Sunny was off to face against a Nightmare Creature. And not any creature, at that, but one of the fifth category a dreaded, fearsome tyrant. The odds of survival were so low that anyone would have laughed in his face if he were to ever suggest attempting to fight it. If they weren't an Awakened two or three ranks above the creature, of course. Which Sunny certainly wasn't. And yet, he had to deal with this Mountain King somehow to avoid an even more miserable death. The ridiculous degree to which the odds were stacked against him from the very beginning of this delayed execution had gotten old a long time ago, so he didn't have any more energy to think about it. What was there to fear, after all? He was already as good as dead. It's not like he could get any deader. So why worry? On the other side of the bonfire, things were turning from bad to worse. Most of the slaves were already dead. A few soldiers were still desperately trying to fight the monster, but it was clear that they weren't going to last long. Right in front of Sunny's eyes, the tyrant picked up a dead slave, dragging the chain up with him, and opened its terrifying maw wide. With one crushing bite, the slave's body was torn in half, leaving only bloodied stumps inside the shackles. Mountain King's five indifferent, milky eyes stared into the distance as he chewed, streams of blood flowing down its chin. Seeing that the creature's upper arms were busy, one of the soldiers screamed and lunged forward, brandishing his long spear. Without turning its head, the tyrant extended one of its shorter lower arms, caught the soldier's head in an iron grip and squeezed, crushing the poor man's skull like a soap bubble. A moment later, the headless body was tossed over the cliff and disappeared into the abyss below. Shifty doubled over, puking his guts out. Then he shakily rose to his feet and glared at Sunny. "Well? We've taken a look, now what?" Sunny did not answer, pensively observing the tyrant with his head slightly tilted to one side. Shifty stared at him some more, then turned to Scholar. "I'm telling you, old man, the boy is sick in the head. How the hell can he be so calm?!" "Shhhh! Lower your voice, fool!" Blood drained from Shifty's face as he slapped himself, covering his mouth with both hands. Then he cast a fearful look in the direction of the tyrant. Luckily, the abomination was too busy feasting on the slaves - lucky ones who were already dead and unlucky ones who were still alive - to pay them any attention. Shifty slowly exhaled. Sunny was preoccupied with thinking, measuring his chances of survival. 'How do I get rid of that thing?' He didn't have any special powers, nor did he have an army ready to bury the tyrant under a mountain of bodies. He didn't even have a weapon to at least scratch the damn bastard. Sunny moved his gaze and looked past the creature, into the endless darkness of the moonless sky. As he was watching the night, a bright flash streaked in the air and collided with one of the tyrant's arms, bursting into a rain of sparks. The young soldier - Sunny's heroic liberator - had just tossed a burning piece of wood at the monster and was now defiantly raising his sword. "Face me, devil!" 'A distraction! Just what I needed!' Because there was no way for Sunny to kill the Mountain King with his own two hands, he had decided to enlist some help. A human wouldn't be up to the task, so instead, he was planning to use a force of nature. 'Since I can't do the bastard in myself, let's make gravity do it for me.' He was in the middle of thinking over the details of the plan when the young hero's foolish bravado presented an opportunity. Now everything depended on how long the pompous idiot would manage to stay alive. "Come with me!" Sunny said as he started running toward the far end of the stone platform, where the heavy wagon was perched dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Shifty and Scholar shared a dubious look, but then followed, perhaps confusing his calmness with confidence, or maybe divine inspiration. After all, it was a widely known fact that crazy people were often favored by the gods. Behind them, Hero nimbly ducked under the tyrant's claws, slashing it with the sword. The sharp edge slid ineffectively across the dirty fur, not leaving even a scratch on the creature's flesh. In the next second, the tyrant moved with frightening speed, throwing all four of his hands in the direction of its new, irritating foe. But Sunny had no way of knowing. He was running with all his speed, getting closer and closer to the wagon. Once there, he hurriedly looked around, checking if there were any larvae close by, and moved to its rear wheels. The wagon was left at the upper end of the stone platform, where it narrowed and turned back into the road. It was turned sideways to block the wind, with its front facing the mountain wall and its back facing the cliff. There were two large wooden wedges placed under the rear wheels to prevent the wagon from rolling backward. Sunny turned to his companions and pointed at the wedges. "When I tell you, remove both of them. Then push. Understand?" "What? Why?" Shifty stared at him with a dumbfounded expression on his face. Scholar just looked at the wedges, and then at the tyrant. Hero, miraculously, was still alive. He was weaving between the creature's limbs, always just half a second away from being completely eviscerated. From time to time, his sword flashed in the air, but to no avail: Mountain King's fur was too thick, and his skin too tough to be harmed by mundane weapons. There was a hint of apprehension on the young warrior's face. All the other soldiers, as far as Sunny could see, were already dead. So he really needed that one to live a little bit longer. 