Chương 330: Plain Sight

"I-Is somebody here? Please tell me this is a person and not a monster… No offence meant if you are a monsterfolk! I mean monster-monster!" It would have been normally quite silly to start speaking aloud without knowing what you were dealing with, but as it turns out, the prey I ran into didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It was a young man–Probably only just recently an adult at best–And his eyes were covered by a blindfold with a rather nice design.

He's very clearly blind, and very clearly not an athlete either. He is scrawny and completely relies on his cane to find his way. Which I found to be odd: Shouldn't he have been taught the basic mana sense to help with his blindness? Does he seem magically inept, Nara? He seems to be pretty much average. He should be able to learn mana sense quite easily with a good teacher. Actually, it should be easier for him since he lacks sight.

Sight is an obstacle as one usually needs to learn not to rely on it, and then learn to use both sight and mana sense at the same time, but he doesn't have that problem at all Also, mana sense counts as a sense just like the rest, so his should start off as stronger… Did you know that lacking senses empowers the remaining one in some way? It's actually both biological and system-related Well, only system-related because the Universal System is also in charge of conditions and rules and such…

So anyway, when someone lacks a sense that they should have as determined by their species, it actually causes a natural exchange as if they had willingly given up something to gain something else When it comes to a missing or lost sense, it empowers the other senses…

You can say this to an Unwanted Presence to explain to them why there are so many blind, deaf and such warriors in the history of this world–Ever heard about the mage who gave up all of his natural bodily senses to drastically empower his mana sense before using it to cast a massive spell that separated part of the continent and sent it drifting away? … I've never heard of this story, Nara. Of course you didn't! No one wants to let people know what is possible in exchange for one's senses.

Can you imagine if someone or something like a monster monarch knew about this? It would be a guaranteed bloodbath if they were ever cornered! Huh… Very interesting, but I think we should put our attention back on this prey of mine. Mmh… Should I just kill him right now? Him being blind would have been useful if I were a monster, but I am a gorgeous lady right now. I can easily manipulate anyone, so…

"I'm not a monster. Did you run into anyone else, boy?"

"I… Huh… Well… I… No, I didn't…" How cute. He's so shy.

"Do you know what's happening right now?"

"Not really, no. Some strange people abducted me, put me in some glass box, and it feels like I've been getting teleported to random places with monsters and weird labyrinths. Before I was suddenly taken to some empty place where I stayed for a long while, I even went back to the glass box at times, but they sent me right back to the empty place! And… Well… I'm here now? This place smells rusty and salty, and I've been hearing things that haven't made me pee myself solely because I have nothing to wet myself with!

Huh… I shouldn't have said that" Well, I guess I can't kill him now. I'm curious… There are other people messing around in my nightmares? Does this fucker have a camera installed on him? Probably the magical kind at that… Nara, analyse this fucker from head to toe! It is one thing to pilot some random bastard to try and deliver a message, but these guys are sneaky and, for some reason, picked a blind man.

I guess it is precisely because due to the confusion, he has no idea that he's actually stuck inside a nightmare? He would probably be less relaxed if he not only knew that he was at risk of death, but if he knew that this was the effect of the Nightmare Plague, which he had certainly heard about. He doesn't have any means of sending images to him, but I was able to sense that he is currently submerged in a very specific kind of fluid How can you even sense that?

It penetrates his body and even affects his non-corporeal parts, so his dream-self also stinks of it… Anyway, to put it simply, they don't care whether he lives or dies. They only want to extract his memories once this is all over, to view for themselves what the nightmares are like–Which makes their choice of a blind man all the more confusing… Perhaps they have some special way of doing things? I rubbed my chin in thought, finding that my usual way of doing so was now obstructed by this form's chest. …

This might get annoying… Let's focus on the problem at hand, though. I can't kill him immediately. I am in his damned memories now, and I would rather not be seen at all–This is making me wonder if there were more like this guy in the trial just before. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I didn't sense any. Yes, but many got killed by that motherfucker. We didn't really get the sense to find out, did we? I pinched the bridge of my nose.

Any ideas on how we can prevent them from succeeding? Well… I suppose I could try to connect to the system within him. It might be complicated since it would just be a standard system that everyone has by default, but if I can do so, I might be able to mess with some other things through it. As long as I can control his simple system, I might be able to affect things further beyond If I do that, he'll definitely die, though. How painful should I make it if I succeed? Do you need to ask?

As painful as possible, of course! I put my hands on the prey's shoulder.

