"How many people are still alive?"
Elizabeth thought for a moment upon hearing such a delicate question. There had been a total of eight people at the party that day. Three of them had fallen into an indefinite coma, leaving five who were still conscious.
In other words, aside from her and her best friend, there were three other people still alive.
Jonathan considered it for a moment.
According to this girl named Elizabeth, eight people had been involved with a dark entity that most likely emerged from the abyss, passed through the Dark Tower, and connected with these youths who were merely dealing with things they did not understand.
However, mysteriously, Elizabeth's parents and her younger sister had also been involved by the dark entity, despite not being the ones who originally summoned it.
Taking this into account, Jonathan seriously doubted whether the real story was exactly as Elizabeth told it. It was nothing new for a child to hate their parents for certain reasons; after all, life is not easy, especially when you are a teenager.
Given the critical situation they were in, Jonathan still did not rule out the idea that Elizabeth might have taken revenge on her parents by seriously considering the help of a possibly intelligent dark entity. And of course, there was also the possibility that the dark entity retaliated upon seeing that the youths were avoiding sleep in order not to enter its domain.
"How is it that the students remain in a coma while you are able to wake up?"
"It's because we were not marked by the black figure," Elizabeth clarified with a bit of fear. "While we sleep, we are sent to the tower, and we must search for the exit if we want to leave that place. However, there are also different types of beings in the tower that are not peaceful. If a monster injures us in any way, we would not be able to leave the maze unless we found the exit."
After saying this, Elizabeth added, "If we don't find the exit within the span of our sleep, we won't wake up naturally."
"According to the man's words, he established that marked people would not be able to wake up until one of us managed to find a lasting portal. During the first few days, we went in groups, but later we appeared alone in the tower, and that's when we decided to sleep as little as possible. As long as one of us finds the exit, the figure watching us cannot follow."
"He assured us that he would let us escape, but when three of our companions fell into a coma, we became terrified of being next."
"So…" Jonathan frowned.
"Our purpose inside the tower is simply to escape by finding the door and avoiding being seen by the things that wander around. We can only run and hide. After all, once we encounter the smiling doll, we will definitely die at its hands."
"Contact all of them immediately. Once all of you gather together, we will take care of erasing what is tormenting you."
After Jonathan said that, Elizabeth fell silent.
The reason was simple.
It was very difficult for her to trust Jonathan's words, considering the warnings of the smiling doll. Under the scheme imposed by the figure of the tower, she and her friends could not tell anyone else about the existence of the tower.
Once that figure found out that someone had told the story to someone else, the next time they entered the maze they would never come out alive.
Those were the rules set by that figure—rules that could cause great internal conflict if they became known.
"Those must be your brother's friends, right?" Jonathan showed her an image on a smart tablet with the faces of all the students who were involved with the dark entity.
Elizabeth nodded in surprise. While she was talking about the existence of the tower, the man in front of her had already identified all the affected individuals.
Clearly, she now felt a little more relieved to receive help from a stranger. She didn't know why, but she felt that Jonathan was special.
"Have your best friend contact them. Tell them that you found a way to avoid becoming victims of the tower. If everyone gathers now, we can help you get out of this situation. Whether you believe me or not is up to you."
After Jonathan said that, Elizabeth called her best friend. She repeated everything Jonathan had said.
Because of the existence of the smiling doll, everyone was now desperate to free themselves from the clutches of the maze.
Once someone spoke about the tower and was caught, they would definitely die.
Of course, Elizabeth did not want to see such a scene.
"You can rest for now," Jonathan said as he looked at Elizabeth.
The dark circles under Elizabeth's eyes were ridiculously deep. They were the deepest dark circles Jonathan had ever seen. It was as if someone had drawn them with a marker.
Elizabeth had barely slept since learning that they could fall into a coma if they were marked and trapped. Once that happened, she would have nightmares and quickly be dragged into the tower—it was far too terrifying.
"All right." Although Elizabeth had never seen Jonathan's abilities, she already trusted him completely because he had noticed her problem without her telling him directly.
Elizabeth leaned over the coffee table and soon fell asleep.
"Sir, won't she be dragged into the tower?" Doug asked doubtfully.
Jonathan shook his head and said, "The dark entity has already noticed our existence. Perhaps it is evaluating us right now."
After Elizabeth fell asleep, Jonathan watched her silently.
