Chapter 18: Nightmare

As the firelight rapidly approached, Tia once again cast a [Light] spell in its direction.

The soft glow spread across the area once more, revealing a single figure sprinting toward them from within the castle. Aside from that, there were no other creatures visible within the illuminated range.

As the man neared, Lu Qiuchen quickly flung out a transparent [Ice Wall], cutting off his path and separating him from the group.

Seeing the clearly cautious looks on everyone’s faces, the middle-aged man collapsed onto the ground with a thud, panting heavily.

The nearly spent torch in his hand fell to the floor and extinguished moments later.

Seriel stepped forward, raising her torch high in her right hand. The firelight filtered through the thick ice wall, illuminating the man’s face.

Her left hand held her shield at the ready, her posture still guarded as she called out through the barrier,
“Who are you? What monster were you talking about?”

Under the flickering light, the group could now see that the man was dressed in a dust-covered robe—but he carried no staff. Judging by his attire, he appeared to be a mage.

Still gasping for breath, the middle-aged man spoke rapidly, “I’m with the Rode Adventuring Party. We ran into a monster! That thing… it ate everyone!”

At his words, Audi’s expression turned grim. She had another party member take her place, then walked to the front of the group and asked, “You’re the mage from the Rode Party? What exactly happened?”

A dazed look came over the man’s face. He hunched over, muttering, “I don’t know! We entered this place a few days ago, but in all that time, we found nothing! We searched the entire area and never saw any claw prints! There was nothing here! The Adventurers’ Guild lied to us!”

By the end, his eyes were wide with fury, his voice rising into a near shout. But that anger quickly twisted into grief, and he bowed his head, choking back sobs.

“The Adventurers’ Guild… lied to us…”

His body trembled violently. Then he froze for a moment, as if suddenly recalling something, and looked up in terror.

“Run! There’s a monster here!”

His voice grew even more frantic.

“Something was wrong in our group! At some point, people just started vanishing—and none of us even noticed!”

“At first, we thought some of our teammates had just gotten separated while resting, so everyone stayed on high alert and went back to look for them.

“But shortly after we set out again, the captain did another headcount—and something was wrong. More people were missing!

“With no time to worry about the ones already gone, the captain immediately led us to retreat back to the surface. But it was already too late. One anomaly after another kept happening all around us!”

“We tied ropes to our bodies, everyone held up torches, but none of it helped! Just a blink—and someone else would vanish!”

“First it was Ron… then Sally… then the captain… and then…” His voice choked up, sobs wracking his body. “In the end, I was the only one left.”

“I saw your firelight just now and ran this way right away. Run! Or we’ll all disappear!”

Panic overtook him again. Madness twisted his expression as he stood and pressed his face against the ice wall, flailing wildly.

“Run! Run! Run!”

The group watched his frenzied state with furrowed brows, awaiting a decision from Audi or York.

As the two exchanged uncertain glances, a cool, quiet voice echoed from the center of the group.

“What’s your name?”

The man froze mid-motion. “…My name is… my name is…”

He clutched his head and let out a scream of agony, thrashing on the ground. A sharp female voice shrieked from his throat: “My name is Sally…”

Then it morphed into a deep, resonant male voice: “No, I’m Ron… No… that’s not right—”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

In a flash, weapons were drawn and pointed at him. Holy power surged in Tia’s hands, and Lu Qiuchen flung down two more [Ice Walls], forming a triple barrier that crisscrossed to trap the writhing mage in place.

The man’s expression shifted rapidly—anguish, confusion, rage—until finally settling into one of icy indifference.

He slowly raised his head, fixing his gaze on Lu Qiuchen at the center of the group. From his mouth spilled words in a language no human should know:

“You will all die here.”

Boom!

Before anyone else could react, Lu Qiuchen detonated the three [Ice Walls] at once.

The explosion hurled out jagged shards of ice, propelled by a burst of concentrated mana.

The impact shredded the man’s body like a rag doll, and his blood froze midair, scattering as glittering crystals that struck the floor with sharp cracks.

From the mangled remains, a black shadow suddenly slipped out.

Still reeling from the shock, Tia failed to react in time, and the shadow darted swiftly into the darkness beyond.

Tia snapped out of her daze at Lu Qiuchen’s tap on the shoulder, and quickly threw the divine spell she had been preparing. The black shadow that had just darted away a short distance was hit squarely and vanished within a burst of radiant holy light.

Lu Qiuchen’s display stunned everyone present. Members of both adventuring parties turned their gazes toward the proud-looking girl.

“Miss Cecilia! Thank you very much for your assistance!” Audi’s voice cut through her self-satisfied moment.

