Night Owl's Battle

The sudden sound of the door opening inside the room caused the Night Owl to freeze completely in place.

She found the reason why the knocking stopped: the door had been opened, and if the door was open, there was no need to knock anymore.

So, which door was opened?

She gently pounded her left arm and shoulder, and the sudden, intense pain that flooded her mind barely dispelled the fear in her heart. Gritting her teeth, the Night Owl got up and carefully got out of bed.

The room was pitch black, with only the light from the [street lamp flower] illuminating a small area around it. The Weather Doll hanging in front of the bed remained motionless, as if the knocking sound from before had been just her hallucination.

"An open door... All the doors in the room should be open, and doors can't be opened without Key, so is it the door in the poster that's been opened...?"

His gaze shifted upwards, landing on the three posters on the wall covered by a black cloth. The Night Owl let out a soft breath.

If the Anomaly of knocking on the door has already infiltrated the room, then the bed, which is closest to the paintings, would actually be the most dangerous place. Even with the warning from the teru teru bozu (a Japanese Weather Doll symbolizing good weather), she still understood the principle of avoiding dangerous situations.

"..."

Standing guard beside the streetlight, the Night Owl gripped the pendant around his neck tightly in his right hand, looking on with a serious expression.

However, as time went by, nothing unusual happened on the poster side, but the Night Owl sensed that something new was happening in the room.

The temperature inside the room is steadily decreasing.

In just a few minutes, she felt herself shivering from the cold, and at the same time, the light emanating from the [street lamp flower] began to flicker.

All signs indicate that the room has been invaded by some unknown Anomaly, but what's really outrageous is that the [Weather Doll] hanging above the bed remains motionless in mid-air.

... Could the Zither-Drum Harmony be a fake she gave herself?

Ignoring her doubts, she shakily pulled the blanket off the bed and draped it over herself. In the flickering light of the streetlamp, the Night Owl didn't care about anything else and simply sat back down on the headboard.

The light emitted by the [street lamp flower] should theoretically be unaffected, and since the room has clearly been invaded by Anomaly, the [Weather Doll] shouldn't remain completely still. Yet, these two things are happening simultaneously... What have I overlooked?

Turning her head to look at the bottomless darkness around her, the Night Owl forced herself to calm down.

A sudden cool breeze on my neck, the door quietly opening in the room, the room suddenly turning cold, the streetlights flickering as if affected, the teru teru bozu (Weather Doll) seemingly oblivious to everything around it, completely devoid of any warning function... What could possibly connect all of these things?

The temperature in the room continued to drop, the light emitted by the [street lamp flower] flickered, and the [Weather Doll] remained suspended in mid-air without moving an inch.

At some point, the Night Owl reluctantly got out of bed, wanting to go to the closet to find some clothes to wear to keep warm.

However, just as she stood up, as if she had touched the wound on her left arm again, her right hand, which she had been using to hold onto the table to reach for the [street lamp flower], involuntarily loosened, and a pendant fell from her hand and rolled to the ground.

"Oh no..."

His expression changed slightly, Night Owl hurriedly tried to bend down and pick up the pendant that had fallen on the stall again, but unfortunately, it was already too late.

Before she could bend down, a chill covered her neck, followed by a sudden tightness in her throat.

It wasn't an illusion, nor was it any psychological feeling; the Young Girl's face quickly flushed a deep purplish-red, and the limited air in her lungs was squeezed out bit by bit.

Even though she instantly purchased Attribute Point from the Store, her arm was immediately covered by a large mass of Chilling Aura, as if she were being held firmly by a dozen hands. The intense pain from her left hand caused her to involuntarily let out a muffled groan.

With great effort, she shifted her gaze to the side, and just as she was about to lose sight of it, Night Owl finally saw it all.

The room was completely full of people.

People were packed tightly together, sitting by the bed, next to the desk, on the walls, on the bed, on the chair...

Or rather, those things could no longer be called human; everyone was deathly ashen, exuding a thick aura of death, and all stared blankly at her with expressionless faces.

Behind her, a Woman dressed in deathly gray was tightly strangling her neck with her arm, her head resting expressionlessly on her shoulder as she looked at her.

On the bed beside her, a dozen or so children, all deathly gray and expressionless, were gripping her arm tightly. That inexplicable chill emanated from these creatures.

In less than ten seconds, her arm was completely frozen.

She found the reason why the [Weather Doll] wasn't moving: a Girl shaped like a spider was clinging to the wall, gripping the doll hanging there tightly, forcibly keeping the [Weather Doll], which was trying to turn as a warning, still.

She also found the reason why the [street lamp flower] was sometimes bright and sometimes dim. It was because from time to time, Ashen White Humanoid would emerge from the posters on the wall and walk in front of the [street lamp flower]. When these Ashen White Humanoid passed in front of the [street lamp flower], the light emitted by the [street lamp flower] would dim. When they left or stopped moving, the light emitted by the [street lamp flower] would return to normal.

At a glance, there were already dozens of Ashen White Humanoid gathered in her room, and as time went on, new humanoid figures kept emerging from the posters on the wall.

No wonder the room was getting colder and colder.

"Back!!"

The Night Owl screamed inwardly, overwhelmed by the double agony of suffocation and pain.

In an instant, the Young Girl regained consciousness.

At that moment, she was hiding under the covers, carefully removing the pendant from her neck with her hands.