The Yun Family’s Ninth Child is an Imp!

, , Silence. , Nick just looked at the ceiling in silence. , He had expected that things wouldn’t be as bad the second time. , He had been wrong. , Things had been even worse the second time. , Back when Nick had been underwater, the Nightmare had used subtle influences. 𝘪𝘳𝒶.𝘤𝑜𝓂, The next time, it had used horrors to stop Nick from moving to where he wanted. , Then, it created illusions of Nick losing control and being swallowed. , And now, it had just directly inflicted an unending amount of pain on him. , The Nightmare had lost all its subtlety. , It had transformed from horror into terror. , Nick just looked at the light at the ceiling. , He wasn’t sure what he was feeling. , Fear, apprehension, relief, anxiety. , This wasn’t like the last time. , The last time, Nick had been happy that he had managed to do it. , But this time, Nick was not happy. , The pain had been bad. , Real bad. , For several minutes, Nick didn’t do anything. , He just looked at the ceiling with a worried expression. , He didn’t want to feel such pain again. , He never wanted to feel something like that again. , Just now, his body had been torn apart one piece at a time. , This was a pain that should have killed someone. , But he was still alive. , … , … , Nick gulped in worry. , ‘I don’t want to do this again.’ , ‘How many times do I have to do this?’ , ‘What will happen next?’ , ‘I can barely swim for a bit more than ten meters in pure darkness, and it’s already this bad.’ , ‘This is one of the smaller blocks of houses.’ , ‘There are blocks with no toilets, which means I have to look at the ceiling while under illusions.’ , ‘And then, I need to go back.’ , ‘Also, what about when I actually find the Dreamer at the ceiling in one of those?’ , ‘At that point, I need to climb one of the pillars in pure darkness and catch it.’ , ‘The Nightmare could easily show me illusions and make me move in the wrong direction.’ , Nick just floated on the liquid as he looked up. , Silence. , ‘I don’t know.’ , ‘I have no idea how to find and catch the Dreamer.’ , For over ten minutes, Nick didn’t do anything. , Naturally, Nick knew that he couldn’t spend the rest of his life in the light of this little toilet. , He had to leave at some point. , Yet, he just couldn’t. , The terror he had felt just now was too much. , The pain was too much. , He was only 16 years old. , He had never undergone something this painful or terrifying. , This was not the work of some random weak Specter. , No, this was the Nightmare. , One of the only five level nine Specters. , Even the strongest Zephyx Extractors couldn’t remain in the darkness for an extended period of time. , The Nightmare’s power was absolute. , It had killed tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people just by mentally breaking them. , It had killed people far more experienced and tenacious than Nick. , ‘I can’t do it.’ , Silence. , ‘I just can’t do it.’ , ‘I have to do this one more time to get out, but I don’t think I can enter another block of houses.’ , Nick felt his chest shiver and hurt. , Regret, frustration, self-loathing. , ‘I’m not strong enough to do this again.’ , ‘I want to turn my life around, not end it.’ , ‘If I go through something like this again, I don’t know if I will ever recover.’ , ‘What then?’ , ‘I want to try my best, but if I fail, I fail.’ , ‘It’s fine.’ , ‘I can become an Inspector.’ , ‘It’s not like I have some lofty and idealistic goal that requires me to become the strongest person in the world.’ , ‘No, I just want to live a good life.’ , ‘But what’s the point of living a good life when I wake up in a cold sweat because I keep re-experiencing the things I have seen and felt here every night for the remainder of my life?’ , Nick looked to the side at the block of darkness waiting for him. , And then, some tears appeared in Nick’s eyes. , ‘I’m sorry.’ , ‘I just can’t do it.’ , ‘I’m not strong enough.’ , Silence. , The only sounds down here came from the quiet scratching of the rats’ claws and Nick’s crying. , It was just too much for him. , Nick had just started his journey as a Zephyx Extractor, and he had already confronted one of the five strongest Specters several times. , This wasn’t something that he could deal with. , This was far beyond his current level. , He gave up. , For the next couple of minutes, Nick looked at the darkness around him. , Then, he moved his head into the darkness and did a routine scan of the ceiling. , Maybe he was lucky, and the Dreamer was actually here. , It wasn’t. , Nick took a deep breath. , He only felt fear right now. , He didn’t want to enter the darkness again. , But he had to. , He couldn’t remain here for the remainder of his life. , Nick took another deep breath. , It took a couple minutes for him to gather his courage, but eventually, he shot into the darkness again. , As soon as Nick entered… , Nothing happened. , However, Nick didn’t let down his guard and just kept swimming forward. , Silence. , Nick just kept rapidly swimming forward in silence. , After a bit, Nick opened his eyes. , He saw the light of the “street” of the Dregs in front of him. , He was almost there. , Nick continued swimming. , And then… , He entered the street. , Nick was now in the light of the streets of the Dregs. , Nothing had happened in the darkness. , Nick turned around to look at the block of houses behind him with suspicion. , Had the Nightmare given up? , He doubted it. , Yet, Nick was back in the light again. , The Nightmare had no influence over Nick here. , BANG! , Suddenly, something hit Nick’s head! , Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash! , Nick quickly shook his head and looked around him. , Rats! , “Don’t wanna give me bodies, huh?” one of the rats spoke. , “How about you give me your body then!” , And then, the rats all charged at Nick., Updatd from 𝙞𝙧𝙚𝒂𝙙.𝓬𝒐𝒎