After stepping out of the police car and thanking the officer for the ride, Orsaga headed straight into a nearby internet café and booted up a computer.
With practiced ease, he navigated to a specific website.
He typed in a verification code into the site's search field, unlocking a hidden section.
This was the official portal of the International Association of Exorcists—yes, the kind with real governnt backing. Since exorcists did actually help maintain social stability, most countries didn't mind giving them so operational convenience.
The site stored a wide range of special information and also served as a private international forum for exorcists to share intel across borders.
He opened up the U.S. regional board and clicked on a random thread.
'Nice—combat reports.'
Due to differences in thods and religious backgrounds, several groups were currently locked in a heated argunt. The shamans, in particular, were winning handily—verbally beating down a group of Catholic priests.
Orsaga couldn't help but chuckle.
In this day and age, even supernatural professionals had gone digital—fighting was just easier online.
Closing the thread, he opened up the forum's archive.
He typed in a few keywords—the na of the town he was in.
A long list of search results appeared instantly.
He clicked on the most recent summary post:
Ridgewood County – Town of Ravens Fair – Paranormal Archives
Entity: Vengeful Spirit – Mary Shaw (Active for 57 years)
Born: 1865
Died: 1943 (Presud homicide)
Occupation before death: Ventriloquist & Puppet Master
Primary Activity Area: Ravens Fair (also reported in surrounding areas)
Known Abilities:
Remote puppet control
Ability to move freely in sunlight
Extre speed
Telekinesis
Hallucination projection
Confird Kill Count: 1,344 victims (all killed with their tongues removed—believed linked to her own death)
Exorcist Association Response:
Attempts: 5
Status: All failed
Casualties: 7 exorcists dead, no survivors
Cause of failure: Unknown (no surviving witnesses)
Threat Level: Red (Avoid whenever possible)
---
After digesting the intel, Orsaga casually searched for info on the creeper he encountered near Route 9.
---
Briarwood County – Paranormal Archives
Unidentified Entity: Codena: Fear Eater/ Creeper
(According to Native Arican records, active for over 3,000 years. Last appearance recorded in 1977, Texas – Briarwood County.)
Activity Range: Most of the continental U.S. (and possibly beyond, based on ancient records)
Behavioral Notes: Normally humanoid in appearance. Awakens every 23 years and feeds freely for 23 days.
Known Abilities:
1. Human-level intelligence
2. Absorbs victims' mories to varying degrees, allowing it to use tools and understand multiple languages
3. Can determine the value of prey based on scent
4. Can seamlessly attach body parts from victims to itself
5. Effectively immortal – cannot be killed even if ground into mush
6. Possesses strength capable of killing a grizzly with a single punch and speed far exceeding a cheetah (also capable of flight, burrowing, and swimming)
7. Can craft specialized weapons
8. Immune to nearly all exorcism thods—ignores crosses, sunlight, holy water, etc.
Kill Count: Uncountable; over 800 docunted victims in modern history alone
Exorcist Association Response:
Attempts: 1
Status: Failed
Casualties: 11 dead, 3 survivors
Cause of failure: Could not kill the creature even after defeating it—it dragged the team down with it.
Threat Level: Red (Avoid whenever possible)
---
After reading through both dossiers, Orsaga opened a few more entries and began compiling a broader overview of the database.
Eventually, he started seeing so very familiar nas:
Chu Reni,
Sadako of the Mountain Village,
Freddy Krueger…
These were big nas—legends in the horror scene. Frontline leaders of the villain faction. Even soone as out of touch as Orsaga had heard of them.
He nodded to himself, deep in thought.
"So many old acquaintances... I ought to find a way to kill a few of them. Otherwise, this whole trip might be a waste."
---
From what he could tell, the creatures in the archive could be generally divided into three categories:
1. Semi-normal paranormal entities
They fear sunlight, holy icons, blessed items, and can be dealt with using traditional exorcism thods. These are relatively low-threat and form the bulk of what most exorcists deal with.
2. Abnormal entities
These ones kill in broad daylight, are immune to most exorcism tools, and laugh at things like holy water. Professionals usually avoid these. Their attacks can punch through skulls, while yours might barely scratch their skin.
Still, they're not completely invincible—most need to et special conditions before they can kill.
3. Special-class entities
No one really knows what these are. They might be ancient monsters, mutated species, or things that crash-landed with teorites. Their threat levels vary wildly—so can slaughter entire villages, while others are so weak even civilians could beat them with a broomstick.
--
Overall, Orsaga concluded that this world wasn't exactly short on monsters.
Just in the U.S. alone, nearly every state had hundreds of creatures—of varying danger levels—lurking within.
And that was after consistent clean-up efforts by both exorcists and official agencies.
Often, monsters seed to just pop into existence out of nowhere.
A person might get hit by a car and die on the road—only to rise the next day as a ghost roaming the streets.
Soone drowns in a lake, and a week later, a haunted ghost ship appears and starts dragging people to their deaths.
Even sothing as mundane as natural death could trigger a monstrous transformation.
In short—there was no stopping it.
---
A few hours later.
After finishing his research, Orsaga casually transferred so funds to his account.
From Swiss Bank, Citibank, J.P. Morgan—you na it.
Don't ask how much.
Once you're inside the system, just type any number that doesn't start with a zero, then slam the zero key a few tis with your eyes closed.
How much you get? Pure luck.
Leaving the internet café, he checked into a hotel with halfway decent décor and ordered so takeout through the front desk.
It was late at night, and this was a small town, so even with money, luxury wasn't on the table.
After eating, he caught a whiff of sweat from his body and sighed.
"Humans are such a pain... even sweat. Guess I'll have to take a shower."
Click.
Before he could even finish the sentence, the room lights suddenly went out.
Then, the window creaked open on its own.
A small humanoid figure appeared on the windowsill, its lifeless eyes locked onto him.
It was a wooden puppet, about half a ter tall, dressed in a black suit.
But under the moonlight—its shadow on the wall was that of a tall, thin woman.
Orsaga stared silently for a few seconds.
Then, speaking honestly as an artist himself, he said:
"No offense, but... that puppet of yours is kind of ugly. I an, from a professional standpoint, couldn't you make sothing more aesthetically pleasing?. Try watching so modern ani. You might find so inspiration."
The room, already deathly cold, seed to freeze over completely as his words echoed in the silence.
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