Chapter 108 - Hallway crawling
Leon walked down a dimly lit hallway, with Allyssa and Rosa following close behind. Keeping a close watch on their surroundings, he eyed the different corridors and doors leading deeper into the mansion that they passed by. Occasionally, he glanced back at the other two to make sure everything was fine.
Both of his companions had turned a lot quieter ever since they separated from Scarlett and the rest of the group. Most of Allyssa’s attention appeared to be focused on their surroundings as well, a pair of brown leather goggles pulled over her eyes as she held up a strange hand crossbow made of metal with decals running up its side.
From Leon’s own experience, he knew it wasn’t uncommon for Shielders to be laxer than most others in dangerous environments such as this. This quality had both its good and its bad sides. Allyssa seemed to know there was a time and place for casual nonchalance, though.
The same couldn’t be said for the woman walking next to the girl.
Or at least, that was Leon’s original impression. From what he’d seen of Rosa up till now, he would have expected her to make jokes and other odd statements as they proceeded with their job. And she had, to a certain degree. But—and this was something he wasn’t even completely sure of himself—it felt like something in the woman’s demeanor had changed since splitting with Scarlett’s group. And unlike Allyssa, she seemed to consciously avoid paying attention to their surroundings.
Leon paused, turning his head as he sensed a presence nearby. A low whisper emanated from the wall to his right, next to a derelict chiffonier where an empty painting was. He narrowed his eyes.
A ghostly hand exited the frame. It was followed by a woman’s face, partly hidden by a mound of rippling black hair. The figure tried crawling out of the painting with two slender arms, but Leon didn’t let it. He gathered his aura and struck with his sword the second enough of its body was visible, cleaving the woman in two.
A wail left her throat as the ghost was torn apart by the brilliant glow of the sword’s edge and dissipated into nothingness.
He turned to look at the other paintings that covered the walls of the hallway. It was impossible to tell which ones were hiding something inside them. For some reason, he couldn’t detect anything until whatever was present inside tried to exit as well. It didn’t help that all the paintings were supernatural in some way and appeared empty until one got closer to take a look.
“That one looked almost normal compared to the last one,” Allyssa muttered.
He looked back at the girl as she gave another painting a wide berth, crossbow raised in one hand as the other clasped the bandolier hanging across her chest.
She glanced at him. “Are all ghosts always this varied?”