Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 61: Shadow Puppets

The creature seemed to be agitated but most of all, perplexed by the turn of events.

Its True Name, not just any kind of name that someone can mention on a whim, was just shouted from the likes of the people it was watching below its domineering abode. It didn't even mention its title which has weak 'effects' on them.

It was different if it was the latter, however.

Screeeech—!

The piercing scream of the Nightmare reverberated all across below the candelabra and shook the eardrums of whoever had heard it.

Mostly everyone had covered their ears to withstand the impact that the scream had dealt to them. It was just a pure scream that didn't involve any power that the Nightmare wielded but just a raw power it exerted.

But only Cesar managed to look, only to regret it instantly, feeling a cold sense of primal fear born inside of him.

The dim, lanky shadow was gone. In its place stood a hideous creature with an open chest, exposing its grotesquely entangled ribs for all to see. The proportions of its body seemed completely off, everything misplaced.

Two of its small hands were on its back, while the bigger ones were placed above its huge head to cover both red eyes on the side. Now standing on all fours, it trembled as if it was trying to resist an influence unseen through mundane eyes. The Nightmare kept puking out black smoke from the gaping maw located at its abdomen.

As the artifact's source of light was dwindling and soon extinguished light due to Erin's running out of essence, Cesar only then put his attention forward and couldn't help but take a nervous gulp.

'What the hell is even that?'

Cesar mused inwardly, trying to make sense of something nonsense and unbelievable. But for now, all these questions went to the back of his head as they merely put their focus on running forward.

"Screeeech!"

The result of exposing the True Name of the Nightmare really does produce some sort of effect, and Cesar and the rest of the group couldn't help but use this chance to make a certain distance between the creature and them.

It was all their first time trying it and actually seeing it work in their eyes, even especially for the veteran Shadeds.

After all the encounters with a Nightmare most of the time, they just fought it off without any kind of clue how its abilities worked, its Nightmare Title, or even the True name itself.

It was only thanks to Cesar that they were able to have prior knowledge regarding the Nightmare. If not for that, there would've been a bloodbath in the first few minutes of their marathon.

But as the Nightmare was trying to fix itself doesn't mean it was just going to lay still and let its prey escape.

Whoosh—!

The group instantly noticed two shadows flying over at their position at an alarming speed. Both were shrouded with darkness aside from the eyes observing them as they closed in. Stay connected to the story on m-vl-em-py-r

Thud—!

Somehow, the way they landed made an outrageous squelch after an unsuccessful arrival. Their shrouded shadow became the blood itself as it spattered all across the floor they were in before it started gathering itself which soon formed the two figures the group had seen earlier.

Then they started following them.

Whoosh—!

However, the legs of these shadows seemed agile, an upgrade received by the grace of the Nightmare they got controlled from. Because after a couple of seconds, they were on the backs of the group.

'Shit…'

Cesar couldn't help but curse inwardly as these two shadows closed in. The moment they do, there is going to be a fight that will be unavoidable.

That wasn't their main objective at all after the careful planning they did. Aside from having a goal of finding a door by the end of the table and exiting from the table, the plan for eradicating the Nightmare was out of the options for the cohort.

No matter how confident they were, it wasn't just going to happen.

'Escape the candelabra…'

Leave the area where the Nightmare is the strongest, continue their marathon at the end of the table, and hopefully escape the forsaken mansion.

But it seemed the first one wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

The moment the two shadow creatures of the Nightmare knew it would take one boost to attack the group, they lunged forward.

"Incoming!"

With Cesar informing the two fronts of their group with a shout, Jeremiah and Klaus take a huge step from all their running that was even hard to pull off which worked very seamlessly for them.

The moment they did, both jumped backward to meet the incoming shadows.

"Null!"

Meeting the shadow mid-air, Jeremiah used the momentum of his jump to land a kick at the shadow's head, a puppet of the Nightmare. The shadow tried to defend itself using its power but to no avail, it didn't work.

Momentarily putting a cease to whatever ability it was trying to do, Jeremiah finally connected his kick to one of the puppets.

After a successful kick, Jeremiah was the one who dashed forward this time and used his spear to instill another array of attacks on the puppet.

The way he gripped his spear and was able to maneuver while continuing to run was a crazy feat on its own.

In just three seconds, Jeremiah thrust its spear forward before cutting the head, connecting it to the body, and bowdlerizing the lower part of its body to pieces.

The instant he did, Jeremiah didn't even give it a spare glance before running toward Klaus to help his companion. Yet as soon as he landed his eyes, he was not surprised to see that the other squad leader was done on his part.

Seeing the clean cut of the shadow's head, Jeremiah nodded once before the two of them started following the group that already made quite a distance away from them.