Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary! Chapter 812: Pasture [3]

The water closed over my head rapidly.

I reached towards the wall, but my fingers found nothing. The hand beneath my collar tightened, pulling me lower into the darkness as the faint light above disappeared.

My chest hurt.

There wasn’t much air left to hold.

But…

I could feel the four markings.

Something was happening.

And a moment later, thin lines stretched from one to the next within my mind. They connected, then extended downwards, slowly revealing the space beneath the water. Almost as if it was forming a sort of cube.

For some reason, I gave up my resistance the moment I caught sight of it.

The hands dragged me down further.

But as they did, I could almost make out my surroundings within the darkness. I could make out the stairs descending beside the gallery, the original edge of the pool, and the deep basin beneath my feet.

All of it appeared together.

Not as a flat picture.

There was depth to it. I could tell how far the bottom was, where the railing ended, and where I was sinking without turning my head.

It was like looking at a small version of the hall.

Except it was inside my mind.

“…..”

At the same time, several dots appeared within it.

Most were red. Some moved along the bottom, while others hovered beneath the gallery. One appeared right where I was, clinging to me as we continued sinking.

There were yellow dots too.

A small group near the bench, and a few more beneath the surface.

‘The others…?’

My attention briefly settled on them before returning to the red dot beside me.

That was the thing holding me.

I still couldn’t see its face, but I knew exactly where it was. More strangely, I felt as though I could reach it without moving my hand.

It was a rather difficult feeling to describe.

The entire area felt connected to me. Wherever I focused, I could sense what was happening there, and the longer I looked at the dot, the more certain I became that I could make it move.

This place…

This pasture.

‘I reign supreme.’

The thought appeared quite naturally as one of my nodes flared up.

[Herding]

My body suddenly stopped moving.

The hand beneath my collar was still there, but it wasn’t pulling anymore. Even the fingers reaching towards my ankle stopped just short of touching me.

“…..”

I focused on the red dot.

‘Let go.’

The fingers slowly uncurled.

I could feel them moving, almost as though they were my own. It was only when the fabric loosened around my neck that I realised the thing was actually following my thoughts.

My eyes widened slightly.

‘This…’

I tried making it move away.

The red dot shifted immediately, and a pale arm passed beneath the light on my harness before disappearing into the darkness.

There was no resistance.

That was what surprised me the most.

I avoided using Herding because of my condition. Trying to take control of an anomaly inside an