Chapter 238: Crazy Oak Barrel
[Confirm use of Dungeon 5 Invitation Card?]
"Yes."
[Dungeon 5 Invitation Card (Solo) confirmed. Commencing normal startup. Ten-second countdown initiated: 10, 9... 2, 1.]
"Meow?"
Faye Yardley hadn’t expected Blackwood to actually be able to enter the solo Dungeon with her. What’s more, as soon as they arrived, Blackwood had conjured a transparent protective shield around her.
[Welcome, player, to the Joker’s Amusement Park. Please purchase a ticket to enter. You must experience at least three attractions to clear the Dungeon. We wish you a pleasant time.]
Standing at the main gate of the amusement park, she saw an empty ticket booth on her left. Faye Yardley walked straight toward it.
A sign was clearly posted in the ticket booth window: [Amusement Park Ticket Prices: Adult Ticket 50 copper, Child Ticket 10 copper, Pet Ticket 100 copper].
Faye Yardley took out 150 copper coins and placed them in the empty window slot. Soon, two amusement park tickets came out from the other side.
She took them and immediately turned to enter the main gate.
The tickets in her hand vanished as she passed through the gate.
[For customers with valid tickets, all attractions inside are included. Your playtime is limited to the park’s operating hours.]
[Friendly Reminder: Find the Joker. With his company, your visit will be thrilling, but as long as you are brave enough, you will have a high probability of safely completing the attractions.]
’Find the Joker?’
Faye Yardley stood just inside the entrance for a moment, thinking. Then, she cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, gathered her Energy, and shouted, "Joker! Joker! Come out and play with me!"
She yelled it three times, but the Joker was nowhere to be seen. Instead, the entire amusement park suddenly sprang to life from its previous silence. Various rides started moving on their own, and cheerful music filled the air.
It sparked an immediate impulse to rush in and try every single attraction.
Happy laughter echoed in her ears, accompanied by whispers of "Come find me, come find me, let’s play hide-and-seek."
’What should I ride first?’
As the thought crossed her mind and she began to move, figures started appearing in the once-empty park. More and more people materialized, and soon, lines began to form at all the attractions.
Seeing people of all races nearly fill the park to capacity, Faye Yardley couldn’t help but curse under her breath. ’Damn it,’ she thought. ’I was hoping the park would be empty so I could easily finish three rides in time.’
’But with all these people showing up, what if I spend all my time waiting in line and run out of time?’
Still, she didn’t just blindly rush onto any ride.
Knowing the crowds would only get bigger, Faye Yardley didn’t just stand there dumbly. She immediately picked a direction and sprinted to the right.
Thanks to her speed, she managed to get on the "Crazy Oak Barrels" ride with the first group.
She claimed an entire barrel for herself, shutting the door to keep anyone else from getting in.
After all, with Blackwood present, they already met the ride’s minimum requirement of two passengers.
The Kobold she had shut out shot her a vicious glare before quickly boarding another barrel.
Once all the empty barrels were filled, the ride began automatically.
Faye Yardley searched all around but couldn’t find a safety buckle or anything to secure herself with.
And this ride was indeed intense. There was no warm-up period; it immediately began a frantic 360-degree spin.
Screams rose and fell one after another.
Faye Yardley screamed along with them. It was only with Blackwood’s help that she was able to grip the underside of the seat with one hand, pull a rope from her backpack with the other, secure it around her waist, and then forcefully jam her grappling hook into the back wall of the barrel behind her seat.
As she pushed the grappling hook deeper, she could even hear the oak barrel wailing and sobbing in agony.
If it were just spinning 360 degrees, that would have been one thing. But as they spun, the distance between the barrels grew smaller and smaller, and many of them began to collide.
CRASH!
The sound of CRASHING, mingled with screams, was incessant.
Blackwood had already burrowed into her Self-cleaning Robe, clinging tightly to her tracksuit underneath.
But its defensive shield was incredibly useful for Faye Yardley. Without it, besides being dizzy, she would have been in a world of pain from bashing her head against the barrel walls.
THUD. A Kobold’s head fell into Faye Yardley’s barrel. Then, as if coming alive, the barrel quickly devoured the head completely.
This amusement park was truly deadly. ’So why would so many people pay money for a thrill that could kill them?’
It was fine that she couldn’t figure it out. As she was tossed left and right, Faye Yardley was more focused on finding opportunities to shove her grappling hook, which was threatening to come loose, firmly back into the wall.
As for the torsos, severed limbs, heads, bloody rain, and splinters from other barrels that occasionally fell in, Faye Yardley eventually started snatching them up and stuffing them into her backpack.
If the barrel dared to make her ride uncomfortable, then it couldn’t dream of getting even a single morsel!
In reality, the condition of the barrel was related to its passenger. The reason this particular barrel was so sturdy was because it was being reinforced by Blackwood.
The barrel felt terribly wronged. Not only could it not compete with Faye Yardley for the spoils, but she would even cause trouble for it in return. At one point, it was nearly smashed to pieces by another colliding barrel.
The ride was surprisingly long, lasting for a full half-hour before the music stopped and it came to a halt.
Once it was completely still, Faye Yardley pulled out her grappling hook. She staggered a couple of steps as she stood up, then opened the door and got out.
When she exited the ride and looked back, all the oak barrels were restored to their original state. She didn’t know if they had been replaced, but in any case, the next batch of visitors was already getting on.
[Congratulations, player, on successfully completing one attraction.]
People were still lining up at the entrance, but the number of people coming out the exit was pitifully small. Not even one in ten made it.
Faye Yardley sat down to rest on a long stone bench not far from the exit. Blackwood was already back on her shoulder.
She took out a small dried fish and tossed it to Blackwood.
The moment she took it out, many eyes turned toward her. But Blackwood devoured it so quickly that those gazes, now tinged with a hint of confusion, turned away again.
"Huh, it seems quite a few people here like dried fish," Faye commented.
"Meow!"
"But don’t you worry, Blackwood. I won’t give the dried fish to anyone else."
Saying this, Faye Yardley took out a steamed bun for herself and began to eat it slowly.
She needed to recover for a bit and think about which attraction to tackle next.
’Maybe I should ride the roller coaster? But the line for that one is already a long, winding dragon...’
’Which other rides have shorter lines?’
She scanned her surroundings. Every ride she could see had a line so long it made you question your life choices.
After finishing the bun and drinking a cup of watermelon juice, Faye Yardley felt much better.
A boat ride on the lake seemed relaxing, but there was no telling how long it would actually take to finish.
If the park’s closing time arrived and she had only completed one attraction, there was no telling what would happen next.