As I ran, not looking back, I wondered if I had managed to kill the monster with the stone I materialized. If it did, then the rest of them wouldn't know what had happened. Well… if the corpse dissipated before they arrived. Let's just assume they know I am here. I nearly stumbled into a wall as I ran. It was way too dark, and I was damn tired.

‘Push through!’ I heard a voice ring out in my dull mind, a hard tone that made me straighten up as I ran. The sleepiness was held at bay, as I let my eyes widen up and let the cool air in this hallway push past me. Then something struck me as odd. That air was a bit too cold. It wasn't even this cold outside the gym yet. There was also a breeze that seemed to be pushing away into my face. I slowed to a walk, squinting my eyes as I tried to suddenly gain night vision.

System? No? Fine.

Since I couldn't see anything anyways, I closed my eyes. There was a breeze coming from somewhere unnaturally cold down this hallway. I just had to follow it. Even if it turns out to be something like a freezer… hang on. Freezer. Meat locker. Cannibals with people in the back, to eat at sunrise. People in the back freezer. Wait, why on earth would a gym have a meat locker? Maybe not then.

Anyways, it is down the hallway so it's where I need to go anyways. They are either down this hallway, in a room leading off of it or something, or with the Lestrigonians. Let's check here first. Kill the monsters in a bit.

I roughly followed the breeze down the hallway during the next few seconds. My outstretched hands bumped into a wall a few times, but each time I adjusted myself and walked down the hallway without an issue. I was sure that the hallway was lined with doors here and there, but I went right to the end where there was a door that I ran into. Though, the breeze seems to have stopped, or does not reach here. Probably coming from a-

I had opened my eyes when I reached the door, causing me to stop. There was light down here. A small source definitely, only letting me see it was coming from behind a door a few steps down the hallway and to my right. There were also curls of white cold air coming from under the door as well, making the small glow easy to spot and creating the breeze I had felt as the cold air was pushed from under the door, the hum of air ducts or some kind of fan coming from inside audible now that I was concentrating.

Well… That's not creepy or ominous at all.

So, like every idiot in horror films, I walked right up to the door and swung it open without hesitation. With my daggers out too of course. I wasn't actually stupid. No, I was just special.

I took a second to look before I did anything, staying beyond the door frame. The light had gone out, and it was black everywhere now. I glanced down at my hand, Mystic was still on my fingers, so if there was anything alive in here it would have picked it up. Unless the room was bigger than ten feet and they were against the wall opposite. But that was plenty of distance if there was a monster in here. Plus, most likely they can't see me if I can't see them.

I walked into the room, paying attention to my feet and trying in vain to see in the darkness as my Stealth Passive guided me silently and letting the door close behind me.

I needed to see… I bumped into a metal shelf, not hard due to my slow speed, but it was annoying.

Hang on, back when I was trying to kill that monster by encasing him with the stone and guiding my mana through the air, I couldn't see anything with my eyes but I could feel… something. Through my Spirit Energy. Like another sense outside my body. One that could feel the shape and texture of objects, what they are made of, without me seeing or being close enough to touch them. So maybe…

As my thoughts started to come to a conclusion, I didn't realize that this was the very first time I tried to manipulate Spirit Energy outside my body without working through an enchantment. But conflict causes growth. And because of that, when I sent out a net construct made of my Spirit Energy before I cast it into the room, I got a notification from the system and a lot of sensory feedback from my first ever Spirit Energy scan before it dissipated into the ambient Spirit Energy.

I ignored the system to concentrate on the situation and all the new information I had briefly got.

It definitely wasn't that efficient and definitely a little power hungry, but I could feel the room’s shape around me. It was hard to get a feel for what is what, but several things became immediately clear. It wasn't a meat locker, but it was storage with a very high powered AC, spitting out ice cold air near the ceiling's numerous air ducts and lots of shelves throughout the room. But the room was clearly pretty big, because I didn't see any end to the room.

But I also didn't see any sign of anything that could possibly cause light. The light that was now gone. Meaning, somebody or something turned it off and moved it away.

Well… the chances of one of the cannibals sneaking around in the dark and hiding wasn't all that likely in my opinion. So I hedged my bets.

“I know someone is in here. I am here to help.” I called out in the almost silent room, only the drone of the AC and the air blowing around all over the place.

I waited a second. Then the outline of a crouched shape appeared a few feet away, behind a shelf that I knew was there now. It looked bigger than me, but that wasn't saying much when my body is that of an average looking twelve year old boy. They looked human in size, really.

“Do you have a light?” I called out in the direction of the only visible outline, and I could see them stop. They didn’t do anything else though.

Oh… Well, they are mortals, so who knows what they think is going on. Cannibal organization kidnapping them? I don't think I wouldn't trust me if I was in their position.

“I am not with the monsters that kidnapped you guys!” I called out softly, “I am here to take care of them! But first I need to get you guys out!” I explained a bit more, a strain of annoyance in my voice. I didn't blame them, but I am way too tired and pumped up on some crazy energy from who knows where for games.

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“How did you get in here?” I heard a low voice asking, and I couldn't quite tell if it was coming from the man by the shelf or someone else in the room with the way it echoed around the place.

“I killed the guy at the door. And the other guy who noticed. Then ran here from the other, other guys that noticed that. They probably think I left though. It should be safe enough for me to get you guys out though to the exit. Then you are homebound.” I explained as quickly as possible, giving them my plan and not holding back a thing.

“...I believe him. Light please, Izzy?” The same guy called out, and suddenly a bunch of activity sounded out from around the back wall and the sides of the room, with the guy that was crouched by the shelf standing up. Soon enough a bunch of people were walking into the range of Mystic and I counted seven outlines total. Most adults, but one seemed smaller than the rest so I put that as a maybe.

