Parade Festival – The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons

"If our guess is correct, then the halo will appear inside the ancestral shrine. The eye, tooth, and hand we have are the 'keys' that will grant us entry on the day of the festival."

William's expression was equally grim.

Even after becoming a ghost, the player remembered the goal of locating the halo and escaping the dungeon—and it succeeded. It earned the pass into the shrine and waited at the door for the right moment—most likely the day of the festival. But what it didn't realize was that it could never return.

Eric was overcome with a wave of sorrow.

Yet entwined with that sorrow was a surge of fierce determination—she must tread future missions with utmost caution. She wanted to live.

"This hypothesis is the most plausible so far," Joshua said cheerfully. "Shall we proceed with the fusion now? That braid got pressed onto the ghost player's head. So I have to cut off my hand… and attach… this palm?" His excitement froze on his face.

"That's likely the case. I'll have to extract one of my teeth and replace it with this one. Eric, you'll need to remove one of your eyes and insert this one."

Eric nodded solemnly. "I understand."

Joshua hesitated. William asked, "Do you need help?"

"No, no… ah, maybe… yes, please help. I'm too fond of my own flesh to do it myself. I'll go first—I'm a man, after all!" he declared, summoning his courage.

With a swift, clean motion, William severed Joshua's left hand at the wrist. Blood sprayed like a geyser. Eric reacted quickly, aligning the severed palm with the wound and pressing it into place.

Something extraordinary happened. The severed hand merged instantly with Joshua's wrist, without the slightest sign of rejection. Within moments, it transformed—indistinguishable from his own.

The pain vanished. Color returned to Joshua's pale face as he marveled at the hand, flexing it with awe. "Incredible. It looks exactly like mine."

"This is your own." Eric picked up the severed original and handed it back.

Joshua accepted it with a grin. "We should burn it. At this rate, with all the limbs I've lost in this game, you could patch together ten of me."

Next came William.

"Just pull it out," he said curtly.

Joshua was the one to do the extraction. William instructed, "Make it quick. As swift as I was when I cut your hand. Understand?"

Eric couldn't bear to watch. Somehow, ripping out a tooth seemed crueler than losing a hand.

When the replacement tooth was set in place, William exhaled deeply and rinsed his mouth with bottled water, clearing away the blood. Then he turned to Eric. "You're next. Who do you want to do it?"

"I'd appreciate it if you could, William."

As the searing pain of having her eye gouged out engulfed her, Eric thought: resurrection never comes without a price. To earn a new life, one must endure.

She clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms.

Thankfully, Joshua acted swiftly, placing the pulsing eye into her empty socket.

Tears streamed down her cheeks from the intense pain, but Eric wiped them away, blinked a few times, and soon adapted to her new vision.

"How is it? Can you see clearly?"

"Yes. It feels just like my own." She offered a wan smile.

Their teamwork had finally paid off.

"I have a feeling the ghost players won't pursue us anymore," William said.

"Let's wait and see. Three ghost players came after us earlier—what about the fourth?"

What they didn't know was that one ghost player had already been killed by Brian.

Two hours passed. No more ghost players appeared.

"Either the fusion has stopped drawing their attention, or the last one got distracted—or killed—by another player. Either way, let's move. The danger's passed. Time to return to the inn and sleep." Joshua shoved his hands into his pockets.

But Eric shook her head. "We'd best not go back."

Joshua frowned. "Why not? They don't know we have the clues." But William had been publicly chased by ghost players. That couldn't be concealed.

William agreed. "Eric is right. In another hour, the fifth day begins. I suspect the dungeon will become even more erratic. Players without clues will grow desperate. You and Eric have the keys. Can you truly blend in under such tension? Rather than act in a den of wolves, it's safer to stay away."

Joshua saw the logic. Right now, all he wanted was to lie down and rest until the parade arrived. Returning to the inn would make him stand out amidst the players still desperately struggling.

"And we can't be sure the keys can't be taken from us," Eric added.

