"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave him back in the house like that?"
Raymond asked as he followed Kyle from behind. They had just come out of the second floor and reached the first floor, leaving Seth behind.
Raymond was a Third Order of the 'Hunter' Decree. His Decree granted him the ability to detect any abnormalities within the vicinity. From anomalies to any nearby living beings. He was mainly called here as the 'hunting dog' to look for the missing scout.
Kyle glanced back, raising his brow.
"Didn't you say it yourself that you don't detect anything nearby?"
"…I don't."
"Then it's all good. He can stay here."
"But just because I don't detect anything doesn't mean that there isn't anything. My skill isn't flawless, and given the nature of the anomaly that we're dealing with, I don't think leaving him alone will be good."
"I get what you mean, but this is for the best."
Kyle answered with a complicated look.
"If there's one person that I want to bring with me, it's him. He's... the last person that I wish would be put in harm's way. The only issue is that I need to take care of you guys as well. Seth is merely a regular human, and I can't have him join the team and become a burden. This is the standard protocol. Furthermore, he's here as a support, and this is usually what the support team does. The Guild will soon send another team over to help him out."
"...I see," Raymond responded, looking at the others who merely stood there in silence.
In the end, he said nothing more.
"Also, it's not like I'm going to leave him here without any precautions..."
Turning his head, Kyle tossed a small device onto the floor. It embedded itself into the ground with a soft thud, then began pulsing in slow, eerie rhythms.
"I've set up a detection meter. If anything comes near, I'll be able to tell if something has come into the house. That way, we'll be able to tell if we have to return or not."
Kyle stretched his body. He wasn't doing this out of spite. He was treating Seth as he would normally when someone of that level appeared on the team.
He kept them in a safe place while looking around and figuring out the situation.
'Since Raymond said that eye didn't detect anything, then it should be okay.'
Stretching his arms, Kyle walked toward the main door and slowly pulled it open. A sharp gust of cold air rushed in, carrying with it a certain rotten smell that made his stomach churn.
Outside was a neighborhood he recognized, but only in outline. The houses stood still, casting long and stretched out shadows that felt like they were alive, their windows blackened. Lawns were overgrown, fences broken.
Not a single car passed.
Darkness blanketed everything, outside of the dim moonlight that spilled over the cracked pavement.
The world outside looked dead.
As Kyle took in the sight, he looked behind him.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes…"
Seeing the others nod, Kyle moved ahead and entered the neighbourhood.
At the same time, he closed the door behind him.
Clank—
The expedition team had set out.
***
Blankly staring at the notification that appeared before me, I read through each word very carefully.
By now, the others had already left, leaving me alone in the house.
I had previously thought of reaching out to them, but the moment I read the description, I immediately stopped.
'It feeds through sound…?'
Alarm bells rang inside my mind as I looked around me.
Holding my breath, I tried to stay as quiet as possible. But the silence only made every sound around me louder. The groan of the window felt sharper, and even the faint creak beneath my own feet seemed to echo louder than before.
The silence made every other sense sharpen.
A musty, stale smell clung to the air, and the biting cold pricked my skin.
Closing my eyes, I took several deep breaths while trying to focus my attention on the quest.
'So, the goal of the quest is to figure out and investigate more about the current scenario. The difficulty is of the Second Order, meaning that it should be something that I can handle. Not only that, but now that I know the Twisted Man fed on noise, I can plan around it.'
The goal was to keep quiet the entire time while figuring out more about the Twisted Man. As such, the first thing I did was take off my shoes.
'The creaking sound of my steps feels a little too jarring. If I walk without my shoes, I should be able to minimize the sound that I make.'
This would make the Twisted Man have a harder time finding me.
'But I still need to be cautious...'
I could still distinctly recall the presence that I saw back when I used my glasses to stare at the video. That tall and lanky figure that sent shivers down my entire body. With just a glance, I understood that I wasn't dealing with any normal anomaly.
I was dealing with an extremely terrifying and evil one.
One... that couldn't be reasoned with.
This was why I had to be extra cautious.
Tightly holding onto the knife in my hand, I felt strangely safe. Although it had yet to taste any blood, I felt like I could cut the Dreamwalker if I wanted to. Whether I'd be able to beat it or not was a completely different matter.
What mattered was that I could now put up a fight against it.
I didn't need to rely on its weakness in order to fight it.
'I wonder how much stronger the knife will be once I kill some anomalies.'
From the description, it sounded like the knife had the potential to become something powerful. For now, though, it looked pretty ordinary. Just a regular knife with a long wooden handle and a blade that was only somewhat sharp. At least it was shiny, which was a nice touch.
"Hoo."
Taking a silent breath, I scanned my surroundings before settling my gaze towards the window.
From time to time, the moonlight would shift, illuminating the room for the briefest of moments, and allowing me to catch a better look at my surroundings.
Taking out my phone, I used the flashlight to illuminate the place before taking a step forward.
Although the floor still creaked, it wasn't as loud as it was before.
'Good. I shouldn't have any problems.'
I was just about to take another step forward when—
BANG!
".....Uk!"
One of the windows smashed against the side of the wall as a strong and chilly wind filtered through the room. Almost by instinct, I yelped, but just barely managed to cover my mouth in time to prevent a strong sound from coming out.
Nonetheless, the sound still came out, and my entire body froze.
My hand, which was gripping the knife, started to sweat, and my heart started to race at an impossible rate.
'Shit...! That was a total accident. It didn't notice anything, right?'
I turned my head to stare at the open window. The strong current from before had left, and its place was a suffocating silence.
In order not to want something like this happening again, I prepared to move towards the window and close it. However, before I could even do that, the moonlight seeped into the room, casting a faint white blanket over the surroundings.
And it was under the temporary brightness that I saw it.
A tall... and lanky shadow standing right in front of me, its form bent over to look down on me directly.
I lost all air in that moment.
The Twisted Man...
It was standing right before me!
I didn't dare breathe.
Staring at the lanky shadow that stood before me, it almost felt as though my entire body had been plunged into the depths of the sea, the cold water embracing me from all sides as the increasing pressure settled onto my chest.
Though I couldn't see its figure, I was very aware of its presence as its shadow stretched further under the moonlight.
A moonlight that quickly shifted away, plunging the room into darkness once more.
Cold sweat trickled down the side of my face as I looked around.
'What do I do now…?'
I didn't dare move a single muscle, staying perfectly still as my grip over the knife tightened.
I really wanted to stab the shadow, but I knew that it was impossible.
Rather than it being physically present… it almost felt as though it lurked everywhere, prying on the little sounds that it could hear.
'It probably also heard Kyle and the others, but maybe because of their strength, it hasn't made a move yet…?'
I wasn't too sure.
Rather, I was at a complete loss. However, I knew that I couldn't continue like this.
The mission stated that I needed to figure out more about the Twisted Man.
Swallowing my fear, I tightened my hold on the knife and began moving, one step at a time. The stairs creaked faintly beneath me as I moved down the stairs.
Looking down, I silently licked my lips. They didn't seem particularly long, rather, they were just a regular flight of stairs. And yet.. they felt extremely long.
As though there was no end in sight.
As the moonlight filtered from one of the windows, the faint silhouette of a fall and lanky shadow appeared behind me once again, its head hunched over near my head.
I started to shiver uncontrollably.
'...Ah, I really want to puke.'
For a moment, I nearly dropped the knife in my hand. If not for the fact that I knew it would've led to an even worse situation, I managed to keep hold of it.
Gripping the handrail beside the stairs, I moved down the stairs, my footsteps deliberately slow, while the shadow trailed just behind me.
It felt as though it was waiting for something.
Me.
Yes, it looked like it was waiting for me to slip up.
Ready to take me like the others.
'Focus, focus... Focus...'
