Anna and Kenzo walked to the door of the study on the third floor. The light filtering through the windows was still yellow, but because Grace had been there earlier and opened all the curtains, the room was still bright. Anna quickly went to the bookshelf, took out a dictionary, and placed it on the desk, but she didn't leave immediately. Instead, following Grace's instructions, she opened the desk drawer and took out all the diaries inside.
Kenzo looked a little surprised. "Sister Anna, what are you doing? Let's just grab the dictionary and leave quickly."
"The last few days in this diary record Victor Ravencourt obtaining the golden statue of the prayer. If we find the diary from the following year, we might be able to figure out how to use it! Kenzo, come and help me search quickly. You don't need to read everything, just look for relevant entries from the days after that!"
This was also why Anna had volunteered. Out of selfishness, she didn't want to involve too many people in this. Kenzo had been there when she initially found the golden statue, so it was naturally fine for him to know. Adding another person might complicate things.
"Oh, okay," Kenzo said, immediately coming over to help search.
"I thought you would object," Anna commented.
"Haha, I'm not particularly smart, but I know what you're doing is useful, and Sister Grace is also doing useful things. You want to help us survive, right?"
Anna nodded. "I suppose so, but only within my capabilities."
"Are all girls like this at this age?" Kenzo laughed, picking up another diary. "My sister is about your age, and she also likes to speak in a very roundabout way. I don't understand it, but I know you don't have any bad intentions, right?"
"Your sister, you mention her often."
"Yes, her name is Christine. I can introduce you to her when we go back. She has many friends, and you'll definitely get along well with her... ah, is this it?"
Anna quickly took the diary from Kenzo's hand and looked at the open page.
[ The research on the sunny
Golden Statue on January 5th has almost concluded, and the results are gratifying. As rumored, it is indeed imbued with a strong aura, and it can even suppress attacks from evil entities. However, being a prayer object, it needs to be branded to provide temporary protection. Although this effect is very powerful, it is only temporary. What a pity. ]
"Yes, that's it!"
The diary then described the method of use that Victor Ravencourt had researched: heating the pattern at the bottom of the golden statue with a flame and branding it onto the human body to obtain protection against evil spirits. Testing had shown it to be effective against many evil entities, but the effect only lasted for the first branding. This was why Victor Ravencourt lamented that its effect was powerful but ultimately limited.
However, for Anna's current situation, this temporary protection was enough.
Creak.
A slight sound from the floor made Anna, who was highly focused, suddenly raised her head.
"What was that sound?"
The study floor was covered with thin carpets, so even footsteps were muted. The creaking sound could only have come from the corridor.
Kenzo also turned his head to look at the open study door. After a moment, another faint sound echoed, this time like someone stepping into the room and onto the floorboards.
However, they saw no one enter.
Anna instantly grabbed the dictionary from the table, took two steps back, and leaned against the bookshelf. With each slight creaking sound, she became certain that something was moving from the doorway towards them.
"Run!"
Kenzo roared, charging towards the source of the sound. Unexpectedly, he wasn't blocked by anything and slammed headfirst into the doorframe, letting out a yelp of pain.
Anna was momentarily stunned but quickly reacted, scrambling over the top of the desk and rushing towards the door. The footsteps that had entered the room also immediately turned and moved towards the door again!
"Hurry, Kenzo, let's run now; it can't catch up with us!" Anna pulled up a dazed Kenzo, and the two stumbled out of the door, shouting as they ran towards the stairs. However, the study was in the middle of the corridor, about ten meters away from the staircase.
The corridor was already dark; the curtains had been drawn at some point. A clear creaking sound reached Anna's ears – the sound of the ghost leaving the room.
"Help!"
Fear was the last thing on Anna's mind as she screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping to attract the attention of those downstairs. After Kenzo had taken a couple of steps, he finally regained his balance. Just as he let go of Anna's hand, they heard more rapid creaking sounds from behind.
"Ah!"
The more dangerous the situation, the more likely things were to go wrong. As Anna ran forward, Kenzo's foot suddenly gave way, and a section of the wooden floor snapped in half, causing him to fall through.
"An... Anna! Save me!"
Hearing the cry for help, Anna turned around and immediately saw Kenzo's wide eyes. Both his arms began to bend backward in an unnatural way. With a distinct cracking sound, blood spurted from the tears in his flesh, splashing onto her face along with Kenzo's screams.
