Chapter 38 - Corpse

With immense relief, Niko looked around. After surviving such a calamity, there was a huge weight that had been lifted off of his shoulders, however, a new weight had been placed as he was in a place he knew nothing about.

There were only two lanterns with them now so the yellow hue that it emitted made the whole room layered with a yellow color. Although there were two of them it wasn't enough to light up everything, as there were some dark spots here and there.

From what Niko could see, there were some empty chairs spread out throughout the room, as well as several wires on the ceiling that spread throughout like veins, whilst others hanged. There was also a wooden door opposite to the one they had entered through. The door looked old, but sturdy, as the spherical patterns on it were revealed by the yellow light of the lantern.

As everyone was analyzing the spacious room Niko was able to get an idea of everyone's skills and level. The highest level to his surprise was Dharma with the same skill called [Demonic Whirlwind Palm]. This monstrous human came in the same group as him and was already level nine! Unbelievable! Niko simply could not accept it! There must be some kind of secret in this guy. The second highest levels were Priya who had an ability called [Fearsome Stab], and Singh with the ability [Precision Throwing], at level eight. The lowest levels were the members of Nikos group.

Suddenly...

"Ahh!"

A startled scream sounded from the side and everyone turned to look, in a fighting stance. Andrea who had screamed jumped back as well with her fists up and legs ready to kick, as Ivanic who had a lighter began to approach it slowly.

Like the rising sun lighting up the world, the lantern began to reveal the object that startled Andrea, or rather the thing.

As the light began to reveal more and more, they felt their hearts drop and their blood run cold. Their eyes widened at the sight that was ahead of them.

The room was quite spacious so it wasn't easy to see everything at first sight, but the fact that they had missed a human corpse made their blood run cold.

The man sat hunchbacked on the chair with his eyes and mouth wide open. His head was tilted sideways, as there was an expression of surprise and craziness on his face. The eeriest part which made everyone step back was the missing parts of this corpse. The eyes, tongue, and private part of the man were missing, and throughout his whole naked body were small bite marks that were surrounded by dried blood. The two black holes on his face where the eyes used to rest were a scary sight, it was like two black holes had been planted on his face. The missing tongue also gave an extra scary vibe from the corpse as the dried chapped lips of the man revealed yellow crooked teeth, as well as another black hole in his mouth. Lastly, the last black hole was on the bottom part of his body, as it looked like whatever did this to him, made sure to take his privates as well. Truly a gruesome fight.

This sight made them think about themselves. If this man died here with such terrible wounds, what would happen to them? Someone being dead wouldn't surprise them much, but it's the circumstances that they were given that made things much more serious.

Niko tried to use his [Celestial Probe] Skill on the corpse but he received information that didn't answer any of his questions.

As everyone stared at this corpse silence filled the air. There were faint sounds of water droplets slowly hitting the ground with a long time between each hit. There was something going on and they had no clue what. Was this guy someone from Earth? What happened here? What did this to him? So many questions rose into their minds as they saw this.

Niko was ashamed to say it, but he was scared. He was definitely feeling fright at this moment, and he didn't know how he should honestly be feeling, but maybe fright is the normal response to such a sight.

"He didn't die long ago." Ivanic spoke giving everyone a bit of information, and continued, "Whatever did this to him wasn't one thing, but many… And they were ruthless…"

"...Many…" Zheng shuddered to hear this.

Many enemies that were capable of this were a frightening thing!

Niko felt much more alert than before, his heart was beating as fast as a submachine fired bullets, there was a strange feeling in the room. The shadows cast on the walls due to the lanterns added to the feeling in the room, making everyone else also on edge.

"Come on guys… There isn't much to see here, let's just keep on mo-" Sing was speaking trying to lighten the mood until he suddenly stopped.

"Did anyone else see that?" Singh asked pointing at the wooden door they had yet to explore.

"See what?" Fumito asked confused.

Everyone was already on edge, anything happening now, was simply making them even more on edge.

"I saw… The door moved…" Kyle said.

Suddenly making everyone step back and get into a fighting stance once more, the door began shaking. It shook harder and harder every second. Sweat began to run down their foreheads, why couldn't they catch a break?

Were the pigs back? Was there a new foe that came to take their lives? Only one thing they were certain of and that was that whatever was on the other side, was about to come in.