While Aventurine was telling Stelle about the connection between Acheron and the tragically killed Duke Inferno, the real Reverie Hotel was quiet. In a corner of the lodging area's lobby, Argenti sat carrying out his mission with unwavering resolve.
Following Nero's instructions before everyone entered the dream, Argenti had found Robin's hotel room and kept watch over anyone who might approach it. So far, he hadn't found anyone suspicious.
Suddenly, Argenti remembered something. He took out a grayish-black lump that squirmed with a sticky consistency. It looked like some kind of creature formed from gathered ashes, or perhaps something else.
This strange-looking mass was the Duke Inferno Ifrit that Aventurine had mentioned. It truly was a miserable state to die in, or perhaps he wasn't completely dead yet.
Argenti found it difficult to judge whether the thing in his hand was matter... or a living creature. After all, by the time he had arrived at the Ever-Flame Mansion, Duke Inferno had already been reduced to less than ashes. The lump in his hand had been dug out by his fellow knights using some surplus energy left behind at the scene.
Argenti still remembered that his previous mission had been to find a fire demon like Ifrit. Nero seemed to have some use for him.
However, after reuniting with Nero at Penacony, he had forgotten all about it.
Only now did he finally remember.
He wondered whether Nero had any way to restore this fellow to his original form...
Soon, Argenti put the poor fellow away again.
In any case, once Nero returned, he'd show this thing to him first.
Meanwhile, inside the dream Reverie Hotel, in one of the corridors.
The purple tyrannosaur raced ahead at full speed. Nero spread out his senses and had already locked onto March's location. He urged the Memoria Meme beneath him forward in a charge.
Along the way, they sent who knew how many other Memoria Memes flying, and smashed through who knew how many walls inside the dream hotel.
Nero didn't care at all.
The point of walking through a maze was to get out of it. The point of looking for someone was to find them. Besides, the dream hotel was quiet, with hardly anyone around, and certainly nobody was going to fine him for the damage.
Finally, after smashing through another wall, Nero spotted the running March in the next corridor. She seemed to have run into some trouble and was being chased by a group of Memoria Memes.
Nero immediately had the Shell of Faded Wrath charge forward.
As the purple tyrannosaur rushed ahead, it kept swinging its head from side to side, smashing all the Memoria Memes chasing March into the walls.
It was obvious it wasn't holding back. Even though Nero hadn't given any extra instructions, it looked as if the creature was venting its anger.
In fact, it really was.
After choosing to protect itself by leading Nero through the dream, and sending quite a few Memoria Memes flying along the way, its reputation among the other Memoria Memes had completely gone bad.
These creatures that lived in the memory zone seemed to have their own information network and way of passing messages around. Even though not much time had passed, the Shell of Faded Wrath's bad reputation had already spread throughout the dream hotel.
So much so that whenever it ran into other Memoria Memes now, all it heard were filthy insults.
They called it a traitor, a lackey, and the like...
The Shell of Faded Wrath felt deeply wronged. It hadn't wanted things to turn out this way, but it had no choice. That white-haired kid had grabbed its head with one hand and asked whether it wanted to lead the way or die (he actually hadn't). It just wanted to stay alive. What had it done wrong?
The misunderstanding left the Shell of Faded Wrath feeling miserable. It had no choice but to vent its anger to make itself feel a little better.
As for why it chose other Memoria Memes instead of Nero as the target of its anger... naturally because Nero hadn't cursed at it... Besides, it might not have a brain, but it wasn't a complete idiot. It knew exactly what it was capable of.
Why would it risk getting beaten half to death, or even killed, just to get back at Nero?
Following Nero around and bullying the weaker Memoria Memes worked just as well for venting its anger, didn't it?
As a Meme born from darkness and chaos, the Shell of Faded Wrath clearly had no concepts like morality or righteousness.
Meanwhile, March was also frozen in a daze.
When the Shell of Faded Wrath knocked away the Memoria Memes chasing her, she had been quite happy. But the moment she turned around, she saw an even bigger monster that looked far harder to deal with.
Now she didn't even know how she was supposed to run.
Watching such a huge creature bearing down on her face, March couldn't help letting her thoughts wander.
Was her life as a beautiful girl about to end here?
She also wondered whether getting hit head-on by something this big would make her transmigrate.
Some of the entertainment books published by the IPC often had plots like that, saying that getting hit by a truck could send someone to another world.
She hoped this tyrannosaur's name happened to be "Truck." But then again, she was inside a dream. The Family said people couldn't die in dreams, so maybe getting hit wouldn't matter?
Fortunately, the beautiful girl's imagination didn't become reality.
The Shell of Faded Wrath stopped in front of her.
Then came a voice that filled her with delight.
"March!"
Hearing the familiar voice, March looked up and saw a familiar little face poking out from atop the purple tyrannosaur.
"We'd already reached the lobby, but something happened, so everyone who had already arrived withdrew."
"Since you and Sister Himeko still hadn't made it, and this place is too strange and might be dangerous, I asked Sister Black Swan to open a passage so we could locate you more quickly."
"I found you first. Do you know where Sister Himeko is?"
March stared blankly at the scene before her.
Nero suddenly showing up riding a tyrannosaur somehow didn't surprise her at all.
Only after a moment did she come back to her senses and shake her head.
Unfortunately, after entering the dream hotel, she hadn't been with Himeko. It seemed every member of the Astral Express crew had been separated the moment they entered the dream hotel.
The code Silver Wolf had given them was very useful, but not quite useful enough. She sincerely hoped that little girl could add precise positioning to the code as well.
Though perhaps that simply wasn't technically possible. The memoria inside the dream hotel was disordered and chaotic, making it difficult to guide people to an exact landing point.
Besides...
March tilted her head slightly and looked past the tyrannosaur beneath Nero.
The path Nero had taken was littered with destruction. Memoria Memes that had been knocked flying, trampled flat, or embedded in the walls. Broken walls, cracked floors, and ceilings smashed through... It was a complete mess.
In a place like this, even if that Stellaron Hunter girl could create an accurate landing point inside the dream hotel, it probably wouldn't matter.
Nero's straight-line charge would destroy it in no time. Any positioning coordinates seemed utterly powerless against this direct way of solving a maze.