The Villain is Too Good at Sniping

23. Full Moon Night (2)

The first episode of Grimmoire Tales, “The Ghost Incident at the Dormitory,” lives up to its name, featuring a ghost.

The genre suddenly turns horrific. The dormitory, which seemed like a peaceful paradise, transforms into a haunted place where ghosts appear on full moon nights.

As the game’s title includes “Tales,” it seems they tried to incorporate various themes and episodes. However, the released game was a mixed bag of multiple genres.

Thanks to that, the game had its charm, with its multiple concepts and replay value. This is one of the game’s strengths, albeit in a bad sense.

The episode begins with Aire’s words about the rumor of a ghost appearing at the dormitory.

“I heard a story, you see.”

“There’s a rumor that a ghost appears at the 1st-year dormitory.”

Aire starts talking about the rumor at the dormitory, and Kyle listens with interest. Then, Kyle becomes the first to encounter the ghost.

Those who converse with the ghost become entranced.

Usually, it’s just a matter of being unable to regain one’s composure, but here, the ghost that appears is a high-ranking undead, “Vampire,” so the person becomes completely possessed.

The victim is none other than Serin Anett.

In the original story, Serin Anett, the strongest among this year’s students, becomes possessed, causing a huge commotion.

The students of the dormitory band together to resist Serin Anett, and ultimately, they manage to exorcise the ghost possessing her.

Whether I like it or not, the main story has already begun. The evidence is directly displayed before my eyes.

Time remaining until the event – 00:00:00

The main story begins.

[Act 1 – Arsen Academy]

◇ Chapter 1: The Ghost Incident at the Dormitory

The tinnitus rang relentlessly in my ears. I had expected to gradually get used to it, but it wasn’t the case at all.

I tapped my ears to clear my mind and checked the newly updated event.

[Main Quest: The Ghost Incident at the Dormitory]

There’s a rumor that a faceless ghost has appeared in Arsene’s dormitory.

Absolutely do not talk to the ghost! You’ll be bewitched in an instant! If you encounter a student possessed by the ghost, flee or suppress them immediately!

As time passes, the ghost’s power grows stronger. Only you can resolve this situation.

I wish you good luck.

It’s the same development as the original. The difficulty level is hellish, so I was nervous, but fortunately, no sudden events occurred.

Then, let’s give it a try.

“Let’s go. Just once.”

Gulp—

I drained the energy drink I had been sipping on. Before heading out, I threw the empty can into the trash can in the corner.

Clang—

The result was, as expected, a bullseye.

And I opened the door. It was time to pick up the main character.

***

Before visiting Kyle’s room, there was someone I needed to wake up first.

It’s too much for me to clear the main quest alone. Even with Esperanza’s training, I couldn’t handle all the unexpected situations that might arise in this episode, with many participants involved.

I couldn’t do everything by myself, and I needed someone to take the lead in case of an emergency.

Someone stronger than me, who could block the way ahead.

And who would come to my aid when I asked for help.

…Unfortunately, at this point, there was only one person.

I stood in front of a door and quietly rang the bell.

[A-3. Ailee De Sugamon]

It sounded like something was moving busily inside, and soon a loud, rough noise erupted. It seemed like the person had just woken up from sleep.

After a while, the door opened, and Ailee peeked out through the gap.

“Who is it……?”

“Ah, sorry to disturb you at this hour.”

“Just a minute!”

But before I could say anything,

Bang—!

The slightly open door closed again.

What’s going on? Did I just get an entrance cut?

As I was thinking about it, the door opened again. Ailee peeked out once more, this time with her hair messy.

“Ah, Si-on sir. I’m sorry. I got startled and…….”

“It’s understandable. It’s late, after all.”

“Hehehe…….”

Ailee touched her cheek, smiling awkwardly, and carefully looked up.

“What’s going on? Why did you come here so suddenly?”

“Something’s come up, and I need your help since there’s no one else I can ask.”

“What’s going on?”

“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to ask for your help for a bit. I’ll explain what’s going on as we go.”

Airi still had a troubled expression on her face.

It was understandable. It was past midnight, and I had suddenly burst in without warning.

In the original story, it was Kyle who woke Airi up, but in the end, it didn’t matter who did it.

“Then just for a moment. I’ll just put on my outerwear and go out.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes!”

This time, the door closed slowly and quietly.

