abnormal mutation

Chapter 45 Nightmare

The contract is essentially made by binding together several pages of contracts; it is a consumable item and can only attract weaker spirit beings.

Aside from Nightmare, no other spirit creatures were mentioned in the diary. Roland only hoped that there would be more pages of the remaining contracts.

As you continue flipping through the pages, the latter half of the diary mentions Roland's name multiple times, with several pages containing the words "Roland, run!" written in frantic handwriting. This has been appearing since last year, making it difficult to understand his state of mind at the time.

The old priest was somewhat erratic during battle, but appeared very peaceful in the spirit world. Combined with the contents of his diary, this creates a contradictory and somewhat nonsensical feeling.

In addition, the diary contains some difficult-to-understand terms, such as time debt and intersecting destinies.

'Are these things really the old priest's own? Why did that organization called the Seventh Authority come to this desolate place? Why are they fooling an old man...' Roland had more and more questions as he read.

The diary makes no mention of that thick book, or if it does, it was torn out.

He didn't know why the old priest tore up the diary. If he had succeeded, wouldn't this information have helped him sort out his memories? Or did he simply want to forget these things, afraid of remembering them?

Completely clueless, he couldn't be bothered to think any further, so he put away his diary, called Frederick back, turned off the lights, and went to bed.

His excitement at receiving three magical items in a row was palpable. Although magical items always have some negative effects, they weren't unacceptable compared to their benefits.

The passive abilities of magical items are always in effect, while their active abilities require spiritual support. He can only watch helplessly now, unable to fully utilize their value, and he worries that the negative effects will be more severe for ordinary people.

'Isn't there some kind of magical item with absolutely no side effects?'

After much deliberation, Roland still couldn't decide, and finally decided to temporarily seal the [Wheel of Oblivion] and [Hidden Veil] in the box, and only consider taking them out when absolutely necessary.

His focus shifted to the contract, which he saw as the key to changing the status quo.

Click, the pocket watch is opened, the hour hand has just passed midnight, the time is just right.

He quietly entered the storeroom, took out the faded parchment book from the suitcase, lay back on the bed, gripped the parchment book tightly, and silently called for the chessboard.

The familiar pulling force instantly subsided, his body felt light, and bizarre, fantastical things flashed before his eyes. He looked down and raised his hand; the contract he had brought in was indeed there.

Soon, a huge, faintly visible bubble appeared before my eyes, successfully entered the light membrane, the murmuring faded away, and everything returned to normal.

Kili came running over excitedly and rubbed against his legs. Roland squatted down and examined its skin carefully, finding that the previous wounds were completely gone, the recovery speed was frighteningly fast.

However, Kili's combat power had not fully recovered and he was in a semi-weak state. He gave it two more spiritual glimmers to help it improve its body and speed up its recovery.

Release Fridge and let the two of them roam freely; they might need to help us later.

The chessboard remains the same. Thanks to the old priest's dying contribution, the energy pool has surged, but it's still one unit of extraordinary trait away from summoning the first chess piece. It's unclear when that will happen.

'Another sum of money is coming in soon.' Roland looked at the contract in his hand, a strange smile appearing on his face.

After the incident with the old priest, he deduced that the chessboard could easily manipulate low-sequence extraordinary beings, so the Nightmare should be no exception. Nightmares have always operated in the Dream Realm, belonging to the elite monsters, and their strength is generally at the low-sequence level. The powerful Nightmares are all in the upper levels and look down on the souls of ordinary humans.

He was a poor man and couldn't afford to hire spirit creatures, so he decided to use the contract to lure the Nightmare over and use the chessboard to "hunt and kill" it, which would also be a way to avenge the arrow he shot back then.

If the Nightmare becomes too powerful, then throw it out of the barrier and make it disappear.

Roland flew off the chessboard with the two wolves, made the bubbles invisible, then took out the contract, and with a gentle flip, the pages opened smoothly this time.

The first page was completely black, with a sphere that could be vaguely made out. A pair of black and red eyes floated on it, seemingly moving, staring at him with malice.

