Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Fierce Dreams (1)
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"Die...?"
Irene's flustered eyes turned toward me.
The two old men also had slightly stiffened expressions.
"Wait. I need to look a bit more."
Tinkle—
I closed my eyes and focused on the scenes rising in my mind.
"There's a huge tree."
A tree loomed behind Irene.
Its presence was overwhelmingly massive, unlike anything I'd seen before.
Blue leaves blocked the sky and brought sunlight.
"What the hell are these pitch-black things?"
They extended all the way to Irene.
What could bring such enormous calamity?
Their ominous form was beyond words.
"It's completely sealed off. Hidden so it won't be discovered."
"What on earth are you talking about...?"
The pitch-black darkness huddled in on itself.
Yet it relentlessly gnawed at the tree.
The inside of the blue tree was mostly rotted away already.
"Not even noticing the leaves falling, huh..."
I peered deeper into the hidden darkness.
Its depths were impenetrable.
Not even divination could break through the blockage.
"Hah..."
To block even divination...
This was no ordinary thing.
If left unchecked, it would devour everything in its path—a vicious monster.
"You bastard."
Tinkle—
Spiritual energy flowed along with the rattle.
The spiritual energy throughout my body gathered in my head, and finally, I faced the pitch-black darkness head-on.
And in that moment.
"Y-you...!!"
"Hey!"
I lost consciousness.
Where is this place?
More importantly, when did I get here?
Astor Closel stood atop the magic circle.
Fog shrouded the surroundings, making it impossible to see.
"Come on up quickly. It'll be instantaneous to our destination."
"Kehkeh. It's been ages since I last used a warp magic circle."
Huh...?
Parmon Old Man's condition was off.
Why was he standing upside down?
Irene grabbed my wrist and pulled me along.
A friendly smile graced her face as she looked at me.
"Chris, what are you doing standing there dazed? Let's get going."
This is so strange.
I clearly met Irene and was doing a divination reading...
What happened next?
My mind was filled with hazy fog.
I couldn't sense people's karma, calamities, resentments, or anything at all.
"Why aren't you moving?"
Um...?
My body wouldn't move as I wanted.
Then, my eyes met a single soul.
The soul had no face.
Its form was faint.
But I could see its expression.
I tried to speak to it.
I tried to say something, but no voice came out.
Open and close.
Open and close.
Is this what it feels like when the dead speak to the living?
Nothing got through.
Irene pulled me again onto the magic circle.
I saw the soul looking at me shake its head.
It was filled with regret and sorrow.
As if saying this wasn't right, it sadly shook its head.
And the moment that soul waved its hand.
Darkness flooded my vision, then light returned.
-Kuhak!
A scream suddenly rang out.
I was clearly on the magic circle, so what were all these sights before me?
Parmon Old Man's right arm had been severed.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I couldn't protect you this time either..."
The face that had been smiling was now rigidly set, holding back sorrow.
His remaining arm gripped the sword piercing his heart.
"I'm sorry you couldn't live happily..."
Beside the limply collapsing Parmon, Astor Closel Old Man was screaming in anguish.
"How...!! How could this happen again...!!"
Next to him, Irene's head lay on the ground, her eyes wide open in deathly blue.
Open and close.
Open and close.
No words came out.
I had to save them, but my body wouldn't move.
In my barely turning eyes, a shocking sight appeared.
A person hanging limply in the air by the neck.
They had vomited so much blood that the front of their clothes was soaked.
No, blood was still flowing.
Gushing out like a stream from their mouth continuously.
It was me.
"Hah!"
My vision cleared, revealing the ceiling.
"W-what is this...!"
I frantically checked my body—it was fine.
No blood, neck intact.
Looking around, it was clearly inside the house.
"A dream...?"
A nightmare.
The worst kind of ill omen dream.
Now everything came back to me.
I collapsed while doing the divination.
The price of peering into something too overwhelming.
Waking up unscathed was fortunate in itself.
"Ominous... so ominous. This isn't the time."
I got up and headed straight to the shrine.
"As expected..."
All the candles were out.
The ones lighting the shrine and the one praying for happiness— all extinguished.
"Did they go out because I had the ill omen dream? Or did the dream come because they went out?"
My head throbbed; it was hard to shake off the dream's aftereffects.
It had left that strong an impression.
"I need to relight the candles first."
With a reverent heart, I picked up the flint.
Crackle.
"Light the shrine and watch over this place..."
