Chereads / Paladin of the Gods / Chapter 6 - STORM SURGE  

Chapter 6 - STORM SURGE  

"Grandmother, how on earth did that man know where our house is?!" Frieda's stomach dropped when she turned around to question her grandmother and saw that she appeared to be different.

The appearance of Freida's grandmother changed and took on a more sinister tone. While this was happening, two horns began to emerge on her forehead, and they were pointed enough to resemble those of a goat. Her grandmother's teeth morphed into fangs and each of her fingers was transformed into a pointed claw.

Freida did not recognize the elderly woman who was standing in front of her as her grandmother. It was some sort of monstrous creature that was attempting to imitate her grandmother instead. Seeing all of these, Freida became even more anxious about the potential harm that they might have caused to her grandmother.

She immediately turned her attention back to the blind man, who was now making his way closer to Freida, and she yelled at him in a furious tone, "Where did you take my grandmother?!"

Both of Freida's fists are clenched. Her chest was tight with anger, but at the same time it was filled with worry. Rage at the situation in which she found herself, which was one in which she was trapped and unable to escape, between the hideous monster and the blind man who was drawing closer to her side. And at the same time, she was anxious because she had no idea what might have happened to her real grandmother at this moment, and she was worried about it. The only thing she was aware of was the possibility that these two individuals were responsible for the kidnapping of her grandmother.

Without any idea of how to get out of the situation, she was helpless. In the event that she made the decision to flee and was successful in outrunning them, her grandmother might have become their next victim. This outcome would not have been desirable given that her grandmother was too old to defend herself from these two monsters.

As the blind man finally made his way closer to Freida, he answered Freida's concern by saying, "Don't worry, your grandmother is still secure for the time being."

"What do you want right now?"

However, rather than responding to her, the blind man simply grinned at her before breaking out into a hoarse laugh that echoed throughout their entire hut. The sound of the blind man's laughter continued to play over and over in Freida's head, as if a malfunctioning stereo were playing the same song over and over. Because of this, Freida felt both uncomfortable and aggravated at the same time. She found his particular brand of laughter to be very irritating.

The kind of laughter that he has can be described as both terrifying and deep, but it is also laced with sarcasm. Freida was even able to draw comparisons between his laugh and the laughter of various monsters that she had seen in movies. Never in a million years did she think she'd encounter one in real life.

She felt shivers run up and down her entire body, which instantaneously caused her to stand still out of shock and terror. Even the thought of screaming for assistance was too difficult for her to do. Considering the circumstances, she is experiencing an overwhelming sense of helplessness right now.

Meanwhile, the blind man is continuing to laugh in an extremely disturbing manner. And Freida's nervousness and horror are triggered by the situation, which causes her to lose her sanity over it, which is a scene that Freida finds particularly upsetting.

She tried to push through it by forcing herself to move, but sadly, as soon as she did, the creature that was impersonating her grandmother expanded its hands like rubber bands and ensnared her by twirling its elastic hands around her waist. She was unable to maintain her resistance against such a strong hold on her lower body, and the next thing she knew, she was already being pulled back to where she had come from.

Freida made an effort to scream for assistance, but her efforts were in vain because the monster's other free hand immediately wrapped its elastic hand around Freida's mouth. She was able to smell the putrid odor that emanated from the monsters' skin, and it made her feel like she needed to throw up. Because of the offensive odor, which was strikingly similar to that of a decomposing organism, she found that she had to occasionally suppress her breathing in order to adjust.

Suddenly, the blind man inched closer to her face and murmured, "The unseen is already waiting for your arrival."

Freida tried to struggle again but it was only futile for the monster that had seized her within its grip was too strong for her to subdue. Freida made another attempt to struggle free, but her efforts were fruitless because the monster that had her in its grasp was too powerful for her to be able to overcome.

The blind man combed Freida's jet-black hair while his fingers slid down to her jaw and ended up cupping her chin. He did this so that he could continue to touch her. After bringing her chin slightly closer to his, he murmured something that Freida found even more disturbing and said, "That is if you survive the storm." Freida's reaction was one of complete shock.

After his words, the blind man together with the monster abruptly vanished in the thick fog that had been surrounding her entire house. After he finished speaking, both the blind man and the monster suddenly dissipated into the dense fog that had been surrounding her entire house up until that point.

After suppressing her breath for a considerable amount of time, Freida had a hard time catching her breath as she tried to soothe the soreness in her throat. She was on the verge of throwing up, but luckily, she was able to control herself in time to prevent it. The very first thing that came into her head was to look for her grandmother as soon as she could.

"Grandmother?!" She shouted over and over, but there was never any response to her cries. She looked throughout the entire house, but she was unable to find any trace of her grandmother anywhere.

She was on the verge of giving up when suddenly, from the direction of the front door, a bright light illuminated, almost making it impossible for her to see. At the far end of the area illuminated by the strong light, there was a silhouette that appeared to be the figure of her grandmother standing outside. Freida didn't waste any time and bolted in that direction, but she was taken aback when she found herself plummeting into a bottomless chasm of pitch-black wilderness.

