Arthur sighed and summoned the memory he received; it was a spear with a bronze tip and a wooden shaft; it seemed unusually sturdy.
Arthur thought, 'Is it because it's an awakened item? Or is it an enhancement?' Arthur didn't dwell on it and used the soul shards of the scavenger he bullied and also the one his victim defeated.
[You have absorbed a soul shard; The Grey Fog Thickens.]
[You have absorbed a soul shard; The Grey Fog Thickens.]
'Hearing that really does feel good—who doesn't like visibly getting stronger?' Arthur thought and looked at the dark city in the distance; he knew he eventually had to go there.
Although he could stay hidden better than most with his [Hunter] attribute, he was bound to fight a healthy Carapace Scavenger at some point if he stayed,
and he wasn't confident in his chances; even Nephis had trouble beating them one-on-one, although at the time she wasn't using her aspect and didn't have her Beast soul core filled,
Arthur was in a similar position; only he didn't know how to fight, unlike her.
But right now he was naked. Does he really want to be seen walking around the Dark City like this?
Between his pride and his self-preservation, he was conflicted on what to do, so he decided to leave the decision up to luck.
He threw the spear up into the sky; if it fell on its bronze tip, he would go to the dark city; if not, he would stay until he acquired an armor-type memory.
The bronze spear fell on its bronze tip, stabbing into the Coral
Arthur dismissed the memory with a thought and went back to the headless statue. He took the skull, and after testing to see if the spear would create a spark once it hit one of the teeth,
He decided to only take one tooth on his journey; back to the coral he had harassed the down on its luck, Carapace Scavenger.
After climbing back on the huge coral, he casually cooked his poor bullied victims' cold corpse, and after tasting it, he thought
'This tastes so bland, I'm really starting to miss home.' Arthur was too preoccupied with survival the first day to acknowledge the taste of the Carapace Scavenger meat he ate or have any thoughts about missing home.
When he was in his nightmare, he didn't really miss it much, if he was honest, because while he lacked delicious food and modern comforts, he had a cult who constantly fed his ego.
Acting like The Fool had brought Arthur much joy because he could act like he was better than everyone and get away with it, like he often did on the internet.
Except that unlike on the internet, he was praised for it, which he very much liked.
"Whatever, when I get out of the dream realm, I will eat a lot of delicious food. I will even start my own cult! *Cough,* I mean, a completely legitimate sect, the furthest thing from some shady cult!" Arthur said to himself, trying to cheer himself up.
Then Arthur thought, 'I'm talking to myself again. I need to stop that, or I will go crazy; it's not even been a day since I finished my nightmare, and I'm already going insane!'
After Arthur finished his meal, he took some meat and put it in a hastily made coral bag he made with some coral he picked on the way.
Arthur climbed down the huge coral and headed for a closer coral to the Dark City.
He knew he wouldn't be able to reach the city in a day; it would take him at least 3 if he wanted to avoid the attention of the nearby scavengers.
Time Skip 4 Days Later
A group of seven people were carefully walking in the dark city, trying to avoid any nightmare creatures, when one of them said,
"Are you really sure the gateway is in that castle? It's filled with nightmare creatures! We should at least make sure it's there before heading in! Or better yet, wait for other sleepers to arrive; it's too dangerous for us as we are!"
The one who spoke: A young man dressed in armor, said it to another young man close to his age; only the young man's armor was visibly much better; he was the knight Arthur saw in his vision.
The knight responded, "It's the place that sticks out the most; it should be there, and waiting for the other sleepers is pointless; it's been 3 months since winter solstice; all the other sleepers must be dead, and we too will likely die before the next winter solstice if we keep wondering the city or staying in the coral labyrinth; even if we last until the next solstice..."
The knight's voice turned grim. "The next batch might all die before they even arrive here; you know how difficult our journey was."
The young man sighed and said, "Still… going there is nothing short of suicidal!"
The knight didn't respond; instead, a woman did. "Don't fret; dying on your own terms is better than letting fate get one over you, isn't it?"
