Chapter 22: The Danger Of Nightmare Vestiges

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I was about to check my status and the items I carried in my backpack when Mongrel dropped a bomb right in front of me.

“What do you mean people are going to explode?! Explain yourself!” I demanded angrily, stretching his face and tentacles.

“Gaaaack! S-Stop it! It hurts!” he cried from his big eye. “I’ll tell you, so stop it!”

“Hmph.” I let go of him as he groaned, landing on the bed and glaring at me angrily.

“You know what? I’m not telling you anything— Aack!” he cried as I began pulling his tentacles again. “Okay! Okay, I’ll say it! I’m sorryyyyy!”

After that, he finally swallowed his pride and explained what he meant.

“Your parents might not have realized it yet, but when the Nightmare Gate opened accidentally here, a lot of Nightmare Energy entered the atmosphere!” he said. “Some people will naturally be drawn to it, and vice versa. Those with the most compatibility with this dark energy will begin to harbor Nightmare Seeds inside their souls. Once they absorb enough negative energy… well, the people will explode.”

“What?!” I gasped. “T-They just go kaboom?”

“They turn into Nightmares!” he said with a devilish smile. “Huhuh, it is the way we propagate across other dimensions! But because you were so quick at closing the Nightmare Gate, it has taken a while… but now there are quite a few. Once Nightmares start to be born, the atmosphere will be filled with even more Nightmare Energy, and then we’ll be able to invade once the conditions are met— Aaack! Stop it!”

“How could you not tell me about this earlier?!” I asked angrily, pulling his tentacles.

“I-I implied it, you know? But you’re always so busy being a stupid spoiled brat that it went in one ear and out the other!” he said. “Ouch!”

“Who are you calling a spoiled brat, you little mongrel…” I groaned, opening my mouth and biting him.

“Aaaaagh! Don’t bite me! Anything but that— ouch! You’re such an animal!” he cried. “I hate you! I hate dragons, period!”

“Nah, you love me,” I smiled as I let him go and used the power of Chaos to feed him energy, keeping him alive and healthy. “Here, your favorite food.”

“Uuuooggh?!” he groaned, growing stronger over time. “Nice!”

Ever since I got him, I have been feeding him Chaos Energy every day. If I went overboard, he would evolve into a Super Nightmare or something, so I only gave him a little each day, helping him adjust and absorb the power to grow slowly alongside me.

“Alright, so there are Nightmares… goddamn it, this isn’t like in the story…” I sighed, rubbing my temples. “The threats aren’t supposed to show up until I am like sixteen… I thought I at least had ten more years…”

“Story? What are you talking about?” he asked, raising his only hairless eyebrow. “Wait, do you have some kind of precognition ability?!”

“Uh, kinda,” I shrugged. “No, no, that doesn’t matter anyway. What matters is the safety of my people! H-How far did this Nightmare Seed spread?”

“Heh,” he smiled, showing sharp teeth. “Why would I tell you— AAAAHHHH!”

I used Harmony to give him a little tough love, as they say.

“I-I’ll tell you, just please stop doing that!” he started crying crocodile tears again. “You’re such an abusive person. I am just a tiny, adorable, innocent Nightmare that has hurt no one…”

“Shut up. You tried to kill me and eat me,” I said. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that. Also, you’re not even your true self but a piece of that one. You still think you’re the main guy? He’s just going to swat you like a fly if you ever try to get back to him.”

“S-Shut up!” he cried. “The Nightmare Seed has spread around this kingdom! And all of them will germinate… roughly in like a year or two from now, yeah, give or take.”

“Eh?!” I gasped. “H-How many?!”

“Hmm, a hundred or so,” he said. “There might be some more around the globe, but they aren’t that many and I cannot detect them so accurately— Geaaah?!”

I grabbed him tightly by the face and squeezed him.

“You’re going to tell me where they are, you heard me?!” I demanded.

“Why would I ruin the plan my masters have created?!” he asked. “I will not speak! Kill me! Torture me! Do whatever you want to me, I won’t speak— Aaahhh!”

However, I quickly pierced his ethereal body with my hand and infused my soul inside—the same way I did when I was desperate to quickly drain the knowledge I wanted.

Through this, I learned to pinpoint the Nightmare Seed locations to an extent. It was still not 100% accurate.

I had to be honest with myself. This was too much… my parents might also have little idea, and if I told them out of nowhere, how was I even going to justify it?

I needed to go to the capital myself and solve this on my own.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Or just tell them the truth about Mongrel and see him get taken away?

No, he was my pet! I couldn’t do that.

I might have abused him because he was a douchebag and very evil, but I still loved him.

“If I tell my parents about you, they’re going to take you away and will likely torture you even worse,” I sighed. “I don’t want them to take you away from me, Mongrel.”

I hugged him while he groaned and clicked his tongue. “I don’t care!”

“Let’s do this together, I guess. I already learned how to do it,” I nodded. “I just need to ask my parents to let me go to town or something. I’m strong enough to fend for myself anyway, right? I could invite friends and build a search party. What do you think?”

Mongrel crossed his tentacles and groaned. “I don’t care! Stop talking to me!”

“Ugh…” I sighed, looking at the ceiling. “Maybe I should tell them… Ah, wait, Astraea, right? Are you there?”

Suddenly, a mass of blue pixels appeared by my side, slowly taking the form of a little blue and white fairy made of ethereal light. She had short blue hair and big, rectangular fairy wings made of data.

“Hello, master. It’s me, your assigned System Spirit, Astraea. I’ve been—”

“You can talk?!”

I hugged her instantly, but she was made of data, so it was really difficult.

“Y-Yes, master. I am equipped with communication programs…” she muttered. “Um, is that bad?”

“No, it’s not bad. I really thought my familiars didn’t speak besides this idiot,” I said, patting Mongrel’s head.

“Oh great, another familiar for her to abuse,” he said. “You’ve got tough luck, girl. She’s going to make you go through hell if you piss her off.”

“What?” Astraea gasped, trembling. “Y-You’re an abusive master?”

“I’m not…” I sighed, facepalming. “Why are you even believing him? He’s a Nightmare.”

“Nightmare?!” she cried, hiding behind me. “Sorry, master. I know I should never doubt you… I am just new. I was born like a month ago…”

“It’s fine,” I said, using Harmony to feed her positive energy and make her feel better. “Feeling better?”

“Yes!” she nodded cutely. “T-Thank you for your reassuring healing spell.”

“Alright,” I nodded. “Well, there’s a lot to do right now, but I wanted to ask you a few things, Astraea.”

“Of course, master,” she nodded. “What can I help you with?”

“Well…”

I asked her a few things.

“Inventory?” she wondered. “Yes, you’ve been gifted quite a lot of System Points! If you use them now, you can unlock that perk.”

“Can I?” I asked her. “How much does it cost?”

“500,000 System Points for 10 spaces,” she explained. “Similar items can stack in the same space up to x99.”

“Uh, only ten…” I sighed. “If I spend it all I can get twenty spaces, but… what else can I use System Points for?”

The game system I remembered had no System Points or anything like that. All of this was completely new.