The room reeked of a putrid stench that forced both Asan and Laszlo to immediately cover their noses. The very decor of the room added to the eerie atmosphere. Previously, when visiting his friend's place, Asan had always noted the constant order and cleanliness, but now he could only describe the state of the room as chaos. Their friend Ronnie was sitting in the middle of the room, hugging his knees, nervously swaying back and forth. His face was not visible since he was turned away from the unexpected guests.
This gave Asan an even more ominous premonition. But since there was no good opportunity to leave the landing due to the threat from the adjacent room, he had to endure it.
"Hey, Ronnie, you... You okay?" Laszlo nervously swallowed, starting to move towards Ronnie.
Ronnie did not react.
He was still nervously swaying back and forth like a madman who had escaped from an asylum. Laszlo didn't like this situation either, which is why he hesitated and didn't get too close to their friend too quickly. Ronnie was just a regular guy they had gotten to know not that long ago. Meaning, they had known about him for a long time since it's hard to forget faces in an ant colony when you live in the same block, but their actual communication had only started recently.
Meanwhile, a loud howl came from behind the door. It seemed that whoever was on the other side finally managed to get out of the room. Asan nervously watched the doorknob, breaking out in a cold sweat. His imagination kept playing tricks on him, making the poor guy pale. But fortunately, there was a latch in the room providing a ghostly illusion of safety. He immediately locked the doors with the latch, once again turning his gaze towards Ronnie.
Glancing closer, Asan noticed that the skin on his neck was too pale, and the swaying from side to side was too chaotic. Laszlo slowly continued to approach Ronnie. It seemed like Laszlo would never reach the guy swaying in the center of the room, but the issue was Laszlo's fear. He was terrified shitless by what had happened in the stairwell. This was surprising to Asan, as he rarely saw Laszlo scared.
"Ronnie, buddy, what's going on with you?" Laszlo said quietly, looking concerned. Doubt was evident in his gaze, but at the same time, there was readiness, readiness to react instantly to any movement.
Reaching out a hand when he was within arm's length, Laszlo carefully extended it towards Ronnie. But as soon as he placed it on his shoulder, he immediately pulled it back, as if scalded. Asan's heart skipped a beat.
The feeling of fear gradually sank into his soul with its poisonous claws. All over his body, the hair stood on end like porcupine quills.
"What's wrong with him? Why did he pull back his hand?" asked Asan in a trembling voice filled with fear.
Laszlo remained silent, frozen in place, which only frightened Asan even more. Soon, Ronnie stopped swaying.
Instead, he got up on his feet and turned towards them. The moment he did so, both young men fell into horror. It wasn't Ronnie.
Standing before them was a humanoid creature that resembled a human in every way. Its skin was as pale as snow, but this was not what was most terrifying. The features of Ronnie's face were still recognizable, but the gaze was completely mad. The face was twisted into an unnatural smile. The lower jaw was pulled back too far and hung too low.
The eyes, once belonging to their friend, were bulging out, and there was a strange yellowish tinge around the edges. It was staring at them, displaying an horrifying smile.
Shuffling could be heard behind the door. It seemed that something on the other side had caught the scent of the intruders disturbing its peace. This made Asan feel sick, very sick. All three remained silent. They stood like that for nearly a minute until Ronnie shifted his gaze towards Laszlo. Asan saw a bead of sweat trickle down his friend's cheek and noticed his hands trembling.
"R-Ronnie?" Laszlo said quietly and faintly. His voice was filled with nervousness, and it seemed as if he might start crying any moment.
And then Ronnie moved. He did so abruptly, causing both boys in the room to jump. He took a step towards Laszlo, who seemed unable to take it anymore. He started backing away slowly, tears welling up in his eyes. And Ronnie followed him, slightly bending his body, as if preparing to pounce.
"L-Laszlo, w-what should we do?" Asan said as quietly as possible, trying not to move at all.
"I-I don't know, damn it, A-Asan, maybe… U-"
But Laszlo didn't have time to finish his sentence. The creature pounced on him. Asan's heart clenched even tighter when he heard knocking at the door. Since he was literally half a meter away from it, he could also hear the disgusting cackling from the other side. His body was paralyzed, but his gaze was fixed on Ronnie and Laszlo.