Whoosh—
"Comfort the lost souls and watch over them too..."
Crackle.
Whoosh—
"Watch over the souls treading new paths as well."
Crackle.
"Hm...?"
It wouldn't light.
It was the candle praying for Parmon Old Man's happiness.
"Haa... What's going to happen...?"
A candle won't light?
I'd never experienced this before.
It happens sometimes to shamans with weak divine favor.
When someone with stronger energy enters, or when reading divination for someone serving a greater god.
Or when trying to divine something beyond one's ability.
Something had definitely happened to Parmon Old Man's future.
"Tsk tsk..."
I bowed my head and poured in even more earnest prayer.
Gripping the rattle, I prayed.
Only after praying fervently for his happiness for a long while could I finally light it.
"This is driving me crazy... really. What kind of dream was that?"
For ordinary people, dreams aren't a big deal.
But for someone like me, they mean something else.
Dreams this vivid are likely prophetic.
Whether good or bad, interpretation would tell, but this one was definitely an ill omen.
"Usually, seeing death is a good omen..."
But that scene was so eerie, it wouldn't leave my mind.
My neck felt chillingly cold for no reason.
"Where the hell did Headless go?"
Headless had been assigned night watch duty.
To alert me if something happened at the shrine or a candle was about to go out.
I gave him the role to atone for his sins while serving the gods, but what had he been doing?
"Hey! Headless!!"
Hm...?
No sign of him sliding in from the ceiling or walls.
"Headless!!!"
No way...
Ominous dreams flashed through my mind.
If that pitch-black darkness had summoned the nightmare...
"Hey! Headless!!"
I shouted while searching the house, but he was nowhere.
He wouldn't leave suddenly.
His soul still harbored too much resentment to achieve Buddhahood.
"..."
I closed my eyes and focused.
A faint tremor was felt.
Under the table where the shrine was set.
"Haa... You scared me."
Peering under the table, Headless was trembling.
Hugging his own head, curled up tight in terror.
His soul had been so shaken that his energy felt much fainter.
"Hey! Get up!"
-......
Headless stirred and peeked his head out.
"Tsk tsk..."
His soul was intact, so it wasn't a big deal.
Just a momentary shake-up.
I could even see traces of his karma being cleansed.
"You... you met the god I serve."
Now it made sense.
My dream was indeed prophetic.
A dream sent by the god I serve.
Headless must have sensed the god briefly visiting my dream.
Terrified by the divine presence, he cowered.
That meant the candle going out was a warning.
To show me that Parmon's candle wouldn't relight easily.
"Whew... What a bolt from the blue."
I thought he was an influential noble and did the divination, only to face something horrifying.
"They sure give a lot of work."
The god even came to my dream personally, so this must be my task too.
"Where are the old men?"
Stepping outside, I saw three people gathered a short distance away.
"You're awake!"
"You scared us collapsing like that."
"Kehkeh. We were just about to call you since it looked like you woke up."
I quickly approached and checked Parmon Old Man's body.
No injuries, right arm fine.
"Old Man, everything okay?"
"Hm? Nothing's wrong."
"No, I mean..."
What was the point of explaining?
I gripped the rattle and shook it.
Tinkle—
Tinkle—
"Damn..."
No divination came.
Tinkle—
Still nothing, even after shaking again.
Completely blocked—I couldn't even approach.
With my current ability, this heavenly secret was beyond peering, and no divine revelation came.
"Still just an apprentice disciple, huh..."
Newly initiated shamans are called apprentices.
Their divinations are potent but immature.
I deeply felt that I was one too.
"Old Man, listen carefully."
"Speak."
"In my dream, you were standing upside down. What that means is..."
Astor Closel and Irene interrupted me.
"It's ready."
"Your mastery has deepened since then."
"Can only elves match it?"
Astor Closel Old Man clutched his waist, grinning proudly.
"Chris, take a look. Unless you're a baron or higher, you won't see something like this."
He pointed to a vast magic circle drawn there.
"This is the warp magic circle that only 7th Circle mages can handle..."
It felt like a scene I'd seen before.
Astor Closel, Parmon, and even Irene.
"No way..."
Astor Closel Old Man grinned and spoke.
"Warp magic circle. It'll take us to the elves' forest in an instant."
The dream was spot-on.
Seeing it right in front of me proved it.
I glanced at Parmon Old Man, then spoke to Astor Closel Old Man.
"If you ride that, everyone dies. Except you, Old Man."
This old coot was trying to get everyone killed.