The trio followed the vine-covered corridors to what seemed to be another section of the building, most likely the administrative department of the school. Upon arriving, a problem presented itself, the corridors were entirely covered in tentacles, making it difficult to find their source. Unlike the previous place which looked like it had been abandoned for quite a while, this one had signs of a recent battle. Cut tentacles on the walls, still leaking some greenish ooze, debris, and broken furniture littering the ground.

— This seems quite recent — Said Nina.

— It does, but I don’t hear or see anyone.

— Do you guys think the monster we killed did this? — Asked Kyle.

— It could be since we followed the path where it came from, but there’s a chance that there are more of those. We can’t let our guard down. This also might mean that there are more people here than just the five of us. Let’s keep walking and see what we find.

The group started looking for signs of life while following the main corridor until Kyle spotted something in one of the doors.

— G-guys… Is that blood?

A small stream of crimson liquid was running under the door of an office.

— It certainly looks like it — Exclaimed Nina.

— It does. Now, we’ll have to make a choice. Someone’s clearly been hurt, do we check for survivors and risk an encounter with a monster, or do we keep going and pretend we’ve seen nothing? — Said Dale after a moment of silence.

— To be honest, I’d rather keep looking for Hazel. It might seem cruel, but I’d rather avoid as many creatures as I can.

— I get what you’re saying, but if there are survivors, they might have some useful ability. — Answered Dale.

— I agree. We’ve managed to kill that monster, but we’ve also almost died. There’s no guarantee we won’t find a stronger monster that doesn’t underestimate us next time.

After thinking for a bit, Nina agreed.

— You’re probably right, that was pretty scary. We’re also searching for the big baddie so we might need some help.

After deciding on what to do, they assume their combat positioning, with Dale in front and the others behind, and Dale opened the door. At the moment the door swung open, he wished he hadn’t.

There were no monsters inside the room, but that didn’t make it any less unpleasant. Kyle put a hand on his mouth and stepped to the side looking away from the room, gagging. Nina’s expression crumpled in disgust and she too averted her eyes. Before Dale could express himself, a familiar prompt popped into his view.

[EXCLUSIVE SKILL, TRACE OF INSANITY ACTIVATED]

Although it protected him from most of the impact, the scene was still shocking. The smell of iron overloaded his nostrils and his vision was filled with red. Dale couldn’t tell exactly how many people were there, there were too many pieces to count. The walls were smeared with blood from top to bottom. Human parts were scattered around the room like children’s toys left behind. Most of the heads were impaled in what appeared to be rigid tentacles, their eyes and teeth missing, their jaws dislocated in disturbing angles as if done manually, trying to mimic a smile. The hands that could be seen had fingers bending the wrong way and the legs had no skin on them.

In the back of the room was some sort of sculpture made of human parts. Four legs were attached to one spine and two arms came out of a ribcage instead of the shoulders. The arms were held upwards and the hands were cupping something with fingers bending backward. Inside the hands, were the eyes missing from the heads.

Dale closed the door and looked at the others. — We have to find the other quickly, we might not have much time.

***

Hazel opened her eyes and felt dizzy. The last thing she could remember was pushing Nina out of the way and getting caught. Remembering that, she nervously looked around trying to assess her situation. She then realized she wasn’t able to move. Her arms and legs were tied to the wall by tentacles similar to the ones that took her. The place was a large room, rows of broken desks drew half-moon shapes going upwards with each step until they reached the door at the other end. It seemed to be a lecture hall.

As she recovered from her dizziness, she started to pick up on more details about the room. Sitting on the chairs she could see dried-up human husks with holes in their skulls. It appeared that something sucked out their insides, leaving them looking like thin fragile skeletons with skin.

Hazel’s heart began beating faster. It didn’t take much thought to realize that her future was being one of those sitting on the chairs. Right when she had that thought, she felt it. The same presence she felt when she pushed Nina out of the way. That wretched feeling of an impure existence. She couldn’t quite define it, but one thing she knew for sure. That thing definitely meant to harm her and the others. It might try to hide, but she could feel its malice. It hurt others because it was fun, not because it needed to.

She began hearing steps. She didn’t understand where they were coming from, since she didn’t see any place where it could be hiding, but the steps were getting closer. From a dark corner of the room, someone came out of the shadow. An older gentleman wearing neutral-colored formal clothes, dressed as a professor would, wearing glasses and stroking his gray hair.

— Mr. Oliver? — Asked Hazel with a trembling voice, her body shaking.

The figure in front of her smiled in a way it shouldn’t be possible for a human. It was so wide that it looked like it hurt and it had too many teeth. Even though its mouth didn’t move, Hazel could hear the gentleman’s voice clearly.

— Mr. Oliver isn’t home right now. He’s had too much fun and is too tired to keep playing. I’m hoping younger flesh will last longer.

As the figure walked out of the shadow towards her, Hazel could see the tentacles coming out of his back and penetrating Mr. Oliver’s skull. He walked like a puppet on strings. His body moved with a slight jerk. His limbs moved in strange angles and the sound of his joints cracking could be heard. Just as Mr. Oliver reached halfway towards Hazel, a loud bang was heard as the doors at the top of the stairs slammed open.

At the entrance stood a pale girl with crimson hair and sharp eyes. Nina then shouted:

— GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER, YOU CREEP!!!