Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Anxiety (2)
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Nightmare.
A bizarre phenomenon I'd only experienced once since possession.
I still remembered those countless disgusting hands pouring in.
Target: Roel Griffith
Status: Anxious, Nervous, Nightmare Incoming
It was forewarned once again.
"Suddenly?"
It was sudden, literally.
Of course, given Roel's current state, a nightmare wouldn't be all that strange.
She'd taken a lot of mental blows lately.
The problem was the timing.
Roel's mental state had been at its worst just two days ago.
Back then, the atmosphere was one of total surrender, which made me anxious too.
So, if a nightmare was going to happen, it would've been far more natural for it to strike then.
This wasn't the time for it—not when she was starting to feel a bit better.
"...This is weird."
I recognized it wasn't normal.
There were two possibilities I could think of.
Either my assumptions were wrong from the start, or the System had intervened.
Considering the 'author' wasn't exactly favorable toward me, the latter seemed more likely.
[ "Maybe I shouldn't sleep." ]
Roel muttered mid-training.
According to Insight, she was anxious right now.
Just like last time, she must have intuited the nightmare.
"This is odd too."
How could she predict the dream she'd have that night?
I'd brushed it off without much thought during the last nightmare, but this wasn't normal either.
It went beyond just having good instincts; there might be some other setting I didn't know about.
I scratched my head vigorously.
Complication on top of complication—it was driving me mad.
"Nightmare first."
I needed to handle the urgent matter at hand.
If possible, I had to stop Roel from having the nightmare at all.
Time to find a way.
"Talking to her myself won't help."
It might've worked before, but now that she'd turned against me, it wouldn't.
If it didn't make things worse, I'd be lucky. Rejected.
"Keep her from sleeping."
Dreams only happen when you sleep.
If I pulled an all-nighter, I could dodge it for now.
......
This didn't feel right either.
It was uncertain if skipping one night would banish the nightmare, and staying up was taxing in itself.
Too one-dimensional. Rejected.
"Use the avatar."
That left appearing as the avatar to encourage her.
Nightmares were influenced by mental state, after all. If her mind was healthy, there'd be no room for them.
"...But isn't this basically stalking?"
Meeting near the Academy was fine.
Same place, so running into each other multiple times wasn't weird.
But this was the Griffith estate.
Showing up here too would definitely seem off...
"Tch."
No good ideas were coming.
Disguise plus avatar?
No suitable face. Rejected.
Have Sitla charm her...
No, that wouldn't work.
Mental attacks on Roel transferred to me too. Rejected.
Rejected.
Everything rejected.
"......"
Countless plans were born and discarded in a loop.
Just as frustration peaked with no solution in sight, Roel reached her bedroom.
[ "Hoo..." ]
Tension was plain on her face.
Even Roel couldn't help it.
Falling asleep like this meant a nightmare, but pulling an all-nighter felt wrong too.
[ "It's okay. It'll be fine." ]
She comforted herself and closed her eyes.
I watched, then quietly gripped my demon sword.
"Right. Straightforward approach it is."
I opened the door and stepped out.
The all-white space gradually darkened.
I gazed at the monsters slowly approaching from afar.
Having fought them once before, I wasn't scared.
"No idea why they designed them like that."
Still creepy as ever.
Mouths on bony hands? This author had no sense.
—More more more more
—Only you only you only you only you
—No more no more!!
The space had fully darkened before I knew it.
After dark adaptation, I charged first this time.
Mimicry
Replicating Sera Evans' swordsmanship and mana techniques
I focused power in my legs.
Gathering it as much as possible, then exploding it all at once—that sensation.
I couldn't replicate the blessing, but I could mimic something similar.
That was the power of Mimicry.
Boom—
Something burst with a bang.
The sonic boom from surpassing the speed of sound.
I shot forward like a bullet, cleaving through every obstacle in my path.
Demon Sword's special effect activates.
Mana output surges exponentially!
I felt the power coursing through my body intensify.
Soon, my hurtling form hit the ground.
The instant it did, I launched again.
Boom—!
—Stay thereee!!
—Don't gooo!!
Furious voices echoed from behind.
They couldn't keep up, but that scraping metal sound was grating.
Another landing.
This time, I didn't leap immediately, turning my gaze to the pursuing hands.
Monotonous movements with barely any intelligence.
They swarmed after me if I ran just a bit faster—perfect for wiping them out in one go.
—Wait
—Run run
"Too late, you bastards."
I unleashed all the mana I'd gathered in my sword.
Swinging wildly in a massive arc.
The Cleave surged like a tidal wave, shredding every chasing monster.
About half left now.
I kept running.
To reach the source of these endless monsters.
As I cleaved and cleaved, until only one hand remained.
"...This?"
I'd reached the 'end'.
Severed forearms dangling limp, powerlessly.
They were being sucked away somewhere, like retrieval.
It was a door.
A worn, shabby door.
Lonely in the pitch-black space.
...At a glance, it resembled the door I came and went through.
—Sorry sorry sorry sorry
Even the last undying hand was sucked inside.
I tried grabbing it, but the pull was too strong to stop.
I shook off the numb sensation from my hand.
Glancing down, I saw the padlock on the door handle.
Locked from the outside, meaning it had been imprisoned originally...
Somehow unlocked now.
"It's you."
I knew it.
Or rather, I had to know.
The malicious aura seeping vividly from beyond the closed door was unmistakably that of a 'demon'.
The being displaced by me and locked away here.
This was supposed to be its role originally.
The demon the Griffith family spoke of was behind this door.
"Well, not particularly sorry."
The possessed soul meeting the original was a common trope in possession stories.
I'd anticipated this day would come eventually.
"......"
Instinct told me.
Crossing that door meant an all-out battle for dominance.
Winner emerges, loser gets trapped inside.
A ferociously dangerous aura poured out.
"Should've done better then."
I reached for the door handle.
And.
Click.
Locked it again.
"Spin in there."
No reason to go in, no matter how I thought about it.
I was already out here, so why bother?
It might break out again someday...
But this should keep it quiet for a while.
I turned and walked away without regret.