The Eldritch Files

”Here’s my chance!”

Dust, noise, toppled toys, and scattered papers instantly filled the room, which was already suffused with strange sounds.

The Pale Giant outside burst through the door, impatiently squeezing its bloated body into the room. It didn’t even stop for a closer look, rushing toward the back to see the screaming dolls.

Its vision was poor, but it was highly sensitive to the dolls’ reactions.

But just as it rushed in, Han Su shot out from behind it.

The door, mostly torn from its hinges by the monster’s violent entry, could no longer close. Han Su seized the opportunity, darting toward the monster and reaching for its waist as he yelled:

”Go!”

Just moments before, he had explained the route to Manman: circle to the left. He would do his best to draw the monster to the right, giving her as much space as possible to escape to the doorway.

’This distance of a dozen or so meters... she can make it, right?’

’The girl is young, but she’s always been sensible and well-behaved.’

’Even when she doesn’t understand the things I tell her to do, she always gets them done perfectly...’

But just as Han Su shouted and reached for the monster’s belt, bracing himself to lunge to the right, he suddenly froze.

’The moment I entered this castle, I’d seen it: the Brass Key was tied to the Pale Giant’s waist. That was why I decided to escape on the very first night. With the key on it, it would be the easiest to grab.’

’But now, as I look, the monster’s waist is completely bare. No key. Nothing.’

Just a few hours ago, the key had been hanging right there on the Pale Giant’s waist.

”Damn it!”

Han Su was stunned. ’Is that damned mysterious will toying with me, or has the key transferred to another monster due to some rule?’

”Fuck!”

Han Su only had time to curse before he kicked off the floor and deftly shot out of the room.

Behind him, the Pale Giant had spotted Han Su, which seemed to anger it. It turned with great effort, trying to grab him. But behind the monster, Li Manman remembered Han Su’s instructions. She stretched up higher on her tiptoes and shone the mirror in front of another doll.

And so, the second doll also broke down, screaming in despair.

The sound made the Pale Giant hesitate. It turned back and walked toward the glass cabinet. Amid the doll’s despairing cries, its massive figure gradually eclipsed the terrified Li Manman.

She stared blankly toward the doorway. The older boy had said he would get her out.

’But... it looks like he’s already left...’

Before her stood the huge, ferocious Pale Giant. Beside her, two hysterical plastic dolls in the glass cabinet frantically pounded the glass, cursing the Pale Giant—and cursing Li Manman for showing them their own faces.

Li Manman, who had just worked up the courage to help Han Su, was finally overwhelmed by fear once more. She slowly hugged her knees and sank to the floor.

”She will be punished...”

Meanwhile, Han Su, who had escaped the room, felt his heart clench uncontrollably.

He hadn’t expected the key to be moved so quickly. Just like that, his plan had fallen apart.

’Manman angered the two dolls in the cabinet and the Pale Giant. What’s going to happen to her now?’

But just as a wave of guilt threatened to rise from the depths of his heart, he fiercely clenched his jaw, shoving the useless emotion from his mind.

”There’s always a chance. There has to be...”

”...”

”...”

’The fifth floor!’

He summoned all his strength, sprinted to the end of the corridor, and bounded up the stairs, charging to the next level.

He remembered the pattern.

’After Xu Ji was rescued, the key appeared. But every time I returned, the key would be on a different monster. Usually, though, whichever monster had it would keep it for the duration; it wouldn’t change hands midway through.’

’Why did it suddenly change this time?’

’Is it because I didn’t return at the usual interval this time?’

Han Su didn’t have time to dwell on it. He just recalled the pattern from his previous encounters with the key and guessed it must be on the floor above.

The key’s transfers had followed a pattern before. One time, it was on the Withered Steward on the first floor. The next, it appeared on the mysterious Lady Meat Horn. After that, it was on the insane, grotesque half-woman on the third floor.

Following that logic, the chances of the key being on the fifth floor now were highest.

He couldn’t be sure, and even if it was there, he hadn’t figured out how to get it. But with no other options, his only choice was to get to the fifth floor and figure it out from there.

Han Su had never been to the fifth floor before, and its monster had never come down.