The sound of hurried footsteps could be heard, and Airi appeared, dressed in her outerwear.

“What’s going on?”

“You know that rumor you mentioned. The one about a ghost appearing in this dormitory.”

We had arrived at Kyle’s door, which was nearby, so it didn’t take long to get there. I stopped for a moment and looked at Airi.

“There’s a suspicious spot, so I want to investigate. You’re the one who knows the most about ghost stories, so I thought I’d ask for your help.”

“Huh… okay?”

“You’re the one who experienced it directly, after all.”

“That’s true, but…”

…To be honest, it was all just an excuse to get Airi to come with me, but there was no need to make it clear.

I crept up and rang the doorbell. I pressed it a few more times, thinking once wouldn’t be enough.

But no matter how long I waited, there was no response.

“…Is he sleeping?”

Logically, that would make sense.

But for me, it was the response I had been waiting for. Airi wouldn’t be sleeping, and Kyle would have met Serin Anett in the dormitory hallway by now.

Yes, I had confirmed that he wasn’t in the dormitory. Now I just had to go down to the first floor and meet up with Kyle, who would be dealing with Serin Anett.

Creak—

Just as I thought that, the closed door opened.

“Who… is it?”

Kyle Ivanstear appeared in the doorway, his hair disheveled like a bird’s nest. His bewildered expression made me lose my sense of reality for a moment.

“Sion…? Why… are you here?”

Kyle let out a casual yawn, but his words trailed off.

Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

…First, why was Kyle here?

Why was someone who shouldn’t be here coming out of my room? And what about Serin Anett?

The questions piling up were endless. But there was no clear answer.

Kyle still seemed half-asleep, his eyes fluttering open and shut. He must have been sleeping very deeply.

“…What about Serin Anett?”

“Serin… said she was going out for a bit… ah?”

Kyle’s eyes seemed to be focusing, as if he remembered something.

“It seems she said something at the cafeteria earlier—”

—Ahhh!

At that moment, a scream suddenly echoed, cutting off Kyle’s words. Kyle and I simultaneously looked down the hallway.

The source of the scream was on the first floor.

The dorm room doors opened simultaneously, triggered by the untimely scream. There must be a huge commotion going on downstairs.

What a great reaction. It’s proof that there are many righteous students at Arsene.

Yeah, I get it up to that point.

“Suddenly, what—”

But then Serin Anett, you shouldn’t have come out of the dormitory too.

The original Serin Anett, who was supposed to be possessed by a ghost, was acting normally, and even Kyle, who was supposed to be dealing with her, fell into a deep sleep. If I hadn’t woken him up, he would have slept until morning.

And now, there’s this unexplained scream coming from the first floor.

Something’s gone wrong. As I said earlier, something’s seriously wrong.

I wonder if I missed something, so I checked the main quest.

──[New Goal]──

▶[Main] The Ghost Uprising in the Dormitory (New!)

Goal: Survive until 5 am, or subdue the ‘Original Soul Banshee’

◇ Reward: The reward will be determined based on the number of surviving students

*Sub Goals

□ Gather a party of 4 or more members

□ Uncover the truth behind the ghost uprising

□ Keep the number of deaths below 10

──────────

“Shion, be careful! There’s something on the floor!”

It seemed like the floor was trembling, and several translucent hands popped out.

Airi jumped to avoid the hands, which were moving as if to grab her ankles. Kyle was also startled.

The hands that suddenly appeared were scattered all over the hallway. It seemed like all the students who had come out into the hallway were caught up in the ghost uprising.

“What, what is this? What’s going on?”

“I told you! The ghosts are coming out! I didn’t expect this many to come out… Ahh!”

“Ahh! Ugggh!”

Some students were screaming, while others were being dragged away by their ankles. And there was a hand flying towards my ankles too.

Thud—

I stomped on the hand that was trying to grab my ankle. The translucent hand, which had physical strength, lost its form and disappeared.

At the same time, a message popped up.

[Sudden Event Occurrence!]

The power of the Banshee is enhanced by the full moon hanging high in the sky. The following effects will be applied.

– The location of the Banshee’s appearance will change randomly.

– The magic wave caused by the Banshee will be strengthened, causing the forest spirits to become agitated.

– The ghosts that appear in the dormitory will gain the [Possession] attribute.

Yeah, this is what I mean by hell. What’s going on with this peaceful flow?

