The gate guardian heard the sound of the light exploding and fell into a panic.
Her first thought was that the stupid guard had been followed!
But then, she quickly threw that possibility out of the window.
If he had been followed, she would have noticed.
Additionally, no human enemy would destroy the only source of light in a room.
That would put both of them under the influence of the Nightmare, effectively destroying the moment of surprise of the ambusher, if there were one.
Both of them would be blind.
Unless the ambusher had a way to make light, but if that were the case, she would quickly notice since the light of the ambusher would also illuminate her, taking her out of the Nightmare's influence.
All of these thoughts happened in a single instance, and the gate guardian could do nothing but internally complain about the shoddy workmanship of the lamp.
And that was basically everything she could think about before the Nightmare's influence fully hit her.
The Nightmare's influence wasn't an on-and-off switch.
It was a spectrum.
When it was just a little dark, a couple of faint voices appeared.
If it were darker, illusions appeared.
But if it were pitch black with absolutely no light, the most horrifying torture would appear, and someone would lose all their senses to the Nightmare's influence.
Naturally, since the basement was underground, this was about as dark as it could get.
There was absolutely no light, and the Nightmare's torture immediately started.
"Argh!"
The gate guardian wanted to scream since she felt like burning irons were piercing through her entire body, but her rational mind kept her in check.
If she screamed right now, she would be found out!
She wanted to get out of the basement immediately.
Her first thought was to jump through the floor above her, but that might also alert people to her.
Sadly, the gate guardian didn't have an ability that could create light, and she had never practiced Zephyx Manipulation.
For decades, she hadn't been in any kind of dangerous situation.
Her life had been comfortable for decades.
It had also been decades since she had been in the darkness.
She was very unused to navigating the Nightmare's domain.
She remembered which way she had been facing, and she turned around to go to the trap door.
A bit of light would come through the slits of the trap door.
As soon as she reached it, the Nightmare's influence would weaken, and she could open the door.
She had to remain calm!
Meanwhile, Nick watched with hatred as the gate guardian turned in the completely wrong direction and started to walk towards a random wall.
"You tried to kill me," Nick said with a voice shaking with hatred and rage.
"I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Nick calmly took out one of his biggest spears and threw it with all of his power at the gate guardian.
BOOOOM!
A cerulean Barrier appeared around the gate guardian, and the spear stopped in the air before falling to the ground.
The gate guardian didn't even react and just blindly kept walking towards the wall.
She had no experience with the Nightmare's influence, and all the pain and torture completely blinded her to the fact that she had just lost 30% of her Zephyx.
The gate guardian was a Mid Specialist, and her Barrier was extremely expensive.
"A Barrier that blocks kinetic force," Nick commented coldly.
"That makes things easier," he said as he retrieved another spear.
If the gate guardian had been flung against the wall, she might have realized that someone was attacking her.
However, that actually wouldn't have mattered.
If she realized that someone was attacking her, she would jump through the ceiling and try to escape.
Yet, the guards were currently swarming the city, including all the Specialists and maybe even Aria.
Nick just needed to shout, and all the guards would swarm to his location.
BANG!
Nick threw another spear with full force, which was also stopped in mid air before falling to the ground.
Meanwhile, the gate guardian became more panicked as she touched the wall in front of her.
'Where is the exit?!' she thought in terror.
'It has to be here somewhere!'
BANG!
Nick threw a third spear, which was also stopped in the middle of the air.
'Susan Alborn, Mid Specialist,' Nick thought. 'If she has one of the most expensive Barriers available inside Crimson City, she should be almost out of Zephyx.'
The next moment, a display appeared in front of Nick.
Nick had received a Barrier from Aegis after becoming a Liaison, and this Barrier was vastly superior to any Barrier available in the city.
Nick looked at the gate guardian through the display and saw two numbers.
5% and 10%.
This was a function that allowed Nick's Barrier to estimate and display the Zephyx an Extractor had left based on their Barrier's fluctuations.
After seeing the numbers, Nick slowly walked forward and picked up his spears.
The gate guardian blindly walked along the walls.
SHING!
Nick's blade popped out of his sleeve, and he struck forward.
BANG!
