Honestly, the fact that I couldn’t get tired at all was probably one of the strongest attributes I had in my possession… I had run around killing imaginary denizens of this nightmare for a whole hour without ever having to deal with being out of breath, a single muscle cramp, or anything else of the sort.

  Now, I was sitting on the roof of a structure near the city hall, watching as the entire architecture was literally being drowned under a mass of rabid, pale creatures. Their abnormal, twisted bodies contorted as they howled and cried in their attempt to make their way inside… They knew where the prey were, but they weren’t exactly the smartest, and kept trying to get to the targets in a straight line, which naturally resulted in them hitting walls.

  They managed to navigate the city well enough, but finding a way inside a specific place? It felt like I was watching a bunch of lobotomised chickens trying to figure out what the difference was between a grate you could see through and an open door.

  I had seen chickens demonstrate this lack of intelligence–Watching them move in circles around a pen, consistently trying to walk through a grate, but also consistently running right past the wide open door had been frankly astounding. I had been a little gal back then, but it was in this moment that I had understood that not all life was equal. Some were utterly, bafflingly unfit for survival.

  It was at this moment that I became more aware of those around me–It was then that I realised that it wasn’t just chickens who were helpless idiots whose brains seemed infested with worms… It actually applied to other humans and sapients as well.

  It had been on this day that I realised I was superior.

  …Anyway, the city hall may be overrun, but it seemed like many of my prey were hiding inside here. If I had to guess, they had spread around in a panic. I could see the pale creatures being somewhat confused, and seemingly switching targets repeatedly… My assumption would be that their ‘sense’ for where prey was to be found wasn’t perfect, and since there were people all over the structure, it felt like prey was everywhere inside to them.

  When something was everywhere, it might as well be nowhere, too. I needed to get inside here and take care of the job myself.

  I located a window and crawled in through here–The windows in this trial did not have glass. They were just holes in the walls, but the one I picked was especially narrow. Thankfully, alongside everything else, my body had also grown exceptionally flexible, I was able to fit through there like some of those cave aficionados.

  The inside was filled with patrolling and seeking monsters, but the hallways weren’t all wide enough to accommodate many of them, so certain areas of the city hall were significantly quieter than others. Nonetheless, even if no creatures could be spotted directly, their distant screams and whines were very clear to the ears.

  …I guess I’ll just need to check every room. I’ll need to keep up my best act in case I run into the big cats… Where are they anyway? I would have expected them to slaughter their way through the monsters. Especially Rarelian.

  Mmh… I approached the first door, peering through the keyhole.

  I found some.

  ___

  “What would be the best course of action right now, Tilimia?”

  “Frankly? It’s hard to say. The entity has yet to reveal itself, and now, we are under the assault of countless monsters… Despite the fact that the trial claimed that there would only be a single thing for us to deal with”

  “Heh, unless this damned nightmare is just lying to our faces, then it just means that the one entity just has the ability to create monsters, no?”

  “I suppose… Nonetheless, it doesn’t change the fact that apart from the two of us, everyone else stuck in this nightmare has no good means of defence against even the weaker creatures. I know we aren’t here for this, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to just leave them all to die like this… I didn’t end up in this job to watch bystanders get mauled to death and torn apart without lifting a finger”

  Tilimia rubbed the bridge of her nose. The distant echoes of blood-curdling screams mixed with the horrific cries of the monsters. Every second that passed, people were being slaughtered without rhyme or reason… In fact, it seemed like people were being killed more and more often as time went on… How could this be possible? The felines had an idea. The entity itself was in the fray.

  Unfortunately, in the chaos, people had split up and run in every direction, so only a small portion of the unwilling participants were with Rarelian and Tilimia. The tigress had placed a simple magic circle over the walls, floor and ceiling of the room they were currently in. They worked as wards and reinforcing barriers… This room was safe for now.

  This was a privilege the others did not enjoy. They were being found and subsequently slain in droves. It did not take long before the structure grew eerily quiet. It seemed that because of the wards, the monsters could no longer detect the presence of prey within the trial, leading them to go completely quiet.

  From the inside of the room, they couldn’t really tell, but the monsters had different reactions to the lack of people to hunt down–Some immediately lay down and seemingly fell asleep. Others began to wander without a goal, while some others… They seemed to be now more preoccupied with making a good image for themselves toward their ‘creator’.

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  They went and started following the so-called ‘entity’ around like puppies with separation anxiety. This created a rather ridiculous scene that, unfortunately, no one was around to bear witness to.

