The manor owner led him back to the side of the carriage and opened the door before climbing inside. Sage followed after him and they sat upon a luxurious set of soft cushions upholstered with a thick dark leather covered in way too much stitchwork. Whatever beasts it came from, they were not taken down easily. The leather from at least a dozen different creatures was stitched together in a patchwork fashion and the coloring almost looked like it was dyed with blood afterwards.

Ignoring the strange taste of this man, Sage waited patiently as the man’s servant brought out a horse-sized black dog with three heads. The dog was attached to the front of the carriage and then the servant jumped up to the driver’s seat to guide the carriage up the ramp and out of this strange building. Sage was surprised to see what he could call a Cerberus not just existing on this world, but also being used as a draft horse. It brought him once again to that strange question of why creatures known on Earth also existed in this world. Did they exist long ago in Earth’s past and their memory remained? Did certain people merely see them in their dreams and spread their existence to the world? Were dreams connected to some other realm? Were there secretly immortals or cultivators on Earth? Maybe someone had experienced the opposite of his own experience, a being from this world reincarnated on Earth.

This current host was very quiet and uninteresting so Sage entertained himself with these thoughts. He only looked out the window to see how this carriage was going to deal with the fact that this level was a massive swamp. Surprisingly, they didn’t do a thing. The Cerberus out front and the carriage itself actually traveled a few inches over the surface of the ground and water. Somehow the Demonic Beast’s feet and the wheels of the carriage traveled upon an invisible surface, never touching the mud, water, and squishy ground. It treated it all as smooth ground, weaving quite easily between the trees and marsh grass.

They traveled away from the man’s home and Sage waited to see what sort of place the man had chosen to trust with his belongings. They moved towards one of the boardwalk style settlements, but then the carriage turned away from it and moved into a dense forest that looked just as gloomy as the manor owner’s property from before. This area had far more trees than the man’s property did with somewhat solid ground rather than the spongy bog. While Sage was waiting for some other hidden property to reveal itself, the carriage came to a stop.

The crack toothed man climbed out of the carriage and Sage followed after him, waiting for the secret of this place to be shown. The trees around the small clearing they were in slowly began to move, their gnarled branches twisting and curling, growing in a fashion that Sage was quite familiar with. They stretched out to their neighbors and the clearing was soon surrounded by thick intertwined tree branches. A wooden cage slowly formed around them and Sage waited patiently. He tapped the ground with one foot, sending a surge of energy into the soil to test for a Formation Array. He was guessing this was some sort of security system and they’d get lowered down by a platform or sent somewhere else with a Transportation Array.

Unfortunately, he was proven wrong. Things were far simpler. The creepy manor owner took a few steps away and turned around to face Sage. While he did this, the servant disconnected the Cerberus from the carriage and opened a compartment beneath his seat, bringing out a long box. He carried the box over to the manor owner and held the case open for his master. Sage blinked as the object pulled out fit another stereotype. The man brandished his curve-bladed polearm while his servant’s black gloves sprouted long blades from its fingertips. With the huge three-headed dog behind them Sage really felt like he’d stepped into a gothic horror. To complete the effect, the dark forest had come to life. The trunks of the trees twisted and formed faces complete with sharp fangs dripping red sap while their roots stretched out, whipping like tentacles towards him.

“So, you are refusing to pay the Dream Dealer what you owe him? Do you understand the penalties? Are you ready to accept them?”

Sage spoke without any fear of the situation he was in. The man across from him was rippling with law energy and Sage felt something resonating with the darkness and also the trees around them. He couldn’t quite place what the laws were yet, but he was surprised to find they were empowering the man’s servant and pet as well as the trees. It would definitely make him much more troublesome to fight against if he could use his law power to strengthen his subordinates.

“The Dream Dealer is already dead and gone. Do you think that I, the great Count Voctem, would be afraid of a dead man? It’s bold of you to try and use his name, but now you shall meet your end. Thank you, as your sacrifice shall nourish my scythe, Soultaker.”

The cracked tooth manor owner, Count Voctem, brandished his black bladed scythe and started to walk towards Sage. The black dog rushed towards him while the servant rushed towards the side to circle around towards Sage’s back. A jade aura sprang to life around Sage’s body and he stomped hard upon the ground, rushing towards the huge dog and twisting his upper body to strike the beast with his right elbow. The central head bit towards his arm while the other two crowded towards his sides, trying to overwhelm him with its trio of biting jaws that were bigger than Sage’s head.

The Cerberus’ central head pulled back slightly, dodging the elbow swinging towards its snout. It recoiled just enough to avoid the impact and then bit down again, trying to catch hold of Sage’s elbow and bicep. Sage quickly lifted his left arm, bracing it in front of his face to block the Cerberus' rightmost head. It bit down on his left forearm, but the central head was not so lucky. A green spike shot out from the back of the central head, extending a few feet out of it. The middle head of the Cerberus whimpered and its jaws weakened, trying to pull away but unable to escape. The right head locked onto Sage’s arm while the left bit him upon the back.

Biting onto his left arm, the right head suddenly weakened, realizing it was biting down onto poison and it tried to escape as well, but when its bite loosened slightly it was enough for Sage to twist his arm free. He pulled his left arm back and then threw an uppercut. As his hand moved a bright green blade extended outwards and sliced the Cerberus’ head from chin to snout. The huge dog retreated with a whimper. The short instant of combat ended with two of its heads being disabled by the blades extending from Sage’s wrists.

Count Voctem didn’t seem to care at all, as he was now only a single step away from Sage. The scythe in his hands was now sheathed in a thick aura of blackish-green energy. It swung towards Sage and he started to step back, but then he realized his feet were pinned to the ground. He glanced down and saw the servant had stabbed his clawed glove into his shadow.

Well, this isn’t good.