Chương 327: New Look, New Allure

Ouch… Did I feel a small sting in my head just now…? It doesn't seem like you took damage of any kind Huh… Well, anyway. At the moment, I was merely waiting for something to happen. With all the time I spent playing the role of Leomi, the rest of the world didn't stop doing its thing. Therefore, the number of people stuck inside my nightmare trials increased significantly.

I had been paying close attention to the situation here, and moving the regular folks and weaklings into unending safe nightmares, herding them up for today. With just a thought, I could release them all, making them progress to the final trial all in one go, and hopefully triggering a grouped-up final trial that would allow a nifty new appearance to use while in my 'Nightmare Form'. I think now is the right time to allow them to progress to their inevitable end…

Oh, I am definitely going to get a nice sum of negative emotions out of this. Many of these people have been stuck reliving the same passive nightmare for months, and by now, they have started to think that this was just how their ordeal ended. They truly believed that they were out of danger. How delusional. You fuckers are still alive only because that is my will! Now, let's see what kind of nightmare a big group like you will conjure up…

I released them from their safe nightmares where the only threat was death via boredom, and it was all of them were suddenly swept up by a storm. Seeing it happen whilst floating in the void of the Dreamscape was quite humorous, but I had allowed myself to sink into the final trial as well. Darkness greeted me for a few moments, but my vision remained mostly obscured even as I felt myself appear inside the nightmare trial.

I quickly realised that I was standing on top of some kind of tower, even with my limited vision–Certainly due to acquiring greatly enhanced senses. Something's off… The obstruction in my face was actually my raven-black hair, which had grown significantly longer than usual. I hadn't experimented with long hair, as I much preferred to keep it shoulder-length at most, generally a bit shorter than that, even.

But apparently, the nightmare sub-form had decided to give me hair that was legitimately longer than I was tall, as it dragged against the stone ground, but that was actually quite the minor detail compared to what I realised as I began pushing the many strands out of my face. Oh boy… That's a new one. I thought I misunderstood what I saw, but once I was done fighting my own hair, I took a good look at my hands, finding them to be adorably small.

I honestly don't even have any memories of the time I was actually that short in my life. Nara… Am I a halfling? It would appear that you indeed turned into a kind of halfling, Big Sis. You are exactly one meter and thirty centimeters tall at the moment … Have I become the cute one? That feels weird, but surprisingly… I don't dislike it that much. Oh my, being absolutely adorable feels just as good as being absolutely gorgeous. I feel like I could pull just as much attention from a male audience as normal.

Do you think they would be less inclined to ask to be stepped on and degraded if I looked like this, Nara? Huuuh… I don't know? You look different, but you still have the same vibe as usual Is that so? I walked around for a few minutes, getting used to my reduced height. Thankfully, I had some experience with having to adapt to sudden size changes since I was constantly hovering between my human self in the Mindscape and Dreamscape, my 'Base Form', and also my 'Gynoid Form'.

Being so short was only something I had experienced with the 'Plush Form', but the way I moved in that form was different, as I was a literal animated plush. I was a cuddly thing without articulations. Right now… I was a cuddly thing, but with bones and all that business.

For some reason, I wasn't wearing any shoes or anything on my feet for that matter, which took me longer to realise than it should have for the simple fact that, despite the fact that they were small and delicate, they were halfling feet, and as such, they were built to handle being left barefoot from the moment of birth to the moment of death. My attire was a poncho-style raincoat without a hood, and beneath it…

I sometimes wonder just what is in charge of creating things like the nightmare sub-forms, but until today, I had never wondered if said things had… Preferences… Because instead of regular clothes beneath the raincoat, the important bits were just wrapped in surprisingly comfortable and highly flexible bandages, and this was definitely someone's thing. Also… Surprisingly, my small version has a chest that is not completely flat. I guess that's because this form isn't actually muscular?

I am impressively lithe, and I feel even lighter than I should be. My senses are sharp beyond belief, and I feel like I could… Following my instincts, I tried to perform a sudden backflip, and it went even better than expected. Not only was I doing it perfectly, but I also found out one of the abilities that accompanied this form. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

When performing an acrobatic move, I could slow down my perception of the world around me to a crawl, which went well with my very sharp senses, as it allowed me to assess the situation around me precisely. I was also abnormally light on top of being agile, allowing me to make some pretty drastic movements even while in mid-air, which once again paired very well with the previously mentioned abilities.