I was extremely tempted to use the glasses at this moment; however, knowing that the entity that I was dealing with was capable of sensing them, I held off on that. Rather...
I tapped on my arm, and a tall figure appeared behind me. I could only have it appear behind me since the cameras were directly displaying all of my actions.
I didn't say anything, but as if in sync with my thoughts, the Dreamwalker moved away and climbed back up onto the second floor. The Dreamwalker made no sound as it moved up while I continued to move down the stairs.
Eventually...
Clank!
The door upstairs closed, and the moonlight spilled into the surroundings once more.
I whipped my head down.
The shadow... was gone.
'It worked.'
I checked my arm at the same time. The Dreamwalker was still alive. For now, at least. I was a little curious to see if it could put up a fight now that it had ranked up.
'Maybe not, but it should at least last longer...'
Whatever the case was, I needed to complete the quest.
'...I need to find out more about the Twisted Man. But how exactly can I do that?'
I racked my brain over the situation, but found myself unable to think of anything. For a second-order mission, this felt a little too hard.
Eventually, moving down the stairs and finally reaching the first floor, I looked around. The layout of the living room was the same as the one from the building before.
But although the layout was the same, everything else wasn't.
The wallpaper peeled like shedding skin, curling away from the walls in brittle, yellowed strips. The sofas were sunken and filled with mold, producing a moldy stench that clung to the air.
Then came the sound.
Tap. Tap.
The gentle tapping sound of water dripping from the kitchen. In the quiet surroundings, such a sound stood out sharply, amplifying the unease that gripped the air.
I felt a knot form in my stomach while looking at my surroundings, hoping to find any clue.
However, just as I began my search, my eyes fell on a certain device that was embedded on the floor. It flashed a faint red light, and it looked like some sort of technological device.
'No, that's exactly what it is.'
I crouched down to see it closely.
Analyzing it, I quickly understood that this was probably something Kyle and the others had set up.
'My best guess is that it's supposed to tell them if it notices any anomaly nearby...'
Thinking about the shadow not too long ago, I shook my head.
Useless.
It didn't even detect the Dreamwalker.
'Or maybe it didn't detect anything because the Twisted Man hasn't made a move yet...? For the Dreamwalker, maybe it isn't considered an anomaly anymore but a part of my power?'
I wasn't too sure, but I quickly pulled my attention away from the device and looked around. I needed to find some sort of clue to better understand the situation.
But how exactly could I do that?
Looking around, besides the rot on the walls and the funky smell that lingered in the air, there didn't seem to be anything strange about the place.
Just to make sure, I started looking through the drawers and cupboards of the place, but besides a few useless papers and broken cups, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Then...?
Pausing in the living room, the moonlight shone once more.
There was no shadow.
I was all alone.
For now.
I licked my lips. A certain thought crossed my mind as I looked around and retrieved a pair of sunglasses. There was one thing I hadn't tried yet. One thing that... could show me exactly what I needed to see.
But at the same time, it was also extremely dangerous.
The Twisted Man was already haunting me. Although it hadn't acted yet, I knew it would eventually.
...It would as long as I made a sound, or put on the glasses.
I bit my lips.
I really didn't want to do this, but I felt this was the right choice. The quest wouldn't appear if I didn't have the means to achieve it.
...And since I couldn't see it with my regular eyes, the glasses were my only option.
With a slow, reluctant breath, I slipped the glasses on.
The world turned completely blue, and the cold pierced my skin even harder.
And immediately after, I heard it.
Thump!
A single, muffled step.
From upstairs.
Coming closer. Right above me.
It... had sensed me.
"H-haa."
I held onto the knife tightly.
Thump! Thump!
The steps were drawing nearer. I could hear them coming from the stairs.
Sweat poured down from the side of my
face as I hastily looked around.
'Anything, anything...'
My anxiety shot through the room as I looked through my surroundings, hoping to find any clue or hint. However, the biting cold that pierced my skin made it hard for me to focus clearly as I held onto my body while keeping track of the steps coming from the stairs.
Thump! THUMP!
The steps were even closer now.
I could feel the Twisted Man was about to reach the first floor.
It... was about to reach me.
My breathing grew more shallow as I frantically looked through everything.
And then—
My gaze eventually fell on one of the walls. It was right by the kitchen area, and my entire body stopped the moment I caught sight of the engravings on the walls.
No, rather than engravings...
'It's a poem.'
I felt a sudden sense of unease while looking ahead.
The message read;
Tick-tock, listen, don't make a sound,
Or else the Twisted Man comes around.
He walks in echoes, he creeps in noise,
He feeds on whimpers, he drinks your voice.
First, just a shadow, then at your back,
His fingers hum where the sound waves crack.
Speak but a word, and he'll draw near,
Scream but once, and he'll appear.
Games he loves, games he plays.
His voice may change, but his appearance will not.
Careful of the voice, as it may be his.
So bite your tongue and mute your cries,
Lest your last sound be his whispered lies.
The Twisted Man won't leave, you'll find…
Unless you leave your voice behind.
'Huh...?'
Reading the poem, my entire mind numbed.
He feeds on whimpers, he drinks your voice? Unless you leave your voice behind...?
THUMP! THUMP!
".....!"
Snapping me out of my daze were the loud sounds of the steps. They were just by the living room. My entire body tensed as I just turned my head to see a certain silhouette appear by the entrance of the kitchen, its long and lanky arm dragging into the room, fingers twitching unnaturally as they scraped against the doorframe.
I didn't waste a second and hurriedly removed my glasses, plunging the world into darkness as I sealed my lips shut, as the world turned quiet once more.
Tap. Tap.
All... with the exception of the faint dripping sound coming from the sink.
Tap... Tap!
The noise dragged through the air like nails across metal, grating and incredibly slow. I stood frozen, every muscle tensed, not daring to make a single noise.
'It's right behind me, isn't it? It's right—'
The moonlight spilled into the room, and I tried to look down to see if the figure was right behind me, but the moment the moonlight spilled into the room, I froze entirely.
That was because...
The figure wasn't standing behind me.
But right before me.
And...
I could see it with my own eyes.
It stood right before me, its long and lanky body covered by a black suit as a large tophat covered half of its face, a wide, unnatural smile marring its pale face. Its neck bent at an unnatural angle, creaking as it craned closer, a sick smile stretching across its pale features.
Almost as if... It was already aware of the fact that I could see it.
My grip over the knife tightened incredibly hard, my body ready to lunge at any given second, as I planned on recalling the Dreamwalker to have it aid in my fight.
But then...
"Hello...?"
It suddenly started to speak, my entire body shivering at the sound of its voice.
It... sounded normal.
Too normal.
Like it belonged to some guy in his forties—
Ah.
It suddenly hit me mid-thought as I kept my gaze firmly locked forward, pretending to be completely oblivious to everything.
"Hello? Is anybody here?"
The voice echoed once more, this time a little smoother than before.
But the smoother it was, the more alarmed I became.
Because...
'This is none other than the voice of the inmate that was sent just before we were sent.'
I was almost certain of it.
That was also when the two verses of the poem I was stuck with finally started to make sense.
'This anomaly... it feeds on its prey in order to absorb their voices. This is probably to make it easier for it to kill people. Or maybe for some other reason... that I'm still unsure about.'
"I can tell that you're here. Please respond."
I continued to remain silent, trying my best to keep myself composed.
But then—
"Hello? Seth? Are you here?"
I suddenly heard another sound. This time, the voice was different. It was a female voice, and it seemed to come from a distance as the figure before me turned in the direction of the noise.
Almost as if... it was curious about the voice.
But...
I kept my lips sealed.
I couldn't speak.
"Seth? Why aren't you answering? Kyle told me to fetch you. We've discovered something."
