Alex and Alucard stepped through the portal, which resembled a distorted vortex in space itself, created by Amygdala after Alex had thrown the Tonsil Stone at that False God. Passing through the portal, Alex and Alucard found themselves in a very dark place. Even though complete darkness surrounded them, both Alex and Alucard could clearly see everything around them.
Looking around, they saw a table covered with empty flasks, a cabinet with reagents, and other similar items. The room somewhat resembled an old laboratory where Byrgenwerth students conducted their research. Driven by considerable curiosity, Alex began rummaging through the desk drawers and the reagent cabinet, hoping to find something interesting.
However, during his short search, all he found were old empty notebooks with nothing written in them. While Alex was busy with his pointless search, Alucard, without waiting for her husband, decided to leave the room and look around.
Approaching the lamp in the room, Alucard touched it with her palm the same way Alex had done earlier. When the Messenger lamp lit up, Alucard pushed the door open and left the room.
Once outside, she saw a long corridor lined with library shelves. Alucard's red eyes began to glow faintly as she looked around, noticing doors that resembled small closets used for conducting unknown experiments, as well as spacious lecture halls.
Realizing that this place was something like an old abandoned institute, Alucard remembered how Alex had repeatedly mentioned Byrgenwerth. She calmly raised her gaze upward to look at the second floor and saw only rows of balconies and observation platforms.
After looking at the second floor of the lecture building for a moment, Alucard lowered her gaze. Unlike her husband, Alucard had no interest in exploring such places. She was only willing to listen to stories about them because it was her husband telling them. If anyone else had been in his place, she wouldn't have bothered listening at all.
Turning her head toward the door of the room she had just left, Alucard could hear Alex still rummaging through the drawers, as if he wanted to find something interesting. Before she could call out to him and hurry him along, Alucard heard a rustling sound behind her. It sounded like a large spider running across the walls.
Along with that rustling, Alucard felt a very intense gaze on the back of her head, as if someone was watching her. Without turning her head, Alucard's body blurred into a red streak and suddenly vanished from sight. She instantly appeared in front of a closed door, from behind which she felt an overly intense gaze that irritated her.
Appearing beside the closed door, Alucard raised her hand and instantly punched through the wooden door, grabbing whoever was on the other side by the neck. With a sharp tug, she pulled the creature through the door she had just destroyed. Grabbing the one who had been watching her, Alucard saw an ugly creature with a hideous bald human head, black eyes, small sharp teeth in its mouth, and a spider-like body.
If Alex had been beside her at that moment, he would have immediately recognized this ugly spider with an ugly human face. It was Patches — the one you should never trust, the most deceitful man you could find in such worlds. The kind who would stab you in the back the moment you turned away.
"Oh, this can't be, this can't be you… No, you're not… How did this happen… Hm! Wait a second… You think badly of me, don't you?" Patches said in a hoarse voice, feeling Alucard's hand squeezing his neck tighter with every passing second.
"Think badly of you? You think far too highly of yourself, spider… I simply don't like it when someone spies on me," Alucard said in a cold tone, squeezing Patches' neck even harder.
"Wait! Wait! Let's make a deal… Hehehe. I can give you what you need… I can be your guide. I'll show you the way. I know everything. I know every corner of this place… Hehehe. Wherever you want to go, I'll take you there," Patches said, trying to break free.
"Really? You know every path?" Alucard asked with a gentle smile on her face, looking at Patches with unconcealed sarcasm.
"Yes, yes, yes. I know every path in this place, out of this place. And every path to every place. I know all the secret passages, every corner of this cursed city… Hehehe," Patches said with a strained smile.
Patches continued moving his spider legs, trying to escape Alucard's grip. But every time he moved, her grip on his neck grew tighter. Alucard looked at Patches with a clearly sarcastic smile. Gradually, the smile on her face grew wider with every passing second.
How could she not know what kind of creature Patches was? She had seen people like him throughout her long life. Pathetic rats who clung to whoever would bring them the most benefit. And such creatures would be the first to stab you in the back at the first opportunity.
