This alley was a shortcut between the school dormitories and Building A. Since it also ran past the stadium, the gymnasium, and the building where the school's clubs were based, there were always people here, quite a lot of them, in fact.
It was easy to imagine what had happened to them when the fog appeared.
And now, Saya was standing face-to-face with those unfortunate people.
They stood there silently, completely motionless, like grotesque statues. The Faceless behaved strangely. It seemed as though they couldn't even see Saya standing there.
"Maybe it's because they don't have eyes? But then how was the one from earlier able to attack me if it couldn't see me? Was it because I threw a rock at it? So they react to sound."
Saya decided to test her theory.
She picked a Faceless that was separated from the others and closest to her, about ten meters away. Then she threw a stone beside it.
The monster immediately turned its head toward the stone before slowly walking over to it.
"It works!"
With that, Saya lured the monster away from the others and closer to her. Then she quietly circled around behind it and crept closer.
According to her plan, she would stab the scissors into the back of the monster's neck and finish it off cleanly.
It should be easy.
Step by step, Saya approached the monster. It remained standing in place, staring blankly into nothingness, while Saya held her breath and quietly edged closer.
And then, when she was only a few meters away...
Suddenly, the monster turned its head.
Its entire neck twisted a full 180 degrees backward, its grotesque face pointing directly at Saya. Instantly, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion washed over her, as though all the air in her lungs were being sucked toward that face.
Relying entirely on her survival instincts, Saya blindly thrust the scissors into its body. The blades sank into the monster's side, but they didn't seem to have much of an effect.
Panicking and unable to think, Saya slammed her head into the Faceless's face.
CRACK!!
A sharp pain shot through her, and Saya's forehead throbbed so badly that tears welled in her eyes. But the overwhelming exhaustion was gone.
Saya immediately yanked the scissors out of the Faceless's side. This time, she took careful aim and drove them into the monster's neck.
The monster struggled and lashed out at her, but since Saya had gotten behind it, it couldn't reach her. And she had no intention of giving it a chance to turn around.
Saya knocked the monster to the ground and straddled its back. Gripping the scissors tightly, she stabbed again and again.
One strike after another plunged into its neck. Red blood sprayed everywhere, splattering across Saya's face. Before long, the monster stopped struggling.
A translucent character floated out of the Faceless's body, and Saya immediately snatched it out of the air.
Another Strength-type Origin. And this time, it was worth 0.2 points.
Saya let out a breath, then began rummaging through the monster's pants pockets. After being attacked by the Faceless earlier, a thought had suddenly occurred to her, and now was the time to confirm it.
Inside the monster's pocket, Saya easily found a wallet. Inside it was a student ID card.
"Just as I thought!"
This thing had once been a human, but another Faceless had sucked away its identity and soul.
The thought that she had nearly ended up becoming something like this made Saya feel intensely nauseous. Her beautiful face turned into something resembling a wax-smeared mannequin? Absolutely not.
How lucky she was!
But Saya knew that relying on luck alone wouldn't keep her alive for long. She needed something more reliable.
She needed to become stronger!
Saya began looking around her to see if there was anything she could use as a more convenient weapon than the scissors. They were too short and required her to get dangerously close to her enemies, which was far too inconvenient.
Not long after, in a trash can by the roadside, Saya picked up a piece of wood that looked like it had once been a table leg. It was thick, but small enough to hold with one hand, sturdy and not too heavy for her. On top of that, it was quite long, about the length of hers arm, giving her a much wider attack range.
Satisfied with her new weapon, Saya returned to the work she had been planning to do: clearing the way.
She was no longer afraid of the Faceless standing separately from the others. They only knew one tactic: charging straight at her. Because of that, Saya had a much greater advantage with the piece of wood in her hands.
Imitating the swing of a baseball player, Saya swung the club with all her weight and strength. Every strike produced a very brutal sound.
And when the other Faceless were attracted by the sound and came over, Saya would quickly back away, making sure not to enter their attack range. In case they blocked the entire path, she would use the noise to lure them somewhere else.
At first, Saya wasn't strong enough to deal with an enemy with just one blow, even if she hit it right in the head. The monster would only be knocked off balance, and she would have to follow up with a few more strikes.
However, after Saya dealt with several of them and obtained more Strength points, the change gradually became clear.
Saya no longer needed to follow up with more strikes. Her blows could now cave in their skulls and immediately kill the enemy.
One swing, and everything was over.
Saya gradually got used to the red and white stuff splattering out whenever she struck an enemy's head.
At first, it was truly disgusting. Even though their faces had disappeared, there was no denying that they had once been human, and the thought that she was killing people made her feel sick.
Saya wished she could throw up. Maybe it would make her feel better, but right now, she didn't even have time to vomit.
Then Saya gradually got used to this feeling. The feeling of wanting to be sick disappeared, and instead, she began counting the amount of Origin she had obtained.
The Faceless didn't only drop Strength-type Origin; they also dropped a new type of Origin: Endurance-type Origin. Usually, they only had a value of 0.1, but every now and then, a 0.2 Origin would appear. And only once, Saya saw an Origin with a value of 0.3.
And after many experiments, Saya also understood the characteristics of the Faceless fairly well. Basically, they couldn't see, but they could hear clearly and would always move toward wherever a sound came from.
Besides that, they also had a special kind of instinct that allowed them to detect humans even though they couldn't see them. Whenever Saya entered a range of about two or three meters around them, she would immediately be detected and attacked.
It wasn't because of any sound at all. They simply knew that she had come close, as if they could sense her soul.
Applying this, Saya moved while trying to avoid stepping into the sensing range of the crowd of Faceless. Even though she had become much stronger, she wasn't sure she could fight back if a dozen of them charged at her at the same time.
Fortunately, they reacted to sound, so the trick of throwing stones always worked, and Saya could avoid most of the enemies.
And then, as Saya passed by the dormitory, she heard someone calling her.
It was faint, but when everything around her was so quiet, she could hear it extremely clearly, and it was coming from the dormitory.
Turning her head toward where the sound came from, Saya saw a survivor.