A peaceful silence filled the camp for the next couple of hours, which was nothing new. However, this silence was special. It didn't reek of a scheming group secretly planning to serve up an innocent girl as a five-star meal for a monster. Everyone was sound asleep.
Even Justin was snuggly cuddled up against his handheld in one of the futuristic foldable chairs, snoring away. It seemed he didn't value his life much or was too arrogant and stupid to think anything could sneak up on him.
I was tempted to adjust my plans and put the arrogant prick to rest permanently right then and there. It was a good opportunity, but I decided against it.
'What if he actually does have some basis to be able to merrily snooze away like that?'
I had just come back from getting my ass handed to me because I was careless. Naturally, I was going to be a bit more cautious. Not to mention my monster brain felt fine killing a human, but it still didn't quite sit with my human mind, even if they were planning on killing somebody else.
'No rush, I'll get around to it eventually.'
As I was having these thoughts, a white cover flew open from one of the tents. Carl stepped out from his tent and saw the sleeping Justin tightly hugging his handheld, with a weird grin on his face. His usually expressionless visage cracked as his brow noticeably twitched. A moment later, he was standing next to the slumbering youth.
"JUSTIN!"
A loud shout echoed in the wide-open space as Justin's eyes snapped open, before he gracelessly fell out of his chair. He looked around, completely lost to what had happened.
'...'
Guess I was wrong.
Following Carl's outburst, other tent covers began opening up, and soon everyone was awake. Carl reprimanded Justin for a while, as everyone antagonistically stared at the scene. He had just put the whole group's lives at risk with this little stunt of his, after all. Justin muttered some curses under his breath before Carl spoke once again.
"Enough. We'll get moving. No time to idle. Eat, pack your things and be ready in 15."
In the ring of light filled with metallic tents and futuristic tech, a barrage of scuffling began. A sweet aroma and the sound of sizzling filled the space as food was prepared and swiftly eaten. Soon, the sleek tents began disappearing one by one, along with all the other futuristic tech. In 15 minutes, there wasn't a trace of the previously luxurious camp.
'I still don't get how they're carrying all that stuff.'
It was probably some kind of magic item which made carrying huge loads easier, although I wasn't sure.
The group surrounded Tessa's illuminating orb in silence. The rest of the space was only slightly lit up by some of the crystals.
Carl wore a serious expression as he spoke.
"Alright, let's get a move on. We should reach the Middle Layer in a day at most. Things will get tough once we're there, so be on guard."
Everybody nodded while Justin sulked.
"Did you get that, Justin?" Carl pried as his brows furrowed.
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get moving!"
Justin wore a sour expression as he replied indignantly and angrily stomped ahead of the group. Carl shook his head and prompted everyone to also head into the nearby passage. Once again, the youths entered the shadowy halls.
Once I could no longer hear their footsteps, I shot out of my makeshift, blood-filled shelter. I had a bit of time until they reached the oval-shaped room, but I was already giddy with excitement. I stepped into the bloody halls and began searching for my favourite critics.
I upped my pace and caught up with the merry bunch at the crossroads. Lumina, Justin and Vazor were shrouded in crimson from head to toe, while Tessa and Carl were completely untouched. The former were wiping off blood from their weapons while the latter patiently waited. It seemed a monster had shown up here in the past couple of hours, and I just missed the fight.
'So wasteful! I could've gotten like 2L from all that blood!'
There wasn't much pause before Carl snapped everyone back to attention.
"Let's get moving before anything else shows up."
Carl led the group into the passage I had taken a couple of hours ago. It was settled now. Unless they all had the inner peace of a monk, they were definitely going to lose their cool somewhat.
'I hope they like it. I haven't painted in a long time, so I'm open to criticism,' I thought to myself as a mischievous smirk graced my lips.
Heading to the crossroads, I bit into the dead monster covered in many lacerations. It resembled a large mole. The metallic liquid tasted sweeter than usual.
