The First Victim

Damn it, an indiscriminate attack.

Lynch's heart pounded wildly.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to hide behind the rocks. Otherwise, even if I didn't die, I would have been exposed. Now let's see... Holy crap, that's not right.

Every muscle in Lynch's body suddenly tensed, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. In a flash, he noticed several pale spikes passing directly through the thick rocks along the shore as if they had no physical form.

There was no blocking this.

In the blink of an eye, over a dozen spikes had already passed through the rocks and appeared right in front of Lynch, completely covering his body.

He didn't know what would happen if he were pierced, nor did he want to find out. The spikes were so fast that he didn't even have time to think of a countermeasure; his body simply reacted on instinct.

Every single spike pierced into Lynch's body without any resistance. He could almost feel the cold and eerie sensation emanating from them.

A continuous, twisted, and terrifying pressure radiated from the spikes, weighing heavily on Lynch's chest and making it nearly impossible to breathe.

Yet, no blood flowed from any of the pierced areas. The spikes passed through his body just as easily as they had passed through the rocks, as if they had merely pierced an illusion.

【Nolan's Phase Barrier】 had activated at the very last second.

The spikes that had missed paused for a brief moment inside Lynch's body before rapidly retracting. Only then did Lynch recover from his shock, finally finding the leeway to notice the changes around him.

The body of the poor mouse had been hit by a spike. It hung from the spike, twitching continuously. However, the spike had not pierced all the way through its body; it had merely buried its tip inside the mouse. The spike itself was continuously contracting and expanding, though whether it was absorbing something or injecting something into the mouse was unclear.

As for Salin... Salin was already gone.

At the final moment, his body had suddenly burst apart, transforming into a large swarm of fireflies that scattered in all directions.

【Authority: Still Water, Ability: Pool Fireflies】

However, the fireflies were unable to escape.

The spikes from the other directions had already retracted, leaving only the one that had pierced the mouse and the dozens that had shot toward Salin still lingering by the lakeside.

In particular, those spikes near Salin—which had originally been shooting straight out—suddenly sprouted countless thinner, horizontal branches from their tips like tree limbs. They formed a three-dimensional net, sweeping up all the fireflies and trapping them within.

The twitching mouse suddenly went stiff, and its tiny body exploded into a mess of flesh and blood. Having lost its target, the spike that had pierced the mouse retracted back toward the center of the lake.

But Salin's situation was different. The fireflies filling the air quickly coalesced back into a human form. Salin was hanging from the web of spikes in a highly contorted posture. His torso was largely unharmed, but his limbs had been scratched by several spikes. They were only superficial grazes, and the spikes had not penetrated his body.

After a brief stalemate, a blackened dagger slid from Salin's sleeve, and he slashed it fiercely down against one of the main spikes.

The collision sounded like clashing metal. Despite his full strength, the spike remained completely unscathed. However, as if provoked, the spikes rapidly retracted back into the body of the monster at the center of the lake, causing Salin, who was caught in the web, to fall straight toward the creature in the water.

“Ahhh—”

Caught completely off guard with nothing to push off from, Salin let out a muffled cry of alarm, flailing his arms and legs as he plummeted toward the lake.

Yet, just as he was about to hit the water, he suddenly thrust a leg down. The tip of his foot tapped the surface of the water, but it was as if he had stepped on solid ground.

【Authority: Water, Ability: Wave Treading】

Using the surface of the lake to propel himself, he rose back into the air, rapidly putting distance between himself and the monster in the lake. However, before he could jump very high, a dark shadow suddenly shot out from the lakeside.

It was a long vine, moving as fast as an arrow. Before Salin could even react, the vine struck him head-on. With another low cry of pain, he fell back toward the lake.

No, he didn't.

As he fell, the sound of clashing metal suddenly echoed from the lakeshore.

A metallic segmented whip suddenly extended from the darkness, swinging right within Salin's reach like a lifeline to a drowning man.

The vine twisted, preparing to change direction, but Salin had already grabbed the segmented whip. Using the momentum to propel himself, he rushed toward the shore. The segmented whip then vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, retracting into the darkness like a ghost.

With a patter of footsteps, Salin landed successfully and quickly shrank into the darkness along the shore. The seemingly sentient vine froze in midair, then suddenly snapped and fell into the lake water.

For a moment, a gentle breeze blew, and the shadows of the grass swayed. Silence returned to the lakeside, save for a heavy, suffocating atmosphere slowly brewing in the darkness.

With the sound of bubbles rising from the center of the lake, the heavy pressure suddenly ground to a halt. At the same time, the spiked monster that had surfaced dragged its bloated, bizarre body back down, disappearing into the depths once more.

Tranquility returned to the darkness. The moonlight was like water, and the surface of the lake was calm. The camp remained as peaceful as ever, as if no one knew that in just a few seconds, at least four people had engaged in a lightning-fast exchange of offense and defense by the lakeside. Though no victor had been decided, it had come dangerously close to a matter of life and death.

No, at least Lynch knew.

