Chapter 71
Chapter 71
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 71
Chapter Title: Chasing the Dream (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sior's eyes, which had been quietly closed, opened.
At the same time, the clones surrounding him, identical in every way, opened their eyes as well.
“…….”
A sense of dissonance rippled through the minds connected to his own. At first, he thought it might be an illusion, but the sensation grew sharper and clearer.
And it was unmistakably approaching one specific point.
“What a foolish thing to do.”
It was drawing closer, bit by bit—he could feel it for certain.
If he left it alone, it wouldn't be long before it reached him.
“……The sword's master.”
The being he might have once greeted and tested with the sword's trial.
But that was in the past now.
He was here not as a guardian, but as a disaster.
* * *
After stepping into Sior's domain, he passed through countless dreams.
He raced across the many dreams linked to Sior, following the sword's resonance.
“Which way this time?”
“Right!”
Dragged by Lutia's hand into a passage, he found himself in yet another world.
Human dreams were vast, and no two were ever the same.
‘He's here.’
The moment a blue shimmer rippled across the vast land blanketed in green meadows, a boy with familiar blue hair burst forth.
‘How many of them are there?’
Over a dozen streaks of blue light flew across the meadow toward him.
The good news was that Zenon had taken down the clone with the strongest power, so none of these posed a real threat.
“Sword's master!”
The sight of the countless clones flying toward him sent chills down his spine.
“I'll hold them off as best I can, so hurry and find the path to his main body!”
Succubi could wield power beyond reality within dreams. She should be able to block most of these weakened clones.
Trusting Lutia, he dashed forward, following the sword's resonance.
‘His main body has to be where Solaris is.’
With the clones so weakened, it was likely guarding the main body in case of emergency.
Otherwise, one of these clones would have brought Solaris by now.
“Damn!”
In that moment, a few clones slipped past Lutia and charged at him.
They swung arms shaped like sharp ice blades, aiming for him.
“You are not the human destined for this world! Why do you stand in my way? You have no reason to stop me!”
Scree! Scree!
Sharp sword strikes tore through the air, assaulting him one after another.
The attacks coming from all directions were fierce, but he deflected them with ease.
‘It wasn't like I spent the last month just sitting around!’
Ever since learning about Maria's ability, he had trained with the Danwol Singeom every night in his sleep.
Under Gransesia's guidance, no less.
‘Danwol Singeom, First Form.’
Crescent Fang.
A pristine white crescent moon bared its teeth, batting away the clones' attacks.
Seeing him block their strikes so effortlessly, the clones showed clear signs of panic.
“How in the world……!”
Even weakened, these were clones of a ‘disaster.’
They never imagined they'd struggle this much against a mere human.
“A mere human, not even a savior!”
“Of course, I'm still far from Fabian's level. But…….”
Right now, he possessed something even the protagonist didn't have.
The Danwol Singeom.
The swordsmanship Fabian would only gain after defeating the Phantasmal Disaster.
In this moment, he stood ahead of the protagonist.
Clang!
Pure white moonlight swirled around him, blocking and repelling Sior's onslaught.
He blocked the pouring ice and severed the neck of one among the five clones attacking wildly.
“Urk!”
As one clone shattered like glass, the others hesitated.
Seizing the opening, he slipped through another passage.
Rumble!
This time, it was a horrific nightmare.
Corpses piled up like mountains, soldiers clutching comrades and wailing.
It seemed to be someone's nightmare made manifest.
“I've waited a long time.”
A boy with blue hair stepped through the flames.
This clone was different from the others.
‘Solaris!’
Unlike the previous ones, this clone gripped Solaris in its hand.
‘Then where's the main body?’
The burning wasteland was littered only with corpses—no sign of the main body anywhere.
‘Damn. How did Fabian handle this?’
The攻略 from the synopsis and Lutia's precognitive dream ended here.
Fabian had surely chased Solaris using Genova's resonance.
But the synopsis jumped to the next chapter after that, and Lutia hadn't seen Fabian's actions afterward while blocking the other clones.
“You wouldn't understand.”
Sior, holding Solaris, spoke quietly toward him.
“I spent an eternity waiting for the sword's master. All alone in that cold temple where no one ever came.”
Unlike other guardians, Sior the winter spirit possessed a sense of self.
At first, he had joyfully embraced his role, awaiting the human who would one day arrive.
“Ten years, a hundred years, a thousand…… I waited an age close to eternity in that tiny temple. Then it hit me.”
Kaang!
Sior charged, swinging his sword as if to vent all his rage.
The weight of the blade carried that fury fully.
“Why must I, a spirit, suffer this solitude for the sake of a disaster? Why must I sacrifice myself for humans?”
Sior's wish was simple.
To escape that tiny temple and gain freedom.
No grand mission needed. He yearned only for the freedom to leave that place.
“So I became a disaster.”
Sior ground his teeth as he spoke.
“I rejected the mission given to me and became a disaster to gain my freedom. To shatter that tiny temple and break free!”
He could somewhat empathize with the clone's cry.
Honestly, anyone would go mad trapped in a small temple for thousands of years.
