Chapter 122: Nightmare. (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: Nightmare. (8)
After defeating Jae-hee—who was pathetically weak, contrary to his resolve—another door leading to a different dream appeared.
Unlike the ones before, this entrance radiated an eerie, ominous energy. I had a gut feeling that this time, I would finally face the mastermind behind this incident.
So, I stepped forward.
The moment I passed through the door, a sickly sweet, unpleasant scent hit me.
The air was thick with a cloying perfume that made my head throb, mixed with a suffocatingly dense feminine musk. I couldn’t help but grimace.
Dozens of succubi stood at a distance, watching me.
The way they drooled with glistening eyes made them seem almost innocent, like children staring at a delicious snack. However, seeing them drool from places other than their mouths made the sight both terrifying and revolting.
Damn, this dizziness is killing me.
— [Despite its appearance, this is a powerful formation. It has a potent aphrodisiac effect; most wouldn’t be able to withstand it.]
— [Will of the Saint bolsters your mental fortitude.]
— [Touch of the Devil blocks the demonic energy attempting to infiltrate you.]
As my artifacts reacted and assisted me, breathing became a bit easier.
First, I needed to thin the herd.
Without hesitation, I pulled off my right glove to reveal the mark. The succubi, who had been eyeing me with a mix of curiosity and lust just moments ago, bowed their heads in terror.
…The effect is certainly reliable.
— [Silence! The Will of the Saint…!]
…No, I don’t have a choice right now. If I tried to deal with them one by one, it would never end.
The Will of the Saint continued to ramble about how “losing one’s faith is the same as…” but I stopped listening.
“How interesting.”
A seductive voice rang out.
Only three succubi had failed to bow after seeing the demon mark. Two of them were trembling while maintaining a wary stance, so in reality, only the woman who had just spoken remained composed.
Her pink hair flowed elegantly down the curves of her body.
Her revealing outfit was a direct testament to her confidence in her physique. Her supple face, devoid of a single wrinkle even as she smiled deeply with her eyes, was captivating. However, the thought of how much life essence she must have drained to maintain that appearance sent a chill down my spine.
“This is our first time meeting in person, isn’t it? My children are frightened, so would you mind putting that hand away?”
A Queen-grade succubus. Moreover, considering she could completely ignore the mark, she wasn’t just any ordinary Queen.
“I’m a bit of a coward by nature, so I can’t do that. Who knows what would happen to me without this?”
I feigned bravado, flaunting the mark on the back of my hand. Instead of being intimidated, she responded as if she were slightly surprised.
“Oh my, I expected you to use honorifics. Are kids these days that open-minded? Or is it that thing? Did you think I was an older sister instead of a mother? I am quite youthful, aren’t I?”
Well, she did look to be around the same age as Professor Cathy, but I couldn’t follow the flow of the conversation.
A mother?
“Hmm, you really don’t know. I’ll give you a hint: my daughter’s face looks just like mine.”
Long pink hair, deep pink eyes bordering on red, and a constant, beaming smile. Despite the slightly different vibe, a certain person came to mind.
Lee Yu-na.
But Yu-na’s mother should have been dead by now.
In this world, that was the fate of the succubus race.
Initially, they were thought to be intelligent enough to be registered as demi-humans. However, their instincts were too strong, leading to repeated accidents where they literally squeezed the life out of men who were trying to provide them with life essence amicably.
When sanctions were imposed, they couldn’t overcome their desires and revolted. According to the setting, most were exterminated as humanoid monsters, with only a few exceptions.
Among them, Lee Yu-na’s mother was supposed to have spent her life essence caring for lower-class succubi, eventually losing it all and dying by the time the original story began.
So, she shouldn’t be here…
But then again, it was foolish to stick to the original plot at this point.
“My, you’re quieter than I thought. I was nervous since this is my first time meeting my daughter’s friend. Are you nervous too?”
She seemed friendly on the surface, but every word she spoke and every breath she took was laced with a potent aphrodisiac effect and mana.
“…I’m wondering what kind of mother tries to seduce her daughter’s friend.”
…Wait, is she? I think that’s a popular genre in the “underground” scene.
“Hmm, since you keep speaking informally, I can do the same, right? It’s actually more comfortable for me.”
She slowly reached out and pointed toward my heart.
“To be honest, I don’t want to lay a hand on my daughter’s friend when I haven’t even done anything for her. But if possible, could you return that inside your heart?”
That inside my heart. The moment she said those words, the Authority flinched, clutching my heart as if it didn’t want to leave.
