Gehrman crossed a great lake in peaceful quiet. Rowing calmly, his head tilted back slightly.
And across him sat something he hadn't seen before.
Gehrman had checked Gairm's soul core as was habit at this point. He was worried that he might be a Supreme, given that he was a Rank above Maria and the others in the previous Nightmare.
The good news was, he was not at that level.
The bad news was, he was a Transcendent either.
I didn't know such a thing was possible.
The Soul Core was sharp and domineering, holding great and mighty power. Its potency far outclassed that of a Transcendent, but it also did not have the vastness that he had witnessed from Ki Song.
Gairm had been bestowed with a power that was something in between the 4th and 5th Ranks.
How frightening. I doubt even the more lethal Princesses of Song could match him, even with their Aspect Abilities.
Still, it was much better than the alternative.
As Gehrman rowed he considered his next steps. He had chatted briefly with Archibald, setting him on the right path and promising to look out for more Dark Beasts in the ruins he was traveling to.
In a month, he would hopefully develop something similar to the Tonitrous, at the very least Gehrman could use that knowledge when he got back to the waking world and hopefully further improve the weaponry of the New Workshop.
A bit bored, Gehrman pulled up his Runes, specifically looking at the Blood Fragment counter.
Blood Fragments: [4,408/7,000].
It had not changed since he went on the blind rampage where he took out the Devouring Cloud and Heart of Darkness.
At that time he had managed to make a great dent in the counter, and now he was aiming to do something similar.
There was something waiting for him once he filled the counter and spoke the last "truth" thrust upon him by the Attribute [Inheritor of Madness].
And if he was going to go up against a number of Saints and even some Great Nightmare Creatures, he would need whatever it was in order to survive.
He would need roughly 2,600 fragments to complete this task. If he managed to gather 100 per day, he would have it done in a little under a month.
This was ideal, since by Gehrman's current estimations, it would be roughly 2 months before the convergence on Innsmouth would occur.
Until then, he would need a large supply of prey.
On paper, nothing would be as good as Antarctica, with the constant spawning of new Nightmare Creatures.
However in this Nightmare, he could already tell that the vast majority of creatures were going to be of the 3rd and 4th Rank, likely with nothing of the 2nd Rank. Since he could only gain Blood Fragments from something equal to or greater than his own Rank, it would actually make the whole thing much more efficient.
Every enemy he slaughtered would guarantee him a Blood Fragment.
And though Gehrman had yet to fully explore the region of Hintertomb, the regions of the ruined civilizations of the ancient past still crawled with beasts.
That ugly boar that had been dropped onto him when he first landed in the 2nd Nightmare, for example, was likely at the level of a Corrupted Demon now.
If he could even find a few hundred of those, he would be well on his way to completing his mission.
That being said, there were still other things that he needed to prepare for.
He had one stalwart ally in Caryll, she understood the nature of the Nightmares when no one else could. In that sense, there was no one who he could truly trust. However, there was someone who he could be damn certain would be on his side if he played his cards right.
"Gairm, how have you been doing as of late?"
The Hunter of Hunters scowled slightly.
"Bored. Anxious. Waiting for the inevitable I suppose. I imagine that the eventual influx of beasts will lead to an exponential increase in the mad Hunters you expect me to cut down…who would have thought that the first one would be the man who hired me." Gairm's gravelly voice rippled with distaste. The man was almost always disagreeable and off-putting, but knowing what he knew now, Gehrman found it hard to miss the disdain in his voice.
"You'll have to do a bit more waiting," Gehrman said.
"I'm not so sure," Gairm remained completely still and his flat gaze remained fixated on Gehrman. "What part of going out into these dangerous ruins strikes you as something a sane man would do?"
"I have never been sane. I wouldn't attribute this course of action to what is affecting me, it's just my personality."
Gairm grunted in reply.
Gehrman took a second, thinking through how he wanted to word his next words before he let his gaze turn hollow.
"Do you know why I went out and hired you, Gairm?"
The question seemed to catch the man off guard.
"I suspected Laurence had ordered you to. The real reason behind it I've never been able to pin down, since it certainly isn't keeping the beast scourge and it's Hunters in check. That man will watch the world burn before he lets go of this mad experiment."
"You're right about that," Gehrman admitted, surprising Gairm. "But you are wrong to assume Laurence was the one who pushed me into action. I was the one who proposed a Hunter of Hunters."
The man blinked slowly. Given his body language, it was unclear if he actually believed Gehrman, so he decided to continue.
"Laurence is the only one who considers me a person of intellect. Even with my skills as a weapon-smith and Hunter being acknowledged, the scholars largely consider me an otherwise incapable man, limited to things I can see and touch, and thus not worthy of their attention."
He paused, and put on a bitter face.
"And despite what I said, Laurence doesn't truly see me too differently. He recognizes my talents as uniquely valuable, but he still looks down on me."
This was something Old Gehrman suspected near the end of his life. His oldest "self" never cared to try and ingratiate himself with the more theoretical and detailed sciences practiced at Byrgenwerth. It didn't come easily to him like other things did, so why bother?
The fact that he was otherwise dismissed became a sore spot for him, so much so that he never even tried to be anything near sociable. In terms of social-emotional intelligence, the old man was behind even Dorrian. And that was saying a lot given…his "upbringing."
In any case, the current Gehrman was more than willing to cheat a bit, using his knowledge to change Old Gehrman's "character" in this Nightmare in a believable way.
"But I am not stupid. I see how this plays out just as much as you do. Yharnam burning and was reduced to ruins, just like the place we are visiting now."
