Chapter 23: Chapter 23 – Run!
'No!'
'I was so close!'
Nick's ability no longer worked, which meant he was only a bit stronger than an average human right now.
At this moment, Nick was falling from about eight meters of height into a pool of toxic waste with several sharp pieces of metal.
While Nick's ability was working, this wasn't an issue.
But now…
Nick's thoughts stopped.
Time seemed to freeze.
And then, time resumed as the Dreamer got further and further away from Nick.
SPLASH!
Nick hit the liquid shoulder first.
CRKSH! CRKSH!
Several pieces of metal created cuts in Nick's skin, and he started to bleed.
On top of that, Nick's destroyed fingers also came into contact with the toxic liquid.
In an instant, Nick felt like his body was being drowned in acid.
The force of the fall also made it difficult for Nick to move, but his adrenaline pushed him to immediately go to the surface.
As soon as Nick broke the surface again, he took a deep breath.
But then, Nick saw the owl just a meter in front of him, its claws stretched towards Nick.
The Dreamer was attacking, and without his ability, Nick was helpless!
BANG!
Nick immediately pulled his head down into the water, and the next moment, two long claws tore through the water above him.
The Dreamer was not going to flee.
No, it was going to kill Nick!
Nick immediately dove further and further down, several pieces of metal scraping his skin.
But then, Nick suddenly accelerated, and he stopped getting injured.
Nick had reached a depth where the light couldn't reach him, which meant that the Dreamer couldn't see him anymore.
Nick's ability activated again.
'I have to flee!' Nick thought. 'As long as it pays attention to me, I can't fight it!'
After coming to a decision, he immediately shot towards the direction of the sewer's exit.
But then, a huge black eye opened in front of Nick, and he became paralyzed.
Nick's thoughts stopped as he looked at the terrifying black eye.
The next moment, a maw filled with teeth opened in front of him and swallowed him.
Nick felt his body getting torn apart, but then he realized that this wasn't real.
Since he was now in a place with no light, the Nightmare's influence had returned.
'The Dreamer above.'
'The Nightmare below.'
'I can't move like this! The Nightmare could lead me in any random direction!'
'I have to surface to assess the direction I'm facing!'
Nick gnashed his teeth and shot upward.
The eyes and maws around him slowly vanished.
The Arclight was still active, and it illuminated the surroundings.
Shortly before Nick broke the surface, he suddenly felt the acid of the liquid become stronger.
This meant the Dreamer was seeing him.
Nick broke past the surface and took a breath as he quickly looked around.
'There!'
Nick found the way he had to go towards and immediately dove into the water again.
CRRRSH!
Nick clenched his teeth even more as he felt a big gash opening up on his back.
Just now, the Dreamer had created three huge gashes as it tore Nick's skin and a bit of muscle apart.
This was a Specter, not a random bird!
If it got hold of Nick, it could probably stab one of its claws through his entire torso!
A normal human couldn't possibly fight something like this.
As Nick descended, the intensity of the acid subsided.
He closed his eyes and immediately started to swim forward.
A moment later, the heat of the water rose sharply, and it felt like Nick was swimming through a boiling pot of oil!
Nick's entire body turned red, and he wanted to do nothing but scream in pain.
He was burning!
He was dying!
'It's not real!'
'It's not real!'
'It's not real!'
BANG!
Suddenly, Nick's right hand hit something solid, and Nick's head quickly followed.
'A house?! Now?!'
Nick had hit one of the ruins.
He had to quickly make a decision.
Immediately, he shot up.
The house wasn't that tall, and there was still about a meter between its ceiling and the surface.
At this moment, Nick felt a bit of light, but his ability hadn't deactivated yet.
This meant that the Dreamer hadn't seen him.
Nick swam forward in silence, his chest almost sliding against the house's roof.
Suddenly, the water started to severely burn him again, and Nick's body shook.
His ability had deactivated!
At that moment, a plan formed in Nick's mind, and he slowly spun onto his back.
Nick was betting on the fact that the Dreamer could see him but not perfectly see him.
Right now, since Nick was still about a meter below the surface, the Dreamer could probably only see a vague silhouette or shadow.
Meanwhile, the Dreamer was illuminated by the light behind it, allowing Nick to perfectly see it.
