[Nightmare]

"Wait, what!?" Charlotte cried with a sense of thrill blazing in her eyes.

Marie wasn't so enthused.

She looked down at Helix's sleeping face with a slightly worried expression.

However, she couldn't help but get dragged back into the story's absurdity.

Marie was filled with pride, knowing her lover was an impossible human being.

"So… it will only level 62.5 meters at 25% power?" Riley asked.

Once she put a hard number on the spell's power, the area became quiet.

The absurdity was just too unbelievable.

"... Yes." Tyrene sighed.

"Anyway… I can't fault the kid after verifying the blast resistance of the scales for myself."

Tilo ran his fingers through his brown curly hair and started chuckling with light madness in his eyes.

"More than that, he set up a network of defense barriers and created safety triggers."

—

Helix modified each Charge Barrier trigger to output maximum defense upon sensing heat.

It lowered the spell's duration but increased its strength threefold.

He then set to work testing the magic circles.

Helix drew a Circle of Illumination spell and started creating a trigger modification.

The modification used a small amount of slime that he got from the bones of a Markov victim.

After setting up the modification, he sealed the spell under a waterproof barrier.

Lastly, he put a small amount of slime from another jar onto the battle disc.

"Haaaaaaah." Helix chuckled when he saw the circle lit up.

He removed the slime, and the disc lost its light again.

Next, he spat on the disc to check if it lit up.

"Well, it seems it works…." He chuckled nervously.

"Maybe." He added with madness swirling in his eyes.

Helix studied the scene with a complex gaze.

"Let's put an extended time trigger on it as well…." He compromised.

Helix worked at a blistering speed.

Next, he created a connection spell that linked the illumination spell to the charge barriers.

Once he tested that it worked, he modified his eruption spell.

"It's as good as it will ever be…." He sighed.

Helix pulled out a dagger and whittled the excess amount of disc away from the magic circle on each side.

He was left holding a small piece of wood containing only a magic circle.

"And now… it's time to hunt."

—

"You make it sound like you can casually contain a calamity spell with defensive shields." Tilo sighed.

"Tilo. The boy's an idiot, but he's not stupid enough to throw an eruption spell at a Markov.

Weren't you listening? He read that Markov scales can withstand a calamity spell.

So why would he lob one at it?" Tyrene chastised.

Tilo's eyes went wide.

"Then what did he do?" He asked.

Tyrene locked her gaze with the young women and then sighed in defeat.

—

[Name: Hella Boar — Level 14]

"You'll do nicely." Helix chuckled.

He reached into his item storage, pulled out jerky juice, and drenched a magic circle.

"Come here, piggy. I got a tasty shn~ack for you." Helix laughed with insanity oozing from his pores.

The pig's nose instantly came alive.

"Get your limited edition Circle of Sleep.

It's free of charge for a limited time only." He chuckled.

The boar ran into the area.

It became disoriented when it stepped within the magic circle and started charging into random trees.

Helix watched from a boulder top.

He already knew what would happen before he decided to trap the beast.

After he knocked the boar out, Helix walked up to it with gloves on.

"This is about to get really fucking disgusting." He sighed.

He started by opening its mouth and shoving the illumination spell down its throat.

Helix waited for thirty seconds.

He modified the circle for maximum brightness.

If it were illuminated, he would see the boar's skeleton.

He imagined the look of people staring at a nuclear blast with their eyes in front of their faces.

After thirty seconds, he verified that his modification spell didn't trigger.

"Gah…." He sighed with a beating heart.

"Let's do this as quickly as possible."

Helix shoved the eruption spell down the boar's throat and ran like hell.

If his trigger failed on the Markov, that would be okay.

However, if it was accidentally triggered and within 100 meters from it, he would get vaporized or killed by debris.

After making it to the other edge of the valley, he waited for an extra 15 minutes.

"Haaaaaaaah." Helix sighed.

"I… still don't want to get near that thing…."

He was extremely thorough with his testing and performed similar modifications on nearly all his spells.

As a result, he was confident it wouldn't trigger accidentally.

However, he was dealing with a calamity spell!

After resolving himself, he ran back to the boar, used his ungodly strength stat to haul it onto his shoulders, and ran toward the mountain.

"This… is really messed up." Helix laughed with a self-deprecating expression.

"This poor creature is about to wake up from a dream, enter a Nightmare, and then explode."

Helix thought about what he had just said multiple times.

"I'm going to hell…." He sighed.

Helix placed the boar down on the ground and covered the area directly behind it with the pelts of Liken Wolves.

He also lined the area to the left and right of the cave with Linken pelts.

"Hopefully, that's enough to keep you moving in the right direction." Helix chuckled nervously.

He didn't have enough information on Hella Beasts or their environment to summon properly.

So he had to place faith in the spell he hated most.

Helix got to a better vantage point and closed his eyes.

"In fear, I hope you run from the Liken Wolves toward paradise." He whispered, hoping his vision would help modify his spell.

Helix opened his eyes and activated a battle disc in his hand.

"Time to wake you up."

A second magic circle underneath the pig flashed, and the pig shot up in pain.

"SQUEEEEEE!"

"[Nightmare Hallucination]."

—

"The kid fed the [Eruption] spell to a Hella Boar and used his Nightmare to lead it into the wyvern nest." Tyrene chuckled.

"You mean…." Tilo gasped.

"He treated that bad boy like diet coke and pumped him up with mentos!" Charlotte cried.

Marie and Riley started giggling.

Tyrene and Tilo looked at each other in bewilderment.

"If that's earth slang for feeding wyvern explosives, then… you're right." Tyrene chuckled bitterly.

—

The boar woke up to the smell of smoke in the area.

"GRRRRRRrrrrrrr!"

"GRRRRRR GHAT!"

"GR GHAT!"

The boar panicked.

It smelled Liken Wolves and felt the fur of one against its skin.

Cold sweat dripped down its spine.

It looked around in a flash, finding that more than two dozen Liken Wolves surrounded it.

There was only one path of escape—a valley on the other end of a passage.

Thankfully, it was an empty area, and it could smell Tharshweed in the distance.

Tharshweed was poisonous, and Liken Wolves were sensitive to it.

As a result, the Hella Boars tried to feed in areas near it.

Only 75 meters were standing between it and safety.

"SQUEEEEEE!"

The boar kicked its legs and ran for its life.

It left dust trails in its wake.

"GR GHAT!"

"GRRRRRR GHAT!"

"GRRRRRRrrrrrrr!"

50 meters.

30 meters.

10 meters.

Booooooom!

A small charge exploded near the Markov den, waking the large dragon-like creature.

It raised its head in confusion.

It saw a Hella Boar running to it with the most hopeful and ecstatic expression when it looked to the entrance.

It wasn't hungry, however.

It was—

Annoyed.

Cranky.

Pissed off.

It determined that this Hella Boar would be the first and last beast to wake it from its rest with a happy expression on its face.

The wyvern roared at full volume, and a soundwave rippled through the atmosphere.

However—

The boar made it through the passage, rolled over a rock, and tripped.

However, it wasn't a big deal.

The Liken Wolves were behind it, and it didn't have much more distance to cover to achieve total freedom.

The Markov stared at the boar with disbelief.

The creature was even happier than before and started charging toward it again!

It looked as though it would hug the mythical creature.

Enraged, the Markov decided to make an example out of the boar.

The wyvern exploded from its position and scooped up the Hella Boar in its maw.

Once inside, he flew out of the den at full force.

—

"That's amazing!" Charlotte cried.

"So it worked?" Tilo asked with astonishment.

"... Mostly."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)