She is not an investigator.

Constantine casually opened his box and pulled out a uniquely shaped amulet from among the dazzling array of items.

Those were the talismans he left behind, representing deviation.

It may seem difficult to understand literally, but this amulet is indeed the best defense against potentially fatal attacks.

The deviation will cause all attacks launched against him to deviate to varying degrees.

However, the talisman only works a few times. Even someone like him, who has spent almost the first half of his life studying these things, would find it difficult to create a talisman that can be used frequently.

"...Hopefully nothing too serious will happen."

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Thirty-Two, The Train's Dream

A chaotic and noisy sound suddenly rang in Igris's ears, and as she opened her eyes again amidst the deep darkness before her.

The seats and driver's cab, which should have been crowded, were empty. The iron door behind them was twisted in an extremely terrifying shape, as if it had been forcibly torn open by something.

Meanwhile, inside the carriages outside, all sorts of indescribable sounds were swirling around.

Sometimes it was the sound of metal rubbing together, sometimes the sound of flesh tearing, sometimes the sound of bones breaking, and sometimes a piercing scream.

Igris instinctively pulled out her pistol, carefully stepped out of the driver's cab, and entered the first carriage.

It was exceptionally dark here, with almost no other light source visible except for a dim, yellowish lantern casting a faint glow.

The lantern was currently hanging from Cecilia's waist, and it was stained with some blood.

The strong, pungent smell of blood rushed into Igris's nostrils almost instantly, and the intense sensation made her involuntarily furrow her brow slightly.

In her eyes, the dark carriage was filled with all sorts of corpses.

Some looked like people, but their skin was black and they had no facial features. Others looked like some kind of animal, and they were all lying on the ground with broken bodies.

Cecilia was kneeling on the ground, and directly in front of her was the path leading to the second carriage.

"Cecilia?"

Igris slowly walked to her side, looked at her motionless figure, and patted her on the shoulder.

An unimaginable sticky and damp sensation emerged in Igris's palm, accompanied by an even more pungent smell of blood. Large amounts of blood also began to gush from Cecilia, who was kneeling in front of her.

First the arms, then the shoulders, then the abdomen, waist, and neck.

Her skin was almost soaked in blood, and various wounds appeared on different parts of her body.

Cuts, punctures, bites.

Before Igris could examine whether there were any fatal wounds, a gust of wind suddenly grazed past Igris's cheek.

puff-

A spurt of blood appeared on Igris's cheek, and blood slowly flowed down from her cut.

Cecilia's body fell backward without warning, collapsing to the ground with her eyes closed, revealing a huge, even somewhat exaggerated, wound on her chest.

Enough to be fatal.

Igris had no time to react and had no way of pinpointing what or where the thing that had suddenly attacked her was.

But if things continue like this, Cecilia will become the next Igris to suffer the same fate.

Boom—!

A burst of dazzling flames erupted from Igris's body, and her hat, along with the wound on her cheek, vanished in the flames.

The dark carriage was completely engulfed in flames, and a piercing scream rang out above Igris's head.

"Up there...!"

Just as she tried to look up, another gust of wind came straight at her face.

Only then did Igris finally see what it was.

It was an insect, a huge, bizarrely shaped, jet-black insect covered in sharp spikes.

Faced with the scorching flames, it kept emitting ear-piercing screams and hurling its sharp spikes at Igris again and again.

But the spikes could not pierce the flames, and what truly fell upon her were only ashes, one after another, ashes that had vanished.

boom--!

Without hesitation, Igris pulled the trigger, instantly shattering the still-screaming insect.

The flames on her body gradually subsided until they disappeared completely.

Igris glanced at the dead insect, then went to Cecilia, who was slumped on the ground, and checked her breathing.

Unexpectedly, even though her injuries were so severe that it was almost impossible for her to survive, she was still alive, albeit with extremely weak breath.

But as long as she's alive, Igris can pull her back from hell.

Clang——

Igris immediately pulled out the hilt of her sword, and as the blade sprang out, she also cut off the sleeve of her coat without hesitation.