"Come with me, boy. If there are two of us, there are probably others as well. Let's go!" I grabbed his hand to lead the way, but it felt like I was holding my hand in a flame as the bastard seemed very happy about holding hands with a girl for a few moments, but it quickly turned into delicious disappointment, probably because he realised that I was holding his hand as if he were a child being taken to school. All is fine, though. I appreciate the pain of positive emotions.

When the emotion is weak, or the person is weak, it really only causes slight pain, which I enjoy. Only positive emotions that are either abnormally strong or that come from powerful individuals make me worry, as it genuinely has much more destructive potential against me. Frankly, my saving grace in this regard is that no one had realised that positive emotions were a dire weakness of mine. As such, no one had actually ever tried to willfully attack me by using them.

Meaning that even though I had faced some pretty powerful positive emotions, they had never been in the form of an actual attack. They were akin to random waves that struck near me, but never directly at me. Frankly, since I exist in eternal pain anyway, when I am near other people who experience positivity, I barely even notice the difference between the regular suffering and the suffering positivity causes.

Something I find a bit weird about all of this is that since positive emotions are clearly a weakness of mine, why is it that Anathema acquired an ability that allows her to inspire positive emotions within people? This ability has nothing to do with her innate curse ability. It is very clearly something she gained due to technically becoming a spirit… … And she became a spirit under my direct influence. So… Does it mean that I secretly have an affinity for all kinds of emotions and not just the negative kind?

Or is it just a big coincidence? Makes me wonder if there is a resistance upgrade about positive emotions out there… Mmh? As I walked casually throughout the hallways of the ship, my steps echoing into the distance, something came into view a distance away. It had made no sound whatsoever, crawling from behind a corner, resembling a mass of skin lacking flesh and bones, but it did have arms.

Many of them, in fact, all seemed atrophied and weak, but together they managed to drag the unsightly body they belonged to without much trouble. With how strangely silent that thing was, the blind man would have been completely caught off-guard had he encountered it before running into me. The beast stopped after pulling its full mass into view.

Several of its hands pulled at the skin, revealing a large maw with human teeth and a tongue that ended with a mass of spider-like eyes, which it used to stare for a few seconds. After a few moments of us staring at one another, the creature held all of its hands up as if to apologise, and then quickly dragged itself away. Naturally, my temporary follower would be safe with me.

The creatures inhabiting this place were all under my orders, and I suspected that the strange creatures that I had heard were showing up in many places throughout the continent were–At least in part–Coming straight out of nightmare trials. Which means that I am not just their boss from their point of view, but also their divine creator–Or so I heard. They've apparently built some shrines and taken over abandoned churches to worship me. So they obviously know that prey that is by my side belongs to me and me alone.

"Mmh… Did something happen, Miss? Why did we stop suddenly?"

"It's nothing to worry about. Let's keep going" This encounter ended up being the only one. It seemed like the ship wasn't yet crowded with monsters… I presume that this would change as more time passed, or as the victims got closer to escaping. Probably both, actually. After a while of walking, we ended up finding stairs leading out of the hallways and onto the deck of the ship.

This area, more exposed to the elements, was much more rusted than most of the hallways and rooms they had passed until now, but the rust was still superficial. It hadn't bitten through yet, so it was safe to stand, run, or jump upon without any risk of going right through. What a bizarre thing it is. A ship made entirely out of steel that can actually rust… I soon spotted other people. There was a structure that stood out on the deck.

I was almost tempted to liken it to a house and the deck to a flat field, but it clearly was where the ship could be steered and controlled. It seemed like many people had been drawn there, which wasn't unexpected. Below the deck were seemingly endless hallways with at least one monster silently roaming around, while the deck was completely open. Creatures couldn't hide their approach there, and the big structures acted like a fortified position, as only the elevated portion of it had any windows.

The lower area was just solid steel. We were allowed in without any issue. … Not everyone seems to be here, but judging by the number of people already present, it seems like there won't be a third final trial for me to participate in afterwards. The people here were quite diverse. Humans, beastfolks, demons, and even a dwarf. The last of which is rather unusual for me to see, as they mostly live completely up north of the continent.

Either one of those randomly appearing televisions caught one of the few dwarfs out of their place, or my unseen influence has truly reached far.

"Does anyone have a plan?"

"We need to find a way to escape. That floating box-thing was pretty clear""No shit. I mean, HOW are we supposed to escape? This place is full of mechanistry, if you haven't noticed, and I don't know anything about that crap. I bet all escape methods rely on it, so what are we supposed to do?" I'll just sit back and enjoy the show…