The figure before me faded completely, leaving nothing behind.
It was gone as though it had never been there to begin with, and the sight made all the unease from before suddenly wash away as I took a quiet breath.
"Seth? Kyle is waiting outside. Is everything okay?"
Noticing the worry in the voice, I was just about to move towards the living room when—
The moonlight spilled again, and the silhouette appeared once more.
It was...
Right behind me.
".....!"
It's back hunched over to me.
"Seth? Seth...? Why aren't you answering? Seth?"
It was also in that moment that I recalled one of the verses in the poem, and my entire body started to shudder.
Games he loves, games he plays.
His voice may change, but his appearance will not.
Careful of the voice, as it may be his.
That...
'Don't tell me...'
"Seth? Why aren't you answering me?"
I pressed my lips tightly together, eyes fixed on the direction of the sound. Listening more closely to the voice now, I realized something strange: despite calling out for me again and again, it hadn't moved or tried to search for me at all.
It was almost as if...
'It's trying to bait me to say something!'
Shivers ran down my arm as I gripped tightly onto the knife in my hand, feeling its presence somewhat ease the panic I felt as the beat of my heart drummed loudly inside my mind, making me worried about whether the figure had heard me or not.
Creaak...
A distant creaking sound echoed, and the voice stopped.
I knew the source of the noise was the Dreamwalker as I hastily took out my phone and flashed a light beneath.
'No shadow.'
I flashed it around.
'No silhouette.'
I didn't waste a single second and moved out of the kitchen while holding my breath.
But just as I did...
WHIIIIII! WHIIIIIII!
A certain alarm rang, and the color red flashed across the entire living room.
I froze on the spot, slowly turning my head towards the device planted by Kyle.
Crash! Crash!
The windows around shattered, and several sickly hands began to appear from behind the windows.
Staring at the scene, I held onto my stomach.
'Now is a good time to puke, right?'
Crash—!
Glass exploded in all directions, the sharp shards spinning through the air as withered, mummified hands clawed their way through the broken windows. My thoughts shattering just as violently, spiraling into panic as I immediately looked down.
The silhouette that had been there only seconds ago was gone.
Vanished.
As the moonlight spilled through the gaps of the windows, casting multiple shadows through the chaos, a chill raked down my spine.
Had it moved? Was it closer now?
Or worse… was it watching?
A dreadful silence pressed in for a moment, heavy and... suffocating. I could almost feel something breathing just beyond the edge of the windows, looking for something.
Looking for...
Me.
But at the same time, it almost felt like it was looking aimlessly. As though it couldn't quite pinpoint me.
A thought crossed my mind then.
'…Wait, could it be that with all the noise, it can no longer see me?'
My brows rose up at the thought.
It made sense!
'With all the noise that was happening around, it was probably hard for it to spot me, and hence it decided to directly send the bodies to attack anything that is in sight!'
Crash, crash—!
The joy was short-lived. Suddenly seeing more glass break, and even more hands emerge, my heart sank.
They were multiplying. Crawling in from every direction.
While one probably was solved, another one had arrived.
It was never-ending.
I quickly scanned my surroundings, hoping to see some sort of way out, but my heart quickly sank when I saw that the weird desiccated corpses were coming from all directions, leaving me with no room to escape.
'What do I do?'
My breathing was already rough, and looking around, I felt a growing sense of unease form inside of my gut.
'Come on, come on, come on....!'
I bit my lips until they bled, letting me think more clearly.
'No, I need to calm down. I can't panic just yet.'
My game development senses suddenly kicked in. Despite the overwhelming fear that I was feeling, I still managed to rationalize my situation. Eventually, my gaze fell in a certain direction.
The stairs!
'I don't hear any sound coming from upstairs, meaning that there's no weird creature coming from there.'
The stairs were also narrow enough for me not to be surrounded by whatever those things were.
Crash—!
"…..!"
Seeing another window break, I didn't hesitate to rush towards the stairs, eventually stopping and turning around as one of the figures moved towards me rapidly.
Without thinking much, I turned off the camera's connection, and my expression changed upon seeing it charge me. I braced myself, teeth clenched and body tense, before driving the knife into its skull.
Puchi!
Steel met brittle bone with a sudden crack, the impact reverberating through my arm as the blade eventually drove deep into the creature's skull. Before I could process the muffled sound of its collapse, I yanked the knife free and stumbled back, socks skidding over splintered floorboards.
Simulatanously, another one of the dessicated creatures lunged my way as I hurriedly raised the knife in the air and stabbed once more.
Puchi—!
The result was the same as before. They weren't very hard to handle, but... There were numerous. My stomach churned after seeing just how many there were.
Thankfully, before things could get too bad, a figure appeared before me, its hands moving forward to form some sort of shield.
I stood still for a while, staring at the creatures trying to get past the Dreamwalker.
Eventually, lowering my head to stare at the knife, I gripped the handle tightly and brought it forward.
'Quickly die before I have to puke!'
***
"Did you detect anything abnormal?"
"No.... morning yet."
Raymond shook his head, looking towards the distance with narrowed eyes. His eyes, usually brown, were now a deep shade of red as his eyes briefly paused on the deserted road and the empty, rotten houses.
The air was stale, and the silence that answered felt tense.
Raymond licked his lips before speaking once more.
"I don't notice a single thing. Everything looks and feels the same. There… is nothing near us."
"And you're sure of this?"
Raymond turned to Zoey before nodding his head.
"Yes, I'm fairly positive."
He was quite confident in his ability to detect abnormalities in the surroundings. Though he was nowhere near the best, he was still good enough to be in the elite squad.
Not many things could escape his eyes as he looked towards the distance where the street stopped, in its place a large and thick forest.
His steps paused.
"I can sense that the inmate is over in that direction. If I had to make a guess, he probably ran away there after spitting something."
As Raymond's eyes glowed a deeper shade of red, he was able to confirm his thoughts as he saw a silhouette in the distance, walking around aimlessly.
"Let's go. He's not far from us. Let's collect him and leave. This place leaves me the creeps."
As Raymond murmured the words, he moved ahead with Kyle and the others following him from the side.
Rustle~
Entering the forest, several beams of light shone throughout, illuminating the path ahead as Raymond guided them towards the inmate.
Raymond moved in eerie silence at the front, every footstep muffled by moss and decay beneath him.
Then he froze, his eyes scanning the forest with deep apprehension. His brow creased into a tense frown as his gaze locked on something just beyond the next several trees.
"What's wrong? Why did we stop?" As one of the other people in the squad asked, Raymond didn't answer immediately as he kept his gaze firmly locked on the silhouette in the distance.
At first glance, it looked like one of the many trees that surrounded them.
However, unlike the others...
This tree seemed to be moving in their direction.
Something about it felt off to him now that he had gotten a closer look at it, and as the bushes ahead rustled, his expression quickly changed as he realised something.
That tree...
It was none other than the inmate.
He was different from how he had last remembered.
He was way taller than he was supposed to be. Not only that, but his back was hunched, and as the lights flashed in his direction, a pair of blank and soulless eyes met their vision as the inmate's entire body was twisted in a way that made it look like some sort of tree.
"What sort of.."
Before the others could even have the time to process the situation, Kyle lowered his head to stare at a small bracelet, and his expression quickly changed.
Trrr—!
"Shit!"
The others all looked at him.
"What happened?"
"What's going on? Why are you acting like this?"
Kyle didn't answer as he looked at the bracelet in his hand. Eventually, lifting his head up, he looked at the others with alarm.
"My house has been breached! Several anomalies have been detected there!"
The faces of the others quickly changed as Kyle turned back and rushed towards the house, his heart pressing tightly against his chest.
'Shit, shit, shit…! How is it possible? I made sure to detect everything beforehand. There shouldn't have been anything. How did it suddenly pop up out of nowhere? This makes no sense at all!'
