Glen’s thoughts raced, trying to comprehend the situation.

  None of this made sense. First Arnold, now Jack? What in the hell was going on here?!

  “What… the hell are you?” Glen muttered, catching his breath.

  Although it was just hearsay, he had heard of those who could assume the identity of others to trick their friends and family.

  However, to actually encounter them was an entirely different problem!

  ‘No, I need to run away!’

  Glen was no fool. He wasn’t going to fight an unknown. Survival was his only priority; everything else mattered later! He was confident that no one could catch him if he focused purely on escape.

  Coward? Who cared? Survival was all that mattered!

  He clenched his jaw, and turned his heel away.

  Jack grinned. From behind his back, he took out a silver cane.

  Glen’s anger exploded.

  ‘This guy! I need to kill this guy!’

  Jack was obviously the culprit behind all of this! This was all his fault in the first place! If they hadn’t listened to him, if he hadn’t been so greedy and proposed this insane idea, none of this would have happened!

  Plan, he needed some plan! He was confident he could kill this insidious man. But he also needed to think about the broader situation, how to deal with the unseen forces at play. Thinking of this, he shouted out loud:

  “RUDOLPH!”

  His roar echoed through the entire mansion, it even rattled the chandelier above them. Jack flinched slightly, clearly not expecting such a sudden shout.

  Glen lunged forward and flicked his fingers; sparks ignited around his body, forming a barrier of flame like armor.

  ‘If my guess is right… fire is their weakness.’

  This had been proven earlier. Besides, Jack was not a Bless; he would be defeated quickly.

  Glen wasn’t worried about Jack, but about the old bone behind them, Benjamin. Since those two were not Bless, they were easily brought under his control.

  However, Rudolph and he were a Bless, they should be able to defend themselves against whatever the old bone prepared for them. That was his conclusion.

  In just a couple of seconds, Glen appeared before Jack and threw his hand forward. The slit-eyed man did not move; he couldn’t follow his movement, as expected.

  Yet, before Glen’s punch connected to his face, the slit-eyed man moved his hand into his pocket and pulled out an exquisite golden dagger.

  ‘Dangerous!’

  Glen’s instincts screamed; he halted instantly, kicking backward and leaping far away. The motion tore open the wound on his thigh again, but he didn’t care.

  “...”

  Looking at the dagger in his hand, Jack’s expression became strangely thoughtful.

  “Leader!”

  From the entrance, the door slammed open with a thunderous bang, as Rudolph rushed toward Glen hurriedly.

  The sudden noise snapped Glen’s focus back.

  “Rudol–,” Yet, before Glen answered back, he caught a faint movement from Jack in the corner of his eyes.

  ‘No way!’

  The slit-eyed man lifted his arm lazily, extended his fingers toward Glen, and brought his thumb and middle finger together.

  Glen’s eyes widened in disbelief. ‘This guy…? Don’t tell me…’

  He was mimicking exactly the gesture Glen had used moments ago!

  With a relaxed motion, Jack clicked his fingers.

  Snap.

  Glen’s blood ran cold.

  ‘He…He is a Bless?!’

  Impossible! He would have known if Jack was a Bless; those powers were not hard to identify.

  Glen braced himself, his muscles hardened, steeling himself for the unknown attack. He had no way of knowing what Jack’s supposed power was, but he prepared for the worst.

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  ‘...’

  ‘...’

  Seconds passed.

  Nothing happened.

  Silence descended, broken only by Rudolph’s heavy footsteps thudding behind him.

  ‘...What?’ Glen knitted his brows in confusion.

  Did he just get tricked?

  Before he could fully process the thought, the main foyer’s massive chandelier and all the oil lamps nearby, one by one, flared to life.

  “Ugh!”

  The brilliant light washed away the mansion’s darkness, flooding the hall in golden light; it was so abrupt that Glen was momentarily stunned.

  He staggered back and threw an arm up to shield his face, his vision swimming white from the sudden glare.

  And in that very heartbeat, something solid wrapped around him from behind, pinning him in place.

  “!”

  The reek of sweat and stinky smell hit his nose. He didn’t even need to see to know who it was.

  “Rudolph, you…!”

  Glen roared in half fury, half disbelief. His muscles bulged as he struggled to escape Rudolph’s hold. But before he could do anything, a sudden darkness enveloped his sight.

  “Mhhhmm Mhhnmmm!!”

  A piece of thick cloth wrapped tightly around his head, suffocating him. Glen struggled, desperate to breathe, his lungs burning.

  Thud.

  “MHH!”

  A crushing pain split his skull, the impact ringing through his head. However, he didn’t waver but clicked his fingers continuously, fire erupting around him.

