"Welcome, customers," the innkeeper greets, voice devoid of emotion as before. "How may I assist you?"
The group of sinners strides in, the chimes of the bell falling away behind them. The others who weren't with Carnage and Nullen complain about the same feeling of dread that clings to the bones.
"You weren't lying; I can feel it." Heron says his instincts are screaming at him to unsheathe his sword, but he doesn't.
"Someone should stay downstairs just in case the innkeeper follows." Nullen suggests, and Artticus's hands fly up.
"I got this." He cups his fist, slapping his muscles in a show of strength. "You guys go ahead; I got this!" He smirks proudly, approaching the counter.
"Do you guys really think he can do it?" Flor murmurs among them.
"If he can't, it's his fault." Carnage replies.
Scrambling up the stairs, they grimace as the air thickens with the stench of rot seeping into their nostrils. The black mold clawed further down the walls, spreading in dark, creeping patches that seemed to pulse with life.
'It's much worse.'
"Bloody hell, it's that moldy scent again." Nullen hisses, flicking on the ability of his glasses and peering around. "Let's get this over with before I hurl."
"It isn't just mold." Flor sniffs, nodding slowly. "I'm right. This is the scent of a decaying body as well, or perhaps an already decayed one."
"She's right." Heron adds. "I know that scent anywhere."
'They're both correct. The smell of a decaying body is hard to forget, especially if you spent countless years around them.'
"I think I found it?" He says, questioning his own eyes. "It's saying it's on the roof?"
"The roof?" Heron questions.
'That can't be.'
"An attic," Flor exclaims, glancing up at the ceiling. "There." She spots the hatch.
The rest of them look at her confused.
"You guys don't know what an attic is?" She tilts her head, and their pure silence says it all. "It's a place between your roof, where most people store their old belongings and memories."
'Like the chambers of lost memories,' Carnage thinks.
'Like the old archives,' Nullen thinks.
'So basically the ancestral safe.' Heron thinks.
Though they all think of something else, they shake their heads at her explanation.
"Heron, would you?" Flor inquires. "Just pull the string down to open it." Heron, the tallest of the five, approaches and jumps, locking his finger around the loop, tugging it open, and the staircase falls down.
The foul smell becomes worse, as if opening the doors to the maggot throne room itself, causing all of them except Carnage to recoil in disgust.
'Yep, it's exactly what I expected. The rotting body, sealed within the damp air of the enclosed space, with a wooden exterior and interior, the withering of this building was set in stone.'
Breaking away, he ascends the first step toward the dark attic. The stench barely fazes him; he has seen, felt, and smelled far worse, and this is nothing worth concern.
Creak…
The wood groans into the quiet air as he continues his ascent, his head gradually peering through the floor as he enters, and his entire stature seizes in place.
"What do you see?" Nullen asks from below. He doesn't answer. "Carnage?!" He calls out again.
"I'm going up." Heron says, impatience claiming him. Covering his nose, he rushes up the stairs, halting as well.
"Heron?" Nullen calls out. "Not you too."
"Hesitantly, the others ascend the stairs, each gasping as their eyes settle on the withered remains of what appears to be a child. Her frame is frail, with loose strands of blonde hair still clinging to her skull. A tattered baby-blue dress drapes over bones where scraps of flesh stubbornly cling, and a knife protrudes from her chest.
A second passes as they all look on, the silence suffocating. Shivers run down one of their spines, the reality of what they're seeing settling like a weight in the pit of their stomachs.
No one dares speak; the only sound is the faint creak of the attic floor beneath their feet.
"How..." Flor breaks the silence. "How can someone be so cruel…"
'If my hunch is correct…'
Carnage approaches, the floor bleeding into black as he draws closer.
'This is bella.'
He recalls the wail of the innkeeper earlier on.
'But who is bella to him?'
As he is able to wire his brain to connect what's missing, thumping sounds coming up the stairs tear through the space.
