I whirled around to look at the Antonio behind me. If he was Antonio too, then who the hell was that Antonio with Stein?
At that moment, the Antonio behind me gave a sinister smile.
"Hehehe, this time, no one will take it from me," Antonio said eerily, his face instantly morphing into a horrifying ghostly visage. This face was even more decomposed than the previous one - you could see the bones clearly, with barely any flesh remaining.
Holy shit! He was a ghost too! I hadn't realized both of them were ghosts!
The ghost immediately lunged at me, grabbing my neck and forcing my head toward the roof's edge. Even if I broke free, I'd fall headfirst. While the roof wasn't extremely high, landing in that position would leave me either dead or brain-damaged.
Worse, I couldn't break his grip. His icy hands clamped around my neck like steel chains, cutting off my air supply. I flailed desperately toward the ground where Stein and the other Antonio had emerged from the house. Though they spotted me and came running, it was too late - the ghost could snap my neck in under a minute.
"Hehehe, I can finally reincarnate. Damn nuns, in my next life I'll burn your wretched nunnery to the ground. Sorry brother, but if you came here, you'd just get killed by the nuns anyway. Might as well be my replacement," the male ghost rasped while tightening his grip. He wasn't just choking me - he meant to break my neck completely. Fucking ruthless.
Just then, a dark figure materialized behind the ghost. The shadow darted forward and slammed a palm against the ghost's back. The hand held Buddhist prayer beads that crackled violently, emitting golden light. The ghost convulsed as if electrocuted.
After a shower of sparks, the beads shattered into fragments that tumbled smoking off the roof, while the ghost dissolved into white ash and black smoke before vanishing completely.
Reduced to ashes? Now that's what I call decisive! Against such ghosts, you can't hesitate.
With the ghost gone, I nearly toppled off the roof but was yanked back to safety by my rescuer.
"That was close - almost died there," I gasped, clutching my chest in relief.
Only then did I see my savior was a nun - filthy, with a soot-blackened face, dressed in red with embroidered shoes, completely unlike the other nuns here.
"Are you Dreaming Nun?" I blurted out.
She looked startled, then frowned. "Who are you?"
"You may not know me," I said, "but you must know Webster!"
"Webster? He sent you?" Dreaming Nun asked.
I nodded. "Yes, Webster sent me to help resolve the situation at this nunnery."
Dreaming Nun looked even more shocked. Pointing at me, she said, "Just you? Helping with the nunnery? That Webster... couldn't have been so blind, could he? You couldn't even handle an ordinary ghost just now."
I smiled bitterly. "There are specialists for different tasks. Just because I can't deal with ghosts doesn't mean I don't have other skills. Problems others can't solve, perhaps I can."
By then, Stein and Antonio had climbed onto the roof while bickering.
"It's your fault for not protecting Little Boss! If anything happens to him, how are you going to explain it to your boss?"
"How is that my responsibility? I don't know how to deal with ghosts! You're the one who's learned all those shady skills - you should be the most accountable if Mr. Roger dies!"
"You're the one who's more responsible, you bastard!"
"Shut up, you short-ass!"
"Hey, hey, stop arguing - I'm not dead yet," I quickly intervened, not wanting them to continue their quarrel in front of an outsider and make us look bad.
Dreaming Nun seemed to recognize Antonio and said with great surprise, "Hey, it's you again? Why didn't you listen? You got your life back - you should be grateful! Why come back? Didn't I forbid you from returning?"
"We're here to save you," Antonio said.
Dreaming Nun sneered. She was perfectly fine - why would she need our help? This nunnery was extremely dangerous and no place for us. She told us to leave immediately.
I said, "Don't rush us away yet. Since Webster sent me, it means I can be of help. Can you tell us what really happened in this nunnery?"
A place so sacred turning eerie and corrupted - there must have been some major incident.
Dreaming Nun didn't believe us at all. She insisted we stay out of it - she didn't want to see more innocent lives lost. We should leave quickly before the other nuns noticed. Last time, she'd barely managed to save Antonio - we might not be so lucky again.
Having come this far, I couldn't leave so easily. But since Dreaming Nun refused to tell us the truth, I coaxed her: if she explained what happened at the nunnery, we would leave immediately without staying a moment longer.
"Really?" Dreaming Nun looked at us skeptically.
I nodded, secretly crossing my fingers behind Stein's back. "A thousand times yes!"
"Fine. But this isn't a good place to talk. Let's go down and find somewhere else." With that, Dreaming Nun leapt down effortlessly, landing without making a sound.
Markus had mentioned Dreaming Nun knew martial arts - apparently true, and at quite a masterful level.
Antonio landed just as silently, despite weighing at least twice as much as Dreaming Nun. His ability to do so suggested even greater skill than hers.
When I jumped down, a loud thud echoed as I hit the ground, the impact vibrating through my legs.
Stein proved completely useless - too scared to jump at all. I had to catch him below but misjudged the timing, resulting in him landing painfully on his rear.
"Little Boss, that's just cruel!" Stein complained.
"Not my fault," I retorted. "It's pitch black - how could I see you? If you're too scared to jump, why climb up in the first place?" With that I quickly moved away. Knowing Stein's fear of ghosts and darkness, I knew he'd scramble to follow.
Dreaming Nun led us through numerous winding paths before secretly bringing us to a woodshed. The interior proved even darker - once inside, we couldn't see each other's faces. When I reached for my phone's flashlight, Dreaming Nun stopped me, fearing discovery.
"They won't find us," I argued. "That commotion earlier was loud enough - if the nuns were coming, they'd be here by now."
That's when Dreaming Nun revealed: "The time hasn't come yet. When it does, those nuns won't be nuns anymore - but life-seeking demons."