A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

The curtains were drawn back, and old man Owen was facing the sun.

Although the sky over Knight Town is always overcast, the sun is still very warm.

He could clearly feel the warmth of the sun, one of the few rights he could continue to enjoy.

"Ah..." the old man uttered a hoarse sound.

After trying it a little, the old man stopped making that sound.

This is the result of losing all senses.

With immense courage, old man Irving stripped himself of his senses.

Then one cannot listen, cannot see, and cannot speak.

Irving was trapped in darkness, and although he could still clearly perceive the world, he felt extremely lonely.

Bray watched the old man Owen's back and felt that his back looked inexplicably desolate.

“I’m leaving,” Bray said.

Bray didn't know if the old man had heard him; he was just saying it out of habit and politeness.

The old man turned his wheelchair around.

He picked up a pen and wrote four characters on the paper.

--"Good luck."

Bray paused for a moment, then shook his head and walked out of the study.

Naruko and Levy both slept soundly.

They don't need to keep watch tonight.

But Bray didn't sleep, and instead went out of his residence.

He looked up at the bright, full moon.

---

"That strange sound again..." A townsman covered his ears.

The town has returned to its previous eerie state.

"What exactly is that thing?" Another resident of the town huddled in his home.

An inexplicable fear gripped my heart.

The rustling noise echoed in my ears.

But when I opened my eyes, there was nothing there.

As night fell, the townspeople, who had thought the town had returned to peace, were once again troubled.

These townspeople are all people affected by nightmares.

They don't even realize they're living in a nightmare.

"What is this... Is this the town?" A person who couldn't sleep peered out the window in astonishment at the view.

The distorted human figures on the wall seem to be trying to pull people into the wall as well.

The streetlights flickered on and off.

The moon in the sky was whiter than ever before.

But this pure whiteness didn't give people any pleasant feeling; it only made them feel more eerie.

Because it's so white, the whiteness makes people uneasy.

Many townspeople experience similar situations when they are dragged into nightmares.

You will discover dramatic changes in the outside world.

But it doesn't matter; this won't make the nightmare known to anyone.

It's very simple, because these people forget everything after they wake up, forgetting everything they saw in their nightmares.

Their actions in nightmares are not even under their own control.

Even if they believe that these actions are determined by their own will.

Curled up in a corner, hiding under the covers...

All their attempts to escape were not actually their intention.

When dawn breaks and these people wake up, all the terror will be forgotten.

They would only remember hearing terrifying sounds and seeing strange monsters at night.

That's it.

---

"Crack—crackle—" A series of sounds, the sound of heads colliding, echoed through the street.

This is the sound that the townspeople have always feared.

Strange, yet its true form remains unknown.

Bray stretched and drew his longsword.

"Clang—" The sound of a sword being drawn dispelled all the terrifying atmosphere.

"You've already shown yourself before the dream has even begun?"

Before the mist could rise, the chimeras appeared first.

This doesn't make sense; it's different from the previous nightmares.

Bray didn't give the disgusting thing another second, and swung his sword to cut it in two.

The chimera struggled on the ground for a moment, then let out a sharp cry.

However, the chirping didn't last long before the chimera died completely.

In reality, chimeras are not as resilient as those in nightmares.

Bray walked down the street, his right eye appearing utterly calm.

Without fear or excitement, he simply carried his sword and walked down the street.

This is not yet the Fog; it is still the real town of Knight.

But then chimeras began to appear, and the line between reality and nightmares became increasingly blurred.

This is probably something that old man Irving had anticipated.

Bray's intuition told him that tonight would be different from any other night.

It will be longer and more difficult to get through.

After casually slaying a few more chimeras hopping around in the street, a cold wind blew in.

The fog has finally risen.

It enveloped the entire town.

The thick fog obscured everything in front of us.

"Shh—" Bray took a step forward and stepped on the weeds.

The weeds looked sickly, as if they might die at any moment.

There are no weeds on the streets of Knight.

"Creak—creak—" The half-suspended carriage wheel turned, making a groaning sound.

The distorted human figures on the wall are moving and screaming.

"Dong—" The heavy bell rang out once again.

This time it's not the bells of Knighttown. The bells of Knighttown's clock tower don't chime so somberly.

It won't ring even in the middle of the night.

When a nightmare arrives, the tolling of bells is an omen.

But this time, the bell tolled a little differently than before.

The bell, which should have rang for a long time, stopped abruptly halfway through.

There was no lingering sound; it simply stopped abruptly.

Bray frowned; the sound was really strange.

Of course, anything can happen in dreams.

From the thick fog emerged headless giants.

Heavy footsteps echoed through the dark streets.

These giants dragged long chains, which scraped against the ground with a grating sound.

The eyes on his neck kept watching Bray.

Bray glanced casually at the giants, then looked up at the town's clock tower.

From a distance, Bray could see that the clock tower's bell was only half-swinging in mid-air.

Then it was frozen in mid-air.

The sound also came to an abrupt end as a result.

“Come on, all of you.” Bray beckoned to the headless giants.

His tone wasn't arrogant, and his right eye showed no other emotion.

Bray simply thought dealing with them one by one was a waste of time.

The headless giant's eyes kept turning, as if it were caught up in some kind of intense emotion.

"Thump!!!!!"

"boom!!!!!!!!!"

The giants flung the iron chains to the ground.

The floor cracked instantly, kicking up dust and stirring up the thick fog.

However, it was all for naught; Bray was not injured by these attacks at all.

Despite carrying a greatsword, Bray moved with remarkable agility.

These headless creatures were probably made from the townspeople.

That's why Bray can't use too much force to attack.

To others, these giants might seem incredibly powerful.

However, in Bray's view, the giant's attack was full of flaws.

At most, it just has a bit more health.

"Heh...this is troublesome." Trying to injure these guys without killing them is really difficult.

A thrilling and exhilarating battle is far simpler than a timid and hesitant one.

Bray couldn't bring himself to hurt these guys, but these headless behemoths were filled with murderous intent towards him.

The ferocious attacks came one after another, and the dense chains wrecked the ground beyond recognition.

Combined with a writhing eyeball, it delivers a double blow to the mind and body.

But when the chains were pulled up, the giants discovered that Bray was not on the ground.

Bray leaped into the air, stepping on the shoulder of a giant.

Internal energy replaced magic and enveloped Bray's entire body.

A faint, ethereal image of a beast covered Bray's entire body.

Even Bray's expression looked somewhat ferocious.

"Onis Sword Technique" "Beast Transformation Slash"

The greatsword slashed down with unstoppable force, carving a deep crater in the street.