Arthur hummed for a few seconds, closing his eyes and using illusions and his faceless ability to imitate the image of a wise sage, lightly touching his long beard deep in thought.
Abner sighed at Arthur's ridiculous antics and asked in a monotone voice, "Oh Wise Sage, I beseech you to grant me your wisdom!"
Arthur looked at him with pity and said, "What need have you of wisdom, child? You are already dead..."
Abner's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he said with his voice raised, "Arthur, just tell me what you saw!"
Arthur sighed and told Abner, "It's a corrupted devil; even if you wear the Underworld's Armament, you can't escape its mind hex; you are cooked; it's all over for you. I was just thinking about what flowers to give to your funeral."
Abner's expression turned grim as he sighed and asked, "Can you give me something to sit on? I want to relax a bit before thinking of how to deal with this."
Arthur nodded and summoned a comfortable couch within the Grey Fog.
After an hour of small talk, Abner finally relaxed and asked Arthur, "Do you think this nightmare can be beaten? It just started, and it already feels completely hopeless..."
Arthur hummed and suggested, "While you can't resist its mind hex, I think I can temporarily awaken you; use the chance to run; you might find allies to defeat the corrupt devil if you get lucky; if not, then it's useless; you can't beat it on your own."
Abner was surprised and asked, "You can awaken me!? Since when did you have such an ability?... Wait, why didn't you say so earlier!"
Arthur coughed into his fist and said, "Well, I wanted to see if you would panic. You always stay so composed, no matter the situation. It's a little annoying, and I'm not sure if it would work; it's just an assumption of mine..."
Abner asked, confused, "an assumption? Care to explain?"
Arthur nodded and continued, "The two most basic ways of dealing with mind hexes are to stay out of range and attack the caster from a distance or to wear plenty of memories that grant resistance to mind attacks."
Abner nodded and realized how Arthur thought he could awaken him: "You plan to summon my body from the nightmare above the Grey Fog to escape The range of the Mind hex?"
Arthur nodded and replied, "Yes, but I can only bring you back to the same location I took you from, so wear the Underworld Armament and run away. If you get caught in its hex again, I will summon you until you manage to escape, if you don't just get killed by The corrupted devil."
Abner nodded and asked, "Then bring it already; why didn't you do that from the start?"
Arthur replied sheepishly, "Well, although it's possible I never summoned a physical body above the Grey Fog before, so I'm just not used to it."
Abner sighed and nodded as Arthur summoned his body from one of the houses in the nightmare; immediately, his form changed above the Grey Fog, but it wasn't like in the nightmare; while looking similar, he looked much less muscular, and he showed signs of starvation.
Abner absentmindedly mentioned, "What, The... I was much more muscular before..."
Arthur hummed and told Abner, "You entered the nightmare while already under a mind, Hex; it was probably what you or the previous owner wanted to look like when you entered."
Abner sighed and nodded, slightly missing the mountain of muscles he had possessed.
Arthur then told Abner, "Summon the Underworld Armament and be ready; I will drop you off. Remember to pray to me the moment you open your eyes, so I can summon you again if you get caught by the mind hex again."
Abner nodded seriously and summoned the Underworld Armament; soon he woke up in an unfamiliar house and immediately prayed to Arthur, "The Fool Who Does Not Belong to This Era, watch over me closely!"
Abner immediately ran out of the house, trying to get out of the village. The moment he had his physical body, or perhaps even his soul body, taken to the Grey Fog, The Corrupted Devil must have realized that it was Arthur's doing from their friend's memories.
Just as Abner was about to exit the village, he heard a voice from the distance behind him: "Where are you running? Leaving without your dear friends?"
It was the language of the waking world, not something that was spoken in this day and age. Abner didn't need to look back to know it was the corrupted devil; he was afraid to know that his suspicions turned out to be true.
The corrupted devil knows about them from the dreams of their friend's under its mind hex and even knew how to speak; there were few nightmare creatures more terrifying than those that could speak.
Abner cursed as he kept running; fighting it was impossible!
Strangely, though, the corrupted devil just let him run away, not bothering to chase him.
Abner didn't dare turn his head back and kept running and running without a destination in mind.
After an hour, he was exhausted although he was an awakened; he had been starving for who knows how long while under the mind Hex.
Realizing he managed to get away from the corrupted devil, he asked Arthur, seemingly talking to thin air, "The Fool Who Does Not Belong to This Era Hey, do you know if there's another village nearby? And if there is, tell me already!"
Arthur was a little annoyed by the lack of respect he was receiving; he felt like if before he was treated like a TV switch, now he was treated like ChatGPT!
