A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

“We get along pretty well,” Bray suddenly said.

"Tsk, it's only 'okay'." Naruko curled her lip in disdain.

"Otherwise what?" Bray's lips twitched.

You should say "lovers"!

"I'm going out." Bray left without looking back.

"Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh?!" Naruko exclaimed in surprise.

---

As the moonlight shone down, Night fell completely over Knight Town.

A thick fog enveloped the entire town, and an invisible nightmare shrouded Knight Town.

This night seems to be going to be very, very long.

"Clang!" Bray drew his longsword from its sheath, the melodious sound echoing through the thick fog, seemingly dispelling some of the inexplicable atmosphere of terror.

"—A mournful bell will toll in the midst of a terrifying nightmare," an aged voice rang out.

The old man's voice had barely faded from my mind when the town's clock tower began to chime.

"Thump—" The dull sound cast an eerie atmosphere over the town.

"Tonight is a long night, please don't end it in despair."

“The Long Night? What do you mean?” Bray frowned and shouted.

Unfortunately, the old man's voice did not continue.

The most annoying thing is to only say half of what you mean and not explain it to others.

Bray felt terrible; it would have been better not to say anything.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle sizzle—" A sharp friction sound rang out nearby.

A headless giant walked toward Bray, holding a saw blade even larger than Bray's.

Although it has no head, there is still something on its neck.

The neck area was like a tube, and it was even wriggling; it was practically some kind of coelenterate.

The inner wall is covered with eyeballs, which can be clearly seen when the neck moves.

“I don’t think simply increasing the number of eyes will allow us to see any truth,” Bray said in a deep voice.

"Clang!" Bray's longsword slashed upwards, and the giant's saw blade was violently knocked away.

Despite the giant gripping his weapon tightly, he was easily knocked away by Bray.

"This is a real pain." Bray didn't want to kill this guy, but if he left him alone, he'd definitely be chased down and hacked to pieces.

He twirled the longsword in his hand, then gripped it in a reversed position.

"Swoosh—" Bray used his sword to sever the giant's leg.

Unfortunately, the longsword did become a bit dull when he wasn't using any sword techniques during the beating.

When he was chopping, Bray could feel the lack of fluidity.

"Thump!!!!!" After that brief pause, the massive arm swung directly at Bray.

The ground cracked from the headless giant's monstrous strength.

"Can't you give me a break?" Bray shifted his feet, dodging the giant's swing.

As he dodged, the force of the longsword increased, severing the giant's leg completely.

"Boom—" The giant, having lost its balance, collapsed to the ground.

Countless eyes in the hollow part of his neck stared intently at Bray.

This wasn't the first time Bray had been stared at like this in his nightmares; he was used to it by now.

“Staring at me won’t do any good,” Bray said, turning to the headless giant.

Who were these giants experimenting on?

Bray wiped the blood off the blade with his fingers and continued walking.

His goal was to get to the clock tower.

Walking through the twisted town, a chill kept creeping in.

The grotesque humanoid figure on the lamppost seemed poised to come to life and attack Bray at any moment.

In this gloomy town, anything can happen.

After all, is this a dream, or a nightmare?

"Thump—thump—" Before we knew it, an hour had passed.

The town's clock tower was struck again, this time twice.

"Is it two o'clock?" Bray frowned.

This time, the nightmare lasted even longer than before.

Previously, it had never exceeded an hour.

Didn't that old man shorten the duration of his nightmare by relying on his own strength?

Bray realized that what the old man said when he entered his nightmare was not a joke.

Tonight may truly be a long, dark night.

"No way..." Despair filled Bray's lifeless eyes.

Don't tell Bray that this nightmare will last all night.

Bray leaned against the wall, trying to observe his surroundings.

He ventured further into the town, not far from the clock tower.

Normally, it should take a little over an hour to walk there.

Yes, under normal circumstances.

In a nightmare town, everything seems to go smoothly.

We're already thankful if there are fewer monsters.

After observing for a while, Bray realized that he had arrived at the school.

Of course, this refers to the school in Knight Town that corresponds to this location.

Because this place doesn't look like a school at all now.

The walls were covered in blood, and inverted crosses hung all over them.

When Bray touched the crosses, they began to collide with each other, making a crisp sound.

Normally, Bray would have found the sound pleasant, but now it sounded eerie.

But Bray had no intention of going in; even if he was curious, he wouldn't go in.

Bray understands the saying that curiosity killed the cat.

Despite his curiosity, Bray has recklessly entered nightmares time and time again.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!" A piercing scream.

"Hahahaha!!" A burst of maniacal laughter.

Different voices came from the school.

Bray stopped in his tracks.

He wasn't drawn to those sounds.

Bray stopped because he saw a man in a tattered robe standing at the school gate.

The hood completely obscured the man's face, and the large robes made it impossible for Bray to judge his size.

Strange language came from the mouth of the man in the tattered robe.

“…” Bray took a step forward.

Then the man in the tattered robe turned to look at Bray, who had taken that step.

"Irving?"

"No, you're not Irving."

"Who are you? Let me think."

The man in the tattered robe had a male voice, though it sounded a bit hoarse.

Being able to speak means that this guy was conscious during the nightmare.

This was the second person Bray had seen who was awake during the nightmare. "In this nightmare, only Owen should be awake," the man in the tattered robe said to Bray.

You can tell from the tone of voice that this person is male.

His voice sounded as if it came from a deep, dark cave.

"Who are you? I don't remember anyone like you."

“…” Then he fell silent.

"Oh, right, you're from out of town."

"You must be from out of town."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man in the tattered robe raised his wide sleeves.

The other end of the sleeve seemed to be an unfathomable abyss.

Countless hands emerged from the sleeves, their arms stretching outwards, lunging straight at Bray.

However, such an attack posed no threat to Bray.

The sword blade swept through the air, severing those arms in unison.

After the arm fell to the ground, it turned into a mixture of red and black smoke and dissipated into the air.

However, the attacks from the man in the tattered robe were not limited to these.

Countless orbs of light rained down on the mine from all around, with faint black dots swirling within them.

Those points gathered countless evil thoughts, the negative forces in this dream.

"Ancient Sword Sect" "Ghost Gate Return"

The longsword was raised, and the ball of light was kept half a meter away from the mine.

The ball of light was then bounced back to the direction from which it was originally thrown.

Bray knew very well that this wasn't magic, but that didn't mean he couldn't block it.

"Hmm, very strong." The man in the tattered robe sounded unsurprised, simply giving a brief assessment of Bray's strength.

"If one does not follow one's heart, one's body will not follow one's own will."

"This is the state that people should be in when they are dreaming."

Often, people who dream are unable to control their actions in the air.

They often think they have it under control.

In reality, it was simply a matter of not being able to control one's own heart.

"It seems your mind is stronger than you can imagine," the man in the tattered robe said quietly.

The fact that Bray could remain conscious in this dream proves his abnormality.

"Is this an accomplice that Irving found?" the man in the tattered robe muttered to himself.

“Irving?” Bray raised an eyebrow; he had never heard of that name before.

"If that's the case, is Irving planning to directly interfere with me?"

The man in the tattered robe waved his hand as he spoke.

"Bang!" The school gate slammed shut.