[Welcome to Nightmare]
[Quest: Reach the peak of the mountain and defeat Grim Lord, gaining immunity that will prevent you from ever being sucked into the dream world or any illusion ever again.]
[Time Limit: 7 Days]
[Failure: Death]
Alex's brow furrowed as he stared at the glowing text floating ominously in the air before him.
It felt like the tutorial all over again, only in the setting it was it felt more sinister this time.
He squinted, rereading the words as lightning crackled across the sky, illuminating the stormy waters surrounding his fragile boat.
The flashes made the glowing text flicker like the world itself was unstable.
"Grim Lord?"
Alex muttered under his breath, the name feeling foreign yet dangerous.
Is that the beast lord? he wondered. The one pulling people into this nightmare?
The thought made his heart race, but then another idea crept in, planting doubt.
"No," Alex said aloud, shaking his head to clear the confusion.
The glowing quest text didn't mention the beast lord.
The wording was precise:
Defeating the Grim Lord would grant him immunity, preventing him from ever being trapped in a dream world or illusion again.
But it said nothing about stopping the beast lord itself.
His eyes narrowed as the realization hit him, a sinking feeling twisting in his gut.
"If I do this… if I defeat this Grim Lord… the beast lord will still exist," Alex murmured, his voice bitter. "It'll still be able to pull more people into its genjutsu feed on them."
Alex frowned, his mind racing as he pieced things together.
The player who managed to escape this twisted tutorial and defeat the Grim Lord would be the only one immune to the dream world's pull.
That immunity would make them the key to defeating the forest beast lord.
But even then, the task wasn't simple.
"Whoever does it," Alex muttered, "would have to be strong enough to handle those damn vines."
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His lips curled into a sly grin.
"A player like me."
The thought ignited a fire inside him.
He had his goal now: defeat the Grim Lord, gain the immunity, and when he escaped this nightmare, he would return to the forest and bring the beast lord to its knees.
He could already picture the destruction—the forest leveled, its monstrous vines reduced to ash.
The boat lurched violently, yanked by the surging waves, and Alex staggered.
His body tilted, but he instinctively crouched low, gripping the boat's edges to steady himself.
The storm raged on, rain pelting his face in relentless sheets.
Thunder cracked above him, and the deafening roar of the ocean mixed with the eerie, mournful cry that echoed from the unseen depths.
The sound clawed at his nerves, chilling and alien.
It was like something alive—something hunting.
"This really is like a horror movie," Alex muttered under his breath, glancing at the shadowy expanse of the ocean around him.
Every flash of lightning revealed the dark, churning water, but no land in sight.
He clenched his fists, steadying his breathing.
It was hard to believe it was merely an illusion.
The boat creaked beneath him, cutting through the waves.
"Where are you taking me?"
Alex whispered to himself, his voice nearly drowned out by the storm.
He stared ahead into the black void, rain dripping from his hair and clothes.
According to Dorian, other players had been pulled into this nightmare as well.
So they should also be in this realm as well.
He figured the boat was ferrying him to wherever the others were.
As he squinted into the stormy horizon, something caught his attention—a faint outline in the distance.
An island.
The boat seemed to be heading straight for it, cutting through the relentless waves like it had a purpose.
"An island, huh?" Alex muttered.
His instincts told him the other players would probably be there too.
But seriously, what kind of place was this?
The whole setup—from the terrifying ocean to the eerie cries in the dark—it all felt designed to terrify players.
Alex exhaled, allowing himself a brief moment of relief.
At least he was leaving this cursed water behind.
But just as he started to relax, something caught his eye.
Whoosh.
A massive, dark shape moved just beneath the boat, so large it distorted the water around it. Alex's heart skipped a beat.
"Of course," he muttered, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"Things could never be so peaceful."
He sighed heavily, but before he could process the situation, the same ominous sound echoed again, but this time it was so close it felt like the air itself vibrated.
The haunting cry reverberated over the water, rattling Alex to his core.
He instinctively clamped his hands over his ears, wincing at the sheer intensity of the noise.
The creature that made that bone-chilling sound was directly beneath him.
From the faint silhouette beneath the churning waves, Alex could make out the shape of the creature.
A monstrous octopus, with muliples tendrils that writhed unnervingly in the water.
Alex's heart pounded, and his gaze darted around the small boat.
There wasn't much he could do here—trapped in the middle of the ocean, with nothing but rain, lightning, and this nightmare beast.
He gritted his teeth, wishing desperately for an alternative.
If only I could make the boat go faster... or if I could fly like Jonah.
Then, like a spark in the storm, an idea hit him.
What if I ran?
With his enhanced speed, wouldn't he be fast enough to skim across the water?
He had seen it before in movies.
Speedsters were able to run on water as long as they moved fast enough that their feet didn't break the water's surface tension essentially exerting enough upward force with each step to counteract gravity.
With his insane agility, he was confident he could do it.
And just as the plan began to form, the ocean erupted around him.
Crash!
Multiple tentacles shot out of the water, glistening with the rain and they wrapped tightly around the boat with terrifying speed, their slimy surfaces gleaming like blackened steel.
"Shit!"
Alex shouted, leaping back as the boat groaned under the immense pressure.
The monstrous tendrils coiled tighter, splintering the wood with loud, cracking sounds.
The boat shuddered violently, tilting to one side as the beast pulled it apart piece by piece.
Alex couldn't help but grin nervously, his fear bubbling over into a strange kind of excitement.
"Well, looks like I don't have any other options," he muttered, wiping rain from his face as crouched low, readying himself to leap and turn Barry Allen for a second.