His action just now wasn't born out of some sudden surge of self-serving compassion; it was a decision made after careful calculation.

Although Salin was a double agent and unsuitable for cooperation, a careful analysis revealed that his two known employers posed very little threat to Lynch. Trinlais hadn't ordered Salin to kill Selene, and Walker was relatively friendly.

Thus, this man posed the least threat to Lynch, and keeping him alive yielded far more benefits than disadvantages.

So Lynch had acted decisively. After saving the man, he turned and fled without looking back.

He absolutely could not be discovered by anyone else, let alone the monster in the lake. As for whether Salin could survive, that would depend on his own capabilities.

Moving so fast his feet barely touched the ground, Lynch quickly retreated to the camp.

The lakeside was at least several hundred meters away from the camp. Salin's two cries earlier hadn't alerted anyone in the camp. The workers were still patrolling normally, and snoring already echoed from the barracks.

Phew, this place was still the most reassuring. Although it was fraught with danger, at least it was much more normal than the lakeside. That place was practically a horror movie.

Lynch didn't return to his barracks immediately. Instead, he lay flat on the roof again, holding his breath and watching. He saw several fireflies squeeze through a cracked window, heard a rustling sound like small animals crawling, and watched the surrounding tree shadows sway before everything returned to tranquility.

After waiting a long while and confirming there were no anomalies, Lynch used his lurking ability to return to his door. After a brief hesitation, he opened it and slipped inside.

The room was silent. Lynch glanced toward Judy's bed, seeing her lying there under the moonlight.

Lynch breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the girl hadn't been dragged into trouble because of him. He could finally put his mind at ease, spared from feeling guilty.

However, just as Lynch walked over to Judy and bent down to wake her, his ankle suddenly tightened. A massive force flipped him over and dragged him straight under the bed.

Holy crap.

Just when he was thinking about a horror movie, one played out right away.

The speed was too fast. Before Lynch's brain could even process what was happening, he had already been dragged under the bed, a hand firmly clamping over his mouth.

However, Lynch didn't struggle. He allowed the soft body behind him to hold him and cover his mouth. Seeing that he wasn't resisting, the person behind him loosened her grip, huddling under the bed with him.

The only person who could make Lynch's soul burn hot with a mere touch was Judy, the apostle of the Lady of Fire.

“It's safer here. I feel an extremely dangerous presence outside. Being in here gives us at least one more chance,” Judy whispered in his ear. “What happened over there?”

Lynch didn't hide anything and recounted everything that had occurred by the lakeside. “In short, it was a four-way chaotic battle triggered by a monster.”

“No, there were at least five,” Judy whispered softly. “No matter how large a firefly is, its light couldn't possibly have traveled all the way here for me to see.”

“So the light source at the very beginning was deliberate?” Lynch immediately understood Judy's implication. “Someone discovered Salin's movements and used that light to trigger this encounter? Heh, how lively. Fortunately, everyone backed off in time and wasn't killed by the monster. By the way, do you know what that monster was? Will it follow us here?”

“No. Based on your description, that was Glaaki, a very powerful mysterious creature. It cannot leave the lake water, so there's no need to worry.”

Judy let out a soft sigh and explained:

“Glaaki has a very long lifespan, at least several thousand years, and lives in the lake year-round. It lures victims to the lakeside by transmitting mysterious filth, then pierces them with its spikes to inject its will into their bodies. The injected victims gain the same lifespan as Glaaki but lose their own will, falling entirely under Glaaki's control. They are also known as Servants of Glaaki. It's a bit strange. This kind of creature is extremely rare; how could one suddenly appear here? No one noticed anything this afternoon.”

“Could it have been brought about by the six people who died this afternoon?” Lynch recalled the information he had just overheard. “Is this creature also part of the ritual? What exactly is the ritual?”

“I don't know. The employer has kept it strictly confidential. It will only be revealed once we reach our destination, which is the main tomb chamber. Before that, only Jenna and Karl, the two leading the team, know the details.”

Karl Jones... The image of that vine in the darkness flashed before Lynch's eyes, and he nodded.

“I see. We'll wait and see for a bit longer then. Rest assured, I haven't forgotten my agreement with the Lady of Fire. I will do everything in my power to sabotage the Swelling Daughter's conspiracy.”

“Yes, the Lady would never doubt one of her own.” Judy smiled warmly. “I'm reaching my limit, so I'll head back first. Thank you for keeping me company and talking to me. After getting such a scare tonight, those people probably won't make any moves for a while. You should hurry up and get some rest too.”

Unfortunately, Lynch didn't rest well. He had a nightmare, dreaming repeatedly of that pitch-black lake water and the ghastly white, eerie silhouette beneath the surface. It was as if a voice was constantly whispering in his ear: “Come, come, merge with the lake water.”

When he opened his eyes again from under the bed, the sky outside was gray, seemingly filled with fog. A clamor of shouting was echoing from the courtyard outside the barracks.

Six workers had suddenly gone missing. Along with them, something had also happened to Salin, whom he had saved last night.

For some reason, his corpse lay by the lakeside.