…Hey, that hurts. You’re not trying to burst it, are you? I have no intention of giving it up, so calm down, you brat.
“…I don’t think so.”
I had no intention of giving it to her anyway, but if I said I would, my heart might actually explode.
“Then I have no choice. I’ll just have to open your chest and take the heart itself. Oh my, talking about taking my daughter’s friend’s heart… I’m being such a fool.”
“You realize you’re actually being a total creep, right?”
“…It was a joke. Couldn’t you at least call it romantic?”
“I’ve never had a romance that involved physically opening a chest and ripping out a heart.”
We smiled at each other.
“Hmm, this won’t do. Just by facing you, this power wants to go to you. Even the parts I thought I had completely subjugated are starting to waver. What exactly are you? Are you the original owner of this power? Or perhaps a fallen Creator or a god?”
“Nothing that grand, but in a way, it might be similar.”
I was at least a friend of the Creator, after all.
“I’d better not use this power when dealing with you.”
The woman, who had been sitting on a throne, slowly stood up.
Moving slowly as if to show off the lines of her legs, she suddenly accelerated, closing the distance in an instant to pierce my heart.
If it were me before I obtained Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils, I wouldn’t have been able to react. But now, I could handle this much.
“Oh, you dodged it.”
“You’re the one who threw the first punch, so it’s no use bringing up the ‘daughter’s friend’ thing now.”
“Dear, what are you talking about? A mother can certainly hit and ‘taste’ her daughter’s friend a little.”
“Even if I concede on the hitting part, I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t be ‘tasting’ me…?”
I drew Ruyi and took a stance.
“Pierce, Ruyi.”
Ruyi, in the form of a spear, shot forward.
It was an attack meant to probe her. I wanted to see how she would react—whether she would dodge, block, or counter—to deduce her fighting style. However, she chose none of those.
Thwack! The sharp blade of Ruyi pierced through her abdomen.
“Oh my, despite what you said, I guess you really wanted to put it in me? It’s a nice piece—thick and hard.”
Despite being impaled by the spear, she didn’t look pained. Instead, she stroked the Ruyi that had pierced her with an ecstatic expression.
An inexplicable sense of revulsion crawled up my spine.
“Grow, Ruyi…!”
Intending to end it, I commanded Ruyi. It instantly enlarged, shattering the woman’s body into pieces.
However, the mangled chunks of flesh soon turned into a pink mist and began to coalesce again.
“…So it gets even bigger? I almost tore apart. You should treat a woman with more care.”
Okay.
I immediately retracted Ruyi and switched weapons.
I had been so flustered by the claim that she was Yu-na’s mother that I’d forgotten: this was a dream, and my opponent was the Queen of Succubi.
I had used my most familiar weapon with the intent to go all out, but since Ruyi was a weapon of physical force, the compatibility was naturally poor.
When she saw Touch of the Devil, her expression turned slightly surprised.
“Oh, how clever. You’ve already realized that physical force is meaningless?”
As I paid the price in Innate True Qi, demonic energy surged.
At the same time, she was caressing my cheek.
“So? Do you think that will work?”
I tried to create distance, but she remained pressed against me.
The demonic energy swirled as if trying to tear her away, but she endured it as if it were a pleasant breeze, leaning in even closer.
“You don’t understand dreams at all. A succubus is a being that can show you everything possible in a dream. I am called the Queen of Succubi because I stand at the pinnacle of that.”
Countless pillars rose into the sky.
“In a place that isn’t a dream, you might be able to kill me instantly. But as long as this is a dream, I will not lose to anyone.”
I dodged the falling pillars.
“The reason I’m not killing you right now is simply because I’m showing favor to my daughter’s friend. If you obediently hand over the Authority in your heart, I won’t hurt you anymore.”
Her voice, tinged with sweet mana, vibrated through my brain.
“…Hey.”
“Have you finally decided to give up?”
“I guess succubi aren’t very good at lying.”
“…Hmm?”
“Showing favor? You can kill me instantly?”
Who the hell listens to their enemy in the middle of a fight?
If everything she said were true, there would be no need for her to keep trying to brainwash me. There would be no need to try and break my spirit.
She could just kill me and take it. Why would she go through all that trouble?
Therefore, everything this woman was saying was a bluff—a hollow shell that only looked impressive on the outside.
“Go ahead, kill me.”
What if she was telling the truth? I had the Authority in my heart, and I still had the Lucky Double Coin, so in the worst-case scenario, I could survive a death or two.
