He has lived here for centuries, defending everyone on his own?! Somnu thought, still finding the very notion difficult to accept. How?!

  “I’m aware I have been acting weirdly.” Eamon began to speak, stroking Betty’s mane slowly. “Did you know, kid? When someone can speak different languages, they say depending on the language they use, they might seem like a different person entirely, even their very voice changes sometimes.”

  “I’ve read about it, but what’s your point?”

  “I believe this doesn’t extend only to languages, but to environments too.” Mr. Emberlyn gave Somnu a glance before continuing. “I am not from the world you know, nor from this place, my world was lost to the Nightmare Creatures.”

  “!”

  “When I am awake, I’m able to naturally adapt to that environment that I have grown used to with the people around me.” Emberlyn paused, then stepped back from his pegasus. “And when I am asleep and find myself here once more, I adapt my knightly persona that the countless years forged into me. However, with you being here from my waking life, mixing the two environments together, I have found it rather difficult to adapt to only one natural persona.”

  “...”

  Somnu finally understood the reason behind the constant shift between Mr. Emberlyn and Sir Eamon, the last knight of Nirvia. His careless words since meeting the old man again laid heavily on his heart.

  “I’m sorry…”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong, kid.”

  “To think you have been here all alone for so long… I don’t even know how that’s possible…” Somnu muttered. “Isn’t it like torture to be alone like that?”

  “I told you so long ago, didn’t I?” The corners of Eamon’s lips curled up. “Planting the bad seeds on the edges, protects the good crop in the middle.”

  “You… What’s so bad about you?” Somnu raised his voice slightly after remembering what Mr. Emberlyn had told him the last time they met in the waking world. “Why do you have to be the one to sacrifice themselves?”

  “I’m old.” The old knight answered bluntly. “Every time I sleep, I spend countless years here before waking up again. In the waking world, you must have fallen into your coma but a few hours ago, but to me, decades have already passed.”

  “Time flows differently here?!” The scarecrow’s eyes widened, he had noticed no details that hinted at that.

  “Decades could pass here for every night in the waking world, but beware Somnu…” Eamon’s tone turned sharper suddenly. “The time in the Abyss of Lethe flows the other way.”

  “What?! By how much?!”

  “That’s enough questions, I’ll explain more on the way.” Eamon replied, gesturing to get on the pegasus.

  “What do you mean?!”

  So far, Somnu could not understand why Mr. Emberlyn seemed in so much of a rush. Yes, Somnu wanted to go back and start preparing for his inevitable encounter with John Doe, the one who killed his mother, but he could still spend time here to learn more and get stronger, especially since time flowed much faster in this mysterious place.

  However…

  “It is about time you head back, before things begin to escalate further on this side. Even I am not sure I would be able to hold the Nightmare Creatures off if they grow further in power by your presence here.”

  “!”

  The revelation made Somnu immediately fix his posture, his fists reflexively clenching.

  “My presence here alone… is making the Nightmare Creatures stronger? Without them collecting my core?”

  “Naturally. You have too many active fears, and there is no one else in this place to feed on any longer.” Eamon explained while taking a step forward. “The longer you stay, the stronger they are becoming. You should have noticed the sudden shift in that scarecrow creature, no?”

  It was true. From the moment that scarecrow monster had appeared in the misty graveyard, Somnu had immediately recognized a different vibe about it.

  He had believed that perhaps it had somehow grown in the time between falling into the swamp back in the Abyss of Lethe and showing up in this unknown place, but now he knew better.

  The major transformation it had received later, to the point of becoming more humanoid and gaining the ability to talk, none of it had made any sense.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Especially not how it even showed up where he was, despite being falsely relocated to a mysterious hidden realm.

  Wait… That can only mean one thing…! Somnu finally realized.

  “That’s right, kid. The scarecrow monster is not a normal Nightmare Creature.”

  “...”

  Somnu waited for the words he would have rather not heard, it was taking all his effort to simply block the revelation from popping into his head.

  And yet, Eamon pushed forward.

  “The scarecrow is a nightmare born from your own trauma and fears.”

  “...”

  “It is your very own nightmare manifested.”

  Crow-shit!

  Somnu naturally knew exactly what that meant.