With an upside-down spinning jump that was wildly unnecessary, but very satisfying to perform, I leapt onto the ledge of the stone tower I had appeared upon, overseeing my surroundings as the details of the nightmare decided to show up right on time. To survive this final trial, you must collect three items as a collective: A doll A dagger A monocle As per usual, I viewed it as though I was peeking at what my soon-to-be victims were seeing themselves. Now…

These three items they have to find seem quite random, and the panel also came accompanied by images, which made me believe that there were a lot of each of these items, and that the specific one in the pictures was required. This would make sense, as otherwise, this final trial would be a little bit too easy for the prey. They only needed to find three items when there were dozens of them who could split up and search this… Well, this looks like a rather simple city made primarily out of stones.

All of the houses have windows and seem to be of good construction. There were even canals of water going through the city, and… Yep, I recognise this from Randlac. This city even has sewers! What luxury this nightmare-made city has. I am starting to miss my megastructures made of steel, lost in the middle of the ocean, though. I quite like them. Nonetheless, inspired by my gut instinct, I let myself fall off the tower, landing on my feet like a delicate feather. Indeed, fall damage does not exist for me.

What a nice sub-form that is. I sped off, jumping between walls and roofs without a care in the world as I focused on my senses in an attempt to find prey, and eventually, I heard the sound of something walking upon a nearby stone brick road. A middle-aged man who looked scared, like a beaten dog. Alright, how do I kill people? I am a speedy, agile little thing, but I am definitely not strong. I am abnormally light, meaning that even if I rushed at him at max speed, I probably wouldn't be able to hurt him.

I have an idea, but I'll try something else first… I quickly moved around so that I would be able to cut him off. After waiting for the perfect opportunity, I casually strolled into his vision and pretended to only notice him now. My whimsical behaviour of taking exaggeratedly big steps and adorable looks worked perfectly to not make him feel any danger. If anything, the only worry on his face was for me.

"Y-You are taken here too…" He seemed to have never actually interacted with a child as he struggled to find a good way to address me.

"... Little Miss…?" It sounded as much like a question as a statement of uncertainty. I hadn't gotten to look at my own face directly, but according to Nara, I had quite the round face. It would seem that this form had made me into the kind of halfling who tends to be quite grumpy because everyone thinks they are human children. They do look nearly exactly like that. As far as I know, the only way to tell the difference that doesn't involve reading the 'vibe' they give off is to look at their body as a whole.

They just aren't built like human children at all once you take a closer look, but of course, that's not something that can be done on a whim on account of them being civilised and wearing clothes.

"Mmh… Hello, Sir! Did you find… Huuh… Did you find any of the things the floating square mentioned?" I could probably go even harder on the 'clueless little girl' act, but I felt that it was best not to go too far with it. Instead, I'll be a smart but unaware of the dangers little girl. Who assumed that the previous nightmares were just regular nightmares and never questioned anything.

With my impressive act and practised puppy-eyed stare, I naturally convinced the man within seconds of my good nature, allowing me to follow him around unsuspected, as we looked around inside every house we ran into. Those places were actually fully furnished, as though people actually did live here. Alas, there were no fake people in this nightmare, nor were there any roaming nightmare monsters that I could use to pour all of this man's blood on the street. I felt quite confident about following this guy around.

After asking 'innocent' questions, I figured that everyone had started in the same relative area in one corner of the city, and from my elevated position where I started, I was able to tell that the city was actually divided into three parts, indicated by the slightly different shades of grey the stone had in each area. Using logic, I figured that each area held one of the required items, and this fellow seemed to have gone way ahead of the rest.

Also, my victims didn't seem to have realised that the city was split into three parts. I won't call them stupid yet. Noticing it from the ground isn't simple, but anyway. Since this guy is certainly the only person around this part of town, there wasn't any risk of all three items being gathered without me being able to react. … Speaking of the devil.

"Whoaa! So many dolls!" We ran into what might be a doll shop, but the dolls were literally everywhere, covering every millimeter of space that wasn't on the floor, and even then, they crowded it quite severely as well.

"Huuh… The doll we are looking for must be here, right? Then…" It seemed like he tried to look at the image again, but alas, they only got a single look at it at the start. Watching his expression crumble as he realised that he had no idea which doll to look for in this place was greatly enjoyable. I prevented myself from laughing out loud at his misery and started looking around with whimsical curiosity. Nara, can you spot it? It's slightly sticking out of a shelf full of them right above your head Nice.

I waited until he turned his back on me, and then swiftly took the doll for myself, forcing it in beneath the bandages covering my chest. Alright, now that they can't end this trial… Time to play.