"Keep up, keep up. Let's head to our first attraction—the Twisted Monster in the restroom."
Allen took on the role of tour guide and called Bruce and Oliver over as they headed for the nearby school.
The two of them remained skeptical of the secrets of Silent Hill Allen had described earlier.
Exchanging a glance, Bruce said quietly, "Capture someone and interrogate them. Once we find The Blade of Redemption, we leave."
"Let's hope everything goes smoothly."
Oliver excelled at archery, so his senses were exceptionally sharp.
When the ash-filled fog rose, he felt deeply uneasy, though not enough to make him back down.
Silent Hill's exit had already become an abyssal cliff. Without Alessa's permission, escaping safely was impossible.
And across the chasm stood a woman in white, her hair hanging wildly around her face.
The abandoned school's crumbling walls were covered in brown stains, and the air reeked of decay and rust.
Allen acted as though he were touring a haunted house, kicking open every door and barging into every room like a bandit storming a village.
"I love monsters and stuff."
How could he not?
They were all adorable little things that contributed Experience Points.
Meanwhile, when Allen's group entered the Manifest World, the cultists hiding in the dilapidated buildings had already discovered the intruders and immediately reported them to their leader, Krista.
The church was the only place in Silent Hill where one could avoid the encroachment of the dark power.
Dressed in a black robe, Krista listened to her followers' report. Her wrinkled face remained as dignified and calm as ever.
They were merely pitiful souls trapped in Silent Hill. Shrouded by dark power, time had stopped for them, leaving them to live forever in fear.
Their faith was centered on liberation and redemption.
"Warriors?"
Krista drew an ancient dagger from her sleeve. Having guessed what was happening, she calmly said, "Make preparations. Welcome the guests from The League of Assassins."
"Yes, Leader!"
The cultists immediately obeyed and sprang into action. Clearly, they had no intention of waiting helplessly for death.
After years of probing and research, they had learned that the curse had to be broken. Otherwise, any cultist who died in Silent Hill would turn into a monster in the Inner World.
After consulting written records, Krista had finally found a way to end the source of it all.
Only by using The Blade of Redemption to kill Alessa's original body could the curse be lifted from everyone.
"Found it."
He pushed open a restroom stall door, revealing a mummified corpse bound in wire and twisted into a grotesque pose. A sentence in English was written on the wall behind it.
"You jump, I jump."
Allen tilted his head as he examined the English words, then blurted out a completely wrong translation.
"It means, 'If you dare, I dare,'" Oliver corrected him, somewhat speechless.
Even after getting slapped in the face by his teammate on the spot, Allen remained utterly composed and refused to admit that he had said anything wrong.
"What use is a corpse?"
Bruce pressed a finger beneath his nose. The smell coming off the dried corpse was simply too disgusting.
"No use."
Allen answered frankly, then continued his explanation. "He was a perverted janitor who killed the little demigod kid. I just came here to check in."
"..."
Sure enough, anyone who believed a lunatic was a lunatic themselves.
Bruce gave Oliver a look, and Oliver immediately understood. The two prepared to ditch Allen.
"Batsy, Green Arrow, don't rush off. Want to see something exciting? Nurses with long legs—the must-see attraction in Silent Hill. Miss it, and you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Allen's animated expression made him look as though he could not wait to witness the Swollen Face Nurse's splendor.
"Allen, can you stop fooling around?"
Bruce said sternly, "We're in an unfamiliar and unknown environment. We should complete the mission and escape as quickly as possible, not waste time on meaningless things."
His expression hardened. Breaking from his usual behavior, Allen said in a rare serious tone, "Batsy, we're trapped in the Manifest World now. Without the little kid's permission, we can't leave Silent Hill. Do you think I'm not anxious?"
Hearing that, Bruce felt he had wronged him. His own tone had been too harsh, and guilt immediately rose within him.
"Heh, I'm not anxious at all."
The next second, Allen reverted to his unhinged state.
Bruce took a deep breath, gripping the hilt of his sword and wishing he could chop him to death before mincing him into paste.
What the hell is wrong with my brain, listening to a lunatic's nonsense?
"What's happening to the walls?"
Oliver frowned at the black-red mold-like substance spreading across the walls.
It was not just the walls. The ceiling and floor were also being chaotically swallowed by black-red mold.
The Inner World had descended.
This scene made the two of them reconsider Allen's words.
The real world, the Manifest World, the Inner World—they truly existed. Did that mean they really were trapped here?
Bang!
The restroom stall door flew open, and a crawling monster approached them.
It was unmistakably the wire-bound dried corpse, now transformed into a monster in the Inner World.
"Twisted Monster. Its entire body is wrapped in thorny wire, and every movement tears at its lower body in agony."
Allen casually commented from the side, "I have to say, it has high artistic value. Replacing rope bondage with thorny wire—the clever structure concentrates all the pain in one spot. It must be the work of a master deeply versed in this art."
The Twisted Monster followed the source of the voice, its pale tongue flicking up and down.
It was not dangerous, just disgusting.
Bruce drew his sword and slashed.
The Twisted Monster's head hit the floor, and its body collapsed limply.
Twisted Monster killed. Experience Points +150
"Any monster that covets my body has to die."
He drew his sword and sheathed it in one smooth motion, his strike unbelievably swift.
With a flash of sword light, he had instantly killed the monster. Bruce asked himself honestly whether he could move as smoothly as Allen.
Was that something a lunatic could do?
He felt like he was worse than a lunatic.
Smack!
Corpse Worm killed. Experience Points +10
A strange insect resembling a cockroach crawled out through a crack in the wall.
Allen reacted instantly and crushed it beneath his foot.
There was a saying passed down among Silent Hill survivors.
If you encountered a Corpse Worm, crush it immediately and run without looking back, because where there was one, countless others would follow.
"Batsy, Green Arrow, run!"
Drawing his sharp sword, Allen slashed at the insect swarm pouring from the wall.
One sword strike swept out.
Experience notifications kept appearing.
There had to be more than two hundred points. It felt amazing.
Of course, Allen had told the two of them to run mainly because he wanted to consume all the Experience Points himself and level up.
Enough experience. Current Thief level: Lv31.
After only a few strikes, he had killed nearly a hundred Corpse Worms and gained another level.
"Allen, retreat!"
As the insect swarm grew more and more ferocious, Bruce and Oliver were the first to burst through the door.
Immersed in the rapidly rising Experience Points, Allen completely ignored the warning.
His sword rose and fell, rose and fell, and he did not even blink, fully displaying the domineering aura of someone who could hack from Nantian Avenue all the way to the Doushuai Development Zone.
In moments, Corpse Worms surged in from every direction.
A thick layer of Corpse Worm carcasses piled up around Allen.
No matter how fast he struck, he could not hold back the overwhelming number of Corpse Worms. In an instant, the insect swarm swallowed him whole.
Enough experience. Current Thief level: Lv50. Skill unlocked: Blade Killing Array. Blade Killing Array: Twelve sword shadows attack in all directions. Damage is calculated based on Shadow Blade.
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