Chapter 43
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 43: Alice's Nightmare (8)
Black Queen.
A boss considered one of the worst ruins in the original worldview.
It was also ■■■'s final awakening stage.
Exactly speaking, a state completely devoured by her own nightmare.
Endless quantities of monsters ripple, and undying dreams pour out into the world.
[Title: How the hell are you supposed to clear this?]
[Author: TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent]
[Author: TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent]
Currently on Impossible difficulty, progressing through the <■■■'s Nightmare> story.
■■■ hit 100% Nightmarization and has already turned into the Black Queen.
What am I supposed to do here?
I just can't do anything in the game?
The students I raised so hard got massacred, and even though all the faculty members mobilized, they just got torn apart ;;
The main body didn't even step forward, they all died to the other lackey queens.
<The end has begun.>
Only phrases like this keep blinking on the screen, and I've tried every method, but I just can't figure out how to break through this section.
■■■ hit 100% Nightmarization and has already turned into the Black Queen.
What am I supposed to do here?
I just can't do anything in the game?
The students I raised so hard got massacred, and even though all the faculty members mobilized, they just got torn apart ;;
The main body didn't even step forward, they all died to the other lackey queens.
<The end has begun.>
Only phrases like this keep blinking on the screen, and I've tried every method, but I just can't figure out how to break through this section.
If there are any veterans who know the strategy, please help...
[Comments]
[You ruined this playthrough lol Just play again from the beginning]
-> If ■■■ hit 100% Nightmarization, there is no way.
-> From the moment the Black Queen appears, there is nothing you can do.
[It's a boss made not to be beaten in the first place...]
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) No, then what's the strategy for her? This can't just be the ending.
-> Start over from the beginning. And kill ■■■ before she hits 100% Nightmarization.
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) Kill her??
-> Yeah. Otherwise she'll eventually become the Black Queen and destroy the world.
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) Do I really have to kill her...? Isn't there any way to save her?
-> Not on Impossible difficulty. On other difficulties, there's a side path each, but on Impossible difficulty, if you leave her alive, she will unconditionally hit 100% Nightmarization and destroy the world.
[There's a reason why she exceptionally has a solid fanbase]
-> The character's narrative is also fucking bleak, and if you play on Impossible difficulty, she can't even be saved.
-> Suffering from nightmares and eventually getting swallowed, or being killed by the player...
-> If ■■■ hit 100% Nightmarization, there is no way.
-> From the moment the Black Queen appears, there is nothing you can do.
[It's a boss made not to be beaten in the first place...]
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) No, then what's the strategy for her? This can't just be the ending.
-> Start over from the beginning. And kill ■■■ before she hits 100% Nightmarization.
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) Kill her??
-> Yeah. Otherwise she'll eventually become the Black Queen and destroy the world.
-> TheOppositeOfUrgentIsShortGent) Do I really have to kill her...? Isn't there any way to save her?
-> Not on Impossible difficulty. On other difficulties, there's a side path each, but on Impossible difficulty, if you leave her alive, she will unconditionally hit 100% Nightmarization and destroy the world.
[There's a reason why she exceptionally has a solid fanbase]
-> The character's narrative is also fucking bleak, and if you play on Impossible difficulty, she can't even be saved.
-> Suffering from nightmares and eventually getting swallowed, or being killed by the player...
-> There is always a demand for nice and pretty but unhappy characters.
In the first place, the [Black Queen] is not a boss made to be cleared.
What the game demands of the players is prevention.
The time when ■■■ hasn't finished Nightmarization yet.
Before she fell and became a queen, it was to kill ■■■.
‘It's too late.’
Nightmarization.
A status effect existing exclusively for ■■■.
‘It would be nice if I could shake it off with Status Effect-Parrying...’
Unfortunately, it was impossible.
As I explained before, Status Effect-Parrying couldn't strip away all status effects.
What Status Effect-Parrying works on are only trivial, lower-tier status effects.
As such, it doesn't work on high-ranking status effects.
