Chapter 41
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 41: ■■■'s Nightmare (6)
“Come, knight of wicked energy!”
Why.
To Lanne, Alice must be a total stranger.
They had stuck together for a few days at Viktor's request, but even that was a period of less than a fortnight.
To step forward without hesitation for such a person, she must be crazy.
It's impossible unless you're crazy.
“The warriors of the North are not subservient before the strong, and not stingy before the weak...!”
However.
“My name is Lanne Kihano! My alias is Don Quixote de la Mancha!”
Alice ended up seeing it.
The shoulders that were faint, but definitely trembling.
“Receiving the call of the stars, I will stand here and block that which is wicked!”
The girl was trembling.
Eyes filled with fear.
But she wasn't showing it.
Even so, she was pronouncing every word clearly.
Solely to protect someone behind her back.
—Alice.
The view from behind.
That shabby back overlaps with someone else.
—Alice.
—Go... run as far away as you can. Unnie is fine.
—You have to run so far away that those people can't find you.
Her sister lying covered in blood.
Even with death imminent, a hand that didn't examine herself.
A hand that wiped Alice's tears instead, as if to say sorry.
—It's okay. Everything will be okay.
—Unnie will take a nap, and definitely follow you...
Lanne's back resembled someone she missed.
Thus, Alice's legs froze.
She simply couldn't run away.
Because running away and leaving someone behind was one of her deep traumas.
<.Deliver the ecstatic gospel to the world.>
“Heueup...!”
In the meantime, Lanne was already clashing with the Red Knight.
The sound of iron and iron tearing the air rang loudly.
*Kwaang, peong! Kwagwagwang—!*
A fight that wasn't equal at all.
Only Lanne's wounds were increasing one by one.
<.The sheep will listen to the holy voice.>
*Kwaaaaang—!*
The girl exhausted just from exchanging a few blows.
Perhaps because of the dense demonic energy, just breathing made her lungs sting.
Lanne screamed and rushed in.
‘Kihano Style Spearmanship 2nd Form’
-Awl-
However.
Was it an overwhelming enemy after all.
Lanne couldn't hold out for long and was sent flying.
The girl flying like that and sprawling at Alice's feet.
“Princess...”
Why.
Why does it turn out like this.
Alice couldn't understand.
—R-run...
Meeting her eyes, Lanne mutters with her mouth.
A girl who prioritizes others until the end.
Alice quietly embraced that body.
<.Child.>
Before long.
The red armor had approached right in front of them.
A height where you have to look up for a long time to see it all.
‘Why, always...’
She thought she was unhappy enough, but strokes were just added one by one.
This world seemed unable to endure without pushing her to the brink.
All the noise in her ears sounded like mockery.
She felt sick of it.
‘What's the reason.’
The body temperature embraced in her arms.
Lanne, who had lost consciousness in the meantime.
And, the Red Knight raising its sword above its head.
She was sick and tired of it.
‘Why... how come, these things keep...’
A life sinking endlessly without even knowing the reason.
Something was about to collapse inside Alice.
Hot tears flow.
In the end, she burst into tears.
Even at such a moment, whispers were heard in her ears.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[WelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderlandWelcomeToWonderland]
The nightmare she had to run away from all her life.
What she promised her sister.
The promise made to never let go of herself no matter what happens.
Now, it had become meaningless.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[WelcomeToWonderland.]
Alice slumped her body limply.
Eyes that had died and turned black.
Lifeless blue eyes.
The girl's lips ended up muttering.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[WelcomeToWonderland.]
“Yeah...”
[ 💧 Alice ]
[WelcomeToWonderland.]
It was the end.
Words spoken to the nightmare she had desperately turned away from.
“Do whatever you want.”
[ 💧 Alice ]
[WelcomeToWonder...]
[ 💧 Alice ]
[......]
[ 💧 Alice ]
[......]
[ 💧 Alice ]
[......]
Silence.
For a moment, the girl's mind became quiet.
Not a few seconds later, a red voice completely dyed her mind.
The world blurred as if covered in fog.
Smudged vision.
The Red Knight holding the sword also flinched.
Was it because of the ominousness lingering inside the barrier?
Somewhat rigid, the Red Knight looked around its surroundings.
*Kwa-ak—!*
The next moment, the Red Knight's head was crushed.
A monstrous bird that appeared from nowhere was tearing it apart and eating it.
The Red Knight staggered and resisted, but the giant maw only smacked its lips.
‘Dream.’
Alice's latent ability.
The ability to pull her dreams into reality.
The girl looked up at the bizarre bird and quietly muttered its name.
‘Jabberwock...’
The monster that frequently appeared in her sleep.
Alice's deep nightmare had escaped into reality.
And what escaped from her wasn't just a single bird.
Something floated down gently from the sky.
Sparkling crowns.
Bizarre appearances without faces, only clear silhouettes.
Each wore a crown on their head.
They were the queens from Alice's nightmare.
They landed softly and looked down at the struggling Red Knight.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆]]
Noise that couldn't be thought of as human language.
