Power Station—Dream-Entering Room
The last member of Squad Four—"Tamer Butch"—awoke among metal-fluid tanks filled with green slime, in a state completely different from the first three.
He first choked down a large mouthful of green slime,
His eyes flew open, filled with terror, and he immediately leaned over the edge of the tub and began vomiting violently.
Scenes of his death in the Nightmare Room kept flashing through his mind,
Perhaps because the dream's layers were too deep, even with someone else's brain serving as the dream nexus, the death feedback remained unbearably intense.
A tiny mistake had been enough for the opponent to seize an opening,
In the dream, a black tentacle had entered Butch through the mouth, pierced down through his esophagus, stomach, large intestine, and small intestine, then emerged through his buttocks, leaving him hanging in the air like meat on a skewer.
The black fluid secreted by the tentacle had rapidly drained the plague value in his framework, killing him almost instantly.
That sensation of being pierced through from head to toe remained frighteningly real even after he left the dream. He vomited for a full fifteen minutes and only gradually recovered with the medical staff's assistance.
"I... I suspect Branklin and I encountered the Nightmare itself. I was killed first while we were fighting together. It was terrifyingly powerful, and it possessed authority over the dream."
He then described the suspected Nightmare itself.
A black cloak, six extremely dangerous Nightmare Tentacles growing from its back, a Faceless Mask, and humanoid limbs. Its combat and evasive movements both leaned toward those of a human.
Since Squad Four had been completely wiped out, the person in charge at the scene intended to forcibly shut down the equipment and sever the brain connection of Branklin, the "breeder."
But