Chapter 647 - 542: Screaming Cape, the Nightmare Appears

Chapter 647: Chapter 542: Screaming Cape, the Nightmare Appears

"And here I thought it was something extraordinary..."

Ellis forcefully thumped his chest, finally managing to swallow the tough piece of food. He then shot Holland a disdainful glance, his tone carrying the characteristic nonchalance of the academy-trained toward what they considered "common knowledge."

"A Nightmare? What’s the big deal? The Otherworldly Creature Control and Research Institute, which is affiliated with my academy, has at least three Nightmares permanently confined for study, not to mention complete domestication records and contract samples."

"They’re just Energy Creatures from the Lower Plane that feed on emotions and dreams. Is that really worth you being so secretive about it?"

Hearing this, Holland refused to be outdone, his thick brows arching as he immediately shot back.

"Give me a break, my ’Erudite’ Master Mage! Those things in your academy are nothing but house pets! Your crusty old scholars in their silk robes open up a heavily protected Teleportation Gate to some godforsaken corner of who-knows-what plane and use a bunch of Magic Traps and Contract Documents to ’invite’ them back!"

He leaned in closer, a glint in his eyes, and lowered his voice to emphasize his point.

"This is different! This is a Wild Nightmare! One that popped up on its own right here on our Prime Material Plane, in the Broken Star Sea—that treacherous place hiding god-knows-what secrets! A Wild Nightmare with origins no one knows! How can that be the same? Who knows what its deal is, how ferocious it is, or... what else it might have brought with it?"

Meanwhile, Roland, who was sitting off to the side, felt his pupils contract almost imperceptibly the moment he heard the keywords "Nightmare" and "wild" put together.

Like a stone tossed into a still lake, the words sent clear ripples spreading through his thoughts.

Almost without effort, the tall, dark figure he had seen in the dim stables of the Secret Silver Hoof, back in the time-looped Silver Radiance City, surfaced clearly in his mind.

That exceptionally majestic Nightmare Beast, which seemed woven from Shadow and starlight, and its "words" that carried a strange sense of familiarity...

"Hey! Buddy! What are you doing here? This isn’t what we agreed on!"

That greeting, and the fact that the creature had clearly recognized him and shown no hostility, now clicked together in his mind with Holland’s mention of the "Wild Nightmare from the Broken Star Sea."

’This means that before year 490 of the Crystal Calendar, I had already crossed paths with that unique Nightmare, and very likely established some kind of connection.’

’In that case, isn’t the most likely place we first met the very place we’re heading to now—the Broken Star Sea, where the Wild Nightmare is rumored to have appeared?’

At this thought, a flicker of joy passed through Roland.

’Judging from that brief future encounter, the Nightmare was clearly not some ordinary, ferocious Demon. It possessed intelligence, and its attitude could even be called friendly.’

’If I can find it now, and manage to build a more solid relationship with it, maybe even make it my recognized "partner" as required for the [Ranger] Profession...’

’Needless to say, a Nightmare Beast’s ability to travel through the Shadow, step into the Spirit Realm, and even influence dreams and emotions would drastically improve my mobility and the unpredictability of my tactics.’

’More importantly, not only would it solve the problem of finding a reliable mount for long-distance travel, but it would also fulfill a key prerequisite for the [Ranger] Profession in one fell swoop, opening up a whole new path of Power progression for me.’

In a flash, the pros and cons became clear.

Roland hesitated no longer. He looked up at Holland, his dark eyes filled with clear Concentration and inquiry, and asked directly.

"Holland, do you have any more specific information about that ’Wild Nightmare’? Like the exact area it appears, its movement patterns, eyewitness descriptions, or if anyone has tried to make contact or capture it?"

Seeing Roland’s serious expression, Holland dropped his bickering with Ellis. He rubbed the stubble on his chin, trying to recall and organize the scraps of information he’d just overheard.

"The exact location... well, the guys I heard it from didn’t all say the same thing, but they all pointed to the northeastern outskirts of the Broken Star Sea. The places mentioned most often were ’Screaming Cape’ and, a little south of it, ’Shipwreck Bay.’"

Holland used a branch to roughly sketch in the soft dirt beside the campfire.

"The wind at the cape is supposedly real eerie, sounds like ghosts wailing. As for Shipwreck Bay, well, there’s even more junk of all kinds under the water."

"But then again, for a place like the Broken Star Sea that’s known to swallow people whole, those two spots are practically the ’front porch.’ They’re dangerous, sure, but a lot ’milder’ than the legendary inner-sea domains or Storm vortexes that no one ever returns from. At least you get brave Adventurers and fleets hunting for curiosities hanging around the area."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"As for the Nightmare itself, the stories get even more varied. Some say they saw a shifting black shadow on a cliff at midnight, its eyes burning with an eerie fire. Get too close, and you’d feel your heart pound in your chest and be plagued by nightmares. Others say that at dawn, when Shipwreck Bay was foggy, they saw it walking on the thin mist over the water’s surface, its hooves never touching the waves, just like a phantom."

"There’s an even more outlandish story. They say that on the night of a full moon, it sometimes appears on the wreckage of certain ancient shipwrecks and ’whinnies’ at the moon, but the sound bores right into your mind instead of being heard by your ears."

Holland shrugged.

"As for whether anyone’s made a move on it... of course they have."

"I heard that Blood Sail and Iron Hook, two rival Mercenary Corps, were both snooping around there a while back. They were probably up to no good, but it seems neither of them got their hands on it. In fact, they both lost some people. As for how they lost them, the person telling the story was vague—they probably lost too much face to share the details."