Kyle was extremely alarmed by the situation. However, he had to push his alarm down and quickly rush towards the place.
Seth was in danger!
As a regular human, he wouldn't be able to put up a fight.
'No, no, no… please be safe.'
Kyle felt a massive knot form in his stomach as he rushed ahead, until eventually spotting the house in the distance.
The others trailed right behind him, their steps just as fast as Kyle's, but his face changed as he saw all the broken windows of the place.
"No!"
He shouted in panic, rushing forward.
Clank—!
Smashing the door open, he entered the place, desperately looking for Seth until…
His eyes locked onto the figure in the room's center: bodies lay scattered at its feet, their bodies completely unresponsive. In its hand gleamed a cruel, razor-edged knife, dripping with its last victims' blood.
Kyle froze on the spot, feeling a certain chill run down his body. The same was for the others.
And then—
The figure slowly turned their head, meeting their gaze to reveal an all too familiar figure.
"Oh."
He said, his voice a little hoarse.
"… You're here."
-x-X-x-
Puchi!
I had no idea how much time had passed. minutes, hours, maybe longer. It all blurred together as I kept stabbing the mummified things that swarmed me.
Each time the knife sank into one of their brittle skulls, they crumpled like dried paper, collapsing without a sound. But no matter how many I brought down, more kept crawling out of the dark, their hollow eyes locked onto me.
If not for the Dreamwalker holding most of them in place, I wouldn't have been able to make it.
But at the same time...
Puchi!
I noticed that it was starting to get easier and easier for me to kill the mummies.
The resistance that had appeared in the first few kills started to fade, and the knife started to sharpen. Each stab required less force, and the more I stabbed, the faster I became.
Puchi! Puchi!
Desiccated blood sprayed across my face and arms with every strike, a dry iron smell lingering in the air as a result. Ignoring the smell, I kept stabbing, the knife sinking into brittle flesh that crumbled under the pressure.
I felt tired, my lungs burning.
However, I knew that I had to keep going.
I couldn't stop.
'I can feel that the knife is getting stronger. I should take advantage of this opportunity to make it grow.'
Another opportunity like this wouldn't come by often. I needed to make full use of it to grow the knife so that I would be able to handle situations like this better. And in order to maximise my current situation, I decided to retrieve Mr. Huggs from my bag and place it on the floor, noticing a clear slowing down of the mummies.
This made things a lot easier for me as I began stabbing even more mummies, their bodies falling before me as each stab became smoother and smoother.
More blood continued to spurt all over my face, but by this point, I no longer cared and continued to stab.
The knife grew with each mummy that I took, and I immersed myself in the killing.
So much so that by the time Kyle and the others had come back, I had killed most of the mummies, the Dreamwalker fading right before they appeared.
"You..."
Kyle stared at me, his face frozen in shock. The others mirrored him, their eyes wide, lips slightly parted, and expressions caught between shock and confusion.
I followed their gaze and looked down.
The knife in my hand was slick with dried, black blood. Around me, the ground was littered with mangled corpses, each with a certain stab wound.
No wonder they were looking at me like that.
"...It took you a while to get here."
I wiped the blood off the knife with my pants.
I was already all dirty, so it no longer mattered to me, but my actions appeared to have caused their expression to stiffen further.
I could only inwardly shake my head.
But then...
"What happened to you? This... I..."
Kyle looked around, his face at a total loss. He couldn't make heads or tails of what had happened.
I couldn't blame him.
I wasn't like this before.
But at the same time...
"What do you mean, what happened to me? A bunch of monsters came in, and I fought back. Did you expect me to run?"
"Yes, actually..."
I shook my head, and they pointed at all the windows.
"I tried, but look around you. Do you think I would've been able to run when I was surrounded from all sides?"
"No, you're right, but..."
"The monsters weren't that strong. I just got onto the stairs so that I wouldn't be surrounded. Everything was easy from there."
"...Oh."
I had never seen Kyle look so speechless before. Let alone Zoey, who was struggling to find any words as she looked at the numerous corpses with a blank expression, mumbling things like, 'This really...? No, this makes no sense.'
Then...
"Raymond."
Kyle whispered, his face still turned towards me.
"...Didn't you say you didn't detect anything? How come—"
"I really didn't feel anything." A man with deep red eyes replied, his gaze wandering all over the place as his eyes desperately scanned the surroundings. "The entire time... No, even now, I don't feel anything at all. It's strange. How does this make sense?"
He eventually turned to look at me.
"Did you feel anything besides these creatures? Did the anomaly come for you...? No, wait... that wouldn't make sense. Why would it come to you and not us?"
That was an answer that I also wanted to know.
Why did it just come for me, and not them? Clearly, it stated that the monster went for those who made the most sound.
I knew this well because I had seen it on the wall, and I had tested this.
'It really does only come for those that make sounds, and yet... At this very moment, it doesn't appear to be showing up.'
Why?
Why was that?
Suddenly thinking of something, Zoey raised her head.
"If you think about it, one of the criteria that we saw when we were studying this anomaly, it likes to attack those who are in single houses by themselves. Maybe that's why it targeted him."
"...Oh, that makes sense."
The others had looks of enlightenment after hearing Zoey's words. However, the only one that seemed unconvinced by them appeared to be Kyle, who lowered his head and pressed his fist against his mouth.
Eventually, he shook his head.
"No, I don't think that's the case."
Kyle's tone was strangely dry.
"If that were the case, the scout shouldn't have died. He managed to get out of the house, looking at his footsteps outside and all the clues in the forest. In the end, it had no real influence. I believe that the rules only apply to the upper world. Not this world. The rules in this world are different."
Eventually, Kyle turned his attention towards me, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Are you hiding something from me?"
"Hiding something?"
I raised my brow, completely taken aback by his words. I was hiding something, but...
"This feels weird. Taking everything into account, it almost feels like you were being targeted. Could it be because it deemed you to be the weakest? Or..."
Targeted...?
I...
"....."
A low, steady ringing pulsed in my ears, drowning out Kyle's voice. His mouth moved, his expression serious, but the words never reached me. Somewhere halfway through, everything he said turned into static, and my mind just… emptied.
'It almost feels like you were being targeted...'
Replaying Kyle's words in my mind, I felt the air leave my lungs as I was suddenly reminded of a certain notification.
[You have been haunted]
My heart pressed tightly against my chest, drumming loudly as I felt its increasing rhythm inside my mind.
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
I thought about everything that had happened so far.
About the poem that had appeared on the wall. Of all the things that I had overlooked. Why would the poem appear on the wall like that...?
Thinking about it, it almost felt as though the poem had been deliberately placed there.
As though... someone was waiting for me to read it.
It... wanted me to read it.
As if it were aware that me reading it would allow it to find me.
But it failed.
I took the glasses off before it could fully spot me.
It then tried to lure me with the voices, but even that failed.
In the end, it resorted to attacking me with all the weird mummies.
Or... Was that really the case?
"Oh..."
I suddenly came to a realization as my shoulders relaxed and my eyes closed.
"Clever. Really clever."
"What?"
"Did you figure something out?"
Hearing the others speak, I tuned them out as everything started to piece itself together inside my mind
'I've been naive. Stupid... I've made the grave mistake of underestimating the intelligence of the anomaly, thinking it was some mindless creature that followed patterns. But that isn't the case at all.'
The anomaly.
It was far from stupid. It was smart.
Very smart.
To the point where it had purposely sent over the monsters in order to trigger the trap, forcing Kyle and the others to return, and as a result, finally managed to get me to talk. Its game began the moment the others left the house, and I was left all alone.
It had all... been within its calculations.
Everything.