At this moment, the Dreamer was diving towards him with its outstretched claws.
Nick's anxiety reached new heights.
The Dreamer reached him.
BANG!
Nick shoved himself to the side as the Dreamer's claws reached into the water.
Due to Nick's depth, the Dreamer also had to fully enter the liquid, slowing it down significantly.
The Dreamer's claws barely passed by Nick, and Nick immediately grabbed them with his two hands.
The Dreamer's wings flapped to get out of the liquid again, and Nick felt himself getting pulled up.
Splash!
The two of them left the liquid behind, the Dreamer pulling Nick into the sky.
Right now, the Dreamer didn't have the luxury to look at Nick, but Nick's ability still didn't reactivate.
Hearing and feeling someone also counted as perceiving someone.
After gaining a couple of meters, the Dreamer looked at Nick, and its beak opened.
But by now, Nick had repositioned himself.
He had pulled himself upward and had angled his body.
And then…
BANG!
Nick kicked the Dreamer's head!
While the Dreamer was much more powerful than Nick without his ability, a kick to the head still hurt quite a lot.
At the same time, Nick let go of the Dreamer's claws and threw himself towards the exit of the sewers.
His kick and the force of the jump completely disoriented the Dreamer, and it fell into the water a couple of meters away.
However, it wasn't significantly injured, and Nick was sure that it would return to flying above him in a matter of seconds.
'Only about 200 meters or so left to the exit! I refuse to believe that it will follow me to the surface!'
Nick immediately swam forward, and since the Dreamer was still in the water, his ability had reactivated, and he swam with all of his power.
Splash!
Some seconds later, Nick heard the loud sound of something leaving the water about 30 meters behind him.
Five seconds after the sound, Nick's ability deactivated again.
Nick gritted his teeth and dove into the water.
More scratches appeared across his body.
BANG!
But the Dreamer's attack missed, and Nick's ability reactivated.
Sadly, just moments later, an army of maws tore at Nick's body again, and Nick felt like he was swimming downward instead of forward.
Yet, Nick just kept swimming.
He ignored the pain.
He ignored the horrors.
BANG!
Then, Nick hit something solid again.
'This is that one house I investigated!'
'I'm just about 50 meters away from the exit!'
By now, Nick's lungs were screaming at him to surface.
'I have to run across it!'
Nick surfaced again.
However, his ability deactivated before he even breached the surface!
The Dreamer wasn't stupid.
It had seen where Nick had swam towards, and it was constantly looking in that direction.
Nevertheless, Nick rapidly moved forward as he did his best to run in waist-high water.
He turned back to look at where the Dreamer was.
The next moment, he saw the Dreamer dive towards him.
Nick couldn't evade!
There were still several meters left!
The Dreamer would get him!
Chapter 24: Chapter 24 – Struggle
Nick readied himself.
He had to do something!
At that moment, Nick's back began to burn, or at least, it felt like it.
Light appeared around Nick.
And then, something shocking happened.
The Dreamer's eyes burst into flames!
"SCREEEEE!"
The Dreamer screeched, and it did its best to stop its dive.
Nick had no idea what was happening.
"Nick!" someone shouted between coughs.
Nick looked back.
Wyntor!
Wyntor was standing just behind him, his expensive suit drenched in sewer water!
At this moment, a bright fire was burning around Wyntor, and his eyes had turned completely white.
"Get it!" Wyntor shouted before heaving and looking away from Nick.
Immediately, Nick felt his ability become active again.
When the Dreamer's eyes had caught fire, its sight had been robbed from it, which meant that it couldn't perceive Nick anymore!
Nick immediately turned towards the Dreamer, which was about to pass about two meters above him.
Rage appeared in Nick's eyes.
BANG!
Nick jumped with all of his power, the water around him exploding.
And then, he punched.
CRACK!
Nick's fist hit the center of the Dreamer's chest, and Nick swore he felt something break!
And this time, it was not one of his bones!
The Dreamer's body spun in the air, and its flapping became very disorderly.
Nick landed first, and he immediately rushed toward the place where the Dreamer would land.
Splash!
The Dreamer hit the water, and Nick jumped on it.
BANG!
Nick kicked one of the Dreamer's wings, easily breaking it.
