Nightmare Mythos

Cesar's squad mostly spent practicing, with only a few meetings where they talked to each other since everything that had to be said had already been told when they first formed their cohort.

Now, they were looking out for formation strategies and timings. They analyzed the strengths of their squad and merely ignored their weaknesses, finding out their expertise complimented each other.

There weren't even any facets or glimpses of techniques shown yet. Of course, their actions weren't on the part of complete finesse yet, they aren't even close. But because their group is very open-minded with mistakes and is very suggestive, their progress is top-notch amongst the other squads.

They were learning some and most of them learned through Jacqueline who shared her views regarding their progress.

"Not good enough,"

She might not look like it or think that way but her actions portray that she's a bit perfectionist. What appears good to others isn't satisfactory to her. What seemed to be beyond the right result didn't mean a hundred percent to the cold Jacqueline.

"Hah…"

Cesar was barely breathing, understanding that Jacqueline had done the training they were going through herself. Now it was becoming more sense why she was able to do with the impossible without much sweat.

She was a monster herself.

Finally, the group slumped down on the ground, beads of sweat relentlessly falling under their training clothes, drenching them as if a bucket of water was thrown at them.

They had been doing this since the day they talked to each other. Nobody complained or gave a dissing opinion that undermined Jacqueline's training regime and battle prowess just because 'they couldn't do it'

"If you guys are not enduring this enough, then you're not going to last long." Jacqueline whose tone was full of spite, started to nag the group once more, "Nightmares are creatures full of unpredictability. Hence the least you could do while garnering its power is resisting it yourself. Endurance, guys. The more you endure, the more chances appear,"

Jacqueline picked up a box remote in her hand and pushed the turn-off button where the visual art of a lesser Nightmare creature was showing itself, fighting the squad themselves. This type of training was exclusive only to the top ten students in the academy, leaving them a spacious room for themselves.

The harrowing horror disappeared without a trace and all that was left was the flickering light where the Nightmare once stood.

With a sigh, she continued, having the same nagging tone, "You anticipate too much of being coherent with your team that you exert more steps than what should've motioned. This must appear to be natural, something that doesn't need thinking and just goes through the flow,"

"Through the flow…" Cesar muttered silently before raising his hand, "If we're just going through the flow, we might not be able to think. Wouldn't that mean we're at risk of corruption?"

Even after drinking the potion, every student in the academy who had gone through the selection knew there were post risks, which is the worst type of risk. Unable to control the power they have taken just because they indulge themselves too much in their instinct will only put them in a disadvantageous position.

But Jacqueline wasn't going to accept that reason as if he didn't have a choice left. With a brow raised, she answered his inquiry.

"Yes, but would you even think such a thing when you're facing the danger on your front? Let me tell you now that it will not. All you will ever think about is how to survive and kill your opponent. Hence, my points still stand earlier. Go through the flow, hone your instinct, and become natural with it,"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well if you can't even do that, I guess the teaching from the academy isn't enough to mold you to do so. It is probably why this deployment was made in the first place. After all, the better way to test out your hard-earned skills is through real-life experiences,"

Jacqueline paused, "Remember this, a thousand practices didn't come close to a real one battle. If you don't put everything into that battle alone, you might as well end up dead,"

Cesar and the rest of the squad couldn't help but stare at Jacqueline with incredulous faces. For a moment, they realized that she spoke full of emotions and very hefty long wordings. It was the first for them to see it.

'She's really capable,'

Gladden at the fact that Jaqueline was even providing insights for them to do, no one really rebut whatever she told. Some others might've known but in other words, she said was very precise that there's no need for any additional explanation.

"I'll give you a demonstration,"

Raising their eyebrows with surprise, Cesar and the rest settled down on the floors away from the sweat that they produced. It's because they were privileged enough to peer through her battle prowess while showing them the lesson she intended to imply.

After all, only they have been training. Jacqueline who understood that her job was to strengthen the cohort to raise the level of their effectiveness in an unforeseen combat, had only been teaching and not joining them.

Now she was about to show why she didn't have to.

"I'm going to modify the strength of the virtual nightmare to fifteen percent. So that is now equivalent to fifty to its real strength when it was alive,"

Jacqueline kept clicking the remote on her hand to make some adjustments before finally being done with it. She positioned herself in the middle of the room and threw the remote onto Cesar before picking up a wooden sword on the floor.

"Push the start button after a few seconds. It's the green button,"

"I know what a start button is. Just get ready,"

Jacqueline stared at him blankly before putting all her attention on the front. After a few seconds, a holographic image of a Nightmare manifested. However, it wasn't all images but a technology made to mimic a Nightmare which was also made by the infamous craftsmen using different kinds of materials to make this technology possible.

These people were really masters of their craft, knowing they were also the ones who invented the specialized guns.

This Nightmare who appeared rather tall had one large arm and a small one at the other. Its face appeared disoriented as its organs were all over the place.

Once it was fully manifested, it stared at Jacqueline for a brief moment.

"Starting now… 3, 2,1…"

Right at the moment the green button started, Jacqueline's figure swiftly made her way to the Nightmare who moved as well, albeit a bit slower than her.

Whoosh—!

The Nightmare, anticipating her actions, thrust its huge arm down, making Jacqueline swiftly avoid it by making a huge turn on the side.

With a huge momentum to take a break, the creature swung its arm as if rotating in a circular motion but Jacqueline wasn't on its field vision.

It immediately looked around and felt a person lunging from the air which it immediately put its gaze onto. Once the holographic monster noticed her mid-air, it reached out its large arm to try and catch her.

But as if she was anticipating all over this inside her head, completely making the monster convince itself she was a bit too late for everything, Jacqueline made a huge twist and used the arm of the creature to use momentum to jump.

Tak—!

With her hands clenched to the grip of the wooden sword, Jacqueline used every strength she had to cut the monster down.

The wooden sword hit the monster's head cleanly as black lines were left on its trace. Yet instead of completely giving up, the monster tried to grab her with a little bit of strength left but Jacqueline was already swift in her movement.

Appearing right behind the nightmare, knowing she wouldn't let the chance slip by, Jacqueline thrust her sword forward, the tip of the wooden sword piercing through the chest of the monster.

As if she wasn't done, she held the grip tightly once more and used all her strength to connect the attack upwards, splitting the upper part of the nightmare into two.

Shivering, the monster slumped down on its knees before falling lifelessly to the ground. She looked at her squad and just quietly stood there.

Watching her all indifferent, Cesar couldn't help but raise his hand to break the ice, "What you executed didn't involve any 'coherency' among the team honestly. Wasn't that your point? I mean, we just watched you solo a nightmare half of its power. It didn't involve any cooperation,"

Jacqueline creased her brows as if she was completely misunderstood but as soon as her mouth opened, there were no words left from it.

She closed her mouth for a moment and lightly coughed, "The actual point is… no amount of strategies can defeat absolute power,"

'She's lying… Don't tell me she forgot what she was aiming for… just to fight a holographic Nightmare because the way I see it, that seems to be the case,'

The others were compelled to ask her another set of lessons herself but Cesar could feel that she was yapping to make everyone forget the question he raised.

Though setting that aside, everything she said and did was correct so there's nothing bad about it.