The man sprinted toward the bodies, his movements frantic and unsteady. Dropping to his knees, he scooped them up in trembling arms, tears streaming freely down his face. His anguished sobs echoed in the stillness, raw and unrelenting, as though the weight of the world had crushed him in that single moment.
With shaking hands, he turned the bodies over, desperate for some flicker of recognition or hope. What I saw froze me in place, a cold dread coiling around my chest. Their faces—those small, innocent faces—were gone, erased as if they had never existed. In their place was a horrifying void, an empty nothingness that seemed to pull at the edges of reality itself.
I stood there, paralyzed, my mind struggling to comprehend the impossibility before me. The sight was unnatural, an abomination that defied logic and humanity. It wasn't just death—it was something far worse, something that stripped away their very essence.
Broken and hollow, the man lifted his gaze toward his house. The front door stood wide open, swaying slightly in the breeze, as if inviting him into the abyss. A dark, glistening trail of blood stretched from the threshold and disappeared inside, its crimson path stark against the wooden floor.
Letting his children's lifeless bodies slip from his arms to the cold ground, he rose on unsteady legs. His tears had stopped, but his chest heaved with shallow breaths. Clenching his fists, he stumbled toward the house, driven by a mix of fear, desperation, and a seething need for answers
Inside, the air was thick with the metallic tang of blood. At the entrance a scene both familiar and soul-crushing awaited him. His wife lay crumpled on the floor, her body twisted in an unnatural pose. The sight sent a fresh wave of anguish crashing over him, but he pressed on, his movements mechanical and numb
Dropping to his knees, he reached out and turned her body over. His breath caught in his throat as the nightmare repeated itself. Her face-like the children's-was gone, replaced by a haunting void, a blank nothingness that seemed to mock his grief
Something inside him snapped. All the tears, the cries, the humanity drained away, leaving behind a hollow shell. The man stood, his eyes devoid of life, his movements slow and deliberate Without a word, without hesitation, he stepped over his wife's mutilated form and continued into the dining room, the blood trail guiding him deeper into the house--and closer to the thing that had taken everything from him.
As the man entered the kitchen, his body trembling with rage and despair, something inside him finally shattered. A guttural scream tore from his throat as he dashed forward, driven by the primal urge to confront whatever had stolen everything from him.
But the scene before him froze him mid-step, his breath catching in his chest. At the dining table sat his wife and children, alive and whole, laughing as if nothing had ever gone wrong. Plates of food were neatly arranged, the clinking of silverware punctuating their joyous conversation. The sight was impossibly normal—too normal.
And yet, something was profoundly wrong.
The man's eyes darted over them, his mind struggling to reconcile what he saw with the horrors he'd just witnessed. Then, slowly, he noticed it. A faint outline, like a shimmering distortion, hovered behind each of them. The shapes were enormous, inhuman, and they seemed to pulse and shift as though alive.
His family's faces, though seemingly intact, wore unnaturally wide smiles, stretched just beyond the limits of what was humanly possible. Their teeth gleamed unnervingly in the dim light, their eyes unblinking as they stared at him. It wasn't joy on their faces—it was something else entirely, something that sent a cold, paralyzing dread coursing through his veins.
The man stumbled backward, his heart pounding like a war drum in his chest. He wanted to believe this was real, that his family had returned to him, but the wrongness of it all clung to him like a suffocating weight. The laughter continued, growing louder and more distorted, until it filled the room, drowning out everything else.
Somewhere deep inside, he realized the truth—this wasn't his family.
Then, suddenly, everything stopped. The cacophony of distorted laughter, the eerie smiles, the shimmering outlines—they all vanished in an instant. I felt a jolt, and before I could process what was happening, I was transported back to my original body, finally regaining control.
I staggered, disoriented and trembling, as the weight of everything I had experienced bore down on me. Images of the man's anguish, his lifeless family, and the twisted reality of that house swirled in my mind like a storm. And then, like a flash of lightning, a revelation struck me, freezing me in place.
The man I had been attached to—the one whose every thought and emotion I had felt as if they were my own—looked exactly like the monster that had lured me to this house. The connection was undeniable, yet impossible to fully comprehend. My mind raced, piecing together fragments of memory, trying to make sense of the grotesque truth unravelling before me.
Before I could delve deeper into my thoughts, a sharp chime echoed in the air—a notification. My heart sank as dread crept up my spine. What now?
[You have used the item: "The Last Survivor's Diary".]
[Floor-clearing reward has been upgraded.]
[Reward increased from one random F-rank skill to two random E-rank skills.]
Seeing the upgraded rewards, a sense of contentment washed over me. This floor had tested me in ways I hadn't anticipated, but now, I finally felt ready to move on to the next challenge.
Before proceeding, however, curiosity got the better of me. I decided to take a moment to review the full list of rewards earned on this floor—an opportunity to assess my progress and prepare for what lay ahead.
Opening my status screen, I navigated to the rewards tab, my heart pounding with a mix of excitement and anticipation. There, nestled among the rewards, were the two random skill boxes. With a deep breath, I clicked on the first one, eager to unveil the potential hidden within.
[You have used two random E-rank skill boxes.]
[You have gained the skills: [Stone Skin] and [Sword Aura].]
Checking my status, I noticed two new entries in the skills tab, freshly added and ready to be explored. Clicking on them a description appeared.
Skill name: Stone Skin
Mastery: Level 1
Effect: Double the user's durability
Duration: 2 seconds
Cooldown: 1 minute
Progress to next mastery level: 0%
Skill name: Sword Aura
Mastery: Level 1
Effect: Increase the sharpness of your sword
Duration: 10 minutes
Cooldown: 30 minutes
Progress to next Mastery level: 0%
Seeing the new skills, a sense of satisfaction washed over me. With a quiet resolve, I uttered the word "Proceed," and in an instant, that familiar blinding light erupted around me.