And as I opened my eyes, I saw the faces of Kyle and the others freeze.
At the same time, something cold brushed against my neck.
It was behind me, wasn't it?
I took a deep breath.
The Twisted Man.
-x-X-x-
It all happened so fast that nobody had time to react. One moment, Kyle was mid-sentence, talking to Seth.
The next—
A soundless ripple formed in the air, like heat distorting the air itself.
Then... it was there.
A tall, lanky figure appeared behind Seth, its presence so sinister it seemed to suck the warmth from the room. It wore a tattered black suit, the fabric slightly loose, and atop its narrow head perched a crooked top hat that hid its features besides the sick and twisted smile that marred its pale face.
Kyle's breath caught. The thing raised one arm, and slowly, almost lovingly, traced its long fingers along the side of Seth's neck.
'When did it….'
By the time clarity returned to Kyle's mind and he started to react, Seth slowly raised his hand and placed his finger over his lips.
His calmness was so unsettling that it left Kyle momentarily at a loss.
Perhaps, it was a good thing that he didn't speak, because... Allerman, a Third Order Recruit, spoke before anyone could, his voice echoing loudly.
But that was probably his worst mistake.
"Fuck! Hurry! I'll—!"
It was as if the words summoned it.
A few brief moments after he opened his mouth, a figure would materialize behind him, its lanky body casting a large shadow over him as the moonlight flickered in.
Crack—!
Allerman's hand snapped upward at a weird angle, bones cracking like dry twigs. Before he could even draw breath to scream, a hand clamped over his mouth, thin and slender fingers curling over his face.
"...!"
CRACK!
Muffled, panicked cries leaked through as his other arm folded backward with a sickening crunch. His legs buckled next, knees bending the wrong way, and his body limped down.
Thud.
He fell to the floor, his expression twisting as a figure loomed before him.
It had all happened so fast that nobody even had the time to react, leaving everyone at a complete loss whole staring down.
Silence.
The room was silent as Allerman remained on the ground, his body twitching.
What in the world just happened?
How…
"Haaa—!"
A scream followed right after.
Iris, a blonde recruit of the Third Order, whipped out her special gun, aiming it at the twisted figure. At the same time, her mind churned, her nodes flaring up, turning her eyes blue.
She was ready to attack it with all she had.
"You sick bastard! I'll fucking kill—!"
But...
CRACK!
"HA!"
The moment she raised the gun, her elbow bent with a sharp pop, folding inward as if her bones had turned to soft clay. Her knees buckled beneath her, and she crumpled to the floor like a broken doll, eyes wide and dazed, the weapon slipping from her grasp.
Thud!
The sound was met with a brief moment of silence.
But then...
Changes began to occur to her.
Her skin began to pale and thin, pulling tight against her skull. Veins darkened, shriveling beneath the surface of her body. Her limbs twitched once, then stiffened... and then, her frame began to whither.
Her lips cracked, her cheeks hollowed, and her eyes, still open, began to cloud over, watching nothing.
She was still alive...
Kyle watched the entire scene with bated breath, his entire body stiff.
This was the first time... the first time he felt this much at a loss.
His mind was blank, and his mouth was dry. This anomaly... It was without a doubt of a high order. Kyle felt helpless. He didn't have enough information.
He—
No, wait.
All of a sudden, Kyle had a certain thought as his face slowly turned towards Seth, who remained standing still, his expression strangely calm as his finger continued to press against his mouth.
What was he trying to say? To stay quiet...?
Their eyes met, and Seth nodded slowly.
Kyle's brows rose, but eventually, turning to look at the others, he also placed his hand in his mouth.
'Stay quiet! Don't make a sound!'
Though he didn't say the words, he tried to convey the message with his eyes.
Thankfully, the others listened, shutting their mouths and keeping their breaths in check. It was also in that moment that the anomaly stopped moving, its gaze locking into Seth, who closed his eyes.
Seth was well aware of his circumstances. The Twisted Man... was merely having fun at this point.
It had already found him, and so, it was now just slowly killing everyone who was making a sound.
This situation…
It had now turned into a game for it.
Games he loves, games he plays.
Recalling a certain verse in the poem, Seth was sure of it.
All of this…
It was the Twisted Man's sick game.
Slowly arriving behind Seth, the Twisted Man's long and scrawny fingers scraped against his neck once more as blood started to seep out, forming long lines of red that ran down his neck.
It then turned his attention towards the remaining people, almost as if it was challenging them to make a move.
To make a sound.
But now, no one dared to make a sound. Everyone was aware of the current circumstances as Kyle's and the others' minds churned, trying their best to resolve the situation.
But then...
"H-elp."
A sudden cry for help echoed.
All heads turned towards one of the members on the floor, their eyes widening.
This voice...
Everyone was familiar with it.
It was Iris's voice.
"P... please, help. I... am still alive. It's not too late."
As her voice echoed, Kyle licked his lips, his mouth opening. But just as he did, he saw Seth from the corner of his eye with his finger on his lips, his head slowly turning to stare at the lanky man behind him.
Zoey and Raymond also appeared to have gotten the message, but...
"I can't see... Where are you guys...? I..."
"Iris, just hold—!"
Richard!!
CRACK!
Not everyone managed to get the message, and right then, a figure appeared behind them, their arms and legs snapping at unnatural angles before they limply fell to the floor.
Kyle's face tensed at the sight, his body twitching as he wanted to help, but realized he couldn't.
'Shit! Shit! Shit!'
Kyle clenched his teeth, his muscles tensing as he tried his best to remain calm.
He knew this was all a trap.
He couldn't talk. He had to remain quiet.
Thud!
The surroundings turned quiet once more, all eyes turning towards the Twisted Man standing behind Seth, its smile reaching into its top hat.
Tensions rose to the extreme as they stared at the Twisted Man.
But as if that wasn't bad enough, the Twisted Man soon moved away from Seth and onto one of the walls, its long and slender finger pressing against the rotten wall as it began to carve something on it.
Within the silence, a loud scraping sound filled the room, grinding into their ears, clawing at their sanity.
Skrrr Skrrr
The sound was all they could hear, sucking the very air out of their lungs and twisting their stomachs with each scrape.
It felt as though it continued forever, but then—
The noise stopped, and a poem appeared.
Tick-tock, listen, don't make a sound,
Or else the Twisted Man comes around.
He walks in echoes, he creeps in noise,
He feeds on whimpers, he drinks your voice.
First, just a shadow, then at your back,
His fingers hum where the sound waves crack.
Speak but a word, and he'll draw near,
Scream but once, and he'll appear.
Games he loves, games he plays.
His voice may change, but his appearance will not.
Careful of the voice, as it may be his.
So bite your tongue and mute your cries,
Lest your last sound be his whispered lies.
The Twisted Man won't leave, you'll find…
Unless you leave your voice behind.
Slowly turning its head, the Twisted Man looked at them, its wide and grotesque smile twisting even further.
Though no words were said, everyone understood then.
This poem...
It was a message.
A message telling them that this was a game.
A game between it and them.
The Twisted Man was welcoming them.
Welcoming them to its twisted game.
-x-X-x-
The atmosphere was incredibly tense.
Hardly anyone could move a muscle, their faces just as stiff as their bodies.
Right at this moment, we were all playing his sick and twisted game. One where making a sound equated to death. It sounded easy in principle, but this was no normal anomaly. It was an incredibly smart one that would resort to any type of trick in order to get someone to make a noise.
Ba... Thump! Ba... Thump!
I felt the heavy beat of my own heart press against my chest as I looked towards the others.
Bringing my finger down and away from my mouth, the room fell silent.
All the small sounds rose sharply in the silence once more: the distant drip of water, the creak of wood beneath the Twisted Man whenever it moved, and the quiet, measured breaths of everyone in the room.
