Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

The Theotech Vault's spire loomed above the expedition teams, an alien edifice defying conventional understanding.

Its surface now shimmered like liquid metal frozen mid-flow, with glyphs shifting across its face in patterns that seemed to tease the edge of comprehension.

Beneath its shadow, Kuzunoha's group stood at a literal crossroads, two distinct paths, each equally daunting, extended into the unknown.

One led upwards, a spiraling ascent toward the heart of the towering spire. Its design was a mockery of gravity, the staircase seeming to fold in on itself at points, with glowing pathways branching off at sharp, chaotic angles.

The other path delved deep underground, the yawning chasm before them brimming with faintly glowing mist that swirled and pulsed like a living organism.

Both choices promised danger, but the spire itself radiated a far more insidious presence. Its psychic interference clawed at even my perception from the distant Landship, leaving sections of its inner workings blurred and unfocused.

Kuzunoha addressed her group, her tone steady despite the oppressive weight of the Vault's aura. "We can't make assumptions here. The Vault's configuration varies wildly between sites like these, and even within the same structure, the logic behind its layout is non-existent by our standards. There's no guarantee the spire is more important than the underground or vice versa."

"Sounds rough," Lupina casually commented. "I guess I shall take my nap." She yawned. "Wake up me up when we arrive~"

And thus, Lupina fell into her own personal slumber.

Before the group could deliberate further, Verina's vanguard arrived, their swift advance heralded by the faint hum of drones and the heavy presence of the Warpiece Drone, its hovering mass casting a mechanical shadow across the corridor.

Verina approached Kuzunoha, her crystalline musket resting against her shoulder, a casual confidence in her stride despite the gravity of their situation.

"I say we pick one direction and hit it with everything we've got," Verina suggested, gesturing toward the spire with a nod. "Splitting forces in a place like this? It's asking for disaster. We're better off combining our strength, clearing one path, and dealing with whatever monstrosities this Vault throws at us."

Viviane stepped forward, her orange eyes glinting faintly in the dim light of the Vault. "I agree. This environment isn't one we can approach with half-measures. If we move as one, we'll clear obstacles faster and reduce the risk of personnel getting lost or worse."

Kuzunoha tilted her head thoughtfully, her crimson gaze sweeping across both groups before nodding. "Very well. We'll unite our forces and ascend the spire. It's the more imposing of the two paths, which means it likely hides something of greater value—or greater threat."

With that decision, the combined forces began to regroup and prepare for the climb.

Viviane took a moment to gather her thoughts before initiating an advanced foresight attempt, her fae magic flickering as it fought against the Vault's oppressive psychic jamming.

Despite the resistance, she managed to sketch a rudimentary outline of the spire's internal structure, relaying her findings through the Cognitive Engine network.

"It's worse than I thought," Viviane reported, her expression grim. "There are a hundred floors in total, but there's no logical order to them. Some of the paths are non-Euclidean, leading to floors that shouldn't even exist based on their position. Sections of the spire reconnect, split, and recombine at random intervals, and entire floors may vanish and reappear without warning. It's… chaos."

Kuzunoha let out a low chuckle "Sounds like the usual. Let's see if we can do anything to make it more simpler~"

The spire's labyrinthine expanse presented a rather innate formidable challenge for the expedition team, just by the nature of it alone.

Its warped geometry and unpredictable changes rendered most of the bastioneers, Heavenly Maids, drones, and even the Duolos unable to navigate without constant oversight.

The Duolos' hivemind provided some resistance to disorientation, but the sheer complexity and non-Euclidean shifts of the spire overwhelmed even their collective processing ability.

Without a proper foundation or assistance, the likelihood of confusion, madness, or outright separation from the group loomed large.

Kuzunoha and Viviane, possessing unparalleled expertise in spatial manipulation and arcane foresight, naturally assumed the role of navigators. Their combined knowledge and perception allowed them to make sense of the spire's shifting pathways to a degree that others couldn't match. Verina, with her quick instincts and psychic intuition, offered valuable supplemental capability to navigate to a degree.

However, relying solely on these three individuals to guide the entire expedition wasn't sustainable or efficient for every member of the expedition team.

Though, they were smart enough to avoid a dead end.

The solution lay in leveraging the vast computational potential of the Duolos and the neuromorphic network of the Cognitive Engines.

The Duolos' collective consciousness, while initially unable to fully comprehend the spire's irregular design, could adapt over time through iterative learning. Meanwhile, the Cognitive Engines embedded within the Multi-Purpose Storage Units acted as personal guides for their owners, like usual, using data collected from the drones, scouts, and Viviane's initial mapping to build a foundational understanding of the spire.

For a full hour, the team paused their advance, allowing the Duolos and Cognitive Engines to synchronize and process the chaotic influx of data.

Viviane's rudimentary map, constructed through her foresight attempts, became the framework for this analysis.

The Duolos cross-referenced it with real-time sensory feedback gathered by the drones and bastioneers, steadily piecing together a dynamic model of the spire's layout.

The spire's inherent instability—the way its pathways opened, closed, and rearranged themselves without warning—meant the map would always remain incomplete. Yet the resulting framework provided a baseline level of comprehension.

With constant updates fed directly into the Cognitive Engines and the Duolos' hivemind, the team could now navigate the spire with a reasonable degree of confidence. This system ensured that even if parts of the team became momentarily disoriented, they could recalibrate and find their way back without Kuzunoha or Viviane needing to personally intervene.

"They are working hard," Charis commented.

