Demon Hunter and His Cabin
Chapter 404 - Chapter 404 Chapter 404 The Story Within the Story

Chapter 404: Chapter 404: The Story Within the Story Chapter 404: Chapter 404: The Story Within the Story “The entire castle spans an immense area, primarily divided into two sections: interior and exterior. The area we are in now is the exterior part, while deeper within lies the domain of the castle’s master…”

Henrik said, patting his own chest as he spoke.

“That is, the place where I live.”

He then briefly recounted the changes that had occurred to him to Roger, who in turn shared his own recent experiences.

“Two castles? And the interior decoration and structure of both are completely identical?”

Henrik seemed surprised.

“It’s probably not that simple.”

Roger mused, “Did you just say you saw a middle-aged man gobbling up food voraciously in the hall?”

“And also one of the five young men and women we met in front of the castle?”

Henrik nodded.

“That was a woman.”

“Let’s go take a look in the hall.”

Descending from the stairs, Henrik’s gaze drifted towards a room at the end of the corridor illuminated by light.

“What is it?”

Roger asked aloud.

“Nothing much, just something peculiar I found in the room,” replied Henrik, his beastly face sour.

“What did you see that’s making you pull such a face?” Roger asked, puzzled.

“A human skin, a complete human skin peeled off from a body, stuffed and dressed, posed by the window as if it were alive.”

Roger shrugged.

“What’s there to be so worked up about?”

“But what if that skin had been peeled off from myself?” Henrik sneered.

“Although this body is not my own, seeing a skin identical to the one I’m inhabiting, flayed and hung on a rack is not a pleasant sight.”

Roger, picturing the scene, nodded in agreement.

“Wait a second.”

He suddenly thought of something. “In that room you saw, was there only the peeled skin?”

“No desk and paintbrushes?”

Henrik showed his teeth, “Paintbrushes?”

“No.”

“Different forms of expression, perhaps?” Roger pondered but did not rush to investigate. Instead, he silently made his way down the stairs to the ground-floor hall.

The wooden doors of the hall stood open, and snowflakes blew into the room under the bright moonlight, where a figure was struggling to hang a large chest onto a horse.

Just as he was about to leave, he inexplicably stopped, turned his gaze towards a direction inside the castle, and then hurriedly ran towards it.

At that moment, Roger had already recognized the man’s face.

It was identical to that of the middle-aged man he had seen before, even the clothes were exactly the same.

And there was the black horse tied to the withered tree.

Roger could almost guess the middle-aged man’s next move, only he had no idea whether the rose garden here bloomed with splendid roses or grew bizarre plants with strange, misshapen heads just like before.

“It seems the story within this manuscript has been altered by someone…”

Roger was saying this when he heard heavy panting by his side.

Turning his head, he saw Henrik standing next to him, who for some reason had been triggered, his body slightly arched, every hair on his body standing on end. Then, with a low growl, he dropped to all fours and, like a wild beast driven mad, charged out!

“Henrik, what are you doing?”

Roger yelled, but Henrik seemed completely deaf to it, his massive body crashing into the window beside him like a mountain.

Crash!

Amidst the flurry of splinters and glass shards, Henrik had landed outside in the rose garden; by the time Roger caught up, he saw Henrik pinning a middle-aged man to the ground, vicious claws perched on his shoulder.

Crimson blood flowed down the shoulder.

An unfamiliar voice emanated from Henrik’s throat, “You took my rose, so you shall pay with your life!”

The rose in the middle-aged man’s hand suddenly turned into a wisp of green smoke, leaving a rose-shaped mark on the back of his hand.

“With your own life or someone else’s!”

“The contract has etched into your soul, take these treasures and be gone!”

“I’ll give you three days, if you cannot Return as agreed, then this rose will root on the back of your hand, devouring your flesh and filling your insides!”

With that, Henrik exerted great force and tossed the middle-aged man lying on the ground far away.

“Remember, you have only three days!”

Ignoring his pain, the middle-aged man scrambled onto his horse and fled in panic.

It was then that the fury enveloping Henrik gradually began to fade, and clarity returned to his eyes.

“Damn, what happened? I couldn’t control my own body at all just now!”

He turned to look at Roger, whose face also flickered with concern.

Their souls had been partially extracted, infused into strange bodies; although they appeared to move freely, there was an invisible hand secretly controlling everything behind the scenes.

“Where’s the woman?”

Henrik asked.

Roger glanced down and in the corner under the dining table, a woman’s purplish, bruised face became visible.

A ring of contusions circled her neck, and her clothes were disheveled.

“Dead, she was killed by that guy just now.”

“What?!” Henrik roared, barely able to control his emotions. He took several deep breaths. “What’s going on? Ever since you came here, my emotions have become increasingly unstable.”

Roger’s eyes brightened as he pieced together his previous experiences and the changes in Henrik; he was starting to understand something.

“This isn’t just any Fairy Tale World.”

“The holder of the manuscript can alter the course of the story to some extent, and what we’re experiencing is a story within a story.”

“No, perhaps it’s a parallel story unfolding.”

He looked at Henrik, “If I’m not mistaken, Goway may not be here, it’s just unclear how many parts this Fairy Tale World has been divided into.”

“For that reason, each fragmented world isn’t enough to contain our entire souls; we are pulled in to become half puppet.”

In fact, at this point, the original storyline of this world wasn’t important any longer. Roger always felt that the atmosphere here held special significance, but the information he had wasn’t sufficient to fully deduce it.

Just then, Roger felt the entire castle begin to tremble, and Henrik quickly snapped back to reality.

“It was like this right before you appeared…”

“It must be Goway, she must have come here!”

Roger hurried up the stairs to the top, and just as he reached the landing, a red door appeared on the wall at the end of the hallway. Then, the wooden door swung open, and a beautiful blonde girl stepped out.

The girl had pale skin and wore a white dress, looking innocent and lovely, yet her hands and the front of her clothing were smeared with large patches of blood, staining the white gown red.

“Goway?” Roger tentatively asked.

The girl glanced at the Longsword in Roger’s hand.

“Roger?”

“Is the man beside you Henrik?”