As the Nightmare’s foot came down at me I raised my blade, Dismantle running through it. The foot itself swept past my blade, but right where the achilles tendon was on a human was a seam, and my dagger dipped into it effortlessly.

Intent poured into the Skinwalker’s body. Immediately I noticed how much more durable the Nightmare was compared to a person. It peeled away the entirety of its film, exposing the flesh underneath to the elements. A lot of my Intent ended up useless, splashing against the unknown anatomical parts of the Nightmare, or the Nightmares own natural resistances fighting against my invading power, but it was similar enough to a human that I could do a good amount of damage.

The knee and ankle joints had their tendons and ligaments stripped away from the bone, and when the Nightmares foot landed on me its leg crumpled. Some strips of muscle still kept the leg together, but the force had practically disappeared, like a bow having its string cut.

My hand grasped the Nightmare’s now exposed femur and I pumped another dose of Dismantle through it. I was able to take off the rest of its leg, but once I hit the organs of its torso I was stopped due to a lack of information.

The Skinwalker roared in pain and confusion, stumbling back with its one leg. Knight Sergeant Coles’ hammer slammed into the Nightmares head and it was sent to the ground. Leapt with its arms and leg back into the still burning cornfield.

We could hear its wails slowly receded as it got further away. I was surprised it could move at all, with its missing skin and leg, as well as all the cuts, blows, and shots it had taken from the Forged Order.

“It’s heading for the city! Sergeant Mall and Sergeant Rikes you and your team stay behind with the wounded. Everyone else follow me,” Knight Sergeant Coles said, already moving in the direction the Nightmare fled.

I began to stand, but a hand held me down.

“You are wounded Monty, stay,” Elina said, then ran off with Melanie and the rest of the Forged Order.

Oh yeah. I had forgotten about my hand and sliced shoulder.

Vit along with three soldiers were kneeling around the two heavily wounded soldiers. The woman who had lost her arm was looking around with a dazed look on her pale the soldier tending to her making sure the tourniquet was wrapped tightly around the upper arm. The other man was sobbing as Vit and another began to place their organs over their abdomen and wrap the wound in a large loose sheet.

The three Champions consisted of one Sergeant and two lower enlisted. One of whom was the one the Nightmare had jumped on. That one took off their helmet panting as they started to check themselves for any injuries.

Bright flashes of light caught my attention and I looked back to the city to see the people manning the wall shooting down at the barren field a figure leaping around to dodge the shots as it got closer. The group of Forged Order and young Dreamers burst out of the cornfield a moment later, chasing the figure.

I watched a the Skinwalker burst with Intent and leapt, even with a missing leg the Nightmare was able to go above the wall. Then it hit an invisible wall, no not invisible, there was a slight sheen, like glass, around the area. Professor Liraca?

The Nightmare bounced off the wall and back onto the ground, where the Champions who got there first once again started to wail on it.

“Hey there,” a voice next to me said.

I flinched, surprised. One of the soldiers who had been helping the woman with the missing arm came to me.

“I’m, going to check your wounds, can I help you take off your coat?” the man said kindly.

“Okay.”

He helped to pull my coat and shirt off to reveal my shoulder. There were three scratches on my left shoulder, one barely cutting the skin and the other two having rivulets of blood pouring out. Pulling out a clean pad of gauze he pressed down on my shoulder, eliciting a hiss of pain from me. The adrenaline was starting to fade and pain was shooting through my left side.

I looked at where the group of Forged Order had collapsed on the Nightmare, it seemed they had finished their job and were now heading back. Then I looked to the two critically wounded soldiers.

“So we will fail the test.”

The hand pressing down on my shoulder lessened for a moment and I looked to the man next to me. He stared at me with a blank face, but something felt off.

“That is not funny.”

“I was not trying to be.”

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The pressure on my shoulder became painful as he pressed down.

“Boy, screw the test. One of my guys just lost an arm and the other one is having to hold their guts from spilling out. Nightmares are not tests and they are not games. That skin it was wearin’ earlier? That used to be a man. Its stomach? The one sticking out? Is it digesting that man and the rest of his family. This might be a school trip for you, but this is our mission, our purpose.”

I stared at the man.

“I… am sorry.”

He took a deep breath in and released it along with a few choice curses.

“Yeah, Imma stitch you up now.”

I moved my gaze from the man to the string and curved needle going in and out of my flesh.

Was what I said really that bad? Of course I knew that a person lost and arm and another evicerated. They would need immediate care, and the Champion now had damaged equipment that needed servicing. That was two, maybe three Forged Order no long able to continue mission. And we had only just got here.

