Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 103: Heretic’s Identity

'What in the fucking story progression is this—'

Whoosh—!

Cesar saw the Librarian vanish from its original position and move to strike, halting his sprint abruptly.

Thud—!

At the point of impact where the Librarian intercepted his path stood the same Nightmare currently looking at him.

Full of malice from its cross eyes, the librarian who was three times Cesar's height flipped the pages of his book before reaching something inside of it.

Once it did, the Librarian released a humungous sword that towered over the five-meter Nightmare. But the surprise didn't just end there. The librarian released more books inside and started bringing out the same humungous sword in the same fashion and the same manner.

Cesar didn't even get to intervene because there was the heretic watching his movement with amusement. Completely facing a two-versus-one situation, Cesar had to be careful with his future actions, afraid that he'd be more in danger instead of helping himself.

He slowly reached into his pocket but hadn't released anything yet. He was waiting as he observed both the heretic's movement and the Librarian.

The librarian didn't strike as much dreadful as The Keeper of the Void but it didn't look weak either. Its legs were exaggeratedly long while its body and arms appeared to be in a 'normal' size in that kind of stature.

It had a hideous purplish wound at its right side and left knee that continued to burn and Cesar was able to spot easily that it was bleeding relentlessly.

"How…" The heretic was slightly a bit surprised for a moment before chuckling in disbelief, "I think you know who this Nightmare is. First the Keeper of the Void, now the Librarian? How come you kept knowing these things and seemed to excel far better than me!? Just how!?"

As if angry that someone is atop of him in terms of their history regarding their god that seemed to question his faith, the heretic seemed to have finally flipped a switch as his amiable attitude turned the opposite.

He started to hold his hair in an erratic way, his nails started to leave marks as he scratched his face in annoyance.

Cesar observed the heretic going haywire with the reason of some non-believer knowing much more about his own religion than the devotee.

It's not like Cesar had liked it in the first place. But if this is the way to get under the heretic's skin by giving him distressful things for someone like him, it wouldn't be too long till a chance lands at his front and kills the faithful believer of Deceit.

It was just a matter of timing until then.

But just as he continued observing the heretic's face that lay bare for him to see, Cesar began to ponder something that hadn't been making any sense since before the start, and how they all got transferred to the Mansion.

Who was even The Heretic?

Yes, these believers of the Nightmare that make these creatures their gods are one and many of their kind. The guy at Cesar's front was the same.

He was only able to ponder it deeply at this moment since he was attention was divided solely between The Librarian and The Heretic, setting aside on finding the cube for a short while.

At that moment, Cesar squinted his eyes, scrutinizing the Heretic closely. There, an image formed in his mind, and he couldn't resist comparing it to the crazed figure before him.

Without the scars or the beard, there's one particular image that matches exactly what this crazy believer looks like.

Then Cesar went back even further, the time Arnold, their headmaster of the Resisting Academy, had given them the mission to find and search for the furtive disappearances happening in the city.

-It started a year ago. One of the employees in a big company was reported missing after his job. It was reported a day later, but only in three days, he was declared missing. Local authorities were tasked to find its corpse yet to no avail, not even a trace was found.

Of course, Cesar had read it very carefully from start to finish and he even found some articles and newsletters relating to the mission by thoroughly looking to make their journey as smooth sailing as possible, which is far from to say at this point, to be honest.

That didn't stop Cesar from researching.

That's when he found out something.

And remembering the description relating to the disappearances of the City of Wheels, Cesar was left quite shaken at this mere discovery.

He wouldn't be able to think this through without even coming to having a normal conversation with The Heretic in the first place with his face to show to all the onlookers.

"Hey Heretic… Is your name Caster Field, by any chance?"

The very first one that went missing in the City of Wheels whose corpse couldn't be found since there was no trail to track… was no other than Caster Field, a mere employee of the previous mayor Mendeleev.

As, if his name had disappeared through the books, the Heretic whose supposed name was Caster Field, wasn't known. He was a complete nobody. Nothing. Just a regular guy who worked for minimum wages with an overload of time.

Then he was gone.

'It's starting to make sense… This guy who disappeared a year ago probably came across the Mansion, the very first one to encounter it for himself. Then, whatever his goal is, it involves moving through deeper the library since he needed the strength of all of us whom he managed to somehow stay in the influence of the City of Wheels…'

Cesar paused, his mind raising.

'The missing people are probably bait to keep more people, much stronger than mundane ones, to keep coming to the City. This is just a way to further his goals. His words really aligned with his actions and anything that seemed so funny at first was nothing but the hard truth… Then there's the missing people…'

Cesar remembered the answer he received from the heretic when he asked about the missing people who disappeared into the city. Read exclusive content at m_v-l'-NovelBin.net

-Survivors? Oh, you're talking about them? Of course, there are survivors left. Do you want to see them?

The people who disappeared have only one place to go, and the way Caster had spoken about them seemed to appear that he was the one who kidnapped them and forced them inside the library.

There were no traces of their disappearances, and just like Heretic played like everyone, he did the same thing to the people that he abducted.

But then the people.

'I see…'

Cesar already has suspicions that the corrupted humans he had seen throughout his journey are probably the same people that Caster had abducted. He was the one who made them corrupted humans, something as a way to help him further his goals.

"It all made sense now…"

Cesar coldly shifted his gaze to the front where the heretic had stopped its antics and merely started to stare back at him.

Caster whose identity just had been revealed, couldn't help but shudder as he shouted, "How!? Fuck, attack him!"

Whoosh—!

In the blink of an eye, Cesar was able to notice that the Librarian was swift to his movement. All the swords that it brought out move at the same pace as him as well.

"Shit!"

But it was damn fast.

Cesar managed to grab the artifact Largening Hand from his pocket and used it to defend himself simultaneously.

That only covers his front.

With nothing to defend his back, the Librarian went for his blind spot and tried to kill him but Cesar had already worn his tiara then. However, the casting time for the floor of darkness was a bit slower, leaving him an option of making a thinner wall which might not be enough.

And he was right.

Thud—!

The humungous sword crashed into his floor of darkness which was easily broken upon impact and right before he could even defend himself, a figure stopped the way of the sword that went flying straight to Cesar's face.

Holding down the sword with one hand, Cesar's gaze fell onto the figure that just saved his life, only to be surprised when he noticed it wasn't just someone he was expecting it to be.

"Kid… Are…You…All…Right?"

The one standing in the way of the sword between him and the Librarian was a Corrupted Human.

This Corrupted Human isn't just any other. Actually, they had met each other in one particular city, named Harden City near the Langston Bridge.

They met yet again in this godforsaken place.

"Tourist…?"