THE VILLAIN'S POV Chapter 14 14: The Nightmare Lands (2)

-Frey starlight POV -

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I felt butterflies in my stomach as I was engulfed in a blinding light.

The images before kept shifting continuously until they gradually beca clear.

With my next step, I had already erged from the portal. A severe headache struck , as if I had been thrown out of a car moving at 200 km/h.

I dropped to my knees for a mont, trying to steady myself.

When I finally managed to take a proper look around, I found myself inside a massive forest. The towering trees stretched so high that they completely obscured the sky.

The thick vines on the ground intertwined like a mass of slithering serpents, creating an ancient and eerie atmosphere.

"So, this is the Nightmare Lands..."

I steadied myself and leaped up, climbing one of the trees. Sitting on a thick branch of a massive tree, I retrieved my laptop from the dinsional ring.

Wandering aimlessly in the Nightmare Lands would be the dumbest thing I could do right now.

My goal was to reach the Chun Ma Sect, where the technique of Ten Thousand Steps of Shadow was located.

The sect was uniquely positioned atop a black-colored mountain, distinct from the surrounding peaks, so identifying it wouldn't be difficult. The real issue was its location. The area I was in was vast—if I was lucky, I would find it quickly. In the worst case, it could be hundreds of kiloters away...

Fortunately, I had my own cheat tool.

Opening my laptop, I imdiately accessed the "Author's Advice" feature.

"Which should I choose? Random or Direct?"

Random Advice (10 Achievent Points):

Provides vague and cryptic guidance, but undoubtedly leads to the safest course of action despite its difficulty to decipher.

Direct Advice (30 Achievent Points):

Offers clear and straightforward instructions, easily understandable even by a child. However, while it leads directly to the goal, it always presents so kind of obstacle along the way—so beware! Hahaha!

"Should I go with random?"

It was cheaper and supposedly led to a safer path, though I doubted any path inside the Nightmare Lands could be considered safe.

"Alright, let's do this."

I chose the random advice, and it imdiately lit up.

"Random Advice! Pay close attention and try to understand what you will see—it may be the key to your survival!"

"No one can determine the starting point, is it from the night or from the day?... It transcends all colors and tis in its brilliance... When you find the dawn, go north, then east, then south, then west. Repeat, and when you feel you have reached your peak, you will find the way."

I stared blankly at the nonsense before .

"Am I seriously supposed to understand this? Where did the system even co up with this garbage? I bet it doesn't an anything and is just ssing with ."

I imdiately discarded the random advice, realizing I wouldn't understand anything. I didn't have the luxury to experint in a place like this.

That left with no choice but to use the direct advice.

Direct Advice (30 Achievent Points)

Current Achievent Points: 610

What a waste of points...

With no other options left, I activated the direct advice. It glowed just like the random one did.

"Direct Advice: Go east."

Simple and direct—no poetry, no riddles, no bullshit.

This was advice I could follow. Though, I couldn't shake off a slight unease about the "obstacle" it would place in my way...

Storing my laptop back into the dinsional ring, I instead drew one of the firearms Ada had prepared for .

This would be my primary weapon on this journey—a Walther P99 equipped with a suppressor. The last thing I wanted was to make noise in the Nightmare Lands and attract the various creatures lurking here.

I jumped down from the branch I was sitting on, checked the portal's location—it had disappeared monts ago—and tried syncing it with the key in my hand. It responded imdiately.

"Perfect. Now I won't have to worry about my way back."

Taking a deep breath, I steeled my resolve.

"Alright... Now, which way is east again?"

After determining my direction, I began my journey into the Nightmare Lands.

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"Phantom Steps."

Activating the skill rendered my steps completely silent as I advanced forward.

The scenery around continued to change, yet I remained within the dense forest. Everywhere I looked, there were only trees and vines covering the ground.

After running for about half an hour, I encountered my first unsettling change—one that made slow down cautiously.

A heavy scent of blood lingered in the air, warning of sothing ahead.

I wasn't accustod to the sll of blood, but it was so overwhelming that it was almost suffocating.

Moving carefully, ensuring I made no noise thanks to Phantom Steps, I finally spotted the source of the stench.

An open clearing devoid of trees lay ahead. A few hundred ters away, a massive creature lay on the ground, half-devoured.

From my vantage point, I saw multiple figures, about my height, hunched over its corpse. However, I was too far to make out their features; they looked like ants from this distance.

"Hawk's Eye."

Activating my second skill, I zood in for a better look—only to recoil in disgust.

They were grotesque creatures, with oversized heads and massive bodies adorned with tentacles and terrifying claws. Dozens of these abominations were tearing apart the fallen beast beneath them.

