Ch.10- Sus.

Amy and Lain made their way back toward the meeting point. Their footsteps were eerily muffled against the floor; a detail that Amy might not have noticed if she hadn’t been hyper-aware of everything around them.
“…could this be…” Lain whispered.
As expected, she had already caught on.
“The way towards the main hall. Yes,” Amy interjected quietly.
She glanced in Lain’s direction. The frown on the girl’s face hadn’t disappeared for a while now, something which would become a problem if not addressed. From now on, the spell might not only listen, but there was also a chance it would observe them.
“Say, Lain, are you perhaps in pain? Could it be that we both have eaten the same rotten food? Your expression looks rather concerning,” Amy said casually, trying to convey her warning through seemingly innocent words.
Lain’s pale eyes narrowed slightly, and her lips pressed into a thin line. After a moment of contemplation, she gave a slow nod, catching Amy’s meaning.
“No, don’t worry…” she murmured, as her expression shifted back to its usual neutrality.
She was playing along, thankfully. She probably understood most of what was happening at this point.
Nightmares, that was what they were called in the manga. They were this world’s version of dungeons, but creepier, and each one had its own weakness related to its nature.
This one was special because the Blood Emperor created it to manifest one of its incarnations into the Academy. In the original story, Zayd and Lain were the ones trapped in the Nightmare.
In the end, they had managed to escape, but the other trapped students did not. This time, though, they would all escape.
Ugh… why did it have to be me…
If it had been Crow who found this place, he would probably have brute-forced his way through with his broken abilities, but of course, it was her and Lain. She still didn’t understand why Lain had decided to follow her.
Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for us to split up…
The thing was that there was a time limit. The moment the golden key entered the building, the time limit was set. It would only be a matter of time before the incarnation was awakened by the spell. So they were in a hurry.
Either way, right now wasn’t the moment to dwell on it. She had to check how things were going on Crow’s side. She hadn’t known that the book could contact her remotely, but now that she did, she would make sure to take maximum advantage of it.
“Libris,” Amy whispered, keeping her voice low enough so Lain could not hear, “where is Crow right now?”
[Oh, now you want to talk to me? After cruelly abandoning me with the brooding mystery boy?]
Amy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “…my life is kind of on the line here, you know…”
[Fine. They’re at the meeting point, waiting. Crow seems concerned. He’s been checking the time every thirty seconds. And… your copies are already there, though I assume you would know that much.]
Copies… That was the peculiarity of this nightmare. Once someone entered this fake reality, a creature disguised as the victim would leave for the real world. This was a security measure to prevent the nightmare from being discovered. Since its creation, the dungeon had already replaced thirteen students, including Elias Varn.
The one held in ropes was Elias Varn’s copy and the main gateway to the nightmare. By simply approaching the room he was in, they had been immediately transported to this world.
In the original story, none of the thirteen sacrifices survived. While Lain and Zayd were trapped in this alternate reality, their respective clones almost managed to fool the protagonist, but the original Zayd and Lain managed to escape just in time and warn them. From then on, a battle took place. Though this time that last part wouldn’t be necessary.
With her foreknowledge and Libris’s, they had an advantage. Without having to worry about warning Crow, they had more time to find the sacrifices and get them out of here.
“Describe to me what’s happening,” Amy whispered, her eyes darting to Lain, who was walking slightly ahead, scanning the corridor.
[Two versions of you and Lain appeared at the meeting point about three minutes ago. They’re… convincing. But—… wait. You clever girl, I did not expect you to find a loophole.]
Amy couldn’t help but smile at the book’s words. “What is it?” she whispered.
[They don’t acknowledge me at all, even when Crow tried handing me your copy. How did you know this would happen?]
“I didn’t. I just assumed that our relationship wouldn’t be something they could copy… you know. In the manga, the author made a point that these things could copy others based on the knowledge obtained straight from the World Tree. But you are you, and I am me. I barely began existing in this world, and you… well, you might as well be above it.”
[So, in short, you just threw and prayed it would hit.]
“…yes…”
[…]
[Still, I don’t quite forgive you for what you’ve done, you know. You could have just told me.]
“I wasn’t planning on doing this; it was a spontaneous idea that I didn’t really know would work.”
[Tsk!]
Are you a child…?
“I’ll make it up to you… What do you want?”
[…can I ask for anything…?]
Suddenly, a bad premonition hit Amy, but she forced the thought away. Surely whatever it had in mind could not be that bad… surely…
“Yeah…”
[Then, I’ll tell you later. First, get out of there alive.]
Amy shuddered at the thought but did not comment further. Instead, she kept walking in silence. They were getting close to the replica of the place where they had agreed to meet.
When they finally arrived, her blood ran cold.
There, standing, were “Crow,” “Ash,” and “Lyra.” Not clones. Just monsters acting like them. All around the building, monsters were acting like students.
Their arms were long, their skin was a mess, sometimes even showing bone, and their facial expressions as they talked to each other were completely off.
Oh, and the eyes were just black, and Ash’s especially looked like a spider’s.
Nope. Nope nope nope.
Lain stumbled, and her eyes widened a bit, which, for her, was basically a scream.
Amy caught her arm and squeezed it.
“Careful,” she said. “The floor’s uneven.”
Lain’s face went rigid again.
“Yes,” she said. “Thank you.”
Amy took a breath and walked over to them.
The monsters turned to look at her.
