181. Apostle of the Dream Demon (1)
181. Apostle of the Dream Demon (1)
Sssssk—
Hundreds of black shadows rose and stood guard around her, rippling as if escorting her.
"Dream Demon, incubus. You cannot defeat me within my domain."
She spoke with icy eyes.
"Ha... what the hell?"
I let out an exclamation of admiration.
A sight that drew an involuntary laugh.
'Is she a necromancer-type?'
Given that the shadows seemed to possess their own will, her aptitude appeared to involve handling the souls of the dead.
An attribute that deals with deceased beings.
Not a rare aptitude in Velvetsra.
It's not like there are no necromancer-type awakeners.
Except, within Velvetsra, they never really drew much attention.
It was an inefficient ability with a low ceiling and no high floor to compensate.
And those few necromancers who were halfway decent mostly appeared as Demonized Humans on the enemy faction.
'Necromancers basically have to use monster corpses, and they can't just keep reusing a corpse once they've raised it...'
Among characters who expend limited resources to use their abilities, a similar archetype is Im Ga-eul.
However, unlike Im Ga-eul, who can keep going for an entire battle if you hand her a good Magic Stone,
most necromancers had short summon durations.
On top of that, monotonous and shitty AI.
Back when Velvetsra was just a game, I'd wondered if necromancers were just for quirky concept play.
But now that it's become reality, I understood the reason.
'Because you're controlling multiple summons all by yourself. It's heavily influenced by mental strength and intelligence.'
In other words, a difficulty level equivalent to one person having dozens of hands, each drawing a different shape.
Which means handling that with a human brain is impossible with ordinary ability.
That's why most necromancers weren't born with such talent, and as a result, they became pitiful existences unwelcome in pretty much any party.
But what about this woman right in front of me, commanding these shadows?
She doesn't raise bones — she commands souls, and every single one shows distinct movement.
I dodged the shadows charging at me in perfect unison and slashed my sword to the side.
Slice—!
But the shadow whooshed right through.
It was the same phenomenon I'd experienced when I was dragged into this place.
"...So, are they genuinely immune to physical attacks?"
Even if magic attacks are their weakness.
If they have complete immunity to physical attacks, that alone lets you cheese entire chapters.
Fwoooooooosh—!!!!
The shadows surged upward once more and came crashing down toward me.
Dash!
I threw my body backward into a back tumbling dodge.
Boom—!
Boom—!
Boom—!
The shadows chased the spot where I'd stood, the floor caving in with each strike, crater after crater forming in sequence.
And in that moment, I narrowed my eyes.
'Hmm, wait, does that mean...'
To test what I'd just realized, I waited until the instant of an enemy attack, and just before it touched my body, I slashed again.
Slice—!
This time, the shadow scattered with a cutting sound.
'So they do only materialize at the moment of attack, huh? Well, makes sense. Complete physical immunity would be way too broken.'
Well, even with that limitation, it's still overpowered.
The more I confirmed her abilities like this, the more a certain thought welled up inside me.
Recruiting her into our Utopia Party.
Currently, Utopia Party's composition is:
Main Damage Dealer: Kang Do-hee.
Tank: Lee Yu-ri.
Support: Im Ga-eul.
Healer: Sofia.
And finally, me—the Sub-Damage Dealer and party leader.
One role still remained vacant.
That would be 'Special.'
A position that deploys wide-area attacks to deal with trash mobs.
An essential role in large-scale combat.
Originally, Shin Se-hee with her fire magic would fit that role, but she's an Operator, not a combat role.
So up until now, when our party faced multiple enemies,
we'd handled group battles using Kang Do-hee's and my heavy firepower, plus Im Ga-eul's supporting skill 'Acceleration' to boost attack speed.
But the enemies ahead will only keep getting stronger, and this approach is bound to hit its limit soon.
'Hmm, definitely...'
Fwoooosh—!
I wrapped Mana around my left arm and deliberately let one shadow strike land.
Smack—
A blunt, heavy impact.
And my left arm feeling slightly weighted.
'Ha, oh really? Looks like she's got a curse on her attack passive too.'
The attack power was pathetically weak compared to Kang Do-hee, but the Special role's job is trash mob management anyway.
And with a bit more training, there was plenty of room to get stronger.
'Tch, I was originally planning to slot a character who comes in two episodes from now into Special...'
It seemed best to either give up on that one or shunt them into a separate sub-party.
I was now certain that this woman here would fit our party far better.
'Both Kang Do-hee and I are fundamentally melee fighters... so while magic sweeps the enemy formation with wide firepower, we end up with DPS downtime.'
Because while powerful magic is raining down on the enemy ranks, Kang Do-hee and I have to stand still to avoid getting caught in it.
But with this method — commanding shadows to handle multiple enemies?
