Chapter 84: Nightmare Realm

“Ugh…”

Elizabeth felt sore all over her body, every muscle aching as if she had been crushed under an immense weight. She quickly opened her eyes and discovered herself still wrapped in Mongrel’s thick tentacles.

“Move…! I didn’t need your help, Mongrel!”

“E-Elizabeth…?”

Mongrel immediately shrank back into his tiny form and dropped onto the floor, clearly exhausted and looking slightly wounded.

“Mongrel?!”

Elizabeth ran toward him at once. As she moved, a strange lightheadedness washed over her. No, it was more than that. She herself felt light, as if the forces of gravity were almost nonexistent wherever she stepped.

“Huh?”

She looked up into the skies and noticed a dark purple expanse stretching endlessly in every direction. Large pieces of buildings and broken land floated everywhere like small islands. There were perhaps thirty of them or more, though they were hard to count amid all the chaos. The dark skies continued without end, and below her stretched an endless black abyssal sea whose depths she could not even begin to measure.

From the center of this twisted space she could feel a powerful force, a gravitational pull originating from a massive crystal star of purple and red that glowed faintly. Its power was growing steadily over time as it began claiming the souls of the unfortunate victims of this entire ordeal.

Elizabeth’s heart sank as the full realization of what had just happened settled over her.

“A Nightmare Realm… fuck… we failed to kill him in time…”

Mongrel slowly floated up to her side, glaring at her with clear annoyance and anger.

“And whose fault is that?! You wanted to keep playing at being human. We could have ended him quickly if you didn’t keep holding back so much!”

“I didn’t hold back by the end. It was… it was… ugh… is blaming me all you can do?! Also, I could have survived just fine. You didn’t need to shield me.”

“Dumbass, your stats decreased because you keep your dragon power all sealed away! You would have died!”

“…”

Elizabeth sighed. She was better than this, and she was not going to waste precious time arguing with her Nightmare Spirit.

But…

He was not wrong, as much as she hated to admit it.

“Sorry…”

She sighed again, looking down while clenching her teeth and gripping her fists tightly.

“Hmph… Just heal me already…”

Elizabeth nodded and placed her hand over his small body, carefully infusing him with Chaos energy. The power quickly healed his wounds and revitalized him completely.

“Phew!”

Mongrel rapidly grew back into a gigantic black octopus once more. He gently grabbed Elizabeth with one tentacle and placed her securely on top of his head.

“We should get out of here,” he said. “I can feel a powerful Time Dilation in this place. Someone already set up this Realm with specific Laws infused into it!”

“Really?” Elizabeth asked. “H-How big is the time dilation?”

“One minute outside equals one hour in here!” Mongrel answered. “Even if your parents come as quickly as they can, there is still enough time for that Nightmare to devour you if it wants to!”

“Not like that would ever happen. I’ve fought worse things,” Elizabeth replied firmly.

“You’ve fought Nightmare Beasts!” Mongrel insisted. “Nightmares are different…! The major difference is that Nightmare Beasts are still corporeal beings, physical ones. You can destroy them if you crush them well enough. Nightmares are Ethereal Beings composed entirely of Nightmare Essence. They can die and will return. You can only defeat them by shattering their core or exhausting their energy continuously. Their power is vast and they can—”

“Did you forget the time we fought? I beat you, and you were a really strong Nightmare King Candidate…” Elizabeth sighed. “Look, I am not getting cocky here or overconfident, but I know.”

“…Hmph! Fine… fine,” Mongrel crossed his tentacles in front of him. “I’m just the only sensible adult in here, it seems! Damn kid! I’m only trying to be responsible for you! What would happen if you ended up dead and I survived? Then your parents are going to torture me for eternity!”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Mongrel, that is NOT happening, okay? So relax…”

She looked carefully at her surroundings and closed her eyes for a moment, entering a short meditation.

“For now, I must rescue as many people as I can.”

“Where are you even going to put them, though? Are you going to bring them along in a bag?”

“I’ll place them inside my Nebula of Memories. I’ve absorbed enough Memories already, so it has become large enough.”

“Wait, what’s that?”

“A Special Space inside my Soul created from my Spiral of Fate.”

“Wow?!”

Mongrel had not even known that Elizabeth possessed her own little pocket dimension inside her soul, one she had left mostly unused while she cultivated it by absorbing memories and curing damaged minds. By reversing her Nebula of Memories it was still possible to make the space grow further, so when she used it offensively against her foes it not only served as a deadly technique but also caused her pocket dimension to expand even faster.

Nonetheless, that was not everything. She still needed to actually find the people.

“The entire Adventurer Guild was swallowed when Alfrion turned into a Nightmare… Ugh,” she sighed. “Who would have thought it would happen this soon? I did know there were some Nightmare Vestiges here and there, but I thought we would have enough time to find them separately. I was going to get to that once I was done registering as an Adventurer and having an adventure or two…”

“Yeah, this is too fast. I also assumed it would take around three to four more years,” said Mongrel. “However, there is someone, a Nightmare King most likely, manipulating these seeds and forcing them to germinate ahead of time…”

“Wait, really?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, I can feel it. He is watching,” said Mongrel. “Well, he cannot watch us completely like you might think, but he is aware of this place and is slowly trying to breach Dimensions to completely conquer it. Once he is done, he will likely attempt to spread the Nightmare Curse across your city… and that… we cannot let that happen, or else… millions would turn into aberrations!”

The Dragon Princess nodded slowly. “I know… I can feel them, all of them.”

Her Dragon Eyes opened fully as Elizabeth connected with every Human Soul present in this realm, all the Mortals who had been swallowed by the Nightmare.

Unfortunately, she already knew the truth based on the souls the Core was currently devouring…

“Around thirty percent have already died…”

She looked sorrowful, shedding a few quiet tears even though she did not know these people personally. She could only hope that those she had bonded with, her companions from the Adventurer Trial, would still be fine.

“Damn it. You mortals are so weak and pathetic!”

Mongrel pretended not to care, yet he clenched his teeth tightly. His large eye looked clearly worried, and he was almost sweating from how afraid he truly felt.

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