"Hey man, how long have we been walking?" Dracula said as they passed by an empty parking lot, quietly jumping over abandoned cars.
"I don't know, but we just have to keep walking till I see what I'm looking for," Sunny said as he jumped over a vehicle blocking his path.
"Hey Lilith, can you please just beg your master to let us take a break? I feel like we've been walking for hours—my feet are sore and sweaty," Dracula complained, clearly being ignored by both sides.
Suddenly, a thick white mist began to surround the area, shortening their range of view dramatically.
"Everyone stay close—there's something beneath the mist," Sunny said as his daggers spun in his hands while actively scanning the area, hoping his system could identify whatever monster lurked deep beneath the mist.
Taking a deep breath, Lilith once again condensed her holy flaming sword, making the flames burn fiercer, but it didn't seem to help—the mist remained as thick as ever.
Lifting his sword towards the figure beneath the thick mist that Sunny mentioned—why beneath the mist, not inside? Dracula thought, his hand trembling as he scanned the area, focus heightened.
Just then, Dracula's horrified voice sounded—a voice that could make anyone tremble in fear. Looking at the place where Dracula once stood, it was now empty. Squinting his eyes tightly, Sunny saw sticky, wiggling substances on the ground, large enough to fit a person.
"Lilith, cover my back," Sunny said as he bent down to observe the sticky substance. When his hand came into contact with it, his upper arm disappeared as he felt a strong pulling force.
"Sure enough—it's another membrane door leading to God knows where," Sunny thought, grabbing Lilith's hand in an eerie kind of way that spooked her. Before she could react, she felt a strong pulling force, and her vision went temporarily black.
Reopening their eyes, Sunny and Lilith looked in awe at the scene that greeted them. They were still in the park—but it all felt different. Gigantic trees stretched endlessly to the sky, their canopies covering even the moon. Trains, cars, and even buildings were entangled in their roots. The road was completely gone, replaced by a lush of green. Orange lightning raced across the dark sky as a cold, crying breeze howled violently, like one mourning for its mother.
"Master…" Lilith's cracked voice sounded as she tried to process everything. "How can so much change with just a moment of blindness? It defies logic."
Crawling on the trees like ants were humanoid creatures with no faces, six pairs of legs, and antennae mounted on their heads. There were thousands of them—at least, if one could carefully count. Their crawling sounded like ants gnashing on bones, sending shivers down the spine.
Deep beneath the dark sky, Sunny could have sworn he saw a gigantic humanoid monster, at least the size of several mountains piled together. Though hidden deeply beneath the rumbling clouds, its shadow still stubbornly threatened to swallow all.
Then, all the humanoid ant-like monsters suddenly stopped crawling. They all stared at Lilith and Sunny—despite having no faces, their empty visages were terrifying enough to give one a stroke. With a loud screech, they all charged at Sunny and Lilith, agilely jumping from one tree to another at breathtaking speed.
Just then, Sunny's system slowly flashed before his eyes.
"Now this is what we're talking about!" Sunny shouted excitedly, adrenaline rushing through his veins, heartbeat quickening.
---
[System Notification]
Name: Crawlers, Children of the Night
Status: Uncontracted (cannot be bound without master's permission)
Grade: Epic ★★★★★ Uncommon
Level: 4
Skills: Poison Spray, Temporary Illusion, Look of Terror, Agile Movement Within the Forest
Description: Crawlers capture their prey and won't eat them immediately—laying their eggs into a woman's body while using males as tools to fertilize their eggs, bearing stronger offspring. Their chances of winning increase in the Upside Down.
Special State: Their temporary illusion traps prey in a moment of hallucination. If one's mind is strong enough, they can break free within moments. But if all Crawlers use the ability together, the prey is doomed.
Weakness: Cut their antennae.
[Warning...]
Host has entered the Upside Down World inhabited by the Children of the Night.
This is a parallel world of the apocalypse on Flaming Star, where the apocalypse has completely devoured and merged with your world—but inverted.
One cannot simply enter by digging or searching—only through the membranes left when the Children of the Night invade Flaming Star for hunting before returning.
Warning: Host is advised to leave as soon as possible. Failure to do so will result in death.
---
Reading the text on the screen, Sunny's blood instantly went cold. His hair stood on end as everything became clear to him. Perhaps if he hadn't come here by accident, he would never have completed this mission—no matter how hard he tried, he would've remained in the dark.
Sidestepping to the left, Sunny dodged a Crawler that launched itself at him, cleanly decapitating its antennae as it fell lifeless at his feet—death just an inch away from his face.
Looking at Lilith, who was surrounded by hundreds of Creepers, he saw her aggressively cutting their heads off, giving herself temporary relief before the heads reattached to their rightful bodies.
"Cut their antennae!" Sunny shouted as he ran forward to face the ocean of Crawlers leaping toward him.
And thus, a battle broke out on both sides. Thousands of Creepers died beneath Sunny and Lilith's blades, yet more kept crawling out of the trees—like a never-ending plague.
Breath unstable, hands sweaty, heart pounding, exhaustion creeping in, eyelids growing heavy, and voices whispering—just take a break, even for a moment. But Sunny knew better. If he submitted to those voices, he was doomed.
Hours—or maybe days—passed, time lost in the chaos. Then all the Crawlers suddenly froze.
A dark voice boomed inside both Sunny and Lilith's minds. Lilith managed to resist better, her being radiating light and holiness, but exhaustion weighed heavily on them both.
"Sleep..."
The voice stretched long and deep.
After the third repetition, Sunny fell heavily to the ground, daggers dropping from his hands. Lilith followed after the eighth. The forest went silent.