"Gather together; don't stay away from the fire. We still have the tables and chairs to use if there's not enough firewood."
"If necessary, we can use our clothes. As long as the house persists to withstand the rainstorm, we will be safe around the bonfire."
...
"Weiss! The roof can't be repaired anymore! What to do?!"
The wind howls, and the heavy rain drenches the men around the large hole on the roof.
Even the torches around were on the verge of extinguishing out.
"Leave it! The wind is too strong; we can't resist staying here any longer. Immediately come inside; no matter what, don't let the fire on your torches burn out!"
The man with the scar on his face immediately shouted and opened the door to another room where women and children were already in, surrounding a bonfire.
The men immediately moved and entered the room without saying anything.
Crack.
The roof suddenly creaked, and another piece was sent flying by the raging wind outside, making the hole widen.
'What a disaster! Ugh—'
Weiss, as the last one to enter the room, immediately felt a tight, gripping feeling just now, seeing the darkness consume everything after he closed the door shut.
"Is everyone safe?"
However, as a veteran hunter, he could quickly come back to his senses, regain his calmness, and be filled with courage once again.
Turning around, he wiped the cold sweat mixed with rainwater sliding down his cheeks as he asked around.
"No!! Open the door! My brother isn't here!"
Suddenly, a middle-aged man came shouting with wide eyes, looking around in panic.
"What?!"
Everyone's hearts immediately sank after hearing that. Weiss clearly observed them back then and saw no one left behind before coming in.
"How could that be?! I entered the room last!"
"Open the door! I'll search for him!"
Pushing Weiss away, the middle-aged man recklessly opened the door with a torch in hand, which he stole from Weiss.
The wind blew and raged as it found another vent to its outlet. However, the middle-aged man stood there in dazed.
"Hurry, close the door! Close the door before our bonfire goes out!"
Weiss pushed the door closed with another man successfully. Just as he was about to let his anger take over and give the man a lesson,.
In the next moment, a middle-aged man standing in like a statue for a while suddenly fell to the ground and fainted.
"Father! Father!"
"Husband, what's going on?!"
Everyone seems to forget about how he was shouting for his brother just now. Even when the wife and her children continue to ask in panic,.
'Its here! That damn...monster!'
The hunters were silent and seemed to feel something around them. They looked at each other in the eyes and saw the horror in them.
"Suppress those fears! We're hunters! We faced them with bravery!"
Weiss shout immediately woke the men out of their frightened state. However, they now all knew the answer in their hearts.
"His brother must have been taken by the monster without us noticing."
"He has seen it. I don't know if he can survive after experiencing that fear."
The hunters trembled and bowed to Weiss, who was sweating bullets and leaning with his hand on the door and his knees bending a bit.
They all knew it took great courage to come out of that fear and even gather strength to shout those words amidst them.
Aside from strength, this kind of willpower was also the reason why the men around were respectful to Weiss.
"Hurry, check him up."
Weiss pointed at the fainted middle-aged man before he couldn't take it anymore and sat down with heavy breaths.
'Too bizarre. How did that monster took one of us silently? I didn't know it can even do that!'
The two hunters near him immediately nodded and kneeled down with their trembling hands and knees to check on the man.
The women and children seem to know the gravity of matters and remain as quiet as they could be.
Only the burning fire's warmth can give them some security they deeply cherish at this moment.
"He's safe."
After hearing that, the people around heaved a sigh of relief, along with the tearful-eyed wife and child.
"What about his brother?"
The wife of the middle-aged man suddenly asked.
However, the hunter didn't speak; instead, he looked at Weiss with help.
"Well, look for him when the rain subsided. Don't worry, he's a big man. He knew how to keep himself safe."
This is the only thing Weiss could find in his vocabulary to say. And it's not a lie, that is, if the information they had is true.
'If that monster can also do things physically aside from those pranks, then we might have underestimated this monster.'
'We...might have been fooled. Monsters, an intelligent one for the first time. That man might have been already dead.'
But Weiss and the hunters can't say it. There's always hope in every hopeless situation.
...
'So where am I? After I got pulled down by the shadows, I thought I'm going to die, but here am I in this forsaken place.'
It was dim, but Juan could still see that he was in a room with the help of his only torch at hand. A very familiar room, but everything seems dull and gray.
'This room... is where I was just now. But it also looked different. There are torches, but there's no flame burning. Ceth wasn't on the bed either.'
Juan doesn't dare to move around. Standing still while observing everything around him. For a while, he had unknowingly calmed down.
The fear, the unexplainable excitement, the sinking feeling of despair, and the reckless courage and passion of youth seem to disappear.
What replaced them was calmness and unrealness.
'I have been standing here for more than a minute. I think it's time to take some action and look around. There seems to be no danger for the time being anyway.'
'Even if there was, I can only face it since there's no other choice I've been given. Sigh, this is why I don't want to take a risk. When I do, it's a moment of life and death.'
Holding the torch and javelin with his hands. Juan left the room and stepped into the dining area.
'Even this place... is the same. However, it's dull and seems grayed. This is not the place I know of. Should I go out and take a look? '
When thinking of going out, Juan suddenly looked above him in surprise.
A realization suddenly dawned on his eyes as he understood something.
'There's no sound of rain, claps of thunder, or raging movement on the roofs being swayed by the wind. Now this is something.'
In order to feel more at ease, Juan started to do the same thing he had done with his first javelin.
'If I want to feel at ease, aside from torch protection, I need something for a solution. Fire would only repel the monster's tentacles.'
When the javelin head started to heat up and turn red, only at that time will Juan feel confident enough to back everything that will happen next.
'Fire is too bright and isn't fast enough to eliminate those shadows. But an object subject to fire in my hand isn't that bright but deadly enough.'
'I wonder why Garu hasn't found this method yet. If he had burned their weapon hot red back then, fighting against this monster would have been easier.'
Shaking his head, Juan let the javelin head remain bathed in the torch fire. Then he used his other hand to rip a piece of his clothing to be fueled by the torch.
After doing that, I saw that the torch fire could last longer. Juan finally decided to go out and look outside.
As for the things in the house,?
'There are torches, firewood, and cloths around, but I can't touch them easily right now. There are still many unknowns that need to be discovered and answered.'
'But to go out, it's necessary to touch the door. It's already risky, but I won the bet. It should be safe, I think.'
Opening the door outside, what appeared before his eyes was the familiar village.
Looking around him, although there was no sun, moon, or stars above, The sky was still covered by dark clouds.
Yet it wasn't dark, nor was it bright. No rain, raging wind, thunder, or flashes in the sky.
The whole village looked gray and dull, as though they weren't real but more like a replica of what he could remember.
'Indeed, this is not the real [Greenfield Village] that I know. Instead, this is a world created by that shadow.'
A world! Unbelievable but facts told him so.
'How surprising for a monster to create a world on its own. Did I also underestimate the monsters of this world? I wonder how big this place is.'
Although he was curious, Juan didn't want to leave where he was right now because he was afraid of being in a wider area while in a strange and dangerous place.
He was in the light, while the monster was in the dark.
'Being in it's territory. Is it still hiding? '
There was not a sigh of its shadow around him at all.
However, he wasn't the least bit feeling safe. Instead, he raises his guards and keeps on observing his surroundings.
Time passed, and Juan's patience is running thin.