Nick's ability was still inactive since he was currently in physical contact with the Specter, but that didn't matter.
His blades activated, and Nick punched forward.
BOOOM!
Nick's blade and fists buried into the ground.
Just now, Nick had attacked the Specter's neck, and he was certain that he had just decapitated it, which had been his goal.
Naturally, Nick didn't want to kill the Specter, but something like that wouldn't kill one.
BANG!
Nick felt something hit his side.
With his superior reaction speed, Nick managed to grab the appendage, which could barely move inside his grip.
CRKSH!
Nick used his blade and cut off the base of the appendage, throwing it to the side.
Since Nick's body was a lot more powerful, the Specter could barely do anything to defend itself.
It could hit and injure Nick, but every time it hit its opponent, it would lose one of its appendages.
After getting rid of another three appendages, Nick grabbed the body of his opponent and rammed it against the wall with a lot of force.
"SUBMIT OR DIE!" Nick shouted.
Not waiting for an answer, Nick immediately threw the Specter onto the ground again, putting his foot on what he thought was its torso.
Then, he waited.
Every second, Nick felt like he was being torn apart.
However, he didn't feel any physical impact, even though the enemy should still have a couple of limbs left.
'It gave up,' Nick thought.
Then, Nick searched for the black sphere, which should be Petra.
He found it quickly and felt how soft but firm it was.
It was probably spider silk.
Nick tore it apart and activated a slight bit of his light.
At that moment, he could see his surroundings again.
The Specter was missing its head and half of its limbs, and it was currently lying on the ground, unmoving.
Nick could also see Petra through the opening he had created.
She was unconscious.
She had most likely run out of Zephyx, which had knocked her unconscious.
'It's the silk,' Nick thought as he looked at it.
Just now, when Nick had torn the silk apart, he had also felt a drain on his Zephyx.
Apparently, the silk absorbed any kind of Zephyx.
If Petra were in Zephosis, running out of Zephyx for a prolonged period of time would prove fatal.
Not having access to Zephyx was like not having access to air.
Luckily, Petra was only an Initial John, and her body still mostly used food and oxygen to stay alive.
Nick quickly tore her out of the silk cocoon and put her body over his shoulder.
Then, he deactivated the light again since he only had 10% of his Zephyx remaining.
An instant later, Nick took out two wires from his toolbelt.
Those were Zephyx Suppressors, and he quickly wound them around the Specter below him.
"As long as you're nice, you will get enough food and become stronger," Nick said.
The next moment, Nick grabbed the Specter's leg and drag-
Whom.
Nick stopped as the Nightmare's influence vanished briefly, and a weak red light appeared for a short moment.
'What the fuck?' Nick thought as he turned around.
Then, he took a deep breath and shone with very weak light for just an instant, wasting another 2% of his Zephyx.
Nick only now noticed that the walls and ceiling were covered in silk, and he also noticed that they were at a dead end.
This was the Specter's lair.
But then, where had the bright light come from?
Nick gritted his teeth and waited.
The Nightmare was tearing him apart again, but he wanted to know what was going on.
Then, some seconds later, the Nightmare's influence vanished again, and this time, Nick could see what had happened.
A weak red light shone through the silk wall at the end of the hallway.
Nick quickly walked over while dragging the Specter with him.
Shing! Shing! Shing!
He cut through the silk and tore it off the wall.
The red light appeared again, but this time, it was much brighter.
The red light came from a spot about two meters high, and Nick had gotten rid of the silk in front of it.
It was an electrical lamp?
Or light?
Nick had never seen these kinds of lights before since Solace's lights seemed very friendly and warm.
But these lights seemed artificial and sterile.
'But how?' Nick thought. 'These kinds of artificial lights shouldn't work against the Nightmare's influence.'
'And yet, I feel no Zephyx coming from that light, but it still managed to stop the Nightmare for just a moment.'
'I have to know what's going on here.'
Nick started to tear even more silk off the wall.
When his hands came into contact with the wall behind the silk, Nick realized something.
'That's metal, not stone!'
Then, Nick made a decision.
BOOOOM!
He activated his blades again and attacked the wall.
All of Nick's blade sunk into the wall, but it still didn't reach the other side.
This wall was extremely thick!
The next moment, the Nightmare's influence vanished again as the red light started to become bright and constant.
At the same time, an ear-grating alarm rang out.
With the brighter light, Nick could finally see what was in front of him.
A steel door.
The light came from above the door.
'A ruin?' Nick thought.
Nick narrowed his eyes.
He had never come into contact with a ruin before.
It was no secret that there were many ruins all over the world from lost civilizations, but Nick had never seen one.
Aegis was very careful about these ruins, and any information on past civilizations was kept highly confidential.
Most likely, Aegis hadn't found this ruin yet.
Naturally, Nick was very interested.
'But I can't enter right now,' he thought as he looked at the Specter and Petra.
'I have to bring these two back to the group first.'
Nick looked one last time at the steel door before walking away.
He would bring the Specter and Petra to the group, and then, he would take a look at this ruin.
