There was a problem.
What did it feel like to watch Kayako, with the fast-forward button on, crawl down the stairs?
At that moment, Tales must have been answering in detail while angrily streaming tears:
Exactly like this!
Because the ghost, Mummy, or monster behind him ("Who cares what it is! Is that important?" Tales would say afterward, once the terror had subsided) was crawling toward him on all fours, dragging its mangled, charred body, yet moving with incredible speed and uncanny agility!
Fuck!
Tales was scared out of his wits. He had no time to consider questions like, "Does this creature have a mind? Can it speak? Can I communicate with it? Can I talk_it_out instead of fighting?"
At that moment, fleeing for his life through the tiny room, Tales could even feel the liquid in his eye sockets spraying outward without the slightest restraint!
But Tales soon regretted his decision.
There was no other reason. That monster-like Mummy was far faster than Tales!
With a roar, it kicked off and leaped, pouncing on Tales from behind!
"Bam!" Tales and the Mummy rolled together and toppled onto the floor,
The unusual experiences of the past two days seemed to have paid off. Tales instinctively drew the JC Dagger backward and, trembling, stabbed at the Mummy!
He drove it viciously into the position of the Mummy's heart—if it even had one!
But Tales realized in horror that the Mummy, though pierced by the dagger, was completely unaffected. It climbed onto him, opened its black, terrifying maw toward his neck, and revealed equally charred, irregular fangs!
Was I so terrified that my hand shook and I missed completely? Tales thought fearfully as he felt the weight pressing down on him. (Strange, why is it so light?)
But it was already too late for regret.
"Rip!"
With a dull sound like rotten leather being pierced, Tales despairingly felt the Mummy bite through his neck.
A surge of agony struck him. Tales opened his mouth in pain, but with his strength failing, he could only let out a hoarse, muffled cry.
Under the pressure, all the blood in Tales's body rushed toward the torn artery in his neck.
It's over, Tales thought in despair.
A killer must be prepared to be killed.
He remembered that saying. He remembered Quade clutching his neck and dying unwillingly.
Tales gave a bitter laugh inwardly.
What goes around comes around.
Strangely, the blood that should have been gushing out remained perfectly calm and orderly—
and flowed into the Mummy's mouth?
With the Mummy biting his neck, Tales caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye. The Mummy was like a pipe being squeezed by irregular water pressure. From its "mouth" to its neck, chest, abdomen, and every other part of its body, it kept swelling and contracting slightly.
Like a famished traveler frantically sipping from a spring of sweet rain.
The Mummy seemed to be—drinking blood?
Over the course of several seconds, as he lost more blood, awareness of Tales's body began to grow numb, but the awareness in his heart became increasingly clear!
So clear that everything in his mind reappeared before his eyes!
"Wu Qiren, you're so afraid of ghosts. What would you do if you really encountered one?"
"Can you not bring that up? After watching The Grudge the night before last, I still don't dare climb the stairs alone after dark!"
"Don't be afraid! If you really encounter one, bite it. Bite its neck! If it doesn't have a neck or its head has been severed—"
"You lunatic! Stop! Stop!"
"When you're tired from writing your thesis and look up to stretch, it suddenly appears—"
The Wu Qiren of the past took an angry step forward and used the method he was most accustomed to in order to silence that person.
Then, amid the sweetness filling his mouth, he caught sight of her eyes, brimming with amusement.
Long eyelashes, clear and bright eyes.
What a sly and sinister woman. Wu Qiren closed his eyes resentfully and continued nibbling at the spoils of his victory.
Or was he offering his tribute to the true victor?
Another memory entered Tales's mind. Yet this memory seemed especially different. After entering his memory bank, it did not peacefully fall asleep alongside its kind. Instead, it instantly spread, expanded, and trembled, violently pushing Tales—who had been completely immersed in the memories of his previous life—out of this illusory consciousness!
Tales's eyes flew open!
In that instant, it was as though he had suddenly regained his strength.
The Mummy was still desperately sucking his blood, apparently unwilling to stop until it had drained him dry.