"Can't you be quieter, Artticus?" Flor chimes.
he barely has time to register what's happening before Heron yanks her aside, just as the innkeeper barrels in, sending Evrad crashing into the wall. The impact splinters the wood, shards flying like deadly rain.
"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" he roars, darting toward Carnage with a wide, sweeping arc of his knife.
"Look out!" Nullen warns.
'I know.'
Carnage notices, dropping low to evade, then drives his elbow into the man's stomach. Saliva bursts from his mouth as the air is knocked from his lungs.
"Oh heavens." Flor gasps as the man tumbles down, gripping his stomach.
"Leave my beloved Bella alone!" he screeches, scrambling to his feet despite the pain. Rage blazes in his eyes, and beneath it, a raw, unrelenting hunger to kill that Carnage can't ignore.
He swipes again and again, and Carnage weaves, receiving slight gashes.
'I need to know.'
"Who was she?" He shouts back.
"Forget… Remember… Forget, Bella!" he rambles, as if waging a battle with himself from within. "Nooo!" He roars, launching into a sudden, feral assault.
"Come on, remember!" Carnage's fist collides with his face. "Who was she?"
The man's head falls back with the punch, but he recovers swiftly. "She! She's!" He shakes his head, a new boost of strength overcoming him, as he attacks without stopping. "I must protect our village! I must protect my..."
The sound of tearing flesh ripples through the air. Carnage's gaze falls, watching as a piece of wood is lodged into the man's side, Ervad's hand pulling away.
'Gods.'
The innkeeper stumbles back, eyes widened. "I must protect." His blood erupts with a cough. "My..." His knees buckle and he collapses to the floor. "Daughter..." He mouths before falling to the ground.
Dead.
.
.
.
Descending the stairs to the tavern's ground floor, everyone is quiet, reflecting on the battle that just transpired and the sight they are about to face. They all had already concluded Artticus was dead; the blood on the knife before says it all.
However, they are astonished to find him leaning against the counter, a stab wound marring his stomach, his face unreadable.
"Artti!" Flor dashes over, taking out her potion bottle, summoning another potion of critical healing. "Are you alright? Drink this!"
'Hmm…' Carnage looks upon him for a bit before smirking. 'What a weird bunch of people.'
Taking it, he drinks it down, still holding a blank, defeated expression.
"Let's not waste precious time." Nullen says, his features stern, though he's still reeling from the man's and Carnage's actions.
The fact that Carnage hasn't once drawn his sword tells him that, beneath all his hardened walls, Carnage is still human, just like them.
"Yeah." Carnage nods, retrieving the other black box from his inventory, and he places it on the table.
Carnage, containing the blistering pain exploding through his arm, activates his power, watching as the red energy warps around the two black boxes.
'Even my skill of stopping the sensation of pain isn't working against this type of pain.' He winces as the covenant affirms his success in unsealing it.
The box clicks open, revealing the remaining letters: S, K, I, and G.
__________________
Name of the village—
▯▯▯▯▯▯▯
___________________
「Place the letters inside, beginning with the first two letters: S 」
Nullen places the first letter inside the system panel.
__________________
Name of the village—
S▯▯▯▯▯▯
___________________
「Place the letters inside, beginning with the first two letters: K」
Heron goes next, picking up the letters spread out on the counter and placing them inside. The system continues, and each of them places a letter inside that spells out the name until there are only two left, which Carnage places inside.
__________________
Name of the village—
S|K|R|E|I|G|H
___________________
'Skreigh village…'
「Congratulation! The first section of your mission has been completed!」
「Second hint!: Where trees wither, a shack of memories stands tall.」
「Time limit: 30:43」
"Thirty minutes left!" Everyone's eyes widen in fear and astonishment.
"Has anyone seen a shack?" Flor asks, panic settling in.
"We did," Carnage says calmly. "In the forest, on our way back."
"Then let's go." Heron urged, and they no longer walked but ran towards where they saw it.