‘It won't work on Nightmarization.’
Nightmarization is the foundation of a ruin.
Unlike the ghoulification from before, it was clearly a high-ranking status effect.
Because it was a power capable of easily destroying at least one world.
As long as Status Effect-Parrying doesn't work, I can't rely on bugs that strip it away.
‘Then... well, there's only one way.’
I arrange my disheveled sleeves.
Near my nonchalant steps, shattered chess pieces are scattered about.
‘I'll crush them directly.’
Nightmarization 100%.
That percentage is divided among the manifested nightmares.
Soldiers including the Jabberwock take 10%, the three queens take 20% each, and the final Black Queen takes 30%.
As the percentage accumulates, the corresponding nightmare manifests.
‘Right now it must be around 90%.’
A situation where the Jabberwock and soldiers have been summoned, and even the three queens have appeared.
If the percentage just accumulates like this, the [Black Queen] will manifest.
There was no particular need to check the status window.
Because the nightmares that had appeared so far were themselves indicators showing the progress of Nightmarization.
‘If so...’
What happens if I smash all of these?
Monsters existing as a percentage of Nightmarization.
The Queen of Hearts, the Red Queen, the White Queen.
Things that take up a whopping 60% of the total.
What happens if I attack them in reality?
Beyond attacking, what happens if I completely annihilate them?
‘The progress drops.’
White Queen 20%.
Red Queen 20%.
Jabberwock 10%.
I've already shaved off half the progress.
If I smash the nightmares, the progress value is forcibly lowered.
Like taking pieces one by one out of a puzzle nearing completion.
‘I just have to overturn the puzzle board completely.’
The three pillars supporting ■■■.
The Queen of Hearts.
The Red Queen.
The White Queen.
I'm going to beat these up to suppress Nightmarization.
Because if the progress doesn't accumulate, the Black Queen won't manifest either.
‘Of course.’
It wasn't a plan that could be realized normally.
If the strategy for Nightmarization was this easy, anyone would have succeeded in my previous life.
There was a reason why the story <■■■'s Nightmare> was considered extremely difficult.
The nightmares the girl summoned.
Those guys are basically invincible.
Setting aside whether they are strong or not, it's a judgment where the player's attacks don't even reach them.
Literally [Nightmares], so was it the logic that physical force cannot be exerted on a dream?
Not only the three queens, but even their subordinate soldiers couldn't be given a single scratch.
‘There's only one strategy.’
Before the progress hits 100%, the method of killing the host of the nightmare.
However, even that was a method that didn't work after the [Black Queen] manifested.
Because from that point on, ■■■ is also classified not as a character, but as a single nightmare.
The host also becomes invincible.
‘The end.’
Undying soldiers and a nightmare gradually spreading to the continent.
The player has no choice but to watch the world being trampled.
The ending credits that roll afterward.
The completion of the ruin, <Wonderland>.
The world enters unstoppable destruction.
Thus, hunting nightmares to reduce progress was an impossible strategy.
If attacks don't even hit them in the first place, how are you supposed to hunt them?
‘But.’
In my case, it was a different story.
Haven't I already experienced it?
How to deal with an enemy made to be unkillable.
‘The Reader.’
The Apostle of the Evil God, Jang-boong.
The guy I swept away with a single branch.
He too was a mob that normally shouldn't be defeatable.
His armor stat was set to infinite, so no matter how much you hit him, attacks didn't work.
‘It's similar to the nightmares.’
Strictly speaking, Jang-boong felt like his armor stat was infinite, while the nightmares felt like their evasion stat was infinite...
The basic mechanism was the same.
So, I'll use the same bug I used on Jang-boong.
A bug that unconditionally inflicts 3 damage to any target.
Because the nightmares, just like Jang-boong, had their HP fixed at 1.
‘In a word.’
To me, these guys are shabbier mobs than the goblins in the student hunting ground.
It was like that in the original work too.
The <Alice's Nightmare> story, which was originally of notorious difficulty.