'Don't die yet!' he thought. To Shifty, he simply said: "You'll see." The next moment, Sunny was running again, trying to follow the chain from the brace where it was affixed to the wagon. The thing he was searching for was hard to notice due to all the bodies, blood and viscera littering the stone platform, but for once, luck was on his side. A short amount of time later, he had found what he needed – the torn end of the chain. Finding the nearest set of shackles, complete with a horribly disfigured body of a slave locked in them, Sunny plopped down on his knees and started to fumble with the key. There was a muffled scream, and with a sideways glance, he noticed Hero flying through the air, finally caught by one of the tyrant's strikes. Incredibly, the young soldier managed to land on his feet, sliding several meters across the stones. All of his limbs were still in place; there were no terrible wounds on his body, either. Without skipping a beat, Hero rolled forward, picking up his sword from where it fell on the ground, and then rolled once more, this time sideways, narrowly avoiding a heavy stomp from the creature's foot. "Rolling?! Who the hell rolls around in this situation?!" Without any more time to waste, Sunny finally managed to unlock the shackles. Shaking the dead slave out of them, he then promptly locked them once again, this time around the chain itself - ending up with a makeshift slipknot and a loop. Now everything depended on his resolve, hand-to-eye coordination... and luck. Turning to Shifty and Scholar, who were still waiting by the wagon, he screamed: "Now!" Then, picking up a sizable length of chain, Sunny stood up and faced the tyrant. Hero spared him half a glance. His eyes lingered on the chain for a moment and then quickly followed it to the wagon. Then, without showing a hint of emotion, the young warrior doubled his efforts, drawing the creature's attention away from Sunny. 'So he's smart, too? What a scam!' Clearing his head of all unnecessary thoughts, Sunny concentrated on the weight of the chain in his hands, the distance between him and the tyrant, and his target. Time seemed to slow down a bit. 'Please, don't miss!' Gathering all of his strength, Sunny spun and threw the chain in the air, as though a fisherman casting his net. The loop opened as it flew, closing in on the position of the fight between Hero and the tyrant. Sunny's plan was to place the loop on the ground close enough to them that, once one of the tyrant's feet landed in the trap, he could pull on the chain and tighten it around the monster's ankle. But his plan... failed spectacularly.

 Which is to say, it was literally a spectacle. In the last moment, Mountain King suddenly flinched back, and instead of falling on the ground, the chain loop landed perfectly around its neck. A second later it tightened, acting as an iron noose. Sunny froze for a moment, not believing his eyes. And then clenched his fists, holding himself back from triumphantly shaking them in the air. 'YES!' he screamed inwardly. Moments later, the wagon would roll off the cliff, pulling the tyrant down with it. Sunny looked back to make sure, and instantly turned even paler than he usually was. Shifty and Scholar did manage to remove the wedges from under the wagon's wheels and were now desperately pushing it to the edge of the road. However, the wagon was rolling slowly... very slowly. Much slower than Sunny had anticipated. He turned to the tyrant, panicking. The creature, surprised by the sudden weight pressing down on its neck, was already raising its hands to tear the chain apart. Sunny's eyes widened. In the next second, Hero crashed into one of the tyrant's legs, throwing it off balance and buying them some time. Sunny was already running to the wagon, cursing loudly in his mind. Reaching it, he threw himself onto the damp wood alongside Shifty and Scholar, pushing with all the strength left in his rather small, but terribly beaten and enormously exhausted body. 'Roll! Roll, you creaky piece of shit!' The wagon sped up a little, but was still rather slow in reaching the cliff's edge. At the same time, the tyrant finally managed to get a hold of the chain tied around its neck, ready to free itself. Now whether they lived or not was just a question of which thing would happen first. 

