"Alright, so, I will give you a surefire way of dealing with these little nightmares of yours, and even if they return in the future, that way will still work," the Parasite said.
Nick furrowed his brows. "You also said that you know what's happening to me. I want to know that first."
"Eeeehh," the Parasite uttered in uncertainty. "I mean, I know what's happening to you, but I can't really tell you a lot of details."
Nick narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"
"Telling you might endanger my presence here in Crimson Fungus City," the Parasite said. "If you want to know every last detail, you gotta buy me out of the city since I can't trade with anyone here anymore."
"Buy you out of the city?" Nick asked with furrowed brows. "That's possible?"
"Of course! Everything has its price," the Parasite said.
"And how much would that be?" Nick asked.
He knew fully well that he couldn't afford that, but he wanted to know how much the Parasite asked for anyway.
"Three Specialists, 30 Experts, 300 Veterans, 3,000 Johns, or 30,000 normal people. Your pick."
Nick had been prepared for an astronomical sum, but he hadn't expected it to be this high.
"So, if I want to know what is happening to me, I have to pay that, right?" Nick asked.
"I will tell you what's happening to you, but I will just not reveal any details," the Parasite said. "I'm not a complete monster, you know?"
Nick took a deep breath.
"Fine, what do you want, and what's happening to me?" Nick asked.
"Okay, I can tell you what's happening to you right now since that won't endanger the trade, but before I tell you, I want you and the little Melfion boy to accept the trade. After all, I want a couple more corpses than back then," the Parasite said.
"How many do you want?" Nick asked.
"Energy equivalent to 50 normal people."
"That means 50 normal people, ten Peak Newbies, five Initial Johns, or one Peak John. You can also mix and match, but in the end, everything has to add up to at least 50 normal people of power," the Parasite explained.
Nick gritted his teeth.
That many corpses just to get rid of his nightmares.
"Just to get rid of the nightmares?" Nick asked with fury.
"These nightmares are not just nightmares, Nick," the rat said. "I can tell you one thing with 100% confidence."
"If you do not get rid of these nightmares, you will die within a couple of months."
"I absolutely assure you that these nightmares will kill you."
Nick's eyes widened in horror and shock.
Yes, the nightmares were bad, but how could they kill him?
At most, Nick would remain tired, grumpy, and angry all the time, but that wasn't a death sentence.
"How?" Nick asked.
"I can't reveal that detail," the Parasite said. "I can tell you that the nightmares are not the knife that's going to pierce through your heart. More accurately, the nightmares are what will push you towards the knife."
Nick blinked a couple of times with narrowed eyes. "You mean they will make me commit suicide?"
"No, that's not it," the Parasite said with insecurity. "It's more that they will make you do something that will make a specific someone kill you."
"Why would they make someone kill me?" Nick asked with annoyance. "Why wouldn't that someone kill me directly?"
"Because they're a Specter. There, I said it! You happy now?!" the rat shouted with annoyance. "You get that piece of information free of charge, but I want you to accept my trade, or I'm going to plunge all of Dark Dream into a nightmare, got it?!"
Nick's eyes widened.
"A Specter?" he repeated in shock.
"Yes!" the rat shouted. "You're being targeted by a Specter. An extremely powerful one at that. He's so powerful that you can't even hope to fight back."
"But lucky for you, he doesn't gain power from killing people. Otherwise, you would already be dead."
"However, if he feeds on you, you will end up dead."
Nick could hear the rat sigh.
"Listen, I'm already on very thin ice after telling you all of this. I seriously can't tell you more."
"I'll keep one of my rats below Dark Dream. Tell me how you will deliver the corpses to me later."
"And hurry up!"
After the rat said all these things, Nick heard it scurrying away.
Nick narrowed his eyes as he looked at one of the walls of the abandoned house.
A powerful Specter had targeted him.
Nick had thought that the nightmares were just because of all the stress regarding Envy and wanting to help the Dregs.
Yet, they had actually been caused by a Specter.
This explained why it was so hard for Nick to deal with them.
When it came to things like nightmares, there were things that one could do against them.
However, when these same nightmares were caused by a Specter, there was nothing one could do unless one killed the Specter.
But the Parasite said that the Specter was extremely powerful and that Nick had no hope of fighting against it.
'I need more details,' Nick thought as he exited the abandoned house.
Halfway to Dark Dream, Nick had a thought.
'Wait! If the nightmares are caused by a Specter, can another Specter get rid of them?'
'Could the Dreamer get rid of them?'
'That's most likely the solution to my problem and also why the Parasite demands the corpses now instead of asking for them.'
'After knowing that this is caused by a Specter, it's not very difficult to come to that solution, which means that the Parasite basically already told me what to do.'
Nick took a deep breath.
'I guess there's no way around it anymore.'
'I have to send 50 corpses to the Parasite.'
Nick released a sigh and entered Dark Dream.
It was already quite late today, and Wyntor was already at home.
'One more night of nightmares won't kill me. Otherwise, the Parasite would have been much more urgent about all of this.'
After another night full of nightmares, Nick entered Wyntor's office to talk to him.