Chapter 8: The Darkness of the Night

The night was like ink, a storm was coming.

　　There was a staggering figure running away from something in the black pressed mountains and forests.

　　She was a good-looking, delicate woman.

　　The woman's face was painted with makeup and she was dressed fashionably, not like a resident of a nearby village or town, but dressed like a tourist who should have been from a city.

　　She ran through the mountains and forests, the bushes and branches scraping all over her body along the way.

　　But even so, she did not slow down, as if there was something terrible chasing her in the darkness behind her.

　　And the light that had been getting closer was like a lantern in the night for her.

　　"Almost there, almost there...!"

　　"I don't want to die, I don't want to die!!!" The woman cried out in her heart, hope blooming as she saw that the light was getting closer and closer; the hope in her eyes was getting stronger and stronger.

　　Finally, she crawled across the last section of the steep slope, to the temple gate with cobblestones bound together by cement built in front of the open flat ground.

　　"I-I-Is there… is there anyone there?! Help, help me!!!"

　　The woman used almost all of her last little bit of strength to scream for help, while falling in front of the closed door of the temple, her right hand on the old door, trying to push it open, but she could only find that the door had been chained.

　　"Open, open the door, open the door quickly..."

　　Her hoarse voice revealed a deep despair.

　　The few remaining bits of strength that she had could only sum to a mosquito-like, faint sound on the door panel.

　　In the end, she did not even have the strength to speak...

　　The woman fell limp in front of the gate, her chest panting violently akin to the bellows of drumming.

　　"Haaaa, haa..."

　　She looked back into the darkness, clenching her lips, letting out a small, whimpering sound within her throat.

　　Perhaps in the next second, the "monster" would burst out of the darkness and drag her into the abyss of despair.

　　"Please, someone, open the door...."

　　The woman whimpered.

　　Creak-

　　At the most desperate moment in the woman's life, a sound like heavenly music suddenly rang out from behind her.

　　The door of the monastery, which was so dilapidated, as if it would fall down once the wind blew, opened as she wished.

　　The woman jerked back and a straight, soft light emerged from the monastery and shone on the bridge of her nose.

　　As the wooden door opened, the light that hit her nose expanded, filling her eyes and eventually enveloping her entire body.

　　Her trembling body was frozen for a moment.

　　Then--

　　The woman saw a clean-faced teenager, and her watery eyes slowly widened.

　　The face that was revealed in the soft light was like that of a portrait painted by a painter striving for ultimate perfection, painting out stroke after stroke on a canvas, trying to hide all visible flaws.

　　'So beautiful...'

　　Even if the current situation was urgent and dangerous, she still, untimely, sighed at the outstanding looks of the young man in front of her.

　　The person who had opened the door of the temple for the woman was Mo Yu, who had just filled his stomach.

　　At the moment, there was only darkness that lay as far as the eye could see.

　　Mo Yu just glanced at the wretched woman, and then turned to look at the deep and oppressive darkness ahead.

　　In that direction, there was a gauzy glow of numinous power in the darkness that could not be judged by the approximate spacing.

　　"A person? Or something else?"

　　Mo Yu stared at the cloud of nen gas in the darkness, silent.

　　Whatever it was...

　　Since it could make the woman in front of him so wretched and desperate, he thought that it was not a good thing.

　　The woman finally reacted, lying on the ground with her arms around Mo Yu's calves, crying hoarsely: "H-Help, help me, something is chasing me... my friends were all killed... "

　　"Tell me clearly, was it a person or an animal?"

　　Mo Yu still did not bother to look at the woman, keeping his attention on the nen in the darkness in front of him.

　　The other side kept standing still.

So, he could only keep watching.

　　Hearing Mo Yu's question, the woman hesitated for a moment and whispered: "I, I was just running for my life... I didn't see what it was, but I heard the screams of my friends, he, they..."

　　Speaking intermittently, the woman suddenly looked at the light in the monastery that had brought her security and whispered a plea, "C-C-Can, can you let me in?"

　　"..."

　　Mo Yu did not say anything, but just stepped to the side to give her some space.

　　Seeing Mo Yu's action, the woman instantly understood. And so, despite having little strength, her will to survive was strong enough to the point that she crawled through the doorway, squirming like a worm.

　　Then, she strained her neck to look up at Mo Yu, wanting Mo Yu to quickly close the door.

　　Only then did the woman notice, as an afterthought, that Mo Yu was staring at the direction she had come from.

　　It seemed that from the time the door had opened, the teenager in front of her had never moved his eyes.

　　'Can he... see it?'

　　The woman's gaze was dull and only this possibility came to her mind.

　　But in search of more security, she did not have the energy to look deeper, all she wanted was for Mo Yu to quickly close the door and call out everyone in the monastery.

　　"L-L-Lock, lock the door, the monster is coming..."

　　The woman begged breathlessly.

　　If she hadn't been paralyzed with exhaustion, she certainly wouldn't have pleaded with Mo Yu and would have run straight into the temple.

　　"If all your friends have been killed by the "thing" as you call it, then what do you think this broken door that even a schoolboy can kick down can do?"

　　Mo Yu looked calm, and his tone was smooth and strong.

　　The woman looked at the wooden door that was pushed by the breeze, creaking, unable to say even half a word.

　　At the same time, she found that Mo Yu was excessively calm, simply not like a teenager should behave.

　　"T-T-Then, then you should call out all the people in the temple..."

　　"I'm the only one here."

　　Mo Yu casually replied and then saw the dark nen in the distance finally move, slowly pressing towards their position.

　　"Why, why are you alone...?"

　　The woman froze when she heard that Mo Yu was the only one living in the large temple.

　　A broken door plus a teenager who was no more than sixteen years old... could they not stop the monster who had killed all her companions in the mountains and forests?

　　The woman fell into a deep despair.

　　Mo Yu did not have the heart to take into account the woman's current mood.

　　Although Mo Yu didn't know what the woman meant by "monster," he could confirm that this so-called "monster" knew how to use nen, which meant that it could pose a threat to him.

　　If the woman hadn't come here for help and had died in the mountains instead, she wouldn't have brought the trouble along with her.

　　But at the same time, he would not have known that there was such a dangerous existence in the mountains and forests of his backyard.

　　Anyway -

　　From the moment the woman collapsed in front of the temple gate, Mo Yu had known that there was no way he could stay out of it.

　　Fortunately, he now had the means to be able to counter the nen.

　　"Come in."

　　Moyo watched the movement of the nen while stepping back.

　　"Can you help me up..."

　　The woman looked at the retreating Mo Yu and begged.

　　Mo Yu did not say anything and just shook his head.

　　Given the current situation, the "lady in distress" in front of him, who appeared to be completely harmless, was still within his scope of vigilance.

　　Seeing that Mo Yu was so cold, the woman could only squirm and try to crawl into the monastery.

　　Only she didn't notice that -

　　The teenager in front of her surprisingly had no shadow despite being under the light's reflection.