Chapter 519: Professional Field
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com
With a thunderous gunshot, a man in a blue uniform fell dramatically to the floor. Blood pooled around him as his body twitched, giving the appearance of someone in their final moments. The scene appeared like a straightforward murder, adding a dramatic flair to the “crime.” The convulsions of the body made it clear to Heidi that she had “killed” an ordinary man.
Yet, Heidi stood still, her face emotionless, listening intently to the sounds around her—the wind rustling through the grass, the eerie stillness that followed the gunshot.
Under normal circumstances, the shot would have echoed through the building, alerting security and guards. Strangely, the hallway remained silent, as if the place were deserted.
Heidi’s chest bore a crystal pendant, warm to the touch. This pendant, not a gift from any divine source, was highly effective in keeping her mind clear. It wasn’t the same pendant her father had acquired from an antique shop; that one had crumbled in a past incident. This new pendant, brimming with the same powerful energy, was a replacement from the same old shopkeeper.
After a moment, Heidi exhaled softly. She held a revolver, recently retrieved from a hidden compartment in her suitcase, and set the suitcase down. From it, she extracted a long golden spike, a tool from her medical kit, never taking her eyes off the body before her. “Impressive performance, but isn’t it time to stop pretending?”
The “dead” man had stopped twitching. At Heidi’s words, he stirred and stood up easily, showing no sign of a gunshot wound. He looked at Heidi, the psychiatrist who had “shot” him, and asked, “When did you catch on?”
Gripping her gun and spike firmly, Heidi faced the “dream intruder” with composure. “The room had only one bed. The game was up the moment I noticed the ’empty space’ beside it.”
“Remarkable,” the intruder said, amused. “Few can detect such anomalies once they’re trapped in a dream. Certainly not so quickly.” Beside him, an eerie darkness began to form. At first, it looked like shadow or smoke, but it soon solidified into a distinct shape. “This includes many ‘trained psychiatrists’,” he added mockingly.
Heidi’s eyes narrowed as she focused on the shadowy apparition materializing next to him. As its form became clearer, her voice tinged with alarm, “Nightmare Jellyfish… a servant of Annihilation?”
The recognition seemed to solidify the creature’s presence. A jellyfish-like entity, made of swirling dust and shadows, floated beside the intruder. It was tethered to his head by a dark, chain-like appendage. The creature pulsated ominously, and from its body, tentacle-like structures sprouted, stretching perilously close to Heidi.
A deep sense of dread and urgency welled up within her. She felt her mental defenses being assailed by this insidious force. The enemy’s infiltration into her mind had been stealthy, and she realized that had she not identified the Nightmare Jellyfish, she might’ve already fallen victim to its mind-altering abilities.
Without hesitation, she gripped the golden spike in her hand and plunged it into her own temple.
A sound like a distant thunderclap reverberated in her consciousness. Her surroundings quaked violently. The sickroom contorted grotesquely. Walls melted, revealing layers of decaying flesh. The floor cracked, teeming with unsettling, squirming creatures. The Nightmare Jellyfish, caught off-guard, emitted a shrill, agonized scream as its tentacles recoiled.
As quickly as they had appeared, both the intruder and the Nightmare Jellyfish evaporated, fading away like mist.
Yet, Heidi remained alert, her grip on the gun and spike unwavering. She assessed her condition while staying hyper-aware of her surroundings. The intruder might be temporarily out of sight, but she knew he wasn’t defeated or gone.
Her surroundings retained their dreamlike quality, showing no signs of dissipating.
As she steadied herself, memories of her studies at the Truth Academy flooded back, offering guidance.
The Nightmare Jellyfish, an offshoot of shadow demons, had a vaporous form akin to dark smoke. They possessed deadly and peculiar supernatural abilities, especially for assaulting the minds and senses of their victims. Summoners could harness their psychic damage spells or extract the energy from these demons, unleashing it as acidic projectiles.
While most shadow demons had sturdier physical forms, the Nightmare Jellyfish was frailer but ranked among the most lethal. Victims would often be mentally incapacitated before they had a chance to retaliate. Cunning cultists symbiotically coexisted with these demons, accentuating their attributes and making them even more formidable.