Sunny pressed himself against the wagon, pushing with all he had. Four powerful oxen that used to pull it were now dead, and instead of them, three tired slaves were trying to do the job. Even with the slope of the road helping them, the speed of the wagon was agonizingly slow. The tyrant, in comparison, was moving much faster. Pushing Hero back with a deadly swipe of his lower arms, he raised the other two to its neck and tried to grab the chain that was wrapped around it like a noose. However, this time Mountain King's fearsome physique turned into a disadvantage: its long, terrifying bone claws were perfect for tearing flesh apart, but they weren't the best tool for precise manipulations. It took the tyrant some time to get a hold of the chain without slicing its own neck open. By then, the wagon was nearly at the edge of the cliff. 'Come on! Just a little bit more!' What followed happened very quickly. The wagon's rear wheels finally slid from the road, hanging over the dark, seemingly bottomless pit beneath. The creature turned, staring expressionlessly at the three slaves with its five milky, dead eyes. The wagon careened, throwing Shifty and Scholar off their feet, and then froze, balanced precariously on its middle axis. Sunny was the only one left standing. He cast a last glance at the towering monster, and then slammed his shoulder into the front of the wagon, putting all of his weight behind it. The wagon finally lost its balance and rolled over the edge, scraping its underside deafeningly against the jagged rocks. Sunny fell forward and landed on his knees, narrowly saving himself from tumbling down the cliff with it. Turning his head to the tyrant, he gave it a wicked smile. Mountain King made a move to lunge at the scrawny slave, but it was already too late. A moment later, the chain on his neck drew tight, and he was yanked back with tremendous force, flying over the edge of the cliff like a rag doll. The creature fell into the

darkness snently, as though refusing to believe that it was defeated by a tiny human. 'Go and die, bastard.' Sunny thought. Then he took one deep, ragged breath and dropped to the ground, utterly exhausted. 'Is this it? Did I pass the trial?' He rested on the cold stones, staring at the night sky, and waited for that faintly familiar, but elusive voice to announce his victory. But instead of that, wave after wave of pain that he had earlier chosen to ignore finally started to catch up with his abused body. Sunny groaned, feeling hurt all over. The skin on his back, slashed by a slaver's whip and pierced by the bone spikes of a newborn larva, especially, was in agony. He was also starting to shiver, once again consumed by the dreadful cold. 'I guess not. His thoughts were slow and muddy. 'What else am I supposed to do?' A dark figure appeared above him. It was Hero, looking calm and as handsome as ever. There were dirt and scratches on his armor, but otherwise, the young soldier appeared to be fine. He extended one arm to Sunny. "Stand up. You'll freeze to death." Sunny sighed, accepting that his First Nightmare was not over. Then he clenched his teeth and slowly rose to his feet, ignoring Hero's helping hand. Around them, there was a scene of utter carnage. Except for the three slaves and Hero, every member of the caravan was dead. Their bodies were littering the ground, horribly maimed or torn into pieces. Here and there, a repulsive carcass of a larva could be seen. Shadows cast by the bonfire were dancing happily across the stone platform, seemingly unperturbed by this morbid view. Sunny was also too tired to care. Shifty and Scholar were already up, looking at Hero with weary apprehension. With or without shackles, they were still slaves, and he was still a slave driver. Noticing their tense gazes, the soldier sighed. "Come closer to the fire, all of you. We need to warm ourselves and discuss what to do next." Without waiting for their response, Hero turned around and walked away. After hesitating for a few moments, the slaves followed. A bit of time later, the four of them were seated around the bonfire, soaking up pleasant heat. Shifty and Scholar were close to each other, maintaining a safe distance from Hero. Sunny sat apart from everyone not because he had a specific reason to distrust one more than the others, but simply because he didn't like people in general. Growing up, Sunny was always a misfit. It's not that he had never tried to become close with someone, it's just that he seemed to lack the ability. Like there was an invisible wall between him and other people. If he had to put it in words, Sunny would say that he was born without a small, but important gear in his brain that everyone else seemed to possess. As a result, he was often baffled and stumped by human behavior, and his attempts to imitate it, however diligent, inevitably fell flat. This strangeness made others uncomfortable. In short, he was a bit different - and if there was one thing people hated, it was those different from them. Over time, Sunny simply learned to avoid getting too close to anyone and settled comfortably into his outcast role. This habit served him well, since it not only made him self-reliant, but also saved him from being stabbed in the back by shady characters on multiple occasions. That's why he was not thrilled to share the rest of this Nightmare with three strangers. Instead of trying to start a conversation, Sunny sat quietly by himself, lost in thoughts. After a few minutes, Hero's voice finally broke the silence: "Once the sun rises, we will gather whatever food and water we can find and go back down the mountain." Shifty gave him a defiant look. "Why should we go back? To be put in chains