I could hear it all, and... It felt suffocating.
Tightly holding onto the knife, I thought about turning around and slashing at the Twisted Man, but seeing how Kyle and the others were also not moving, it became clear to me that this anomaly's strength was high.
I'd probably be killed the moment I tried something.
"H-help... Someone help me..."
The desperate, almost haunting sound of one of the affected members echoed in the room once more as everyone tensed at the sight.
The games... were starting once again.
Including me, there were only five people left. I was only familiar with Kyle and Zoey. The other two, I wasn't quite familiar with.
"...P-lease. It hurts so much."
I held my breath, trying my best to keep composed.
My palms were sweaty, and I had to wipe them against my trousers several times.
'How in the world is this a Second Order mission? This feels even harder than the first mission!'
The fact that even Kyle was having a hard time was perfect proof of this.
Unless...
The key to solving the situation was right before my very eyes.
'No, in the first place, the mission was to find out more about the Twisted Man, not defeat it. Has the situation escalated beyond the point of the quest? ...Or is this still part of the quest?'
I was really struggling to understand this part.
However, I didn't really have to think too hard about it. Slowly removing my bag from my back, I started to take out my laptop.
".....?"
".....!"
The faces of Kyle and the others changed after they saw me act.
However, it wasn't like I could explain to them the reason why I was taking out my laptop. I just needed to confirm something.
'Please work. Please work.'
Seeing the Twisted Man not react at all to my actions, I opened the laptop and opened the app before settling my gaze over the chat box.
Eventually, pressing my lips tightly, I began to type. Each press of the keys as slow and steady as possible. I didn't want to make any noise.
Typing out the message took longer than expected, but I eventually managed to type out my question.
[Is situation part of quest? The difficult no change?]
In order to save time, and given my current circumstances, I didn't type the question with the most ideal words, but... It was enough.
At least, I hoped.
Pressing [Enter], I carefully waited for a response.
'Please... Tell me something. Please...'
There were times when the chatbox wouldn't answer. I could only pray that it would answer.
I could only wait with bated breath for a reply to come soon.
The seconds started to drag on, the noise around me sharpening as an unbearable pressure formed on my chest.
I waited like that for what felt like forever.
And eventually...
A reply came.
[Yes. No.]
".....!"
It was just two words, but they were enough to alleviate a lot of the pressure that I was feeling.
'Okay, okay... so this is the same quest and the difficulty hasn't changed. This means that the situation isn't hopeless! There must be some sort of way to solve this. For the system to judge this to be of the Second Order, it must be something that I am capable of.'
But what?
What exactly was the weakness of the monster?
Was it noise? If I were to make a lot of noise, would it struggle to find me?
Or... was its weakness something else?
I once again thought about the poem on the wall. I scanned through each word inside my mind, relating everything back to everything that I had experienced.
'The Twisted Man feeds on noise. At least, this is what the poem is trying to say. So long as one doesn't make noise, it won't be able to find them. I've... currently been found, forced to play this sick and twisted game. Could there be a more specific criterion for the Twisted Man...?'
"W-hy is... no one helping me? P-please..."
Lost in thoughts, I barely registered the voice of the Twisted Man as it began to walk around us, its body a little hunched as its face wandered around, pausing briefly across the faces of everyone present.
"P-please.'
It continued to play its game, using every means possible to get someone to falter.
Having experienced this before, I knew that something else was going to be coming soon.
That's why I needed to think quickly.
'Think, think, think... How can I get out of this situation? What is the Twisted Man's weakness? Wha—'
I suddenly paused.
Bringing my hand to my mouth, I suddenly realized something.
'Maybe I'm thinking about all of this wrongly. I'm thinking of finding a weakness for the Twisted Man, but what if... the weakness that I needed to find isn't related to the Twisted Man, but to the game we were playing?'
My mind yet again paused on the poem and my previous experience.
All sorts of thoughts crossed my mind as my eyes traced the poem across the wall.
I stared at the poem blankly before settling my gaze on a couple of lines.
Speak but a word, and he'll draw near,
Scream but once, and he'll appear.
His voice may change, but his appearance will not.
Careful of the voice, as it may be his.
The Twisted Man won't leave, you'll find…
Unless you leave your voice behind.
Voices...
A lot of the poem was about voices.
As my mind processed the situation, a thought occurred to me.
'Now that I realize it, I've made several noises before. The Twisted Man always found me, but it never attacked me. The only time the Twisted Man attacked was when someone spoke...'
What if...
The Twisted Man needed to hear someone's voice before killing them?
Noise could bring it to them, but that wasn't what it wanted.
What it wanted was voices.
This was what the game was all about.
It was all about collecting voices.
Ah.
I slowly raised my head to look at Kyle and the others.
An idea popped up in my mind in that moment, but right as the thought entered my mind, a hand gripped my mouth, covering it.
".....!"
As my eyes widened, I looked to see Kyle and the others looking at me with similar expressions.
Eventually...
"H-help."
The muffled sound of my own voice echoed out.
"P...please."
It was just that...
I wasn't the one to speak to them.
-x-X-x-
The moment Kyle heard Seth's voice, he almost instinctively reacted, his foot pressing forward and his mouth opening to shout.
However, right before he moved, Zoey moved forward and grasped his shoulder.
".....!"
Kyle's head snapped to look at her, and that was when he saw the faces of the others present, suddenly reminding him of the situation.
He hurriedly closed his mouth, his heart pressing against his chest.
'That...'
He had almost shouted.
Kyle tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry, the motion making him wince.
Slowly turning his head, he once again stared at the wide-eyed Seth. With his mouth covered, Kyle couldn't see whether it was the Twisted Man speaking or Seth.
For a moment...
He had almost fallen for the trap, if it even was a trap.
He didn't know at all, which was the creepiest part. Seth's voice sounded exactly the same, and at the same time, he struggled to understand how he had managed to pick up Seth's voice.
'He didn't kill Seth, so... it makes no sense for it to have Seth's voice.'
Unless...
All it needed was to hear its prey's voice to mimic it.
But then... It had also heard their voices. Did that mean it also had their voices?
'No, I don't think that's the case. It most likely is only capable of copying the voices of those who were alive for a short period of time or just once.'
Anomalies were all different. Each one of them had their own skills and powers. Kyle, having experienced several in the past, was well aware of such possibilities, alongside the limitations of such power.
From the moment the anomaly had appeared, Kyle had made mental notes of it.
He kept logs of everything that he had experienced, adding and crossing out new things he experienced.
This was something he usually did when encountering anomalies.
It was what allowed him to live for so long...
"K-Kyle... Help me. Please..."
'The anomaly also appears to be a hunter type.'
This wasn't an official term. It was just something that Kyle came up with when dealing with anomalies that preferred to hunt, playing with their prey, and showed a certain level of intellect.
'Given that it knows my name and the things that can trigger me, it most likely studied our interactions from the moment we entered this place. It most likely also purposely triggered the alarm to get us to come back here.'
Kyle suddenly thought about how the anomaly had most likely heard their voices while they were inside the house.
Since it had yet to use his voice... It was very likely that his previous theory was correct if this wasn't Seth's real voice.
The only problem was that Kyle wasn't sure.
"A-ah... it hurts!"
Hearing Seth struggle, Kyle bit his lip, trying his best to keep himself composed
'Don't fall for it. I can't fall for it.'
It was hard for Kyle to remain composed.
Seth was... one of his only remaining family members.
He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if anything happened to him.
"Ahhhhh!"
".....!"
Kyle's entire body trembled when he saw the anomaly suddenly bring its long and lengthened finger across Seth's neck, tracing it across as blood began to spill down his neck.
The smile on the anomaly's face twisted further as though it could sense Kyle's struggle.
"Help! Ahhhhh—!"
