NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 27: Blood in the Bell Tower
July 8th. 11:03 PM.
The wind howled through the bell tower's broken arches. Smoke still clung to Kael's clothes. Blood—his and theirs—coated his hands. He stood at the edge, overlooking the ruined streets below.
The monsters were gone.
All except one.
The child.
She stood motionless at the base of the tower, head tilted unnaturally sideways, mouth twitching like something inside was trying to push out. Her eyes glowed faintly—not with light, but with memory.
Elle lowered her spear. "She's not human."
Kael didn't answer.
Because she had spoken in his mother's voice.
> "Why did you leave me behind?"
His grip tightened on his daggers.
---
11:04 PM – The Climb Begins Again
A rumble shook the tower.
Then came the screeches—again.
From the windows, rooftops, alleys—more beasts crawled into view. Not fleeing.
Climbing.
> [New Threat Detected – Bell Tower Siege]
Enemies Approaching: 80+
Objective: Defend the Tower or Die
Kael exhaled slowly. His eyes narrowed.
"They're coming back."
Elle moved beside him, eyes scanning the spiral staircase below. "There's no escape this time."
Kael activated Routine Surge.
> [Routine Surge – Active]
Veins lit up faintly beneath his skin. His heart beat faster—but steadier. Sharp.
He stepped to the stairs.
And waited.
---
11:05 PM – Stairwell Slaughter
The first one came crawling—a two-headed hyena-beast, limbs twitching, eyes bleeding. It lunged.
Kael struck first.
His Dagger of Humility slashed across its front limbs—blades laced with a faint flicker of heat.
> [Dagger of Humility – Passive: Inflicts slight burn damage. Ignores minor armor.]
The beast screamed as muscle cooked and tore. Kael ducked its dying flail and stabbed upward with his Obsidian Dagger, punching through the soft palate of its mouth and out the back of its skull.
> [Beast Defeated – 22/100]
Another.
A boar-like creature with armored plates charged the stairs. Kael sidestepped with a spiral pivot and jammed both daggers into the cracks of its spine, dragging down and ripping.
It collapsed with a gargled screech.
> [Beast Defeated – 23/100]
He didn't stop.
The next three came together. Claws. Teeth. Screams.
Kael met them halfway—Routine Surge sharpening every motion. His feet moved with dancer precision. One dagger parried a bite. The other jammed into a ribcage and twisted.
Blood sprayed the wall. His coat was soaked.
But so were the stairs.
---
11:07 PM – The Barrage
Elle held the landing above, picking off stragglers with cold precision. She vaulted down to aid Kael, her Iron Bones still on cooldown—but her strikes still lethal.
"Left!" she shouted.
Kael dropped low, spinning, using a corpse as partial cover as a leaping reptilian beast tried to pounce.
The Obsidian Dagger came up in a flash—piercing the beast's eye socket and melting into its brain like butter through snow.
> [Beast Defeated – 29/100]
But one got through.
Claws tore into Kael's side—ripping flesh.
> [Minor Injury Sustained – Deep Laceration Left Flank]
Kael gritted his teeth and triggered Minor Heal.
> [Minor Heal – Activated]
Regenerating…
Bleeding stopped. Tissue knitting.
He roared, rising with the surge. Daggers flashed again.
He fought like a storm.
Cut. Duck. Rip. Stab. Burn.
> [Beast Defeated – 34/100]
[Beast Defeated – 35/100]
[Beast Defeated – 36/100]
---
11:10 PM – Collapse
They'd killed more than a dozen in five minutes.
But the stairwell gave way under weight.
Stone cracked. Beasts screamed as they fell. Kael stumbled, grabbing the railing, dragging Elle back up by her arm just before it collapsed completely.
The stairwell was gone.
But more were climbing the outside walls now.
Dozens.
Crawling like spiders. Scaling like soldiers.
Kael's arms shook. Blood ran from his eyebrow into his mouth.
He looked up. "Rooftop. Now."
They sprinted to the bell chamber above.
---
11:12 PM – Final Stand
The tower's top room was circular, open to the sky. The old bell hung crooked on rusted supports. Wind howled.
Kael turned.
Dozens of beasts were now climbing the outer walls, inching over the ledge like roaches.
Then the child stepped inside.
But this time… she wasn't alone.
Three other human-like figures walked in behind her. Adults. Blank-faced. Muted.
One of them… Kael recognized.
His old schoolteacher. Dead two years ago.
"What the hell is this?" Elle whispered.
Kael stepped forward. The girl's eyes turned completely black.
Then—her voice changed.
> "You fight well, Kael."
Kael stopped cold.
It wasn't his mother's voice this time.
It was his own.
---
11:13 PM – The Voice in the Dark
> "But do you know why they sent you this task?"
The girl-creature lifted her arms. The sky flashed. Thunder cracked.
All around them, the beasts froze—as if waiting.
The figures behind her disintegrated into smoke, pulled into her like threads. Her body twisted. Limbs stretched. Her face broke apart into something serpentine.
> "They're not trying to test you."
"They're trying to awaken you."
Kael's interface glitched for a moment. Then displayed:
> [System Message – Divine Echo: Trigger Detected]
Assimilation Threshold Nearing… 72%.
Elle gasped. "Kael. The system—what's happening to you?"
Kael stood frozen, daggers shaking in his grip.
The girl-creature smiled. "They want you to become something else."
And then she leapt.
Straight at him.
---
To Be Continued...