"It's good that you know every path…" Alucard said, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Then we have a deal… Hehehe. I'll be your guide," Patches said with a nervous smile.
"Except I don't need you. I have a husband who knows every path… And your blood will tell me everything you know," Alucard said in a gentle tone, her gaze turning cold.
The moment those words left Alucard's mouth, Patches' eyes widened in terror. He stared at the woman in front of him, who had a light, gentle smile on her face as if she were looking at something insignificant. Patches felt the grip of the woman's hand on his neck growing stronger with every short moment.
Patches began frantically moving his spider legs to break free from Alucard's grasp. But his spider legs could do nothing to help him. He pressed his spider limbs against Alucard's body, trying to push her away. No matter how hard he tried, Alucard remained standing in place, continuing to squeeze his neck.
Patches saw the woman who was strangling him raise her other hand. Alucard placed her second palm on Patches' bald head and dug her nails into his skull with such force that they pierced the skin and sank into the bone itself. Without changing her expression, Alucard began pulling Patches in opposite directions with a sadistic smile on her face.
Patches felt the woman's nails scraping against his skull while her other hand pulled on his neck. Before Patches could understand anything, his head was torn from his body. Blood sprayed from the severed head and spider body in all directions.
"Pathetic creature. I've seen thousands like you. And they all said the same words to save their miserable lives," Alucard said contemptuously, looking at Patches' head in her hand.
Without changing the look of disgust on her face, Alucard was about to throw away Patches' body parts so she wouldn't have to see such a parasite anymore. But before she could discard the body, it turned into white sand that crumbled onto the floor. The only thing left in Alucard's hand after Patches' body turned to sand was a black skull.
Looking at the black skull in her hand, Alucard heard a strange whisper coming from the empty black eye sockets. She felt the whisper trying to creep into her mind, attempting to fill every corner of her thoughts. But Alucard only smirked contemptuously upon hearing the whisper that now echoed in her subconscious. Her red eyes glowed faintly, and the strange whisper in her head instantly vanished.
"And what is this thing?" Alucard asked, spinning the black skull on her finger.
"It's the knowledge of a madman… Actually, no — it's Great One's Wisdom," Alex's voice sounded behind her.
Alucard turned her head and saw Alex stepping out into the corridor with his hands in the pockets of his hunter coat. Hearing the name of the skull, Alucard shifted her gaze to the black skull in her hand and narrowed her eyes slightly, showing a bit of interest in the new item. She ran her finger over the cold, rough surface of the skull, listening to the whisper.
Alex also stepped closer and looked at the black skull. His eyes sparkled slightly, as he wanted to understand exactly what was contained within it. After all, he hadn't found any such items before to study them. And what he saw through his magical vision confirmed his thoughts.
Inside the black skull was a tiny fragment of understanding the world from the perspective of the Great Ones. It was like glimpsing the world through their eyes for a brief moment. At the same time, this fragment of perception carried an enormous amount of negative emotions that were best left untouched.
"From such a pathetic creature… something like this dropped. It whispers. And it's trying to tell me something," Alucard said, narrowing her eyes at the black skull in her hand.
"Better give it to me… And where did you get it?" Alex asked, taking the black skull from Alucard's hand and putting it away as far as possible.
Alex quickly stored the black skull in his inventory so Alucard wouldn't interact with it again. This was not something to be used carelessly. He trusted his wife and knew she wouldn't use anything that looked so suspicious.
Not wanting to stand still and talk, Alex led Alucard forward along the first floor of the lecture building to reach the end of the corridor, where the doors leading to the Nightmare Frontier would be. He had already examined the place with his magical vision and understood what this lecture building was.
"That thing appeared after I killed one parasite," Alucard said in a carefree tone.
"Parasite?… Oh, Patches… Pathetic bastard. I don't feel sorry for you at all," Alex said, shaking his head as he remembered who Alucard was talking about.
Understanding who Alucard meant, Alex glanced back over his shoulder, remembering the destroyed doors. He recalled who was supposed to be there. But it had slipped his mind when he saw the black skull in Alucard's hand. Alucard, having heard the name of the spider she had killed, once again showed a contemptuous smile on her face.
