ATONEMENT: How to escape from a bloody survival game?

The Red Shoes Chapter 7: The Chaos

In the dusty old attic, Leo was horrified by the image of Jenny being devoured by a monstrous creature. The big bloody mouth in front of its stomach was trying to eat the rest of her. Leo held his breath, trying to hold the gold in his hands, and then slowly backed toward the door.

The monster used its long, jagged tongue to lick the wooden floor. Now that much food is not enough to fill its stomach, it wants more. There will probably be more food around here. It tries to listen to each sound to locate its prey.

At this point, Leo had climbed down more than half of the ladder, unfortunately, fate had arranged for his bottomless greed. The gold coin slowly slipped from his elbow, onto the wooden floor, the sound of clack resounding. Leo glared at the coin underneath as his death announcement, he didn't want to die.

The continuous resounding sound stimulated the creature. With its large mouth full of blood, it turned towards the door, roaring. The horrible thing is it screams Jenny's voice. Leo, sensing that death was approaching, jumped out of the ladder in panic. But he didn't expect the monster to burst out the door, jumping down with Leo. He clutched the pile of gold in his hands, trembling and holding his breath.

The creature in front of him with gray, wrinkled skin. The top of its head looked like a rat that hadn't opened its eyes, but the things inside could still move left and right. It had four arms… or legs, Leo didn't know, they looked long and had sharp claws. On its back were two pairs of tiny wings as if this monstrous creature was immature. The passing thought gave Leo a chill, was that offspring? Holding the stomach had a huge mouth, jagged teeth sticking out and the remaining flesh and blood from earlier.

The mouth moved, making a sound similar to Jenny's voice that made Leo take a step back: “… Le–o… Le–o… Leo… I… am hurt…”

At this moment Leo understood, that the monster could imitate the voice of the victim and attract the others. What the hell is this?

“… Hungry… Give me… foodddddd….”

Leo panicked at Jenny's voice, he ran towards the stairs, and yet, the monster also craped and rushed to bite his leg. Leo screamed in pain, the whole tower shaking.

Below the tower, the remaining players were startled by Leo's scream. Blonde John also looked alarmed, patting the shoulder of the person next to him as if commanding. "Quick, get on top to help Leo, he might fall down the stairs if he held too much gold."

Several other players also laughed because this statement sounded like a joke. However, a few players were convinced by John's words, they ran up not to help Leo, they wanted gold.

As for John - a longtime player, he slowly stepped back, trying to stay away from this tower. He knew what happened.

Leo tried to crawl down the stairs while the monster was leisurely chewing on his leg. Blood splattered everywhere, writhing in the dust on the floor, and more spit from the monster's mouth. It approached and caught Leo easily, and in his cry of agony, it slowly chewed the rest of him. Still not fully enough, it crawled down the stairs hoping to be filled full.

Those who ran halfway through the tower stopped, they vomited when they smelled the overwhelming fishy smell. The figure of the monster approached to their astonishment. Panic came as the monster's form became clearer, and they quickly ran back down in panic.

The monster dragged blood, spitting downwards. It hears the noise ahead, its food is running away. There is a lot of food, it will be full. With excitement, it squealed happily, the sound of voices mixing between Leo and Jenny. Without hesitation, it darted towards the player, directly devouring them.

The entire ladder is painted in a fiery red, intense, blood spills down the stairs, following the player's footsteps to the tower gate. Shredded meat and a few organs shot up the wall, falling down the stairs. The presence of a desolation frame caused a whole bunch of new players to panic.

==========================

Theo was surprised to see the blue screen in the sky when there were screams coming from the tower. He saw many players running towards him with terrified faces, led by blond John - running at first.

With a huge black shadow blocking the light from the blue screen, Theo recognized the monstrous flying creature. It looks like the "God" statue in the cathedral, but it has no horns.

Theo turned around to run reflexively as the creature landed near him. The snow-white background was trampled by frantic footsteps. The familiar notification repeatedly kept ringing while everyone was still running to survive.

In front of Leo, the blue screen kept buzzing loudly, Theo's pupils constricted as he watched the number of survivors decrease.

[Double Kill!

Number of survivors: 11]

[Triple Kill!

Number of survivors: 10]

[Quadra Kill!

Number of survivors: 9]

[Penta Kill!

Number of survivors: 8]

Shitttt!!! - Theo gritted his teeth as he ran for his life while cursing. - What the fuck is this game? League of Legends for that monster? Damned!

Suddenly from behind, a player pushed Theo to the ground and ran forward. Theo fell to the ground and was about to get up when the monster's arms shot past him, grabbing the other player. There was a tearing sound, and blood splattered on the snow, splashing on Theo's face. The other man's upper body was thrown to the ground, his head wide and his eyes wide with horror looking at Theo. The lower half is being chewed and swallowed in the back.

Theo panicked and suddenly remembered the words of Count Cleverdent said 'It will snow on Sunday, absolutely don't run around' - On a snowy day, don't run. Theo shivered and remained seated in the snow.

The monster's shadow fell on him, and Theo gritted his teeth to stop his body from provoking the monster.