The Special can run wild without tripping up Kang Do-hee and me in the process.
Yeah, the more I thought about it, the more convinced I became.
This one definitely suits our main party better.
"...How..."
As I evaded practically every attack and even cut down her shadows,
she opened her mouth in disbelief.
"Incubus, how can you... my attacks..."
Perhaps the stamina I'd barely restored had drained again — she was drenched in cold sweat, her body trembling violently.
I'd kept her breathing with potions, but she was still in a dangerous state.
I looked at her and nodded.
'Any more testing would be dangerous.'
Dash—
I channeled Mana into my feet and kicked off the ground immediately.
Dark Shadow Step.
With a movement art imbued with darkness, my figure stretched long as I dashed through the shadows blocking my path.
Tap—
I moved behind her back and struck the back of her neck lightly.
"——!"
Her eyes flew wide open as if startled by the sudden movement, but she soon lost consciousness and slumped on the spot.
Thud.
'As expected, dealing with the summoner is the answer with this type.'
* * *
"D-dammit, d-damn it, goddammit—!"
The apostle of the Dream Demon incubus, the Demonized Human who worshipped him:
Suzuki Satoru.
His back was severely hunched, both eyeballs moved independently of each other, and his teeth had grown out hideously.
And the pockmarked scars across his skin made his already grotesque face even more horrifying.
He twisted his ugly face into a harsh grimace.
"Wh-why did some goddamned bastards have to b-barge in!!!"
A grand dream of building his own Garden of Eden in Jukai Forest.
That dream had nearly reached its final stages.
To be interrupted at such a crucial moment!
He simply could not comprehend how this had happened.
"I th-thought everyone av-avoids Jukai Forest, I was sure n-no one would come... D-dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"
And the ones who'd barged in here were hunters with monstrous abilities.
By all rights, the power bestowed upon him by the great Demon, the incubus — Dream Mist.
They should have become monster feed, trapped inside that powerful mist that makes you dream happy dreams.
But for some reason, it didn't work on them at all.
If anything, as time passed, it was as if they were building resistance — their pace pushing through the mist only grew faster.
The monsters he'd already lured toward them had been wiped out several times over.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they discovered him.
Satoru gnawed anxiously at his fingernails.
"I h-have to run... B-but—"
There was a reason his feet wouldn't move, even though he had to flee immediately.
Satoru, who had hidden himself away in Jukai Forest to escape people's stares because of his unsightly appearance, had happened to see her one day.
A shrine maiden living alone in this dreadful forest, honoring the dead with graceful movements.
'Ichika.'
Transcendent beauty not of this world, and an ironclad will.
And an expressionless face unmoved by anything.
The moment he saw her, Satoru had felt a sticky, dank darkness stir within him.
And so Satoru had surrendered to that inner voice, becoming the incubus's apostle and a Demonized Human.
'It's n-nearly done now...! Just a l-little more, a little more and Ichika will be m-mine completely...!!'
Her noble spirit had not yet been corrupted even by the great incubus's power,
but her body had already almost completely given in.
Every time she groped and kneaded her own body with desire-laden hands, he felt a rapture beyond compare.
Soon now,
that lofty spirit too would be corrupted.
That contemptuous expression would also be overturned.
Into a form of lust directed toward himself.
Though, come to think of it, he had been a little concerned that her body seemed to have weakened lately — but once the brainwashing was complete, that would naturally resolve itself.
"F-first, I need to g-get back to Ichika...! I'll h-hurry and push the c-corruption forward, and then the t-two of us will escape together!"
The Power of Enchantment is fundamentally exercised through contact. And the deeper and more intimate the contact, the greater its effect.
In other words, Satoru was now planning to embrace Ichika.
"Keh, khm, I-Ichika... Y-y-your first time might h-hurt a little... b-but there's n-no time right now... I-I'm sure it'll f-feel good for you t-too."
Originally, he would have taken his time, making her desire him, wanting her to kneel — but now, with time truly run out, he had no choice but to force it.
With anticipation, his member bulged upward against his clothes.
"A-and then I can just rebuild the Garden of Eden after. G-go somewhere n-no one looks for, somewhere n-no one knows—! Just the t-two of us! T-together, happily. Y-yes, th-that's all I need to do."
Satoru nodded with a serious expression and hurriedly lumbered down the forest path.
Then, just before the spot where Ichika was, he suddenly stopped as if remembering something.
"Ah, r-right. N-no matter how ur-urgent it is, I c-can't show her my hideous face."
Satoru drew on the incubus's Authority to overlay an illusion over his face and body.
At once, the ugly face was concealed, revealing a handsome, smooth-featured man's visage that anyone would call good-looking.
At last, when he entered the place where Ichika was, what he saw was—
"...Wh-what, the hell, are you—!!!!!!!!"
Ichika asleep, cradled in a man's arms.