Wait, this isn’t how it’s supposed to go! Shouldn’t one of the female team members be looking at me with admiration and eagerness, saying something like ‘Lady Cecilia, you’re amazing! Please protect us from now on!’?

Lu Qiuchen could tell from Audi’s tone that something was off. She had a feeling his next words would be: “However…”

“However, since you’ve already joined our party, I hope Miss Cecilia can follow our group’s arrangements and refrain from acting on your own. That was something you promised when you joined us,” Audi said sternly, just as she had predicted.

“There’s a reason for this…” Lu Qiuchen admitted she had wanted to stand out a bit, but there had been a more important motive behind her actions…

“What reason?” Audi, still upset, pressed her sharply.

“Captain Audi, perhaps Miss Cecilia truly had her reasons…” Tia spoke up timidly from the side.

“I once studied demon-related knowledge during my time at the church. That man just now—he showed signs of being possessed by a nightmare demon.”

Audi froze for a moment and asked, “Demons? Nightmares? Why are demons involved in this mission? What’s going on? Tell me everything.”

It wasn’t unreasonable for Audi to react this strongly—demons hadn’t appeared in the world of Eternity for ten thousand years. Basic human education no longer even included demonology.

Even though Audi was an epic-ranked adventurer, he knew as little as any ordinary person: that demons were once the common enemy of all races in Eternity, that they nearly ruled the entire world ten thousand years ago, and were finally repelled by a coalition of all races and the gods. Beyond that, he knew nothing.

Tia organized her thoughts and explained to Audi and the others, “The message we received from the Adventurers’ Guild said they had found dragon claw marks and traces of demonic energy on them. Because the demonic energy was found with the claw marks, both the guild and we misjudged the situation—we thought it was the aura of a demonized dragon.

“That’s why I didn’t consider the possibility of demon involvement earlier. We almost let that nightmare get away… it’s all thanks to Miss Cecilia’s intervention.”

Tia glanced at Lu Qiuchen gratefully, then continued, “Nightmares are a type of low-ranked demon. But don’t underestimate them just because they’re low-tier. Nightmares prey on human emotions—they use every possible method to stir emotional turbulence within a person. Once that emotional disturbance reaches a certain intensity, the nightmare can invade the person’s body, devour their soul, and then disguise itself as its host to continue hunting others. It’s a cunning and dangerous type of demon.”

Lu Qiuchen nodded repeatedly from the side, showing her agreement with what Tia had said.

Audi realized he had wrongly accused her. His weathered face flushed with embarrassment as he said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Lady Cecilia. I misjudged you because of my own ignorance.”

Seeing his sincerity, Lu Qiuchen didn’t hold it against him. After all, she had broken her earlier promise too.

Before he could finish speaking, she cut him off gently, “There’s no need to apologize, Mr. Audi. I was a bit reckless earlier myself. Luckily, that mistake gave Tia the chance to deal with the Nightmare.”

This was Lu Qiuchen giving him an out—choosing not to pursue the issue and even taking the blame upon herself, helping him save face in front of the team.

Grateful, Audi silently resolved to look after this sweet, kind-hearted Lady Cecilia in the future.

He turned his head and saw the innocent Tia, who looked like she was about to launch into a long explanation about life. He quickly cut her off.

“Tia, are there any specific countermeasures against Nightmares, those demonic creatures?”

“Of course there are! Divine arts are very effective against all demons, including Nightmares. Also, mages can use powerful mental force to directly attack them. Nightmares themselves are actually very fragile. And once Sister Seriel changes class to a Holy Knight, she’ll gain abilities that can harm spiritual beings like Nightmares!”

After saying that, Tia added, “As for defense against Nightmares, it’s quite simple—just avoid strong emotional fluctuations. The one earlier tried to stir up fear in us so it could attack. If someone gets possessed, it means their soul has already been consumed by the Nightmare.”

After hearing Tia’s explanation, Audi discussed with York briefly, then turned to address the group.

“Captain York and I have decided—we’ll head back to the surface and report the situation to the Adventurers’ Guild. Let the Church’s experts handle this demonic threat. This matter is beyond what we can deal with alone.”

Everyone, including Lu Qiuchen, nodded in agreement. Playing it safe was the wisest choice. They were just ordinary adventurers—why risk their lives fighting demons if they had a choice? When it came to demonic matters, best to leave it to the professionals at the Church.

As for Lu Qiuchen, she’d gotten a good look at a demon now and frankly? It was pretty creepy. Yeah… I don’t wanna play anymore!

After a brief rest, the group reformed their original formation, with Seriel once again taking the lead. They began retracing their steps back the way they came.