The warmth from the crystal pendant on Heidi’s chest grew more pronounced. She sensed malevolent forces trying to overwhelm her psyche. But the pendant’s energy acted as a shield, neutralizing these onslaughts and ensuring her mental clarity remained intact.
An impending sense of danger gripped Heidi in this delicate balance between invasion and defense. Out of instinct, she raised her weapon but halted mid-aim when a figure materialized before her.
It was Morris, wearing an expression of bewilderment. “Heidi?” he asked, confused and concerned. “What’s happening? Are you in a nightmare?”
“Yes,” Heidi affirmed. She squeezed the trigger without pause, firing as she spoke. “I’m uncertain of the full situation. A cultist of Annihilation interfered with my hypnosis session. But from what I recall, not even the Nightmare Jellyfish can manipulate the dream world.”
The gunshot resounded, its flash briefly illuminating her surroundings. Morris, with a look of disbelief, staggered before collapsing.
Almost instantly, another figure appeared. An older woman, bearing a look of deep concern, gazed at Heidi. It was her mother.
“Heidi, what are you doing? Why would you…”
“I’m conducting a therapy session,” Heidi replied, pulling the trigger once more, her tone nonchalant.
As her mother’s image crumbled, another figure began to form. But before it could fully manifest, Heidi preemptively fired her weapon, dispelling another apparition.
“You’re underestimating your opponent, Mr. Invader,” Heidi chided, shaking her head in mild disappointment. “Did you really think such a rudimentary ruse would ensnare me? And let’s not even mention Vanna if that is who you will use next. If it were genuinely her, she’d catch the bullet, mold it into a sphere, and fling it back at me without breaking a sweat…”
The procession of illusions ceased.
From somewhere unseen, a gravelly voice queried, “Why does none of this affect you?”
“Isn’t it evident?” Heidi replied coolly. “I’m aware that I’m trapped in a contorted dream, so naturally, I’m impervious to these phantasms you’ve conjured. But I suspect that’s not what truly baffles you. Perhaps you’re astounded that I remain resolute even when confronted by the repeated deaths of loved ones inflicted by my own hand. Such a repeated traumatic scene would mentally burden most, and over time, their logical barriers might crumble, regardless of their awareness. But, Mr. Invader, I’ve undergone specialized training.”
As she explained, the seasoned psychiatrist calmly lifted her firearm, pressing its cold muzzle against her temple.
“Do you comprehend the merits of having secured both a master’s degree and a doctorate, all fully funded, from the prestigious Truth Academy, Mr. Invader?”
Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger. The deafening sound of the gunshot filled the space as she fired a bullet through her own head. As she momentarily faltered, another version of Heidi seamlessly emerged from her shadow.
The recurring gunshots echoed throughout the twisted room. Impossibly, her six-chambered revolver seemed to have an infinite supply of bullets. Heidi, or perhaps her “clones”, kept firing round after round at her own temple, each shot giving birth to another duplicate. Armed with the golden spike-shaped instruments, these replicas dispersed in various directions—into the room’s nooks and crannies, through doors, and down eerie corridors.
“You’ve made a grave error challenging me in my field of expertise, Mr. Invader,” Heidi remarked, her tone dripping with contempt as she raised the gun to her temple one final time. “And never, ever disrupt my patient sessions. I utterly detest being made to work overtime!”
The myriad of Heidi duplicates swiftly fanned out, traversing the grotesquely altered medical facility. Their mission: to meticulously scour this infiltrated dream for any anomalies or “cognitive voids”—potential points of entry or hideaways used by the invader.
Yet, as her replicas delved deeper into the dream’s intricacies, Heidi’s expression clouded with sudden uncertainty.
“…Did he leave?”
Wow, she can be cooler than I expected…
Professionals have standards
Oh, so the author saw a certain unhinged character from “Date a Live” multiplying with a headshot to her own temples, huh?
This is similar to how MC from Persona 3 activates his power.