Chapter 16 – The Cursed Notebook
After Alice left, Luke took off his cloak and put on his old clothes underneath to combat the cold. Putting the cloak back on, he felt warmer.
"If the armor takes too much damage, it disappears, destroying itself. I don't want to risk taking a hit in the sewers and ending up naked…"
Preparing for his last tasks, Luke boiled the water in the frying pan and drank it once it had cooled a bit. He didn't care that the water was lukewarm; he gulped it down eagerly.
FINALLY! I managed to drink water after all this time.
Leaving the forest, he arrived at the asylum grounds. Walking through the garden, he avoided the angel statue, which now seemed much scarier. Reaching the door, he summoned his hammer and entered.
Inside, he took a good look around. It hadn't been long since he was there, but somehow things felt different.
"What the hell happened here? Something feels off."
As he walked through the place, he noticed something bizarre that absolutely shouldn't be there. On the floor was the...
Notebook!
A chill ran down Luke's spine.
How is this thing here? How? Impossible!
At that moment, his suspicions were confirmed.
A cursed item, a damn cursed item!
Luke hadn't dared to touch or even look too closely at the notebook the first time he saw it, suspecting it was some kind of cursed relic. According to scarce reports, certain cursed items existed. The knowledge of these items was made public to alert the population to avoid the worst. Cursed items are gateways for malevolent entities and the whispering beings. It's unknown if these cursed items are directly linked to the whispers or how they came to be. The theory is that these items harbor strange and malevolent powers that can contaminate the soul and mind of those who use them.
Clyde said we were probably the first humans to set foot here since this civilization fell… When I opened that door… the notebook must have sensed my prana. It's been there for so long… that it doesn't matter if I touched it or not.
Luke was scared but decided to ignore it. He knew that as long as he didn't make a blood pact and resisted the entity's temptation, he would be safe.
If these items were so powerful, they would have ended the world. As long as I don't offer my blood to that thing to bind it to me, nothing will happen. And I'm not crazy enough to seek power from unknown entities or things like that. It probably can only move within the grounds where it was sealed, meaning it can only appear to me here in this asylum. If not, it would have followed me out. It's trapped and wants to use me to escape.
Continuing his walk, Luke followed his path to the barred door, ignoring the notebook.
Reaching the door, he saw the Lair Boss lying there.
The bastard stays here all this time like a king.
With his hammer in hand, he moved silently until he was very close to the monster and struck its head with his hammer.
A piercing scream echoed.
'AAAAAARH!'
What the hell, is this skull made of steel?
Luke was thrown away by the monster's tail, crashing into the wall.
I feel like if it weren't for this armor cloak, I'd be in trouble right now.
The monster turned toward him, and Lucan phased through the wall, disappearing into it and reappearing beside the creature. He needed to lure the monster into the labyrinthine corridor before finally making his way to the exit. If he went straight for the exit, the monster would break through the barred door to reach him. Lucan needed this advantage since the monster didn't have easy access to the asylum's exit.
Running and drawing the monster's attention, Lucan was followed closely, hearing the creature's clicking noises. The monster crawled almost on all fours, lacking eyes but possessing a jaw full of sharp, thin teeth. It didn't even have a nose, its skin was a pale pinkish-white. The most bizarre thing was that Lucan noticed several eyes on the monster's leg.
Lucan sprinted, the monster chasing him, screaming and clicking. Its jaw formed a grotesque smile, and its scream sounded like two voices, accompanied by a clicking noise. Though it had no ears, the monster could hear him.
Diving through a wall, Lucan didn't dare strike the monster again. He fell into the corridor where Clyde had been dragged and got up, running toward the exit.
I'm not taking any chances; I'll play it safe. If this thing goes back to its lair, I'll try the same tactic again.
As he ran, he ignored the notebook but was shocked to see something that changed everything.
"The exit door is gone!"
For a moment, he felt foolish for thinking he'd made a mistake, but it was impossible. Looking at Clyde's blood trail, the barred door leading to the lair, and even the notebook on the floor, he knew this was the exit corridor… unless…
Unless that damn notebook somehow moved it!
He laughed and walked through the wall where the door should be, but to his surprise, he found nothing but more wall. He walked back.
A wall, just a damn wall. How? There's supposed to be a garden on the other side… it's a wall!
His intangibility made everything appear dark when he passed through objects, so he knew he was inside a wall when his vision went black. Somehow, the structure had changed, and there was no garden on the other side. His exit no longer existed.
Staring at the black notebook on the floor, he barely had time to think when he saw the monster approaching slowly from the ceiling at the end of the corridor.
"This just keeps getting worse…"
The monster started running, and Lucan phased through the wall, falling back into the lair.
A roar of rage came from the creature.
'ROOOAR!'
Taking a better look, he saw several items on the floor where the monster slept, one catching his eye.
A canteen!
His joy was short-lived as the monster quickly tore through the barred door with its teeth, forcing its way in. Lucan tried to reach the canteen, but the monster's fury was too great and swift.
As it approached the center of the nest, the monster jumped in, ignoring the injuries it sustained from the broken iron bars.
The monster landed in the nest's center, crushing the canteen under its foot.
"You really have a thing against canteens, huh?"
Pushed away, Lucan activated his intangibility and fell through a wall, landing in a dark room, crashing into wooden furniture.
The monster roared. Lucan quickly stood up, thankful for his Midnight Mantle. While considering his options, he summoned his hammer. The door shattered with tremendous force, sending pieces flying. The quadruped creature stood on its hind legs, glaring at Lucan and letting out a terrifying scream.
Trusting his instincts, Lucan dispelled the hammer and phased through the wall behind him, landing back in the corridor.
I need to get out of here.
He started running through the labyrinthine corridors. His instincts told him that, with the monster's current level of rage, it wouldn't stop chasing him even if he went to another floor.