The best thing to do would be to ignore the test and focus on their care. I do not think the teachers would condemn us for that. So we will fail the test. Simple.

I was not being selfish or anything. In fact I was pushing down my instinctive reaction to go up close and watch them wrap the other’s wounds. Being overcrowded could be bad for a patient.

Speaking of, I wondered how a single thin claw was able to cut off the entirety of a womans arm, including through her tough outer coat. Was that a mix of the natural sharpness of the nail and the strength behind the swing? Or had the Nightmare used its own Intent Manipulation to increase the cut’s effectiveness.

It could use Intent in some ways obviously, and it was an intelligent being, did that mean it was possible for it to have a Dreamscape and its own Wits?

What about the man? Were his intestines cut open? If that was the case his chances of survival plummeted. Antibiotics’ capabilities were growing in the medical field, but sepsis was still too much.

Maybe I could examine the wound with Senses, and see what has been damaged.

Actually… I’ve never thought to use Senses on my own body before. I always thought of it as a prelude to help me Dismantle things, and was planning on eventually incorporating that into the Wit of Dismantle itself, but Senses could also be used to help diagnose people in general. Cancer, infection, cysts, constipation.

“Keep the area clean, and let it breathe while you sleep. If you need new bandages just come and ask one of us. Now let me see that hand.”

Putting my eyes back onto my own body I saw that my hand was now swollen up and had begun to bruise around my broken pinky metacarpal.

I put my right hand over my left and channeled Senses through it. I was startled to find that the information was much more detailed than normal. Was that because it was my body? I would need to test it more.

It was indeed my pinky finger’s metacarpal that was broken, and I even sensed a slight fracture in my ring finger’s metacarpal, though this one was much smaller and did not break all the way through.

The rest of the Forged Order arrived, along with Professor Liraca and Sergeant Brightstrike. Sergeant Brightstrike went straight for the wounded soldiers, ignoring everything else. While Professor Liraca as well as Melanie and Elina went to me. I saw that Elina and Melanie were carrying the corpse of the Nightmare in Melanie’s cape.

“How is the wound?” the professor asked the man splinting my hand.

“He’ll be fine,” the soldier said gruffly.

The professor raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on the man’s tone. Once the soldier finished he stood gave a cordial greeting to the professor, she was of royal blood after all, and went back to his group.

“Well, I am happy that none of you are seriously injured or dead. In fact, I can say that you all exceeded expectations. Skinwalkers are no easy foe, but their major strengths lie in stealth and intelligence.”

The Nightmare had literally been peeling bronze and steel like a man would skin a potato.

“Professor, Sergeant Denev said the Nightmare was a type three, class three Nightmare. What does that mean?” I asked.

“It is the Forged Order’s classification of Nightmares. Its become quite popularized in the wider military. Type is its nature. Type one is non-agressive. They will not usually attack unless provoked. Type two is bestial. They are dangerous to the environment and people, such as the Locust Swarm, but they do not go out of their way for it. Type three is malicious, they go out of their way to cause slaugter, and they revel in it. Type four is friendly. They can be reasoned with and might even help people out. Type five is an unknown and they are usually treated as a type two or three.”

The professor took the Nightmare from Melanie and Elina and showed it to them. It was cut, crushed, scorched, and missing the entirety of its skin and a leg. Its head was completely caved in.

“Class is danger level. Class one is a weaker Nightmare, and it is possible for a normal person to take one out. Class two requires a Champion, most of what you saw in The Forest of Living Dreams is considered class two. Class three requires a squadron of Forged Order. Class four requires a company of Forged Order, that is all of the members that have come with us on this mission and Dreamers if possible. Class five requires an entire division of the military, several battalions of Forged Order, high powered weaponry and strong Dreamers. Class six is considered a country level threat, and it is pretty much anything that would require every power in the country working together to even survive.”

She pointed to the corpse at her feet.

“For reference, Skinwalkers are class three, The Locust Swarm is considered a class five threat, despite each individually being a class one or two threat. The Drowned King is considered a class six, but in reality he is much more than a country level threat. This metric is good for the Forged Order as they have a clear cut way to quickly identify Nightmares using it. For Dreamers, I would not rely too heavily on this, as our abilities, strengths, and weaknesses vary from person to person.”

She turned to me then.

“I was able to convince them to let you have the corpse. Usually such corpses are sent higher up for study, but I assumed you could use a reward, as you did the most singular damage.”

My focus zeroed in on the Nightmare, wounds forgotten.

“Thank you Professor.”

“Have fun.”