William spoke coldly, "If I knew the secret of the key, I'd do whatever it took to seize it." He didn't resent Brian for chasing him—survival was the game. He'd simply lost.

Thus, Eric and Joshua followed William to the old woman's house where he'd been staying.

The old woman lived alone. Even if she turned, they had a three-to-one advantage.

When they returned, she was already asleep.

The next day, the rain had lessened. Eric opened the window, blinking her right eye. A veil of mist now cloaked the town.

"I see it too," William said as he entered the room. "And I noticed something changing in the old woman. It seems we can now perceive things others can't. Come with me."

Eric glanced at the still-sleeping Joshua and followed William outside.

The old woman sat on a rocking chair behind the door, watching the drizzle.

From behind, she looked normal. But when she turned her head, Eric came face to face with the decaying visage of the NPC.

Maggots squirmed in her eye socket, crawling through her nostrils and into her mouth when it opened to speak.

"You must be William's friend. Welcome to my home." She smiled warmly—Eric could see the emotion clearly, even on her rotting face.

Eric returned the courtesy. "Thank you. Sorry to trouble you. We're here for the parade and might stay a couple more days."

The old woman chuckled, her body shaking slightly. More maggots spilled from various crevices.

"You've come at the perfect time! Our town's parade is a real celebration every year. Let me see… one day, two days—ah yes! Today is the fifth, tomorrow the sixth, and the day after that is the seventh! The festival begins at midnight tomorrow. Everyone will join, walking around town until dawn. It only happens once a year!"

Eric's eyes lit up. So did William's.

At last—they had a concrete start and end time for the parade.

"Grandma, where does the parade begin?"

"Why, at the ancestral shrine, of course. You kids mustn't wander too far. Be sure to return to the shrine before dawn."

"Is there anything we need to prepare to participate?"

Her hollow eyes fixed on Eric, a hint of confusion surfacing. "Prepare? No need. You're just fine the way you are. So is William."

"What are you all doing?" Joshua emerged, rubbing his eyes. Still groggy, he nearly cried out upon seeing the old woman.

"Joshua!" William quickly said, "Come greet Grandma. We came home late last night and didn't say hello." His glance carried a warning.

Realizing his near-mistake, Joshua corrected himself.

"Hello, Grandma!"

"Oh, good! Don't be shy! Treat my house like your own. We're all family here. The parade is so fun—there'll be activities, too! You young folk will love it. Stick with me, and I'll make you something delicious!"

Sensing the NPC's mood, Eric seized the moment. "What kind of activities?"

"Catching rats," the old woman whispered, her hollow eyes locking onto Eric with a ghastly chill. "Only locals are allowed to join our parade. But sometimes rats sneak in to make trouble. We catch them—and eat them! Hahaha!"

A chill ran down Joshua's spine as he rubbed his arms.

Eric's heart sank. She realized—the "rats" the NPC spoke of were players.

The three of them were accepted as "locals" because they had fused with foreign parts.

It seemed those weren't just keys to the shrine—but also talismans for the parade. Players without them might be hunted and devoured.

With no more to gain from the old woman, the three stepped out into the street.

Eric raised her umbrella higher and looked around the town with her new eye.

Before today, this place had seemed like a quaint, old-world village—its people and customs untouched by time.

But now, just as William had said, everything had changed.

A sinister decay cloaked the town. Buildings looked long-abandoned, covered in moss and deep cracks.

NPCs wandered by like walking corpses in tattered clothes. Eric struggled to keep her expression neutral.

The once-clear stream now flowed thick and green, a river of corpses. Rotting limbs floated with the rain's rhythm. An old man passed by carrying not firewood—but a bundle of human bones.

The entire town had transformed before her eyes.

This wasn't a rustic village.

It was a town of the dead.

After one circuit, Eric finally understood what the parade truly was.

This so-called "celebration"—

Was a night march of a hundred demons.

A revelry for the dead.