Chapter Eighteen: Go Close the Door—It Can't Get Up Here.

In the end, Colin did not choose to pick up those wooden chairs.

Although, as a proper scavenger, one should never pass up anything that “looks like junk but might be useful,” he now felt uneasy, recalling the little girl's final words.

“It’s coming? Who is ‘it’?”

Colin remembered that, in Father Kadis’s vision, there had been similar words...

At first, Colin hadn’t paid much attention to it, thinking that whatever “it” was, it had nothing to do with him. But the girl’s sudden disappearance and her warning brought to mind the previous female survivor.

Perhaps this “it” was none other than the “Bigfoot” monster.

If that were true, he was as good as dead.

Colin’s thoughts drifted anxiously, but just as he was about to reach the main door, his body stiffened and he stopped abruptly.

The next second, a footstep sounded from a distance outside the door.

The footsteps were faint, muffled by distance, but even so, the moment one heard them, a single word would involuntarily come to mind: heavy.

It couldn't be just a coincidence... Colin’s eyes narrowed. He could feel an eerie, hair-raising aura seeping through the crack beneath the door.

“My lord, it doesn’t seem to be here yet, and from the sound of it, it’s not moving quickly. Why don’t I take the lantern and rush out to draw it away?” Servant Number Two’s face was resolute.

He realized how terrifying the source of that sound must be and wanted to cover the retreat for his master, giving Colin a chance to escape.

“No.” Colin shook his head. It wasn’t out of mercy, but because he knew such a plan would be futile.

Whether it was himself or his two subordinates, none of them would be able to escape.

They needed another solution.

Gritting his teeth, Colin abandoned the idea of opening the door and quickly said, “Upstairs, to the second floor!”

At that moment, the footsteps outside drew nearer, each step resounding with the weight of its massive body.

Just as Colin reached the second floor, heading to peer out the corridor window, a sudden thought struck him. His expression changed. “You two, take the lanterns and go downstairs to bar the doors. Lock them up. It shouldn’t be able to get in right away!”

Since the little girl’s disappearance, the front doors had lost their supernatural seal. If left unbarred, they would likely be breached immediately.

By Colin’s estimation, the reason the monster hadn’t appeared earlier was probably because the “Howler” was still inside the church.

Perhaps, for some unknowable reason, it had been unable to sense them, or something else had kept it at bay.

“Yes, sir!”

The two subordinates took the lanterns they’d gotten from the female survivor and hurried downstairs.

Colin peered through the half-open window, into the thick white mist, looking toward the source of the sound.

Soon, his mind was flooded with warnings:

[Though you haven’t seen the monster, its heavy footsteps and terrifying aura leave no doubt—the creature outside the door is a lord-class aberrant!]

[It is hunting living beings in the forest. You have no means of confronting it head-on.]

[Against it, you are powerless!]

A lord-class aberrant...

This shouldn’t be happening. I’m just an ordinary hunter...

A wave of helplessness washed over Colin. Next time he left home, he really ought to check his fortune—otherwise, he’d keep running into “good things” like this.

Just then, the sound of footsteps in the stairwell signaled the return of his servants.

“The doors are secured, my lord!”

Colin nodded, extinguishing their lanterns and draining the blood from them. He had no time to speak before, out of the mist, a massive, deformed foot covered in tumorous growths appeared at the window.

With a loud smack, before Colin could get a good look at the thing, he slammed the window shut, not daring to look further.

He didn’t even have the desire to observe for more information.

That would be suicide.

Lord-class aberrants could affect ordinary people with negative emotions merely by being seen.

Some even claimed they could kill with a glance.

So Colin dared not even look.

The next moment, a tremendous bang echoed from the front door.

Dust fell from the ceiling as the monster slammed against the doors—now, only a single barrier separated them.

Without hesitation, Colin led his group away from the window, retreating further into the building.

“Has it stopped?”

After backing away, Colin realized no second blow came.

For some reason, after that first impact, the monster fell silent, which was unexpected.

Colin moved to the landing midway up the stairs. Looking down, he could see nothing through the tightly sealed doors, but through the gap at the bottom, he was sure something was standing just outside.

He knew well that, despite their solid appearance, the doors could never withstand such a force.

And yet, for some unknown reason, the monster seemed to have no intention of breaking in.

“It must have some fear of the church...”

Colin guessed, and after waiting a few minutes on the stairs, certain the monster wouldn’t act immediately, he led the two servants downstairs toward the rear of the hall.

He intended to check whether the passage beneath the pulpit could be used to escape. If there was any way out now, this was all he could think of.

He took off his shoes, walking barefoot to muffle his steps and held his breath, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid provoking the behemoth outside.

Before long, the three reached the statue. Colin held the lantern, but this time, to avoid what had happened earlier, he did not squat down.

He kept his shadow out of the light, remaining alert—he would not fall for the same trick twice.

By then, the two servants had cleared the entrance to the basement.

It was a roughly square opening, about one meter on each side, with stairs descending into darkness.

A warning appeared in Colin’s mind:

[You sense that this entrance does not lead to an ordinary basement, but rather to a region filled with countless dangers.]

[Judging by its direction, you believe it leads toward Crow Mountain, where some unknown treasure may lie, possibly connected to the deceased Father Kadis.]

[However, you also sense that, in your current state—desperately in need of rest—you are not suited to explore that place.]

[You feel that way lies only death.]

Feeling the warning echo in his mind, Colin felt his body grow colder by the second.

Never before had the prompt been so “direct.”

To go there would be certain death.