Ronnie immediately tackled Laszlo, causing the latter to let out a slight cry. The fight began right away.
"Asan, help me!" Laszlo shouted, trying to keep the creature's face away from him, which was rapidly clicking its rotten teeth.
Asan, however, couldn't even blink. In panic, he went through all possible options, hoping to find something that could stop the creature, but his eyes only latched onto the wooden stool and table. That's when an idea came to his mind on how to help his friend.
Laszlo, meanwhile, resisted as best he could. The creature bit him a couple of times in his palms, which he was using to hold its face. Blood started flowing.
"Assan, you bitch! Help me!" Laszlo whined, desperately holding back the creature.
Finally, fear loosened its grip slightly, and Assan's body and mind became his own again. If his friend was killed now, he would be next. That's why he immediately moved. Like a bullet, he darted past the two of them and grabbed a stool. Without slowing down, Assan approached the creature from behind and hit it as hard as he could on the side of its head. The creature was slightly thrown off balance, and it seemed stunned.
"Hit her! Hit her!" Laszlo shouted, quickly crawling towards the door, which was being pounded on much harder and more insistently.
No need to repeat himself, Assan began mercilessly beating the creature's head with the stool.
Maybe due to adrenaline, or something else, but he didn't feel any fatigue at all. He rather didn't even think about it and continued hitting with all his strength until he heard a crack. It was the stool that couldn't withstand such careless use and broke apart. Now Asan felt a strong recoil and pain in his hands, causing him to immediately drop the stool. He was breathing heavily and felt terrible, but as it turned out...
He had no time for a break.
The creature, being stunned and receiving so many hits, wasn't really hurt much. On the contrary, it seemed very angry. It got back up and charged not at Laszlo, but at Asan.
Asan was immediately knocked down to the ground and found himself in the same situation Laszlo had been in a little while ago, trying to hold the creature's face off with his hands.
In an instant, he felt that an incredible force had fallen onto his palm, as if he were trying to lift a 120-kilo barbell on his first day in the gym. He knew he couldn't hold out for long. But unlike Asan, who didn't immediately figure out what to do in a similar situation, Laszlo was somewhat braver. Asan noticed out of the corner of his eye Laszlo's sneaker forcefully hitting the creature's head, pushing it away from the guy pinned to the floor.
Laszlo didn't wait for the creature to get up and acted immediately. Both understood that if it wasn't seriously injured by the stool, their chances in direct confrontation were slim. Fortunately, they were on the sixth floor and each room had a small window. Though not big, it was enough for the creature to squeeze through.
A new battle began.
Laszlo often got into fights, and that's why he was even able to dodge the creature's primitive grabs a couple of times, as it only wanted to take a bite out of the kid's face. This was the advantage they used. Asan wasn't lying around anymore but was trying to push the creature towards the window. As soon as she turned her attention to him, Laszlo immediately started hitting her in the back of the head and on the back wherever he could reach.
This definitely pissed off the creature, but whatever she tried to do only brought her closer to the window. Soon enough, she was by the window, and then it was just a matter of pushing her out. Laszlo pushed her forward with all his might, getting a small wound on his body from the creature's hands, and she crashed through the window with a loud bang.
To their surprise, she didn't make a sound the whole time, but they didn't care about that.
Both sweating and exhausted, the guys heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground, after which they heavily exhaled and sat down on the cold, pleasant floor.
Like two horses, the partners panted heavily, catching their breath. The knocking at the door had stopped by this point, apparently whatever was behind it had calmed down or found another victim.
"Seems we managed... Damn..." Laszlo finally spoke, completely drained.
Asan looked at him and noticed that blood was coming from his palms and chest. His shirt had been torn during the fight, so Asan saw a shallow cut that was bleeding slowly.
"You're bleeding, we need..." Asan wanted to say, but suddenly a message popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations! You have killed "Inferior"].
[Your level has increased from 0 -> 1].
[System activated, received "Global Quest"].
This startled Asan as much as it did Laszlo.
Both suddenly saw transparent tablets in front of them and immediately said aloud the same thing.
"This is some crap?"