The next place the high Templer mentioned was not far. It was a windmill with livestock. A two-story house and a hut for workers were seen near the entrance. The mill, the granary and a large barn were behind the house, near the forest. The blades from the windmill were rotating fast as if they would break.

  "See the barn? Enter and you shall see your last course of the trial. Exterminate the monster and you shall be free. We will wait for you from here. I expect the dignity and honour of a warrior from you. Do not run away!"

  "I will not. Not at the last moment to be free."

  He looked at the big house. The owner must be very rich. They abandoned the place not long ago. He saw some dust and cobwebs but not much, although the sight of the barn was unsightly.

  It was a double-deck barn. The walls were broken in some places. The holes were covered with planks but the messy job was done in haste. The door was barred with a huge stack of hay. On the door, blessings of lord Mordu' and Hex were drawn with animal blood, a desperate attempt to contain the evil inside.

  Foul smells from animals' dung and faeces could smell from afar. Yet no sound of animals was heard from within even under the monstrous storm. The animals were either killed or taken along with the owner, Ethanial concluded. The erieness chilled down to his spine.

  There were not many known monsters which dwell inside a human place; only a handful of them so Ethanial knew what to expect:

  The apparition was a ghostly monster that hunted men who had recently lost a beloved and anfeastedst on their hollow souls till death. The pungent smell was its signature. But this could not be it for such a monster followed its prey. It would not stay in a deserted house.

  Geckan, a giant house lizard. Unlike a small nonthreatening lizard, it lurked in the dark corner and waited patiently for its prey. Its ability to cloak itself into its surroundings was hard to be noticed by the inexperienced eyes.

  Man-leech, as the name implied, they were leeches in the form of men. Those suckers had no distinct features from human except when they fed, their tongues opened up into thousand teeth.

  Mantila, though adult mantila inhabit the woods and forest, young mantila may invade human homes and hunt till they adult.

  The last was the humans themselves. Some searched for power, knowledge and spells in an unforgivable way. Unlike lord Mordu' and his followers, they sold their souls and made deals with the devil for power. Those vile heathens were as foul as monsters.

  Ethanial carefully walked near the door. He readied the sword in case the monster attacked him. He looked back at the Templer and the guards. None of them had any intention to come near.

  He removed the hey stacks one by one and slowly opened the door.

  "Hey don't open wide! We don't want the monster to escape," one of the guards shouted from afar.

  'Fucking cowards,' Ethanial swore in his mind. He closed the door back as a courtesy. Without a single ray of light, the whole barn was pitched black inside. Only the flashes from lightning and thunder occasionally lighted the inside.

  "Luminus!"

  A shine of light came out from the sword. He scanned the area. No sign of a fight. This was the sign of apparition. However, without the source of his food, why would it still be living inside the abandoned barn? He did not understand.

  He searched the ground floor. Suddenly with the thunder and flash of lightning, he saw a form in the corner of his eyes. He immediately struck it with the sword, his heart beating fast. However, it was nothing but a trick on his mind by the scarecrow and nature.

  "... Huuuu. I should calm down. Tsk* They didn't even tell me what monster I have to slay. It would make this easier."

  He finished the entire ground. It was clear except for some dust, cobwebs and excretes. No signs of a monster or a fight.

  He decided to go upstairs. There was a ladder in the middle of the barn to go up. Up there he saw some flattened piles of hays on the floor.

  "This must be where the servants sleep." He concluded. Stacks of boxes filled with eggs were seen in the corner.

  Suddenly he heard a very shallow sound. It was the sound of someone weeping. It came from the corner behind boxes. He swallowed a big gulp and slowly approached the corner.

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  Ethanial looked behind the boxes and saw a figure without a head. He jumped back by instinct. But it was just a child hiding his head between the knees. He was in bone and skin, pale and dried.

  "You must have been left behind and locked inside. Poor child."

  He felt sorry for the child.

  "Hey, brat. Can you hear me? I am here to help. Don't be scared. Look at me."

