The map was really, really good.

  Like, really good.

  Like, every single obstacle was marked with clear red ink and a brief explanation of what the obstacle was and how to avoid it. There was a bright arrow leading from where they were directly to the key room. A room that, the map helpfully explained, contained the key.

  And Chad had just shown it to his entire stream.

  Nathan's hands crumpled the edges of the paper. If he pulled any harder, he was going to rip it.

  He slowly released the pressure and breathed out.

  I'm at peace, he thought. Everything is fine. Thalassa may or may not be in danger. Millions of people still need to be saved. And it's all on me, because all of my teammates have forgotten the entire reason that we're here. Everything is great. Just great.

  Nathan double-checked the map. The entire right margin was consumed by the desks and rows of desks that defined the area they were currently in. If Nathan had to take a guess, he'd say that the room seemed to be functionally infinite.

  They would have to travel west, go straight through, and they'd arrive at the key room.

  It was a direct, straight shot.

  There was no place for any deviations, no possible way to get involved in side quests — indeed, Nathan was completely and utterly screwed.

  Nathan double-checked there. He'd gotten a message from Gius.

  One hundred million. One hundred million were left.

  They were so close, so, so close.

  Nathan just had to hold out a little bit longer.

  Nathan ran over the plans in his head as they walked. They had long since made it out of the brick office-worker hell and were now back in the normal brick hallways.

  If he could get to the key first, maybe he could convincingly stuff it into his inventory and act like it had never been there in the first place?

  Nathan didn't like that plan. He wasn't particularly good at lying, and he did not think he could fool an entire audience of however many people were watching Chad’s stream.

  Besides, what if putting it into his inventory triggered the end of the dungeon? It would be pretty hard to sell the idea that nobody had gotten the key if the dungeon booted them out.

  He could just try to force it through — ignore everybody who didn't believe him and just hang on to the key. But then people might start to question his legitimacy and start filing out of the towns. It was a miracle he had managed to rally so many people into listening to him in the first place. If he showed himself to be a liar, that number would go significantly down. Millions would be doomed to death on the Sixth Circle.

  What a wonderful situation I set myself up for, Nathan thought. All routes lead to doom. Excellent work, me.

  “Tree hugger.”

  Nathan perked up. Who had spoken?

  “Spineless.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Ogre.”

  It was…

  Emi and Bjorn?

  “Deviant.”

  At that, Emi’s voice rose and she looked to be on the verge of throttling Bjorn. “What is that supposed to mean? Deviant?”

  “I saw where your eyes went back during the orc diet.”

  Nathan tried to recall what Bjorn was talking about. He didn't remember Emi looking at anything untoward.

  However, Emi seemed to disagree with Nathan’s appraisal, given the fact that she'd turned bright red and lowered her head. It was a clear concession. Bjorn had won the fight.

  Mara bounded up to the two of them and threw her hands around both of their shoulders.

  “I, for one, think you’re both overthinking this,” she said. “You should just settle things with a duel at high noon.”

  Emi glared daggers at Bjorn. “Mara, please elaborate further. Why are we dueling at high noon? As soon as this is explained, I will happily engage in combat against the orc.”

  Bjorn glared back, his eyes just as cold as Emi’s. “Yes, it would be good to finally settle this.”

  At this point, Nathan thought it would probably be best to break it up before things got any worse.

  “Settle what?” he said, his voice loud and pointed.

  The two of them flinched like children who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Emi looked away from him, while Bjorn’s expression switched over to his usual neutrality.

  “Nothing,” Emi said, twiddling her fingers. “We weren’t going to do anything.”

  Chad chuckled from behind Nathan.

  Nathan looked back at him and glared. “What, don’t tell me you’re encouraging this.”

  “I mean, it's kind of nice. You know?”

  Nice?

  “No, it isn’t. They’re threatening to kill each other.”

  “Yeah,” Chad said. “But that’s what they always do. I was actually more worried when they met again and they were trying to walk on eggshells around each other. This is way more normal. It reminds me of back when we were on the First Circle.”

  Nathan mulled the thought over in his head.

  Chad kind of had a point.

  Nathan was confident that they wouldn't actually try to kill each other. But back when Emi had met Bjorn again for the second time, he honestly wasn't sure what either of them would do.

  “Still, I think I would rather that they didn’t threaten each other’s life on the daily,” Nathan said.

  Chad raised his hands in surrender. “Fair, fair.”

  Of course, there was something that Chad didn't know.

  Nathan still hadn't broached the conversation with Emi. He still hadn't told her the truth.

  And at this point, Nathan had more or less decided it would remain that way until further notice.

  The alliance between the three races was as fragile as a cobweb. One wrong move and it could all go down in flames.

  He would tell her, he decided. Just not now.

  Nathan froze.

  A split second later, everyone else did as well.

  “Oh, are we playing a game?” Mara said. “Are we dancing? What’s happening?”

  “Didn’t you feel that?” Nathan said.

  There'd been something up the hallway. A presence.

  “Yeah, but that doesn’t explain why everybody froze in place like idiots,” she said.

  Nathan opened his mouth to respond when he stopped. She kind of had a point there. Realistically, there was nothing to be concerned about, and alerting the thing to the fact that they knew about its presence wasn't particularly smart either.

  A rhythmic, iron sound hit the edges of Nathan’s ears. He frowned. He hadn't heard anything quite like that in a long time.

  The sound got closer. The rhythm — it reminded Nathan of when he was scratching the spot on his neck or on his leg. A back-and-forth shift, over and over and over.

  It was getting even closer. Nathan squinted his eyes. There were two lights at the front, flashing directly into Nathan’s eyes and making it impossible for him to see beyond.

  Nathan squinted at the sight. What on earth was this thing? It reminded him of a car.

  The sound got closer and Nathan finally managed to place it.

  No, not a car —

  The sound was crystal clear at this point. The lights headed toward them at blistering speed.

  Nathan threw himself to the wall. Chad's eyes shot wide and he did the same. Everyone followed a split second later.

  A gust of wind hit Nathan as the iron monster rushed past them. There was a loud screech, brakes hitting iron, and the thing came to a stop. Nathan traced the front to the back.

  His worst suspicions had been confirmed.

  It was a train.

  A giant, black train.

  [Plot Railer] - Lv. 102

  The plot railer. For most of her life, she'd been forced to watch plots run out of control over and over due to stupid writers who didn't know what they were doing.

  The plot railer had enough. She would ensure that all quests were approached with the utmost seriousness and remained on task.

  No more would stories grow out of control and wander into random, ridiculous territory. No more side quests. No more tertiary quests. It's the main quest only.

  Nathan gulped. He was facing down an enemy who hated side quests.

  Truly, this would be the greatest challenge he had ever encountered.