Chapter 22: Labyrinth of Shadows (4)
*Tak-tak-tak-tak-tak!*
I ran back to the place of those possessed humans when I figured out something.
The cryptic messages were telling me a story and were a big clue to finishing this trial.
Reaching the outskirts of the town, I saw the church and the altar again.
The possessed townspeople were still roaming around it and worshiping it.
If the shadows around were not corrupting me, I would've taken my time to look out for more clues, but for now, this place seemed to be my best shot.
The cryptic messages stated that exit was out in the open and was bound to my worst fears.
My only fear so far were these ghostly figures. And out in the open was only one thing—the altar.
I probably had to destroy the altar, but there were many challenges that lay in that.
If these possessed figures did not have something to worship, what would they do? Will they run around like headless chickens or go to the town and kill everybody?
What if the altar was not the exit? If the possessed figures began causing trouble, then it would be all for nothing.
There was so much at stake and I had no idea what to do. At last, I decided I should just go destroy that altar.
I took my sword out and made my way towards the altar. However, before I reached the possessed people's radius of attention, someone grabbed my shoulder.
"Hero, you must not!"
A man in a tattered tunic pulled me away from the possessed figures and warned.
He reeked of alcohol, but it wasn't as strong as the ones from the tavern.
The man shook his unkempt bearded-face and said, "Hero, if you plan to kill those people, then you must not."
"Why?" I asked, even though my goal was something else.
"Hero… those people…" The man looked at the possessed figures. "…they are ones that keep ghouls away at night. If it wasn't for them, we would not be safe even at night."
"What?" I asked, not understanding.
"Yes. Those people…"
Like an unskippable cutscene, the NPC of the quest dropped some heavy lore of the medieval town on me, making me truly understand what the cryptic voices of the shadows were.
The possessed figures roaming around the altar were the doing of an old magician.
Long ago, the kingdom got cursed and grotesque creatures—the ghouls—attacked.
Their bite caused a widespread plague and almost collapsed the kingdom.
In the name of the plague, some men took advantage of the situation and tried to r*pe women. A young girl was captured by some of these men and hurt badly.
Angered by the cruelty, her grandfather, the old magician, came out and performed a ritual to wipe out everyone present, but the young girl pleaded him to not punish innocent ones.
It was slightly too late and the ritual wasn't stopped completely.
People were sacrificed to the altar, but weren't killed fully, thereby being unable to enter the reincarnation cycle. Their remnant souls wandered freely and possessed the townsfolk every single day.
The townspeople would come here every night and worship the altar. On the day they would not remember what had happened the night before, and go about their usual business.
Due to this altar and souls, the ghouls did not attack at night, so the townspeople were somewhat safe.
The daytime was a different story, and everyday was a struggle.
The NPC man asked me to not hurt those possessed folks or kill the remnant souls. If I did that, I would cause ghouls to seep deep into the town and kill everyone present.
This altar and souls were the only thing keeping it safe so far.
I was now put in a dilemma.
From what the NPC had said, instead of one choice, I had two of them now.
The quest would finish either at this altar or if the plague and ghoul situation of the town was solved.
I could either destroy the altar or heal the townspeople and kill the ghouls.
I had north of 48 hours and hurting those possessed people didn't seem like a good idea.
Killing monsters would result in gain of points and killing humans lead to deductions.
Though, if someone had a high score in the previous rounds, they could make do with the killing in the labyrinth by destroying the altar and leaving immediately.
However, if someone did not have it, they had to clear it through the normal route.
Given how my luck was, I was pretty sure that if I tried to take the easy way out, it would fuck me up. How? I had no idea. But I had this feeling that it would.
Keeping the man's words in mind, I parted ways with him and went to the tavern to take some rest. Tomorrow I would check up on the ghoul situation and see what could be done.
The next day.
I had a lot of food. Hunger caught up to me and I realized I needed food and water to survive.
The lady, my mother, did say that she cast a food spell on me that kept me afloat without food and water for many hours. I was grateful to her for that and realized I would need more of those things in the future. They were quite useful.
With how much shit had gone down so far, I missed that motherly love that I got on the first day of my reincarnation. It felt so warm and peaceful…
Sadly, even if I wanted to experience it again, I might not get it. I would only put my mother and family at risk and could become the reason for their deaths. I would be totally broken if that ended up happening.
That's why, even if I may have accepted her as family, I couldn't be with her.
I had only spent a day with her, but it was enough love to last a lifetime.
I would be at peace wherever I went, knowing I at least had a family somewhere and wasn't an orphan. I could admire them from a distance and…
Sigh… what depressing things am I thinking…
I thought to myself as I walked outside the tavern, towards the dwelling of ghouls.
I was a man destined to be alone, so I should not try to mess with destiny. It would be best if I focused on conquering the Tower because that way, I would have all the bad luck removed and may get to live a moderately okay life.
Maybe one day I would be able to reunite with my family and live. Until then, I had to persevere and work hard.
Outside the town I reached. Nobody stopped me from venturing out, but many followed and watched from afar.
Men were ready with their weapons to defend against the incoming wave of ghouls.
I clutched my sword once again and left the gates of the town, venturing on an adventure in hopes of changing my destiny, one step at a time.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone