"How could this have happened?"

The Team Leader crouched down, ripples spreading as his steps disturbed the blood pooled on the ground. His gaze moved across the symbols etched into the surface, studying them in silence. By all accounts, it should have been perfect, yet something about it felt off.

But where was the issue?

The Team Leader’s frown deepened, his finger tracing along the floor as the candles around him flickered, their dim light wavering. There was a noticeable shift in the room, the air turning heavier.

The Team Leader’s brows furrowed even deeper as he noticed it.

"Something isn’t making sense."

Extending his hand, he noticed the temperature had dropped several degrees. Though he kept his composure, a faint unease lingered as he scanned the room, his gaze eventually returning to the old wooden door.

His thoughts drifted back to the moments just before what had happened to Cedrick.

He heard the low tumping sound. Could it have been related?

The Team Leader’s steps quietly moved in the direction of the door as a certain thought crossed his mind, "Is it him...?"

His thoughts drifted there before he pursed his lips.

"It shouldn’t be possible. From what I managed to see in the conversation with that anomaly, he shouldn’t be here until tomorrow. That compass of his... it pointed the right way. Did he change his mind?"

The Team Leader couldn’t dismiss the possibility. It was plausible, and his expression grew more serious for a moment before his usual calm quickly returned.

"Even if he’s here early, I’ve done enough to ensure that he won’t be able to get out of this alive. By then, I’ll be able to take the Lesser Key from him."

Closing his eyes, the Team Leader lowered his gaze to the ground. He stared at the pooling blood, then down at his clothes, where a few dark stains had spread. His eye twitched slightly, and his hand rose toward his neck, stopping just short as he forced himself to still.

Taking a deep breath, he reached for the old, rusted handle and pulled the door open. A long, narrow corridor stretched out in both directions, the flickering lights above barely illuminating the space. Doors lined the walls on either side, their worn surfaces fading into the dimness.

Stepping out of the room, the Team Leader paused, his gaze sweeping both sides of the corridor as his eyes narrowed.

’If there really was something, I should’ve felt it by now. However, it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone here besides me.’

Reaching into his pocket, the Team Leader retrieved a small pocket watch. A slow, steady ticking filled the corridor as he closed his hand around it, the sound echoing softly in the surroundings.

Tick! Tick—!

The longer he held the pocket watch, the faster the ticking became. Before long, it was the only sound he could hear, drowning out everything else. It continued like that for several minutes before it abruptly stopped.

When it did, the Team Leader slowly opened his hand, his gaze falling to the pocket watch as he checked where it was pointing.

But—

"Nothing...?"

Both hands had come to a complete stop at 0:00 a.m.

There was no one else nearby.

Having spent a considerable amount of SP over time and used it on numerous occasions, the Team Leader was fairly certain there were no other humans nearby. Even so, he didn’t fully trust the result. Every item came with its own limitations and side effects, and none of them were ever completely reliable.

"I’m sure I didn’t imagine the sounds. Is it possible that it came from a distance? Could the other Guilds have made it here? Did they figure out that I’ve taken Cedrick and tracked me here?"

His brows furrowed tightly.

The silence around him felt loud.

"...Given how I was the one responsible for this operation, unless it’s the Guild Master of the Reverence Cloud Guild, I should be the only one who knows about Cedrick’s date of birth and Zodiac sign. No... There’s also the BUA agent, but I’ve taken measures against that. Could it be that this was a trap from the start?"

The Team Leader reached into his pocket and tossed a small orb into the air. It lit up as it hovered, its surface shifting until it displayed the image of a compound. Watching it for a moment, he nodded faintly.

"Yeah, everyone is still there."

He reached out and caught the orb, the image fading the moment his fingers closed around it. It wasn’t Seth, nor was it anyone from the guilds.

Then what was the problem?

Putting the orb away, the Team Leader stepped toward a nearby room and pushed the door open. The moment it creaked ajar, a familiar scene greeted him. A thick, metallic scent of blood filled the air, strong enough to make most recoil. Inside, a figure lay in the center of the room, their body twitching and heaving, breath ragged as blood spread across the floor in all directions.

The candles flickered wildly, casting shifting shadows across the entire room.

Loud cracking sounds reverberated through the room as his body twisted unnaturally, bones snapping and shifting beneath the skin. His frame contorted again and again, the sight grotesque enough to turn anyone’s stomach.

There were no screams. As the Team Leader’s gaze swept across the room, the violent spasms ceased all at once.

"—!"

The Team Leader’s brows furrowed, a sense of unease settling in as he stared at the creature before him. The silence pressed in from all sides. Enough to feel suffocating as he took a single step forward, the sound echoed through the room as the candles stopped flickering, settling into a calm and steady dimness.

All of a sudden, the air turned colder, and the creature twitched.

Twitch. Twitch.

Not once, but twice, the Team Leader stopped. A deep sense of suffocation swallowed the room as the candles flickered weakly before going out entirely, plunging everything into complete darkness.

But through the silence, he could still hear it.

Twitch. Twitch. Twitch.

The steady, repetitive twitching came from the figure before him. It grew faster, more frantic, until it blended with the sharp clanking of chains. The sound rang through the room, loud and incredibly jarring, filling every corner as the Team Leader stood perfectly still.

CLANK! CLANK—!

The rattling continued, growing stronger with each passing moment.

The Team Leader felt the strain in the chair as a low, muffled cracking sound echoed through the room. By now, it was clear something had gone terribly wrong. He took a step back, but the moment he did, a sharp, shattering sound rang out as something hard struck his foot before rolling across the floor.

"——!"

Consequently, the room fell into complete silence, a heavy sense of oppression settling into the darkness. In that stillness, the Team Leader caught it... a faint, unmistakable breath that wasn’t his own, marking the presence of something else in the room.

Remaining calm, he stepped backward, his hand lowering to grasp a small piece of paper before flicking it forward. The moment it left his fingers, the surrounding darkness began to recede, and a single outline emerged within his vision.

It stood only a short distance away, facing him directly. The sound of its breathing grew louder in the darkness, its focus entirely on him.

The Team Leader’s expression faltered at the sight, his heart sinking as a sharp cracking sound echoed through the room. The figure twisted abruptly, its head snapping back as its arms and limbs jerked upward at unnatural angles.

Cra Crack! Cra Crack!

And then... It lunged toward him, closing the distance in an instant.