As they muttered something, bizarre creatures poured out from the fog.
Would it feel like this if playing cards, chess pieces, and humans were mixed together haphazardly?
The eerie creatures moved in swarms.
However, aligned in ranks and files, like a single army.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]]
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[◆◆◆◆◆◆]]
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[□□□□□□□□□]]
As the queens muttered in turn, countless soldiers rushed at the Red Knight.
Afterward, the armor fell over with a crash.
The Red Knight couldn't even resist.
Its limbs were torn off, flesh was stripped, and internal organs were extracted.
The Apostle of the Evil God convulsed stiffly a few times before stopping.
*Kkudeudeuk, ppudeuk! Cheolpeok, cheolpeok...*
Madness.
A scene dyed in nightmare.
“......”
Sitting in the center of it all was the black-haired girl.
Above Alice's head, a single crown was floating.
A crown entirely mixed only with sticky blackness, even looking like a shadow.
It dyes the girl.
A silhouette dyeing increasingly black, black.
Dark red tears of blood drip down her cheeks.
‘Nightmarization.’
Ali■ looked completely devoured by the nightmare.
Having lost control of her body, she didn't move as she willed.
She seemed to have become a puppet of the nightmare.
Al■■ released her strength as if resigned.
Following that, Lanne's body, which she had been holding while trembling, sprawled on the ground.
‘......It's over.’
It had become irreversible.
She had finally surrendered her body to the nightmare.
Her consciousness gradually blurred, and her vision darkened.
If she closed her eyes like this, how many more terrible things would she commit?
Uncontrolled nightmares.
How much despair would they create?
‘Unnie...’
She chewed over the promise she couldn't keep.
Since the rampage had already begun, there was no way for ■■■ to stop it.
She only prayed that this breath would be cut off as soon as possible.
A quiet world.
■■■ tried to let go of her consciousness.
Like that, being reborn as the final queen...
“My my.”
A suddenly heard voice.
Someone was standing in front of ■■■.
Because it was a familiar resonance, the girl couldn't help but be stunned.
“......?”
When she lifted her eyelids, a mask with a familiar smile reflected in her vision.
A dead person.
A person ■■■ had confirmed dead with her own eyes.
She had seen him crushed under the Red Knight's foot, becoming a lump of meat.
She wondered if this was also part of the nightmare, but it was too vivid a form for that.
“Miss ■■■.”
The boy was smiling.
Exactly speaking, that mask was smiling.
“So you were in a place like this. I looked for you for a long time.”
His signature gentle tone.
The clown stood exactly one step in front of ■■■.
He rummaged through his bosom and took out a sparkling potion.
“Ah, Miss Lanne was here too.”
Then he nonchalantly opened the lid and poured the contents onto Lanne.
As the sloshing liquid touched her, the injuries began to recover in an instant.
Lanne's complexion noticeably relaxed.
The boy even seemed to be humming a melody.
“How...?”
■■■ couldn't help but lose her mind.
Far from shrinking back among the nightmares, he looked as relaxed as if he were in his own living room.
The nightmares that had been gleefully tearing apart the Red Knight's corpse also seemed to notice the boy's presence belatedly.
Gazes converge.
“It seems you need some help just in time.”
“......”
Regardless, the boy tilted his head refreshingly.
A playful smile seemed visible beyond the mask.
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[□□□□□□]]
Could she not bear to watch?
The White Queen, who had been standing still, rushed at the boy.
A silhouette condensing in white.
The hands that had violently torn apart the Red Knight's armor rushed in.
At that, ■■■ almost shouted to be careful without realizing it.
However.
“Don't look away.”
The boy didn't even glance at the White Queen.
Without even turning his head, he lightly swung his scythe just once.
*Tu-uk—.*
A bland swing.
Immediately after, the White Queen rushing at him was torn apart.
Beyond being torn to shreds, a silhouette that just evaporated.
*Chwaaaaak—!*
“Look at me.”
“......”
A [Queen] with the highest rank even among nightmares.
He evaporated one of them with a single gesture.
And even then, without any particular inspiration, a gaze looking down only at ■■■.
*Seu-euk—.*
The clown's hand rested on her cheek.
Warm body temperature.
The girl couldn't help but flinch without realizing it.
Soft. The soft touch swept over the corner of her eyes.
Wiping away the flowing tears of blood, he slowly made her meet his eyes.
“Miss ■■■.”
Why was it.
—■■■.
Her sister's words came to mind.
Words she thought were very silly, and very unrealistic.
—As you live.
—You might meet someone who will save you someday, right?
The mask was smiling.
The clown crouched in front of her, perhaps trying to meet ■■■'s eye level.
“Because I can help you.”
“......”
Help with what.
There was no need to ask that.
Because the boy's finger was pointing at the symbol of Nightmarization, the crown.
“That power... don't you want to try controlling it once?”
Control of Nightmarization.
At that proposal, ■■■ couldn't help but be dazed.
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