Free Web NovelChapter 3: The Hollow City
Gabriel took half a step back.
The old woman remained kneeling before him beneath the sickly rain of the alleyway. Gray mist swirled around her bony legs while that twisted smile stayed fixed on her face.
"My Count."
That word again.
Gabriel’s heart was still racing, with no intention of slowing down.
He tried organizing everything inside his head: the quest, the AI, the name Amazias Von Tepes, the altered appearance of his avatar, and now...
This insane old woman calling him Count inside a city straight out of a nightmare.
He could not act like a frightened idiot. If this really was an important hidden quest, then every dialogue choice mattered.
Before he had started playing, he had learned that every response could alter the outcome.
So he took a deep breath and adopted a colder, more restrained expression.
"Are you the witch? The one who will accompany this Count?" he finally asked.
The old woman let out a dry laugh.
It was not joyful. It was mocking.
As though she had just heard a child pretending to be an adult.
"He still pretends..." she murmured.
Gabriel frowned.
The woman slowly lifted her head. Up close, her completely white eyes were horrifying. Empty. Dead for an unknowable amount of time.
"You do not need to pretend in front of me, my Count."
Rain struck the cobblestones.
"I am blind."
The silence became heavy.
Gabriel felt a strange chill at that moment, as though the atmosphere itself had begun to change.
He did not know why... but this woman made him nervous in a completely different way than the criminals of Lower Neo-Atlas or system errors ever had.
The feeling she gave him was as though she truly knew him.
As though she could see secrets beyond the avatar.
For now, Gabriel decided to play along.
"Then answer my questions," he said calmly.
"Where are we? Who are you? And what the hell is happening?"
The old woman smiled faintly, offering no answers.
Instead, she slowly raised a wrinkled finger to her lips.
Silence.
Then she gestured for him to follow her.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
"That’s it?"
The old woman had already begun walking slowly through the alley.
"Noise attracts bad things... my Count."
Gabriel hesitated for a few seconds.
All of this was absurd.
The possibility that the helmet truly was defective kept circling through his mind.
Maybe his brain was being fried by illegal hardware.
But... the quest was still active before his eyes.
UNIQUE AND IRREPEATABLE QUEST: THE FIRST BLOOD.
And something inside him told him he should not abandon it.
So he followed the old woman while keeping his distance.
Never getting too close.
The alleyways of that city were narrow and damp. Every wall was covered in ancient symbols and dark stains impossible to identify.
There was no visible sky.
Only mist.
The moon shone brilliantly above, its pale light piercing through the dense fog.
Its enormous presence felt unnatural.
The old woman suddenly stopped.
Without turning around, she pointed toward a dark cloth hanging from a hole in the wall.
"Put on the hood."
Gabriel slowly picked up the cloth. It was an old cloak, damp and perfectly matching the atmosphere around them.
"Why?"
The old woman remained still, her joints creaking softly.
"Because even the shadows are hungry."
Gabriel was about to ask what that meant...
Until he noticed movement beyond the alley.
Something was slowly walking along the main street. A figure that looked human... At first.
Gabriel felt his body tense instantly.
The creature was absurdly tall. Its arms hung down to its knees, and its fingers resembled elongated needles. It walked hunched over while muttering to itself.
No... not to itself.
It was speaking to someone.
"Mother... Mother, I’ll finally be able to sleep tonight... right...? Mother... are you still there...?"
But nobody was there.
The scene felt deeply unsettling.
Gabriel felt the temperature drop inexplicably.
This did not look like a normal NPC. It looked like... something broken.
The fantasy open-world game had suddenly become a horror game.
Instinctively, he took a step back.
The old woman let out a small nasal laugh.
"Do not fear the Hollow Echoes."
"Hollow... Echoes?"
"Lingering obsessions. Dreams that refuse to die. People who forgot what they were... but not what they desired."
The creature continued walking slowly down the street.
Without noticing Gabriel or the old woman.
"Are they hostile?"
"No."
The old woman slightly turned her face toward him.
"The true danger is far worse."
For the first time... Gabriel heard genuine tension in the woman’s voice.
"Listen carefully, my Count."
She pointed toward the distant shadows of the city.
"You must reach the communal center before the night deepens."
A window appeared before Gabriel.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Objective Updated:
• Infiltrate the Communal Center.
• Find the clue related to the Ruin of the Blood Aristocracy.
• Avoid the Night Watchers.
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"Watchers?"
The old woman ignored the question.
"The night belongs to those who hunt."
Her trembling hand pointed toward the fog.
"And the Echoes... are merely the leftover prey."
Gabriel felt his shoulders grow heavier.
Perfect.
A secret quest, a cursed city, strange entities, and now mysterious nocturnal hunters. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
He exhaled slowly.
He needed to think logically.
Hidden quests usually offered absurdly valuable rewards.
And if this truly was a unique quest... abandoning it would probably be the stupidest decision he could make.
Besides...
He could not get that name out of his head.
Amazias Von Tepes.
Something told him everything was connected. frёewebnoѵēl.com
The old woman pointed toward a fog-covered street.
"I will wait here."
"And if I don’t come back?"
The woman smiled, revealing her black teeth.
"Then the night will devour you."
Very reassuring.
Gabriel adjusted the hood over his head and slowly stepped out of the alley.
---
The city resembled the ghost towns from old stories. Like a living cemetery.