But suddenly, my whole body felt a slight numbness. I thought it was just my imagination, but it wasn’t. A momentary aura had enveloped my body.

By participating in the main quest, all stats will temporarily increase by 25%.

**Sudden Event Occurrence Buff**

▶The ability of ＜Munasu﹥ increases by 20%.

▶The critical hit rate increases by 12.2%.

▶The magical power recovery rate increases by 5% for 40 minutes.

The message disappeared, and I slowly clenched and unclenched my left hand.

I had received a similar buff during training in Esperand, but this felt distinctly different. It was as if I had become a cat – my entire body felt light.

I reloaded my Glock and stood in the middle of the corridor.

…Vampire. Magical power wave. Spirit.

From these three words, one fact could be inferred: the possessed student was a girl.

Originally, vampires couldn’t enter male bodies. Only female students could be targeted. Therefore, the possessed student had to be a female student.

Moreover, the vampire was causing a rough magical power wave. This meant that the possessed student had a deep understanding of magic.

And finally, there was the spirit.

If it were just a magical power wave, I could have ignored it. After all, Serin Anetma, who had been possessed by a vampire in the original story, had also caused a magical power wave back then.

At that time, the dormitory had been filled with an eerie atmosphere, and the ceiling had even formed icicles due to the cold. But now, the situation was completely different.

The ones reacting to the magical power wave were not humans or demons, but spirits.

Yes, the spirits that were now clinging to the windows, like fireflies, were the ones living in Arsen’s forest.

“What’s going on!”

“Get a grip! Yeah!”

As the old saying goes, “When it rains, it pours.”

Right now, the ghosts were going wild, and it was already overwhelming. Moreover, the students were attacking each other. They were being possessed at the same time as having their ankles grabbed.

In reality, the boss-level vampire only targeted women, but the ghosts that had filled the dormitory could possess anyone, regardless of gender, due to the influence of the sudden event.

The situation was dire, with many students being possessed and turned into ghosts. If this continued, all the students would be wiped out.

“Serin Anet.”

I grabbed Serin Anet’s shoulder. Serin Anet turned around, startled, but I spoke calmly.

In times like these, one had to be even more composed. The first lesson in Esperand’s mental training was to always maintain calmness.

“First, let’s create a barrier. If we can prevent anyone from leaving the dormitory, that’s enough.”

“What do you mean? Preventing anyone from leaving is like binding our own feet!”

“Look over there.”

I pointed forward with my index finger. The students were fighting each other, and the number of possessed students was increasing rapidly.

“We can’t do anything but stall for time against the ghosts. We can only suppress the possessed students, but even then, the ghosts will just enter someone else’s body.”

Originally, suppressing the students wouldn’t solve the problem, as the ghosts would just escape and possess someone else. It was a vicious cycle where the number of possessed students continued to increase.

It was likely that similar situations were occurring in other dormitories. Here, we had Serin Anet and other named characters like Kail, so we could hold out, but other dormitories wouldn’t be so lucky.

So, as a temporary measure, we would seal off the channels to reduce the number of enemies.

Unfortunately, it was a night with a full moon, and the yin energy was filling the entire Arsen region.

The ghosts could go anywhere in Arsen right now. If they possessed a sleeping professor, it would no longer be our problem to deal with.

“If even one of them escapes the dormitory, it’ll spread like zombies outside.”

“Like zombies… then…”

Serin Anet looked disbelieving. However, I couldn’t explain everything from the start, so I showed her a confident gaze.

To be exact, I showed her the gaze of Sion Illeonhart, who had ranked second in the entrance exam.

“I understand.”

“I’ll ask for a favor.”

Serin took a few steps back, closed her eyes, and gripped the window frame with both hands, feeling a chill run down her spine.

Naturally, other students began to gather around us. Before I knew it, I was standing back-to-back with Airi.

“What are we going to do, Shion?”

I wish I could give a clear answer, but unfortunately, I have no idea what the right solution is right now.

The only thing I’m certain of is that the situation will only worsen with time.

The person who was taken by Vance, Quest, simply referred to them as the “Unfortunate Student.” It’s obvious who it is without even looking.

…A girl. Skilled in magic. Spirits are going wild.

There’s only one person who matches these three keywords at this point in time: Lara Stillheid, whom I had to face alongside Kael and Serin Anett.

This was the worst-case scenario.