However, he still made a division about the nearest safe and populated place his friend could go to, while grumbling about not being paid enough for this, and threw the vision into the star representing Abner.
Abner saw a village, no a small city, with awakened guarding it a few days away by foot, and the vision ended.
Abner sighed and started going towards it.
After a few hours of walking, he prayed to Arthur, wanting to talk to him; traveling alone was just too boring!
Arthur did decide to talk to him, but he was only mocking him! "Heh, look at you complaining after a few hours... pathetic! I've been traveling alone for months without a break!"
Abner sighed and retorted, "What months? It's only been slightly over one month; don't exaggerate, and unlike me, you have divinations you can use for entertainment, but other than talking to you, what else can I do?"
Arthur mocked him again: "hhhhmmmm? What's that I hear? Ah! I know it's the sound of your skill issue being revealed! hahahaha! It's such a funny melody!"
Abner didn't respond, but he was clearly annoyed and kept arguing with Arthur for hours until he decided to go to sleep on the road to the city he had found while he was heading towards it.
Before falling asleep, Abner sincerely prayed to no one in particular, "I hope my friends are ok..."
Arthur, still watching over Abner, responded to him, "Don't worry, the Nightmare Creature knows he's in a nightmare, so he will be trying to get out, and it can't do that if the challengers are dead; so he won't kill them... probably."
Abner nodded, a bit surprised that Arthur responded, and went to sleep thinking, 'I hope he's right...'
Arthur sighed and exited the Grey Fog, resuming his journey. He knew it would be a long one, and that his friend wouldn't be able to talk to him after his nightmare ends, but for now it seemed much more bearable.
After a few days of traveling, Abner finally reached the small city and greeted the guards, "Hey, um, how may I be granted access to pass through?"
The Guards, however, seemed to recognize him. "What nonsense are you talking about? You're back already. Where are the rest? Anyway, go and tell the City Lord about the reason those peasants refused to pay their taxes already."
Abner nodded and headed into the city, trying to find the city lord so he could use him as reinforcements to save his friends!
After asking around, he soon found the mansion where he lived and knocked on the door.
"You may come in!" a voice on the other side of the door stated, and Abner opened the door and entered the mansion. The interior was incredibly luxurious, and there sitting on what looked to be a throne was an incredibly handsome man, a transcendent known as the City Lord.
The City Lord dressed in clothes that individually cost more than multiple houses didn't even greet Abner and got straight to the point, "So why have those peasants refused to pay their tax? Tell me what happened!"
Abner nodded and said, "The village I went to was under the mind hex of a corrupted ranked devil; I barely managed to escape its influence thanks to a mysterious existence."
He had already gotten the permission to reveal Arthur's existence; the corrupted devil knew about him anyway, so there wasn't a risk to revealing it; there were only benefits instead!
The City Lord hummed as he muttered, "You don't seem to be lying a mysterious existence, huh? I wonder who would dare to take an interest in you, who is already blessed by The Storm God's Lineage."
Abner didn't say anything but thought to himself, 'So it's already known that I possess the Storm God lineage? With the gods still revered in this time period, I could use it to my advantage...'
The City Lord broke the silence. "Not saying anything, are you? Has your faith been shaken because a mysterious existence helped you, but the storm god didn't?"
The City Lord warned him, "You know the gods are growing more distant in this day and age; don't take it to heart; you can't trust that hidden existence; it's too dangerous!"
Abner nodded seriously, not intending to take the City Lords' advice at all, and the City Lord nodded and said, "If that's all, you're dismissed."
"The Fool Who Does Not Belong to This Era—that's the true name of that mysterious existence; at least that's what it told me." Abner said, pretending to look conflicted about revealing Arthur's true name.
Their prayers couldn't even reach Arthur unless they had the Storm God's lineage anyway, so Arthur wasn't in danger of some aspect or ability that could exploit his true name to harm him.
The City Lord nodded and pondered, "The Fool, huh? I never heard of such a name; he must have done exceptionally well to have stayed so hidden, you may go now you're dismissed"
Abner nodded, but before he left, he asked, "But what about the corrupted devil, Lord? What will you do with it?"
The City Lord responded, "Naturally I will go and kill it myself, but I need a few things to prepare first. Mind attacks are quite annoying abilities to go up against."
Abner nodded, relieved, and left, but after a few minutes he realized something—he was practically homeless and completely broke!
Abner immediately prayed to Arthur and asked him if he could sleep above the Grey Fog at night, and Arthur easily agreed.
Abner sighed in relief and went to hunt some nightmare creatures around the area of the small city, both for food and to sell their parts for money. It's better to have money and not need it than to have none at all, he thought.