Nick turned away from the steel door and ran down the hallway.
Since Petra was unconscious, she wasn't affected by the Nightmare, and the Specter that Nick was pulling behind him wasn't affected anyway.
However, Nick had to oppose the Nightmare's influence again.
Every time it happened, it was horrible.
It was impossible to get used to it.
Whenever Nick came into contact with the Nightmare, he reexperienced the most painful time of his life.
The more it happened, the more nervous and afraid Nick grew of the darkness.
And yet, he just gritted his teeth and did what he had to do.
It wasn't easy, but life also wasn't easy.
Luckily, Nick memorized where he had to go, and he also became much better at navigating while under the Nightmare's influence.
Back when he had swum through the sewers, Nick hadn't been able to navigate inside the Nightmare's influence since he still relied on outside feedback.
After rounding yet another corner, Nick used just a slight bit of light.
By now, his head had already started pounding, and his body began to shiver due to the low level of Zephyx.
Nick saw the hole in that short moment and jumped towards it.
He activated his left blade and rammed it into the stone while he pulled the Specter with his right.
Naturally, Petra was slung over his left shoulder.
Nick jumped from wall to wall, and as he ascended, the Nightmare's influence weakened.
And finally, Nick saw some actual sunlight!
With one last jump-
Nick immediately rammed his two hands into the walls to stop himself.
Cold sweat broke out all over Nick's body.
'I nearly died!' he thought in terror.
If he had jumped out without a plan, he would have involuntarily looked at the Crimson Sea!
Nick took a deep breath to calm down.
"Jenny! Are you there?" he shouted after a bit.
"Boss!" Nick heard several people shout.
The next moment, Jenny appeared over the exit of the hole, looking at Nick with exhilaration.
"Yes, Boss!" Jenny answered.
"Come down and grab Petra. She's lost consciousness, but she's still alive," Nick said.
When Jenny heard that, her eyes widened in shock.
Nick had managed to save her?!
Everyone had expected that Petra would already be dead.
But despite all odds, she was still alive!
When they saw Nick jumping into the darkness, several conflicting thoughts went through everyone's minds.
They had to save Petra!
Jumping into the hole would be suicide!
Nick was insane!
Nick was brave!
Nick was stupid!
Nick valued his employees!
Nick was putting one person above everyone else's survival!
Everyone's thoughts had traveled to both extremes several times.
Jumping into the darkness to save Petra was idiotic and suicidal, but on the other hand, it showed Nick's loyalty and resolve.
Naturally, the three Initial Johns had believed that Nick would protect them, but they had still felt a bit taken advantage of and unhappy.
Sure, Nick would try his best to save their lives, but he wouldn't risk his own.
But now, they had been proven wrong.
Nick had jumped into the Nightmare's domain while running after an unknown Specter with unknown power.
And he had succeeded!
Nick's actions touched them deeply, and they no longer felt bad about risking their lives.
Nick was putting his life on the line for theirs, and it was only right for them to do the same.
"Sure, let me come down," Jenny said as she climbed into the hole.
While Jenny was climbing down, she saw a black torso with inhuman appendages hanging from Nick's right hand.
Jenny had to take a deep breath to calm down.
Coming into contact with an unknown Specter was always scary.
Luckily, Nick had already put Zephyx Suppressors around it.
Jenny took hold of Petra and lifted her out, being very careful that her head never faced the Crimson Sea.
"I'll throw the Specter out next. Be careful. It's most likely a Mid, Late, or Peak Adolescent."
Some seconds later, Nick threw the Specter out of the hole.
Since it didn't have a head, it couldn't look at the distant Crimson Sea.
Nick heard a small scuffle from outside the hole.
As he threw the body out, he also noticed something new.
The Specter was actually missing a leg!
Nick was certain that he had only torn off about three of the spider arms.
This meant that the leg had probably been obliterated by Jenny's rifle.
It had most likely run through the cave by using its spider legs.
"Done!" Jenny shouted. "I have my rifle to its torso!"
"Good," Nick shouted. "I'm not going to come out immediately. I found something in the cave, and I want to take a look at it."
"You found something?" Clayton asked, his head poking out from the side.
"I'm not sure what it is yet," Nick said. "However, it seems quite important. If I'm not back within an hour, you can assume that I'm dead, but I highly doubt that I will die."
The Extractors felt nervous when they heard that.
Nick was going to be in the darkness for an hour?
However, after what Nick had just done for Petra, they didn't dare question his intentions.
"Of course," Jenny said. "We're going to wait out here."
"Good," Nick said before falling back into the darkness.
Then, he charged down the pathway from earlier.
Luckily, since nobody could sense him right now, he was much faster, and he didn't need to endure the Nightmare's influence for long.
Nick had been gone for barely a minute, and the alarm was still going.
Fortunately, this also meant that the red light was shining, which banished the Nightmare's influence.
Nick stopped in front of the steel door and took a deep breath.
Then, he tore all the silk from the door, revealing the entire thing.
On the right side of the door was a small monitor that looked very similar to the ones controlling the Containment Units.
Yet, while the monitors of the Containment Units had unclear and simple displays, the picture in this display was crystal clear.
It was almost like it was a window.
Nick had never seen such an insanely advanced monitor before.
