Asa plan was proceeding smoothly.
He controlled a Wendigo to open the basement prison doors and then appeared personally at the entrance of the cell.
The scent of a living human instantly attracted the starving Wendigos; they roared and lunged toward Asa.
In particular, Asa kept making even louder noises, making himself as conspicuous and prominent as a bright light in the dark of night.
As the Wendigos leaped into the sanatorium's lobby, Asa stepped out quickly, and with a'snap,' he tossed a Militech incendiary grenade into the gasoline on the floor.
"Boom!"
A raging fire ignited, intense heat consuming everything as the blast wave sent nearby objects flying.
The Wendigos, who naturally favored the cold and feared fire, were caught in the center of the gasoline; the high temperatures ignited them instantly.
Like early snow meeting the sun, the pale-skinned Wendigos burned violently like dry branches upon contact with the flames.
Consequently, dozens more screaming 'burning men' appeared on the field, frantically trying to extinguish the flames on themselves.
Standing at the edge of the fire, the hem of Asa clothes flapped loudly in the heat waves, but he remained unaffected, quietly watching it all unfold.
Whether his strength was great enough to flip a bus or his reflexes fast enough to dodge bullets, he would never personally enter the fray if he could use tools.
Wasn't the reason humans became the only intelligent species on Earth because they were good at using tools?
[EXP +22][EXP +18][EXP +25]...
[Congratulations on reaching LV3. You have gained 1 Attribute Point. 800 EXP required for LV4.]
As expected, the experience required to level up had increased exponentially.
With exponentially growing experience requirements, leveling up would only become harder in the future.
He hoped to unlock a world full of monsters in the future, like The Walking Dead or The Last of Us—a world full of zombies where he could just farm mobs and level up.
Allocating the new attribute point into Constitution, Asa stats became:
[CON: 22][SPR: 21]
He turned his gaze back to the battlefield.
Once the Wendigos were burned to ash, several glowing orbs of various sizes were left behind; one of them was actually green.
It really was like a game; the drop rate was incredibly high.
As Asa approached the orbs, they were automatically absorbed into his System Space.
The white orbs of varying sizes were identical to the one dropped by Wendigo No. 1; they could either be used as summoning materials for Wendigo Phantoms to fuse with ordinary items, or as materials to strengthen the already-fused Wendigo Hat.
The green orb, however, was a skill material.
[Wendigo's Lure: Fuse this material into an item. You can use this skill to mimic the voice of someone familiar from the target's memory to lure and deceive them. Effect is reduced against those with strong wills or powerful abilities.]
"Whoa, it even has hypnosis?"
But looking at the description, it didn't actually have a hypnotic effect; it just mimicked voices.
Asa originally wanted to fuse them into the Wendigo Shadow first, as five materials could make the Wendigo much stronger.
But on second thought, Wendigo No. 1 was undoubtedly the weakest among the Wendigos. If he was going to nurture one, it should be the strongest Wendigo.
Namely, the Wendigo that Hannah had transformed into.
As for [Wendigo's Lure], Asa used it as a material and fused it into an ordinary ring.
He would test this new skill later.
As a talent from a new world, [monster hunter] had one great advantage: whether he wore the successfully fused items or stored them in his equipment slots, he could utilize their abilities at 100% effectiveness.
Asa could even generate a few more tentacles while in his Viral Aggregate form to carry more equipment.
...
8:00 PM, ten hours remaining until dawn.
Josh was tied up and trapped in the storage room, but the situation had not improved.
The departure of samanatha and Christopher meant the group present was no longer of one mind.
How similar it was—at this time last year, these same people had played a prank on Hannah, leading to Hannah and Beth falling off the cliff to their deaths.
And now, they had made almost the same choice, standing by as their companion was taken away and giving up on the search.
Were they really in the wrong?
The young people were terrified and tormented by self-doubt.
Until a call from outside the door broke the quiet atmosphere in the room.
"Hey guys, come out! I found Asa whereabouts!"
"It's samanatha!"
Ashley was the first to react, heading toward the door in pleasant surprise.
Matt and Emily were a couple, as were Mike and Jessica. Ashley, being single and watching the others in pairs whispering to each other, felt incredibly miserable.
Of the five people present, only one was a'single dog'.
The other four also heard the voice and walked out as well, just a step behind.
But it was that one step that scared the wits out of the two couples present.
They saw Ashley, who had stepped out first, heading toward the woods in front of the villa. Setting aside why samanatha would be hiding in the woods, as the group followed behind, a pale figure blending into the snowy mountain scenery leaped out from the bushes and pounced on Ashley.
It was too fast—so fast that no one present could react.
The joyful expression remained on Ashley's face until she was tackled to the ground by the sudden pale figure.
Before she could struggle, Ashley's neck was bitten. The powerful bite force snapped her neck instantly, leaving half her head lolling to the side as blood from her carotid artery sprayed out.
It was like a heavy snowfall of blood-red.
After snapping Ashley's neck, the figure didn't linger for a second. Dangling its prey, it dove back into the bushes and quickly vanished.
Everything happened so fast that it wasn't until the spray of blood was left on the ground that the group's brains finally processed what had just occurred.
"Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!"
Screams pierced the silence in front of the villa.
In the distance, samanatha seemed to hear a sound.
Was it an illusion?
samanatha frowned, while the bespectacled Christopher behind her asked directly.
"Sam, did you hear a sound?"
"You heard it too? It sounded like a scream."
The two were silent, looking around at nothing but the stagnant snow, the gloomy snowy path, and the occasional streetlamp.
Just now, the two had intended to search for Asa trail, but upon stepping out of the villa gates, they realized they had been too naive.
The heavy snow was still falling, and there were no signs of Asa footprints on the ground.
After searching, Christopher accidentally found a string of strange marks.
"They look like human palm prints, but walking on all fours. Maybe some kind of primate?"
The bespectacled man speculated; he didn't think these marks were related to Asa.
Nearly an hour had passed since they left the villa and almost reached the foot of the mountain, but they had found nothing so far.
samanatha pursed her lips. Though she didn't want to admit it, Asa had likely already...
"Let's go back. We'll call the police tomorrow and figure something out then."
Christopher said. The reason he had chased after her wasn't because he had designs on samanatha, but because a girl walking alone on the mountain in this weather could easily get lost.
If something happened then, it wouldn't just be Asa; Blackwood Mountain's kill count would likely add two more.
"Oi, what are you two doing here?"
As they hid in a wooden hut on the mountainside to deliberate their next move, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside.
Judging by the tone, it was Asa!