  He called out to the child carefully. Although still a child, he couldn't be sure if it was a monster in disguise.

  The child lifted his head and looked at Ethanial. His eyes were sunken and dull. It was devoid of life. The child stared at him blankly for a while. Suddenly his eyes' focus switched to the back of Ethanial.

  Ethanial turned around quickly and stroked with his sword. It cut the monster in half, yet left no damage. However, the frozen tip of his blade chipped in when hit the floor.

  "Appration!" He shouted.

  Since Appration was from a different astral plane, it had no physical form until it fed on the soul or attacked. Any objects that passed through its astral form froze instantly.

  "Leave!! Or die in colddddddd! Chooooose human."

  Its deep voice sent a chill down the spine. It was right in front of him but the voice came behind his ears.

  "No," Ethanial answered. "Leave the child. Go feed on your hollow souls."

  The apparition glared at the Ethanial and then laughed menaically.

  "Fool!" It laughed.

  It confused Ethanial. The child could not be his source. It was impossible. Children are the most cheerful and carefree in the world. How could a child's soul be hollow? What tragedy could make a child?

  "Now Leave! Or dieeeee!"

  "No."

  They glared at each other. Ethanial scanned the surroundings from the corner of his eyes. There was no place to run. A wall on the left, boxes on the right with a child to protect behind. This was the death trap. A touch of it and instant froze to death.

  "Dea~th it is."

  The monster floated through Ethanial. With nowhere to dodge in the corner, he threw himself into the wall of boxes. Fortunately, the boxes where he crashed were empty and easily crushed down. He escaped the death with a minor graze in his left arm.

  The monster mercilessly tried to freeze him to death. Yet he saw it stopped right before the child. "The child is the source." He confirmed. It stopped so that it would not freeze the child to death during the fight accidentally. The apparition needed its source alive.

  "Flameno."

  Ethanial heated his sword so that it did not break from frozen hard.

  Apparition are hardest to kill among human-dwelling monsters. They do not have physical form until they use their claws to strike, which they rarely do. Only when they are angered or desperate to keep their source, do they project claws.

  "Damn. Why does it have to be the apparition?"

  Ethanial cursed. He had been running, dodging and swinging through the entire evening. His muscles were already at the limit. But he could not give up now. After this, he needed to meet with Leila and asked. What did she mean?

  "Child, hear me. You are not alone anymore. I am here to help. I am from the temple. Many warriors from the temple are also outside."

  "Fooo~l. You don't even know. Hahaha. Die."

  The apparition floated toward him again. He rolled to the side and dodged.

  "Brat. Listen. Don't be afraid of that monster. Don't listen to what it says. I will defeat that monster and save you."

  Again the monster ran toward Ethanial and he swiftly dodged again.

  "Child. Child!"

  Ethanial called out to the child. However, the boy just sat there and stared into the blank like a statue. Then he noticed something. Something sparkled below the child's eyes when lightning flashed.

  "Tears?"

  The tear had already turned into ice due to coldness. The child was trembling in the cold. He noticed the mouth slightly moving. The child was mumbling something again and again. He opened his ears and tried to focus on it. But with the apparition in front of him, he could not sway his eyes away from it either. It might attack at any moment.

  Should he keep dodging it with exhausted muscles? Or should he risk and wake the child even though the monster stood in between? It was riskier but better odds to beat the monster.

  "*Tsk I have no choice. May lord Mordu' bless me," he prayed. Ethanial ran straight toward the child with the flaming sword in his hands. The monster noticed his intention and blocked the path.

  He yelled a battle cry as he charged forward. The appration also did the same.

  It was right at the moment before the two collided, Ethanial twisted his body spinning to the side, using the sword as a counterweight to balance himself.

  The chill grazed him but he successfully passed the monster and reached the child.

  Now that he was near, he could hear the child clearer than before. He grabbed the kid and hugged him.

  "You did well. Child." He whispered.