"So that thing had a name… How cute. But you'd better tell me about this skull. It doesn't look like an ordinary trinket. There's power in it… weak, but it's there," Alucard said, looking at Alex with a slight smile and poking his shoulder with her finger.
"That's exactly what I call this thing. Inside this skull is a fragment of the Great Ones' perception… In simple terms, it's like seeing the world through their eyes for a brief moment," Alex said, stroking his chin.
"So this artifact allows you to see the world through the eyes of those beings?" Alucard asked, raising an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest.
"It would be simpler to take out your own brain, put it in a blender, and then pour the contents back into your skull. The effect would be exactly the same," Alex said, stopping in front of a pair of wooden double doors at the end of the long corridor.
"Interesting comparison… And why have you stopped in front of this door?" Alucard said with amusement in her eyes after hearing Alex's explanation.
"Because these are the doors we need…" Alex said, beginning to push the doors open.
As soon as Alex pushed the doors, they slowly swung open. The moment the doors fully opened, a strange, alien feeling washed over them, as if something that shouldn't exist had appeared. The air suddenly became filled with something dark and negative.
On the other side was another vortex of broken space that sucked everything into itself. The sudden change in the atmosphere had no effect on Alex or Alucard — they simply didn't care. Alex took Alucard by the hand and stepped into the dark portal.
A moment later, they found themselves in a strange dark cave where a Messenger lamp glowed dimly, casting a faint gray light on the walls. Looking around the cave they had appeared in, Alex and Alucard saw hundreds of old stone tombstones of various distorted shapes. Stopping his inspection, Alex touched the Messenger lamp, lighting it up.
Alex and Alucard exited the cave, and before their eyes appeared a strange, distorted view. Everything looked as if the ground had been torn apart and folded in chaotic order. It was as if someone had ripped out an entire piece of reality, thrown it here, and decided never to touch it again. Everything Alex saw could only be described as the mad dream of a person trapped in a nightmare.
Even Alex was in such a place for the first time, and it felt wrong and unnatural to him because of how it was structured. Even the sky looked unpleasant, covered with heavy clouds that had a reddish tint. But the most unpleasant thing about this place was the feeling of being watched from all directions.
"Well… Welcome to the Nightmare Frontier. The buffer dimension between the Nightmare and the Dream," Alex said, standing on the edge of a cliff and looking at the strange landscape below.
"A strange place… And unpleasant. Everything here feels wrong," Alucard said, slightly frowning as she looked down.
"That's why it's called the Nightmare Frontier… From here, you can even see the Nightmare itself," Alex said, pointing in a certain direction.
Alucard looked at the only strange structure visible in this place — it was a tilted tower that emanated the most disgusting, sticky, and repulsive feeling. Hearing Alex's voice beside her, she shifted her gaze in the direction he was pointing. All she saw was very thick fog and a barely visible shore that was almost impossible to make out no matter how hard she stared.
Alex, on the other hand, could see everything clearly, especially the body of Kos, and he could hear the mournful cry of the Orphan of Kos. The Hunter's Nightmare dimension was a cursed, self-contained realm born from the death and rage of Kos and her child. Meanwhile, the Nightmare Frontier was merely a buffer zone — something like a corridor between two dimensions created by two different Great Ones.
"I can only see faint outlines of the shore… and they're blurry and distorted," Alucard said, trying to understand what she was seeing and feeling discomfort from this place.
"It all depends on how you look at it. From one side, it seems like we're standing on a cliff and looking down at a foggy shore from above. From the other side, the distance to that shore isn't something you can walk. The shore seems close. But in reality, it's so far away that the brain simply can't comprehend it," Alex explained.
"A disgusting place. This is completely different from anything I've ever seen… And this place truly deserves to be called the Nightmare Frontier… I would like to say I like this place. But I don't. I feel it pressing on my mind. I don't like this sensation," Alucard said, not hiding her discomfort.
"If it's unpleasant for you, I can help you deal with it," Alex said, raising his hand and looking at his wife, who had been frowning ever since they arrived.
