A “comet” swept past the sky above Sleepless City. It landed on the highest vantage point of the entire city—the top of Restless Clock Tower.
On top of the dome-shaped roof of the building, the comet slowly dimmed down, revealing three people plus a bird and a dog.
“What was that frog thing, Angor? I think it admires you.” Shan had returned to being the gossip-loving girl.
“It’s a giant mistake. That monster mistook me for somebody else.” Angor avoided the question with a serious look.
“Fine, if you say so. But why did you bring this dog?” Shan pointed at the creature that was being lifted by Angor. Using the Light spell they prepared, she saw the spotted puppy, which was as big as Toby’s usual form. And since Angor was pinching on its scruff, the poor animal could do nothing other than using its tail to cover up its groin area.
“We need its help to look for people.”
“You mean… by using its nose?”
Angor didn’t answer. In fact, he didn’t know whether this puppy worked like an ordinary dog. He took it along because Froggy said that the puppy could locate the locations of “Prototype Puppets” since it was following behind Yorkshire when Nausica and Gank were taken away.
Angor didn’t wish to explain anything related to the Nightmare Realm. To Shan, this meant Angor wanted the dog to help them in an old-fashioned way.
Although Shiliew had been thinking about a very serious question until now. Why can’t I hear any blood flow inside that dog?
“Focus. We need to find Nausica as fast as possible, or she… her condition will get more severe.” Angor looked at Toby next and asked, “Hey Toby, is Lady Greya awake?”
Tony shook his head.
“Wake her then. I need to tell her something really important.”
Toby nodded and closed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Shan and Shiliew were pretty confused to hear Angor’s words.
“Lady Greya? Are you talking about THE Lady Greya?”
Angor shushed them and watched Toby carefully.
Soon, Toby released someone from his Snowy Feather—a yawning young girl who was rubbing her hair while giving Toby a complaining stare.
“I really need some rest here. Whatever’s going on?”
“Lady Greya, here!”
Greya saw Angor standing on the edge of the roof, away from the others.
She looked around and noticed that they were still inside Sleepless City, so she approached Angor with a stern look. While walking past Shan and Shiliew, she cast them a cold glance, which terrified them.
“Not bad, Angor. You found yourself two sweet ladies in such a short time, huh? One of them is even a young girl. But her style is… well, curious.”
Greya didn’t lower her voice while speaking. Both Shan and Shiliew were visibly shocked when hearing her speech.
“They’re my friends.” Angor gave Greya a meaningful wink. “Lady Greya, please, this is urgent.”
Greya nodded and swiftly deployed a soundproof ward around them.
“What is it? You asked Toby to get me, so… I guess it’s nothing ordinary.”
“I just heard something. This darkness that covered the outer city, will soon turn into an entire interlayer space, which is controlled by someone called Yorkshire. And when that happens, it will be harder for us to get out. It seems Yorkshire has absolute control of the interlayer he created, which means we cannot afford to get trapped in here.”
Greya frowned while listening.
Who the heck is Yorkshire? And what is an interlayer?
She had no idea what Angor was talking about, but she could see Angor was being very serious right now, which suggested that the situation was quite harsh.
“What should I do?” Greya decided to get to the point.
“Find my professor and tell him this message.” Angor looked at the two ladies outside their ward and explained, “I wanted them to deliver the message earlier, but they cannot resist the parasites, so I can only depend on you, Lady Greya.”
“Can you tell me about this ‘interlayer’ thing? Is it so dangerous?”
“I don’t know how to describe it yet but… my professor knows all about it, or about Yorkshire. If I’m not mistaken, he is fighting against Yorkshire right at this moment, and Yorkshire might be planning to lure him into danger. This is why I need you to alert him.”
“Alright.” Greya nodded. “But how did you know all these? Aren’t you going to rendezvous with Sunders?”
“Froggy told me. As for who is Froggy… My professor can tell you that too. I need to do something else right now. I have another friend trapped somewhere else.” He quickly added when he saw Greya giving him another questioning look, “Oh right, that fox harper who attacked you also went to ambush my professor just now.”
Greya’s rage immediately returned. “That filthy beast? Good! I’ll get it this time! So where can I find Sunders?”
Angor took out the “blood sphere”. “Lady Greya, can you sense his position by using this?”
“Sunders gave you this?” Greya accepted the item with a shocked look.
Angor nodded and explained how he received it.
“Tsk. Rumor has it that Sunders is slowly turning into a ‘white wizard’ recently. So it is true.” She tossed the sphere back. “I know where he is now. You take good care of Toby. And yourself.”
Greya leaped into the air and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Angor looked at the city beneath him and tried to ascertain the next plan.
According to Shiliew, Nausica and Gank were likely taken away by Yorkshire. Yet he could not understand why Yorkshire wanted these two.
When he asked Froggy about this by inquiring indirectly, he managed to learn that Yorkshire wanted to turn them into “prototype puppets”.
A prototype puppet was used as a container to “sustain” an interlayer. While it was true that a nightmare monster could fully control the interlayer it created, there were several special conditions it must satisfy before doing so.
One of the conditions was that Yorkshire must deploy several “containers” around Sleepless City as hubs to allow his interlayer to fully spread into the city. Currently, Yorkshire only possessed one container, which maintained a small interlayer in the center of the city. He needed to construct more of them using human bodies.
Succeeding meant Yorkshire could cover more locations inside the interlayer sections, which could merge with each other and fully devour every corner of Sleepless City, by which time escaping would become a lot more difficult.
Becoming a prototype puppet meant losing one’s mind and all bodily potential. According to Froggy, the victim would become a “fake” Nightmare Watcher, who could no longer act on their free will.
This was an absolute disaster for Nausica, who pursued freedom and immortality.
Angor wanted to rescue her in time. The question was whether he could still make it.
He already sensed a familiar energy signature in the distance, which was slowly being connected to the interlayer he just left. This suggested that a new prototype was made.
Hope it’s not you, Nausica…
He returned to Shan and Shiliew while ignoring every question they prepared for him. “Nausica is in danger. We can talk after getting her out. Now follow me.”
To move as fast as possible, Toby turned into Griffin Form and carried them while following Angor’s directions.
Angor told Toby to go this way because the puppy had been barking toward that direction. Although Angor wasn’t sure if the animal was giving them pointers or was simply barking randomly.
Yet he didn’t have a choice. The puppy was the only thing he could follow right now.
He hoped that Nausica could hold on for as much as she could before they arrived.