After I discovered that bug, the clear difficulty was lowered significantly.
“Hmm...”
*Hwiiiiii—.*
I roughly brush back my hair that was disheveled by the wind.
While I was organizing my thoughts, the surroundings had been laid waste.
Only the remains of soldiers roll around me.
Among the annihilated nightmares, what remains is only a bright red mannequin wearing a red crown.
“Now it's the last one.”
[ 💧 Alice ]
[[◆◆◆◆◆◆]]
It was the Red Queen.
I approached the retreating guy step by step.
As if making a final desperate struggle, the queen tries to unleash a bright red sword aura.
Immediately after, a flashing red dyed my vision, but...
“You're slow. Even in falling.”
I was already standing behind the nightmare's back.
*Seugeok—.*
A belated cutting sound rings out.
The cleanly severed neck of the queen falls to the floor.
Mushy, it melts down, then soon the corpse scatters like fog.
“Phew... so tough, so tough.”
I massaged my stiff shoulder.
As expected, moving with a body of overall stat E-rank was difficult.
“Initiate. Gloves.”
*Kkumul-kkumul—.*
The scythe wriggles up my palm and is worn exactly as gloves.
Meanwhile, I tidy up my disheveled clothes.
“......Ah, Miss ■■■.”
Turning around at a felt gaze, I see the girl slumped blankly.
It seems she had been watching like that all along.
I approach ■■■.
“......”
Blue eyes.
Blood was still flowing on those cheeks, but there were no longer any signs of despair.
The shadows swarming all over her body had also lost their momentum.
The same went for the black crown floating above her head.
I stopped in front of ■■■ and carefully crouched down.
“Are you okay?”
A lightly asked question.
It was time to slowly wrap up this incident.
***
■■■.
She was blankly staring at the boy.
The clown who knelt before the girl after finally massacring the nightmares.
“Are you okay?”
A short question.
The boy's voice was affectionate for some reason.
No, maybe she just wanted to hear it that way.
She felt an unknown warmth mixed in the resonance of him pronouncing her name.
‘I don't know...’
She was dizzy.
Was it because she hadn't completely woken up from the nightmare yet?
■■■ remained stiff without being able to give any answer.
Even so, the boy smiled as if he understood.
‘Strange.’
Hearing that smile made her stomach churn.
Unlike when the nightmare whispered, a sensation as if her heart was being softly massaged.
“Miss ■■■.”
“......”
*Tuk—.*
In the meantime, a hand rested on the girl's shoulder.
Did it mean she shouldn't be surprised?
The boy was making eye contact with her blue eyes.
Just as she was getting used to the warmth on her shoulder.
*Bu-uk—!*
The shadow swaying on ■■■'s shoulder.
The boy grabbed it and tore it off as if peeling a wrapper.
Perhaps because it had lost its power, the shadow tore off in tatters like rags.
“Miss Al■■.”
“*Eut*...”
“Did it hurt? Please tell me if it hurt.”
Al■■ staggering from the recoil.
It didn't hurt, but she felt her body's center of gravity shake.
The boy gently extended his arms and hugged the girl.
‘......Warm.’
A dazed consciousness.
Al■■ ended up harboring childish sentiments.
On the other hand, the boy, confirming the girl was unharmed, reached out his hand again.
*Kkwa-ak—.*
This time it was the crown floating above her head.
The boy gripped the black color firmly and pulled it out roughly like before.
*Chwaaaaak—!*
“Miss Ali■.”
“Eua...”
“It's almost done.”
Her vision spinning once again.
The cleanly removed crown turned mushy, then soon scattered away like the other nightmares.
‘It doesn't hurt...’
The process was not painful at all.
Rather, her body felt at ease.
The sensation pressing down on her shoulders disappeared.
The throbbing chest pain subsided, and even the headache that was close to daily routine grew quiet.
‘Ah...’
Breathing was not painful.
The swarming agony was gone, leaving only a faint sense of floating.
The voices that had been noisy in her ears could no longer be heard.
