The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 561: The Gray Fog. The Arena

An investigator was dispatched to the Tashufik District to investigate the quarry.

Two noteworthy incidents occurred. The wives and brothers of a dozen workers, along with one exorcist, attempted to enter the gray fog. Before vanishing, the exorcist claimed he couldn't sense any evil spirit within the fog—only a disquieting, inexplicable void.

The second incident: after the exorcist disappeared, one of the workers' wives, in a fit of despair, climbed into the lift cage, intending to die with her husband. By the time the guards noticed, the cage had already vanished into the fog. They tried to winch it back up and were stunned to find the woman still inside, trembling with fear.

The next day, an investigator arrived—Kig Fule's brother. After questioning the terrified woman, he gleaned only fragments of information: inside the fog, space seemed to expand, and from some unreachable depth, bestial growls and the whispers of many voices could be heard.

Aware of the danger, Kig Fule's brother decided to descend in the cage anyway. For the purity of the experiment, he didn't even bring a lamp. Like those who had entered before him, he immediately felt that strange emptiness—sounds echoed throughout the space. Visibility was so poor that it was difficult to see anything beyond ten meters.

The investigator felt as if he had entered another world—one that was lifeless and silent.

He had to maintain absolute silence, listening intently for any sounds within the fog. Soon, he discerned the whispers—the voices drifted up from below, but their exact source was impossible to pinpoint.

As he descended, the whispers gave way to a growling, which the woman had likened to the roar of a beast. To the investigator, however, it sounded more like the noises made by a multitude of anomalies somewhere in the chasm below.

When the cage passed the three-hundred-meter mark, the strange sounds began to fade, replaced by the slow, heavy beat of a heart that echoed through the fog.

The investigator noticed the rhythm of his own heart starting to synchronize with the sound, slowing down.At five hundred meters, he stopped the cage, now completely convinced that the fog did not lead into our world. The distance from the quarry's edge to its bottom was four hundred and thirty meters, and he had already descended fifty meters past that.

The heartbeat vanished, but it was replaced by the feeling of countless eyes watching him. The inhabitants of the fog had noticed the uninvited guest.

Realizing the danger, the investigator ventured no deeper and began his ascent. The feeling of being watched persisted, but the fog was now silent—only the creak of the cage broke the stillness.

But since Kig Fule knew this story, it was clear the investigator had returned safely.

The next day, he embarked on a second expedition, but this time, the feeling of being watched began immediately. The creatures had remembered him.

After a brief moment of consideration, the investigator retreated and continued his observations from the outside. On the fifth day, he learned the history of the quarry. In the course of his research, he sent daredevils into the fog—their impressions matched his own first experience: whispers, strange sounds.

The fog showed no signs of expanding, but on the sixth night, the rope suddenly began to shake as if something were trying to climb out. The terrified guards woke the exorcist, and they cut the cable. The rope writhed like a living thing before disappearing into the fog.

Kig Fule's brother observed the quarry for another week. After the connection to the fog was severed, everything grew quiet. The investigator concluded his investigation and sent a report to headquarters.

— In the end, the quarry was declared a hazardous zone, and the residents of Black-Ore Town, located about five kilometers away, were relocated to Rylstein," Kig Fule finished his story, taking a sip of vegetable soup.

— A dubious tale," Muffin remarked, glancing from a pensive Lu Li to Kig Fule.

— Aren't incidents involving anomalies more interesting than fiction?" Kig Fule shrugged.

— And who was it that got away with telling a tall tale last time?" Muffin chuckled, turning to Rod Tesla. "Is it my turn now?

Rod leaned back lazily against a sun-warmed stone. "As you wish."

— In Wayne-Fort County, in the northeast of the Kingdom of Ellen, there is a legend about the Deadly Arena of Sarah and Adam.

Lu Li, in his wheelchair, and Anna, under her cloak, flinched slightly. The campfire's flames hid Lu Li's faint grimace—only Rod, who had been watching him, suspected something.

As spirits of defilement, they have existed for two hundred years. They may not be infamous in Wayne-Fort County, but they are feared.

They wander the county, occasionally taking over abandoned houses to begin their game—the Deadly Arena.

Victims who fall into their trap find themselves locked inside and are forced to participate. The nature of the game depends on the house. In an ordinary home, it might be a simple game of hide-and-seek—either among the victims or with Sarah and Adam themselves.

In factories or larger buildings, the games are more complex but just as bizarre: cleaning, or timed scavenger hunts.

The reason it's called an "arena" and not just a "game" is that the victims are made to compete against each other. The best performer gets a chance to survive.

Although there are occasional exceptions: sometimes no one survives, and other times there are several survivors.

That's precisely how they became known—if no one ever escaped from evil spirits, no one would ever know about them.

This is the difference between evil spirits and spirits of defilement. The former hate humans without reason; the latter merely use them... as playthings.

It sounds even more horrifying, but victims would rather take a chance at survival than face certain death.