Somnu wasn’t sure what kind of fear was affecting him now, but the little mosquito looked as terrifying to him as the scarecrow monster that chased him for over an hour.
At least, that’s how it felt.
If he had to assume, it had to either be the fear of insects or mosquitoes specifically.
None of that mattered, however. He needed to overcome that fear now and continue pushing forward.
It’s just a Lurker probably, right? I can do this!
Just as the initial shock of the enhanced active fear began to subside, pushing Somnu to take action, he was suddenly stopped by another pop-up message.
[You have slain a Nightmare Creature!]
“?!”
Looking back to the mosquito, he saw his crow companion break the one rule he had set.
‘Don’t step into the summoning circle under any circumstances.’
However, the crow had already hopped into the middle of the circle and devoured the terrifying little mosquito.
A moment later, the rest of the messages followed.
[Nightmare Creature Rank: Lurker.]
[Lurker: Soul-Sucking Mosquito.]
[Soul-Sucking Mosquito: a vicious mosquito based on the fear of Mosquitos, Anopheliphobia. They typically hunt at night, searching for prey to relieve them of their blood, soul, and fear.]
[You have obtained 1 Terror Core.]
“...”
Go crow! I dodged a bullet!
[Congratulations!]
[You have successfully overcome the fear of Mosquitos, Anopheliphobia.]
“Wait!”
Just as he remembered, the summoning circle was already glowing again. The crow was still proudly standing in the middle of it without a single sense of danger.
“Get out of there quick!” The summoner shouted, but it was too late.
A second later, the summoning circle went back to normal and everything was the same. Except for the crow, the companion was nowhere to be seen anymore.
Dammit!! Why didn’t you listen?!
For a brief moment, Somnu considered jumping after it. Wherever the summoning circle would lead, maybe there would be cleaner water there, or better food than insects, but he quickly gave that up.
He remembered to rely on his skills first.
[Crow’s Call.]
“Caaw!”
“You scared the hell out of me!”
After simply canceling and reusing the summoning, the crow returned like it had never been gone in the first place.
Without realizing it, Somnu had grabbed and embraced the crow just tightly enough that he didn’t crush it.
For a moment, he was glad no one else was around.
It would have been embarrassing enough if someone saw him in that situation, hugging a bird like it was his cornerstone, but for a scarecrow to do that? That’s nothing short of scandalous.
Even the crow was surprised for a second, then wriggled itself out and flew away.
“Caaw!”
“Wait!” He called after it. “Where did you end up? Was it safe?”
“Caaw!” The crow flapped its wings in the air, slowly descending to the ground to continue its earlier feast.
“Did you see any food or water?”
“Caaw! Caaw!”
Of course, you didn’t…
For the time being, Somnu gave up on the idea of jumping into the summoning circle.
Instead, he decided to do something he’s been wanting to do.
“I’m going to give you a name, come here.” He said, sitting next to the stone slab.
“!”
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Although looking at him sideways at first, the crow eventually heeded the call of its master.
“First things first, are you a male or female?”
“...” For a second, the crow’s eyes grew sharper, not hiding its annoyance.
“What? I’m just asking to… Oh.” He finally remembered. “Right, yes or no questions, sorry. Are you a female crow?”
“Caaw!”
“Alright, let’s see.” He held his chin and narrowed his eyes for a second, then made his decision. “Fala, how about the name Fala? Do you like it?”
“Caaw!”
“Great, you’ll be Fala from now on.”
“Caaw!”
“Fala, first rule, stop doing things without considering the consequences! You seem smart enough to do that, so listen to me from now on, got it?”
“Caaw! Caaw!”
“What?! Listen here you!” Somnu started, then quickly gave up on trying. “You know what, do whatever you want.”
Most of the time, it seemed like the skill was always able to bring Fala back. He wasn’t even sure if the crow was made of flesh and blood, or if she was filled with the black smoke that surrounded her when summoned.
Perhaps whatever ended up happening to her, she would be fine after a new summoning. At least, that’s what Somnu wanted to believe.
For now, he let Fala go back to her hunting while he turned to check on the water. It seemed to be slightly bubbling, but not boiling just yet.
