<h4>Chapter 383: 383-The Misty Corners</h4>


    <strong>Clementine:</strong>


    I pushed through the lobby doors and stepped out into the cold air, leaving Sector 13 behind.


    I did not want to deal with those monsters.


    They were not part of my task. Still, I knew this ce was called the dark side of the north for a reason.


    I continued moving until the buildings changed and the street narrowed.


    This area looked different from the one before.


    It was so clear that anyone could tell they had entered another part of the territory.


    Fog gathered along the ground. It was thicker than before. A sign hung from a bent pole.


    The Misty Corners.


    I noticed several streets spreading out like a jigsaw puzzle, almost like a maze.


    I stepped forward, tightening my grip on the pendant. I did not know why I still held on to it.


    I rubbed my arms and looked around. I decided to hang the pendant from my pants and keep going while holding the knife in my hand.


    The street stretched far, aligned with tall buildings. The windows of every building were dark.


    Some were shattered. Some were covered from inside with curtains that had not moved in years.


    Everything was so quiet here, almost like no life existed anymore, even after the monsters came.


    I moved carefully along the sidewalk. The fog rose and fell around my legs, brushing against my thighs.


    The air smelled different too, like something had been rotting, but not humans.


    As I strolled farther, I took out the map and looked at the passage. I was still headed in the right direction.


    Halfway through the street, I felt something shift behind me.


    It was a very quiet movement, maybe a scrape of nails against the building’s concrete.


    I turned quickly to check, but there was nothing. Just fog drifting back down and mixing with the rest.


    My heartbeat quickened, and I began to hurry.


    While I moved forward, I noticed something forming on the ground.


    They were shadows.


    Shadows with fog rising from them. One by one, the shadows started to take some kind of shape.


    They did not seem to have feet.


    They looked like human shadows at first, but they mixed with the fog again, and I could only see them because of the dark outlines on the ground.


    I turned around again and expected the shadows to go t.


    However, they did not.


    They started to rise from the ground, shaping into thin bodies.


    Their faces slowly started to form. They had hollow eyes and a faint outline of a mouth, and there were dozens of them.


    That was when I understood the urgency of getting out of here.


    They lifted themselves off the ground like smoke being pulled upward.


    Then they moved in strange ways that did not seem normal.


    One after another leapt from the top of one building to the next, gliding across the air without a sound.


    My hands shook around the knife. I tried to swing it, but it did not affect them. It did not hurt them.


    They were hollow.


    One of the monsters jumped from the top of a building toward me.


    I expected to feel heaviness, but it was different. It was not physical.


    It felt like smoke trying to choke me. I started to cough while moving my arms around, trying to push the fog off me.


    At the same time, I noticed the others had started toe after me.


    I copsed to my knees, grabbing my chest because I could not breathe.


    It felt like my lungs would give out at any moment, but I needed to get out of here.


    I forced myself to roll to the side, gasping until my breath returned.


    They were not like other monsters. I had no idea how to kill something I could not touch.


    I started to run to get away from them.


    I sprinted through the street, weaving between old parked cars, trash bins, broken walls, and anything in my way.


    My legs kept stumbling. I could see the shadows behind me, so I knew they were still chasing me.


    I heard the faint wind whooshing through them when they moved, and that was the only way I knew they were stilling.


    I focused on getting to the end of the street and finding a way out of these corners.


    As I continued to run as fast as I could, I finally saw a clear road in front of me.


    There was no fog there, only open space. It felt like I had been running for an hour, trying to find the exit to the main road.


    I pushed harder, but my lungs started to burn.


    However, at this point, it felt like something was pulling me down and stopping me from moving faster.


    "Please keep moving," I whispered to myself, begging my body to keep going.


    The fog wrapped around my legs. Dozens of shadows gathered behind me, and I could see their shapes flicker.


    I made one desperate jump. My body flew forward andnded on the road, with both my hands hitting the ground first.


    I slid for a moment before I stopped, pressing my elbows into the ground while I tried to catch my breath.


    I stared at the street. The fog stopped right at the edge of the misty corners.


    Then it started to fade away, almost as if it could not remain outside that area.


    I watched the fog grow faint. I took a long breath and pushed myself up.


    I looked around the road, trying to find a path toward the castle. I had lost track of time.


    I did not know how many hours or days I had been here.


    I had been walking and fighting these strange things without being able to kill even one monster.


    Before I could think further, I heard a loud grunting sound above me.


    My head snapped up.


    Through the clouds, I saw a faint figure run across the sky. It was tall and very thin.


    The way it moved so high above me, along with the deep low hum it produced, made the ground feel unsteady under my feet.