"Looks like our assistance is not needed."

Once ready, the combined forces advanced into the spire.

The initial ascent through the spire unfolded as an unrelenting test of endurance and perception, where each floor seemed more determined than the last to unhinge the very concept of progress.

Corridors twisted and buckled in ways that defied geometry, their surfaces shimmering like liquid mercury one moment, only to harden into seamless, featureless walls the next. A hallway stretched endlessly ahead, its edges veiled in faint luminescence.

The bastioneers pushed forward cautiously, but after several measured steps, they emerged inexplicably back where they started, the same drone that had marked the entrance now hovering silently behind them.

Time and space bent without reason, forcing the Cognitive Engines to recalibrate endlessly.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

But thanks to the foundation that they built before ascending, they managed to advance.

On the next floor, the chaos deepened.

A vast chamber spread out before them, its centerpiece a massive glowing core suspended in midair. Around it, dozens of floating platforms shifted unpredictably, phasing in and out of reality.

The platforms glided silently, their trajectories erratic and often colliding before splitting apart and re-forming. Bolts of crackling energy arced between them, bright enough to sear the eye and disorienting to anyone attempting to chart a safe path.

The group watched as a drone attempted to navigate, its sleek body weaving between the platforms. One miscalculated trajectory later, it was struck by an energy bolt and disintegrated into scattered fragments that were swallowed by the void below.

The bastioneers and Duolos stepped forward cautiously, their every move dictated by the oscillating rhythm of the platforms.

Bastioneers with active Cognitive Engine guidance leapt confidently from one segment to the next, their timing nearly flawless. The Duolos, relying on their hivemind coordination, mirrored these actions with precision, their movements a delicate balance of agility and grace. The Warpiece Drone hovered ominously above, its cannons aimed downward, ready to obliterate any potential threats that might emerge from the pulsating core. It provided a measure of cover, but the room itself was the true enemy, its layout a constantly shifting puzzle of danger.

The walls on the following floor bore a deceptive allure.

Their surfaces gleamed like polished obsidian, reflecting the group's every movement in eerie, almost reverential detail. At first, the reflections seemed innocuous, but as the team moved deeper into the passageway, the images within the walls began to shift unnaturally. Explore hidden tales at empire

A bastioneer froze mid-step as her reflection turned its head to face her, even as she remained still. Before she could react, the reflection stepped out of the wall entirely, its body shimmering with the same alien energy that seemed to animate the Vault itself.

The bastioneers and Duolos sprang into action, their weapons discharging in bursts of coordinated firepower.

The constructs moved with unnatural speed, their forms fluid yet unnervingly solid. A Duolos launched herself into the fray, their blue-hued figure darting between the constructs with surgical precision, disarming one before twisting and delivering a calculated strike to another.

The bastioneers, guided by their Cognitive Engine assistants, targeted weak points with unerring accuracy, while the Heavenly Maids provided additional support, their personal weapons slicing through the constructs with practiced ease.

The reflected attackers, though formidable, fell one by one under the group's combined assault, their shattered forms dissipating into fragments of light.

Of course, they fought and were not without rewards.

Just another floor later, they entered a branching hallway filled with storages to all kinds of precious Theotechs.

"Alright!" Erika exclaimed. "It's time to loot!"

However, regardless of the massive amount of Theotech they found, none of them were a Theotech Vessel.

"Looks like we need to advance further~" Kuzunoha chuckled.

"I can't believe that the very person that needs to be ready to get transferred to a new body is peacefully sleeping…" Verina said as she poked at Lupina's chubby cheeks.

The ascent grew more bizarre with each passing floor.

One chamber unfolded into a sprawling crystalline garden, its towering trees radiating a soft, pulsating glow. Their branches stretched out like beckoning arms, swaying gently in an unseen breeze.

The atmosphere was serene, almost disarmingly so, but the moment the group stepped foot into the garden, the tranquility shattered. The trees came alive, their branches snapping toward the intruders like the coiled limbs of predatory creatures.

One bastioneer narrowly avoided being ensnared, her reflexes guided by the Cognitive Engine embedded in her Multi-Purpose Storage Unit.

A Duolos darted forward, severing the offending branch with a blade-like projection that extended from her arm.

More branches lunged, but the Duolos' hivemind allowed them to coordinate their attacks seamlessly, neutralizing the hostile flora with calculated efficiency.

Deeper into the spire, the team encountered a floor entirely submerged in water. The surface was unnervingly still, reflecting the chamber's ceiling with perfect clarity. Drones sent ahead to scout vanished without a trace, their signals cutting off abruptly. When the team attempted to cross, the water itself seemed to resist them, pulling at their legs with unseen currents.

Bastioneers struggled to maintain their footing, their movements hampered by the water's unyielding grip. Kuzunoha and Viviane quickly took action, their combined magic stabilizing the environment.

Kuzunoha's crimson energy flared as she manipulated the water's density, creating a solid bridge for the group to traverse. Viviane, her fae magic glowing faintly, cast protective barriers to shield the group from the shadowy shapes that lurked beneath the surface.

The Warpiece Drone hovered overhead, its cannons trained on the water, firing intermittent blasts that illuminated the depths with bursts of light.

By the time they reached the higher levels, the spire itself seemed to rebel against their presence.

Entire sections of passageways shifted as they moved, collapsing and reforming elsewhere with a deafening roar. One path abruptly ended in a sheer drop into an infinite void, only for a new platform to materialize moments later, bridging the gap.

Something sentient was actively controlling these floors.