Chapter 35: End of Nightmare
Emitting a faint steam, the automatic door of the weapon store opened on Allen’s order. Beyond the door was Jason, a robust man with bulging muscles that lay beneath those clothes.
With heavy steps, he walked into the weapon store.
Allen, with a pleasant smile on his face, greeted Jason.
“It’s been 10 days since you graced my store. The flintlock must have been very handy,” but then he added inwardly, ‘But not very practical.’
“Anyways, I indeed was expecting your presence.”
Hearing this, Jason raised one of his eyebrows but didn’t ponder about the word ‘expect’. By now, he wouldn't be shocked even if the mysterious weapon store owner could predict all of his next steps and read his mind.
With a simple smile on his face, he decided to go with the flow.
“Indeed, the flintlock came in very handy. Apart from that, I’m here to give you this…”, he raised his right hand that held the handle of the lantern.
‘Give me what?’, Allen was already confused as to why this big shot would bring a lantern to his store.
Though it looked a bit strange, he, in fact, could tell that it was quite old and dirty. ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ - Allen said to himself and opened his mouth, “To exchange it with another weapon?”
“Not really, no. It is more of a gift than an exchange.”
“Gift?”
Was it a kind of gift to increase the relationship between two parties? Well, he would find out as the conversation flowed.
The green flicker within the lantern was a little unusual. Paired with the dim calming blue light of the store, Jason slowly walked towards Allen and placed the lantern on the counter while his mind ran at a high speed.
‘He didn’t deny taking it. Is it a tactical agreement between both of us? Argh, it is giving me a headache…’
He held his breath as he saw Allen narrowing his eyes and absorbing the lantern.
A lantern?
Now that Allen noticed it, this lantern seemed somewhat ancient, though a bit dirty. Was this an antique piece? Most probably that was the case.
“This… is this an antique?”
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“Well… something similar? You can also consider it as an ancient specialty.”
“Hmm, looks quite pricey, doesn’t it?”
With a slight chuckle, Jason said, “Nah, don’t fret over it.”
This was when Allen finally stretched his fingers and caressed the bottom part of the lantern.
Jason’s heart started pounding crazily as he saw that Allen was rather unaffected even after touching the lantern.
‘Well, this is expected…’, Jason thought with a sigh of relief.
“Do you mind if I…?”, Allen said while pointing towards the green flickering flames.
Sweat appeared on Jason’s face as he panicked somewhat, but then he nodded his head in agreement.
Allen didn’t quite understand the worry on his face. Does he think that I might accidentally damage this antique?
‘Well… what a caring customer.’
This lantern seemed somewhat strange. Allen moved his thin fingers towards the rotating knob of the lantern and pinched it.
Jason’s eyes widened as he anticipated seeing what would happen. Even a fully prepared Law Paladin at his peak condition would by no means be unfazed while touching this lantern after all… it had that…
And finally, it happened!
“Yawn, so sleepy! So sleepy! Sleepy!”
A weird murmuring akin to the raving of a madman echoed in the atmosphere. Jason felt his eyelids becoming heavier, but he did not dare to close them shut nor fall into sleep. The report of the previous Paladin once again appeared in his mind - “No matter what, do not listen to the lantern. Don’t, absolutely don’t fall into sleep! If you do so, then disaster awaits you.”
After writing this report, the previous Paladin had fallen into madness.
Jason saw an ominous aura rising from the lantern as a black demonic energy oozed out from it in the shape of countless tentacles. Illusory scenery engulfed the entire store as demonic energy bubbled forth with multiple eyes opening in the background as if they were spectators enjoying the drama.
Gigantic towering structures seemingly made up of blackened bronze materials appeared in his sight, engulfed in a veil of dense white impenetrable fog.
Jason became more tensed as he saw the black slippery tentacles slithering like serpents coiling around Allen. They appeared to be so gigantic that they could seemingly engulf the entire world in their clasp.
Meanwhile, Allen just simply sat there, not moving.
The mysterious weapon store owner was surely powerful. There was no doubt in it. But then this nightmare lantern was something that had haunted Jason and the previous Law Paladin heavily and terrifyingly, something that left a mark of trauma within their minds. But there wasn’t just fear within Jason as he saw the tentacles.
There was also a sense of excitement. It was as if he was watching a battle between two divines! It was something that could possibly obliterate his entire existence. But strangely, this was the fact that pumped more adrenaline!
His palms trembled as he saw Allen disappear within the clasp of the tentacles. From the gigantic castle, a headless knight appeared that was covered in a dark black armor and sharp-looking broadsword, seemingly made out of black scales.
He grabbed the hilt with both his arms and raised the sword above his head. It seemed as if eternity had passed since he did so.
And then…
Swoosh.
All hell broke loose.
A slash. A slash that tore through the fabric of space itself, tracing from the sky to the ground, slashing through the demonic energy, headed towards Allen who was sitting on the chair with an unfazed look. But then the slash seemingly froze, and so did the knight.
A gaze. A gaze that appeared behind Allen from the bottomless abyss… A gaze that seemed to tear their souls with crimson aura flowing through…
Click!
Allen’s fingers, which had pinched on the knob, successfully turned it off. The illusory scenery cracked like a frail piece of glass and broke into a million different pieces.
With that, the nightmare was over.