The young soldier sighed. "We can go our separate ways once we leave the mountains. But until then, I'm still responsible for your lives. We can't continue up the road since the way over the mountain pass is long and arduous. Without the supplies that were stored on the wagon, your chances of making it are not high. That's why going back is our best hope." Scholar opened his mouth, planning to say something, but then thought better of it and remained silent. Shifty cursed, seemingly convinced by Hero's rational words. "We can't go down." All three of them turned to Sunny, surprised to hear his voice. Shifty barked a laugh and glanced at the soldier. "Don't listen to him, your lordship. This boy is, uh, touched by the gods. He's crazy, is what I'm trying to say." Hero frowned, looking at the slaves. "The two of you are only alive thanks to this child's bravery. Aren't you ashamed to badmouth him so?" Shifty shrugged, showing that he wasn't ashamed at all. The young soldier shook his head. "I for one would like to hear his reasoning. Tell me, why can't we go down?" Sunny shifted, uncomfortable in the center of everyone's attention. "Because the monster isn't dead."

"Because the monster isn't dead." These ominous words hung in the silence. Three pairs of eyes widened, staring right at Sunny. "Why do you say that?" After thinking about it, Sunny came to the conclusion that the tyrant was, indeed, still alive. His reasoning was pretty straightforward: he did not hear the Spell congratulating him on slaying the creature after it fell off the cliff. Which meant that it was not slain. But he couldn't explain that to his companions. He pointed up. "The monster jumped from an incredible height to land on this platform. Yet it wasn't harmed at all. Why would it be killed by falling off the platform?" Neither Hero nor the slaves could find a flaw in his argument. Sunny continued.

 argument. a DOWNLOAD APP "Which means that it's still alive, somewhere down the mountain. So by going back, we will be delivering ourselves into its maw." Shifty cursed loudly and crawled closer to the bonfire, staring into the darkness with terror in his eyes. Scholar rubbed his temples, mumbling: "Of course. Why didn't I realize myself?" Hero was the most stoic of the three. After thinking it over, he nodded. "Then we go up and over the mountain pass. But that's not all..." He glanced in the direction where the tyrant had fallen. "If the monster is still alive, there is a high possibility that it will return here, and then pursue us. Which means that time is of the essence. We will need to move as soon as the sun rises." He gestured to the torn bodies littering the platform. "We can't allow ourselves to rest the whole night anymore. We need to gather supplies now. If there was a chance, I would have liked to give these people at least a humble burial after gathering all that we can from them, but alas, fate has decided otherwise." Hero rose to his feet and brandished a sharp knife. Shifty tensed up and watched the blade carefully, but then relaxed, seeing that the young soldier showed no sign of aggression. "Food, water, warm clothes, firewood. That is what we need to find. Let us split up and accomplish one task each." Then he pointed at himself with the tip of the knife. "I will carve the oxen carcasses to get us some meat." Scholar looked around the stone platform – most of it drowning in deep shadows - and grimaced. "I'll look for firewood." Shifty also glanced left and right, with a strange gleam in his eyes. "Then I'll go find us something warm to wear

Sunny was the last one left. Hero gave him a long look. "Most of our water was stored on the wagon. But each of my fallen brothers was carrying a flagon. Gather as many as you can find." *** Sometime later, far enough from the bonfire to be hidden in the shadows, Sunny was looking for dead soldiers with half a dozen flagons already weighing him down. Shivering in the cold, he finally stumbled on the last broken body clad in leather armor. The old veteran - the one who had whipped him for trying to accept Hero's flask - was badly injured and dying, but, miraculously, still clinging to life. Horrible wounds were covering his chest and stomach, and he was clearly in a lot of pain. His time was running out. Sunny knelt beside the dying soldier and looked him over, searching for the man's flagon. 'What irony,' he thought.