The knight nodded, and the young man looked at them like they were crazy; he almost yelled, 'Do the two of you lack any sense of self-preservation!? Both of you are crazy! Why is everyone even going along with this!?'
But he didn't say anything and went along with it
The seemingly cowardly young man's name was Brave, ironically enough. He had black hair and black eyes; he looked completely average, if slightly above the norm; he had a bow in hand and a quiver with a few mystical arrows likely to be his memories on his back.
And the woman who spoke last was named Glorielle She had red hair and red eyes; small goat-like horns were on her head. She looked quite alluring, but had a dangerous air to her. She was holding a white blade that looked holy and pristine, completely contrasting her appearance.
Their four companions who did not speak were a slender, feminine-looking boy named Kaelen; his skin was almost as white as snow; he had soft black hair and dark blue eyes and looked as good, no better, than an actual awakened! He also held two short swords in his hands; one was fully coated with blood, that he was cleaning, but the other seemed completely clean.
Next to him was the only other woman in their cohort. Her hair was blonde, and her eyes were big and blue; she looked deceptively innocent and pure despite holding a still bloody blade and wearing armor, but when one looked at her, they couldn't help but feel as though something was wrong with what they saw. Her name was Naamah.
The next member of the cohort was a slightly older guy; he was noticeably taller than the rest, holding a huge round shield and wearing heavy-looking armor along with a helmet that hid his face; his image practically screamed Tank! His name was Alec.
Contrastingly, the next person was the smallest of the bunch; his exact appearance was hard to remember, as if the memory of his form was actively running from one's mind. His name was Zane; he was also an archer.
Finally, the knight who was leading the cohort was named Abner; he had a long sword in his hand that gave the feeling of sturdiness, and his armor looked entirely practical and yet still aesthetically pleasing.
Soon they reached the castle, where they assumed the gateway would be; Alec was leading the way. As they entered, they already spotted two nightmare creatures, both awakened monsters of the same appearance.
They looked like an unsightly mix of zombies and living armor—the monsters, who also noticed them, made a low sound akin to a ghost quietly but desperately pleading for help; it seemed like that's how they growled and immediately rushed to attack them.
But Brave had already shot an arrow at one before they even started moving, landing a hit on the closest one right in its knee. The wound bled a lot of black blood, giving the illusion that the blood was almost running out of the awakened monster's leg.
And the awakened monster fell down on its chest but did not scream; it just kept making those hauntingly desperate sounds quietly while trying to get up.
The other was hit in the chest by a powerful arrow violently by Zane closely after falling on its back.
Kaelen rushed to the one hit in the knee and slashed at its head with his sword; the monster didn't have time to dodge, and soon it's head a helmet with a bit of blue ethereal fire burning in each eye, socket fueled by the regenerating flesh of the monster rolled down on the floor.
However, the monster didn't seem dead. It's "eyes" shifted, looking straight into Kaelens own as his body grabbed Kaelen by the leg, intent on crushing it.
Glorielle already expecting something like this with such obviously undead-looking creatures, had already taken a swing at the monster's "Corpse," cutting the arm it had grabbed Kaelen with.
Meanwhile, Abner had passed them along with Naamah heading for the other awakened monster, while Alec helped the two with the headless monster.
Abner stabbed at the monster's heart,
The monster finally made a sound other than the low creepy growling that resembles a cry for help and screamed; the fire in its eyes brightened as it desperately tried to get the sword out of its chest. His strength seemingly increased!
But the increase did not help the monster, as the next moment he was stabbed in between the eyes by Naamah who had an early calm expression and a slight smile on her face.
The moment her blade made contact with the awakened monster, her eyes, although not changing color, seemed darker than any shadow, as if devoid of all light.
And the monster's eyes extinguished the very next moment the voice of the spell spoke.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Hidden Rebel Wraith]
The other monster was also killed soon after, as Alec crushed it with his huge shield, soon hearing the Spell's voice.
[You have slain an Awakened Monster: Hidden Rebel Wraith]
[You have received an echo Awakened Monster: Hidden Rebel Wraith]
Alec's eyes widened as he happily said, "I got an echo!" Everyone turned to look at him and asked at the same time, "Really!?" Alec did not answer, but instead summoned the echo.