“You killed a few of 'em?” I heard called out louder and more confidently this time from the guy, and I could definitely tell that he was the guy who was behind the shelf. “They deserved it.” He commented, with a resolute menace in his voice that made me grin. I liked him.

Then the light came on, revealing things better. It seemed like a small but surprisingly bright flashlight, but in the pitch dark it seemed blinding as it was turned towards my face for a second before turning to the floor. I blinked away the spots as I looked around the room. Seven. Five of them seemed like adults who used the gym a lot, a teen guy who looked like he was heading towards the end of highschool, and a girl who looked around my current age who had the flashlight.

“Hang on just a second.” A guy walked forwards towards the center of the room, sounding stunned. “You're just a kid. He looks the same age as Izzy! You can't seriously think…” He called out, turning to another guy who was probably the same guy that had been talking earlier.

“How else could he have gotten in here? It wouldn't make sense for them to send anyone in here. Plus, look at the kid.” The guy in question answered quickly and firmly, pointing to me. “He’s got the blades for it.” He chuckled, walking up to me again.

I sheathed the daggers as he mentioned them. I didn't forget about them until then, but I doubted that I would need them and they wouldn't help anything right now. “Right. My name is Ardika, and I will be your guide tonight.” I introduced myself to the group with a wicked grin, holding out my hand for a handshake. If I could get them to relax now, it would probably help make some things easier. Plus, that was probably the best joke ever made by me.

The joke got a few scoffs with small grins from a few of the guys, and a small giggle from the little girl, but a good amount of the men and women in the room weren't amused.

“Right.” I announced after a small moment of awkward silence, “Before we do this, we need to go over some stuff. First, is anyone injured?” They all shook their heads, “Good. Second, before we get a move on, I will need to scout out the exit right now to see what we have to deal with. We don't want to be too hasty. I should be back in a minute or less, but if you hear me yelling anything then things are worse then I think and I was seen and am leading them away. If that's the case, then you guys just run down the hallway as fast as you can and get out.” I gave them the game plan, and I could see a few frowns but more nods of acceptance.

It was probably good that it was too dark to really see anyones faces. I did not want to see looks of fear, or worse hope. They would get me in my head and shake me up.

“Good. Be back in a minute.” I confirmed to myself and them, turning around and walking right back out the door to that chilly little room and into the almost completely black hallway. The outlines from Mystic faded away quickly as I took to the hallway with a jog full of nervous energy. Why am I nervous? I shouldn't be. Awake Ardika, shut up.

I scoffed at myself in my head, letting my Stealth Passive guide my steps and letting me creep-jog down the pitch black hallway silently. I did have the presence of mind to use the weird new sense net thing I made up to let me see as I went down the hall though, making me able to realize I had reached the end of the hallway really fast, way faster than I thought. Though I did practically crawl down the hall the first time round.

I didn't feel any monsters or anything unusual around with my Spirit Sense and Mystic didn't highlight any monsters around either. Everything was quiet.

‘Is it too much to say that it's too quiet..? Because honestly this is kind of more scary than it would have been if all of the monsters were sitting around the corner, staring right at me.’ I thought to myself, a bit suspiciously. Mystic wasn't foolproof, its distance was a huge problem. My own senses, including the weird new one I had just got, were… Not very reliable either. There was a good chance that there were guards around the outside of the door. But what choice do I have but to go for it? I can’t open the door to check without alerting anyone, no matter if anyone was waiting or not. It's too loud.

I started jogging back to the hostages again, only the very slightest sound of my shoes making even a hint at my presence within the darkness.

Now that I got an idea for the layout and I could actually feel my way around, the distance to and from the room was really surprisingly short and I arrived in seconds, opening it and slipping inside into the light again.

The people were all around the same position, and I could see them breaking apart from one another as they went silent from whispering among each other. One of the men had his arms on the girl's shoulders as I walked in.

“I am back, and everything is looking good. I didn't spot anything immediately around the exit. But it's still likely that they have the exit guarded on the outside again. So what we are going to do is I am going to lead you to the exit and then you guys run for it while I stay back and kill anything that tries to stop ya.” I announced quickly, then spreading unsheathing my daggers and opening my arms wide with a grin.

“Let's go.” The leader guy said quickly, turning to the others and whispering among them for a moment while I opened the door and led them out into the hallway.

As soon as we had all entered the hallway, I could see the group start to arrange themselves in some kind of formation, with the girl and two others in the inside of a circle formation while the others looked on guard. Weird.

Anyway, I sent out pulses of my Spirit Sense net every few seconds, though trying to conserve my Spirit Energy now that it looked like I was probably about to fight. The hallway was the same, as was everywhere else I could feel. I also started sending energy through the Constructor this time, working off of a hunch I got from the last encounter, feeling it would probably be more time and effort efficient in a fight then the Ring of Creation in some way.

We reached the door soon enough and I stood in front of the door, one hand holding the handle as we got ready to move. I looked behind me for a second. They looked to be arranging themselves in a line, with the man picking up the girl in his arms as he prepared to be one of the first runners in the line. ‘They are very structured and professional.’ I noted idly with a grin and a nod of approval without a second thought.

“Go!” I said as I swung the door open, flinging myself through with my daggers at the ready as the metal kept screaming at the pushes of the group coming right behind me as we ran into the parking lot in the darkness of night. It was silent, and the lights seemed to have dimmed. I was pretty sure that I could see a fog creeping in through the already thick darkness as well, funnily enough.

Then roars started sounding out from ahead. “I knew it!” I shouted, a wicked grin on my face as my feet pushed off the ground rapidly as I ran naruto style towards the first dark bulking figure in the fog cutting off the group. My daggers spread out on either side of my body, as I ran towards the monster in the darkness.