Chapter 83: Nightmare

CRAAASH!

“Gyaaaaarrggghhh!”

The Nightmare Chimera Beast screamed in pure agony and quickly tore itself free from her grasp, beginning to slash at her wood with its razor-sharp claws while firing beams of corrupted black flame. Its little offspring scrambled desperately back toward the candidates, but Dryad caught them easily as giant, sharp vines surged from the ground and pierced them one by one, impaling their small bodies and draining them completely dry.

They were drained of all their fluids, rapidly drying into withered mummies before collapsing into clouds of black dust one after another.

“W-Woah!”

“What the fuck is going on anymore?!”

“I’m scared!”

“Oh shit, oh shit, look!!!”

The adventurer candidates were screaming aloud in panic as they pointed at the huge Kaiju-scale fight unfolding right in front of their eyes. A giant black tree had emerged out of nowhere, covered in red and purple leaves with glowing red eyes across her fruits, and started wrestling the giant nightmare chimera with raw, relentless force.

The chimera constantly cut into its wood, while the tree constantly absorbed its liquid and nutrients with sharp vampiric vines that pierced deep into its flesh. It was an endless, brutal battle. The chimera regenerated at an alarming rate, and the tree was constantly regrowing as it drank in the monster’s essence.

Meanwhile, Paragon helped the tree, Dryad, by cutting through the monster’s large heads and steadily weakening it, seeking the core under Elizabeth’s clear command.

“Wow...” Camilla muttered, eyes wide. “Kid, your familiars are strong as hell.”

“I know,” Elizabeth smiled with quiet pride.

“Don’t you see how she reacted? That would be me if you asked me first,” Mongrel said, sounding almost offended. “I’m starving.”

“Okay, you can have the elf,” sighed Elizabeth, gazing toward Alfrion. “Wait, where is he— Fuck! We lost him!”

Camilla’s ears suddenly changed, becoming like the long, large ears of bats, slightly covered with black scales here and there as she started filtering every nearby sound with precision. Then her nose also shapeshifted into a sensitive bat nose.

“He’s over there!”

Her sharp crimson eyes locked onto him. He was running across the hall to the left, clearly trying to escape while his right arm continued to burn with lingering flames.

“Alfrion, come back here!”

Camilla grabbed Elizabeth and by extension Hikari, who was right next to her, and leaped toward Alfrion at lightning speed.

“G-Get away from me!”

Alfrion roared in desperation, smashing the door open with monstrous strength. His body grew larger and larger as he ran across the schoolroom and into the adventurer guild’s entrance. Hundreds of adventurers greeted him with shocked stares at what he had become.

“Woah, what the...?!”

“MOVE ASIDE!”

Alfrion roared furiously, punching dozens of people away with his other arm, which had grown into a grotesque mass of flesh, spikes, eyes, and mouths. The mutated limb hit everyone in its path and sent them flying through the air.

“What’ going on?!”

“Aaaagghh!”

“That damn bastard, who is he?!”

“Why does he look like that...?!”

“Wait, is that an Entity?”

“Watch out!”

“Don’t let that thing run away or it’s going to kill civilians!”

The Adventurers all responded unlike normal civilians, acting instead as the seasoned warriors they were. The weaker ones quickly ran to safer distances and began conjuring spells while shooting arrows, while the stronger ones blocked Alfrion’s path and attacked with powerful weapon skills and techniques.

Alfrion clenched his teeth as he was attacked from every angle. His eyes grew redder with rising anger and fury, his body bulging massively under the pressure.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!!! YOU DAMN BANDITS, YOU THIEVES! YOU’RE ALL GOOD FOR NOTHING... RUFFIANS!!!”

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

Camilla, Elizabeth, and Hikari got there right about in time. From Elizabeth’s shadows, Vlad emerged, no longer able to keep quiet, and Gigantia, who had been watching in shock, quickly joined them as well.

“Damn it, he’s about to mutate!!!” Mongrel shouted in alarm. “Elizabeth, kill him quickly!”

“I am doing my best!!!” Elizabeth screamed, channeling her power into her hands and conjuring a giant Daylight Sword, infusing it with exorcizing and Nightmare-Burning Power. “Take... this!!!”

FLASH!

The sword flashed through the air, moving faster than everyone else and reaching Alfrion in an instant. His eyes widened as a giant hand emerged from his shoulder, watching the massive sword just before it could pierce his body.

“Hahahaha, you won’t easily— GAH?!”

BOOOMMM!!!

But the sword exploded. Blinding light, harmless to everyone else but him, covered his entire body completely. White and gold flames burned across his skin and flesh with purifying intensity.

“Kuuuuaaaaggghhhhhh!”

As he screamed in agony, the world around him began to darken even further. Cracks within spacetime began to appear and spread.

“D-Damn it, I couldn’t pierce through, he’s only burning again!” said Elizabeth, frustration clear in her voice.

“Just what’s going on?!” Gigantia asked, confused and tense. “How did doing an adventurer test turn into this, young lady?!”

“Um... Haha,” Elizabeth laughed awkwardly. “I swear it’s not my fault! It would’ve happened eventually even if I didn’t intervene!”

“Long story short, that bastard has been infected with the Nightmare Curse,” said Vlad with grim clarity. “He turned his monster into a Nightmare Beast and now he’s making a run for it after the young lady beat him.”

“Oh, that so? Alright!” Gigantia roared, stepping forward with heavy determination. “Step aside!”

RUMBLE!

The ground shattered beneath her as everyone else was sent flying by her immense pressure. Gigantia summoned a giant hammer made of pure gold and swung it down toward Alfrion with crushing force.

“Ugghh?!”

CRAAASH!

“Gaaaaahhhh!”

Alfrion screamed in agony as his entire body was almost completely flattened into the ground, blood and guts splattering everywhere in a gruesome display. He, however, held on barely, with countless claws surging from his body and keeping the hammer from completely smashing him to smithereens.

“Tough bastard, aren’t you?”

Gigantia smirked and swung her fist down, punching his face with devastating power and destroying it. His brains splattered everywhere as blinding crystals of light grew across his body.

“Aaaaaaaaaaagghhhh!”

Alfrion agonized, his body twitching and bleeding everywhere... but he regrew. More limbs, more eyes, more madness spilled outward in waves.

Darkness spread everywhere. The magicians all formed barriers to fight against the curse he exuded, but it was clear those defenses were not going to last for long.

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

BA-DUM!

Something was happening to him!

“IT’S TOO LATE!”

Mongrel panicked, covering Elizabeth in his protective tentacles and shocking her as Gigantia’s eyes widened the moment Alfrion regrew a new face in his chest, smiling with pure malice.

“I will teach you... all of you bastards... I will cleanse the reputation of the adventurer guild!!!”

“GIGANTIA!”

Vlad turned into shadows and covered her completely as Alfrion laughed, and then...

His Nightmare Heart fully formed and exploded.

BOOOMMM!!!

Everything became pure black. Space and time warped violently, and a small part of reality itself was rewritten in that instant. The entire Adventurer Guild was swallowed by the massive explosion, trapped inside a distorted world born from Alfrion’s Nightmare.

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