The Closed Room

For a while Rash felt that Nightmare had tricked him, but after reviewing his thoughts again, that was unlikely. Just to make sure he asked, "Nightmare, is there something inside the house?" Nightmare looked at him with a slight smile, but he ignored his question. And this is what Rash expected.

When there was no hope no matter what he waited longer, he decided to deal with the problem himself. No matter what happens, the task is of medium difficulty, which means that it will be within his reach if he thinks of it this way. At least that's what he thinks.

Since the window is now wholly shattered, the vision is clear, and he can enter without problems. He jumped in after checking several times. The first thing he noticed was a lot of scattered things and broken furniture all over the house and on the stairs, as if a battle had happened here in the past. The dense layer of dust covering the floor, the doors of the rooms at different shapes shattered or closed.

He first checked the lights, and as expected, the electricity was cut off. However, it wasn't a big deal because the light source coming through the windows was enough, and he could even see his footprints clearly.

Seeing his shoe print reminded him of something important. He hurried to confirm his theory. On the floor, the steps, the main hall.... Nothing, no trace at all. 'It's weird.' Rash thought so because if someone were inside, how could he not leave any trace after what had happened to the window? Or maybe a ghost? This is not possible.

Without diminishing his caution, he began inspecting the rooms separately. There was an uncomfortable feeling in him since he entered the house. As if he is being watched, and no matter what he tries, this feeling does not go away. He activated the skill hero' appraisal and scrutinized the objects, places, and everything that might be a target.

...

.....

The most remarkable thing he noticed is that there is a lot of furniture still here. But how could the owners of the house leave without packing their belongings?! Just by selling those broken furniture he might get rich.

He checked all the open rooms, the kitchen, the bathroom, but everything looked normal if he ignored the furniture issue. He wanted to go up to the second floor to confirm there, when he heard a small click that sounded like a snap coming from above it. Rash did not think twice and never looked above him, instead he activated the hero' steps and jumped to the side at full speed, avoiding the chandelier falling on him.

Throb.... Throb...

Had he delayed one moment in his decision he would now be in an unknown condition under that enormous chandelier, about 20 kilos of material? He held his disorderly breath and ignored the racing heartbeat, preparing for the coming battle with all his might. He waited several minutes as he was looking all over the place, but nothing else happened.

The right lip of his mouth rose slightly, forming a small arc. The window and the chandelier were not accidental. Rash was sure that there was something in this house trying to get rid of him. There is some information that he can get from these two attacks. The thing that attacked him had the ability to move objects from a distance; second, it needed time to activate it. The second point he was not to be sure, and maybe it was just a coincidence.

When he reached this result, the first thought struck his mind was the Gallus Monsters. He doesn't know much about them but Nightmare brought him from far away to this house, surely not just for trivial matter as ominous house. Now that it looks like this, he is even more excited to find that monster.

But why had no one discovered the existence of this beast if it caused all the problems?

The previous two attacks made the adrenaline in his body soar, stimulating the cells in his body for the upcoming confrontation. In such cases, some tend to be reckless, but he restrained himself, as his level is much lower than it was before. He took slow steps upward, activating all his senses to the maximum.

Nightmare told him he would not die no matter what, but that did not prevent him from taking precautions and being reckless in his behavior.

At the top, there was a long hallway containing rooms on both sides. Rash first examined the open rooms, and when he found nothing, he started with the closed rooms. To his disappointment, all the rooms upstairs were empty.

One room remained at the end of the hallway, but it was very closed. He turned the knob, but it was stuck. In that case, he leached a powerful kick using the hero' kick and stepped back to prepare for any possible counterattack.

<5 mp consumed>

His amazement at the power of the kick made him disregard the system's messages. The locked door was firm and equipped with two layers of wood panels supporting its edges. However, one kick from Rash was enough to shatter the steel lock, and that's impossible to reach with a normal attack. Plus, he is at child's level now. Not only was this what astonished him, but he did not feel any pain from the recoil. It was like kicking a bag of wool. This is exactly how he felt.

Slowly he approached and pushed the door until it was completely open. Expect something, especially that the room was tightly closed, but it was also empty, apart from a table, a chair with a broken pole, and a bed of steel. The unusual thing in the room is that it does not contain a window, or rather, the place of the window is closed with cement and bricks.

Of course, he did not think much about the matter. Every person has his own circumstances and freedom to do whatever he wants, until he noticed a black mark on the wall when he skillfully examined it, the message perplexed him.

He made a fast check on the wall again, but the same message appeared, on the four walls, on the floor, and the furniture. Everything was painted with dry blood stains.

Blood stains in closed room, and sealed window. All these things together suggest that the room was used to imprison one person or several people?

"Damn... Nightmare. What's going on here? Maybe there was a crime in this place?" This is the last thing he wants to get involved in. The place has not yet been discovered, and this means that the persons responsible for the house are still free. He does not know the exact situation, and this is highly likely what happened here.

Nightmare did not ignore him at this moment, but answered honestly, "Not a single crime. This house was a spot to smuggle and trade kidnapped children. That was until last year." An investigation into this is not possible for Rash in his situation, and Nightmare did not lead him here for this purpose.

For a moment, Rash regretted asking why. He realized little of Nightmare's intention. It might not have been a coincidence that this assignment was chosen precisely at this time. Rash had always felt his life miserable, but was it miserable enough to be compared to what the kidnapped children had endured. He did not need to ask more, he could at least imagine what they had been through, starvation, terrorization, beating, perhaps killing them in cold blood as well. When he heard Nightmare respond, "What happened here is not even close to your imagination, some children have been dissected and their organs removed in this room. You can imagine such a procedure without the availability of equipment like anesthesia and so on."

It's very easy to imagine what happened, death being the inevitable consequence of that afterward and before that it's hell. Children are never easy to survive, they are kidnapped, sold, killed in cold blood. For a bunch of money? Even with all the turmoil occurring in the world and the imminent danger of Gallus Monsters, are there still people who reach this degree of brutality?

Rash exhaled without commenting on what had happened. In the end, what they were subjected to is not his responsibility, and he is not naïve to think that protecting everyone is possible. Children are always the biggest victims of the cruelty of society, and this is what he noticed during his life. Whether in wars or peace, this is the ultimate truth.

Now is not the time to discuss this topic. Rash did not forget the imminent danger, but he noticed that there had been no attack for a while, not to mention that there was no trace of any object on the second floor. Also, he didn't feel watched for a while. Is this because he is outside the domain of the monster?

Maybe this is the reason. If so, where is that monster then?