That alone made her feel like bursting into tears.
‘Me, what should I...’
Blue pupils.
The water scales laid over them danced blinkingly.
Waves formed in the filled waterlight, and each time, the girl's world shook.
Just when a shabby resonance was about to leak from between her lips, the boy reached out his hand for the last time.
“You endured it well.”
*Seureuk—.*
A palm gently resting on Ali■'s cheek.
An affectionate body temperature touched her, and the cold girl melted down.
A thumb brushed the corner of her eye, wiping away the tears of blood welling up.
“It was hard for a long time, wasn't it.”
“......”
Carefully.
Carefully.
As if handling a fragile glass bowl.
As if so precious, he was afraid of making even a flaw.
“I know everything.”
“......”
“You're admirable. Truly admirable.”
Gentle words dyeing her ears.
A touch she couldn't hope for from anyone her entire life.
Words saying she worked hard, and comfort that didn't feel like pretense.
Another person's temperature, touch, voice... she felt like melting into all of it.
“*Heueuk*...”
Before long, no blood remained on her cheeks.
Only the handkerchief the boy held was soiled with dark red marks.
Even that became part of the nightmare and scattered away smoothly.
A sense of emptiness lingered.
And, before she could even get used to that sensation, he whispered.
“Miss Alice.”
“......”
Name.
A name someone called her by.
—Alice.
The girl regained her name.
At the same time, her sister's voice rang in her head.
“*Heuk*, *eu-eut*...”
Only then could the girl shed transparent tears.
Only then were the flowing streaks not dark red.
Crying overflowed, dyeing the world.
It was just a few drops, but for Alice, it was a sea that could reach the base of the sky.
“*Heu-eu*, *kkeuk*... *heueuk*...”
She tried to hold her breath, but it didn't work well.
Because something too hot was caught in her throat.
‘It's gone, the nightmare is... I can't feel the nightmare, inside me...’
It didn't feel real.
So she cried even more.
A long time.
A time that was too long.
The girl who had been trembling so much finally collapsed into the boy.
“Miss Alice.”
The boy didn't speak at length.
He just whispered a short, very short sentence.
“You've suffered a lot.”
“*Heu-eu-euk*... *heuk*, *heu*...!”
Alice cried for a long time.
A disaster concluding like that.
*Ting—!*
[Cleared Main Quest!]
- Title: Pitch-black Night
- Content: Defeat the Boss Monster ‘The Red Knight’.
[You have stopped one of the Seven Ruins!]
- Content: Defeat the Boss Monster ‘The Red Knight’.
[You have stopped one of the Seven Ruins!]
- Special rewards are provided. Please check your inventory.
*Ting—!*
[Cleared Emergency Quest!]
- Title: WelcomeToWonderland.
- Content: Stop the Nightmarization of ‘Alice’ currently running wild.
[Surprisingly, you completed the quest without killing the host!]
- Content: Stop the Nightmarization of ‘Alice’ currently running wild.
[Surprisingly, you completed the quest without killing the host!]
- Special rewards are provided. Please check your inventory.
*Ting—!*
[Completed Hidden Quest.]
- Title: Queen Slayer
- Content: Defeat the boss monsters reigning over Wonderland: ‘Heart Queen’, ‘Red Queen’, and ‘White Queen’.
[You massacred the Queens with an amazing performance!]
- Content: Defeat the boss monsters reigning over Wonderland: ‘Heart Queen’, ‘Red Queen’, and ‘White Queen’.
[You massacred the Queens with an amazing performance!]
- Special rewards are provided. Please check your status window.
*Ting—!*
[Cleared Sub Quest!]
- Title: If going to do it, should do it properly!
- Content: Take a rank of 3rd or higher in the practice.
[You took 1st place in the practice with an amazing performance!]
- Content: Take a rank of 3rd or higher in the practice.
[You took 1st place in the practice with an amazing performance!]
- In addition to the existing rewards, additional rewards are provided.
The moment the ruin stopped, the practice also ended.
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