"...It startled me." It's just a painting.

Turning the page, he saw densely packed text on the back, which he didn't recognize and could only guess was the contents of a contract.

'It turns out I'm illiterate.'

Being illiterate is unpleasant, but thankfully he didn't need to understand the contract; he only needed to summon the target. The book was thick, and he turned the pages one by one. The rest were all blank pages, six in total, including the one for Nightmare.

'It can be used six times, but what if I only summon spirit creatures without signing a contract?' If that works, then the contract itself has a loophole.

'Let's lure the Nightmare here first.'

He turned back to the first page and handed the book to Frederick. Frederick raised a paw and placed it on the book, and a dark spirituality seeped into the contract, causing an invisible wave to spread outwards.

"It should be fine now." It was his first time using it, so he was a little unsure and could only wait and see.

"You two hide first." Kiley and Frederick leaped into the air, turning into black smoke and merging into Roland's spirit.

The concept of time in the spirit world is very vague. It may be an hour, or it may be two or three hours later. A streak of black smoke rushes in from a distance. It is not fast, but it is dark enough that it cannot be seen.

Roland was slightly nervous, holding the contract in his left hand and putting his right hand behind his back, trying to appear calm and composed.

The black smoke rapidly approached, stopping dozens of meters in front of him. The black energy surged and transformed into a black giant over ten meters tall, its body engulfed in black flames, its claws curved like hooks, and its enormous black and red eyes fixed on Roland.

“I recognize you.” The black giant’s voice was like thunder, and he was speaking in Akkadian.

“Your employer is dead.” Roland looked Nightmare up and down. Nightmare had no fixed form, and the giant was obviously an illusion.

It is said that after a Nightmare devours a soul, it can gain some memories, so it is not surprising that it can speak human language.

"Once you obtain the contract, you must pay the other half of the reward for him." The black giant leaned forward, raised his hand, and pointed his long, sharp claws at Roland, as if he were about to attack him at any moment.

Roland: "..."

He simply couldn't communicate with him. "The employer hired you to kill me, and you still want me to pay the other half of the compensation? Is this something a normal person could come up with?"
"Okay, I forgot, you're not human."

After saying that, he turned and ran, crashing into the invisible light membrane and disappearing.

"Ah—" Nightmare was stunned for a moment, then realized he had been fooled and became furious, so he hurriedly chased after her.

But as soon as it rushed out, it sensed something ahead. It reached out to touch it, but an invisible membrane suddenly closed in and enveloped it. The light and shadow shifted, and a floating platform appeared before it, with a strange sphere above it.

Roland's heart stirred, and he looked up at the abnormally mutated sphere in the sky. After the nightmare appeared, the sphere became restless, its rhythm frequency increased, and it conveyed to him a strong desire.

This change was unprecedented, and he had a vague guess in his mind.

"Hey—you charcoal guy, get down here."

Roland launched a relentless provocation. Nightmare had already entered his world, and it was only a matter of a thought to control it. However, he simply wanted to test its attack strength to prepare for his later plans.

The black giant was alert and turned to run away, but it was easy to get in but difficult to get out. No matter how much it clawed and kicked, it couldn't shake the thin layer of light membrane.

"It's still quite a distance from breaking the barrier. Even if Nightmare were twice as strong, it wouldn't be enough." Roland estimated that the barrier's strength was barely enough to reach the mid-series, which was stronger than he had predicted.

The Nightmare hadn't given up. It transformed into a cloud of black smoke, charging left and right, but seeing that it was still useless, it changed direction and pounced on Roland.

"Go."

Before the words were finished, the abnormally mutated sphere in the sky suddenly disappeared, and the next instant it blocked Nightmare's path. The sphere expanded and swallowed Nightmare whole.

The sphere slowly floated back into the air, sometimes expanding and sometimes shrinking, its shape constantly changing.

"I hope you won't disappoint me," Roland murmured, admitting that there was an element of gambling in his actions.

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(End of this chapter)