When Thain was young, his grandmom brought him to seek wisdom from a fortune teller. The Teller told him he would meet many females with whom he would get very intimate. However, those females would be rather fierce, and he may die without treading carefully.
Thain waited over 20 years in vain. None of those females came to him.
Not until his graduation, when he received an invitation letter, did he realize that the Teller told him females were not strictly female as in "female human. "
...
...
"Take this, Divine Judgement!" warping his hand with the blessed beads,
Thain charged toward the bloody skeleton fiend.
The beads shattered to pieces, dealing no damage even to the skeleton's hair.
Not good!
The skeleton pierced Thain's chest with its claw.
Thain fell in a blood pool.
[Player is dead]
[Remaining try: 3]
[Proceeding to the Seventh scenario]
Darkness was gone. Thain opened his eyes, touching his chest: the wound was gone.
He was revived. However, the pain caused by the skeleton piercing his chest was still fresh.
"Every time it was instakill, no matter where I hid, I was always found, won't it be better if I just give up!" Thain complained.
On the first day of the week, he received an invitation letter to participate in the horror game. That was how he got to this world.
In this game, the players are thrown into the horror world, where they struggle to survive from "fiend" creatures hunting.
Thain participated in six worlds, in which no matter what he did, cowering hid or bravely fighting against the fiends, the results were always his defeat. He couldn't even survive a week!
Reflecting how he failed and was frightened in the previous worlds, he enlightened:
All his pain and miseries came from the unrealistic delusion!
Fiends are not beings he can escape from or defeat. He had hope, and he struggled to make it real, so when dreams are shattered, hope is futile, they cause him endless suffering.
But! Once he harbors no hope, pays no effort, pain and suffering will not catch him!
So be it, once the fiend appears, just run straight to its grasp and embrace death, no more cowering in fear or struggle.
Acknowledge the reality, Thain's depression is gone, his mind is completely relieved.
The fiends usually come out in the evening, the day is still young, and he could enjoy a bit of life.
He looked around. It was a small, cramped bedroom, wooden floor, a fairly big mirror, and a bed lamp.
The bedroom was immaculate; except for necessities, there was none spare to enjoy life.
This could be an inn, and not a modern day at that.
Knock knock knock -
The bedroom was knocked, Thain opened the door to find a muscular man.
The man observed Thain for a while: "911"
"The service you request is temporary unavailble." Thain replied.
"Not bad, that's the way, man." The man smiled. "Come, we're gathering at the tea room."
Like Thain, the man is also this world player.
Thain came into the tea room and met his teammate. Including him, there were ten people. The other nine wore a grave expression surrounding a big round table. Yawning, Thain ordered a pilaf at the reception, then joined them.
The muscular man who invited Thain, who seemed to be the leader with his excellent physic, began: "Everyone's here. Let's introduce ourselves."
A woman in black wool cloth began: "I'm Moonwinder, an elementary school teacher, the innate gift is danger sense. Through my observation, this world is still in late feudalism..."
Meanwhile, Thain focused on his food without paying a single bit of attention to the intense chatting group.
"Hey bro, don't you have anything to say?" The muscular man looked at Thain.
"I felt you guys said all the necessary so that I don't need to say anything spare." Thain finished his food, "By the way, how many stages have you completed?"
"Only the newbie stage." All replied.
Thain then understood how could they be so exciting, these noobs who only survived a world wouldn't know how cruel life is.
That rang a bell, all his six times participating, all people he ever met were newbies. Was it only him who was too suck that he had to join with the newbies or something else?
Well, doesn't matter, what good overthinking thing, I'm prepared to die anyway.
"So do I." Thain nodded. It would be better to play noob to avoid complexity.
The muscular man stood up: "Let's follow the game instruction first, look for clue in Reid mansion. It'd be best if we could defeat the fiend right there."