[10.2L/100L of blood absorbed]
***
After 15 minutes of walking, the group finally saw a change in scenery. They'd walked into an oval-shaped room. Everybody immediately tensed and prepared for combat. These rooms were prone to being home to many nasty abominations. It was pure luck that the room they had set up camp in had not yet been made a nest for one of them.
Something was wrong, however. There was a complete lack of crystals on the walls, as was common in most other open spaces here. The room was quite sizable, so Tessa's Orb of Light didn't light up the entire space.
They had to be extremely cautious.
Carl silently motioned for everybody to draw their weapons while quickly escaping to the back of the group next to Tessa. The youths all quickly fell into formation.
As the five youths slowly inched through the room, things became increasingly odd. A foul odour began to permeate the air. The stench of slowly rotting flesh struck into the airways of the youths.
It was nothing new to them.
Such was the smell of death.
Everyone's expressions turned serious as they continued to inch forward. As the Orb of Light illuminated more of the room, their suspicions were confirmed. This was somewhat suspicious, but not impossible. Sometimes, Fracturebeasts in the Sanctuaries fought with one another.
In a pitch-black corner of the room, a bundle of wrinkly, sucker-covered arms with severed ends lay in a pool of dark crimson. The ground was marred by an unnatural amount of the dark, murky liquid, making it look as if somebody had toyed with the Fracturebeast, slowly pushing it to its demise.
Looking closer, another gory sight lay nearby.
A sprawled out black mass. Its entire body looked like a gruesome pincushion. Almost none of its dark flesh remained, causing its maw, filled with rows of sharp teeth, to merge with the rest of its body. Bits of gore and unidentifiable organs were spilt around the pincushion, leaking unknown fluids.
But that wasn't the problem. It wasn't a pleasant sight, but they could handle all of this.
As Carl analyzed the area for potential danger, his gaze drifted upwards to a nearby wall. He hadn't given it a proper scan since it was too dark earlier. The first thing he noticed was the absurd splatter of crimson on the wall, covering most of the surface. His eyes continued drifting across the wall before coming to a sudden halt.
On the crimson splattered canvas of the room, many long, beautiful scarlet strokes lined the walls. The lines twisted, turned, connected and intertwined with one another, all weaving into several magnificent depictions.
As a whole, they formed several sets of familiar features.
Carl's jaw went slack.
And those features made up detailed faces.
Their faces.
In the depths of a Sanctuary, next to a dead Fracturebeast, in a place where there should be nobody but them...the five youths were vividly depicted on the wall with the blood of a nearby corpse.
The situation had become beyond abnormal in moments.
Charging his muscles with Essence, Carl spun around with his bow drawn and prepared to use his Ability for the first time here. A conclusion had been reached in his brain at lightning speed based on pure instinct. A Fracturebeast with such an unnatural amount of intelligence was bound to want to see the results of its little scheme.
Nothing.
The rest of the room was empty.
All Carl saw were several puddles of still, murky liquid behind them.
"Holy shit..."
Tessa was the second to notice the gruesome mural. Her gaze hardened, and for the first time during the expedition, her expression became grave.
Vazor and Justin also stared in shock after hearing Tessa's comment. Lumina's eyes slightly widened upon noticing the mural, but she didn't seem as shocked as the others.
The implications were clear to everyone.
They weren't alone here, and they hadn't been alone for a while now.
Justin shivered slightly, and his voice was much more subdued than usual.
"Tessa, please tell me someone was supposed to come here at the same time as us."
Tessa's eyes narrowed. Having lost her usual haughtiness, she spoke curtly in a serious tone.
"No. It's impossible."
Vazor, who also seemed on edge, shot out a wry smile.
"Yeah, because someone definitely went through all the effort to climb into this place just to play a prank on us," he rebutted.
Carl cut in, trying to keep everyone in check. They had to stay focused.
"Nothing's here right now. It could be a Sanctuary Spirit messing with us. They're the only ones who could potentially arrange something like this," he asserted, his tone firmer than before. Doubt still clouded his mind, however.