Smile. Smile. Smile. smile.
“Finally here,” ‘Ash’ said, holding his stomach like he was starving. “Please tell me you found the paper.”
“No. We haven’t found anything yet.”
‘Ash’ groaned, then said, “I really wanted to finish this as soon as possible.”
Amy just smiled; every nightmare had a weakness tied to its nature, and this one’s was disguise. As long as they kept playing their parts, the creatures couldn’t tell.
Lucky for me, lying is basically my whole personality.
“We’ll need to keep looking,” she said. “The paper has to be somewhere in the east wing.”
‘Crow’ shifted his weight, moving with a precision that copied his restlessness a little too well. “We should split up again. Cover more ground.”
“Right.” Perfect. “I’d like to check the north this time. Lain, do you want to come with me?”
‘Lyra’ stepped forward. “Huh, when did the two of you get so close…?”
[Amy, you won’t believe this!]
Amy kept her face still. “It’s a long story—”
[Crow figured it out. The moment your copy ignored me, he knew something was wrong. That part isn’t crazy; he is the main character after all.]
She kept talking. Something about Lain, something about the walk over. Lain nodded along in silence.
[What’s crazy is that he used that third ability of his. The one that detects life. He sensed something wrong about your copies, but he wasn’t sure. So guess what he did.]
What.
[He assassinated your doppelgänger first, where nobody would see. Yours! I couldn’t stop laughing. Legit zero hesitation.]
WHAT.
It took everything she had to keep her face where it was.
Okay. Good. That was good. Her copy being dead was objectively good.
Zero hesitation, though. Really…?
“We should probably get going,” Amy said. “At this rate, we’ll miss class.”
The creatures looked at each other. All at once, at the same speed, the way people don’t.
“Fine,” ‘Ash’ said with a sigh. “I guess no food today…”
As they split up, ‘Crow’ stepped closer to her. Amy fought the urge to move back.
“Are you sure this is the right place?”
“Well, when you asked me if I could find it, I said ‘probably,’ didn’t I?”
It looked annoyed. Then it nodded.
Amy and Lain walked away.
They went in silence for a few minutes, taking turns at random through corridors that kept changing when she wasn’t looking straight at them. The building was still recognizable, just wrong in a way that made her head hurt if she thought about it.
So don’t think about it.
[Update from our brooding hero. After disposing of your copies, he went looking for you two and found records from a dead student who spotted the impostors first. Lyra’s gone to get the headmistress. Crow and Ash are still investigating.]
“So everything’s going well?” Amy whispered.
[Too well. It’s making me nervous. Be careful.]
They reached an empty hallway.
“I need to rest a second,” Amy said, leaning against the wall. She looked at Lain while she said it.
Lain took up position beside her.
Amy closed her eyes and pretended to catch her breath.
Show me the path to the trapped students.
The effort was immediately taxing. Using her ability felt like flexing an atrophied muscle that shouldn’t exist, and she could feel resistance, as if the nightmare itself was working against her.
Come on. Just one sign. Anything.
Amy sensed it. Not a vision exactly, but an awareness of something that didn’t belong. The wall down the hall—
She pushed just a little further and received a fleeting impression of hollowness beyond it. A passage where there shouldn’t be one.
When she opened her eyes, she felt warm liquid trickling from her nose.
Cool. Awesome. Love that.
She wiped it on her sleeve. Lain’s eyes narrowed slightly at the blood, but she remained silent.
Amy pushed herself away from the wall, fighting a wave of dizziness. “Let’s continue checking this hall,” she said, and walked toward the wall her power had highlighted.
Up close, it looked completely normal.
“These walls are quite old,” Amy commented, running her hand along the rocky surface. “I wonder when they were built.”
Lain caught on immediately, stepping closer.
Amy’s fingers found a tiny irregularity at the wall’s edge, a slight unevenness that no casual touch would notice.
“Look, some students have no respect for school property,” she said, pointing to random scratches.
She pushed the irregularity on the wall, and then there was a soft click. It wasn’t open yet, though; her ability had signaled another zone close by.
Her hands were shaking from the after-effects, and her nose was still bleeding a little, but she kept going where the power guided her.
This is actually so overpowered. No way it doesn’t get nerfed, right…?
[That looks very overpowered. Might need to nerf it if it gets more versatile without you gaining enough readers’ affinity.]
“…”
Is this thing reading my mind…?
With another soft click, the door finally released. Amy pulled it open slowly, revealing a dark passage beyond.
“How interesting,” she said. “This might be worth investigating.”
Lain nodded.
But just as Amy was about to step through, something fell behind the doorway with a thud. Metallic and loud.
Amy froze, locking eyes with Lain. For several heartbeats, nothing happened. Then, from somewhere in the distance, came the sound of unnatural movement, the too-rapid scuttling of something whose limbs moved wrong.
A monstrous figure emerged from the other side of the hallway and locked eyes with them.
For a moment, none of the three moved. Then Lain grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her toward the passage.
“Go!”
Lain shoved her through the opening, fired an ice attack behind her, and hauled the door closed with all her strength. Through the gap, Amy caught a glimpse of the dark, multi-limbed figure moving at a horrific speed.
The door slammed shut with a final clang.
Amy and Lain found themselves in near-total darkness, a narrow passage stretching ahead, and the sound of their pursuer already scratching at the wall behind them.
“Run!”
They ran.