Neo and Kane were guided by a city council member to temporary residence.
"You will be given jobs tomorrow based on your expertise.
"Until then, this will be your residence," the city council member said.
"Thanks," Kane smiled.
Neo stepped into the room given to him.
He went to the balcony and stared at the moon outside.
'I need to kill the monster to save the city.'
'But where is the monster?'
During the day, he and Kane roamed around the city to enjoy the festival.
Neo had tried to discreetly search for the monster back then.
His first thought was to look for places with high concentrations of Divine Energy.
The problem was, the entire city was covered by a thick blanket of Divine Energy.
It was hard to pinpoint the monster.
"And those hanged corpses…."
Neo looked down from the balcony, at the streetlights.
"This situation looks similar to the reports of Anomaly #33."
Traits of powerful and well-known monsters and anomalies were taught to students in the academy.
While Anomaly #33 was an extinct monster, it was famous because of its notorious deeds during the age of gods.
However, since the monster was old, only a bit of information about it was known.
"Anomaly #33, Phenomena-type monster.
"It controls people and makes them go through the play 'Hanged King's Tragedy.'"
Neo massaged his brows.
Phenomena-type monsters did not have physical bodies.
They existed as 'abstract concepts.'
In other words, the play 'Hanged King's Tragedy' itself was the Anomaly #33.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing the reports had the method to defeat Anomaly #33 at least.
"I just need to make sure my mind control resistance keeps working until I can find the core of Anomaly #33."
Neo stretched his fingers and yawned.
He decided to retire for the night.
His consciousness blurred as he lay on the bed—
Neo's senses blared alarms.
He triggered Ocean's Embrace Spell instinctively.
A powerful force hit his abdomen, and he was sent flying back.
His body broke through the walls of multiple buildings and crashed into the road.
"Dammit… Let me sleep in peace."
Neo dusted his clothes.
While the attack took him by surprise, he had no injury thanks to Ocean's Embrace protecting him.
"Y-yy-y-y-you!!!! Blasphemer, who saw my face! Found you!"
The statue, four meters tall, had defined muscles and physique.
It stood before Neo, doing a Side Chest Pose.
"…?" Neo stared at it, confused. "Why are you doing a pose?"
"Don't talk to me! Don't talk to me! I don't like people who saw my face!"
The monster alternated to a Front Lat Pose.
Contrary to its weird actions, it had a furious face, with which it glared at Neo bloodthirstily.
Neo sensed another presence in the vicinity.
He noticed the second statue, crawling on four legs like a spider on top of the buildings.
It had a similar furious expression as it muttered,
"You saw my face! My precious face!"
The first monster dashed towards Neo.
It pulled its fist back and punched towards his head.
The monster's hand shattered as if it had hit a stone.
Before it could react, Neo stepped closer to it and punched its chest.
The monster's body exploded.
He picked a small pebble-sized rubble and flicked it towards the second naked statue monster.
The pebble shot through the monster's head.
Dead, the monster fell from the building and crashed on top of a Honda Civic.
The battle ended within seconds.
Instead of being happy, Neo had a frown on his face.
"These two were stronger than the last statue monster."
The statue monsters were weird.
How did they find Neo?
Their numbers increased from one to two, and they grew stronger. Was it a coincidence?
Neo's eyes widened, realizing Kane must've been attacked too.
He bolted towards his temporary residence.
Reaching the place, he saw the building demolished.
Neo looked around and noticed destroyed roads, as if something huge had gone through them.
He followed the clues swiftly.
It didn't take long for him to find two statue monsters chasing Kane.
Kane was slipping into alleys, using the monsters' large size against them to stay alive.
Kane twisted his head and noticed Neo.
In a split second, he rolled away.
Neo, high in the air, punched without holding back.
The shockwaves roared like thunder, and the compressed air detonated towards the monsters.
Their bodies were crushed under the overwhelming force, reduced to a pulp in an instant.
Neo landed on the ground and approached Kane.
"Uh…hh…." Kane muttered through the heavy gaps. "I'm alive, yeah."
'He isn't under mind control,' Neo noticed. 'Seems like the shock of being attacked snapped him out of mind control.'
Kane stood up with Neo's help.
He stared at what was left of the monsters and opened his mouth carefully.
"Wh-were there 'two' statue monsters this time?"
"Oh god." Kane's expression crumbled. "The rumors were true. These Face monsters won't let anyone go once they saw their face.
"Even if we defeat them, they'll keep chasing…."
Kane stopped speaking.
"Thank you for saving me, Neo.
"Monster attacks are rare in Arzew. Today was an exception.
"The security must have been lax because of the festival," Kane said.
Neo noticed Kane's hazy eyes.
Knowing he was back under Anomaly #33's control, he didn't bother pointing out the holes in Kane's answer.
"Let's go. I want to see where these monsters came from."
A quick search was enough to explain everything.
The statue monsters had climbed over the walls and dashed straight to Neo and Kane's location.
"If more of these monsters will keep coming, it's better to deal with them now."
Neo took a step to leave the city when suddenly Kane grabbed his hand.
"What are you doing?"
"There is no need for you to deal with those monsters. The city will protect you."
"They sure did protect me today."
"Today was a mistake. Arzew doesn't repeat a mistake twice. It's why our city has been standing for twenty years."
Neo tried to pull his hand away.
Kane, surprisingly, showed superhuman strength and held Neo's hand.
'Kane isn't an Awakener.'
'How can he exert so much strength?'
Neo's frown worsened.
'Seems like Anomaly #33 can increase the physical strength of targets under its mind control.'
'This wasn't in the report.'
Neo knew the reports were incomplete.
But this was a major gap in information.