"Grandmother!" As Freida pulled herself back up to her feet, she yelled for her grandmother as loudly as she could muster. This time around, she discovered that she had returned to the streets of Itum city.

As she lay conscious on the street, she began to consider the possibility that everything that had transpired had been a dream the entire time.

"Freida? Freida, what happened to you?!" Freida was brought back to herself by the sound of a male voice she recognized.

Frieda was delighted and relieved to find Boran beside her as she searched for the source of the voice. Because of her reflexes, Freida was compelled to immediately wrap her arms around Boran and she was unable to stop herself. Even she was surprised by her sudden action, but she assumed that given the circumstances, Boran would eventually understand.

Freida reached for her throbbing head as she pulled herself away from Boran in order to respond to his question. When she responded with, "I couldn't remember so much," she couldn't even look at him directly through his eyes. "The last thing that I remember before passing out was that I had just finished crossing the street." she even added.

She couldn't help but lie. Frieda anticipated that no one would believe her if she disclosed everything, beginning with the time the blind man helped her and continuing all the way up to the point where she was stopped in her dream. A dream so terrifying that it would be more accurate to refer to it as a nightmare.

"I'm glad that I was able to spot you from a distance while we were traveling this route." Boran said while gesturing toward the girl who was standing behind him.

When Freida turned her head to look at the gorgeous girl who was standing behind him, a sudden flash of memory began to revolve around her head like a filmstrip. The very scene that had caused her heart to break earlier in the day came flooding back to Freida as her jade eyes fixed on the brown eyes of the girl who was standing behind Boran.

As Freida looked at the girl's face, which had light beige skin, she had the thought that her own beauty was nothing compared to the girl's. Because there is no denying her stunning appearance, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that Boran would eventually develop feelings for someone like her. She appeared more like a potential model who was just waiting for modeling agencies to spot her thanks to her brown hair. Boran was very fortunate to have her as his girl because she was a true treasure.

When Boran saw that Freida was staring at the girl who was standing behind him, he immediately had the realization that he had not yet brought the two of them together to meet one another. "I'm sorry, Freida, but I completely spaced out on introducing you to my cousin. I would like to introduce Louisa. We are one year ahead of her and have only recently transferred to the university in the previous academic year. And Louisa, this is Freida. She is a classmate of mine and my thesis partner." Boran said.

"The situation may have been a little odd, but it was nice to finally meet you, Freida," Louisa said as she drew nearer and extended her hand. A cheery greeting was offered by Louisa. Because of the heavenly quality of her smile, Freida found it impossible to harbor ill will toward her for very long.

As a matter of fact, she made a mistake by harboring negative feelings toward the two of them in the first place because, the entire time, she was under the impression that the two of them were dating when, in reality, they were actually cousins. Freida hung her head in shame as a result of the revolting things that came from her imagination.

"Uh, Freida. I'm hoping this isn't an inconvenience for you, but would it be possible for us to move somewhere else? Aside from the fact that we were already beginning to stir up trouble with all of these people surrounding us—" Before continuing his statement, Boran took a sudden pause to look up at the sky. After doing so, he then continued, "—the sky tells us that a thunderstorm could come around any time soon. We needed to get going."

Freida cast a fleeting glance upwards for a few seconds, and sure enough, the ominous-looking storm clouds had already obscured the vast majority of the sky above them, just as Boran had said. Even the light breeze that the wind was blowing was no longer gentle because there were so many dead leaves scattered across the area.

Boran immediately assisted Freida and took her to a nearby café, which was not that far away given that the city of Itum appears to have a lot of them around.

Frieda continued to have difficulty looking either of them in the eye once they were inside the coffee shop. She continued to feel embarrassed about how she had thought about their relationship with one another. Even though Boran and Louisa were totally unaware of the unsettling behavior that Freida had been displaying toward them, it continues to worry them that she might still be in some sort of shock about what might have happened to her back in the streets.

Boran was unable to maintain his silence for much longer once he realized that Freida had not uttered a single word to them since the moment, they entered the coffee shop. He eventually took the initiative to speak with Freida, but whatever he was going to say was abruptly cut off by a breaking news story that was broadcast on the LED Screen television that was hanging on the wall of the coffee shop.

"Breaking news: the local government of Itum hereby suspends all classes and work in order to keep everyone safe from the massive and extremely powerful super typhoon that is about to hit the city within the next six hours. Because the typhoon was measured with a destructive wind speed of 315 kilometers per hour, we are advising locals from the lower nearby areas to please evacuate as soon as possible in order to avoid any possible casualties."

The moment Freida heard the news, she jumped up from her seat and immediately stood with both of her hands shaking in shock. "I need to go home now."

"Freida?" But Freida appeared to be oblivious to Boran's voice as he repeatedly called her.

"I'm sorry, I—I need to go see my grandmother."

Freida bolted the moment she stepped outside the coffee shop, resolved to return home without delay in order to protect her grandmother from the powerful typhoon that is about to make a massive surge in the city and the towns in the surrounding area within the next six hours.