Richard wasn’t someone that would allow emotions to show up on his face most of the time. He wasn’t someone that would ever scream and he had never done so in his life.

It showed how effective the darkness was in its offence and how much Richard had underestimated it. He knew it would scare him but he never expected it to be so overpowering.

Richard had expected it to give him thinking room, but he couldn’t even think properly.

The darkness made him feel like he was drowning in the sea while it was completely dark and he could feel dangerous creatures come towards him.

It took away his rationality. It took away his control and destroyed his mental defense.

It gave him the raw taste of fear, where nothing stood between it and him.

It dug out his fear and enhanced it while keeping drowning his mental power and stopping it from interfering.

Richard had never felt such fear in his life and it was destroying him completely. He couldn’t even stand up properly as the overpowering terror violated his motion skills.

He couldn’t see anything except the two creatures coming towards him. He could hear anything. He felt like his body was extremely heavy and paralyzed.

His heart was beating extremely fast and it was painful when he took a breath. He didn’t even want to breathe because of the fear of attracting other monsters.

The darkness had completely destroyed his thoughts that he had forgotten what he was even doing and where he really was. He could only focus on the feeling of terror.

His eyes didn’t move away from the two creatures.

One was a humanoid creature made from darkness with red eyes, his form was like smoke.

The Other one didn’t have a clear shape and was also made from darkness. It only had a large dragon like mouth filled with sharp teeth and it was glowing red from inside.

Both creatures came towards him at a slow pace, enjoying his negative emotions. Richard could feel their vile desires and their amusement.

They continued to walk closer and Richard continued to stare at them in dismay. The distance didn’t seem to lessen but Richard didn’t notice while his body failed him. He felt tears and even lost control of his bladder.

The feeling his bladder releasing actually came to him and embarrassment took some place away from the dread.

It allowed him to think for a moment and Richard released his Ki out of his body to shine a light in the darkness.

Jack was surprised by the pressure from Richard’s Ki, as he was unaware that silver was from higher level species so it had a suppressing effect on lower species.

Even though there was a short window of an opportunity, Richard missed it and he was once again taken by the darkness.

Jack wasn’t an amateur. He was a psychopath that loved torture and pain. He had been playing the game for a century and was very intimate with the darkness.

Richard might have gotten from a low level monster but Jack was an impossible encounter for him. Even someone like Max would have times where he was paralyzed by the fear because of Jack, so Richard was nothing to him.

Though, he did find it amusing that embarrassment could overpower Richard’s sense fear. It was a first. It was also impressive that Richard didn’t have much fear and he had to suppress his mental ability from allowing his escape.

Most people didn’t have such mental strength and had a lot of fear within, just enhancing would have paralyzed them or killed them.

Richard wasn’t the only one that went through the game, Rose was also playing and she had a worse time and didn’t snap out even for a second.

After torturing them for 10 minutes that looked like an eternity, Rose and Richard were freed but looked like they had lost their souls.

Richard was still shivering and getting scared at even the smallest noise while Rose couldn’t handle sitting alone and hugged him without permission.

Richard almost threw her away because of fear but managed to stop himself and allowed the girl to enter his embrace.

She cried and hugged him tight. He didn’t think of it, but it brought him some warmth and helped him slowly come out of the trance.

Her contact and her cries helped him focus, and be the adult in the situation.

Richard patted her back and talked to her, “You can relax, Rose. There is nothing here that can hurt you. I will protect you, so gather your courage and fight the fear inside.”

His words were for Rose and for himself, as he still hadn’t shaken it off. He now understood the horror of darkness and it wasn’t a pretty experience.

But, it was definitely a necessity as he would have been murdered in the wild if he didn’t experience it. Knowing what it felt like, Richard could feel his resistance was increasing.

Though, he wouldn’t be able to break Jack’s attack anytime soon.

‘Fuck, bloody damn. I fuckin pissed myself. That bastard is going to pay for that.’ No matter how scared he was, Richard couldn’t forgive the embarrassment.

He was never going to forget the current day. He didn’t want to be in contact with the girl as both of had released it, but it didn’t seem like the girl was going to let him go.

It was disgusting for him to sit there with his body covered in urine. It was one of the worst experiences of his life.

With the fear still on their minds, all thoughts of discussion were gone and they could only hope it didn’t get worse.

After half an hour, Richard could think properly again.

“Rose, do you want to stop?” Richard asked, he was afraid of giving the little girl trauma that could end up destroying her future. It was easy to say some things but when you saw such results, it was hard to ignore them and carry on.

Rose wanted to say yes, but she didn’t. She remembered Richard’s words prior to their ordeal. She knew that there was no risk of death and how important this experience really was after tasting it.

She knew that Richard would be there to calm her down and help her regain her sanity.

“I can..do it…I am…sorry for acting in such a manner.” Rose apologized as she felt that her actions had been below her status. She wasn’t some peasant girl, but a noble.

“There is no reason to apologize. Fear can get the best of us, and even I am learning how to cope with it. So, you don’t have to feel bad about it.” Richard continued to hold her in his embrace and encouraged her. He was happy and sad at the words.

He was happy to see that she understood and had the courage to continue. But, he also felt bad because a child had to go through such torture.

‘I shouldn’t act like I am unsure. I need to take responsibility for my actions and go through with it.’ Richard thought after her answer. He was about to allow Rose to back down because of his fear for her, though he knew how important the process was for them.

He decided to help her out, if she developed problems because of it. However, he hoped it never came to that.

Was it selfish of him to think like that? Richard felt unsure but he still went with it.

Seeing both kids continue with the game made Jack giggle like a child given candy. He was satisfied with these two for playing with him for the night.

Max also watched over them from afar and he was happy with Richard’s behavior. He did want them to stop for now but he also knew why it was needed.

Jack might not cooperate after the battle.

Just like that the night passed as Jack continued to harass them after every hour. It was pure torture for both kids and they were mentally spent by the end of it, but Richard did manage to surprise Jack one more time.

He had thought it would be his winning strike, but it just barely shocked the monster.

Richard shot with his shotgun before the darkness could completely take over his thinking process. He had planned to use many times but his mind would never return to normal, so the start was the only chance.

He shot once and the bullets moved beyond the speed of sound, but Jack managed to dodge them with ease as his speed could reach five times that amount.

Jack managed to dodge it but it almost got him.

With the appearance of the gun and his persistence, Jack gave permission to Richard to seek him out and play.

Richard didn’t manage to win but he atleast got some training and even a teacher. So, it was like a win.

However, he was going to take some rest before he came back for more torture. He was starting to fear the wind and his own shadow, so he needed to let his mind relax.

Rose and Richard fell asleep around 4 A.m. as Jack needed to get ready for the battle that would start around 8 a.m.