The next moment, Nick grabbed the Dreamer's thick neck with both of his arms and squeezed.
Nick's ability deactivated again, but that didn't matter.
Squeezing someone's neck didn't need a huge difference in power.
Right now, Nick and the Dreamer were tumbling in the horrible liquid of the sewers as he tried to strangle it.
Yet, some seconds later, the Dreamer's head spun by 180°.
'Right, it's a fucking owl!' Nick thought in horror.
The Dreamer's beak opened as it tried to tear Nick's neck apart.
Nick quickly let go of the Dreamer's neck.
His left arm pushed the Dreamer away from his neck as his right arm shot towards its head.
The next moment, the Dreamer just saw two fingers become bigger and bigger in its vision.
CRKSH!
The Dreamer screeched as Nick's fingers crushed its eyes.
The Dreamer's screech was cut off as the liquid from the sewers entered its throat.
Nick gnashed his teeth in rage as his two fingers dug deep into the Dreamer's eye sockets.
Nick's thumb grabbed the bottom of the Dreamer's beak, and he grabbed it with all of his power.
The next moment, Nick wrestled with the Dreamer awkwardly until he eventually managed to get behind its back with his fingers still in its eye sockets.
Splash!
A splash appeared beside Nick, and Wyntor appeared beside Nick.
"Keep it like this!" Wyntor shouted.
By now, Nick's legs had also grabbed the Dreamer's body, and he was doing his best not to drown in the sewers.
The Dreamer was still flailing around in panic, and Nick had to do everything in his power to keep it suppressed.
The next moment, Wyntor took out some kind of flexible metallic cable and wrapped it around the Dreamer's neck.
The cable quickly started to shine red, and the Dreamer's struggles intensified.
However, Nick kept it stable.
After around ten seconds, the Dreamer's struggles became weaker, and half a minute later, it completely stopped moving.
"Can I let go?" Nick asked.
"You, huuurgh, can," Wyntor said with a heave.
Nick slowly took his hand out of the Dreamer's eye sockets but still kept hold of the Dreamer.
"Put it in the sack on the shore," Wyntor said quickly before he had to heave again.
Nick nodded and pulled the Dreamer towards the exit.
About a minute later, Nick reached the exit of the sewers, and he pulled the Dreamer onto the land.
Now, Nick could actually take a good look at the Dreamer.
Its chest was caved in.
Both of its wings were broken, the second one having gotten broken in the scuffle.
Black blood was flowing out of its empty eyes.
One of its legs was bent at an unnatural angle.
Many feathers were missing.
Luckily, this was a Specter.
These wounds were not enough to kill a Specter, and it would recover within a week at most.
Nick took a deep breath.
And then, pain assaulted him.
Two of Nick's fingernails were missing on his left hand.
Three of Nick's fingers were broken.
Nick had several cuts on his body.
He had three huge gashes going across his back.
Nick even felt some intense pain coming from his ribs.
He guessed they had gotten bruised or broken during the scuffle in the water.
And to top it all off, his nose was also broken.
Nick was in a world of pain, and he also knew that the wounds were bound to get horribly infected since they had all been washed quite thoroughly in the disgusting liquid of the sewers.
He only hoped that Wyntor had some way to help him recover.
Nick knew if he had to rely on the medicine available in the Dregs, he would die.
His ability gave him some resistance to infections and poisons, but he wasn't sure if that was enough in this case.
"Huuuuurgh!"
Nick heard Wyntor heave as he came out of the sewers.
Nick turned to Wyntor and looked at him.
Right now, Wyntor was on his knees and hands as he coughed and heaved like he was about to die.
'He wasn't able to follow me into the sewers earlier, but when he saw me in danger, he actually jumped in.'
Nick's trust in Wyntor reached new heights.
Wyntor, the fancy heir of the Melfion family, a guy that constantly wiped his hands whenever he touched anything even slightly dirty, had jumped into the sewers to save him.
'Maybe he isn't as stuck up as I had initially thought.'
'When it comes down to it, he is actually trustworthy.'
Nick took a deep breath.
Right now, he felt elated.
The risk had paid off!
He had done it!
"Wyntor," Nick said.
Nick only heard another heave.
"We did it!"
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Warmaisach
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