Chapter 21: The Hollow. (Part 1)

The distinct sound of a loud church bell resonated in the air above them. 

'So it's begun...' 

The bell rang three times, and after the final clang, an eerie silence fell across the village. All the awakened had seemingly hidden themselves well. No one dared to make a sound. 

Given how their lives had been constantly threatened from the moment they began, they feared that a single noise might cost them their lives, especially after the hint they received. 

'It's quiet...' Dawn looked up at the flame in the sky, noticing it slowly start to decrease in size. 

His gaze then shifted to the screen in front of him. 

[Quest Title: The Secluded Village of the Hollow.] 

[Objective: Survive for 30 minutes undetected in the secluded village, evading the 'Hollow.] 

[Time remaining: 29:54] 

'Thirty minutes, huh… Just what-' 

Dawn's thoughts were abruptly interrupted, and his heart skipped a beat. Something in the center of the village had started to move. 

Step! Step! Step!

The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the village as a figure moved slowly. Its presence was foreboding, sending shivers down Dawn's spine with each step it took. 

'It's moving...' 

It didn't seem to be walking in their direction, so Dawn seized this chance to lean over and peek over the wall. 

Upon seeing the figure, his eyes widened. 

'What the hell is that...?' 

The thing... no, creature, was a disfigured mass of dark flesh shaped like a human. He couldn't see its facial features as it was turned away from him, but he could see its back as it walked.

The figure stood tall and moved slowly, taking long strides. Most notably, it cast no shadow. The longer Dawn observed it, the stranger its existence seemed. 

But he didn't have much time for observation. 

Suddenly, a fleshy eye ripped open on the back of its head, staring in the direction of the building Dawn was hiding behind. Dawn quickly concealed himself before the eye could spot him. 

'Did it notice me?' He wondered, his heart pounding in fear. 

Penelope, who had been peering over his lap as Dawn peeked over the wall, was curious about what he had seen. But when she tried to lean over to look, Dawn quickly restrained her. 

She looked up at him, blinking, and he shook his head in response, giving her a nervous smile while signaling her to be quiet.

Heeding his request, she nodded and covered her mouth with her palms.

Meanwhile, the monstrosity continued its slow, purposeful stride—step after step.

'Thirty minutes is doable... It's just one creature... as long as everyone stays hidden—'

"Gaaaah!!" 

Dawn's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden blood-curdling scream that echoed through the village, shattering the silence. The scream was abruptly cut off, replaced by the gruesome sounds of bones crunching and shattering.

Then, once again, silence. The only sound that remained was the creature's ominous footsteps.

'Someone's been found already? And killed just like that… It's only been a minute—'

Dawn's thoughts were once again cut off by another scream that reverberated through the village.

"Aaaarrghh!!"

The scream was full of pain and fear, enough to shake every one of the awakened to their core.

But like before, the scream was abruptly silenced, replaced by the grisly sound of bones crunching and shattering before quiet returned. 

The footsteps resumed as if nothing had happened.

Trembling, Dawn noticed that the flame in the sky flickered after the crunching sounds rang out.

'The flame… it could just be a coincidence, but if my guess is correct… the flame flickers each time someone dies… is there some sort of meaning behind it?'

Step! Step! Step!

The sound of those footsteps had become haunting to every awakened hiding. The victims caught by the creature didn't even have a chance to fight back before being killed. It was over in an instant. 

The only way to survive was to avoid being caught and to remain silent. 

Dawn glanced down at Penelope, who was huddled on his lap, to check on her. Beneath her wild mess of curly blonde hair, her large, round blue eyes darted around nervously. 

Her palms, trembling, covered her mouth as she tried to remain quiet.

'She's terrified…' Dawn thought. 'If her fear causes her to make a noise and expose us, it would be a problem… I should try to calm her down.'

Reaching this conclusion, Dawn began to pat her head. Her messy blonde hair was soft and comforting under his touch.

Despite trying to soothe her, Dawn quickly realized that his own trembling hands might not be very reassuring. Nevertheless, he kept stroking, finding the action somewhat calming for himself as well.

After a few strokes, Penelope looked up at him. As she blinked at him, Dawn gave her a shaky smile in return.

'Damn... I was trying to calm her down, but I'm just as scared as she is,' he thought to himself.

Recognizing that he was trying to comfort her despite his own fear, Penelope resolved not to be a liability. Although her palms still covered her mouth, she gave him a reassuring nod.

At her gesture, relief washed over Dawn. But that relief was short-lived as another bloodcurdling scream pierced the silence.

"Aaaaargh!! Somebody help m-"

Crunch!

The plea for help was abruptly silenced before it could even be completed. The fact that they couldn't see the horrors taking place only amplified the terror.

Time crept by agonizingly slow in this tense atmosphere. For the next ten minutes, the rhythm was unchanging; the echo of footsteps, followed by the discovery of another awakened, followed by their immediate death.

No matter how loudly they screamed or how desperately they begged for help, it was futile. They were slaughtered in an instant, without even the chance to plead for mercy. 

In a little over ten minutes, ten awakened had been killed.

'Even though it moves slowly, it's found ten people in just over ten minutes...' Dawn thought, concern mounting. 'How is it finding us so quickly?'

Dawn narrowed his eyes, his hand resting under his chin as he began to think deeply.

'According to what I had seen, everyone was mostly well hidden, if its still finding us then it can most likely sense our presence the same way we can sense it's presence…'

'If that's the case… I might be in a worse position than I thought.' 

Mastering the art of concealing oneself was crucial to being a spy — a skill Dawn had long since honed. He even possessed a skill, [Stealth Mastery], that made detection even more difficult.

But this was a new world; things worked differently here.

For instance, the existence of a core within one's body that housed an energy which could be channeled to enhance one's abilities—what if that creature could track someone based on their energy flow?

If that were the case, no matter how well they hid, they would be found. Therefore, to avoid detection, Dawn needed to conceal the energy inside him.

This was not something he had been taught to do, nor had any of the other children.

Even so, he had to try. If he didn't find a way, that monster would surely find them. With this in mind, Dawn closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

'It's do or die…'

His heartbeat and breathing began to slow, the trembling of his body ceased, and he became as still as an undisturbed ocean. His very existence started to fade…

[Killer Spy Arts: Inexistence.]

Dawn's presence had become so faint that even Penelope, who was sitting on his lap, looked up in confusion to see if he was still there.

But it wasn't enough. Dawn hadn't yet managed to mask the energy of his core; he could still feel it seeping out.

So, he focused even harder, taking a slow breath. Since he didn't know how to mask it, he stopped channeling the energy within him and instead began to compress and contain it — like putting a lid on a jar.

He was careful not to allow the smallest bit of energy to escape, and sealed the jar of energy.

After doing so, Dawn exhaled slowly.

He had succeeded. His presence was entirely masked.

'This leaves me vulnerable since I'm not channeling energy throughout my body... but I can sense it. My presence is completely hidden. It won't be able to detect me... but that's just me...'

Dawn looked down at Penelope, who was gazing back at him with a worried expression.

'She doesn't know how to mask her presence, and I can't teach her under these circumstances... I can only hope it doesn't come this way—'

Before he could even finish the thought, he felt it once more. That bone-chilling sensation, like a scythe held at his throat, the all-too-familiar impending sense of death.

Immediately following that feeling, it happened. 

Step! Step! Step!

The sound of footsteps... and they were coming straight for them.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me...!' he thought, his heart pounding.