16 Silent Echoes

〙Penalty Quest Initiated.〘

The sky was brown.

Azuma gazed at the muddy color for a while before continuing down the uneven path. No winds were blowing inside the small town, there was no sound besides the constant humming of some heavy machines.

The tall buildings were desolate but not empty.

It has been three hours since the cryptic message appeared on Azuma's tablet. He has not been able to sleep after that, the image of Tenma was still fresh in his mind.

When the call came through, he nearly fell from the bed.

The caller informed him that his grandfather died.

He has been in the sick bed for many years. It was no surprise and Azuma was not really sad. Instead, a part of him was relieved to know that he can spend some time in a place where technology barely existed.

Nagoya was one of the abandoned towns.

Zero can not hack anything there.

"Can you smell that, Jerry?" a sweet childish voice asked.

There was no smell.

Azuma slightly tensed up at the sudden sound. He could swear he didn't hear the woman come so close. The alleys were quiet, but his mind was not and so he forced his heart to calm down.

He must be absent-minded.

There was a chuckle before the girl answered her own question, "reminds me of wet and rotten vegetables, like the pungent stench of long gone meat. It smells like a monster…the most…most monstrous of them."

Something about her soft words caused a shiver to run down his spine. Azuma could feel a faint smell, exactly like what she described.

It was making his pace more hesitant.

He wanted to stop.

"No... no, it's lurking in the shadows. I saw it last night. Jerry... It's hiding, waiting. It wants to eat me."

Azuma glanced back.

What the—

His face was mortified.

No…

There was no one right behind him, but a shadow was slowly walking from the very end of the alley. It was too far but Azuma could make out the long boney legs, a crooked beak but a beautiful white bird that resembled an ostrich.

Its small brain was bashed and spilling, a large golden eye watched Azuma.

A pained gurgle left it, "I–I can't feel my legs…"

Azuma had forgotten how to breathe. He took back a staggering step. The mimicking creature stopped and crooked its neck on the side.

No…

Then, it ran.

It was a blur as it crossed half the distance within a few moments, Azuma tried to run but his feet were numb. He wanted to fight, but horror dawned upon him when he remembered his neuralink was deactivated.

He had no weapons.

No skill sets.

Azuma dashed inside a store. The door was broken and the place inside had no lights, but if he was fast enough, he could find a place to hide.

He tried to remember his training.

Only Ethereum could kill an abyssal beast, but they can be stunned with electricity or fire. There has to be something Azuma could use inside the store.

There was a loud clamor that sounded too close.

Azuma didn't dare look back, nor could he bring himself to remain in the store and search for things when an insanely fast monster was chasing him.

He cursed under his breath and fought the rising panic before dashing through a green door and locking it immediately.

The door trembled with a loud thud, and a sickening sound of moist organs being crushed.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The monster was bashing its own head against the door.

Azuma's hand was covered in a cold sweat as he stood rooted on the spot. His breaths were shaking, numbness twisting within his gut as he forced himself to keep moving.

The noise continued.

He climbed the staircase in front of him and didn't stop until his feet were sore. His heart has now started to ease, but the shadow of fear was desperately clinging inside.

Azuma found himself facing a storeroom. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but there were many boxes. He placed a hand on the wall and tried to steady his breath.

He felt too hot and yet cold and numb.

The monster won't follow him now, and even though he was trapped in such a strange old place, there has to be some sort of communication device nearby.

A few incoherent voices made Azuma feel a flicker of hope.

They were coming out from the tainted windows.

He opened them just enough to be able to see outside.

There were two kids on the balcony nearby, one of them seemed to be the older sister and she leaned over the edge of the balcony curiously. She looked down at the mimicking monster.

Her younger brother was nervous.

They shared some words too low for Azuma to hear, and so he followed their gaze.

The monster was looking up at them, it walked here and there in impatience but never moved his eyes from the two kids.

And then, something shifted.

Azuma flinched, "H-hey! Watch out!"

The kids both looked at him oddly, the girl was confused but she slowly moved her eyes back.

A bashed head was right behind her, with a bulging eye and spilling brains. It has stretched out from its neck.

"Huh?!"

It was too close.

Azuma backed away from the window.

The kids would definitely go back inside, he told himself. They will be safe behind the walls, he repeated as he moved back, and he repeated again when a shriek pierced the air.

There were sobs, the thudding sound, and the cries of the kids that echoed too loudly inside the room even though they were faint.

But Azuma had nothing to fight with.

"Argh!!"

"Get—get away!"

He was never supposed to encounter the beasts without neuralink, he felt disabled. He could have done anything if only he was not in such a state.

Azuma closed his eyes shut, his mind reeling back to what he has trained. But the first thing he learned was that a dead trooper can save no one.

"Whaaa—!!!"

"Monster! Go away!"

"...p-please."

Azuma clenched his fists, but that didn't stop the uncontrollable trembling of his hands. His knees were going weak, and a fire of self scorn was burning inside his heart.

"Somebody help!"

He couldn't move.

"Hold on!"

"PLEASE HELP US!"

Something burned behind his closed eyes as Azuma clenched his jaw tight. There was a sharp throbbing pain in his head.

"ACK!"

A cry tore into the air as Azuma grabbed onto the nearest thing he could find and flung it outside the window, aiming straight at the monster.

"GET BACK, YOU FUCKING EGGHEAD!!!"

The head was trying to drag away the girl while she barely held onto the railing when the printer slammed onto its half-rotten head and made it wobble back.

It suddenly jerked towards Azuma.

The large golden eye was slightly out of its socket, blood trickled down the white feathers.

"STOP STARING, DUMBNUTS!!" Azuma screamed at the top of his lungs, " COME ON!!!"

This gave the kids enough time to run back inside their room and as the head came toward Azuma, he too immediately closed the windows and rushed inside.

The glass was shattered with a loud noise.

Azuma stumbled on the ground, digging his knee into a shard. Pain exploded through his body. But the monster was coming.

He gritted his teeth as he pulled out the broken glass. Hot blood and chilling pain seeped through his clothes.

Things happened too fast, the rotten scent overwhelmed Azuma as he felt the monster advance at a frightening speed.

The glass sank inside his palm as he tightly clenched it. There was a flicker of scarlet before he whirled on his feet and dashed towards his death.

〙Penalty Quest Reached.〘

Goal: Please try to survive.