High Ridge — Above Hollowveil Village
Kairoz stood at the edge of the cliff, arms crossed, his dark cloak trailing behind him as the cold wind bit into the mountainside.
Below, Hollowveil Village sprawled in eerie silence. From up here, the crooked rooftops looked like jagged teeth, half-swallowed by the creeping mist.
He narrowed his eyes.
"…What a sight," he muttered dryly.
Behind him, one of the scouts approached cautiously. "Sir, your orders were to monitor any movement from the village."
Kairoz didn't turn.
"Movement? Down there?" He scoffed. "What am I supposed to watch?"
A pause.
"Mist?"
The scout hesitated.
Kairoz shook his head slightly, his gaze still locked on the pale fog below.
"This isn't observation. This is waiting for something to go wrong."
He exhaled sharply, eyes cold.
"And it will."
Meanwhile – Squad 2, Glass Fang Division (Fountain Center)
"Hey! Wake up! It's your turn for guarding!" Lysa's voice snapped through the cold air.
"N-Nooo… let me sleep…" Derius groaned, rolling deeper into his blanket.
"He's been sleeping since we arrived! It's his shift now, sir," Robert complained, his breath fogging in the air.
"Haha! Let him sleep a bit longer. He was on horseback the whole march," said Lucus, the squad captain, chuckling as he crouched near the campfire, rubbing his gloved hands together. His gaze flicked toward the mist curling through the abandoned village streets.
"If he can't handle the responsibility, why'd he accept captaincy?" Lysa snapped, glaring toward the tent.
Without waiting, she stormed inside, clearly annoyed. Moments later, she dragged Derius out by the leg.
"Hey! Hey! What are you doing?!" Derius yelped, half-asleep, tangled in his blanket.
"Robert. Bring me cold water," Lysa said flatly.
"I'M AWAKE! I'M AWAKE! PLEASE!" Derius screamed, thrashing.
Lucus laughed. "Good morning, student captain."
"Morning, sir..." Derius muttered, swaying, his eyes still half-closed. "Can we swap captaincy? Just make that idiot-looking girl the captain," he mumbled, pointing lazily at Lysa without opening his eyes.
"Whom did you just call an idiot?!" Lysa snapped.
"Crap... all you nobles are the same. Jerks," she added under her breath.
"Hey! I'm not a noble!" Derius barked, now slightly more awake. "Don't lump me in with that prideful bastard I travel with. I'm not one of them."
"Silence, both of you," Lucus interrupted, standing up. He tossed a bit of snow in Derius's face. "Wake up properly. Wash up. And take this."
He handed Derius a ration biscuit without waiting for a reply.
"Yes, sir..." Derius muttered, chewing half-asleep.
"Sir, I need to... uh... use the washroom," Robert spoke hesitantly.
Lucus smirked. "Sure. Need me to come with you?"
"I can go alone!" Robert shot back, face red.
"Haha! Careful. Might get lost, little baby!" Derius sneered while splashing water onto his face.
"You bastard! I heard that!" Robert shouted over his shoulder.
Lysa crossed her arms. "Can't you be friendly, just once?"
Derius grumbled. "I am friendly. Back in the fortress, I'm the most friendliest guy around. But how am I supposed to stay friendly when you ruin my dreams? And my sleep?"
"Because you're the captain," Lysa said sharply. "Act like it."
Derius groaned, staring into the campfire. "Damn it… Miss Violet definitely hates me. I knew it."
The cold wind pressed against them as he huddled closer to the flames.
"...It's so damn cold."
Misty Street — Robert's Solo Patrol
Robert trudged forward, arms crossed, muttering curses under his breath. The mist had thickened. He could barely see five steps ahead now. Derius's campfire? Gone from sight.
"…Damn fog."
The old stone washroom appeared ahead, half-swallowed by the grey. He hurried toward it, shaking his head.
"Why am I scared? It's just mist."
But the street felt… wrong.
A weight pressing against his chest.
He glanced behind.
Nothing.
Empty.
He laughed nervously. "I'm being stupid…"
Inside the washroom, he let out a shaky breath as he pissed.
"Ahhh… finally…"
Then—
A whistle.
Soft. Distant.
Long.
Echoing faintly from somewhere down the street.
Robert froze mid-breath.
What… was that?
Another whistle followed.
A tune.
Slow. Hollow.
Carried faintly by the fog.
"…Someone's out there…"
He quickly finished, stepping back, his heart hammering.
The whistle continued.
Faint.
Far.
But closer than before.
He hesitated at the doorway, eyes straining through the mist.
A shape?
No.
Just fog.
Then the whistling stopped.
Everything fell silent.
Not even the wind.
Robert's skin crawled.
"…Derius?" he called softly.
No answer.
He forced himself to step outside.
The street was empty.
And silent.
Too silent.
The fog thickened.
And now, Robert realized—
The whistle wasn't distant anymore.
It was behind him.
Robert turned—and froze.
White robes hung like rags from its body. A stained cloth covered its eyes.
Its face… torn open. Flesh split where a mouth should never be.
A jagged, bleeding grin.
Robert screamed.
"AHHHHH! HAHHHHH!!"
He stumbled backward in terror.
The monk raised both hands slowly. Between its rotting palms, a dark blue sphere of swirling energy crackled to life—pulsing, growing.
Its voice scraped the air, wet and broken:
"Your… soul… is… mine."
Robert's breath seized. His legs wouldn't move.
"NO—NO!!"
With a violent thrust, the monk hurled the energy ball straight at him.
It struck.
Robert's body jerked.
Frozen.
"W-what… what's happening…?!"
The monk's clawed fingers curled, and Robert's paralyzed body was dragged forward… toward it.
