Chương 382: Bloody Surprise

The lone survivor was given the best possible healing available and was soon brought to a special area on a roof area of the steel castle. There were many spots within the metal castle that were left open to the sky. These places were reserved for the drakes to live in. Rocky soil and the like had been brought over to cover the iron floor, and since this particular drake wouldn't fly again and was injured, it had been taken to a place where there would be no other drakes to bother it.

Indeed, they weren't exactly the sort to play nice with their own kind, even when domesticated. Such an action was common. A drake could be made to go into 'retirement' for a variety of reasons, and depending on who had been the rider–If it had had a specific one–The arrangements could vary… Unfortunately, there was something about this particular drake that was missed. The creature's eyes suddenly shot wide open as a terrific pain invaded its stomach area.

No one was around to help it right this instant, as it was considered nighttime here in the realm. The brightness present all around was dim, and even as the beast tried to scream, it couldn't–For it was already dead moments after the pain surged. From beneath the scales, long fingers pierced through flesh and scales, gutting the creature from within, allowing a flow of warm intestines to come out alongside a monstrous figure. They had let her in…

Heheh, hiding in carcasses is a tale as old as time, but hiding inside a future carcass? Now that was unexpected stuff. It was easy for me to achieve as well. I just needed to murder a bunch of people, knock out one drake, use my 'Container'–Which I had removed and regrown to have an empty one–To drain the drake's potent stomach acid before transforming into my 'Plush Form' and crawling into its stomach, where I lay still and entered a state of dormancy until enough time had passed.

I then simply transformed back into my 'Base Form', and here I am. Deep inside the castle on stilts. I went and erased the evidence of my crime–I had purposefully left the corpses of the previous dragonfolks and drakes I had slain, precisely so that I would be able to make this one disappear and cause confusion.

If I had demonstrated that I could devour corpses whole already, I would have given myself away nearly immediately, and if I had done the reverse and left this one behind, well, then they would have just needed to use their damned eyes to see that something had crawled out from inside the drake. With the current way things were, their first assumption was likely to be something unrelated to me.

They would probably think that the drake had somehow managed to wander out of its enclosure, or think that someone had moved it without properly informing others. … There were plenty of explanations more sensible than 'a monster burst out of its body, made every drop of blood vanish without a trace, and then infiltrated the castle'. Even if correct, such an idea would sound rightfully insane.

Especially when I had gone ahead and used some of the grey toxin to drag their mind to that, even though I really had nothing to do with that stuff. Heheheh… That's how you conduct warfare. You just make sure nothing you do makes sense or can be figured out by your enemy. How will you infiltrate the castle, though? There is at least one person here who was able to instantly sense 'Remember Me?' here, and your 'Gynoid Form' won't hold up in the harsh conditions of this realm That's simple…

We progress very slowly, and very, very carefully. I turned back into the 'Plush Form' as it remained the stealthiest option available by a long shot. I had to be careful, though. The efficiency of 'Flame Resistance' is drastically reduced since I am made of very flammable material in this particular form, but as long as I don't get into contact with flames or get too close to something like a magma pit, I should be perfectly fine.

Besides, I can transform into the knightly form on a whim if necessary, although it would be best not to. Just as Nara stated, there is at least one individual who was able to immediately notice 'Remember Me?' and was swift to take the appropriate action to limit its effects.

The only 'mistake' this person committed was not being around early, as my delicious Nightmare Plague had already spread quite broadly throughout the castle, and now that many were experiencing the nightmares, people were deemed to naturally become affected by the nightmares, as they would naturally fear the same thing would happen to them. It can be easy to forget, but to begin with, nightmares arise due to fear and other negative emotions held toward me and my direct actions.

These people might not know me, but they definitely knew that there was 'something' at the source of the abnormal night terrors. My goal was simple: Using the cover of what was called night in this realm, I walked with small steps toward the nearest quarters. Unfortunately, this castle lacked any VS, despite the fact that some ventilation would be more than welcome in such a stuffy place. In the quarters, I located someone currently struggling with a Nightmare Trial.

I used the 'Nightmare Form' and invaded his slumbering mind. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! I could do this to any sleeping fool, but doing it to someone already in the palm of my hand was better, as I had greater control within nightmares of my own creation. For once, the horizon did not include any body of water.

Instead, I found myself on upturned dirt, surrounded by large pieces of machinery seemingly designed to do work a competent geomancer would be able to accomplish on their own, but since competent mages that didn't simply pursue the flashiest offensive spells were rather rare, I could understand why such machines would be required. A good piece of mechanistry could be used effectively by a regular person, after all. That was part of the appeal of machines.

Unfortunately, these various machines were totally out of commission. They were rusted and riddled with damage. Some had also clearly failed and caught aflame before exploding. It was an interesting environment for certain, and a rather harmless one, as this trial contained no creatures capable of 'killing' the participant. The nightmare spawns here were ghostly entities, humanoid shadows for the most part, whose sole purpose and intent were to frighten and unsettle.

