****(POV)

Everything around the creature was dark and cramped. It could deal with the darkness just fine, for it was made of it, but not the latter. It longed for more. It wished to gallop freely across the land.

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It knew that it needed to wait, but for how long? It would be able to come out when the summoning ritual would be over. Its job was to destroy the ones that would intrude upon the Tower.

One could have wondered how it knew all this, especially that it was born a mere 5 minutes ago. It was all thanks to the Creator who had shown it generosity. It went like this.

[Generating Success!]

[Adding Basic Nightmare Knowledge. Success!]

[Adding Basic Tower Knowledge. Success!]

[Adding Basic Combat Knowledge. Success!]

[Adding Basic Human Knowledge. Success!]

[Awaiting Summoning, Current Status: Standby!]

That moment was life-defining for the young Nightmare. It had learned about its identity, about the world surrounding it, and had found its life purpose in one go.

Learning all of this at once made it feel something, but it didn't have the knowledge to know what it was exactly. It did not bother itself with it, for it was probably a waste of time. It needed to prepare itself for its mission.

It couldn't wait for it would serve the all-powerful Tower and be able to run freely. How amazing would that be! It was a bit envious of its brethren that were already out there having fun.

But it would wait patiently. It would have plenty of time to run later. If anything, it could even voluntarily make the fight last longer to enjoy running. One was allowed such a thing to induce despair into the Players.

Ah, but it was important to take the job seriously. A good option was to kill 3-4 out of the team of 5 to assure no reversal could happen. Afterward, it was fine to play. Such were the rules of the Tower.

That's when came the sound of chimes:

♪DING! ♪

This noise was heavenly and filled its very soul with so much joy. It was the sound of freedom! Then it heard its brethren calling him. It was time. A dark portal appeared, and it crossed it resolutely and expectantly.

On the other side, there was a human. Yes, a single human. He didn't look particularly strong and had evidently lost its whole party! It also meant that it would be able to toy with the target for a while. But first, it would maul him until he couldn't walk.

It could hear the human saying something about taming. Perhaps it was shocked about the name? It was probably shaken from the loss. Humans would act weirdly when their companions died in front of them.

It charged at the human without wasting a second. That's when he jumped on its back! For the young Nightmare, it was a time of surprise, shock, and crisis!

Surprise because the human didn't seem as devastated as he should have been. He had jumped on its back so swiftly, and he had even luckily evaded when it tried to eat him.

Shock because it turned out not to be luck, but skills. Somehow, the man could predict every movement it would make. There was also the whole 'setting up threads' part that had been super annoying.

Crisis because, no matter what it did, there was no way of getting rid of the human. None! It had tried sudden acceleration, sudden deceleration, sudden rearing, and sudden rolling! But it all failed.

That is when the Nightmare decided to take a break. Well, it kept running, but it stopped fighting. Instead, it decided to wait for the human to get tired. These soft fleshy creatures were so vulnerable on that point!

Anyway, that's how it went from walking, to trotting, to cantering, to galloping, and finally to going full speed ahead. It could feel its hooves burrowing slightly in the sand, it could feel its legs moving in unison, and it could hear the sound of freedom once more.

It now went CLIP CLOP! CLIP CLOP!

It was so beautiful! Nightmares were meant to be roaming, not to be confined in a small dark cage. It was so delighted that it stopped paying attention to the human. In any case, he was too weak to pierce its defenses.

It's only after having lots of fun that it finally observed its passenger. It had stopped moving altogether. What was it doing? It was standing up, eyes closed, and had a small smile on his face. It was sleeping in this position?!

This didn't fit its knowledge. Humans were supposed to establish defense perimeters. Then they would let their weak and vulnerable members sleep in the middle. This man couldn't do that since he had lost his herd. But! Why wasn't he lying down?!

Was there an issue with the information the Tower had provided? No! Such a thing was obviously impossible. Had he used some skill to be able to do that? It was so damn puzzling!