It soon appeared in a whirlwind of blue sparks; it looked exactly like the monster he had just killed, except it seemed less... alive. Which was a weird thing to say considering the monster was a Wraith.
Brave muttered under his breath, "Lucky bastard! I shot it first. It should have been me, not him; it's not fair!"
No one paid him any mind, though all of them were happy for Alec, except Naamah who closed her eyes and smiled brightly at Alec while saying, "Hand it over, and I can promise I won't stab you at night!"
Alec had always been a bit unnerved by her and thought she seemed a bit creepy but she had never threatened him before!
He laughed awkwardly and said, "Ah-ha-haha, y-you're joking, right?" Naamah continued smiling while she responded, "Well, I was just thinking if you did, I wouldn't think of it."
Alec was speechless; she was threatening him in front of everyone! He looked at the others seeking their help, and Abner thankfully intervened, saying, "Restrain yourself; if you're lucky, you will get one too eventually."
Naamah sighed, turning around and staring at the floor with a melancholic expression while muttering quietly, "I sure hope I can. I don't want the meat shield half dead; he won't be of any use then."
Alec heard it and thought, 'She was seriously considering stabbing me at night!'
He muttered, "Crazy bitch!" Luckily for him, she didn't hear him. And the cohort continued on their search for the gateway; soon they encountered an awakened demon.
However, their sheer numbers quickly overwhelmed the demon. And Brave heard the voice of the spell whisper in his ear.
[You have slain an Awakened Demon: Frenzied man-eater.]
[You have received a memory: call of madness]
Brave smiled and announced, "It dropped a memory!" He quickly summoned his runes and looked at his new memory. Reading the description out loud.
Name: [Call of Madness]
Rank: Awakened III
type: [tool]
Item description: [As the sun slowly became corrupted, so did the hearts of the people, vile whispers turning weaker men into mindless monsters, the voice still lingering in their heads for centuries while sanity is temporary, madness is an eternal melody].
'What a creepy description…'
Glorielle despite hearing the memory description, told brave, "Come on, what is it? Show us!" Brave summoned the memory; it was a flute.
Glorielle asked, "Can you play it?" Brave quickly retorted, "I wouldn't do it even if I could; the description alone sounds creepy as hell!"
But Glorrielle, not listening, took the flute and played it before Brave could think to dismiss the memory, as she herself didn't know how to play the flute. The sound of the melody was grating on the ears.
But they didn't feel any different, like they expected from the creepy description, nor did they hear things they shouldn't hear.
But soon they heard the sound of nightmare creatures screaming, seemingly entering a frenzied state.
Brave dismissed the memory and looked at Glorielle scolding her, "Now look what you did. What were you thinking playing this weird creepy flute!? Ah! I shouldn't have summoned it in the first place! All of you crazy psychos lack basic survival instincts!"
Abner defended Glorielle "No, this is a good thing. Now that the nightmare creatures have lost their minds, they will be easier to deal with."
Brave's lips twitched in annoyance while he thought, 'Am I the only normal person here!?'
But he once again kept his thoughts to himself. As they continued searching for the gateway, Alec had given his shield to his echo, choosing to use a spear due to the flute making the nightmare creatures act so recklessly.
Eventually, they found a throne room with a massive, winged creature with a pale body and black feathers stained by blood. When its terrifying beak was open, it reveals rows of sharp, needle-like fangs and a long red tongue.
This monstrous creature that resembled a cross between a lion and a raven stretched its numerous limbs. Its body was pale as a corpse, while its head and chest were covered with dark feathers. It was massive in size, with muscles rolling like steel cables under the skin. It had two powerful hind legs and six more protruding messily from its wide chest, each ending with a set of deadly claws. It also possessed a long, jagged black beak.
It was a Cursed Herald, a Fallen Monster.
Alec immediately commanded his echo that he had given his massive shield to get in front of them.