This was probably the first trial for this person. Trials that were more akin to labyrinths and puzzles, with only spooky pranksters inhabiting them, often stopped manifesting as a person would eventually understand that they were in no danger under such parameters. Thus, switching over to more 'lethal' trials. I soon got a direct line of sight on the dragonfolk trapped within this trial. His task was actually quite straightforward.

He needed to gather a certain amount of fuel from the rusted remains of some of the machines and transfer it into another piece of machinery that would use this fuel to generate electricity and open a hatch. That's all. Entering the hatch would complete the trial, and the only danger he had to deal with was harmless shadows and naughty invisible spirits knocking on steel or lightly pushing items to the ground. He didn't know that he wasn't in any actual danger, however, and would jump at the smallest of sounds.

This allowed me to observe one of these dragonfolks in action. So far, I hadn't seen any of them with wings, but they seemingly could spew fire in some capacity, as evidenced by this one reflexively doing so when a shadow ran behind his back. Unfortunately for his sense of safety, he had been brought into this nightmare while he was in the real world, so without his typical equipment, forcing him to rely on clearly rather dull claws.

From the looks of things, these dragonfolks–Despite being very scaly and having facial structures that were very draconic–Were a fair bit more folk than dragon at the end of the day. They didn't seem that much stronger than a regular human, and they had given up on their natural killing tools to wield tools and weapons. Even their fiery breath was far from impressive. It was more akin to a flaming mana bullet than a dragon's breath. Or at least, this one was severely lacking in that department. Mmh…

He might be so pathetic because he's a recent recruit… I guess it means that there are indeed places where people live beside the castle, if they have newcomers as part of the guards here. I dropped right in front of him, slapping the pitiful fiery projectile he hurled my way and kicking him in the side of his knee.

"Can you understand me?"

"Y-Yes…" He proceeded to speak a mixture of the two languages, but it was nonetheless comprehensible.

"Where is the crown of the Molten King?"

"I don't know""I don't believe you" I reached out for one of his teeth and pulled it right out.

"You have plenty of teeth to lose, and I have plenty of time to waste. So let's not play games and just tell me the truth""I… I won't tell you!"

"Oh, so you do know where it is? So you lied to me the first time, huh? Someone's been a very bad boy… Do you know what happens to bad boys, little lizard? I fucking skin them alive, that's what happens. There are few crimes greater than being labelled as 'bad' by me""You better cough up everything you know, or I'll help you count how many bones are in your body. This is my world. I am a god here. I'll make your suffering eternal.

I'll take you apart and put you back together as many times as I want" I ripped out a few more teeth and some claws as I spoke.

"W-Wait! I'll talk… I'll talk…" He finally relented right as I had a finger halfway from popping out of his eyes out of its socket.

"I am listening–And do understand that if you fuck up, I will maim your masculinity, if you get what I am saying""I… The crown is kept on the empty throne and is constantly watched by Lady Vulcania. The throne room is in the dead center of the castle, but of the two paths that lead to it, only the largest is safe to take, as the other is guarded by a golem once created by His Majesty""You talk as if even you people can't go through that golem""The golem is… It is sapient and hates being trapped where it is.

So it passes its nerves on everything and anything. Sir Lonehom could definitely strike it down, but the golem can't do anything against the restraint His Majesty placed on it, so it is kept as an extra layer of security just in case… S-Sir Lonehom is a very cautious man. He often checks on the golem to make sure it hasn't found a way to erode its restraints, and would definitely kill it on the spot if he found even a single crack""Good, good…

Now, apart from this Sir Lonehom and Lady Vulcania, who else is a notable figure within the castle""There's Argoniput… He is the Pyromancer-In-Chief, and was a close aide of the Molten King back in the day. Nowadays, he mostly keeps to himself in the deeper parts of the castle… One… One of the steel pillars is actually a staircase that leads to a part of the castle built within the lava lake""Argoniput instructs many pyromancers there and leads research. He rarely comes out… A-Also…"

"... There are Vilpendre and Jilokp. They are elites trained by Sir Lonehom""I see. What about the many offspring of the Molten King?"

"There are none staying at the castle these days, as far as I am aware… They all moved to establish their own territories far away from both the castle and the entry point of the realm" Oh, it does make sense that no infrastructure would have been on my way there. They know where intruders would get in from, so they went as far away from it as possible to do their own things.

"Very interesting" I snapped my fingers and, using the power of my 'Nightmare Form', transformed this nightmare trial into something else, and proceeded to kill the dragonfolk by snapping his neck. Without the protection of the trial, his neck was snapped in real life as well, and he just died in his bed as I returned to the real world. Still in the 'Plush Form'. I'll ask around a few more times to make sure he didn't fool me…