Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 89: Darkness

"Cedeit! Don't you fucking dare disappear on me now!"

Cesar spoke in spite as the vision he could perceive from his one eye alone started to dwindle while making their way deeper into the cone. He still hadn't forgotten that Cedeit had additional something to say which he cut off earlier since the paper mannequins had already made their way towards him.

However, he could really use the time to warn him about certain things inside the darkness where the Dwellers of the Dark inhabited.

Finally, Cedeit replied to him after a couple of seconds had passed.

"I've told you everything you need to know while being in here aside from one other thing,"

Cedeit took a moment of pause as Cesar patiently waited since it looked like it would take another damn minute, an antic that this voice developed or probably something he had to do because of his condition.

But he's been a fast replier in recent times. Today, he also replied right away.

"That one thing, however, is you have to close your eyes no matter what circumstances happened to you while being in here," Cedeit paused, "Open them and somehow you gaze at something that you can't even fathom, you'll become the same as thing as your one friend,"

Taking a huge gulp down to his throat, Cesar became nervous. The light on his back started to become more so far as his vision started to get narrower and narrower. In just a few seconds, he would be no different than a blind person even if his one eye is open.

"You said there would be Nightmares, Lesser and Intermediate-ranked creatures in here… How would I be able to fight them?"

"That's your problem. Besides, didn't I tell you it's not about fighting but avoiding them?"

Cedeit then added after seemingly sighing, "What happened to those Nightmares will become of you if you gaze at something that you shouldn't be supposed to see. Hence no matter how frightening the Dwellers are, the Darkness will be your biggest threat," Experience tales at m v|l e'-NovelBin.net

Seemingly finished with his explanation, Cesar didn't hear a follow-up response which signaled him to resume his earlier actions.

Cesar felt the darkness getting darker as the light behind him became too unnoticeable to even produce a light to him. Once the last bit of light disappeared, Cesar tried to calm his beating heart.

Then Cesar closed his eyes.

Heightening his senses as he continued the Floor of Darkness activating, Cesar couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched somewhere. Fully trusting the artifact to do its job, he was at ease while running forward through the darkness.

Completely blinded by his own actions, Cesar aggressively shifted his gaze to the side and sensed an incoming shadow passing through the floor, something that had reacted a bit too late to attack the elusive shadow.

'Crap!'

Feeling that whatever was coming to him was indeed a Nightmare, Cesar motioned the floor of darkness to intercept the dashing shadow that almost came too late again.

Slash—!

If not for the fast decision to intercept the incoming Nightmare instead of letting the floor of darkness do its thing, Cesar sensed that he'd be in real trouble and be killed right in that place.

Whoosh—!

Soon, Cesar shivered once he noticed countless shadows moving through the area of effect of his floor as they relentlessly got attacked by it.

Their feet were struck by the floor, their bodies and heads impaled by black spears, and every part of them touched by the same darkness didn't stop, even when something tried to hinder their progress. Relentlessly, they advanced toward Cesar.

They welcomed it even.

All of it, however, was making Cesar doubtful as he was incapable of actually seeing their real reaction as these Dwellers tried to reach him. With his one eye closed, the only he could do was feel their intense ways to reach towards him.

Splash—!

But the Nightmares that tried to get him just got their bodies torn apart, injured, or merely impaled by the power that the Floor of Darkness contained. They never get killed since even though the Darkness has been controlling them, they retained the same body structure before.

No matter how much Cesar willed it, a mere artifact can't singlehandedly wipe out these abominations.

He started to understand why Cedeit highly insisted on avoiding them.

'Man, I was at least trying…'

Cesar had finally given up on eliminating even one of those creatures that continued to swarm him, the Nightmare Behind, the Guardian Shelves, and the Paper Mannequins.

Rushing through the darkness as they went deeper, Cesar felt his mind erratic but he had the choice of keeping the floor of darkness aside. Afraid that it would cause him to lose control just because he kept insisting on using it, he had to make a hard decision.

Cesar will have to remove the crown from his head.

Splash—!

Narrowingly avoiding an attack that aimed at his head and feet, Cesar thought he would be making himself vulnerable to these swift attacks that he might not be able to dodge on time. He was already having a hard time when the floor of darkness was activated.

Thankfully, after acquiring an abundance of essence which Cesar was unsure where it actually came from, became the least of his concerns.

The reason he was even considering keeping the crown back in his pocket was because there was another alternative to his situation.

Grabbing the orb, Source of Light, an artifact from his pocket, Cesar clicked his tongue and forcefully removed the crown from his head.

Immediately putting the crown back in his pocket, afraid of losing yet another important artifact which he was starting to regret, Cesar channeled a huge amount of essence to the orb artifact and shouted.

"Let—"

Not letting Cesar do his own thing if they could even understand him, different creatures crawled, lunged, and dashed toward him at a swift rate after seeing the most problematic weapon he wielded was gone.

He was completely defenseless at the moment.

However, these creatures were now the ones a second too late.

"—there be light!"

Clenching the orb in his hand, Cesar's light enveloped the entire area of effect of his artifact and soon blinded the creatures that hit it.

All of them have been too comfortable in the darkness. This darkness muddled their minds, tearing away their own sanity, and lastly, removing a bit of their real self that feeds off to the same thing.

For the same reason, the moment the orb artifact brimmed its light to the Dwellers, these creatures regained a small sense of clarity within their unfocused eyes.