1: Awakening in the Nightmare Spell

Darkness. No matter where I looked, I could only see darkness. I couldn't feel my body either, but at the same time, I could feel that I was moving.

A few seconds passed, and in the void of darkness where I was, shining stars appeared.

All the stars were connected by fine golden threads that linked them all from every direction endlessly, creating a beautiful and immeasurable network of threads and golden stars.

'Beautiful'

The star network began to pulse a second later, and I heard a voice:

[Aspirant, welcome to the Nightmare Spell, prepare for your first test...]

This, Nightmare Spell...

My eyes, which I felt but at the same time didn't, opened wide with horror at the realization of what was happening to me.

I had been transmigrated into my favorite novel; Shadow Slave.

Without giving me time to finish processing everything, the void with the star network vanished and in its place appeared a grotesque scene.

A not-so-large village surrounded by a giant, thick wall that was broken in several places appeared, with the largest break near its enormous main gate, a giant hole through which beasts resembling ugly mutant dogs passed without resistance.

Inside the walls, several of these beasts had humans in their jaws, being devoured alive and dismembered equally.

If I had had a body at that moment, I'm sure I would have vomited.

There were about a hundred beasts, at least those I could see. And looking further into the village, I saw five men supporting someone in silver plate armor fighting another one of those ugly dogs.

However, this monster was different, it wasn't just a mutant dog, this thing had six legs, each ending in sharp claws it used to attack the six people fighting it. Its body was black with a rotten hue, and several spikes that looked like metal protruded from its back.

Its head was grotesque with a jaw that opened to reveal several dozen sharp teeth inside it, its eyes, golden but filled with madness, looked hungrily at the man in front of it.

At the tip of its tail, there was a kind of stinger, and its tail was covered in what seemed like scales.

That beast was fighting the six people while the other mutant dogs around were being held back by several people, either with their bodies or fighting with their swords and shields.

The scene stopped abruptly before the man in silver armor was impaled by the beast's stinger, and all time seemed to go crazy, beginning to move backward.

I saw how the beasts retreated, how the battle of the six began, and how the wall broke from a powerful blow by the large beast fighting the six. I could see hundreds of people throwing the ugly dogs trying to climb the walls and how dozens died trying.

I saw how the horde retreated, and a few days passed, during which the whole fortified village was preparing a defense.

Then time stopped again, and my consciousness seemed to descend from the sky where I could see all the events and enter a tall building in the center of the village.

...

My eyes opened, and I could feel my body again, though it didn't seem to be my original body, but it was very similar.

When the images of all those people being mutilated reappeared in my mind, I felt the gastric juices rising to my mouth, trying to escape.

Knowing this was an important event, I swallowed the vomit again, holding back the urge to bend over and spit everything on the floor.

A few seconds later, I could finally look around, and I was in a meeting room. It was a space with various gold and silver decorations on furniture in the corners. I also noticed several paintings with figures I didn't recognize.

I looked at the table in the center and where I was currently standing next to a high-backed chair.

At it, there were six people, the same ones I saw fighting whatever that giant mutant dog was that I saw in the vision.

Before looking at them in detail, I remembered the most important thing for this moment, and with a thought, my runes appeared in front of me.

Name: Jonathan

True Name: -

Core: inactive

Memories: -

Attributes: [Lost Soul], [Liar], [Lost] ...

Aspect: [Advisor]

Aspect Rank: inactive

This, why do I have six attributes? I should check their descriptions...

...Right, I need to check on the others. It seems I'm an advisor, how stupid, if this is because of what I did before, the spell really should review its functions.

Having reviewed my runes, it was time to see what the spell had prepared for me in this test.