It wasn't until Igris used that ridiculously simple strip of cloth to tightly wrap around Cecilia's wound, which almost revealed her ribs, that Cecilia, who should have been unconscious, slowly opened her eyes.

But as expected, she could see nothing but darkness.

"…who."

Her voice became extremely weak, lacking its usual vitality and spirit. She frowned slightly as she uttered just this one word.

Igris picked up the lantern from the ground and shone it in front of her.

“It’s me, Igris. Don’t worry, you’re saved.”

“Igris…”

A flicker of confusion crossed her eyes, but in the next moment, they became incredibly clear and filled with terror.

“No… Igris, you shouldn’t be here… You have to leave! Those things have come in, the first carriage is no longer safe!”

"Quiet down!"

Igris covered Cecilia's mouth with her hand and said with a serious expression.

"It's not just here that's changed, it's outside too. Your crew needs you. Now stop talking nonsense and tell me how to wake up this damn train."

Cecilia weakly pulled away Igris's hand that was covering her mouth and explained in a low voice.

"The best way to escape the dream of the train is to wait for the train to wake up naturally, that is, to let the train itself leave the dark environment, but in such a case... we have almost no chance of surviving until dawn."

"Isn't there any other way?"

"……Have."

Cecilia seemed to have thought of something, but her eyes showed some hesitation.

Seeing that she hesitated to speak, Igris grabbed her collar and questioned her almost face to face.

“Cesvia, this isn’t just your problem anymore. We’ve all reached a point where we have no choice but to act. Now tell me how to resolve this, and I don’t care about anything else.”

"...Nightmare."

Cecilia took a deep breath, staring at the stunningly beautiful face of Igris so close to her, and repeated softly.

"Let this train's dream become a nightmare, wake it up, and only then can we escape this dream. And what you have to do is... go to the other carriages and kill all the passengers on this train."

If the first carriage is relatively spacious and safe in most situations, then the following carriages are quite the opposite.

What's more, this is happening in a dream on a train.

"I understand, it's just murder..."

Igris had forgotten exactly how many people she had killed, and she wouldn't mind killing a few more.

"No...not just people, everything that's alive, harmless things, things that might be dangerous..."

"No need to say anything more."

Igris interrupted Cecilia; she didn't care what she was going to kill next, all she wanted was to wake up the car.

"I'll take you to the driver's seat to rest, and you can wait for my good news."

Igris held Cecilia, who was so badly injured she could barely stand, in her arms and turned to walk towards the driver's seat.

But at that moment, Cecilia suddenly leaned close to Igris's cheek and gently kissed her.

Everything happened very quickly and suddenly.

Before Igris could even react to what was happening, Cecilia's voice had already reached her ears.

"Thank you...and please be careful."

"..."

Once everything is over, Igris will have a proper talk with her about this.

The Gods' Fool - The Northern Train: Chapter Thirty-Three, Dead Silence

At that moment, in the second carriage in reality, the train conductor and Anfer also slowly walked in.

There were many corpses lying here, some trampled to death, and others killed by their bullets.

Even so, there were still many people watching them, observing their movements, but doing nothing.

This actually makes it even more unsettling.

In addition, the metallic scraping sound overhead began to intensify, making one feel increasingly uneasy.

The carriage was packed with people, but even so, not a single person made a sound.

In this eerie atmosphere, even Anfer and the train conductor slowed their pace considerably, and there was no casual conversation.

"Cough cough."

But at that moment, a clear cough came from among the group of people who were standing quietly.

The two of them turned to look at the coughing man at the same time, and the man's coughing did not stop at all, but even became more and more intense.

The train conductor unconsciously raised his gun, but before he could fire, a sharp spike pierced down from the top of the train.

It looked like the claws of some creature, or perhaps the limbs of a large spider, its sharp points easily piercing through the thick sheet metal of the train roof, penetrating the coughing man from head to toe.

The man died on the spot with almost no reaction, and even those who witnessed it remained standing quietly without making a sound.

The man's body was taken away, through the hole pierced in the train.