As he said this, Gehrman pointed with a finger behind Gairm, the man glanced over his shoulder as the swampy visage of the Hintertomb ruins came into view.
Meanwhile a melancholy solace filled Gairm.
"Yet you don't do anything about it. Treating the symptoms of the disaster as a Hunter in order to forestall the future apocalypse," his sharp gaze cut to Gehrman. "You don't take true action because your afraid. Or rather, too weak to go against Laurence, whom you consider a 'friend'."
He said that last word with such vitriol that Gehrman knew he was on the right path.
Like with most things, whatever answer the other person came up with would be far better than whatever lie Gehrman himself used.
The two Hunters stared at each other, as Gehrman slowed the pace of the small boat, allowing it to quietly drift to the end.
"Do you judge me for it?" he asked.
"I do," Gairm said. "But I also appreciate that at least someone else can see the obvious issues here. Still though, I can't do anything by myself."
"Of course not, that's what Cainhurst is for."
As soon as he said that, the tension became utterly palpable, and that wasn't just a figure of speech.
Each Saint could exude a kind of nebulous "pressure" on the world, the power of their existence could make those weaker feel feeble and weak in their presence, and the truly skilled ones had control over this.
Gairm was stronger than any Saint in the waking world, so when his bloodlust hit Gehrman, it nearly caused him to flinch.
The shadows from the pale moonlight crossed his face, and with that passing darkness his eyes seemed to glow like those of a crow who found its prey.
"Such a strong reaction," Gehrman let out a low chuckle. The back of the boat hit land and they were slightly bounced back.
Gehrman wanted to stand and tie an anchor, but he got the feeling that if he stood up he would die.
If there was more distance between them, if there was time to analyze his movements, maybe Gehrman could survive for a little while against him. But in this position he was totally helpless.
Of course, this was exactly what he wanted. Gairm knew too that he was in the best possible position to deal a lethal blow to the First Hunter.
Their weaponry was equal in terms of quality, but it was impossible for the Burial Blade to be pulled out faster than the Blades of Mercy.
Right now, Gairm was probably wondering why Gehrman had said those words at that moment.
"Like I said," Gehrman smiled. "I'm not stupid."
"Explain why I shouldn't kill you. I will give you one chance."
Gehrman thought back to all the times he had his life threatened in the past. Only once before did he actually feel fear creep into his heart when someone muttered those words, and that was back when he was facing Logarius in the 2nd Nightmare, right before the future Martyr went to fight the Vileblood Queen.
Now he felt it again.
He knew that he could come back.
It would be even easier since he was in a Nightmare.
But this response was far too instinctual and animal to be dissuaded by such logic.
Gehrman forced himself to take a breath to steady himself, and then he played his cards. It was the truth, the most truth he would reveal to anyone besides Caryll.
"The Healing Church is a problem, but it isn't the only one. Byrgenwerth is the source of everything, even if their current administration refuses the use of Blood more of their scholars will take the place of Laurence."
Gairm frowned. "Besides anything the Healing Church lends out, Byrgenwerth has no real fighters among them. The Holy Blades that guard them in the Pthumerian Labyrinths are not truly followers of the college, but rather Ludwig…Are you suggesting I slaughter a bunch of unarmed scholars to send a message?"
"No," Gehrman said quickly. "Drastic measures are needed, but nothing that cruel. The only ones dying will be fighters and monsters."
Gairm's frown was replaced by confusion, but soon it was replaced with understanding.
"The Fishing Hamlet?"
He nodded.
"A massacre on a humongous scale, something that puts every single warrior from all sides out of commission, and ideally, something that proves that the Blood doesn't make anyone invincible. In the sight of that horror, I am confident that playing god will seem a much less fruitful endeavor than they originally thought."
The stillness returned to settle on the two men.
Eventually, the Hunter of Hunters let out a long breath.
"Why are you here then?" He turned his back, looking at Hintertomb.
With that moment, that show of vulnerability, Gehrman knew he had succeeded. No longer was his death at the hands of the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst a possibility.
Gehrman had simply made too good of an argument, reinforcing every thought that Gairm believed in while also staying within his acceptable amount of violence and death.
Fortunately, the Bloody Crow was not given the name for no reason. Though the man had been wary of slaughtering the unarmed, so long as the opponent held a weapon in their hands it was war.
And war always ended with a pile of corpses.
"I suppose it's a last ditch effort," Gehrman said. This was the one thing he would have to lie on. He couldn't trust Gairm with the knowledge of Memories and the Spell without the man thinking he himself had gone crazy.
"Trying to find a cure to the Beast plague?" Gairm asked. "If there was one, these civilizations wouldn't be in ruins."
"I never said it was a smart effort."
For the first time that he had ever seen, Gairm cracked a small grin.
"Hey, tell me…that whole thing about you getting a parasite from the fish people, that was all bullshit wasn't it?"
Gehrman feigned a pause that would indicate surprise at having been caught. After a moment he stood up and walked past Gairm, pushing the boat back to the edge of land and removing the wooden stake from underneath the seat to make an anchor to Hintertomb.
"It would be wisest if you first spent a week analyzing Innsmouth and getting to know the area. I sent Maria ahead to Cainhurst to introduce the idea of the Hamlet, after gathering some data, go and see about getting them to mobilize in 2 months."
To his relief, the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst nodded.
And just like that, he had set the battleground and the timeline for this Nightmare. Changing the very nature of its conflict into one on a much grander scale.
He had 2 months to increase his power to the highest it could possibly go as an Ascended.
Then he would make the gambit that would turn him into a Transcendent.