"Ahhhhhh—it hurts—it hurts so much—ahhhhhh——"
Kenzo struggled to pull his body out of the hole in the floor as if that would allow him to escape, but it had no effect. After his arms had contorted behind his back in a bizarre position, his legs also began to bend backward.
"Help... help, ah ah ah ah ah ah..."
As blood continued to spurt, Kenzo's voice grew weaker and weaker. He could only stare at Anna, who was so close. However, Anna felt a chilling coldness spread through her limbs. Even taking a single step felt impossible. Her mind seemed to go blank. Save him? How? Use the golden statue? Find a flame and brand Kenzo with the mark.
Even she recognized how ridiculous that idea was. She finally understood why Victor Ravencourt had deemed the statue so useless. In their current situation, it truly was.
Finally, Kenzo's head also bent backward. When his neck snapped and tore, more blood sprayed onto the ceiling and poured down onto Anna's head and face. The heavy but still struggling body finally stopped moving, but it wasn't over. A tremendous force tore his stomach open from the navel, and his internal organs spilled out, disappearing into thin air with a sickening chewing sound.
When the blood had begun to congeal, the unseen force that had been supporting Kenzo's body vanished, and his corpse hit the floor with a soft thud. Throughout this horrifying spectacle, Anna simply stood there, her eyes wide open, staring at everything, completely still.
...
"How long had it been?"
A hand waved in front of Anna's face twice. Seeing no response, it grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard.
Anna slowly turned her head and saw Beom Seok's somewhat haggard face.
"Where have you been?"
Anna's appearance was gruesome. Large patches of semi-coagulated blood smeared her face and body, and her eyes held a terrifying emptiness. Moreover, her tone was so flat, devoid of any emotion, that even Beom Seok felt a chill run down his spine.
"Sorry... We heard the noise, but it was chaos downstairs at that time..."
"Chaotic?"
"Elizabeth died." Beom Seok sighed, stating it directly. "She died in a very strange way. The candle flame in her hand instantly turned blue and then quickly returned to normal. I only considered it as a warning, but I didn't expect the level of chaos a real warning would cause."
"Yes... That's it."
Anna slowly turned her body, but her knees buckled, and she collapsed to the ground.
Beom Seok quickly helped her up. "Are you... Are you okay?"
There was no answer. Anna leaned on Beom Seok for support as they slowly walked to the stairs and went downstairs. The scene downstairs was less chaotic now, but there were also fewer people. Noah squatted at the foot of the stairs, looking annoyed. He looked up and was shocked to see Anna covered in blood.
"What happened... Could it be?"
"A ghost killed someone." Beom Seok nodded upstairs. "Kenzo is dead. She witnessed the whole thing. Don't ask so many questions."
"Where is that woman? Where did she go after something like this happened?"
Angry curses from the upstarts echoed from the corridor. Soon, everyone realized that Grace was missing, and a wave of condemnation arose.
"You usually act like the leader, but where is she at a critical moment like this?"
"Two people died, and one of them was her teammate, right? What was she doing by herself?"
"Does she even understand the severity of the situation?"
Anna turned her head slightly and glanced at the people still in the corridor – the three upstarts, Elizabeth's companions, and even the couple and the two band members from Beom Seok's group looked somewhat indignant.
Grace... had she done something wrong?
"Don't think too much." Beom Seok gently took the dictionary that Anna was still clutching tightly, tossed it to Noah, and then helped her slowly descend the stairs.
"How did Elizabeth die?" Anna suddenly asked.
"When she was examining the manuscript, her head suddenly tilted, and she died. Lily only discovered it when she brought her coffee. She screamed and ran out of the room. We also saw the flames change color, and everything became chaotic. The strangest thing is that Elizabeth still had a smile on her face when she died. You know... it was like a mocking or 'I understand' smile, which was very unsettling."
Even with this description, Anna felt no fear – compared to the horror she had just witnessed, it was nothing.
And she also realized that she wasn't immune to fear. When confronted with something truly terrifying, she was just like everyone else – paralyzed, her limbs weak.
The more she thought about it, the more she admired Grace's courage. However... when Grace returned, Anna feared that an even more disheartening situation awaited her.
Beom Seok helped Anna sit down on a chair, poured her a glass of water placed it beside her, and sighed softly.