The human would be in for a rude awakening! That is how the Nightmare increased the pace! It ran faster, stopped abruptly, even bashed itself against the outer walls. Surely this would have done the trick! But no!

Somehow it seemed like the human was able to balance himself to remain standing. How?! Who knew. But then, it noticed something that sent its very soul in disarray. He wasn't just doing that! No, he was eating too!

He would grab some of its brethren's meat with some kind of weird weapon. The memories the Tower had given it didn't include this either.

It felt at a complete loss. What was happening?! It was confused, but it did realize one thing. People ate to gain energy and strength. Humans especially were forced to eat regularly.

What did this mean? It just had to stop it from eating, and it would eventually fall! Well, maybe. After all, this one was a freak! That is how it figured what it would do.

Instead of running aimlessly, it began running toward the flesh of its brethren. It would swallow it before the human could! It dashed and ate one, and It felt so good!

It wasn't a creature that usually ate physical food. So the food was wasted on it, but the feeling of victory was the best. For once, it had won over the seemingly invincible human! How sad it was, but it didn't care at that moment.

It felt drunk on this feeling of pleasure as it dashed toward the next target and chomped on it…only to bite air. Then it could see something thin and long right in front of him, bringing the meat along.

No! It was so close! Thus began a food snatching fight. The Nightmare began losing big time! It felt like crying, but nightmares didn't have tear ducts, so it couldn't. It could see the other nightmares in the distance looking at it puzzled.

It was supposed to be the chosen one, The Prime Nightmare! It was the one that was supposed to terrorize humans.

It would use its great speed to charges at the backline and slaughter everyone.

It would use its resilience to take head-on the many attacks that would go its way.

It would use its cunning to outmaneuver the enemy. It was smarter than most monsters residing in the Tower around that Floor.

But what was it supposed to do now?! This was madness! Pure and utter madness! That is when it had a flash of genius! The human was sleeping, right? It would use its aura as a Nightmare to give him …well, nightmares.

Would that even work? It didn't have anything to lose, that was for sure. It gathered its spirit. After a few minutes, it was finally ready. It unleashed it all toward the human. There was no way he was going to be fine.

This technique was one that only monsters could use. It was impossible for humans, for they were 'civilized beings'. This just meant that they had become weak and pitiful. How would the human react? Would he finally fall off?

But that's when it felt it. The human was doing the same. How?! Wait, no. It was something else. It wasn't a monstrous technique at all. It was worse! What the hell?! Suddenly, the world around the Nightmare went dark.

The Nightmare was back in its small cramped waiting room. But this time it knew, it would be there forever. It tried freeing itself, but no matter what, it couldn't. It felt invisible bindings around its body.

It couldn't breathe! Nightmares didn't breathe. Why was it suffocating then?! But then it understood. Above its head, there were red glowing eyes. They were the ones making it suffocate.

What was it supposed to do against that?! It felt naked. It was too! Ah, that too was normal for a Nightmare.

It felt as if its very soul was getting crushed and ripped apart. It couldn't explain it. But then, as easily as it started, it was over.

The human was still in the same posture, still on its back. He wasn't moving and hadn't done anything either. That's when it realized it. This whole thing had just been a backlash. Had it not tried the intimidation, it would never have happened.

What the hell was happening? It didn't know anymore. It just felt like lying down and sleeping. Nightmares didn't sleep, never. But it did feel like it.

That's when the human moved an arm and threw something out. It scared it at first, but then it realized that it was a rat. Just a rat, It was lying there lifelessly too, not moving an inch.

It wouldn't approach it. No way! Who knew if it wouldn't turn into a dragon suddenly?! That is when one of the brethren approached it. They weren't supposed to intervene in the fight, but…this was fine.

It then chomped hard on the creature, only to Neigh in pain as the creature was incredibly sturdy. It sure had dodged a bullet there! It would only calmly stay here ann enjoy itself. But just as it thought that it saw the human suddenly start moving on its back.

Oh god, no! This Nightmare didn't want to fight anymore!! But its prayers remained unanswered, for the human was crawling toward its head. Nooooo!...