He'd have done anything to escape.
‘Why did Father…….’
The one and only being who conceived and completed this world.
Why had Father given him such a mission?
Why was it necessary to go this far?
‘……No way.’
Father was a god, but also ‘human.’
That thought sparked a possibility in his mind.
Kaaang!
Parrying Sior's attack, he stared into the eyes right before him. The mad, once-beautiful eyes of the spirit.
“……Tragedy.”
“What?”
Sior countered at his murmur.
His gaze held the sorrow accumulated over endless time.
“Yes, a tragic setup…… You needed dramatic development through him.”
It was common in novels.
A tragedy crafted for more dramatic staging.
A trial to grow the protagonist.
A sacrificial lamb for indispensable plot progression—that was the ‘setting’ Father had given Sior.
‘Stories don't complete without crises.’
This was a world made by a writer who was not a god, but human. That was the root of all these issues.
‘So…….’
It was his responsibility now.
He was the writer with the right to rewrite this world.
Slowly, he gripped Genova.
The familiar weight of the sword settled in his hand.
“Don't do anything foolish!”
Sensing the change in his demeanor, Sior lunged.
But his own action was faster.
He charged full speed into another passage. This time, a vibrant world of bright colors burst forth—likely a child's dream.
“You still intend to find my main body!”
He barely shook off the pursuing attacks, scanning everywhere.
‘Where is it?’
He had seen countless human dreams.
Crossed endless paths, breached dream boundaries.
Yet the main body remained nowhere in sight.
‘As long as a clone holds Solaris, resonance won't reveal the main body's location.’
All he could do was blindly tear through passages.
At this point, it was down to luck.
‘I must be missing something.’
Fabian couldn't have beaten the Phantasmal Disaster by sheer luck.
What was he overlooking?
“Give up! You'll never find my main body!”
Crossing into the space, Sior swung Solaris at his neck.
He barely deflected it with Danwol Singeom.
As expected, the clone wielding Solaris was far stronger than the others.
‘If I delay longer, the other clones will join in.’
Then he had no chance.
He couldn't afford to waste more time like this.
‘Think.’
He calmly exhaled, batting away Sior's frontal strikes.
Gransesia had said it.
In crises, control emotions even more.
Proper tension is fine, but fear clouds the mind.
Suppress emotional distortion of information and derive the truth.
She called it ‘Yusik.’
‘Just like then.’
Like when he missed keywords in the synopsis during the Plague Disaster.
He was surely missing something now too.
How had Fabian defeated the Phantasmal Disaster?
‘Ah.’
There it was.
One thing he had truly overlooked.
After the Phantasmal Disaster, upon returning to his territory, Fabian had only a single sword at his waist.
The synopsis never mentioned him carrying two swords.
Even passing through trap-filled passages to meet Damian, it mentioned using ‘Solaris's power,’ not wielding Solaris itself.
Perhaps a mere wording trick.
Or simply omitted in brief description.
“What are you planning?”
Sensing his shift, Sior swung Solaris again without mercy.
Kaaang!
“You can never beat me. Even if you defeat this clone, I'm just a clone. Another will appear until you collapse from exhaustion.”
“No.”
The clash of Solaris and Genova rang out with an grating metallic screech.
Kag, Kagak!
The noise of metal grinding.
But soon, it changed.
Crack!
“What……?!”
Shock burst from Sior's mouth.
It was warranted.
Genova's blade was now shattering Solaris's blade and digging in.
“Solaris's blade breaking…… Impossible! This is the Boundary Sword, forged by a god's power!”
“I know.”
Gripping Genova tighter, he grinned.
“But…… as the sword's guardian, you should know the power of the Human Sword Genova, right?”
Realizing what he meant, Sior's eyes shook violently.
Human Sword Genova.
This power could cleave even the incorporeal, like the Plague Disaster.
‘If Father's settings are absolute…….’
Genova could cut anything.
Even if it was one of the Seven Heavenly Swords.
“Hah, but you're no true sword master—you can't wield Genova properly……?”
Seeing he hadn't unleashed Genova yet, Sior assumed he couldn't use its power.
He was right, in a way.
Without Insight Eye, he couldn't unleash Genova's power.
“If this were reality, maybe.”
Wuuung!
Genova's blade trembled, dyeing gold.
Genova grew stronger responding to humanity's origins and wishes. Its power maximized when infused with many people's hopes.
And this was the dream world.
A realm built on and linked by countless people's wishes.
It would be stranger if it couldn't unleash full power here.
Dudududu!
Genova's blade transformed, burrowing deeper into Solaris. Cracks like spiderwebs spread across Solaris, as if it were made of glass.
“I didn't need to find your main body at all.”
Pouring strength into his grip, he laughed ferociously.
“You're the spirit dwelling within this Solaris itself.”
That explained why it couldn't leave the royal castle.
Not because a separate main body was there. It simply couldn't stray far from the temple storing the sword.
Kwaduduk!
Genova's blade fully pierced into Solaris.
Fine golden light leaked from the cracks across the blade.
“No……!”
“Yes.”
With Sior's curt death cry, boundless golden-white light exploded forth.