"And how will you help me?" Alucard asked, turning her gaze to Alex.
Instead of answering, Alex touched his finger to Alucard's forehead to calm her mind. He understood that even though Alucard was an ancient Nosferatu — and the most powerful one at that — this place would still have a strong effect on her, especially on her mind.
Whether human or Nosferatu, everyone would react the same way to such a place, which would gradually drive them insane due to its unnaturalness. When Alex touched her forehead, Alucard felt the pressure on her head disappear, and everything returned to normal.
Once her mind had calmed, Alucard looked at the landscapes of the Nightmare Frontier again and quickly understood. She hadn't expected this place to affect her so strongly. Shifting her gaze to the tilted tower below, she realized who was responsible for this unpleasant feeling.
"Actually, I wanted to give this to you later… But I think now is the perfect time," Alex said, taking out a small black box from his pocket.
Alucard turned her head after Alex's words and saw an exquisite black box with red lines in his hands. She understood what was inside the box and calmly took it from him. Alucard opened the black box and saw a white gold ring with an engraving of a rose wrapping around a Victorian cross.
At the top of the ring was a small red gem that shimmered as if blood flowed inside it. Looking at the ring inside the box, Alucard experienced a whole palette of emotions. She felt happiness when she saw the ring. But at the same time, she was surprised by the intensity of those feelings.
She knew that Alex personally crafted every wedding ring for the women in his life. But receiving her own ring overwhelmed her with emotions. Alex saw Alucard's frozen gaze and took the ring out of the box. He carefully slipped it onto Alucard's ring finger.
"Do you like it?" Alex asked, looking at Alucard, who was staring at her ring finger where the wedding ring now sat.
"Yes… But, as always, you don't know how to pick the right moment to give something like this," Alucard said with a sarcastic smile.
"I was expecting to hear 'I love you' and all that. Not another comment about the timing being wrong," Alex said in a dry tone, giving Alucard an empty look.
"Of course, my love… I would say those words to you. And I could say them forever… But not when I receive something so significant in such a disgusting place… However, seeing your sad look, fine, I'll give you a small reward," Alucard said in a cheerful tone, raising her hand to look at the wedding ring before shifting her gaze to Alex.
After finishing speaking, Alucard leaned toward Alex and kissed him on the lips. Her arms slowly wrapped around his neck, pulling him into a long kiss. Neither of them cared about the place they were in. Especially Alex, because now with this ring on her finger, nothing in this place could threaten Alucard, even if the entire dimension collapsed.
After finishing the kiss, Alucard pulled back slightly and placed her palm on his cheek, gently stroking it with her thumb. Before meeting Alex, she had already forgotten what love and attachment felt like. All she had was boredom. But after he entered her life, Alucard didn't mind experiencing such feelings again, knowing that the one who loved her would never leave her.
"I wouldn't want to interrupt our very romantic moment. But this gaze is starting to irritate me," Alex said with a heavy sigh.
"Not just you, my love. This intense stare is very irritating. And now I understand why you reacted to this creature the way you did," Alucard said, removing her palm from Alex's cheek.
"Shall we go smash this disgusting bitch?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow with a bloodthirsty smile.
"With pleasure, my love," Alucard replied with the same bloodthirsty smile.
Alex smiled and wrapped his arm around Alucard's waist. He wasn't going to take a long detour just to reach Amygdala. Lifting Alucard into his arms, Alex took several steps back from the edge of the cliff. After a few wide strides, he pushed off and jumped straight toward the place where Amygdala was located.
Neither he nor Alucard had any desire to deal with the creatures that lived in this place. Holding Alucard in his arms, Alex landed right at the entrance to Amygdala's location. Setting Alucard down, Alex turned his head and saw something like a swamp behind them, where large mollusk-like creatures with many growths along their bodies were crawling.
Alex knew how and why these creatures had appeared. These mollusk-like beings had once been humans. Their transformation into such forms was the result of worshiping the Great One named Kos, who lived deep in the ocean and was worshiped by the people of the Fishing Hamlet.
