“...”

  The roles had been completely reversed.

  “Hummm, humhummm…”

  Somnu was lying down, still in his birthday suit, his head resting on Carmella’s lap. He couldn’t see anything, partly because of his missing eyes, and due to both of his familiars being asleep not far from him.

  Although the brief thought of finally being able to experience sleep had crossed his mind when the blond lady whispered in his ear, in the end, it still couldn’t be possible.

  Instead, all the energy in his body had been sucked out, leading him to his current predicament. Although, that could in part be due to the stress his body had gone through.

  Now, his world was void of any color, but the soothing hum and occasional song resonated through his chest, a soft pulse that stirred something deep.

  It was a sound that embraced the nerves like a mother’s lullaby, yet ached like a forgotten memory.

  What is she doing…? This is too weird! As he regained more control of his thoughts, Somnu had repeatedly tried to make sense of Carmella's actions, unable to voice his questions directly to her. A few hours ago, we were enemies and now… She changed too much after breaking away from Henry’s control…

  Somnu’s breathing was slow enough to give the impression of sleep. If she had wanted to do something to him or had any bad intentions, Carmella could have easily done so by now.

  He was completely trapped by her powers at the moment, just as she had been by his not so long ago.

  Nevertheless, Somnu had finally been able to catch his breath, even if it was forced onto him. His irritation and on-edge nerves from earlier had calmed down, matching the atmosphere around him.

  He finally caught a break.

  And in that break, he could focus on getting used to the new System interaction method he would need to rely on going forward.

  [Congratulations are in order!]

  [You have killed another Sleeper!]

  This System is all kind of messed up… He commented inwardly, his stomach suddenly tightening. Why are you congratulating me when I killed another Sleeper now?

  [Sleeper Henry Byron was a hindrance to the mission.]

  [Sleeper Henry Byron has killed a total of 4 Sleepers and was therefore, on the verge of becoming a Nightmare Creature himself.]

  [Sleeper Somnu ERROR has served the mission by ridding the Nightmare Realm of such an individual.]

  Yeah, that’s just messed up in so many ways… To kill a person and get praised for it is not something I ever considered to happen. And Sleepers can become Nightmare Creatures…? Why didn’t you just wake him up then, or is that not possible for some reason?

  Then realizing he would be keeping his System, he allowed himself a moment to enjoy the fact his familiars wouldn’t be leaving him after all.

  The scarecrow moved on, commanding the System to read ahead. Even if it was using his own voice to recall information, Somnu had to bear whatever uncomfortable feeling came as a result of his own actions.

  [You have absorbed the grudge of Sleeper Henry Byron’s victims.]

  [Your grudge has grown much stronger!]

  [Calculating rewards…]

  During everything that had happened, Grudgekeeper had used that time to leisurely snack on the remaining corpses around, moving from one to the next, from the henchmen to the scattered Nightmare Creatures.

  After consuming the entire Dreadbeast, and all the Specters around it with the help of the familiars’ clones, its appetite didn’t subside in the slightest as it consumed the rest of what was currently around.

  In the end, it had consumed a total of 4315 in equivalence to Ego Particles, making its current level…

  [Dream Catcher {Grudgekeeper} Level: Lvl 1.] {With 5167 more Ego Particles or Core equivalent to the next level up.}

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  It was about the same as it was before. It had previously needed a total of 9482 Ego Particles or Core equivalent from corpses for the next level. It was safe to say, the Dream Catcher wouldn’t be seeing many level ups for a while now that it was a Tuned grade on the First Layer.

  Still, it received much more from Almon’s body… Somnu thought, recounting that bitter memory. Maybe it was partly because he had just received the Thieving Slime rewards and hadn’t consumed them yet? Maybe he never really used any of his Ego Particles to make sure John Doe didn’t get his way? That would mean John Doe can use the skills of his pawns, but not decide where to use their Terror Cores or Ego Particles…

  Either way, since his familiars had killed the Failing Dogs, he had also overcome some new fears. Adding those to the Furry Spiders that he was yet to check the information on since the cavern…

  He had overcome the fear of failure, Atychiphobia, the fear of black dogs, Cynophobia, the fear of furry creatures, Doraphobia, and the fear of crawling creatures, Blattiphobia.

  Thankfully, with the help of Fala and Naga, Mathros had managed to land a hit on one of the black dogs and overcame one of his two remaining fears, Atychiphobia. Now, only his fear of becoming overwhelmed, Atephobia, remained.