[Ting! Reminder for the new player: You don't look at it]

‘Friendly’ prompting, Theo quickly closed his eyes. He didn't know how long had passed, but the monster seemed to have disappeared behind him. Instead, Theo continued to hear the familiar voice of the announcement.

[Hexa Kill!

Number of survivors: 7]

[Legendary!

Number of survivors: 6]

[Warning: Number of survivors is too low, begging players not to die anymore.]

Theo gritted his teeth - What to beg for? Release the monster to play and kill 8 people. Fuck the game!

The chaotic sound suddenly stopped, and the wind rose and swept away the fishy smell of flesh and blood. Theo slowly opened his eyes, except for the white snow covered with red blood, there was no sign of the players around. He frowned, it seemed that this situation was much more difficult at this round level. Why is the beginner level so difficult?

"Dermot!" - Markie's voice came from afar, from here Theo could see the shadow of the road. He tried to stand up and found that his leg was badly bruised, possibly from the previous impact.

Theo tried to return to the church, but the closer he got, the more he discovered that the area was strangely peaceful.

Markie ran over nervously, he asked about Theo's leg injury and received a 'no problem' shake of the head. Markie said that after Theo and John went up to the bell tower, nearly all the players had gathered there. There were only 3 people left in the cathedral, including Markie. When John and another man ran back covered in blood and terrified, he knew something terrible had happened.

Markie said a sentence when Theo was startled: "When I was about to run to find you, a blizzard arose, I couldn't see anything around so I turned inside. The other John kept saying you were dead. I'm very angry.."

Theo signaled to stop, he fumbled for his clothes to find a pen and paper. He wanted to better understand the blizzard earlier.

“Here…” - Paper and pen quickly arrived, the only girl left in the group of new players, Maria, has black hair and blue eyes. Theo remembered that every time John has a team meeting, she usually stands in the corner, neither commenting nor following John.

Theo nodded as a thank you, writing a question about the blizzard.

"Ah, I don't know what time it is. Only saw John and the guy calling himself Bob running into the church. When I wanted to go out and help you, a blizzard hit.”

- Markie, you didn’t hear the screams?

Markie nodded: "I didn't hear any screams or see any players."

Theo contemplated - it seems that the side of the bell tower is some other kind of space or something that has shielded this cathedral. After thinking, he bowed his head and wrote:

Need to ask more about John and Bob. As for me, just out of danger, I saw you waving in the cathedral.

Startled Markie, he grabbed Theo by the shoulder: “After the blizzard cleared, I saw you sitting over there. This is so freaky.”

Theo nodded, this was indeed unusual. He sighed and wrote very bad news.

- I suspect the beginner round level is changed into a higher level.

Markie and Maria shouted: "Level changed?" They looked at each other with panicked faces. If he says so, it is no different from forcing new players to death. What causes the game to change levels?

"NO. THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!" John suddenly got up, held his head, and shouted - “There is no level change in the round. You are lying." He lost his temper and pointed at Theo. His eyes were bloodshot red and he had a deadly expression as if he wanted to kill Theo.

Markie couldn't take it anymore and said: "Dermot is also a new player, he has no reason to lie. On top of that, two days passed, and I did not see your contribution, only saw you running away. You claim to be a longtime player, so you should know better than us what level this round is.” - Markie took a deep breath, he had to release this anger.

“More about that…” Maria said in a cold voice, her sharp eyes glancing at John: “You said that the beginner round has no dead people, so what about the system announcing the number of survivors to 6? Currently, there are only 6 people left in the church. The rest of the players… Dead?”

Maria's question about when the atmosphere was gloomy, she said it right. The game has displayed a notice board for all players about the situation on the game screen. Now the easiest round seems to be the inferno to them. In less than two days, fourteen players were left with only six. This is too horrible.

John was attacked and became numb, he sat down straight in the chair. The polite, handsome appearance is no more. Instead, it was his dark sloppiness and cowardly countenance. John trembled, he threw his head back and laughed.

Markie shouted: "What are you laughing at?"

Now John seemed to be unable to hold back, he was laughing hysterically.

“HAHAHA…”

“HAHAHA…”

“HAHAHA…”

A few minutes later, he wiped the tears from his face and returned to his previous appearance. “I have never hidden anything. Until now, no one has died in the beginner round, unless the death condition has been opened.”

Everyone looked at him in silence, John shrugged and continued - “Obviously Leo and Jenny activated the death condition that caused the monster to be released and killed most of the players. This is not my fault.”

John showed a naturally unconcerned expression as if he had never been involved with the other players, which made the rest of the sanctuary extremely hate him.

"Didn't you ask them to fetch the gold from the tower?" - Bob gritted his teeth and pointed directly at John's face. "If it weren't for you, they wouldn't have died!"

“My fault? They could choose not to go up the tower and still go up in the end. They paid the price for their greed.” - John smoothed his tangled hair, he talked as if dead people were meaningless.

Markie couldn't take it anymore, he walked quickly toward John, punching so hard that John fell.

“This is for your cowardice. Son of the Bitch!"