And these mollusk-like creatures were only those who had managed to slip through the cracks in the Nightmare and end up here. Losing interest in these creatures, Alex turned his head and looked at a small archway embedded in the rock. Through this small arch, one could see the tall tower tilted to the side. But Alex could see that this tower was the door to the Hunter's Nightmare.
"You do understand that if anything happens, I'll intervene?" Alex asked, turning his head toward Alucard, who was staring intently at the tower.
"No need to remind me of what I already know," Alucard said, lazily waving her hand.
"I'm just reminding you. In case the real Amygdala appears and not just a projection," Alex said, putting his hands behind his head.
Alucard calmly nodded, perfectly understanding Alex's words. Such a being was not something she could kill, even with the three million souls she had absorbed still inside her. Seeing that Alucard had calmly accepted the possibility that she might not be able to fight Amygdala, Alex stepped through the archway first, leading to Amygdala's dwelling.
Passing through the arch, Alex and Alucard entered a place that resembled the nest of some creature living in the Nightmare dimension. They had barely taken a few steps forward when the space in front of them cracked, and a very long, thin arm emerged from it.
Following that arm, the owner of the limb appeared from the tear in space. The creature looked like a huge, multi-armed monster that resembled a nightmarish hybrid of a spider, a crab, and a deformed human. Amygdala's body was massive and muscular, covered in gray-blue, rough, wrinkled skin with a metallic sheen.
Amygdala had nine very long, thin, yet extremely strong arms with multiple joints. They looked bony, with protruding tendons and sharp claws at the ends. It had a huge head resembling an almond, with many openings from which small eyes glowed with an unpleasant light, giving the feeling of being watched from all directions.
Amygdala's body was strangely deformed, with protruding bones, folds of skin, and growths. It looked as if it had once been something human but had mutated and grown beyond recognition.
Seeing Amygdala, Alucard fully understood why Alex always made a face whenever he saw this creature. It looked disgusting and alien — not like a god from another dimension, but like a very large and dangerous beast born in this cursed world.
Looking at Amygdala, it seemed to Alucard that the creature's body was strangely distorting, as if there was static rippling before her eyes. Alex, on the other hand, leaned forward slightly, staring at Amygdala. What he saw made him frown. Because instead of a projection, the real Amygdala had come out to face him. But what he couldn't understand was why Amygdala had decided to appear in person.
He had two assumptions: she didn't want to let him enter the Hunter's Nightmare so he wouldn't kill the Orphan of Kos, or Amygdala had a completely different reason. Not taking his eyes off Amygdala, Alex was glad he had given Alucard the wedding ring. Otherwise, her mind would have been overloaded by seeing the real Amygdala.
"Oi, Cunt. What the hell are you doing here?" Alex asked, narrowing his eyes and looking at Amygdala, which moved and twisted unnaturally while standing near the tower.
In response to Alex's words, hundreds of different voices began to sound throughout the space, merging into one incomprehensible cacophony of chaotic sounds that overlapped and played as if someone had turned on fast reverse playback. Alex felt strong discomfort from this strange noise that came from everywhere.
It was like hundreds of people whispering directly into your ear. If any normal person had been in Alex's place, they would have already gone mad and tried to destroy their own hearing just to stop hearing it. Alucard also heard all these voices, which caused her discomfort as well. But thanks to the ring, it didn't affect her — it only irritated her.
"Oi, Cunt. Can you speak like a normal person?" Alex asked in an irritated tone, covering one ear.
"Go away. No. For you. Passage. Closed. Leave. Violation. Cycle," distorted voices sounded from all directions, barely understandable.
"You want to die? You want to stop me? If I want to enter, I'll enter through any door. If I want to break the cycle, I'll fuck this cycle and flip it upside down. Now get the hell out of here, you creature. Because you're not the first disgusting thing I've killed," Alex said, cracking his neck and staring at Amygdala.
"Go away. Leave. Cycle. Continue. Intervention," the voices sounded again from all sides.