  “Aghhh!”

  The man behind him bellowed, but despite the flames, the bald brute didn’t let go. Of course, with a bald head, he wouldn’t be affected much by burning hair, but exposed skin was another matter entirely.

  Simultaneously, The fire spread across Glen’s head covering, burning his own, heat and pain mingling in a single blinding agony. The stench of burned cloth and flesh filled the air. Glen had to sacrifice himself to escape from this suffocation!

  “Ha!”

  As the burning cloth tore and dissolved, Glen shook his head frantically, gulping in air. He stomped his foot strongly, throwing both his body and Rudolph backward.

  Their bodies collided on the ground. Rudolph grunted, his grip faltering just for a moment.

  Not wasting the opportunity, Glen’s muscles surged again. He extended his strength, tore through the man’s grasp, and rolled free.

  Glen panted heavily, his strength waned, and he barely kept himself upright. Blood seeped through his makeshift bandages, dripping steadily onto the floor. Every step was a struggle as he tried to regain his footing.

  His vision swam in and out of focus, still blurry from the sudden light and the lingering disorientation.

  But even in the haze of pain, Glen’s eyes still locked onto them, not allowing them to leave his sight.

  Jack strolled around him in that same careless, relaxed rhythm.

  As for Rudolph–

  ‘?!’

  Glen froze in disbelief.

  Rudolph’s bald head glistened in the dim flicker of light; a deep dent split his skull open like cracked pottery. Blood oozed slowly down the curve of his face, pooling under his jawline before dripping to the floor.

  The man somehow still walked toward him, his head tilted slightly, his lips stretched into something grotesquely human.

  That was when Glen came to a horrifying realization.

  Rudolph was already dead before all of this happened!

  As soon as this chilling discovery solidified in his mind, the lights suddenly extinguished simultaneously. The grand foyer descended into darkness once again, leaving Glen completely blind.

  ‘Shit, I need to move!’

  A rush of air leapt toward him before he could push his legs. As a reflex, Glen spun sideways, the shadow grazing past him just in time.

  Yet, in the direction he dodged, someone had already been waiting.

  The huge man widened his arms, lunging forward and locking him up again in an inescapable grip.

  Glen couldn’t help but grimace.

  ‘Again?!’

  Why were these guys so obsessed with hugging? Of course, he understood that under normal circumstances, they wouldn’t be able to catch him, but still!

  He steeled himself, preparing for the burst of strength that always allowed him to tear free from a locked arm.

  “[Muscle!]”

  Glen’s eyes flared crimson. He broke free with one arm and swung it backwards, smashing Rudolph's side. Yet another set of hands caught his arm before it happened.

  ‘What?!’

  Simultaneously, another figure crashed into him from the left, pinning his freed limb.

  ‘How many of them…?!’

  As his eyes slowly adjusted to the inky darkness, he looked to his side.

  Only to see a mangled face, half of it destroyed. Its skin was blackened, and blood and charred flesh dripped from its distorted features. The mouth muscle could not hold back the jaw; it dropped slightly to the side, revealing broken teeth.

  One of his eyeballs still functioned. It rolled slowly in its socket, looking directly at Glen, making his skin crawl with goosebumps.

  Benjamin?

  ‘Don’t tell me…’

  He craned his head to the left and managed to perceive a small frame with a burned face. It was Arnold.

  A whisper surfaced from the depths of his memory. Many years spent surviving in the darkest corners of the world had taught him a set of absolute rules.

  Among them, there was a warning, passed like a condemned man's last breath to those called Bless:

  ‘When the dead forsake their rest, they’re listening…

  Do not speak to the deaf.’

  Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. Fear. This was the first time Glen had felt such terror.

  “The Deaf…”

  He had never encountered such foes before, but if he had to guess, it most likely related to ‘them’, that mysterious, eerie faction that should have been lost for centuries!

  Panic surged through him. Glen unleashed his energy to its limit, his body igniting with strength, his muscles bulging and tearing through his dirty rags. He slowly overpowered his two assailants.

  The wood beneath his feet cracked from the pressure as his eyes flared bright red, slowly overpowering the three assailants at the same time!

  But before he could fully break free, something flashed before him in the darkness.

  It was a flicker of silver. An exquisite dagger pointing its tip directly at Glen’s neck.

  “No hard feelings, boss.”

  Jack murmured, his slitted eyes narrowing in cold amusement as the dagger plunged deeply into Glen’s neck without any resistance.

  “Why…” Glen’s eyes flashed a figure. A small girl, holding a stuffed bear in her arms.

  ‘A…lice,’

  I’m sorry.