Descent of Malice

"This. A power outage?"

Seeing that the light bulb within the ceiling promptly shut off, instantly descending the room into complete darkness...

Clark, being covered in a thick blanket, hurriedly stood up, gazing outside the window only to see that the buildings nearby were also experiencing a power outage.

"It already happened twice this week."

...

"Did the power post in the nearby street explode again?"

As Clark was silently staring at the far horizon—grasping the old phone in his hand while deep in thought—a deep voice originating from the window next door suddenly entered his ears, causing him to instantly shift his attention toward its direction.

However, upon looking at the origin of the voice, Clark's body suddenly shuddered violently; his eyes widened in terror as he stared at a pale face poking from the open window—its dark eyes stared at him intently as if directly looking at his soul.

In addition to its long, prominent neck and the shadow shrouding most of its pale face, Clark almost shouted in horror.

"F*ck! Jason, don't you know that you could scare someone to death with that appearance of yours?!

"In addition to that, why are you wearing that pale makeup again?"

"Damn, it's not makeup, you buffoon. It's skincare, understand? Skincare! Besides that, I didn't know that you could convulse like that. HAHAHA."

Beholding the terror in Clark's eyes, Jason in the next window couldn't help but laugh out loud, slapping his thigh with force before wiping the forming tears in the corner of his eyes.

After a while, upon regaining his senses, Jason secretly held the phone in his hand, pointing it toward Clark in the distance before opening its camera, attempting to capture the horrible expression of the latter...

Unfortunately, after opening the camera, the phone's flashlight turned on, causing Clark to instantly become aware of his attempt.

"Hmmp, childish."

Seeing this, Clark, with an embarrassed look on his face, hurriedly closed the window before slumping toward the bed, focusing on the screen of his old phone before starting to manipulate the character within.

...

[ Successfully choosing the hellish difficulty. ]

Instantly, after the notification appeared on the screen, the 2 items on the table, respectively the old flashlight and the ancient lamp, began to dissipate within the atmosphere, turning into powder before vanishing into the unknown void.

Followed by that, a cold breeze, carrying soul-chilling coldness, swept through the interior of the mansion, instantly creating a damp atmosphere and making the flame within the thick candle he was holding falter before disappearing, causing the illumination it was providing to vanish as well.

"This, it didn't even last for seconds!"

[ Do you want to consume one matchstick in order to light up the candle? (Current matchsticks left 25) ]

Seeing the text that abruptly popped up out of nowhere, Clark, who was startled by the sudden blackout of the screen, was about to click the accept button when suddenly, out of nowhere, a faint sound of uneven footsteps began to eerily resound from the unknown direction.

Although the sounds of rain, thunder, and the rustling of the forest outside the mansion were too loud, the faint, almost indefinable sound of uneven footsteps was still clear within his ears as if the unknown entity was close to him yet at the same time quite far.

Tap- Tap-

Suddenly feeling an unknown chill creeping into his being, either from excitement, anticipation, or out of fear from the unknown, Clark, unsure of what to do, clumsily controlled the character to hide behind the discernible wooden cabinet nearby...

Immediately squatting down before gazing toward the depths of the mansion, gazing at the dark open hallway between and below the staircase that leads to the second floor—eyes attentive while contemplating whether to use one matchstick in order to see the approaching horror or not.

However, considering that the wind was still continuously entering the grand foyer through the opened entrance of the mansion, Clark decided to wisely hold his urge, holding his breath as he could only stare at the origin of the sound with unease.

Tap- Tap-

Slowly, seconds passed by,

The black curtain nearby, although drenched by the rain, started to sway eerily with the wind, followed by the usual aura that swiftly shrouded the place.

Although Clark and the character within the screen were separated from reality and the inconceivable, he couldn't help but feel a sensation of panic rising in his heart, as if something terrible was about to unfold.

Sure enough, in the dark hallway leading to the depths of the mansion, where there's no light, where the shadows seem to dance menacingly under his focused eyes, a faint silhouette of the unknown began to form.

The entity's height reaching more than two meters, almost touching the concrete above its noticeably deformed head, first entered Clark's gaze. Followed by its thin physique and uneven upper limbs—one as thick as his thighs and one as thin as his shoulder.

Due to the visibility of the place, Clark could only see the silhouette of the unknown entity, unable to discern its features, causing his urge to light up the candle he was holding to further deepen.

Sniff~ Sniff~

Unfortunately, before Clark could decide on whether to light up the candle or not, using the short opportunity of illumination to gleam the entity's whole figure, a sudden sound of aggressive sniff echoed toward the direction of the being—raising its deformed head noticeably as if attempting to catch the faint aroma lingering within the atmosphere...

Making Clark's heart skip a beat.

Fortunately, due to the heavy storm outside and the intense blowing of the wind that continuously entered through the gaps of the broken windows and the still-opened doors of the mansion...

In addition to the character's soaked body—heavily interfering with the scent within the atmosphere—the unknown entity, unable to smell any intruder, soon halted its aggressive sniffing.

Growl!!

Clearly unsatisfied that it didn't find anything, the unknown entity released a heavy huff that instantly diffused a pungent scent throughout its surroundings, growling before slowly approaching the entrance of the mansion—closing the thick wooden doors with its unequal limbs with ease before retreating to the depths of the mansion.