And that decision proved to be correct as the Herald rushed at them; its claws easily pierced the massive shield as if it were made of butter and stabbed into the echo. Soon Alec heard the spell whisper about his memory being destroyed.
Abner didn't hesitate, and stabbed into one of the wings of the Herald; his sword barely managed to pierce the Fallen monster's wing bone.
And then his sword suddenly exploded with power for a brief moment, completely cutting the wing off.
The Cursed Herald screamed as it flapped its remaining right wing, hitting Naameh, Kaelen and Abner, pushing them a few steps back as they fell on their backs,
Glorielle had been to the right side of the Fallen monster and yet still managed to dodge the wing attack but still fell down due to the wind force it created and her awkward position.
Alec, who had dismissed his echo, was on its left side, where the wing attack didn't reach; he stabbed the Cursed Herald with his spear right in one of the shoulders. But his spear barely even scratched it.
Brave and Zane each shot an arrow at the Cursed Herald, Zane's arrow hitting the middle of its neck powerfully, managing to leave a bleeding wound, but not passing its powerful neck muscles into the throat of The Cursed Herald.
Brave's arrow hit the Herald's right eye. Sucking the blood from its eye socket and making the Cursed Herald's head feel dizzy,
The Cursed Herald Clawed at the nearest people to itself in blind rage, hitting Alec in his chest, while Glorielle managed to dodge again; this time she also countered, stabbing the side of the Herald's neck with her sword that started glowing as her expression became zealous.
The sword started emitting steam as it stabbed deeper in the Cursed Herald's neck. Glorielle fanatically yelled, "DIE! FOR GLORY!"
The Cursed Herald screamed even Lauder, making Glorielle smile sadistically. The Cursed Herald then attacked her with vengeful Hatered, hitting her on the left side of her ribs.
Glorielle was sent flying in Naameh's direction, who had gotten up by now. Naameh hit her flying body away using the flat side of her blade, and she charged at the injured Cursed Herald.
She stared into the one remaining eye of the fallen monster, who stared back. The dimly lit throne room seemed slightly darker in the Cursed Herald's remaining eye. And his dizziness increased slightly as it felt its soul start to hurt.
Zane shot another arrow, this one much less powerful than the last; it hit the middle of the neck where the last Arrow memory he had already dismissed hit the Fallen monster.
The arrow stabbed deeper into the neck of the Cursed Herald, almost scratching its throat. Brave also shot another arrow, aiming for the same spot as Zane.
The arrow didn't hit this time, though, as the Cursed Herald hurriedly flapped his remaining wing in an attempt to defend itself.
Kaelen who had also gotten up, used his aspect; his body briefly glowed, and he became faster for an instant. He used the momentum to stab through the wing of the Cursed Herald and into the wound Zane had made.
He stabbed into the throat of the Cursed Herald, making it panic and flap its wing wildly as he was thrown into Abner, who caught him.
The Cursed Herald trashed around wildly as it chocked on its blood and fell to the ground, where Alec stabbed it in the empty eye socket where Brave's arrow had hit, piercing its brain and killing it.
[You have Slain a Fallen Monster: Cursed Herald]
Alec softly said, exhausted by the brief but challenging battle, "No memory dropped; it was a fallen monster, called a Cursed Herald."
Abner, having let go of Kaelen already nodded his head, his expression grim as he said, "This is the last room we haven't explored, and the gateway isn't here, which means it can only be in one place… The Crimson Spire"
Not everyone was as gloomy as him, though, as Naameh tsk'd and muttered under her breath, "That pretty bastard is getting on my nerves. Doesn't he know ladies are supposed to go first? He almost stole my kill if it wasn't for that even more despicable lucky meat shield stealing it first… I might really stab him tonight..."
The mere thought made her smile. And Alec, who had heard her, shivered slightly and thought, 'I'm definitely sleeping with one eye open tonight!'
Kaelen also heard her and thought, 'Good thing that stab didn't kill it, or I might've died with the Herald! I really got lucky! Alec, may you rest in peace. I will pray for you before I sleep tonight!'
Zane then heard footsteps and said in a low voice, "I hear something... No, someone coming here. I think it's a human."
