Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 36: Scaring people with a slightly unusual husky.

Content Warning: Depictions of gore and include potentially disturbing images.

''Hah... That was nerve-wracking.''

''Mhm.''

The Crown Princess and the Saintess left shortly after the discussion. It's only us two in the private room of the cafeteria now.

''Well, that's good enough for now, I suppose.'' Chloe leans her body toward me and puts her head on my shoulder. ''And... I think it worked. For the Saintess.''

Chloe grabs my left hand with her right hand, both have a silver ring on the fourth finger.

''I suppose. She wouldn't be that calm if she knew what you and I were thinking.''

That's right, the Saintess has a unique skill that allows her to read people's thoughts, although it doesn't show on her status. It is supposedly a secret skill of hers, and I'm pretty sure this is where the 'uncannily good at reading people' came from.

Either way, I think we were able to block her skill with these rings. The Saintess is crazy enough, I don't want to make her even more crazy by revealing that this world is just a game—was what Chloe said. And I certainly don't want anyone to look at my thoughts, that would be immensely uncomfortable.

''What's next... Right, we have to take care of that old-ass fake professor as well...''

''Leave that to me.'' I take a bite of the cake on the table and say. ''Just in time, I have something to test.''

''...Really?'' 

Chloe looks up at me with her round, almost sparkling blue pupils.

''Yes. You've done quite a lot over the last month, take a break.''

''This is why I love you...!''

*****

Professor Johnathan has a dark secret.

On the outside, he is a respected teacher of the most prestigious academy in the world, with over two decades of experience in teaching and a soft personality, he is many students' favorite.

On the inside, however, he is a devout believer of the demon god, belonging to the notorious cult—Ravenous Moon. He was told by the higher-ups some time ago that things would soon escalate, and the day when every believer could witness the descent of the mighty dark lord was coming. He was and still is overjoyed.

As an executive who had a hand in the academy, he was told that his job was to clean off any obstacles that could hinder the process, yes, like the girl with the rare light element. So he ordered his subordinates to hatch a scheme to kill her.

That didn't go very well. His underlings were caught by none other than the heiress of Luminous, and even his puppet, that being Maria Oriana, was somehow freed of her restrain.

Johnathan is frustrated, but there's nothing he can do aside from waiting for the next opportunity to strike.

Tonight as well, he is going to sleep like normal after class, drifting into dreamland and fantasizing about the day his god dominates the world.

Deep into the night, when an eerie silence envelops the academy, Johnathan is fast asleep in his room. Through the large window near his bed, dim light from the full moon hanging in the sky seeps in, illuminating half of the space.

One half of the room is bright, the other half is pitch-black.

And from that dark corner, two pairs of shining eyes are staring intently at Johnathan. One is a pair of slit orange eyes, while the other is a pair of azure eyes.

Aurora, in her main body, has just teleported inside the room with her pet Smiley. During the day, she pretended to get lost and wandered exactly into this room, all just to fulfill the activating condition of [Teleportation].

The owl girl looks down at her pet and chins the man sleeping on the bed lightly, signaling the start of this operation.

Immediately, the unusual husky uses his two unique skills—[Induce Madness] and [Dream Invasion]. A blood-red aura bursts out from his fluffy body, enveloping the whole room, while his eyes shine even brighter.

Meanwhile, inside Johnathan's dream.

Johnathan is walking down a road filled with demons, on the sky hangs a blood-red moon. The demons each have a different appearance, one is slender like a stick, one is buffed like an orc, and one has its head missing,... All of them have the same feature—they're immensely strong. In fact, their strength is precisely what Johnathan worships and pursues.

BZZT—!!

''?!''

Suddenly, the whole world glitches. The scene changes abruptly, and Jonathan now finds himself walking down a narrow road inside an eerie forest. The blood-red moon is long gone, but somehow, he can still see forward... However, he would certainly like not to.

''W-What?!''

Johnathan is horrified.

On the lifeless grey trees and leaves that are dyed with blood hang... Human organs. The heavily mutilated parts dangle on the branches, scattered across the ground, and stuffed into the trees themselves.

The heavy smell of blood filled the air. His body bruises past the intestines hanging, giving him goosebumps every second.

''Ugh...!''

He wants to run away, but is unable to. His legs move by themselves, forcing him to advance. 

Eventually, he reaches an old wooden house in a clearing.

By this point, Johnathan is already losing his mind. He doesn't enjoy killing people, he just did it to obtain more strength, so seeing all that gore drives him insane. He wants to puke so badly, but his body keeps doing things of its own.

clack—!

The old door sounds a loud creaking noise as he opens it. 

''...?''

Inside the old house is nothing but a simple table, and on it, a large dog is sitting, facing away from him.

'It's just a dog looking out the window...'

He sighs with relief. But inside his mind, something still seems wrong. And turns out, his premonition is... Absolutely right. 

''!!!"

When he least expects it, the dog abruptly turns around.

Johnathan's whole body shudders violently.

''AAH!!''

He snaps out of the dream, jerking out of bed. That terrifying scene was just a dream!

''...?''

But... Why can't he move? And why... Why can he see his... Headless body...

tock—! tock—!

Drops of blue blood run down to the tip of the blue-tinted blade, eventually falling onto the bedsheet.

Aurora has been holding her sword near the man's throat ever since he showed signs of demonification earlier. Who'd expected him to cut his own head like this...

''Ugh...''

Regardless of that, the sight is quite uncomfortable for Aurora, and her hand holding the sword trembles a bit. She had resolved to kill even before coming here, and this one is already a half-demon, but still... She feels quite nasty right now.

''Hah... Good job, Smiley.''

Her pet gained two levels, while Aurora herself gained one. It's quite a good harvest.

And now she knows that scare tactics like these should be pretty effective against human enemies. Maybe she should introduce Mister Slen to this soon.

''Let's go back.''

Aurora and Smiley teleport back to their cave. 

There is still time before sunrise. Aurora suddenly feels like hunting with her siblings tonight.

*****