Then the seven-year-old boy's hands firmly and decisively clutched its shoulders and neck!
"If you really encounter one."
Tales clenched his teeth, clung to the Mummy's body, and used every last bit of strength to forcefully raise his head.
"You bite it."
He opened his mouth, revealing his small teeth.
".You bite its neck!"
Like a creature devoid of reason,
he bit down viciously on the Mummy's neck!
Like two lovers kissing with their necks entwined.
Time seemed to freeze again, until a sudden crack rang out of nowhere!
The Mummy's charred, withered neck was not as hard as expected. Tales's bite had actually broken off a chunk!
A piece of "flesh" of unknown material was furiously chewed twice by Tales and swallowed!
An incongruous sentence suddenly flashed through Tales's mind.
Tastes like chicken. Nice and crunchy.
Then he continued biting wildly and fervently at the Mummy's "wound," taking huge mouthfuls.
Just like the vampires of the Tuval Family.
Until a salty, fishy liquid abruptly surged into Tales's mouth.
As Tales sucked desperately, mouthful after mouthful of the crimson liquid flowed into his throat.
Just like his own blood—rushing rapidly into the Mummy's body as though a water pump had been installed inside him—the salty, fishy liquid in the Mummy's body was likewise sucked rapidly into him!
But the Mummy seemed mindless and completely unaware, just like the crazed, blank-minded Tales.
However, after only a few seconds,
he and the charred, rotten Mummy trembled simultaneously!
"Guh—"
Immediately afterward, the Mummy seemed to shudder. It suddenly released its blood-drinking bite, let out a shrill cry, and violently shoved Tales away!
After being pushed away, Tales froze for two seconds amid the emotions of surviving a disaster. Then the first thing he did was raise his hand and touch the wound on the artery in his neck!
Strangely, although his neck should have been covered in blood, not a drop flowed out. There were only two small, warm, numb punctures at the wound, sticky and unpleasant.
In the dim room, the Mummy seemed to have rediscovered something called "fear."
After pushing Tales away, it clutched its similarly bitten neck. The dagger still protruded from its chest as it limped toward the Black Coffin it had crawled out of!
Tales did not stand around dumbly. He shakily rose from the floor and was surprised to discover that the strength he had nearly exhausted had recovered somewhat.
It was just the taste in his mouth—blegh, it was a little disgusting.
Wait, what was going on with that Mummy?
Although countless questions arose in his mind, he still lunged without hesitation at the Mummy fleeing in such a sorry state!
The tables have turned.
We have a score to settle.
Roaring furiously, Tales reached out and barely managed to pull it down.
The Mummy that rolled onto the floor did not stop. Before Tales could resume communicating with it using his teeth, it made an astonishing leap, jumping to an absurd height and grabbing the edge of the Black Coffin. With an awkward movement, it hauled itself inside.
Tales, who had grabbed one of its legs, fell into the enormous black stone coffin along with it.
"Splash!"
Tales seemed to have landed in a pool. Warm, wet liquid surged over his entire body.
This smell?
Fishy, salty.
Was it blood?
From behind, Tales tightly hugged the Mummy as it struggled and writhed constantly.
Before he completely lost consciousness from drowning in "blood," Tales smiled beneath the surface.
Fortunately, he thought hazily.
Fortunately, this thing still has a neck, and its head hasn't been severed either.
No one knew how long had passed.
Tales awoke inside the Black Coffin, which had somehow already dried up.
The moment he opened his eyes, Tales struggled into a sitting position. The first thing he did was cough violently, coughing blood and water out of his body together.
"Cough, cough—cough, cough—"
Tales licked a foreign object in his mouth and instantly realized what it was. In a fit of nausea, he spat it out repeatedly.
He panted and spent several dozen seconds recovering.
Tales's right hand immediately felt around beside him and touched something cold and charred.
The Mummy?
Tales continued groping around until he confirmed that the Mummy that had chased him like a dog had already shattered into more than a dozen pieces, scattered throughout the enormous coffin.
He exhaled, forcing away the nauseating taste in his mouth.
The Black Coffin was pitch-black inside.
