Chapter 25 - Where did you see it?

  "Where?" barked the raid party leader Horast.

  "R-right over there. It ran into the tunnel!" the petrified archer replied, her voice trembling.

  Horast shone his flashlight down the great hall with his pistol in his other hand at the ready. "We better get moving," he finally said. "If it hasn't attacked us, let's let it be. I'm not wasting any of our lives chasing a monster that doesn't want to attack us."

  The rest of the raid party agreed with that sentiment and followed Horast forward down the tunnel he had chosen. William kept his eyes peeled and his phone screen facing forward, no longer worried about battery life now that the phone was using his mana as the power source.

  They moved forward for twenty minutes without incident, William insisting that they check every corner and every ceiling at each doorway in his well-deserved paranoia, as the tunnel grew more spacious.

  Then, something in front moved.

  "Halt!" Horast said, putting up a fist to signal them to stop.

  The raid party immediately organized itself into fighting position, with tanks in front, archers, mages, and healers in the back, and warriors side-by-side with the tanks. Horast kept his pistol raised and aimed it down the tunnel.

  Nobody dared to move a muscle. All eyes were focused in front.

  Only William realized, suddenly, that something was wrong. A sound came from behind right as he realized, confirming what he thought. With all their attention diverted to the front, their rear was exposed, including the vulnerable mages, archers, and healers.

  "Ah!!!!!" screamed the female archer from earlier.

  William spun around and saw a glimpse of the monster that was now dragging the female archer away. Above her struggling and kicking legs was a naked abomination, a bald humanoid creature with sunken eyes and exposed flesh, its limbs far too long for comfort.

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  As if on instinct, he drew the shard of light from his phone and took aim. The creature appeared to recoil from the light, temporarily dropping the female archer, and that was his chance.

  But before he could throw it, the sound of gunshots and arrows rang through the tunnel. The creature scampered away, leaving the archer a crying mess on the floor as one of the warriors rushed forward to help her.

  It all happened so fast that nobody had seen William's true power besides a bright flash of light. Or at least that's what he thought. Mantou nudged him with his elbow.

  "What is that power of yours?" he asked.

  "You saw it?"

  Mantou nodded.

  William simply put up a finger to his mouth and made a shush sound. He knew that a level one having such a power would raise far too many questions that he didn't want to answer. For now, as long as he didn't need to show it off, he'd rather keep it a secret.

  However, there was a more pressing matter on hand. Just what was that creature that attacked them?

  "Did you recognize that creature?" one of the party members murmured.

  Horast looked paler than usual. "That was a Wendigo."

  William had heard of Wendigos once before. When Naver was describing how Penelope died.

  Eaten by a Wendigo. She had a bright future, William, and all they could drag back out of the gate was her ribcage. You can’t imagine how I felt, waiting for her to return, only to see what remained of her corpse dragged between a wet blanket...

  He gulped.