  As for Lulu, she had now completed one of the requirements to reach the Second Layer of the Nightmare Realm as she no longer had any active fears in the Abyss of Lethe.

  Now, both she and Mathros needed to rank up to meet one of the other remaining requirements, as well as gain their second Aspiration Class.

  For the lizardman, he had been level 73 last time Somnu could check. Perhaps it would be 74 or 75 after consuming his new Terror Cores from the black dogs. The bunny girl had been level 62 while she and Somnu had chatted by the musky pond before the fight.

  I have to go back to Lulu and Mathros before they misunderstand again. I hope Lulu isn’t too upset…

  It was only natural for the two Dreamers around to be at odds with themselves now. After all, they had gone all out against a single Savant and could barely do anything to him on their own.

  They too wanted to avenge Benji. They too wanted the strength to defend themselves and protect the ones they cared about.

  Somnu understood that. While he had been forced to go up against plenty of Nightmare Creatures ever since he arrived at the First Layer, the other two had played it safe. Not to mention they had been stuck for over a month and a half inside that cavern, making many of the other Sleepers they had known from the fort surpass them.

  If they truly wanted to stand side to side with the scarecrow during the final confrontation, then…

  “Have you calmed down a bit?”

  “...”

  Carmella’s soothing voice interrupted, and yet still managed to seem like a pleasant distraction.

  “What you said about me earlier, I don’t think you were wrong…” She said while caressing his cheeks. Slowly, she moved her fingers to gently rub the still swollen area under his empty eye sockets. “But, this time, I’m making this decision with the freedom you returned to me. I want to support you, I want to bet on you.”

  Her voice remained like a soft murmur, like silk brushing over his skin, cool and delicate.

  “Because if not you…” Carmella trailed off. “I don’t want to go back to how I was, but allow me to lean on you for a while longer, just like I’ll lend you my lap and voice anytime you need.”

  … This is awfully starting to feel like a confession, and I don’t like it.

  Even if she turned a new leaf, there was no way her new party could simply shift their perception of her. Not even with Somnu’s tasking skill could that be achieved permanently. Not that he would ever use it on his friends for that kind of purpose.

  “And maybe, one day…” Somnu felt her hot breath tickle his left ear . “We could do more…”

  “Okay! Two meters rule!”

  “Hahah! You finally stopped pretending to sleep!”

  The scarecrow felt the chill breeze of the swamp brush against his ear, his personal nurse finally sitting upright again.

  “You…” Somnu paused for a moment, then made up his mind. “You didn’t really kill anyone directly, did you?”

  “?” Carmella’s hands suddenly stopped moving, sitting still on the man’s swollen face. “... Why are you saying that?”

  “I think you got punished along with Henry because you were an accomplice and helped him do it, but you never took a life with your own hands.” Somnu muttered, basing his hypothesis on the few things he had noticed. “The fact that you said you killed them shows how bad you feel about it, but this is a whole messy situation… I don’t know what to say more than that really.”

  “That’s… more than… enough.”

  Her broken voice was interrupted occasionally by a sniffle, her tender touch leaving his face, only to be replaced with droplets of liquid that carried the sins of a burdened soul.

  She’s not the same person she was under Henry’s control, it’s like she’s a completely new person now. A lot of stuff must have happened to her since finding herself here… But I don’t know how to explain any of this to the others. They won’t understand what Stockholm syndrome even is… Somnu pursed his lips for a moment, then pushed his body to sit up. I can only try… I can’t abandon her now, especially not when she’s expecting to bring a new innocent life into the waking world…

  “!”

  “Help me go back, would you?” He asked her, grabbing her hand so she could lead him. WIth his familiars still asleep, he needed to lean on his allies, no matter what their past had led them to do.

  His past certainly wasn’t a clean sheet after all.

  “But… What about the two meter rule?” She asked jokingly through a sniffle, helping him up and supporting his posture.

  “Heh, sometimes, it’s okay to cheat the rules a little.” He chuckled.

  “How wise. Did you come up with that all by yourself, dear?” Carmella asked sarcastically.

  “No, I was just raised by a professional cheater.” A faint smile formed on the scarecrow’s face, trying to imagine his late mother’s face.

  Unfortunately, all he saw was the void he needed to get used to from now on.