Mist covered the ankles of wandering figures while deformed silhouettes slowly drifted through the cobbled streets.
They were all Hollow Echoes.
None of them looked completely human.
Some had necks that were too long, others dragged extra limbs behind them. One woman cradled an invisible baby in her arms while singing it a lullaby.
An impossibly thin old man knocked repeatedly on a nonexistent door.
Gabriel felt an uncomfortable knot tighten in his stomach.
This place was disturbing. But also... sad.
Their appearances were grotesque, yet they did not behave like monsters.
He tried imitating their movements: hunched posture, slow steps, face hidden beneath the hood.
As he walked, he passed beside a creature with absurdly long fingers.
The Echo muttered excitedly to itself.
"Jasmine... today I brought flowers... did you see them...? Jasmine... do you like them...?"
But it was alone.
Completely alone.
Gabriel looked away.
He could not afford distractions.
He continued through the twisted streets, guided only by the Seer Witch’s vague instructions.
Surprisingly, the journey was easy.
Nobody seemed to notice him, as though the city itself were asleep.
Eventually, he found his destination.
The Communal Center.
A structure that stood out among the others, built from black stone and illuminated by dying lamps. The windows were covered with animal hides.
And dozens of Hollow Echoes slowly wandered in and out.
Gabriel waited for the right moment before slipping inside.
The interior was worse. The sound of tools echoed endlessly through the halls. Hollow Echoes endlessly sorted papers, others cleaned nonexistent tables. Some simply walked in circles.
Broken machines.
Gabriel moved carefully, trying not to attract attention while enduring the suffocating atmosphere.
Then he heard a voice.
Very close.
"Paladins are bad..."
He froze.
Listening more carefully.
A small Hollow Echo sat curled in a corner, hugging its knees.
"Paladins kill..."
Its head slowly rocked from side to side.
"Why do paladins kill...?"
Gabriel felt something strange tighten inside his chest.
Those words sounded strangely familiar. Uncomfortably close.
He shook his head and continued forward. Eventually, he arrived at a large room. It was dusty and empty, with ancient paintings hanging from the walls.
Gabriel quickly inspected the place. He found nothing until he stopped, noticing that one of the paintings was crooked.
He slowly moved it aside.
And behind it... there was a hidden compartment.
Inside rested an ancient scroll.
He grabbed it carefully but quickly. The surface was worn, but the drawing could still be distinguished.
A strange artifact covered in symbols. And at its center... A blood moon.
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Clue Obtained:
"The Trail of the Blood Firmament"
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He only had a moment to analyze it before he heard horses.
Chaos rapidly erupted outside.
A second later... horrifying screams flooded the streets.
Gabriel rushed toward the window— Only to freeze.
Riders covered in worn silver armor. They rode enormous black horses through the streets, slaughtering Hollow Echoes without pause.
The flash of their blades lasted only an instant. Some kind of substance spread through the crowd while agonizing screams echoed everywhere.
The Hollow Echoes did not fight back.They only fled clumsily while being torn apart.
"Purge the night!"
"No impure shall remain!"
Grotesque figures piled across the streets, motionless and lifeless.
A window violently appeared before Gabriel.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
NEW OBJECTIVE:
ESCAPE THE PALADINS.
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"Shit!"
The building began trembling.
The paladins were entering.
Gabriel shoved the scroll beneath his cloak and ran.
Heavy footsteps echoed behind him as adrenaline surged through his entire body.
But alongside it... he also felt hatred. Irreconcilable hatred as he watched the riders massacre the Echoes.
A dark vein slowly appeared across the back of his hand.
Gabriel abruptly stopped.
"What...?"
The vein disappeared just as quickly.
He had no time to think about it.
He ran again. The streets felt like a labyrinth, and to his dismay, he could hear horses behind him.
Closer. Getting closer.
His breathing grew ragged as the seconds passed.
Damn it... His real physical stamina affected the avatar.
His lungs burned. His legs felt heavy. But he kept running because he knew this feeling.
He had grown up running. In the slums, police drones, gangs, and armed scammers were common.
Lower Neo-Atlas taught survival quickly.
He turned sharply into another alley, trying to lose them.
More screams echoed behind him while horror spread deeper into his bones.
They were close. Very close.
Then he recognized the place.
The witch’s alley.
With the last of his strength, he sprinted forward and threw himself inside.
He slammed painfully against the damp wall, gasping for breath.
He waited for the sounds of horses. He waited to hear screams. But nothing happened. An unnatural silence settled over the alley.
The paladins rode past as though they could not even see it. Gabriel remained frozen for several seconds, unable to believe it.
Then he released a trembling breath. He had survived, barely.
The Seer Witch slowly emerged from the shadows, as though she had always been standing there.
"You survived... my Count."
Gabriel breathed heavily as he reluctantly pulled out the scroll.
"Damn it, take this..."
The old woman received it carefully.
Her wrinkled fingers slowly traced the surface of the parchment.
And then...
Her expression changed.
For the first time since meeting her, fear twisted across her face.
"No..."
Her hands began trembling.
"That’s impossible..."
Gabriel felt his heartbeat quicken again. This entire situation was exhausting.
"What is it?" he asked between breaths.
The Witch slowly lifted her blind gaze toward him.
And she spoke those words with a mixture of fear and reverence.
"The Trail... of the Blood Firmament."
