Foul.

The stench.

The putrid odor, like that of decaying corpses, drifted in with the night breeze, invading her nostrils, surging into her lungs. It felt like countless fine steel needles piercing her nerves inch by inch.

“What the…”

Lea began in shock, but she was immediately cut off by the overwhelming stench. She clamped her mouth shut and reflexively covered her nose and mouth with her hands.

Her stomach churned violently. For any young girl, such a stench was utterly unbearable. Yet, Lea forced herself to muster some courage and peer out the window.

The stillness of the town was broken. A few curses echoed in the night, suggesting that others, too, had sensed this abnormality and were roused from their sleep.

Apart from that, there was only darkness.

Under the night’s shroud, nothing could be discerned.

If only there were a moon, Lea thought to herself… Wait. The moon?

Wasn’t there supposed to be a full moon in the sky?

Lea suddenly lifted her head, but there was no trace of the moon.

Yet in that instant, she realized—

It wasn’t that the moon wasn’t there.

It was something that blocked the moon.

Or to be precise... something blocked her entire line of sight.

Close, right before her.

—It was a shadow.

Like molten rubber, it dangled from the edge of the roof, descending from above and obscuring nearly all of her view.

The shadow’s contours were chaotic and indistinct. With the light source completely obstructed, Lea couldn’t make out what this thing was.

But as her eyes began to adjust to the dimness, and as the thing moved closer, she finally saw it.

A face.

Emerging from within the shadow and extending downward—a face.

Pale, distorted, bloated, and devoid of any color.

Like a corpse.

Yet, that face was smiling.

Content, blissful, an expression of utter sincerity.

Its mouth was stretched wide, eyes squinted, brows raised in delight.

As if embracing all the beauty the world had to offer.

So happy, it could weep tears.

Tears of blood.

And when those vacant yet searching pupils met Lea’s eyes...

The smile deepened.

"Ah… uugh…”

A low, mournful sob was squeezed from from its throat. The sound was sharp and grating, like rusty metal scraping together, yet within it lurked an eerie sense of excitement.

“So hungry...”

“So full…”

“Eat… uuugh… I want to eat…”

“Let me… eat…”

A chilling breath swept toward her, and suddenly Lea felt as though she was enveloped entirely by the suffocating blackness.

A formless will accompanied those haunting whispers, surging toward her, rendering each joint in her body frozen stiff.

She couldn’t move.

She couldn’t even make a sound. Trying with all her might to summon her breath and vibrate her vocal cords only produced a soft gulp in her throat.

Like a lamb neatly placed on a dinner platter, awaiting its fate the moment the silver cloche was lifted—helplessly watching itself become the feast beneath the predator's utensils.

No resistance.

Not even a plea for help.

Only—

"Don’t be afraid.”

Suddenly, a warm presence enveloped her, dispelling all the cold and gloom.

Lea felt a strong, steady arm wrap firmly around her waist, followed by a rush of heat. A deep, rich male voice murmured beside her ear.

“Close your eyes.”

Instantly, a wave of calm washed over her. Without hesitation or doubt, Lea obeyed and shut her eyes.

Next, she heard a sharp “thud.”

A blade piercing flesh.

Light erupted, illuminating Moen’s resolute face and the entire shadowy form before them.

It was a mass of flesh.

Yes, a mass. Of flesh.

Fat. Muscle. Veins. All messily lumped together, forming a grotesque and indescribable entity.

It resembled a one-ton pig, obscenely bloated with no proper limbs—just an amorphous expanse of blood-streaked fat that stretched and folded into countless wrinkles.

Yet, it wasn’t entirely devoid of appendages. Rather, it had many.

Countless deformed arms and legs jutted randomly from the twisted bulk, and it used these nightmarish limbs, along with its boneless, malleable body, to hang from the roof’s edge.

The only thing remotely "normal" about it was its face.

At this moment, Moen’s pure white dagger was driven precisely into that grotesque face.

A fierce glint flashed in Moen’s deep, dark eyes. He tightened his grip on the dagger and slashed down violently!

The strike, imbued with the essence of sharpness by the world’s most powerful Archmage, unleashed a brilliant cascade of light akin to a shattered Milky Way. It tore through the twisted mass of flesh instantly.

"Ahhh—”

Though the face retained its blissful and satisfied expression, a shrill wail erupted from it.

As if slicing through an overfilled water balloon, whitish-red fat spewed from the gash Moen had made. The rancid stench, mixed with decay, grew even more nauseating.

The entire massive, grotesque body trembled and writhed violently, its numerous limbs flailing madly in an attempt to strike at Moen.

Moen did not continue to engage further. Grasping Lea, he swiftly withdrew, retreating just beyond the shadow’s reach.

The room’s firelight still flickered. Feeling the stiffness leave her body at last, Lea’s taut form softened in Moen’s embrace.

“Are you alright?” Moen asked.

“I…I’m fine,” Lea replied, gulping down a deep breath. “I was too careless.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Moen’s expression turned somber.

“No one could’ve predicted the mutation would strike this suddenly. Even I almost didn’t react in time.”

The aftershocks of fear lingered.

Everything had happened without the slightest warning. Even the expensive detection wards Moen had personally set up failed to respond at all.

If not for his ever-alert instincts and extraordinary reflexes… just now...

“Um…” Lea shifted slightly, a faint blush rising along her swan-like neck.

Only then did Moen realize that his position, holding Lea so closely, was far too intimate—more so than at any previous time.

“Oh, uh, sorry. Situational urgency,” Moen hurriedly let go, awkwardly scratching his nose as he stepped back.

“N-no… That’s not what I meant,” Lea murmured in a low voice.

She then reopened her eyes.

There was no need to readjust to the light—everything around her was clear.

In an instant, the relief from regaining her senses and the fleeting warmth Moen had brought were overshadowed by the horrific scene before her.

“What… is that?”

She quivered, her voice a mere whisper.

Not far away, the indescribable monstrosity writhed and struggled. Its multitude of limbs clawed against the walls, producing a screeching cacophony of nails on stone as if furious.

And yet, despite its bisected face, its smile of utter euphoria remained unchanged.

Soon, the face began to heal.

But this time, it didn’t attack again.

Instead, it lowered its grotesque head.

The enormous and bloated main body beneath it lacked a neck, and the enormous wound Moen inflicted was far from healed. From the gaping slash poured copious amounts of fat and viscera, writhing and squirming, attempting to regenerate into new tendons and membranes—like they had a life of their own.

It paused momentarily, seemingly considering something.

Then, with one of its grotesquely elongated limbs, it reached out and scooped up the oozing flesh and fat.

And shoved it into its mouth.

Chewing.

Squelch. Squelch.

Then swallowing.

Gulp.

Its already-massive form visibly expanded.

Tears of blood trickled down once more, and the horrifying face appeared even more blissful.

“Delicious…”