Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 86: Ch84. Pain as a teacher (8) - Deeper underground

Chapter 86: Ch84. Pain as a teacher (8) - Deeper underground

Miles walked cautiously as he tried to not bump into any passersby, the stale underground air wrapping around him like a second skin.

The descent into the Black Market had been brief but unsettling; as soon as they stepped past the doorway, it felt as though they had crossed into another world entirely.

Flickering neon lights lined the stone passageways, casting eerie shadows across the walls. The soft hum of whispered conversations and distant laughter blended with the occasional clang of metal or the quiet shuffling of unseen figures moving through the depths of the Market.

The deeper they went, the denser the air became, thick with the mingled scents of alchemical potions, charred metal, and something sickly sweet that Miles couldn’t quite place.

Mara walked ahead of them like she belonged there. Probably because she did.

Her every step was purposeful, her posture relaxed but aware, like a predator among its own kind. Sarissa, on the other hand, moved with silent calculation, her sharp eyes scanning every corner, every movement in the periphery of her vision. Miles simply followed, doing his best not to appear out of place while his own instincts screamed at him to stay on guard.

"This place looks bigger than I expected..." He muttered, barely above a whisper.

"That’s because you’ve only seen a fraction of it. The Black Market isn’t just a marketplace, Thorn. It’s an entire network. A city beneath the city." Mara shot him a smirk over her shoulder.

Miles did not doubt it. They passed through tight alleyways between haphazardly constructed stalls, where vendors peddled wares that were not exactly legal – or ethical, to say the least.

A cloaked figure haggled over a pair of gauntlets, their metallic surface pulsing with a faint red glow. Another merchant, seated behind a veil of thick incense smoke, traced arcane symbols into the air as he bargained with a desperate-looking player.

Everyone was a player here, certainly, but not all of them looked like they had come from the surface.

Most of the players in this place were... Different. The way they moved, the way they watched their surroundings, the way they whispered in languages that the system didn’t translate.

Was Miles wrong, and there were NPCs in The Glitch? No. It was something else.

"I thought players were the only ones left in this world." Miles mused, his gaze flicking toward a masked figure standing guard near a row of locked crates.

"You thought wrong," Mara replied smoothly. "The Glitch rewrote a lot of things. But not everything was erased or changed."

That sent a chill down his spine. He had suspected something like this for a while. There were too many inconsistencies, too many strange occurrences that did not add up.

If this world was not just a broken game but something else, then what exactly was he playing into?

If Wonderland existed like a glitched place, somewhat outside the game, then what else was out there just like that?

They stopped at an inconspicuous stall nestled between two towering stacks of old crates. Unlike the others, there were no glowing artifacts, no obvious goods on display. Instead, a simple neon sign hung from a rusted chain above the counter, reading: Inquiries & Transactions.

Behind the counter sat a woman wrapped in a thick, dark shawl, her fingers delicately sorting through a stack of faded parchment. Her face was hidden beneath the shadow of her hood, but the second Mara approached, she stopped her work and tilted her head slightly, as if expecting them.

"Mara," the woman said, her voice smooth and composed. "Didn’t think I’d see you again so soon, and with friends, nevertheless!"

"Yeah, well. You know how it is. Business moves fast." Mara leaned on the counter, flashing a lopsided grin.

"And these two?" The woman’s hooded gaze drifted to Sarissa, then Miles.

"Miles Thorn and Sarissa Andreadis, guild master of the Union Guild," Mara introduced them casually. "They’re looking for information."

"Aren’t we all?" The woman let out a small, thoughtful hum.

"We’re looking for The Archivist." Miles cleared his throat.

The moment he said the name, the air shifted. Not drastically, not visibly, but there was a subtle change. Like a string being plucked in an otherwise silent room. The woman’s fingers stilled over the parchment. Her head tilted just a fraction more.

Mara’s smirk remained, but Miles caught the briefest flicker of tension in her stance.

"That’s a name you don’t just go asking about," the woman murmured. "Where did you even hear it?"

"Does it matter?" Sarissa interjected, her voice neutral. "We’re looking for them. That’s all you need to know."

"That’s not how things work down here, sweetheart." The woman chuckled softly, shaking her head.

"Listen," Miles sighed. "We found a clue to the [World Quest], and we need to know more about it before we make any decisions."

That got the woman’s attention.

Her hand finally moved, slipping beneath the counter and producing a small, circular stone. With a quiet flick of her wrist, she tapped it against the wooden surface. The runes etched into it flared briefly before the light vanished.

"Well?" Mara straightened.

The woman exhaled slowly. "Follow the tunnels eastward until you reach the corridor marked with a red sigil. The Archivist doesn’t entertain visitors, but if you have something valuable..." She paused, her hidden gaze boring into them. "You might get an audience."

"Thanks." Miles nodded, with a thankful smile.

"Don’t thank me yet," the woman said. "Just watch your step."

With that, they turned to leave, Mara leading them further into the labyrinthine underbelly of the Market. The deeper they went, the quieter it became. The air grew damp, the scent of old stone replacing the acrid tang of alchemical smoke.

The red sigil wasn’t hard to find. It was painted on the entrance of a narrow corridor, its edges glowing faintly, as if pulsing in time with something unseen.

"This is it." Miles took a breath.

"You sure you want to do this?" Mara crossed her arms.

"No," Miles admitted. "But we don’t have a choice."

"Let’s not waste any more time." Sarissa stepped forward without hesitation. "There are too many things at stake."

They entered the corridor, leaving the chaos of the Black Market behind, stepping into the unknown once more.