Kill the Sun

When Nick heard that, his eyes widened in surprise.

There would be far fewer Specters?

At that moment, Wyntor chuckled in a ridiculing tone.

"Of course, the Manufacturers are not happy about that," he added. "They all want Specters, and with fewer Specters appearing in the city, their growth will slow down."

"But what are they supposed to do? They can't get rid of the Crimson Sea that easily."

"I expect that we are going to see much more importance being put on the wilderness."

While Wyntor was talking, Nick thought about what this meant for the people living in the Outer City.

With fewer Specters, people didn't need to be as scared anymore.

On top of that, the Dregs were gone.

Many people of the Dregs hadn't been able to integrate into the Outer City since nobody wanted to come into contact with them simply because they were from the Dregs.

Maybe the survivors would have it easier integrating into the Outer City?

Of course, that was only an optimistic musing.

Maybe it would be even worse than before.

Nevertheless, the future didn't seem as grim anymore.

For just an instant, a thought appeared in Nick's mind.

'Did the death of around 2,000 people improve the quality of life for thousands more?'

'Is that such a bad trade?'

But before Nick could think more about these things, Wyntor said something.

"Now, I need to know what happened yesterday in detail. Don't leave anything out," he said.

Nick looked back at Wyntor and nodded.

Then, he told Wyntor everything that had happened.

Wyntor wasn't surprised when Nick confirmed that he had released the Crimson Sea.

He had expected as much.

However, Wyntor was very surprised about a different thing.

The sheer scale of damage Nick managed to inflict on the Spartans, even without the Crimson Sea.

Nick had entered a tightly guarded building with five Veterans, 20 Johns, 20 Newbies, and many guards, while Nick was just a John.

And as a normal John, he managed to kill a Veteran, several Johns, and tens of normal people.

On top of that, Nick managed to free several Specters without raising the alarm.

This was absurd.

In an open conflict, causing the enemy this much damage would require sacrificing about as many Extractors as Dark Dream had in total.

But Nick hadn't sacrificed anything.

He had done all of this on his own.

It was almost like Nick was a one-man army.

Wyntor had never heard of any Extractor causing that much destruction in relation to their power.

It wasn't even close!

An Extractor was already extremely powerful if they could fight against five other Extractors on the same level.

But Nick…

Nick essentially destroyed an entire Manufacturer that was vastly more powerful than all of Dark Dream.

Wyntor would have never thought that the dirty boy from the Dregs could have such immense talent.

In Wyntor's mind, Nick's worth outweighed the worth of all of Dark Dream's Zephyx Extractors combined.

As long as he had Nick, Dark Dream would rise.

When Nick was done retelling what had happened, Wyntor told Nick about the things that he hadn't seen.

For example, how the city tried to contain the Crimson Sea, what the Spartans' people said, and what had happened in the Inner City when everything became chaotic.

When Nick heard about the black figure coming out of an armlet, his eyes shone.

'That must have been Envy's servant,' Nick thought.

And when he heard that Envy's servant fell into the Crimson Sea, he released a sigh of relief.

With Envy's servant destroyed and with Specters now having it much harder to enter the city, Nick could finally relax.

Nick doubted that Envy had more than one servant inside Crimson Fungus City and that one servant had been destroyed.

Additionally, since the outside world was cut off, no other servant could enter for the time being.

Until the time the bridge to the outside was built, Nick wouldn't need to fear Envy anymore.

Nick's mind finally relaxed.

Yet, as soon as it did, Nick felt his chest starting to ache.

The more he relaxed, the more terrible and guilty he felt.

All of these possibilities and speculations about the future were nice, but they didn't change the most important thing.

Nick had caused the death of over 2,000 people.

He had caused the death of the very people he wanted to help.

But as soon as these thoughts resurfaced, Nick shook his head to banish them.

He couldn't think about these things.

He didn't dare to.

"I presume that black Specter was what made the Spartans attack you?" Wyntor asked.

Nick became a bit nervous when he heard that.

He still hadn't told Wyntor about Envy, and that wouldn't change.

Nevertheless, Nick nodded. "Yes."

"Based on how much the Crimson Sea grew by absorbing the Specter, we estimate the black Specter to have been an Elder," Wyntor said as he took another sip from his coffee.

"No wonder you were so stressed out all this time."

Nick nodded.

"Luckily, the issue has been solved now," he added.

Nick released a sigh of relief.

"Tell me what happened in the last 24 hours," Wyntor said.

Nick told Wyntor about everything that had happened and what he had done.

"Someone tried to kill you again?" Wyntor asked with furrowed brows.

Nick nodded. "I expected that it was the tall man from Anatomy, but he's still alive."

Naturally, Wyntor had heard about how Nick had punched the tall man.

While Nick had definitely committed quite a big mistake with that act, Wyntor wasn't really angry with him.

Anyone who managed to stay calm after going through all these things was more machine than human.

"I still don't know who tried to kill me," Nick said.

Wyntor sipped more of his coffee.

"It's actually not that hard to figure out. You're just missing a key piece of information," Wyntor said.

Nick looked with surprise at Wyntor.

"You know who tried to kill me?"

Wyntor finished his coffee.

"No."