The corpse itself appeared to be so monstrous hybrid of an eagle and a raven, likely one of the dominant creatures of this land before sothing had slain it.

Now, those abominations were feasting on its corpse.

I quietly changed my course, slipping between the trees. I neither had the courage nor the strength to deal with those creatures.

Those claws, in particular, looked capable of slicing in half with a single strike.

I took a wide detour to avoid them and succeeded—for a while, nothing obstructed my path.

I continued running, relying entirely on Phantom Steps to remain silent.

Just when I thought everything was going smoothly, the unexpected happened.

As I took a step forward, I felt sothing strange. It wasn't the sa solid ground I had been running on—it was sothing else entirely.

Trusting my instincts, I imdiately threw myself to the side.

When I looked at my previous position, my heart sank as I saw a massive claw standing there.

Had I hesitated for even a second, it would have impaled .

From beneath the grass, a creature erged—one similar to those I had seen before. I could now discern its features clearly. Its head resembled that of a massive crab, with three appendages on each side.

It had four massive claws, but two of them were completely broken, and it appeared to be injured.

"Did it fail to join its pack due to its injuries and instead set up an ambush here?"

A sharp screech pierced the air as the creature lunged at , ravenous and desperate.

Without hesitation, I pulled out my pistol and, using Hawk's Eye, fired three rounds in less than a second.

All of them hit, yet the abomination didn't stop. It charged forward, undeterred, aiming to kill at all costs.

Without any regard for defense, it lashed out with wild, relentless attacks.

Thanks to Hawk Eye, I anticipated its strike and dodged by the narrowest margin.

I rolled across the ground, creating as much distance as possible while firing in quick succession—though my shots weren't as precise due to my movent.

It continued its frenzied assault, its claws slashing furiously, making each dodge harder than the last.

A creature that attacks recklessly without a hint of self-preservation—just what the hell am I dealing with?

I had to take it down fast. I didn't know its exact weaknesses, but if it was anything like most living beings, the head was my best bet.

To land a guaranteed shot, I had no choice but to move in closer.

Exploiting the fact that it could only use two of its four claws, I weaved through its attacks and fired directly between its eyes.

It worked—the abomination staggered back, reeling from the impact.

For a brief mont, I thought I had won.

But that naïve assumption shattered in an instant.

Realizing it was at a disadvantage, the creature flew into a frenzy, thrashing wildly in every direction.

And I was still too close.

With Hawk Eye, I could see the erratic paths of its attacks, but dodging was futile—it was too fast, too unpredictable.

I imdiately tried to retreat… sidestepping the first strike, then the second.

I pushed my body beyond its limits, forcing myself to move faster than ever before.

But survival demanded more than skill—it demanded luck.

And mine had just run out.

A single misstep.

Pain exploded through as sothing tore into my left shoulder. I looked down, barely processing the massive claw impaling clean through, the tip protruding from my back.

A searing agony erupted from the wound, a kind of pain I had never experienced before.

Hot blood poured freely, soaking my clothes, and in that instant, sothing inside snapped.

I lost control.

I fired wildly, riddling the abomination's body with countless small craters.

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!, you bastard!!"

My screams rged with the creature's howls, a twisted symphony of pain and rage.

The monster had been dead for so ti, its body collapsing under the relentless hail of bullets. But I was too consud by agony to notice—I kept pulling the trigger like a madman.

Only when silence settled did I realize I was the only one still fighting.

Panting, I finally lowered my weapon and reached for the claw lodged in my shoulder.

The mont I tried to pull it out, a fresh wave of searing pain shot through —so sharp, it felt like my body was being torn apart.

A scream tore from my throat as I cursed every vile word I knew.

For soone who had spent their entire life in a peaceful world, this was pure hell.

When I finally yanked the claw free, the extent of my injury beca horrifyingly clear. Blood poured from the wound in terrifying amounts.

I fumbled for a health potion and downed it in one gulp.

Then, wrapping the wound as best as I could, I collapsed against the trunk of a nearby tree.

The potion worked fast—my body was already healing. But no amount of regeneration dulled the pain.

As my mind cleared, an unsettling realization hit .

I wasn't safe yet.

"I need to move."

Clenching my teeth, I forced my battered body forward, staggering with every step.

Between my screams and the dying shrieks of that creature, the commotion we had caused was bound to draw more horrors my way.

I struggled to escape, but fate wasn't done with yet.

From the shadows of the trees, more of those monstrous crabs began to erge—closing in from both the front and the rear.

Unlike the one I had barely managed to kill… these ones were unscathed.

"I'm fucked."