger. There's no need to take that risk."

The source in the cavern was definitely a boss-level creature. This wasn't a game where you could start over as many times as you wanted after losing, so they had to be careful. The instance mission hadn't required them to take down the boss. Only an idiot would charge in headfirst.

"Natsuki has a point," Kitagawa Marin said softly. "We should get out, right?"

The others all agreed.

They turned and headed back the way they had come. Fortunately, the exit hadn't disappeared, and they soon made it out of the underground cavern.

"Phew..." Kitagawa Marin patted her chest and let out a breath of relief. "We're finally out."

Seeing the sunlight outside the hospital put everyone else