Annan narrowed his eyes slightly and walked forward slowly.

He took a puff of his cigarette, and his thoughts gradually became clearer.

The fragments of a lot of information quickly colluded with each other in Annan's eyes.

- This may be the curse held by the master of this dream.

Can Smoking Improve Thinking Skills? Or is it a pipe? Or what gases are inhaled?

No...... It doesn't matter.

Annan forcibly used his perseverance to break back the direction of thinking that had deviated in an instant.

This ability to digress is also a component of the spell?

Hum.

"It's amazing."

Annan sighed lightly and touched the stubble on his chin.

The middle-aged male detective uttered a magnetic, methodical voice: "A real detective? Sure enough, it's a hunter's profession.

"How many spells do you hold to the point of restricting your behavior patterns? No...... It doesn't matter either. ”

Annan forcibly stopped thinking again, reached out and gently touched the white wall beside him.

- Sure enough, not an illusion.

The moment he started, Annan immediately distinguished...... This wall is soft.

Roughly speaking, it is the touch of the skin on the upper arm of a girl between the ages of 16 and 22. In terms of muscle and fat density, her figure should not be thin, but it is not fat, about the level of slightly fat.

“…… This ability to think. ”

Annan bit his lip when he realized that his mind was running at high speed.

Why did this white wall give Annan a sense of "girl's skin" for the first time?

In general, shouldn't it be 'lily' or 'cream' or something like that?

"There's only one reason, it's the first time I've entered the body of an extraordinary person whose thinking ability far exceeds my own body."

Annan said calmly: "Just as after I entered Bella's body, I also had the transformation ability and dynamic vision of a werewolf. After I got the detective's body, did I also have his ability to think and judge?

"I see, that's the underlying mechanism of the nightmare...... No, it's still about focusing. In other words, this shift in attention is not due to the side effects of the spell, but because my will is not adapted to this level of thinking speed, so after completing the thinking in the same amount of time, I subconsciously thought about it -

"No, calm down. Continue to judge......

"It's the body that is too observant and so keen that I instinctively make this association."

Annan stopped, crouched down lightly, and reached out to touch the skin that seemed to be scorched by fire.

Sure enough...... The tactile sensation is the touch of the skin after it has been burned.

He looked back, squinting at the shaky red curtain of hunting in the distance.

- It was a very beautiful, very pure red.

If it is compared to a curtain on a stage, then it has no heavy shadows; If it is compared to a silk skirt, it is not reflective.

"That's blood? No...... It's fire. So that the scorch marks on the walls have an explanation. ”

Annan muttered calmly, using the way he spoke to limit his speed of thinking: "When I get to the end, will the curtain turn into flames and block the intersection?"

"But why are the curtains high and the scorch marks on the side near the ground?"

Annan stomped his foot lightly.

The texture of the transmission told him that there was a wooden floor that was very old under his feet. Because of the lack of moisture-proof treatment, the dampness is very bad.

Fragments of memory enriched to such an extent cannot be fabricated out of thin air.

- So it's not the same as Denton's nightmare?

This is what Mr. "Detective" has experienced......

“…… Odd. ”

Annan muttered in a low voice, "Why aren't there any traps yet?" ”

According to his reasoning, it should have been made up of one death chamber after another. And it's a deadly trap designed specifically for the owner of the nightmare.

Like Denton, as a Soul Reaver who lacks the means to attack directly—he never has a living person in his nightmares; And the constant ice water flushing made it impossible for him to use complex spells; That eunuch may have been his fear of the rotten man; The trap of slow death, in turn, corresponds to Denton's overly conservative character.

- Yes, an overly conservative character.

Denton had been in control of the Four Princes for several years. With a slight risk, he could try to control Henry VIII.

But he never left.

On the one hand, it is because of obedience to the orders of the rotten man, and on the other hand, it is ...... I'm afraid it's also his own caution. Or rather, the hesitation that borders on timidity.

Well, since this is the detective's fear of death.

What kind of trap will it be?

"I'm standing here thinking, I've gathered so much information. But it was as if time had not passed at all. I even took a few steps forward before and nothing happened at all...... It's a little too calm. ”

- It's like deliberately leaving me here to think.

…… Could it be said?

Annan's heart suddenly tightened.

He no longer hesitated, and suddenly ran forward at a brisk pace.

His boots clattered against the wooden floor, making a series of loud sounds.

Along the way, there were no surprise attacks, and everything around was unusually calm.

But the sense of crisis in Annan's heart has also become stronger.

He approached behind the pure red curtain and didn't try to get underneath it.

Silvery, slender blades peeked out from between Annan's fingers.

Annan raised his right hand forward, turning sideways at the same time.

What he had seen before, the competition between Annan and Dmitry as a child, came to his mind.

Dmitry's unique swordsmanship skills also recovered from the depths of Annan's memory-

The blade was not covered with crystalline frost.

But the incomparably light slash formed a perfect arc moon in the air.

Without hurting the blade of the [Sharp Thing], Annan went down with a few swords and completely cut off the curtain blocking the gate.

Unsurprising...... When the curtains fell to the ground, they burst into flames. The curtain that had not yet been cut in the air also burned, and the flames visible to the naked eye almost condensed into a physical entity, blocking the gate completely.

Even if Annan subconsciously retreated, he still couldn't outrun the rapidly spreading fire.

The scorching heat was not an ordinary flame burning on a wooden floor...... If I had to describe it, it was like a match falling into the gasoline flowing on the ground.

The fire spread so quickly that it was unstoppable and irreversible—

If not cut off...... I'm afraid that the moment I got through the curtain, I was already completely wrapped in flames.

But even so...... I can't live at all!

Just as Annan was thinking about how to escape, another voice came to his head:

Is Mr. Detective afraid of flames? Why? What's the deal with the skin on this wall......

"-Long-winded!!"

Annan let out a low sigh and threw his pipe straight out.

The acceleration of thinking from a pipe doesn't matter.

More important than that—

As he continued to step on the fire, he quickly took off his coat and put his left hand roughly on his head. In addition to that, he didn't forget to put the remaining two silver coins in his trouser pocket.

There's no room for water, so just rush over!

Annan endured the pain of burning soles of his feet, and ran forward quickly in the corridor that turned into a sea of fire.

With his coat on, he slammed into the flaming door!

It didn't hurt.

But the coat burned straight up.

After rushing through the door of flames, Annan ran quickly up the wooden steps behind the door, and without thinking, he took off his coat and flicked it in the air a few times to try to extinguish the flames.

Fortunately, there were no flames on the steps.

But the more he shook, the more intense the flames became.

What is this pattern...... What does this flame portend? That hallway—

"Damn...... Is there a disease in this brain? ”

Annan couldn't help but let out a low voice.

He left his salvageable coat behind him, kicked open the wooden door, and raised the sharp object in his hand.

Don't move—that's what he thought.

But after seeing everything clearly, Annan's pupils shrank instantly.

That's not a basement at all.

Because there was no shaking, Annan had a miscalculation.

- That's the cabin.

And this is a roaring passenger ship.

(End of chapter)