Jonathan wanted to see what would happen after Elizabeth fell asleep.
About four or five minutes later.
A faint trace of an unknown mark emerged on Elizabeth's right hand and gradually formed a connection with the paper on the table.
A connection?
Jonathan was curious.
The paper on the table crawled toward the mark on Elizabeth's palm. Then Elizabeth's body began to tremble slightly, as if stimulated by something, and her expression turned anguished.
Seeing Elizabeth in such pain, Jonathan extended a hand and gently placed it over the dark mark.
"Don't try to scare us. We will definitely eliminate you one way or another. Leave this girl alone." Jonathan took out his gun and pointed it at Elizabeth's head without showing any expression.
Doug frowned but silently observed the methods Jonathan was using. He was clearly testing the dark entity.
Elizabeth's right hand trembled and continuously twitched.
"Just wait. We will definitely meet," Jonathan's mocking voice whispered into Elizabeth's ears.
Under everyone's gaze, Elizabeth's right hand grabbed a fork and swiftly attacked Jonathan's face.
The incredible strike caused the fork to injure Jonathan's right hand as he blocked the blow. Seeing Elizabeth's unexpected reaction, Doug drew his weapon and aimed precisely, ready to open fire.
The other church agents moved quickly and aimed at the girl named Elizabeth. All of them had been trained to eliminate dark entities regardless of their appearance. Therefore, when they saw Jonathan—the person they were meant to protect and serve—being attacked, all of them were ready to eliminate the threat.
"Calm down… nothing is happening." Jonathan put away his gun and said, "Lower your weapons. We're drawing the attention of civilians."
Seeing that the mark on Elizabeth's right hand had disappeared, Jonathan stopped and signaled for everyone to lower their weapons.
"Identify yourselves and maintain order. No one must suspect us," Jonathan said as he took a napkin and wiped the blood from his hand.
"Incredible. Even though it has grown stronger, Elizabeth's attack penetrated my skin, which means it is definitely not a simple dark entity," Jonathan thought to himself.
At that moment, Elizabeth woke up dazed, slowly opening her eyes.
She had just had a nightmare.
In that nightmare, she dreamed that she had attacked Mr. Jonathan with a fork.
She quickly looked at Jonathan and discovered that nothing had happened.
Because she had not slept for so many days out of fear of entering the tower, her strength to stay awake was now diminishing.
The purpose of the black figure was not to torture them, but to find new portals that connected to this world.
Just as Elizabeth was about to collapse, a warm current flowed through her body, filling her with an unknown strength. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, and the sensation of cold disappeared.
"Thank you!" Elizabeth knew it was Jonathan who had helped her deal with the black magic curse, so she thanked him sincerely.
Although she had not slept for two days, somehow the events from a moment ago had allowed her to recover some of her strength, and her dark circles were no longer as deep.
At this point, Elizabeth looked at Jonathan with admiration.
From her point of view, Jonathan was the only person she could trust now.
Jonathan, on the other hand, frowned. Something unknown had definitely happened—something he had been unable to detect.
"Elizabeth, you should eat your cake. I need to talk about something with my partner," Jonathan said before standing up.
"All right," Elizabeth said with a smile on her face.
Jonathan walked not far from Elizabeth, looked at Doug, and said, "Now, with what just happened, we have a more concrete idea about the dark entity."
Upon hearing Jonathan's words, Doug remained silent. "From what we've seen, the only thing we know is that the dark entity somehow hides within the dreams of those students. The cause of death is dying within dreams. However, we also know that this is the first dark entity with this kind of behavior that the church has encountered in a long time. Therefore, we must understand how intelligent its behavior is."
"The provocation from earlier was to find out two things. First, whether the existence of that dark entity only manifested when the students were asleep. And second, to what extent that thing can control its anger. From the previous provocation, we know that it is not very intelligent."
"And what we do know is that its energy comes from somewhere else—a place that is not human."
Listening to Jonathan's words, Doug fully understood his actions from a moment ago.
"Sir, knowing all that, is it possible that the dark entity can possess the bodies of the students?" Doug asked, clearly confused.
"From what we've seen, it doesn't have enough strength to do that. It should have at least tried to kill me if it had the chance," Jonathan said confidently. "Request reinforcements, and also have them identify the relatives of everyone involved. We must be prepared. Also, call Wednesday—we need her abilities."
"Yes, sir."