267 Horde of Nightmares

Hearts of the Forest.

Bloed thought the name was not appropriate, but it was the name the elves gave to the oddities formed by the accumulation of great amounts of soul power, also known as psychic energy.

Hearts of the forest were very valuable and hard to get. But with the right method, getting them became very simple.

However, there was an exception to that rule.

When the Hearts of the Forest became 'alive'.

In some very special circumstances, Hearts of the Forest would gain awareness, becoming into living beings with incredibly powerful abilities.

And if you were pulled into the soul world of such a Hearts of the Forest, then unless you were incredibly powerful, your only end was death.

And Bloed was experiencing that right now.

Nightmares. Horrifying, disgusting, and bizarre creatures formed from traumas and negative thoughts.

And currently, thousands of these bizarre beings were charging towards them with hunger in their eyes.

The sigh of that caused shivers in Bloed's spine.

Without hesitation, he called upon his psychic power and his strongest ESPer ability!

[Molecular Disintegration]!

Tens of nightmares were turned into dust! In front of the SSS-Grade ESP ability, the nightmares were unable to resist!

The scene was so incredible that Aya, who was getting ready to die soon, was stunned!

However, it was too soon to celebrate. As soon as these nightmares disappeared, even more nightmares took their place and continued towards Bloed's group.

Bloed did not hesitate to use his ESP ability again. He unleashed his psychic energy without restrain, clearing a creature after another.

But the nightmares seemed endless. No matter how many Bloed killed, there were even more of them behind.

Moreover, because it was Bloed's first time using his ESP ability so freely, his control over it was a bit lacking and the number of creatures he could kill each time was limited.

Due to that, the creatures were slowly but surely gaining ground.

It was like a slow countdown towards their death.

Seeing that, Aya hurriedly went to help him. She grabbed her daggers and charged towards the horde of creatures to kill as many as she could.

The creatures were not very strong, and Aya could kill them with just a blow, so she managed to kill a lot of them easily. But even so, that was just like a drop in the ocean. Nothing in comparison to the thousands of creatures behind.

"We can't continue like this! Miss Elwha, any idea!?" Bloed asked the elf princess.

Elwha was dazed. She was currently looking at the horde of nightmares with an ashen white expression.

She was filled with so much fear and panic that her thoughts stopped briefly.

But she was, in the end, the princess of the elves, and the priestess of a great tree. As soon as she heard Bloed's voice, she snapped out of her daze and tried to think in a solution flusteredly.

"A solution... But what can we do? If the heart is alive then... No, we would have died long ago if the Heart of the Forest was truly alive. Then… Is it in the process of gaining self-awareness...? Yes. At most, right now it's not smarter than a child!" Elwha's expression brightened when she thought of that. "Mr. Bloed! We need to get to the core now! Otherwise, all of us are going to die here if it becomes smarter!" Elwha shouted.

"Where is the core!?"

"In the centermost part of the island! It should be there!"

"Got it! Get on Leto!"

The three of them then jumped on the metallic wolf who quickly changed into its flight mode. It then rose in the air and flew towards the middle of the island, flying over the heads of the monsters.

Bloed, Aya, and Elwha could not help but sigh in relief.

But not even one second later, the nightmares started to transform!

Wings appeared on their backs, allowing them to fly. They then threw themselves towards Leto!

"Dammit!" Bloed cursed out and activated [Molecular Disintegration] to kill them.

"Mr. Bloed, can't you erase the monsters all of them in one go!?" Elwha asked in a panic.

"Do you think it's so easy to erase so many monsters!?" Bloed spat out while killing as many monsters as he could.

Aware that Bloed could not take care of the monsters alone, Elwha took out her bow and started to shoot down some of the monsters.

But the monsters were coming from all directions. Thus, some of them soon started to get on the metallic wolf.

Fortunately, Aya was there. The few monsters that managed to get on the wolf were quickly dispatched by the catkin girl and her daggers.

Bloed, however, knew they could not continue like that.

Eventually, the sheer numbers of nightmares would overwhelm them!

Several ideas appeared in his mind. He first tried to create a nuclear bomb to see if he could use it to kill the monsters.

Quickly, though, he realized his understanding of it was not enough to make it work.

He had never tried to create one in real life after all. Therefore, if he wanted to create a fully functional bomb here with his lack of knowledge, it would use most of his soul power.

Plus, he had the feeling he would die as well after the bomb exploded.

Elwha had said it was dangerous to use attacks in this world beyond his true ability. But Bloed realized it was not just attacks. Creating things beyond his understanding was equally dangerous.

In the end, it was more effective to continue using [Molecular Disintegration].

But suddenly, Bloed had another idea.

With a thought, another Leto appeared in front of him. Then, under the girls' surprised look, Bloed gave it an order.

"Leto! Activate [Svalinn]!"

With Bloed's words as the signal, the second wolf turned into metallic sand that spread outwards.

Then, that metallic sand turned into a net that surrounded the flying Leto.

Before the girls could understand Bloed's intentions, one of the nightmares reached the net.

And as soon as the nightmare touched it, the part of its body that couched the net disappeared, turning into dust.

The girls were surprised, but before they could ask Bloed what was happening, the scene repeated again, and again, and again.

Monster after monster rushed towards Bloes's group, only to disappear as soon as they touched the net.

It was one of Leto's abilities, designed by Bloed for when he used [Overdrive].

[Svalinn]! Disintegration Shield!

Using Leto as the medium to cast [Molecular Disintegration], Bloed created a protective sphere that would disintegrate any enemy or attack that touched it.

"… Amazing…" Aya said while staring at Bloed with an entranced expression.

However, their happiness did not last long.

Suddenly, something twinkled in the center of the island.

And in the next instant, a beam of fire impacted the metallic wolf.