Tales continued feeling around the cold bottom of the coffin. He touched something resembling a step, barely used it to brace his feet, and climbed out of the Black Coffin, which was as tall as a person.
This thing doesn't look like a coffin. It looks more like—a children's swimming pool? Tales thought. He now understood how that tiny Mummy had managed to crawl out of such a tall coffin.
At last, he climbed out of the Black Coffin on all fours and fell to the ground with a thud.
Familiar sounds of battle reached his ears, including sharp female shouts and the Count's loud commands.
Face-down, Tales rubbed his aching shoulder and laboriously pushed his upper body up. Who knew how the battle outside was going?
Then Tales had only just raised his head
when he froze.
Standing in front of him was someone.
A little person.
More precisely, it was a tiny figure with silver hair hanging to her shoulders. She looked pitiful as she stood beneath the moonlight, taking unsteady, staggering steps.
With effort, one step.
With effort, another step.
The tiny figure moved toward Tales, who had just crawled out of the Black Coffin, stopping and swaying with every step.
Until she finally stood with difficulty in front of him.
She had red pupils, a pale complexion, delicate skin, slender limbs, and an adorable face with slightly chubby cheeks.
Yet this "little person" was now looking coldly down at Tales on the ground, with an air of superiority—almost arrogance.
Tales was stunned for a long while and thought for even longer before finally climbing to his feet, his mind full of confusion.
Then he saw her entire body.
She still said nothing, merely staring at him coldly.
After a long while,
Tales seemed to suddenly realize something. The abnormal seven-year-old boy rarely blushed, scratched his head, and gave an awkward laugh.
"L-Little sister."
He lowered his voice in embarrassment and asked hesitantly, stammering weakly:
"Well..."
"Why..."
"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"
The naked little sister stood alone on the ground, a head shorter than the thin seven-year-old boy.
She looked at the boy with clear hostility.
Tales found it awkward when he received no response.
Fortunately, the awkward atmosphere lasted only a few seconds.
Because Tales suddenly saw that, in the "little sister's" chest,
there was a dagger embedded.
The blood on the dagger had not yet dried.
Two letters were engraved on its edge:
JC.
The hand Tales had been using to scratch his head suddenly stiffened.
The boy was not stupid. Besides, even the villains in trashy web novels who had an idiot halo protecting them should have had their intelligence come online by this point.
He naturally remembered how he had just stabbed the dagger into the Mummy's heart.
But the naked "little sister," who seemed completely unaware that anything was amiss, continued staring coldly at him.
She said nothing. Her round, chubby little face remained expressionless, and Tales's reflection was mirrored in her blood-red pupils.
Tales slowly lowered his hand and adjusted his breathing. His gaze shifted back and forth between the cute yet eerie little sister before him and the terrifying ghostly Mummy in his memories.
This is seriously bizarre.
Tales let out a deep breath.
The naked red-eyed girl (Mummy) continued staring at him with that same expression, motionless as a statue.
Whoever it was, being stared at so eerily by something like this for so long would have started feeling their hair stand on end.
Tales forcibly swallowed, then put on a relaxed smile. After thinking it over several times, he hard-swallowed the question, "What brand of sunscreen repair cream is that?"
Now was not a good time to probe her.
Although she looked adorable, if she was the Mummy from just now, then she probably couldn't possibly have any sense--
"Who are you?"
A childish voice rang out from ahead.
Hmm, even though the little girl's gaze had not changed.
The words that came out of her mouth were still much clearer, more coherent, and more rational.
Compared to her earlier howl, which had sounded like a vengeful ghost rising from the dead, it was sweet, adorable, and--
Wait!
Tales' eyes widened in astonishment as he carefully observed this eerily strange, silver-haired little girl with Crimson Eyes.
She could speak.
She had reason.
She wasn't wearing any clothes—cough, cough!
She could communicate!
Then, Tales' brain, which had been startled into dormancy for so long, began to turn with familiar ease.
Believe me, I'm about to start writing a cliché story about a soft and cuddly Vampire clinging to the protagonist's side, crying and begging to marry him! (An eerie grin.)