The Barrier broke into pieces, and the gate guardian's body shook.
With no Zephyx, there was no more fuel for her body to move, and she collapsed to the ground.
Yet, even at that moment, she didn't realize that she had been attacked.
She thought this was all part of the Nightmare's influence.
'As long as I keep looking, I will find the exit eventually!' she thought.
Her fingers weakly moved at the end of her motionless hands.
The next moment, Nick retrieved a Zephyx Suppressor and put it on one of the gate guardian's wrists.
Next, Nick bent down and infused her with a bit of his Zephyx.
This started the gate guardian's Zephyx production again and restored her vital functions, but the Zephyx Suppressor stopped her from being able to use any of it.
In effect, she was just a tiny bit stronger than a normal human right now.
Nick grabbed her neck, taking special care to not break it.
Then, he dragged her to the trapdoor and opened it.
The gate guardian was pulled out of the Nightmare's influence, and she came back to reality.
Yet, she felt incredibly weak, and she felt an iron grip on her throat.
Immediately, she tried to escape and use her abilities, but nothing happened.
Her eyes quickly fell to her wrist, and she saw the Zephyx Suppressor.
Panic set in.
She didn't know who was dragging her along, and she wanted to scream.
But nothing came out.
She felt herself getting dragged to the exit of her house.
Then, towards the exit of the upper layer.
"Nick!"
The Governor's voice!
When the gate guardian heard the Liaison's name, she became shocked and even more terrified.
Was the Liaison currently dragging her behind him?!
"I dealt with it," Nick said with barely contained hatred.
"Susan?!" Aria asked in shock as she saw the gate guardian, who couldn't answer.
"It was a Peak Expert with a sniper," Nick said. "He ran towards this place. The two talked, and she killed him to keep her identity secret."
"I took care of her."
Then, the gate guardian felt herself being dragged some more.
"Where are you going?" Aria asked.
"Information gathering," Nick answered, not stopping.
The gate guardian saw the eyes of the people living in the upper layer falling onto her in shock.
"Get the guards here," Nick said. "Lock everyone on this layer in their houses and make sure nobody escapes. I'll be back within a day."
Aria looked with furrowed brows at Nick.
"Alright," she answered.
When the few people involved in the assassination attempt saw the gate guardian being dragged behind Nick, they felt like the world was ending.
This was it.
It was over!
It was all over!
Their last, desperate plan had failed!
Nick didn't pay them any attention and dragged the gate guardian towards Sky Dream.
When the Extractors of Sky Dream saw Nick, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Their Boss was still alive!
"Get Jenny," Nick commanded as he walked into Sky Dream.
Several Extractors followed Nick and asked him if he was alright, but Nick just gave them curt answers without stopping.
"Boss!" Jenny shouted as she arrived in front of Nick.
"Follow me," Nick said.
"S-sure!" Jenny answered.
The gate guardian tried everything to escape, but there was nothing she could do.
She felt herself being pulled into a Containment Unit before being thrown onto the ground.
She quickly looked around, and she immediately saw something in front of her.
It was an owl that was as big as a man!
Naturally, this was the Dreamer, and it had grown quite a bit over the years.
"Put her to sleep," Nick ordered. "You get to keep 100% of all the Zephyx you get out of her."
"She's a criminal."
"I want her to suffer as much as possible."
"But I also need information."
"Make her dream about important information. Jenny is going to look through her dreams while that is happening."
The gate guardian's mind fell apart.
She couldn't process anything anymore.
CRK!
The Dreamer stepped forward and grabbed her shoulder with its talons.
Then, it forced her to look into its eyes.
Since the gate guardian didn't have any Zephyx available, she couldn't even attempt to resist the Dreamer's influence.
Naturally, the Dreamer was more than happy to do this.
It got to use its ability on a Specialist, and it got to keep all the Zephyx!
Great!
On the side, a random Extractor opened his eyes and looked around in confusion.
"Did eight hours already pass?" he asked in confusion as he looked at the people inside the Containment Unit.
Jenny just ushered him out of the room before coming back into the room.
Then, she took a deep breath.
Her ability had rarely been useful.
But now, she could finally make use of it!