But Han Su had no time to wonder what was up there. He scrambled up thirteen steps to the landing, catching a glimpse of the Pale Giant pursuing him in his peripheral vision.

It watched Han Su’s figure round the landing and step into the fifth-floor hallway. It let out a roar of rage and frustration, pounding its fist heavily against the nearby wall.

The moment he burst into the hallway, Han Su scanned both sides of the fifth floor, only to be met with an eerie, dead silence.

It was perfectly quiet. There were no wandering monsters—not even the shadow of a living thing!

’So where’s the key?’

Han Su pressed a hand to his chest, forcibly calming his pounding heart. He slowed his pace, his feet sinking into the thick, damp carpet as he crept forward, one step at a time.

Meanwhile, faint roars still echoed from below. The Pale Giant on the fourth floor was still raging. Unable to come up to the fifth floor, it was pounding on something, and the tremendous racket seemed to shake the entire Ancient Castle.

Clouds of dust billowed up, and the stench of decay filled his nostrils as cracks spiderwebbed across the walls from the vibrations.

Something emerged from deep within the fissures, lurching stiffly outward.

Tense, Han Su scanned them warily and saw what they were: rows of copper-colored statues.

They were clad in strange, intricate armor. Each had a long, scaled neck, a flat, sinister head, and eyes embedded on either side that flashed with a dim red light.

They were, in fact, cast-copper statues.

What was especially odd was their shape; the armor seemed built not for a person, but for a monster with a snake’s head and a human-like body.

They were embedded in the walls on either side of the hallway, appearing at first glance to be part of the wall itself. Now, with the castle’s shaking, they had loosened. One had even lurched forward slightly, blocking Han Su’s path.

’What the hell?’

Unlike others who might jump back in fright or have some other panicked reaction, Han Su stood his ground. He stared intently at the Copper Armor, confirming that it was inanimate.

Only then did he slowly begin to circle around it, inch by inch.

His gaze swept to the sides, taking in the series of copper doors set into the walls, all of them looking incredibly solid.

Beside each door stood one of the Copper Armor statues, its arm extended and latched onto the door, as if it were part of some ancient, intricate mechanism.

Han Su had no interest in admiring this mysterious technology. He just made his way toward a patch of light and shadow up ahead, his heart gradually rising into his throat.

Reaching the patch of light, he found it came from a room with a half-open door. He held his breath and peered inside.

The room was as lavishly decorated as an ancient palace, though every object within it looked exceptionally old.

And in the very center of the room sat a coffin.

Two enormous white candles burned silently beside it.

By the candlelight, Han Su’s gaze locked onto his target: the Brass Key was hanging right beside the coffin.

’Found it!’

Han Su’s heart skipped a beat. Steeling himself, he lightened his steps and entered the room.

He scanned the room silently. He saw no other living creatures. There was only the black coffin, adorned with intricate and bizarre inlaid Copper Patterns.

He continued to approach. Every step felt like a gamble with his life, but Han Su slowly made his way to the coffin’s side.

Slowly, he took the key hanging beside the coffin into his hand.

Nothing happened.

’Thanks...’

He thought to himself as he began backing out of the room. But he didn’t expect that, at that very moment, the coffin lid would suddenly slide open a crack. A deathly pale, withered hand shot out and seized his left hand.

The touch was cold and unyielding, like raw iron. Han Su’s left hand felt as if it had been clamped in a vise.

A bone-chilling cold spread through him, freezing his entire body stiff. He couldn’t move an inch.

The withered hand slowly turned his over, as if stroking it.

A thumbnail with a strange coppery sheen slowly scraped across the back of Han Su’s hand, effortlessly slicing open his skin. Blood immediately welled up from the gash.

As the blood flowed, Han Su’s body suddenly relaxed slightly. The paralysis that had frozen him in place seemed to lift for a brief moment, granting him a sliver of freedom.

”Motherfucker...”

His hair standing on end, Han Su cursed under his breath.

Seizing the fleeting opportunity, he clamped the key between his teeth. His right hand shot up, raising the weapon he’d gotten from that irritable kid, and brought it down hard on his own left wrist.