Alex looked at Amygdala, which stood motionless like a statue, clearly showing that it intended to protect the door leading to the Nightmare. Alex slowly took a cigarette from his pocket and brought it to his lips. Lighting the cigarette, he took a small drag and exhaled the smoke.
Gradually, a slight smile appeared on his face as he realized why Amygdala had let him into this place so easily. She wanted to drive him out of Yharnam because he had begun to break the Hunt cycle that had remained unchanged. Taking another drag, Alex understood that Amygdala wasn't watching the cycle itself, but what was happening behind the scenes of this cycle.
Raising his gaze to the sky, Alex exhaled cigarette smoke. All this time, Amygdala stood motionless in the same spot, staring intently at Alex. When Alex's cigarette had burned down to half, Alucard was no longer behind him. She had hidden in Alex's shadow, just like Zhang Ya. And she had no intention of interfering in a battle of this scale. Taking another drag, Alex lowered his head and looked at Amygdala again.
"Okay… You're fucked. You don't want to open the doors for me. Then I'll open them with your disgusting head," Alex said, tossing the cigarette aside.
Alex cracked his neck and slammed his fists together. When his fists collided, the Beowulf gauntlets appeared on his hands, and the impact created a shockwave that destroyed everything around him. The shockwave was strong enough that the very space of the Nightmare Frontier cracked, and Amygdala was thrown backward.
Before Amygdala could even get up, Alex was already directly above its head. He dropped down sharply, delivering a heel strike straight to Amygdala's head. From the impact, the space around Amygdala's head cracked, and its head slammed into the ground. Amygdala braced all its limbs against the ground to rise.
But as soon as it lifted its head slightly, another strike landed on it. Alex stood on Amygdala's head and delivered one blow after another, driving its head deeper into the space of this dimension. Strange purple blood from Amygdala's head flew in all directions, including onto Alex's face, which became increasingly covered in purple blood with every strike.
"I told you. If you don't open the doors, I'll open them with your disgusting head," Alex said, not stopping his blows against Amygdala's head.
Alex didn't give Amygdala even a chance to resist. With every strike, the space of the Nightmare Frontier shattered like a glass castle. Alex had no intention of playing any games with Amygdala and saw no reason to. All he saw was an obstacle in the way of his goal.
Gradually, Amygdala's head deformed under Alex's increasingly furious strikes. Amygdala used one of its arms to grab Alex. But before the arm could even touch him, Alex simply swatted it away like an annoying fly. He jerked his hand back sharply, and the arm Amygdala had tried to grab him with simply vanished, leaving nothing behind.
But losing an arm didn't stop Amygdala from trying to throw Alex off. Noticing this, Alex cast a spell, and black spears instantly appeared in the air, pinning Amygdala's limbs to the ground. Having pinned Amygdala's limbs, Alex continued delivering blows, deforming its head even more. After delivering the final strike, Alex raised his fist above his head, and it began to glow with bright light.
"You should have stayed in your hole and watched," Alex said in a calm tone.
Alex didn't wait for Amygdala's response, nor did he want to listen to this creature. The Beowulf gauntlet glowed so brightly that it illuminated the entire Nightmare Frontier. Deciding to end this farce, Alex brought his fist down, delivering the final blow to Amygdala's head.
At that moment, there was a silent crack, as if glass had shattered, followed by a shockwave that destroyed everything around it. The entire Nightmare Frontier ceased to exist in an instant, and Amygdala's body instantly evaporated, as if it had never existed. After destroying the Nightmare Frontier, Alex began falling downward into a white, impenetrable mist.
To be continued...
(Like I said, I didn't see the point in dragging out the battle with Amygdala. For heaven's sake, it's the damn Amygdala. It's basically a pathetic god who can only wave his limbs. Fuck Amygdala. About Hunter's Nightmare. If I remember correctly, it's a pretty short passage to the end. But all I care about is Maria and the death of that scumbag Orphan Kos. And I'll try to do everything quickly, yeah. Probably. Well, you know, I can suddenly start dragging something out, just because I can. Okay, I'll go eat. Peace, love, and don't stick your fingers in the socket.)
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