The leaf window was crude yet exquisite: crude in its materials, exquisite in its craftsmanship and care.
Ruger raised his eyebrows slightly. A mutilated body flickered in and out of sight beside the window. It stood neither on the window frame nor on the sill, but in midair, level with the sill, in keeping with its bizarre state. Though it was terribly damaged and indistinct as it flickered, Ruger knew it was the Monster Bird with all those heads from the dream.
His dream had been lucid and fixed, so it had not affected him. Of course, perhaps it simply had not been strong enough yet, but there were bound to be others whose defenses it had slipped through when they least expected it.
Those heads might have been proof. The different heads on its neck had probably all been trophies.
Unfortunately, those heads had been completely destroyed and were no longer on this mutilated body. The victims' heads seemed to have become part of its power as a matter of course.
Now that he actually saw this mutilated, flickering body, which seemed ready to dissipate completely at any moment, Ruger understood its identity. He could sense the aura of an Otherworld Invader.
Like the Emberfolk and the Boneless Person, it was another kind of Invader. As Wizards gradually became familiar with the different kinds of Invaders, casualties among low-ranking Wizards would swiftly fall to an astonishingly low level. Otherwise, a few unlucky souls would always crop up from time to time. This was especially true because Barry Danton's years of effort meant that most of the Wizards who came here were not orderly, organized people, but a mixed lot who struggled at sea in pursuit of their dreams. Reaching this place did not depend solely on strength. Some weaker