Rabi and the Ragdoll

Several figures clad in dark coats or hooded robes moved through the depths of the Dense Forest.

A faint black smog shrouded them, and pitch-black symbiotic chains extended from their bodies. Ferocious Abyssal Demons accompanied them on either side—Richard and his "brethren" had been operating in this dream for some time, and according to what Death's Herald had sensed, they were already close to the "Silent Wall."

But the group suddenly came to a stop.

A subtle change had come over the atmosphere in the forest—from some unknown moment onward, a thin mist had emerged from nowhere, drifting in wisps through the clearings between the trees. With the appearance of the mist, the entire Dense Forest was becoming even more... "quiet" than before.

Dumont frowned gravely. He still remembered that when they had first entered the Dream of the Nameless, all manner of sounds could still be heard in this forest—the flapping wings of unknown birds soaring overhead, the distant roars of unknown beasts. Though they had never been able to see those "birds and beasts," the sounds that represented life had always been there.

But now, those sounds had all vanished. Only the occasional wind and the faint rustling of leaves rubbing together remained in the forest—making the place seem even more silent.

Any change within the Dream of the Nameless had to be treated with caution.

"There's something wrong with this mist," another Annihilation Cultist said quietly. A jellyfish resembling a cloud of smog floated beside him, its dangling tentacles swaying slightly in midair with nervous unease. "My demon senses panic and tension... emotions released by this 'forest' itself."

"The Dream of the Nameless has emotional fluctuations. It is practically an enormous mind in itself," Dumont said in a low voice. "A sudden change in its emotions could