Lost in the Fog

At the edge of the light, deep in the fog, the resentful, venomous curses quickly faded away.

With a scream cut short, all movement ceased. The place fell utterly silent.

The corpse was still there, but Colin and the others didn't act right away.

After a second of silence, they finally came to their senses, shaken from the terrifying, distorted scream.

Colin walked forward a few steps. The corpse was drenched in cold sweat, its expression horribly contorted in death. Its jaw had even dislocated when it let out that scream.

But aside from its eyes, they saw no other obvious injuries.

Those eyes had melted.

Along with the eyelids, they had melted into the sockets like candle wax. The sight was horrifying.

A question surfaced in everyone's mind: What had he experienced?

From beginning to end, no one—not even Colin—had seen anyone or anything approach him through the Gray Fog.

Colin had taken the Hurricane Lamp and stepped back, leaving him exposed to the Gray Fog. In less than three seconds, it was all over.

[The grisly scene before you leaves you shaken. You realize that before he died, he tried to close his eyes. Unfortunately, his thin eyelids couldn't stop him from seeing the terrifying thing.]

[His eyes and eyelids, along with the brain beneath them, melted in an instant from looking directly at the unspeakable.]

[You realize that you aren't interested in the Gray Fog, and you don't intend to do anything that might offend it.]

"Hint. I chickened out."

Colin felt his throat go dry. This was the second time the hint had backed down.

The first time had been yesterday, during the willpower check. The moment Colin had wanted to take a peek, an intuition like a sixth sense had warned him off.

This time, Colin instinctively sensed that the Gray Fog had some connection to that illogical, bizarre world where he had received "Steadfast Will."

Whatever had made the hint retreat was likely something of the same level—or perhaps, in essence, the very same thing.

But...

He glanced at the corpse, which had died such a grisly death, and decided the hint was right. He wasn't interested in the Gray Fog, and had no desire to get involved with it.

"Still, the test wasn't a complete waste. The Parchment and Synthesis Table didn't disappear, which means they don't vanish when someone dies. My guess that day was wrong."

Colin checked his Inventory. The Parchment and the other items he'd taken from the man were still there, unchanged.

Then where had those two items from the female Survivor's corpse gone?

Had someone searched her before he arrived?

No, that was unlikely. If someone had searched her, there would be no reason to leave the other things behind. Apart from those two items, nothing else was missing from her.

For a moment, Colin felt that the corpse he'd glimpsed in passing concealed a huge mystery.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Colin looked in the other direction, where continuous groans could be heard.

They came from the Servants who had eaten the Flesh Mushrooms.

Shana stood there. She had piled everyone she'd knocked down together, and after realizing there was no problem on Colin's side, she had remained still, watching the violent, frenzied Servants sprawled on the ground.

She hadn't hesitated at all when facing the "mage" who was behind it all. But seeing these people lying on the ground and groaning, she hesitated.

Beneath the gold-trimmed sleeves of her white robe, her fists clenched and relaxed, over and over.

Killing them and putting them out of their misery was clearly the most reasonable choice. It would also spare them some of the pain they'd suffer before death.

But every time she steeled herself, she felt the strength drain from her fist. It felt so utterly powerless.

The feeling was strangely familiar.

In a daze, the scene before her seemed to overlap with an extremely hazy memory.

There was no Gray Fog in that indistinct image, but beneath a flag radiating holy light, ordinary people fell one after another.

Back then, it seemed they had lacked food.

This time, what they lacked was Holy Light—stronger Holy Light.

Every time, she had been so powerless.

"Kill them and ease their suffering. At least that way, they'll suffer a little less before they die."

Shana took a deep breath and made her final decision.

She wasn't indecisive by nature; she could be just as ruthless when she had to be. But the feeling of watching a once-unrecoverable, profound regret happen again right before her eyes made it impossible for her to let go.

If these people had been soldiers, enemies loyal to the other side, there wouldn't have been a single survivor here when she charged in.

But that wasn't the case.

Her glowing white hand gripped the neck of a Servant who was wailing frantically. Just as she was about to squeeze, a voice sounded beside her.

"Do you want to save them?"

Colin walked over. He'd finished looting everyone except the mage.

There had been five people on the mage's side. One was dead—the mage—and another had died after refusing to get inside the Hurricane Lamp.

Three remained.

They were lying there quietly, fast asleep—or rather, unconscious. Merciful Colin hadn't wanted to disturb them. He'd simply helped them turn out the light, then taken away the Servants who might have woken them with their snoring, quietly claiming all the credit for himself.

Although they later started screaming terribly, who knew what they were dreaming about? And what did that have to do with kindhearted Mr. Colin?

He'd only come back to take a look and found that, having finally gotten a good night's sleep, the three were extremely grateful to him. They'd left him a reward but didn't want to wake up, so they'd motioned for him to help himself.

Naturally, Colin hadn't refused a chance to do a good deed. After looting their belongings, he quickly made his way over to Shana.

Shana's hand trembled. Only then did she notice that Colin had brought a group of people over. Clearly, Lord Colin had dealt with the enemies on his side as well.

But only four of the captured lords were with the group. The others were nowhere to be seen; they were probably dead.

After thinking over Colin's words, she hesitated, then nodded. "Yes."

She had no intention of lying. After letting out a pent-up breath, Shana glanced at the people groaning on the ground.

"But it looks like they can't be saved. I'm sorry—did I hold things up on your end?"

"I'm fine. You made them surrender directly."

Colin answered, then asked, "Do you want to save them?"

Shana was taken aback. Hadn't he just asked her that? But she seemed to realize what he meant, and nodded firmly.

"Yes, Lord Colin. I want to save them."

Colin tilted his head, rested a hand against his chin, and studied her through narrowed eyes. A few seconds later, he said:

"Good. Then let's save them."

Shana seemed to realize this would come at a cost. She started to say something.

But Colin raised a hand, cutting her off.