Heed no mind to the man boasting, Thain open the game board and check:
[Mission: Survive 100 days, cannot leave Reid mansion during the first 10 days]
[Mission introduce: Lately, strange incidents kept happening in Reid mansion, flashing shadow, missing maids, blinking bloody lines… The Reid decided to invite 10 exorcists from main land...]
Their group of 10 players' identities are those 10 exorcists.
The Reid mansion occupied a vast land, with three stories and a giant living room.
At the front door, a butler welcomed them. The muscular man leading 9 other surrounded him and asked for the mansion recent news.
Again, Thain yawned and asked a male servant for a room then left, leaving the 9 people with creased brows.
Thain didn't care either, he was going to die tonight anyway, their feelings are none of his concern.
He didn't even bother to remember their names.
It would be better to have a good sleep instead of wasting time chasing wild geese.
His mind was stressed over the previous worlds, now he just wanted a good rest when it finally calmed down.
Threw himself on the bed, Thain soon entered the world of dreams. Clock ticked and a servant came to wake him up, it was dinner time.
The 10 "exorcists" sit around a table. The young master of Reid mansion came and gave a speech of gratitute before leaving and let the butler took care of them.
The food was western style and redundant: beef and salad, potato and mushroom. Thain enjoyed the food, then was getting back to his room for the nap when the muscular man stopped him:
"Hold on." The man called, "Evening is the time the fiends appear, it's safer to gather up."
"..."
Being seasoned fiends' victim from previous worlds, Thain was certain that it would have a greater chance for the fiend to come hunting a gathered group of people.
And he need this higher chance, though.
What if he was sleeping in his room and fiend assaulted the other nine, leaving him alone?
Although his mind was now calmed down, if the time dragged on, that calmness might be gone, not to mention the fear, and suffering! So if it is possible to die a little sooner, it is better to die sooner.
Pondering that, Thain brought his blanket and met the others in the living room on the first floor.
He unfolded the blanket and crawled in.
Muscular men regretted calling him: they were full of enthusiasm nine people, but adding this bastard ruined the vibe.
It was good for Thain, he slept soundly.
While the others were waiting for night time come, many of them grew wearier as the clock ticked, but they didn't dare imitate Thain.
What if fiend came, those who slept would be goners.
The woman in black wool came near Thain: "Do you really sleep?"
Thain opened his eyes and cast her glance, she was the first to introduce herself, and her outlook wasn't bad, he remembered her name, Moonwinder.
"Yea." Thain replied, then closed his eyes.
Moonwinder inspected him, his breathing becoming smooth, and was awed that he really slept.
Doesn't this man fear at all?
Squintting her eyes, Moone wondered whether it worth investing in this guy. She then aborted the thought, it was too soon to decide. That can wait until tonight passed. Then she looked at the muscular man near her, besides Thain, this man is probably the strongest man in the group.
"Sensing anything?" He asked.
Moone's gift was danger sensing, she could sense when the fiend come.
"Nothing..." She abruptly felt a jolt in her heart mid sentence.
She trembled in fear.
Needless to say, muscular man understood what was happening. He sprung up with agile unmatch his frame.
He took a deep breath, and let out a shout, grabbing 'Moonwinder' and sprinted outside the livingroom, toward the front yard.
The others could only see two red lights in the sofa's shadow on the wall.
Those were crimson eyes!
Red lights shifted, a pitch black figure that resembled a mud fiend appeared from the shadow.
The two women nearest it started screaming, but the fiend snatched their throat.
Two soft 'crack' resounded, and they stopped moving.
Another man who was rather far tried to scream, but his shadow suddenly moved, stuffing his mouth and nose. The man's shadow pushed him on the ground, his eyes widened, struggling to break free.
The 4 remaining players got the hint, they stuffed their mouths, ran for their lives outside the living room.
The mud fiend ignored them, it looked at the choking man until he ceased breathing. Then it look at the last living man in the room.
It's Thain warping himself in the blanket. Sleeping safe and sound.