Seth's heartwrenching and muffled cries continued to echo in the room, causing Kyle to shiver.
'It's not real. It's not real. It's not real.'
Although he looked calm on the outside, his nails were digging into his palms while his eyes were bloodshot. He was struggling a lot, his eyes drifting towards the others who didn't look to be as affected.
Instead, they were all staring at the poem on the wall, seemingly trying to find a way to resolve the situation.
But then...
"HAAA!"
Seth's scream grew louder, and his body flinched.
Kyle's face changed drastically then as he saw the Twisted Man pierce Seth's shoulder with its long and lanky finger.
This time...
Kyle knew that the scream was real, and his expression crumbled.
The nodes in his mind flared up, his entire body tensing as he prepared to make a move. Although he didn't have enough information to truly put up a fight against the anomaly, he knew that he couldn't waste time any longer.
He—
"Hihihihi~"
A sudden gigling sound echoed across the room, and the atmosphere paused.
The Twisted Man's finger froze mid-air, and its head jerked toward the distant window where a small face peeked through.
Kyle's mind numbed at the sight.
A little girl?
What sort of...? What was going on?
However, looking better, he realized that the little girl was no regular girl. She... also felt like an anomaly, and his stomach sank.
'Don't tell me...'
However, much to his surprise and shock, the Twisted Man disappeared from the spot, appearing by the window, peeking out to look at the little girl.
But...
"Hihihi~"
Her laughter echoed once more.
This time, her laugh came from an entirely different direction. It seemed to come from... upstairs?
"Play~ Play~ Play~ Will you play with me?"
Kyle felt the hair at the back of his hand raise at the sound of her voice. Something about it felt incredibly creepy, but at the same time, the Twisted Man disappeared again, a soft 'thud' echoing above him.
This was when Kyle realized the Twisted Man had probably made its way to the second floor.
Question marks appeared on his head.
'What the hell is happening?'
Who was the little girl? And whose side was she on? No, more importantly, how did she suddenly appear out of nowhere? She wasn't in any scouting report...
What exactly was going on...?
More and more questions appeared on Kyle's mind, but he knew this wasn't the right time for him to dwell on them as he turned his attention back to Seth.
He was just about to move to him when Seth retrieved his phone and started typing something.
He was a lot faster than when he typed on the laptop, and once he wrote his message, he turned the phone around.
[That wasn't me. I didn't shout.]
Kyle's lips pursed tightly upon seeing the message.
It really...
Seth brought the phone next to himself and started typing again before turning the phone to show him a new message.
[I don't know how it managed to copy my voice, but it did. Whatever you hear, don't react. Even though it looks like it will kill me. It won't.]
It won't...?
Kyle's lips twitched faintly as he looked at Seth, his eyes looking even deader.
[This is a game for it. My death will mark the end of the game.]
Turning the phone back, Seth paused for a moment before eventually typing.
As he wrote, his face twitched. Probably from the pain of the wound on his shoulder, but eventually, typing out his message, he turned his phone again.
This time, Kyle wasn't the only one to react.
The others also reacted.
How could they not when the message read;
[Kill me, and the game will end.]
What sort of...
A smile slowly formed on Seth's lips as he looked at Kyle and the others.
Though he didn't say anything, his expression said it all.
'Kill me.'
-x-X-x-
Kyle froze.
It wasn't just him. Everyone else in the room froze upon seeing the words on Seth's phone.
[Kill me]
What sort of...
'Are you mad?!'
Kyle almost found himself shouting while glaring at the smiling Seth. How could he remain so calm in such a situation? No, why was he even smiling at the prospect of dying? Kyle was well aware of Seth's personality.
He was the last person that he'd think would ever want to die.
He was that much of a coward.
This request made no sense to him. It was completely different from the Seth he knew and understood. He had noticed the changes before, but tried to brush them away, but he could no longer do that.
The current Seth...
He was behaving way too strangely.
'Did he get possessed? Why is he even doing this? I don't understand at all!'
Despite Kyle's best attempts at keeping a calm and rational mind, he found that he couldn't.
Seth... He was really going to be the death of him.
Nonetheless, no.
'I'm not going to kill you.'
Kyle shook his head while staring at Seth.
However, Seth remained where he was, staring at him with the same smile. That was when Kyle thought back to all his previous thoughts.
'Wait a second...'
Seth was a coward, yes.
He was one of the biggest cowards that he knew.
He was the last person who would suggest something dangerous. In that case, the meaning of his words wasn't exactly as he meant them?
Kyle's mind started to churn.
"I think now that he's gone, we should be able to speak again."
Hearing Seth's voice, almost by instinct, Kyle found himself opening his mouth to speak. Thankfully, Kyle was quick to notice the situation as his mouth hastily shut.
Unfortunately...
"I-is he really—Akh!"
A sudden scream tore through the room as Kyle's head jerked to the right. There, he saw Ryan, one of the recruits sent with him, suddenly twist in agony, his arm snapping unnaturally as a tall, shadowy figure materialized behind him.
'When!?'
CRACK!
With another crack, his other arm snapped in half, and so did his legs as his body fell limply onto the floor, his face slowly withering like the others in the past.
The process was so quick and sudden that the others struggled to comprehend the sight before them.
By the time they did, their entire bodies stiffened.
"He's not here... We can speak now."
Seth's voice echoed again. This time, however, everyone saw the Twisted Man move its lips, looking around as though it was mocking them.
"...He's not here. Speak."
Its lips pulled further into its top hat, sending chills down the spines of Zoey, Kyle, and Raymond.
Along with Seth, it was just the three of them...
'This is bad. Really bad.'
Kyle could feel the sweat pooling down the side of his face as he desperately looked around. As he did, Seth's words replayed in his mind.
'Kill me.'
Kyle hurriedly shook his head.
No, fuck that! Anything but that. It was just Seth being crazy.
There was no guarantee that it would work.
Plus, he was never going to kill Seth. He quickly brushed the thought away and tried to think of another way, but his mind was blank. Regardless of how much he tried to think, he couldn't think of anything.
The same appeared to be true for Zoey and Raymond as the two desperately looked around the room.
'Reinforcements should be coming soon. I know the Guild is aware of the situation, but I don't know exactly when they will come, or if there have been any changes above. I need to find a way to drag time. I—'
Kyle paused again.
His mind once again turned back to Seth's words.
His chest churned, but then...
'Seth is a coward. He's a coward.'
He would never suggest something dangerous.
That was unless...
'There's more to his words than I know. But 'kill me' is pretty straightforward. What could he want? How can I kill him without killing him? No, is that even a thing? His heart would need to stop and—Eh?'
Kyle's thoughts paused for a moment.
He suddenly thought about Seth's words, and things that would make one be considered dead.
That'd be...
Stoppage of the heart.
For one to be considered dead, the heart would need to stop.
All of a sudden, Kyle's mind started to churn. He started to think about the smile on Seth's face and his words.
His brows slowly started to widen as he looked towards Seth, who was staring back at him calmly. He seemed to be waiting for him to get it, and the moment their eyes met, Seth nodded.
Typing something onto his phone again before showing it to him.
[Stop my heart. Once the Twisted Man deems me dead, the game will stop. I am supposed to be the final target. Once he leaves, collect my body and leave.]
Kyle bit his lip, taking out his own phone and typing.
[But what if the Twisted Man doesn't leave you even after you're dead? What then...?]
Seth paused, looking at the message.
Then...
With a smile, he started writing again.
[Leave me.]
Kyle's mouth opened, but he stopped right after as he looked at the Twisted Man.
Then, clenching his teeth, he glared at Seth.
[You know I can't do that. I won't leave you.]
[...The reinforcements will come. You can leave me. They'll take me back.]
