Chapter 40: The Shadow Monsters
Arya didn’t panic.
He just stood quietly.
Seeing that, Miyuki tried to help him.
Before she could move, Arya gave a hand signal with his fingers.
"Don’t move."
She immediately stopped where she was.
Arya smiled.
Seeing that, the others laughed.
"Are you mad?"
"I think his death is near."
"That’s why he has become crazy."
The man holding the sword slowly moved it away from Arya’s neck.
Then he slowly placed the sword against Arya’s neck again.
Before anyone could stop him...
Slash!
He cut his own neck by himself.
His body fell to the ground.
Blood continuously poured out from his neck.
He was already dead.
Seeing that, everyone was shocked.
Because Arya didn’t do anything.
He just stood there quietly.
But before that man tried to do anything...
Arya had already summoned a Shadow Monster.
It entered that man’s body and controlled him.
And Arya hadn’t summoned only one Shadow Monster.
He had summoned many.
By now, Shadow Monsters had already entered the bodies of the others.
One man became furious.
He grabbed his weapon and rushed toward Arya.
But before he could even reach him...
From behind...
His own friend suddenly stabbed a sword into his back.
The blade pierced through his body and came out from his chest.
Blood flowed out from his mouth.
He slowly turned around.
He saw his own friend had killed him.
"W... Why...?"
Those were his final words.
Then he fell to the ground and died.
The others looked around in confusion.
"What happened?"
"They’re killing each other!"
Only one man remained alive.
The same man who had lied to Arya and said he knew people from another kingdom.
He was trembling in fear.
All of his friends were lying on the ground.
Their bodies were lifeless.
Arya slowly walked toward him.
Behind Arya, Miyuki quietly stood there without saying anything.
The man immediately fell to his knees.
"Don’t kill me!"
"Please spare me!"
"Please don’t kill me!"
"I can do whatever you want!"
"Take everything here!"
"Just leave me alive!"
Arya looked down at him.
"Just now..."
"You wanted to kill me."
"And now you want to spare your own life."
"You also said you wanted to have fun with her the whole night."
A cold smile appeared on Arya’s face.
"Then..."
"I’ll show you what real fun is."
The man was filled with fear.
"S-Sorry!"
"I lied to you!"
"I don’t know anything about those people!"
"When I saw you asking everyone about them..."
"I made a plan and brought you here for the money."
Arya didn’t say anything.
He simply turned around.
Then he looked at Miyuki.
"Let’s go."
The two of them walked out of the house.
After they went outside, Arya quietly closed the door.
Inside the house...
The man finally smiled.
"What fools..."
"They made the biggest mistake."
"Now they’ll die."
"I’ll tell the boss about them."
But suddenly...
All of the dead bodies slowly began to move.
One by one...
They stood up like zombies.
Then all of them slowly turned their heads toward him.
The smile on his face disappeared.
He couldn’t move.
He couldn’t even say anything.
Because the Shadow Monsters were still inside those bodies.
One by one...
They slowly walked toward him.
"D-Don’t come near me!"
"Go away!"
"Please!"
He desperately grabbed nearby things and threw them at the dead bodies.
But nothing worked.
They didn’t stop.
They slowly surrounded him.
Then all of them reached toward him together.
They slowly took his life away.
He felt unbearable pain.
But he couldn’t escape.
He couldn’t even move.
His screams echoed through the house.
Until...
Everything became silent.
Then...
He died.
Then Arya and Miyuki went back to the market area again to search.
They searched everywhere.
They asked many people again.
But they still didn’t find anyone who knew anything.
Before they realized it...
It was already afternoon.
Miyuki looked at Arya.
"It’s already afternoon."
"We have to go back to the place."
"That person said he would meet us there."
"Our meeting time is already over."
"Let’s go."
Arya stopped her.
"No."
"Until I find someone here who knows about my village..."
"I’m not leaving this place."
"I don’t care what happens next."
"I want to know the truth."
Meanwhile...
The man waited for them at the meeting place.
But they never came.
He believed they were already dead.
Because most of his customers who went there never returned.
Many people walked into traps and died inside the slum.
After waiting for a long time, the man informed the guards about them.
Soon...
The guards began searching for Arya and Miyuki everywhere.
On the other side...
Arya and Miyuki kept walking through the slum.
Before they realized it...
The sky had already turned dark.
They found a house.
The door was already open.
Both of them carefully looked inside.
The house was completely silent.
No one was there.
Arya quietly looked around one more time to make sure no one was hiding inside.
Seeing nothing suspicious...
The two of them slowly entered the house.
The old wooden floor creaked beneath their feet as they walked inside.
They quietly entered it and carefully closed the door behind them.
They decided to hide inside.
Because they didn’t know where they were anymore.
Outside...
It had already become too dangerous to continue searching.
A few moments later...
Footsteps came from outside.
Someone tried to open the door.
Arya and Miyuki immediately became alert.
They quietly hid behind the door.
Both of them thought it might be one of the third son’s men.
But when the door slowly opened...
A drunk man stumbled inside.
He could barely stand properly.
After entering, he closed the door.
He kept mumbling something to himself.
He had taken so many drugs that he didn’t even know what he was saying anymore.
Arya finally understood...
This house belonged to that man.
The man had forgotten to lock the door before leaving in a hurry to buy drugs.
In this area...
There were many different kinds of drugs.
Some were very rare.
Only rich people could buy them.
Even then...
They could only get a limited amount.
Many people fought each other just to get those rare drugs.
Some would do anything for them.
This man had tried to get those rare drugs.
But he failed.
So in the end...
He bought ordinary drugs instead and returned home.
Arya and Miyuki were standing right in front of him.
But the man didn’t even notice them.
His mind was completely lost in the drugs.
He slowly walked past both of them.
Then he entered his room and threw himself onto the bed.
He fell asleep almost immediately.
Before Arya quietly closed the man’s room door...
He secretly sent a Shadow Monster into the man’s body.
He didn’t think the man would wake up during the night.
But Arya didn’t want to take any risks anymore.
After that...
Arya created an invisible barrier around the house.
Then he returned to the living room.
He took out two small bed sheets from his Storage Skill and spread them on the floor.
The two of them quietly discussed a few things for a while.
After finishing their discussion...
They lay down on the bed sheets and slowly fell asleep.
The next morning...
Both of them were still sleeping.
Suddenly...
Someone entered the invisible barrier.
Arya immediately received a notification.
His eyes opened at once.
He looked beside him.
Miyuki was still sleeping.
Then...
Knock! Knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
That sound woke Miyuki up.
Both of them quickly stood up.
Without wasting any time...
Arya put the bed sheets back into his Storage Skill.
Knock! Knock!
The knocking came again.
Both of them were already outside the house.
Then Arya looked through the window.
He saw a man walking toward the house.
The man was shouting angrily because the owner of this house had taken some money from him before.
Arya immediately looked at Miyuki.
"Hide somewhere."
Without asking anything, Miyuki quietly hid inside another room.
Arya hid behind the door.
A few seconds later...
The man pushed the door open and entered the house.
He didn’t notice Arya standing silently behind the door.
He angrily walked toward the owner’s room.
He kept shouting while trying to wake him up.
"Hey!"
"Wake up!"
"Come out!"
"I know you’re inside!"
He shook the body again and again.
But he didn’t know...
The owner would never wake up again.
He was already dead.