  That thing is bound to appear wherever I go… No wonder it said it’ll be back… He grinded his teeth as the thoughts overwhelmed him. The System didn’t even say anything about this…! It can’t be normal!

  “It isn’t.” Eamon seemed to be reading Somnu’s thoughts once more. “Usually, that kind of Nightmare Creature would only appear inside your mind palace, regulated to only be as strong as you can handle as a way for Sleepers to face their deepest fears and trauma one layer at a time.”

  “Mind palace…?” Somnu uttered, then one of the first System messages he had ever gotten popped back into his mind.

  [Unable to access Mind Palace…]

  That’s what it had said.

  Is that why the scarecrow monster was with me in the Abyss of Lethe, right where I was relocated? He finally connected those dots.

  “That battle you had with it here, along with the transformations you both underwent, were likely due to the nature of this realm.” Eamon continued despite the pressing of time. “Consider them an early look at what you two will become in the upcoming Layers.”

  “Dammit… so that’s why I didn’t get any rewards from beating it then either…” Somnu seemed a little annoyed about that too, more so than the realization that the Night Terror State of Grudgekeeper would still need to wait.

  “Now, get on Betty quickly.” The old knight urged him. “It seems the Nightmare Creatures have grown a lot faster than expected.”

  “!”

  “I’ll have to drop you at one of the portals where I only allow Lurkers to be moved to the Abyss of Lethe.”

  Without further delay, Somnu quickly hopped on Betty and called for Fala to join him. Along with Grudgekeeper, they had completely eaten the Leshen corpse, especially with the help of the crow’s new clone.

  ***

  Soon after, Somnu was on the back of Betty, riding behind his old employer as they flew away from the abandoned castle.

  “...”

  With one last look at the structure being lit up by the violet moon behind it, Somnu couldn’t help but feel like he should have done more for it, for Eamon Emberlyn.

  He had been chosen as some kind of successor, and was now carrying the Ego Particles left behind by the many lives that had been living here, the many souls that were murdered without mercy.

  And yet, all Somnu could do for now was to clench his fists and grind his teeth as he was leaving things here for good.

  He knew the chances of him ever coming back to this place would be close to none. It was barely a fluke that he had made it here.

  Nevertheless, Somnu pulled up the rest of his pop-up messages and got to work. No matter what awaited him soon, he needed to be able to do his part too.

  First, by consuming the corpse, Fala had helped Grudgekeeper gain an extra 10 levels since it was the equivalent of 100 Transparent Terror Cores.

  Which meant…

  [Dream Catcher Level: Lvl 60.] {With 10 more cores to the next level up.}

  Somnu had made sure to always add a mental note of the remaining points he needed next to the shown level. If the System wasn’t going to do it, he was fine with doing it himself.

  Next, he still had the remaining Ego Particles he was still to consume.

  [Ego Particles Available: 875.]

  [Would you like to consume available Ego Particles?]

  Somnu considered his options of leveling up his three current personal artifacts.

  The last time he tried to use the transparent crown, Veilbinder’s Diadem, it had almost split his head from the headache alone.

  It’s probably too high level for me to use it now as I please, so I shouldn’t try to make it stronger… Somnu decided. It would probably need a lot more for a level in comparison to the other two anyway.

  He guessed based on the grades of that Memento and its ability.

  That left the upgrading of both Grudgekeeper and Eclipsed Requiem, and thankfully, he had plenty of Ego Particles to help boost them both up.

  However, things quickly turned for the worst.

  “Not good.”

  “What is it?” Somnu asked, noticing the change in the old knight’s tone.

  “They’re already here, waiting for us.” Eamon said as Betty quickly came out of a dark cloud that had blocked their vision.

  “!”

  With the violet moon’s shimmer, Somnu immediately noticed the hordes of distanced figures, like multiple colonies of ants coming together. Except, some of those ants were giant in form, while others were even flying as the ground beneath them floated along.

  “Brace yourself, kid.” Mr. Emberlyn commanded Betty to dive down directly, shifting the wind pressure right away.

  “Woah! What is the plan?!” Somnu asked in a panic.

  “Push right through them.” A wide smile formed on the old veteran’s face.

  “Excuse me?!” Somnu on the other hand, was not a big fan of that idea.

  Here's the Patreon link for those who can't wait and want to read 30+ chapters:

  Rating and Leaving a Review goes a long way to support the series!

  !