Everyone turned to look at Zane, who was usually quiet, and ceased to make sound. Zane listened and pointed to the left corner outside the throne room.
They didn't need to be told to know that's where the supposed human was coming from,
but what they saw was beyond their expectations as they looked at a naked young man who calmly greeted them as if everything were normal.
"Hey, do any of you happen to have an armor-type memory? I've not gotten one since I entered the dream realm; in fact, the only memory I have is this," Arthur casually said as he summoned his Bronze Spear.
The reason Arthur headed here is that he divined whether it was safe for him to go inside the Bright Castle, and the result was that it was somewhat dangerous to go,
But as long as he hid from the nightmare creatures outside the castle, he would be safe.
With his [Hunter] attribute and his Danger premonition, he managed to avoid the monsters in the Dark City,
But because of how many Nightmare Creatures were wondering about in the dark city and the size of it, he arrived here after a day of traveling in the city.
He had already thought of how he should introduce himself to make sure he's not mistaken for a nightmare creature; all he had to do was make an excuse to summon a memory!
Abner looked at him, doubtful about his intentions, and asked, "It's been three months since winter solstice; how come you not only didn't get an armor type memory but none at all except a single spear?
The only source of food here are nightmare creatures, so you had to have hunted something to survive so long... the odds of what you are saying being true are basically nonexistent,
So what do you really want by saying such an obvious lie? Are you even a human? Or are you just that adept at mimicking one? Answer me!"
Arthur didn't expect such an answer from his future underling, but as a talented con man, he adapted quickly, remembering the place Sunny made his bedroom in the Dark City he told his yet-to-be loyal minion.
"I really am human! I just entered the dream realm near the dark city, and after entering, I quickly found a safe place with great security and really affordable rent.
It's just that the guard is really easily irritated, so I have to avoid it when I enter, leave, and even when I stay! But he's not so bad; he always leaves me plenty of food! The only thing I really hate about him is... the fact that he's a Fallen Devil... but he's the reason I didn't starve until now!"
Arthur lied as easily as he breathed. Zane, who listened to his heartbeat, to check if he was lying, was fooled and thought that Arthur had told the truth.
Zane told Abner, "I think he's telling the truth; his heartbeat was steady. I am certain that unless he's a pathological liar, he didn't even try to twist his words."
Abner was still not convinced anyone who could survive in the Dark City for so long all alone had to be extremely powerful or resourceful; they had to have something special about them.
But this guy just looked strange, no matter how you looked at him.
Like a pervert all naked talking to them so casually without even an attempt to protect his decency while bragging about how fortunate he was to not even have to fight during most of his stay. All the while even begging them for an armor, no less!
'Does he want a beating?' Abner thought to himself and asked Arthur, "If you truly had found such a place, then what brings you here? The castle was full of nightmare creatures.
Just a few hours ago, did you follow us from behind, or did you know we would be here and just came here to beg? Couldn't you have at least hunted a nightmare creature to get an armor-type memory before coming?"
Arthur shamelessly smiled and thought to himself before responding, 'I already decided to abandon my pride for safety. Did you think that was easy!? Don't remind me so casually! You future wanna be Minion! I will definitely neglect you a little for this!'
"I knew it was safe in the castle thanks to my aspect ability, so I came here because after 3 months of being alone, I just got incredibly tired of it and wanted to see the people here,
And yes, other than that, I really did just come here to beg, because I do want to wear something too. I am just too afraid of facing any nightmare Creature, alone."
The whole cohort was stunned by his sincerity, and all shared the same thought, even Naamah who is known for her strange way of thinking. 'This guy is a completely shameless, lucky coward!' and they were completely right!
Zane eventually said, "He's telling the truth."
Abner sighed and said, "Come here; I will give you an armor memory."
Arthur couldn't help but let his ego go to his head somehow; despite being the one who was begging and thinking out loud, he said, "As expected of myself, just one look and my charm made them practically throw their whole fortune at me!"
Abner blurted out loud what everyone except for Arthur was thinking: "Are you really asking for a beating?!"