Kana was dragged through the darkness, ensnared by the creature's icy tentacles. They constricted her ankles and wrists, choking her breath. Her scream—"Akira!"—echoed vainly, drowned by the monster's mocking laughter.
Time blurred until, abruptly, she was flung to the floor.
"Ugh…!" Pain seared her shoulder as it struck the hard surface, her face twisting.
Blinking through the haze, she took in her surroundings. She was in a dormitory room, dimly lit, with beds and desks lined in rows. Iron bars caged the windows, sealing any hope of escape.
The creature loomed over her, tentacles writhing. "We'll have our fun here, little lamb. Isn't the master's garden delightful?"
Kana tightened her grip on her hammer, voice trembling but defiant. "No! Let me go!"
It laughed, a tentacle snaking toward her.
In a flash, Kana spotted a glass bottle on the floor. She hurled it with all her strength. It shattered against the creature's face, and its clouded eye flinched.
Seizing the moment, she dove under a bed, out of the tentacles' reach.
"Where are you, lamb?!" the creature roared, smashing the bed with a tentacle. Wood splinters flew as Kana crawled to the room's corner.
She toppled an old coat rack, tangling it in the creature's limbs. It stumbled, off-balance, and Kana bolted for the door, bursting into the corridor.
"I got away… but where am I?"
Panting, she scanned the dormitory hallway. Endless doors lined the passage, exuding an eerie silence. Iron bars blocked every window—escape was impossible.
"Akira… please hurry," she whispered, clutching her hammer and moving forward.
Noticing a half-open door, she peered inside, heart pounding.
A chilling sight greeted her.
Dorm students lay on beds and the floor, encased in translucent, white cocoons. Their forms were faintly visible through the membranes, their uniforms dissolving into tattered rags under a viscous slime, exposing raw skin. The slime writhed, turning their flesh red where it touched.
"They're… melting?!" Kana gasped. "If this keeps up, they'll die!"
She rushed in, approaching the nearest cocoon. Swinging her hammer, she cracked its brittle surface, and a male student slumped out. His skin was blotched with red sores, his breathing faint, unconscious.
"Are you okay?! Wake up!" She shook him, but he barely stirred, only shallow breaths signaling life.
"I have to break them all…!"
Kana attacked the cocoons, shattering one after another, freeing about ten students. A female student's arm dripped with slime as her cocoon split, the liquid burning a small hole in the floor.
"This stuff… it's eating through their skin?" Fear gripped Kana, but she couldn't stop.
All the students remained unconscious, sprawled across the room.
Then, heavy footsteps thudded from the corridor.
"Little lamb… escape is futile…" the creature's voice growled, drawing closer.
Kana gripped her hammer, eyes darting to the door. A tentacle curled around the frame, and the creature appeared.
"Found you. Playtime resumes."
Kana screamed, raising her hammer, but a tentacle snapped forward, seizing her wrist. "Let go!"
She fought, but its strength overwhelmed her, dragging her to the floor.
Yet, deep within, her trust in Akira burned steady.
"Akira's coming… He'll come, no matter what!"
The creature's laughter rumbled as it began pulling her deeper into the room.