Fear Density

Gryph could be considered widely experienced. He had seen plenty of frightening things while recently gathering firewood, and he was also influenced by the consciousness of the Evil Sun. He had never felt much fear at all.

The various grotesque patients of the Old World had all experienced the terror of sorcery.

Yet now, Gryph felt his heart rate shoot up to 160. He needed to press a hand against his heart and drink whiskey before it could ease slightly.

The Dark Shadow he had just seen through the mirror's reflection had not even been clear, yet it had still triggered an instinctive sense of fear.

This was far more than a mere numerical warning. Gryph could clearly feel that part of his own fear had been extracted.

"What's going on? Is this also the pressure exerted by the Duke?

Why can a mere blob of blackness make me this afraid? Even when I was trapped deep beneath the earth in lava, I didn't feel this kind of fear...

The Duke should only be responsible for maintaining balance. This is definitely an unknown method of the Fear Circus.

The pressure of the Preliminary Selection is already this great? Come to think of it, if I hadn't ignored the sound of water in the bedroom just now, perhaps this wouldn't have happened, right? I'll have to be more careful from now on and try my best not to trigger these fear events."

Gryph did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he opened the window and looked out at 'Loop City'.

It was nothing like the Loop City in his memories. It was completely different even from the style of the Old World.

As described in the story, Loop City was filled with towering buildings built from steel and concrete. Rain fell