"AHHH!! HELP! SOMEONE!! PLEASE!!"
He was screaming. He was crying. But no one heard.
The monk floated closer, one hand reaching forward.
It placed its rotted palm against Robert's trembling forehead.
Its broken smile widened.
"Now… you… are… one… of… ussss…"
"Hey… what's with that noise?" Derius muttered, now fully awake. He glanced around, his breath visible in the cold.
"That… was Robert, wasn't it?" Lysa said, her voice tightening.
"Tch. Damn it—I shouldn't have let him go alone," Captain Lucus growled. His hands sparked faintly with Kendra energy as he broke into a run. "Come on!"
"Ahh… I'm scared…" whispered a recruit from Class B, trembling.
"Me too…" added another girl, backing up.
Lucus, Lysa, and Derius rushed toward the washroom area.
Near the broken door, Robert's body lay sprawled on the ground.
"Robert!!" Lucus barked, sliding beside him. He checked his pulse. "Hey! Robert?!"
Lysa hovered nearby, her face pale. "Is he…?"
"I don't know… he's breathing. He's alive."
Derius stood back, scanning the mist around them, his usual laziness gone.
"Probably just saw a rat and panicked," he said, though his voice shook slightly. "Maybe caught his own reflection in a mirror…"
Then he stopped.
Across the street, in the cracked window of a half-collapsed house… something moved.
Something floating.
His stomach tightened. Sweat ran down his back.
"What… the hell… was that?"
"Derius? What's wrong?" Lysa asked, stepping toward him.
"I… I saw something. Floating. Behind us."
Captain Lucus stood up, glancing around, his voice grim. "I shouldn't have let him go alone."
Then—
"Hello, sir."
Everyone jumped.
Robert sat up, slowly, eyes blank.
"Wha—? He's awake!" Lysa gasped.
"Thank the gods… you're okay." Lucus moved closer.
"Safe?" Robert whispered, smiling faintly. His voice felt… wrong. "I'm safeee."
Derius narrowed his eyes. "W-what? Did you hit your head or something?"
"Something's… off, sir," Derius muttered, backing up instinctively.
Lucus hesitated.
"…We head back. Now."
No one argued.
And as they carried Robert away, Derius glanced one last time toward the mirror.
But whatever had been floating there—
was gone.
As they headed back through the fog, Derius couldn't shake the crawling feeling in his skin.
I definitely saw something, he thought. And that… wasn't human. Thinking about it gave him goosebumps.
He glanced ahead—at Robert.
Robert was walking like a puppet.
Slow. Stiff. Like a dead man forced to move.
"What's… with him?" Derius whispered, his throat dry.
He drifted closer to Lysa.
"Hey… Lysa. Come here."
"What now?" she grumbled, stepping beside him.
"Stay alert," Derius said quietly, his voice low. "Something's wrong. He's acting strange."
Lysa's expression tightened. "I thought so too."
"Well…" she hesitated. "Let's not assume. Not yet."
But her hand hovered near her weapon now.
Ahead, Robert kept walking silently.
Captain Lucus stayed right behind him, eyeing him carefully but saying nothing—for now.
By the time they reached the campfire, the mood had shifted.
Derius was fully awake now. More alert than anyone had ever seen him.
He kept glancing between Robert and the shadows.
"He's never been this awake in his life…" Lysa muttered dryly.
Derius ignored her.
Because the fear crawling up his spine wasn't fading.
If anything…
it was getting worse.
Back at the campfire, the mist curled silently around them.
Derius sat near the flames, unusually awake. His eyes kept darting around, breaths shallow. He'd never been this alert in his life.
Lysa watched him, frowning. "You're unusually awake."
"I don't like this," Derius muttered, eyes sharp.
Across the fire, Robert sat silently.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then—suddenly—Robert spoke.
"Hey, Derius…"
Everyone looked at him.
"Why don't you go to the toilet now?" Robert asked casually. His voice didn't sound like Robert's. Calm. Too calm.
Derius froze.
"I went alone through the mist," Robert continued, tilting his head slightly. His smile was stretched too wide. "I thought you were braver."
"I… don't want to," Derius said, staring back.
Robert's grin twitched. "Are you scared?"
"Yeah. I'm scared," Derius said flatly, his voice low. Something's wrong. He's talking… but not like himself.
Robert chuckled softly. "I knew it. You don't have balls."
Derius forced a smirk, eyes narrowing. "Yeah. I don't. I'm gay, by the way."
Silence.
Then Robert's laughter exploded—shrill, high-pitched, wrong.
"HEHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I KNEEEW IT!! I KNEW IT!!" He was laughing and screaming at once, rocking slightly.
Lucus's hand dropped to his sword hilt.
Lysa stepped back silently, ready.
Derius' fake smirk vanished.
That's not Robert anymore.
The mist thickened.
And Robert kept laughing.
On the opposite street—atop a darkened house terrace—a figure stood watching.
A deep chuckle echoed from under his hood.
"Kukuku… We'll break them from the inside first," the Clam Boss of the Ruin whispered. "No need to kill them yet. Their bodies work three times harder when controlled."
He watched the campfire flickering in the distance.
"Let them mine for us. Clean the tunnels as much as possible… before we leave this cursed place for good."
He smiled thinly.
"This will be our last mining run. Once news spreads that fifty soldiers vanished… the entire country will panic. They'll send their armies next."
He turned slightly.
"And by then… we'll be long gone."
Behind him, the floating monk hovered silently, its torn face hidden beneath its white robes, faint Kendra energy pulsing around it as it maintained control over Robert.
"As for that Captain Violet…" the Clam Boss sneered, glancing at the monk.
"She's no match for him."
The monk's empty smile widened.
And the night grew colder.