Sanctuary Spirits were known for being especially cunning and intelligent. They weren't particularly powerful, but they had enormous potential for growth due to their strange nature, while their intellect and cunning kept them alive from superior predators. Most of them, however, didn't indulge themselves in twisted pranks such as this.
While everybody had turned their attention to Carl, a figure with snow-white hair calmly stared at the gruesome painting on the wall. Unless one was paying especially close attention to her, it would've been impossible to notice the corners of her lips momentarily trembling upwards before immediately shooting back down.
With a robot-like seriousness, Lumina tore her gaze away from the mural and spoke to the rest of the group.
"It could also be a Mutation."
The other youths turned to stare at her with wide eyes as if she had just suggested the Earth was flat.
"Don't let out such drivel from your mouth. You know how rare Mutations are in Sanctuaries. It's not that plausible, and it might still be a Fracturebeast," Tessa rebutted, trying to keep her voice from shaking. She put on a brave front, but the thought of being stuck here with such a horror was terrifying for anyone.
Justin roared in panic, "Besides, what kind of Mutant would pull this kind of shit! It could just slaughter us whenever!"
"Quiet! Calm down now. You're as good as dead if you panic, Justin," Carl reprimanded Justin, while keeping his own fear in check. Justin and the others all turned serious, a light of courage returning to their eyes.
Carl turned towards Lumina.
"Why do you think it's a Mutant?"
"First off, no. Sanctuary Spirits very rarely confront humans. They value their own survival above all else and would never bother with such intimidation tactics," Lumina asserted confidently, a stone-cold expression on her face.
She looked around the group, observing their dejected reactions. They knew it was true. Carl's initial thought process was rushed. She continued.
"Secondly, no Gifted Rank Fracturebeast has the means, not to mention intelligence, to stalk us up close enough to see our faces without us noticing them. Also, I find it unlikely that any of them can even paint."
The others' faces fell grim. She was making valid points. Lumina remained stoic and continued.
"Finally, this reminds me of the Evolution Ritual for a Shattered Rank Fracturebeast."
Everyone's faces fell as despair gripped the group. She had just claimed the mad painter was almost two Ranks higher than them after all. They stood no chance in a direct confrontation. Only Tessa seemed to have fully grasped what she was insinuating on her own. Not just anyone had access to the details of a Fracturebeast's Evolution Ritual, meaning most of the group was left in the dark.
"Now you're just spouting straight-up nonsense!"
"Maybe, but it's still possible. It could be a Mutated Fleshseeker attempting to evolve," Lumina spoke, her tone grave and expression unreadable.
The other youths froze up. Fleshseekers were notoriously rare. They climbed into unconscious people's bodies through their mouths and tore up their insides, before stealing that person's corpse along with their former identity. Their Shattered Ability allowed them to blend in with any environment seamlessly, making Lumina's earlier claim much more likely.
"From what I know, one part of their ritual is evoking horror in humans," Lumina added. They had just witnessed that part with the gruesome scene right next to them.
The listening youths tensed up and tried to maintain their courage. She took a deep breath before continuing.
"And the other is taking over someone's body and killing off the group they were with one by one."
Another wave of silence.
"W-wait, you don't mean-," Vazor stuttered, his eyes widening by the second.
Lumina took a glance at Justin and nodded with a solemn expression.
"Mhm, there's a possibility that while we were sleeping unguarded today, a Fleshseeker already helped itself to one of our bodies."
Justin slightly lowered his gaze to stare at the floor. Seems like he had some bit of conscience in him after all.
A tense silence shrouded the blood-filled room as fear slowly encroached on the youths' minds once again. The bunch tried to steady themselves with little success. There was still a chance Lumina was wrong, yet they couldn't help but suspect one another. A seed of doubt had been planted in all of them.
Lumina decided to land the final blow.
"One of us isn't who they really claim to be."