The old lady was gone before Keith could ask her any questions and that was enough to raise a few question marks in his mind.
Suddenly, the idea of going to check out the lake did not look half as appealing as it had before. He had to wonder if that was some kind of trap he was falling into or not.
But since he did not have any other lead now, chasing after the hint was all he could do. So, Keith left a message for Clair from his old phone and decided to change his destination.
He was going to check the right lake himself.
The town on the right side was eerie and silent. If he had been uncomfortable before, now Keith was outright spooked by the atmosphere.
People were not even trying to hide that they were keeping an eye on Keith now. Their attention burned and Keith flinched as he was faced with the hollow eyes.
'No! Do not pay any attention to the people. That is the number one rule of horror movie survival - to not look at scary things and let them get to you.'
Keith somehow made his way toward the right side of the lake but he did not see anything immediately.
To say that this was a lake would be an insult to all the lakes that existed in the world. The water body was a pond at best and even that would be a stretch to say.
Keith could see his reflection when he looked down into the crystal-clear water. It was a beautiful shade of bluish-green and shined when the light fell on it right.
It would have been a beautiful lake if not for the golden glow from inside the water.
That, and a body casually floating in the water. Keith had a feeling that body was the reason everything was happening in this town. If he destroyed this body, then the town would go back to normal.
'But how do I destroy this body? Do I need to kill it? I do not think I can murder a person. I have never done such a thing before and my morals would not allow me to.'
Keith decided to look around for a bit more. He hoped to find a solution in the vicinity but there was nothing for Keith to look at. He had to pin his hopes and dreams on the body in the water.
"Anyway, I should take this body out first and then decide what I want to do."
Keith gulped and hoped that nothing would happen to him. He did have gloves on and his skin was covered so this weird water should not affect him. But it was impossible to tell what would happen when magic was involved.
Keith's gloved became wet as soon as they met the water. His hand touched the warm and real body in the water and Keith started to pull it up.
Once the body was out of the water, Keith could not help but look stunned. He had not expected the body to feel this solid or real. He had been in a trance this whole time.
"A-Alright, now I have this body. I…do not think it is breathing."
Keith checked on the body but it looked to be dead from every angle. The chest was not rising and falling, nor was there a pulse in the man's wrist.
Now, Keith was not a magic expert and he did not even begin to classify himself as a man or a user, but Keith did know that death was permanent in this world.
The MMO had made things very clear about that. Any side character that died would never come back to life in the same game file. So, you needed to be careful while playing certain stages.
So, if this person was dead, they were 'dead' and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
"I wonder why someone threw a body in this lake? Who does this body belong to for it to be in the lake all this time?"
Keith wondered aloud as he decided to stand up. The body was still unresponsive but Keith had lost all interest in it.
He was about to go back when the bushes heading toward him rustled and a small body came forward. Then came forward another and then another.
One by one, the small lake side was filled with dwarfs who looked angry. Keith was stunned to see them but he decided not to show his discomfort.
"Y-You despicable human. How dare you come here and ignore our warnings? Our god! You have our god out of the water."
The dwarfs were freaking out about what was happening as well. They were moving about in a circle and trying to get to their 'god.' but the fallen body was quickly disintegrating into nothing.
The black marks and the lines on the body in front of Keith were fading away into nothing. It was a horrifying thing to see.
"Hurry, quickly, someone sends help to the body. We worked too hard on it to let it melt away."
Keith decided to slip away while all this was happening. He had a feeling that these dwarfs would soon turn their attention toward him if he was not careful.
And as expected, the attention did shift toward Keith once he was far away.
"That human! We need to catch him and have him replace the body. He killed our precious vessel so he needs to replace our vessel."
One of the dwarfs suddenly spoke up as they looked toward Keith. By this time, Keith had gained a fair distance between himself and these dwarfs. Their sudden moment toward him did not mean much.
The lake exploded with mana as the dwarfs followed them.
"Hurry and activate the magic on humans. This human shall not be allowed to leave."
Keith could only run toward the town but the malice he had felt inside the town had multiplied. The people no longer looked like dolls, but murderers as they tried to block Keith's way.
He quickly changed directions as soon as he noticed a man blocking his way. One turned to two and two turned to three.
Soon, there was an army after him and Keith had to hide behind some boxes.
His phone rang, alerting his lookers where Keith was and he quickly muted it to pick it up.
"Keith, I saw people chasing after you from the window of the room. What happened? What did you even do?"
Clair asked with a worried sound. She was hiding in her room as well for now. But she was willing to come out and assist Keith if he needed her help.
Keith gave a quick run-down of what was happening and Clair quickly understood the gist of what was happening.
"Looks like the whole town is under a huge glamour charm cast by the dwarfs. Do not worry, I can help you out. And Master Shinzou is on his way to you so keep quiet and hide."
Clair advised Keith but that was what he had planned to do since the start. His hiding spot was impeccable as long as no one looked too deeply.
But the townspeople were well-aquatinted with such hidden spots and it did not take long for Keith to be found.
People attacked him and he raised a barrier with his powers. It was a strong shield that left no one to touch him. Keith was safe but how long would this last? His body had a limited amount of stamina after all.
"Grandmaster, I am here to help. Please protect your eyes while I make everyone else lose their senses."
Keith closed his eyes but he was still somehow able to sense the light flash that went off around him. Once he was sure everyone else was distracted, Keith walked through the crowd gracefully and reached Shinzou.
He very carefully hid himself behind Shinzou so that it did not look like he was hiding from anything.
"Something is going on in this town. Clair will take care of the glamour magic. But for now, we should get ready to take care of the Fenrir beast and these people. Be careful not to kill them."
Keith did not want complaints reaching him once this mission was over and done with. Killing innocent people would cause complaints to sour against him.
"I will try, Grandmaster. But if these people pissed me off, then even I cannot guarantee their safety. So, I hope you understand what I am trying to say."
Master Shinzou had almost no self-control over himself. But Keith was not worried about him anymore. He was sure that Master Shinzou would be able to hold himself back. fre ewebno vel.com
What he was worried about was the mastermind behind all this. Surely it was not the dwarfs who were leading this fiasco. The dwarfs did not have enough resources to hypnotize a whole town. There had to be a human after all this.
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