  “...I think we should just go out there to start ripping and tearing. I doubt we can actually stay hidden until sunrise. There are still several hours to wait until then”

  Rarelian spoke his mind, as per usual, his idea to deal with the problem was to flex his muscles and to take care of the entity and its creatures head-on. The lionfolk might come up with simple ideas most of the time, but he wasn’t wrong. The trial wasn’t friendly in the least to those without great personal strength to defend themselves with, and it was unlikely that the entity wouldn’t end up figuring out which room they were currently hiding in.

  “We can’t leave these people without defence, though… We need to make sure the entity’s attention is on us before we lead it away. Those pale monstrosities are clearly not smart enough to figure out that something is off with this room, but we don’t know what our enemy looks like”

  Just as the tigerfolk said this, the barricaded door of the room was banged upon, drawing all attention toward it.

  “Excuse me? I can hear your voices through the door. I cleared the area of the monsters. Would you be so kind as to open this door for me? I can probably kick it in, but it would attract attention”

  A woman’s voice rang out from behind the door, the two felids tensed up, they could very well be hearing the voice of the entity right now, after all, they had already believed that it was hiding amongst them back in the large hall, so the idea that their enemy looked like an ally was not a novel idea to either of them…

  When Tilimia had attempted to find intel through divinations, she had hit obstacles every time, and the best–And only–Piece of information she got was that the entity was close-by… Which really didn’t mean much at all when, at the time, she had been near dozens upon dozens of different people.

  This difficulty in tracking down the source of nightmares wasn’t the first time she experienced it, but it was frustrating nonetheless. She had never encountered anything with such an extreme resistance to divinations. If it were a matter of strength difference, Tilimia would have been able to tell, which meant that it was purely about the target of the divinations being resilient to them for unknown reasons.

  “What is your name?”

  The lionfolk asked a simple question.

  “Weird question to ask someone in this situation, Buddy… But my name is Maeve. Do you want to know my measurements as well? I do hope you’ll let me in even after learning that I am as flat as a board”

  The two felines glanced at one another. It certainly didn’t sound like something a murderous entity dwelling inside nightmares would say, but they couldn’t be certain, especially since they hadn’t heard the sound of combat, yet this woman claimed to have cleared the surrounding area of all of its monsters–Which was certainly suspicious.

  “You aren’t going to let me in, are you? What a shame… I can feel your suspicion through the freaking door. Oh well… It doesn’t matter if you aren’t willing to open this door for me. You’ve already let me into your dreams. That is more than enough”

  Neither of the two beastfolks blinked, but suddenly, they found the barricaded door to have been brutally forced open. On one end of the room, a human woman was now sitting in a chair. She was covered in blood from head to toe. She wore a long black mantle and had a most typical two-edged sword in her hand.

  They recognised her quite easily. Those purple eyes were hard to forget, with how distinctly unique they were.

  The screams of the monsters resumed. Only then did Tilimia realise that one of her magic circles had been damaged. Rarelian stepped forward, bringing out his claws as he roared at the seemingly human woman.

  “Tilimia, get them to safety. I’ll take care of this for a little while”

  “Don’t get yourself killed, think about Hymyr if you need strength”

  The tigress quickly led the remaining survivors away. She used a spell to make them float, deciding to bring them to the highest portion of the roof for protection…

  Meanwhile, Rarelian sighed.

  “I don’t know what you are, little lady, but I am going to have to kill you”

  “Do your worst, big guy. You’re delusional if you think I can be killed inside of here. This nightmare belongs to me… And you won’t power through this by thinking about drinking that she-cow’s milk directly from the source, you filthy degenerate”

  “...Seems like you are already familiar with me… Aherm… Let’s not act like not everyone would be curious about what it would taste like…”

  “If I were you, no one would be able to torture a confession about this out of me”

  ___

  Here it was. The roadblock of the hour–A giant, bipedal lion with a seemingly bizarre desire, that I was confident was actually not uncommon at all. I raised my sword, taking up a proper stance before activating my time stop. I swiftly leapt up to the three meters tall beastfolk’s face, and attempted to stab him right through the eye and brain.

  As expected… Absolutely ludicrous.

  The blade only sank in a little bit before snapping, leaving me with a broken sword as I jumped off and landed on the ground behind his back before time resumed its natural flow.

  “Ouchies, putting dirt in my eye isn’t very nice”

  I knew he wasn’t even messing around. To him, sharp shards of steel were akin to dirt… Also, the small wound I inflicted wasn’t just nothing to him. It healed almost immediately as well… I want to own his soul. I wonder if down the line, I would have the means to twist a soul like his into a ghostly little sister? It would be great, wouldn’t you agree, Nara?

  Or maybe his soul could be turned into something Elowen could consume to increase her brute strength

  Oh, this might be an even better idea, actually. I really feel like I need to kill him now, if I can’t do it, though… I guess I’ll have to use my time freeze to get away and switch targets.

  …Still, he surely has a weakness I can exploit... Doesn't he?