(Is it a Nightmare? Amamiya Rin's Nightmare?)
(We can't control our bodies!)
(It is a dream, after all.)
(One shouldn't realize it's a dream within a dream.)
(Amamiya Rin is special!)
(Are we hunting Amamiya Rin?)
(This is good. If we can erase his mind in the Nightmare, we won't need to connect to his brain. Male brain structures and thought patterns are ultimately very different from females.)
(Wipe him out!)
(Wipe him out!)
(Wipe him out!)
While their bodies hunted Amamiya Rin, the voices of the four women echoed in their connected minds.
After confirming their situation, their spirits became excited, and their eyes filled with killing intent. Although unable to control their bodies, driven by this killing intent, their attacks became even more ferocious.
(It hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts! Stop! Stop it now!)
But Amamiya Rin didn't even have the right to scream; he could only howl madly in his heart. Unable to speak, move, resist, or dodge.
He could only let his consciousness follow this body, enduring attacks passively like a puppet, fleeing madly through this despairing forest. Wounds accumulated under the four's attacks, green blood soaking his whole body. It would be normal to drop dead from such heavy injuries, yet he just couldn't die.
(Is it because it's a dream?)
This characteristic of immortality in dreams became the cruelest torture at this moment. He suddenly realized that this kind of uncontrollable dreamscape couldn't be counted as a Golden Finger at all; after all, he couldn't control what type of dream he had.
Amamiya Rin desperately wanted to regain control of the body, even if just to make this Goblin body turn a corner or dodge one attack. But the only response was the uncontrollable spasms of muscles and even more intense pain.
Just as Amamiya Rin's consciousness was almost drowned by endless pain and despair, he suddenly sensed a tiny, almost negligible anomaly. The body... the Goblin's body seemed to be responding to his strong will with a slight delay?
Amamiya Rin tried his best to urge the body to dodge a fireball. Although he was still blown away by the explosion's shockwave, the fireball that should have hit his torso seemed to have only singed his arm?
(...An illusion?)
(No! It's not an illusion!)
Amamiya Rin felt a sense of stagnation, like a rusted gear being forcibly turned. This Goblin body seemed to actually be producing a weak response to his intense will!
(Is it because of them?)
Amamiya Rin looked with difficulty at the four women moving in sync. Their attacks remained the same, expressions wooden, only their eyes filled with ruthlessness, unlike other NPCs who were natural from the inside out.
(Did their intrusion cause changes in the Nightmare?)
Amamiya Rin wasn't sure of the principle, but he understood that the time to turn the tables had arrived!
"Gau!"
Amamiya Rin let out a roar of unclear meaning. Using his newly gained control, he stumbled and fled toward a direction in his memory—the nest of their group of low-level Goblins. A dark, damp underground cave filled with branching paths!
The four figures chased relentlessly, but unknowingly, the other Adventurers had disappeared, leaving only Hashimoto Ayaka's group of four still chasing Amamiya Rin.
And their speed had slowed down. The four were much more sluggish than before. Fireballs and light beams grazed Amamiya Rin, only scratching his shoulders. Leg winds and sword blades chased closely but were always a few centimeters off.
(Something's wrong... I got stronger, they got weaker...)
Amamiya Rin realized this situation while escaping. Although the reason was unknown, this was undoubtedly a good thing for him.
Good things came one after another. Seeing the cave entrance from afar, Amamiya Rin rejoiced in his heart, squeezing his spirit even harder to drive the Goblin body to scramble into the nest entrance. The four behind him didn't hesitate either, filing straight into the gloomy cave.
Inside was even dimmer, with rugged rocks and numerous forks, permeated by a strong stench of rot and blood. Amamiya Rin knew this place like the back of his hand—thanks to this long Nightmare, he was forced to familiarize himself with every inch of this land.
He specifically chose narrow, low passages to squeeze through, forcing the pursuers behind to bend over, greatly reducing their speed, so the distance between them grew further and further.
If they were normal people, they would retreat from the cave immediately in this situation. Hashimoto Ayaka, Mikami Yui, Hatano Yua, and Momonogi Kana thought the same. But their bodies didn't listen, blindly moving forward, unable to even turn their heads.
This abnormal environment made the Khala commanding the four women feel an ominous premonition.
In the dark and lightless cave, Amamiya Rin hid in a horizontal depression on the rock wall. He curled up his body, calmly watching the four figures pass through the narrow passage ahead.
Hashimoto Ayaka, Mikami Yui, and Hatano Yua passed one by one. Falling at the rear was precisely Momonogi Kana, holding a crystal staff with her robe's neckline opening extremely low.
A fierce light flashed in Amamiya Rin's eyes. He raised the rough wooden club and smashed it ruthlessly against the back of Momonogi Kana's head!
Momonogi Kana didn't even have time to let out a muffled groan before suffering a heavy blow to the back of her head. Intense dizziness swallowed her consciousness. Her body went soft and fell forward, the crystal staff in her hand falling to the ground with a "clatter."
"!"
"!"
"!"
Almost at the same moment, the bodies of Hashimoto Ayaka, Mikami Yui, and Hatano Yua, who were struggling forward in the narrow passage ahead, stiffened violently. As if hit by an invisible heavy hammer on the back of the head, intense dizziness and pain struck fiercely through that shared neural connection, deforming their movements and nearly causing them to fall.
(We are injured!)
(Our body was knocked out.)
(Amamiya Rin is behind us!)
(Turn back!)
(No! Can't control the bodies!)
Enduring the dizziness, the consciousnesses of the four wailed, yet were helpless. They could feel the Nightmare's power weakening their strength, as if... they had also become one of the Nightmare's protagonists.
Distortion, despair, pain. The long Nightmare now descended not only on Amamiya Rin but also on them.
Amamiya Rin would not let this opportunity pass. A hideous smile appeared on the Goblin's ugly face. He rudely grabbed the unconscious Momonogi Kana's ankle and forcefully dragged her behind a more hidden rock recess nearby.
Behind the recess was a small dead end, filled with the moldy and fishy smell unique to a Goblin's Nest. Amamiya Rin looked at Momonogi Kana lying on the ground. That mage robe, which saved so much fabric, was now even more messy, exposing large patches of snow-white skin to the dim light, forming a glaring contrast with the filthy surroundings.
____
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