The older man tried to focus his eyes on Sunny and weakly moved his hand, reaching for something. Sunny looked down and noticed a shattered sword lying on the ground not far from them. Curious, he picked it up. "Are you looking for this? Why? Are you guys like Vikings, longing to die with a weapon in your hands?" The dying soldier didn't answer, watching the young slave with some unknown, intense emotion in his eyes. Sunny sighed. "Well, it might as well do. After all, I promised to watch you die." With that, he leaned forward and slit the old man's throat with the sharp edge of his broken blade, then threw it away. The soldier twitched, drowning in his own blood. The expression in his eyes changed - was it gratitude? Or hatred? Sunny did not know. Illusion or not, it was his first time killing a human. Sunny expected to feel guilt or fear, but actually, there was nothing at all. It seemed that, for better or worse, his cruel upbringing in the real world had prepared him for this moment well. He sat quietly near the old man, keeping him company on this last journey. After a while, the Spell's voice came whispering into his ear: [You have slain a dormant human, name unknown.] Sunny flinched. 'Oh, right. Killing people is also an achievement, as far as the Spell is concerned. They don't usually show this in webtoons and dramas.' He registered that fact and put it away. But, as it turned out, the Spell wasn't done speaking. [You have received a Memory...] Sunny froze, opening his eyes wide. 'Yes! Come on, give me something good!' Memories could be anything, from weapons to enchanted items. One received from a   dormant-rank enemy wouldn't be too powerful, but it was still a boon: weightless and undetectable, able to be summoned from nothingness with a simple thought, a Memory was incredibly useful. What's more, unlike corporeal things, he would be able to bring it back with him to the real world. The advantage of having something like that back in the outskirts was hard to overestimate. 'A weapon! Give me a sword!' [... received a Memory: Silver Bell.] Sunny sighed, disappointed. 'Well, with my luck, what was I expecting?' Still, this thing was worth investigating. Maybe it had a powerful enchantment, like being able to send out destructive sonic waves or repelling incoming projectiles. Sunny summoned the runes and concentrated on the words "Silver Bell". Immediately, an image of a small bell appeared in front of his eyes, with a short string of text below. [Silver Bell: a small memento of a long-lost home, which once brought its owner comfort and joy. Its clear ringing can be heard from miles away.] 'What a piece of crap, Sunny thought, dejected. His first Memory turned out to be pretty much useless... like everything else he possessed. He was almost starting to see a theme in how the Spell was treating him. 'No matter.' Sunny dismissed the runes and then got busy removing the dead man's fur cloak and warm, sturdy leather boots. As an officer, the quality of these clothes was a notch above those of the simple soldiers. After putting them on, the young slave finally felt warm for the first time since the Nightmare began not considering the short time he had spent near the bonfire. 'Perfect,' he thought. The cloak was a bit bloodied, but then again, so was Sunny. He looked around, easily piercing the veil of darkness with his tenebrous eves Hero and Scholar were still in the middle of their tasks. Shifty was supposed to be looking for winter clothes, but was greedily pulling rings off the dead men's fingers instead. Unseen to them, Sunny hesitated, considering if he had really thought things through well. His companions were unreliable. The future was too uncertain. Even the requirements of passing the Nightmare remained a mystery. Any decision he could make would have been a gamble, at best. Still, he had to make some if he wanted to survive. Not wasting any more time thinking, Sunny picked up the flagons and sighed. *** They spent the rest of the night sitting with their backs against the bonfire, staring fearfully into the night. Despite the exhaustion, no one could sleep. The possibility of the tyrant coming back to finish the four survivors off was too frightening. Only Hero seemed to be fine, calmly sharpening his sword in the bright light of the dancing flames. The sound of the whetstone scraping against the blade was somehow comforting. At the break of dawn, when the sun had lazily begun to warm up the air, they loaded themselves with all the supplies they'd managed to gather and set out into the cold. Sunny looked back, taking in the sight of the stone platform for the last time. He had managed to get past the place where the slave caravan was supposed to perish. What was going to happen next? No one could tell.