So, if you’re so confident, kill me.
Time passed after my provocation. One second, two seconds… nearly a minute went by, but she only glared at me with a cold face, her smile gone. She couldn’t kill me.
“I told you to kill me. Why can’t you do it?”
“…This is why I hate kids who are too quick-witted.”
Ah, now that she was scowling, she really did look like Yu-na.
“Fine. I can’t kill you. The first reason is that killing someone in a dream requires much more effort than killing them in reality. Doing it once or twice has little effect, and for someone like you, I’d probably have to kill you ten times. It’s a waste of time.”
It’s hard to kill someone in a dream? Why?
— [Falling from a cliff or having your heart stop in a dream doesn’t mean you die. It merely leaves a small impact on the physical body.]
— [Of course, a succubus of her level could greatly bridge that gap, but she’s likely worried that while she’s fighting to kill you completely, others might wake up.]
Aha, so that’s it. Getting hit by a car in a dream doesn’t actually kill you.
“The other way is to drain all your life essence until you die, but that would take even longer. There’s a limit to how vast someone’s life force should be. How on earth do you hold so much vitality in one human body? Even if we all drained you together, it would take a full day.”
She was saying some absolutely horrific things so casually…
Drain what? No thanks.
She unfurled wings that were massive compared to the other succubi and stared at me silently.
“The second reason is that this Authority seems to like you more than me. If I drag this out, it’ll get dangerous. I thought about taking a hostage at first, but besides that boy from earlier, it’s hard to get close to anyone without the Authority’s help.”
Ah, I see.
I wondered why it had to be Jae-hee. It wasn’t because he was special; he was just the easiest target.
Poor guy.
“So, I have to gamble before it’s too late. I’ll apologize first. I’m sorry.”
Immediately after her sudden apology, her appearance began to change.
Her sharp features, which resembled Yu-na’s, began to soften into a delicate, sickly face.
Ash-colored hair fluttered, and a woman with a fragile impression appeared before me.
Thump.
My heart ached.
“So-hyun.”
She was someone I had never actually met in person. There was no reason for my heart to race like this.
— So-hyun.
I had only seen her in my sister’s dreams, so why was I so terrified?
This wasn’t good.
I understood that this was a tactic she was using to fluster me, but I couldn’t resist.
I barely managed to endure by clutching onto the noise where the Authority of the heart was fading.
“What’s wrong, So-hyun? It’s Mom.”
She approached me.
I instinctively stepped back.
“You can’t, So-hyun. You can resist anything else, but you shouldn’t try to resist me when it comes to dreams.”
The surge of memories became even stronger, and the noise wavered more violently.
— Mom is sorry, So-hyun.
No, I don’t want to hear an apology from you.
— Hmm? Of course. I’m your mother. What’s so strange about a mother doing this for her son?
No, I could have lived even without you. So get out of the way.
— I’m worried because So-hyun doesn’t trust people easily. But someday, a precious friend or someone you love will appear for you too, right? Mom wanted to watch from your side.
Then watch. Watch from my side. Don’t talk like you’re leaving. I have no intention of letting you die.
— So-hyun. Mom is sorry. So don’t cry.
“Got you.”
“…You… fucking bitch.”
A black sphere enveloped me.
— [Authority of the Creator manifested. Reproducing your trauma.]
“Sweetheart, have a bad dream.”
A viscous black substance coiled around me.
“I’ll deal with you later…”
“It won’t be easy to escape. Unlike the Authority you stole, this is a part I spent a long time making my own. Anyway, I’ve used up almost all the Authority because of you, so the fusion of the worlds will be delayed. But since there won’t be any more interference from here on, I can handle the rest myself.”
My consciousness was sucked into the darkness.
The face of the “mother” who had been looking at me as if she had won pulled away.
…You said you used up almost all your Authority on me?
Stupid bitch. Then you’ve lost.
* * *
As a sword engraved with a white rose emitted a holy aura, the things belonging to evil began to be purified.
The boy, having looked back at all his origins and remembered what he wanted to protect, slowly opened his eyes.
There had been countless malicious manipulations and temptations from succubi, but the boy had overcome them all and chosen to move forward.
“I’m sorry. I’ve only just realized my true feelings, so I can’t let myself be held back in a place like this.”
After apologizing to the succubus who had been obstructing him, he headed forward once more.
He felt that if he stopped in a trap like this, his friend would surely come to nag him again.
The moment the Authority used to maintain the dream world weakened…
Many, including him, began to overcome the nightmare.