Kyle began to type on the phone again, but as he typed the message, he found himself deleting it before rewriting it again and deleting it again.
Regardless of the many times he wrote the message, he found himself deleting it over and over again.
He knew that he didn't have much time at his disposal.
That every little second mattered.
...And in the end, he could only put his phone away and look towards Zoey and Raymond. In the end, he nodded.
'Okay.'
The Twisted Man was an incredibly tricky monster.
It had all sorts of tricks and ways to make someone fall for its devious plots. Kyle was sure it had more up its sleeve. So many had already died. He couldn't afford to have more dying.
Seth's plan was the only one that seemed to work.
Even if it somehow failed, and Seth was wrong about the criteria of the game ending, Kyle didn't think there'd be any harm to them so long as they remained quiet.
'Right, even if I can't bring him back with me, the reinforcements will be. This is the best way to do this.'
Kyle was quick to make up his mind.
His face grew calm, and his heart started to relax.
Although he was still on the fence about the plan, he knew that this was their best shot at freedom.
For that reason, after taking a deep breath, Kyle turned to face Seth and extended his hand in his direction.
The nodes in his mind started to churn, his mind prickling as he focused his attention on Seth's body.
Kyle had several nodes, all of which were from the Temporal Decree. He could control time, and as he stared at Seth, he used his most powerful node.
[Intermediate Node : Time Freeze]
In that moment, Seth's entire body froze completely.
Be it his heart, his organs, or even his brain. Everything froze at once.
And with that...
Thud!
His body turned to the side, producing a muffled sound as the Twisted Man's attention turned towards Seth.
Staring in the direction of the Twisted Man, Kyle held his breath.
Was this going to work?
-x-X-x-
The moment Seth fell, all eyes fell on the Twisted figure as it stopped moving.
Slowly, its head turned towards where Seth was as its long and twisted smile started to fade.
Creak!
The wooden floor creaked beneath each step as it crept toward Seth, its smile now almost completely gone from its face.
Kyle could only stare at the figure with his breath held.
His palms were sweaty, and he could feel his heart beating out of his chest. Tensions ran high as he followed the figure with his eyes.
'Will this work? Is Seth's idea going to work...?'
There was no guarantee that the Twisted Man would leave them alone even after Seth died.
Kyle also didn't know whether Seth's theory about the game ending with him was going to work. Kyle only went through with it because he trusted Seth, and after analyzing the situation, he also had an inkling that he was right.
Although he didn't know why Seth was the one being targeted by the anomaly, from what he had seen, there was no reason to believe that Seth's theory was wrong.
That was why he went through with it.
In Seth's current state, he was no different from a dead person. His entire body was frozen in time.
'For now, he should be fine, but it can be dangerous if he's exposed for too long.'
Kyle felt his head throb slightly.
The skill required a lot of concentration, and even now, he was maintaining it with his mind. Kyle didn't know how long he could maintain it, but he had to try.
In order for everyone to survive, he had to—
Spurt!
"——!"
Blood suddenly splurted all over the floor, and Kyle's face changed drastically as he looked down to see the Twisted Man pressing its long and sharp finger onto Seth's body.
'This bastard! I'll—!'
Kyle forcefully bit his lips, his entire body shaking as he just barely managed to keep himself from moving forward.
However, it was hard for him.
It was really hard for him to remain composed.
Especially when...
"Ahhhh! It hurts so much!!"
Seth's cries for help echoed throughout the room.
"T-that hurts... It hurts so much...!"
As the one to have used the skill on Seth, Kyle knew that it was impossible for him to be screaming. The Twisted Man was doing all the talking... Once again, it was trying to bait them into speaking.
'Resist. I need to resist...!'
Feeling something wet trickle down the side of his chin, Kyle wiped it with his arm as his nails dug into his palms.
Looking to his left, he saw Zoey and Raymond staring at the Twisted Man with serious expressions.
As if sensing his gaze, their eyes met, and Raymond raised his hand in a 'pause' motion.
Kyle opened his mouth, but Zoey soon placed her hand over her lips, pointing towards the stairs. She then began to make a series of hand signals that Kyle was able to understand.
'It's testing us. Remain quiet. Leave soon.'
"Ahhhh—!"
Seth's screams continued to echo as Kyle found his nails digging further and further into his palms. With bloodshot eyes, he looked at Seth's body.
Kyle knew that he was still alive.
The Twisted Man had only stabbed him in the shoulder. The wound wasn't anything serious.
But who could say that it would stop there?
What if, once they left it planned on finishing Seth?
'I can't have that happen.'
The Guild was efficient. By now, Kyle estimated that the reinforcements should've arrived. The fact that reinforcements had yet to be sent suggested that something occurred up above.
Kyle turned his attention back towards Zoey and Raymond.
He took out his phone and typed.
[You guys go. I'll stay behind. Figure out what is going on up there. I'll stay here to make sure that nothing happens to him.]
Zoey didn't even look surprised by his words.
She had seen it coming from miles away. She wanted to tell him to go, but closed her mouth. As much as Seth made her want to kill him, she would much rather be the one to do it than have someone else do it.
It would take the fun out of it.
However, it looked like she was the only one to see things this way, as Raymond coldly looked in Seth's direction.
Eventually, he also began typing.
[Leave him. He said it himself. He has his own ways to get out. Don't waste this opportunity he provided for you.]
His words were cold, but to Raymond, who was unfamiliar with Seth, he was merely one of the other sacrifices within the expedition.
He wasn't the only one who had died.
This wasn't the time to mourn or lament over someone's potential death.
An opportunity had been presented to them, and they had to take it.
"Ahhhh! It hurts!"
As another scream pierced through the room, Kyle's face stiffened once again. He looked to be really struggling to make his decision.
He began to type again.
[Staying behind will only put him at more risk.]
This wasn't a lie.
Kyle looked to be on the verge of exploding every time he heard the anomaly scream.
If he acted, then the only chance that all of them had, alongside his friend, would crumble just like that.
[You said it before, didn't you? That you'd treat him as another recruit. This is our chance. Move out now.]
Kyle bit his lips, his body shaking.
He looked really undecided. In the end, however, taking a deep breath, his entire demeanor calmed down.
'He's right. I can't let my emotions get to me.'
Rationally speaking, leaving was the best choice he could make to protect everyone. It also gave Seth a better chance of surviving.
What would he even be able to do if the anomaly decided to kill Seth?
Nothing.
Kyle would be able to do nothing.
...And for that reason, he had to leave.
He had to trust Seth and also find a way to help him out.
Therefore, after taking a deep breath, Kyle's eyes sharpened as he looked towards Raymond and Zoey.
Then...
With a slow and careful step, he started moving.
"W-here are you...? H-elp."
Even as he heard Seth's pitiful and frail voice, he moved towards the stairs, his steps quiet.
"..K-yle. D-don't leave me."
Seth even started to call out for his name, but Kyle didn't fall for it.
He didn't look back.
He just continued to move forward, as slowly and agonizingly as possible.
He couldn't afford to turn back.
He couldn't afford to listen to the voice.
He couldn't afford to...
"....."
Eventually arriving on the second floor, Kyle closed his eyes and looked around. Seth's voice was long gone. In its place was a terrifying silence that shattered with the subtle creaking of the nearby window.
Taking out a small device from his pocket, Kyle placed it on the floor.
Because it needed a couple of seconds to activate, and it needed to be near the same spot where they had first entered, they could only use it here.
Tick! Di—!
A faint sound emitted from the device.
Thump! Thump!
Almost immediately, they heard a loud thumping sound coming from beneath. As though something was rushing in their direction.
Clank—
Suddenly, a long and sickly figure emerged from behind the door, its pale face looking around the place.
But...
By the time it had arrived, it was already too late.
Kyle and the others had left.