He really hoped he could purify it first, before drinking it, even if it was hot.
“...”
Then there was one more issue at hand. The food supply seemed plentiful as Fala kept filling her belly, but Somnu could not bring himself to even consider biting into one of those Horned Cockroaches.
Wasn’t it enough they can crawl and fly, why did they need horns too?! What kind of sick joke is that?! Demonic cockroaches summoned from the depths of hell?! He lampooned to vent off his frustration.
He was on the fence on whether to destroy the summoning circle or not. On one hand, it was dangerous and could summon something more terrifying than a bug, as much as Somnu doubted that would be possible.
On the other hand, it could be a source of constant farming, something Somnu was very much familiar with, in both senses of the word. He could level up his rank and the Dream Catcher as much as he could before moving on.
He just needed to force himself to eat something…
“Ah! Screw it!”
After much deliberation, Somnu used [Straw Strike] to create a stick of straws and stabbed one of the Horned Cockroaches deep enough that it stayed on the front of it.
It’s time for some cockroach barbecue… Yay? The thought made him notice another instance of deja vu as he recalled his vision blurring into this exact scene once before.
He held it over the torch that seemed to be endlessly burning somehow under the stone stab. He waited for quite a while, to the point of almost burning it.
Perhaps he hoped the charcoal taste would help block the rest of it, or act as a reminder of some other slightly burned meat he had tasted before.
Either way, it was time to test it, so he slowly brought his barbecue stick closer, the expression of disgust on his face completely evident.
“Don’t think about it… just close your eyes… and eat it…” Somnu muttered as he closed his shaking eyes. “Just think of it as grilled corn… yeah, it’s just grilled corn…”
CRUNCH!
“?!” Somnu’s eyes shot open. “That… wasn’t me!”
Looking around, he didn’t see anyone else in the room. He stood up, his heart rate quickly spiking again.
I-Is it a… ghost?!
CRUNCH! CRUNCH!
“!”
However, when he heard the noise again, he looked down and saw the culprit.
It was Grudgekeeper.
“...”
Silence overtook the room.
His outfit had come alive again, reshaping the two sided-hoodie with the jagged teeth protruding from it to almost look like a zipper pocket on the chest area.
A zipper pocket that was just a row of pointy teeth demanding to eat more cockroach barbecue.
“Are you serious?! Fala is eating over there, could you at least let me have something here?! Is this bullying?! This is bullying, right?” Somnu let out a long sigh before stabbing another poor insect.
He would have realized it was Grudgekeeper faster from the System message if he hadn’t been ignoring those due to how fast Fala was devouring her food.
Does she have a bottomless stomach or something?!
At the very least, he was gaining Terror Cores by the minute, leveling Grudgekeeper and apparently gaining more grudge, whatever that meant.
Wait…
Holding his second barbecue stick, he realized both his migraines and hunger had subsided.
He knew the migraine part came from not being able to sleep, and perhaps the more he leveled up, the stronger his mind was getting, and the better his body was able to deal with it? He couldn’t confirm that just yet, but that was his current theory.
What about the hunger though? Don’t tell me… Somnu’s eyes widened. I need to test this…
And so, he did. He fed Grudgekeeper the second barbecued cockroach.
“!”
It was very little, but he weirdly could feel himself get satiated.
Grudgekeeper was eating on his behalf, and somehow filling his own stomach.
“How…?”
It seemed like Somnu still had much to learn about this place, his Dream Catcher, and his own skills.
He could only learn and adapt as he went, but he decided to take the time to eat and level up now. After that, he could review his skills and prepare to head into the next spot.
As much as he hated the idea, he needed to break his one rule and step into the summoning circle.
Whatever awaited him there, he had already decided to face his fears and overcome them. Not to mention, this could be the exit to the First Layer, one of the requirements to completing his quest.
Or another hellish place.
And so he made up his mind.
“Eat up, you two.” He said. “We’re stepping into hell after this.”
“Caaw!”
Fala seemed excited; that made the corner of Somnu’s mouth curl up a bit.
“You just want to eat more corpses.”
“Caaw!”
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