The five figures stared at him, but they weren’t looking at him.
Their eyes were bottomless pits of despair, filled with shattered human will. They were windows into an abyss that stared back with an ancient malice.
Ishiki’s eyes widened and he shock ever so slightly. ’Holy... shit!’
The five figures didn’t move at all.
They just stood there blocking the temple entrance, their silhouettes were painted in the crimson moonlight filtering through the open doors, casting long, distorted shadows that seemed to reach for him.
Ishiki gritted his teeth... he recognized every single face. He was late.
They had already fallen prey to the illusions.
’How powerful is he?’ The simple question became unfathomable.
The Lord of Deceit and Illusions was sealed and bound by chains of divinity or magic that defied comprehension. And yet, through the tiniest crack in his prison, he could do this.
Ishiki didn’t want to even think what would happen if some day, his seal broke fully.
’Catastrophe... it would be a catastrophe.’
Needless say, how powerful would the one who sealed him be. Ishiki shuddered at the thought. How much more powerful beings did this world have?
The scale of power in this world was vertigo-inducing.
Now Ishiki knew why neither the Withering Beasts nor the Demons entered the cursed settlement. They were... afraid. Even the trees of Crimson Canopy stayed far from this prudent place.
’How foolish... we were all foolish to think this place was safe.’
They had built their homes in the lion’s den simply because the wolves were afraid to enter it.
Ishiki spared a good look at the five humans, who had surrendered their soul to awaken the goddamn Lord. And the worst thing... there was not a single lie in what he told them.
That bastard said he wanted to be unsealed and take revenge against the gods. And they all broken and battered... fell for his sweet talk about peace.
’And now... now they are all dead.’
Suddenly one of the five people, a fairly small man with a slightly fat stature moved forward in an explosive motion, he practically sent his body flying with a fist aimed directly at Ishiki’s face.
Ishiki twisted sideways, the blow whistled past his ear close enough to feel the displaced air. He tried to dart toward the exit, but a girl, named Mira was already there, cutting off his escape.
’Damn!’
He summoned [Curved Bone], the pale blade materialized in his grip and then he activated [Ghost Blade] simultaneously, feeling his presence shift and blur.
He hoped to not attack any of them and run past while they couldn’t perceive him. But to his horror, all five attacked him at once.
They didn’t lose track of him, instead their void-like eyes followed his every movement with perfect precision, as if his skill meant absolutely nothing.
Ishiki dodged a punch and gritted his teeth.
’Of course. They’re not using their own senses anymore.’
One of the unnamed puppets, someone whose name Ishiki’s hadn’t bothered learning. He grabbed a piece of skeleton from the pile beneath the statue—It was a femur and he swung it at Ishiki like a club.
He blocked with [Curved Bone]. The human bone struck the beast bone with a jarring impact. The human bone club cracked but didn’t break.
’Are you serious?! Using the dead as weapons?!’
It was grotesque. A mockery of life fighting with the remnants of death.
The people who had their souls stolen it seemed were unable to summon their vestiges and use their skills. But they didn’t need to, there were several things around them and their physical prowess had increased many folds from that of a normal player.
Players were already insanely stronger than normal humans... but now they were at their peak physical conditions for some reason.
Another one picked up a skull and threw it. Ishiki ducked, and the skull shattered against the wooden wall behind him, fragments scattering.
Ishiki blinked a few times. That... was impossible. How could a human skull shatter against wood. It only made the fear in Ishiki’s heart grow.
He dodged another one without looking, thanks to his skill.
’Who the hell said i like playing dodgeball with human skulls. This... is not how i wanted to spend my night.’
The portly man and Mira coordinated their next attack perfectly—the guy went high and Mira steeped low. Ishiki jumped backward, barely avoiding both strikes, and crashed into one of the wooden support pillars.
He slashed with [Curved Bone], trying to create space. The blade cut across the guy’s arm, opening a deep wound that bled dark red blood.
Nonetheless, the guy didn’t even flinch. His fist slammed into Ishiki’s side, sending him tumbling across the floor. It felt like being kicked by a mule.
Ishiki scrambled, kicking backward blindly. His boot connected with a torso, eliciting a grunt, but no pause in the assault. He spun around, jumping back to maintain distance.
’I can’t fight them all.’ He realized.
They were not moving like lost people, but rather like five limbs controlled by one malevolent consciousness.
’I need to—’
Before he could finish. A stocky guy, grabbed a long spine and thrust it like a spear. Ishiki barely parried and gritted as the vertebrae scraped along his blade.
’Screw it! They are like meat puppets.’
He parried a few more attacks, but it wasn’t much long before some of the attacks reached his body. He had to increase the amount of strength he was using. If he would fight seriously... he might be able to make easy work of them.
He wouldn’t get out without injuries too. But... he couldn’t bring himself to aim for vital spots. Some stupid, stubborn part of him refused to deliver the killing blow, even knowing their souls were already gone.
’Damn it, why do I care? They’re already dead!’
He tried to run for the main entrance. All five converged on him instantly, forcing him back with a coordinated assault that left no openings.
’Bastards... let me go. I swear I will kill you’
But he couldn’t. They were already dead... as far as that went.
Feeling his plan to run out falling apart, Ishiki gritted his teeth and turned towards the stairs.
’Okay... Plan B. Or C. Whatever.’
’Up.
He dodged two attacks and ran towards the stairs. His boots hit the wooden steps with heavy thuds as he climbed. Behind him, the five soulless players pursued.
Ishiki reached the first floor and jumped up from the last step. As soon as his legs hit the wooden floor, he slipped.
He went down hard, catching himself on his hands to save his face from smashing into the floorboards. His palms slapped into something wet and slick.
’What the—’
He tried to push himself up, but his hands kept sliding. The floor was coated in some kind of liquid, making the wood treacherously slippery.
’Shit... I can’t even see... its so dark here.’
His increased perception through [Ghost Blade] only showed him the picture in black and white with shades of grey. The first floor was pitch black. Unlike the ground floor with its sconces, or the outside with the moon, this place was a tomb.
Apart from the holes Ishiki had dug, there were no vent for lights.
Ishiki slowly brought his hand up near his face, even in the dim crimson light, he could see his palm was stained dark. Coated in something thick and viscous.
He gulped... feeling a strange uneasiness wrap around him.
Then the smell hit him... metallic and cloying. It was unmistakable. He had smelled it too many times in the last few weeks to ever forget it.
His eyes widened in dark.
It was blood.
The floor wasn’t just wet—it was drenched. A slow, steady stream flowed down from somewhere, pooling in the grooves between planks.
He slowly looked up and ahead.
At the center of the room, the circular obsidian container—the one that had always sat there, empty and mysterious... was overflowing, so much that blood poured over its rim in a constant, languid flow.
’How... how much blood is that?’
A shiver ran through his entire body, every hair standing on end.
Behind him, the five people maybe made it halfway above the stairs, when the old wood groaned under their combined weight and gave way.
With a catastrophic crash, the staircase collapsed. The five figures tumbled below in a heap of flailing limbs and splintering timber.
Ishiki stared down at the void where the stairs used to be.
It was... wrong and very insidious.
Just moments ago, Ishiki saw a skull being shattered against the wood... ’How the hell did those stairs break just from their weight? ’
It felt as if the temple wanted him here. Like it had ushered him up and then cut the bridge behind him.
He... he was trapped here without a way to go down.