You lie upon a crimson blanket, a large red pillow clutched to your chest, said blanket acting as a makeshift bed. For the time being, your room lacks an actual bed. In time, it should have an actual bed, but for now, you make do with the blanket instead. As you slumber, a second blanket (same color as the first) covers your legs. For a time, you sleep peacefully, yet the peacefulness doesn’t last.

Your pink eyes crack open at a scratching, not a physical scratching but an audible scratching. You sit up, setting the crimson-hued pillow down beside you. Your eyes blink as they adjust to the darkness. A quick glance through your shadowy surroundings finds naught that looks out of the ordinary, certainly nothing that would explain the scratching. Puzzled, you lean back and then pale as your eyes go to the ceiling.

The scratching sound continues, though you now know its source. Above you, on the ceiling, a woman crawls, her movements making disturbing scraping sounds against the ceiling’s surface. You gulp and close your eyes, the sight of the crawling woman fresh in your mind. Eyes closed, the disturbing sound continues to reach you. In a cold sweat, you slowly reopen your pink eyes and find a vacant ceiling, no disturbing sight, no disturbing sound.

Did that actually happen? Was that real or just some sort of night terror? The questions going through you mind, you grab the large pillow and roll over to your side. Perhaps you shouldn’t have done that, or perhaps you should have done that a bit sooner. Sweatdropping, you find yourself face to snout with a giant rat.

[Class: Giant Rat

Strength: Lvl 3

Mind: Lvl 1

Soul: Lvl 2]

“N-Nice rat,” you say, an edge of panic to your voice.

[Name: Ako

Class: Waifu

Strength: Lvl 3

Mind: Lvl 2

Soul: Lvl 3]

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The large, black rat’s stats are lower than yours generally speaking. However, its [Strength] appears to be a match for yours. That coupled with your prone position doesn’t bode well. Perhaps you could distract it. You beat it in [Mind] after all.

Shaking, you point to the side and say, “What’s that over …?” You don’t quite finish the question. Instead, the creature opens its mouth. Bit by bit, its jaws continue to spread, hideous pops accompanying their growing gape. You stare at the grotesque sight in abject horror, half wondering if the freakish rodent intends to swallow you whole.

Hair, short black locks, begin to spill from the thing’s gullet, a face appearing soon afterwards. A moment later, a woman’s upper portion nightmarishly protrudes from the giant rat’s gaping maw.

[Name: Val

Class: Freight

Strength: Lvl 3

Mind: Lvl 3

Soul: Lvl 4

Skill: Nightmare]

You have seen this pale-skinned woman before. She’s the same woman who had been crawling on the ceiling and making those scratching noises. She looks to be more dangerous than the rat she’s sticking out of. Why exactly is she sticking out of that rat though?

Val’s brown eyes meet your pink, and she smiles an unnerving smile. Though she looks remarkably normal, something about her outright terrifies you. Well, she is sticking out of a rat. Maybe that has something to do with it. There’s also the whole crawling on the ceiling thing from before. That definitely isn’t normal either.

A sickening gurgle (soon joined by an equally sickening slurping) begins coming from the black rat. Dribbles of its saliva pool beneath its gaping maw as Val begins slipping back into said maw. She keeps smiling that same disturbing smile as she disappears down the rodent’s gullet. Pops sound as the beast’s jaws maneuver shut and take on a much more ordinary appearance. In silence, the rat turns to leave and proceeds to exit through the door.

Your pink eyes open, and you find yourself staring at the ceiling, a pillow hugged to your chest, the top blanket pulled over you. You sit up in a cold sweat and nervously glance around. No one’s in your room other than you. Your eyes go to the doorway, and a drop of sweat rolls down your cheek. Was that really just a bad dream? Somehow, you can’t shake the feeling that a monstrous rat will walk in at any moment.

Steeling your resolve, you get out of bed (well, off of your bottom blanket). Scurrying over to your door, you quickly shut and lock it. Hypothetically speaking, if a giant rat tries to get in now, it will at least have a locked door to deal with. With a content smile, you head back to bed, hoping for better dreams than that scary lady coming out of a giant rat.