The Nightmare Bleeds Into Reality

My body moved before my brain could process the situation.

That sound was dangerous.

Without a doubt.

I had to run.

But where?

Away from the sound!

I bolted blindly.

Immediately, the source of the sound lunged at me.

Swish!

The sound of tearing air echoed right where I had been standing a split second ago.

A chill ran down my spine again.

What would have happened if I had hesitated even a moment longer?

There was no time to think.

I kept running blindly until—

"Ugh!"

I slammed into a wall.

A wall?

Wasn't this place just an empty void?

My limited vision made it impossible to grasp the layout of the space I was in.

What should I do?

First, I groped along the wall, but...

"...?"

A bizarre texture met my palm.

Only then did I look closer at the wall.

"Aaaagh!"

I shrieked and ripped my hand away.

The wall was a grotesque abomination, looking as if human heads had been stacked together and cemented with melted flesh for mortar.

Every inch of it in my field of vision was made of human facial skin.

Each individual face twitched minutely, yet they possessed not a single spark of life.

The sheer horror of it made my stomach churn.

"Urgh, *cough*, *gag*!"

But I didn't have time to throw up.

As if drawn by my scream, the thing making the noise was closing in on me.

No.

Dammit, dammit!

What the hell is this?!

I transmigrated into a romance fantasy!

A path of roses was supposed to be waiting for me!

Why can't I have the classic, overpowered, free-pass, harem-building, paradise-of-lust romance fantasy transmigration experience?!

Growl, gurgle.

"Stay back, you son of a bitch! Stay away from me!"

As I gritted my teeth and screamed, my mind suddenly snapped into focus.

No.

This isn't right.

Now is not the time to stand here shivering.

Screaming won't save me.

Lamenting won't save me either.

Even if I die, let's die with my wits about me. As the great general who shot lightning breath once said, those who seek death shall live—!

Just then,

Growl.

The source of the sound finally emerged.

Its head looked like a goat's skull patched together with scraps of rotting human face skin.

Yet its teeth were far too sharp and jagged to belong to any herbivore, protruding in every direction.

The body extending from its neck was equally grotesque, its skin so rotten and decayed that the pulsating muscle fibers beneath were clearly visible.

Its arms ended in razor-sharp claws.

Inside the hollow skull, a pair of slimy, gelatinous eyeballs rolled around before locking onto me.

"...Fuck."

A shiver ran through my entire body the moment our eyes met.

The genre is completely wrong.

Why is a monster like that in a romance fantasy?

I can't shoot lightning breath.

How on earth am I supposed to beat this thing?

At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.

Wait... Aura! I have aura!

Hope flared within me.

Right.

This is a fantasy world.

And I'm not some ordinary civilian; I'm an aura user!

Even if projecting it is hard without a sword, just wrapping it around my body and swinging should be enough—!

I summoned my aura,

And punched forward with all my might—

"...Huh?"

Thud.

My fist struck the goat-headed monster's solid body with a pathetic, powerless tap.

No.

This wasn't right.

Aura, I have to project my aura...!

I can't... project it!

I could clearly feel the energy of the aura inside my body.

But I couldn't release it outward.

It was like trying to breathe underwater.

In this space, I couldn't push my aura outside my body.

Growl, gurgle!

The goat-headed monster's eyeballs rolled,

And locked onto me once more.

No.

Instinctively, I threw myself to the side.

Whoosh!

The monster's arm sliced through the empty air.

"...Dammit!"

Even if I couldn't project my aura, it seemed the passive physical enhancements, like boosted reflexes, were still working.

Fortunately, I had dodged it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by a hair's breadth... or had I?

"Huh...?"

A cold sensation brushed against my neck.

As I scrambled away from the goat-headed monster, I reached up to touch the back of my neck. My fingertips immediately came back warm and wet.

The sensation forced the reality of the situation upon me.

My neck had been slashed by its claws.

"Aaargh... Aaaaah!"

My throat was cut.

The moment I realized it, a suffocating terror washed over me.

The fear was far greater than the pain.

Blood was gushing out relentlessly.

It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was definitely a deep cut.

How deep was it?

How long could I hold out with a wound like this?

My racing heart only accelerated the bleeding.

Am I...

Going to die...

Right here?

No, no, no!

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠won't die.

I absolutely refuse to die!

Dammit, it's only been three days since I arrived in this world!

I haven't even gotten a kiss from Thalia yet!

I still need to grope Professor Cordelia's luscious breasts!

And I haven't even had the chance to trigger flags with Rianette and say bullshit like, "Huh, that's weird. Why is the original female lead falling for me? I didn't even do anything..."!

Somehow, I have to...!

At that moment, I remembered the notification window from earlier.

I didn't think it would help much, but grasping at straws, I yelled out.

"Dammit, please, Status Window!"

...This is a status window?

Shouldn't there be stat points to distribute or skill points or something?

The only information it gave me was my name, location, and some weird coordinates I couldn't even understand.

Everything that looked remotely useful—blessings, traits, items—was plastered with "None."

At least the last two items were interactive.

• Assigned Tasks (Click to View)

• Keyword Dictionary (Click to View)

As I focused my gaze on the [Assigned Tasks] section, a new window popped up.

Important Tasks, Sub-Tasks, Hidden Tasks?

My gamer brain kicked in automatically.

In short, they were quests.

I immediately checked the list.

"...This is fucking useless!"

If a web novel author put a status window like this in their story, readers would drop it in a heartbeat.

The Important Task—the main quest, so to speak.

And what was it?

Main quest objective: Complete 10 sub-quests.

What a trash game.

Anger flared, but I quickly calmed myself down.

Even getting angry was a luxury I couldn't afford right now.

I calmly resumed my analysis.

Sure, there were plenty of games where the main quest just set a final goal, and the actual progression was driven by sub-quests.

Usually, open-world games with high freedom did that.

Well, not that this was a game transmigration story, but...

So, does this mean I have to clear the sub-quest first?

Even that was incredibly vague.

A woman harboring infinite life?

Secure a kiss from her?

I didn't have the slightest clue what that meant.

Surely it doesn't mean I have to kiss that goat head.

I briefly pondered that hypothesis.

No, wait, maybe there was a chance?

Did I really have to share a sweet kiss with that monster?

Just imagining it made my skin crawl.

Where would I even kiss it?

Those grotesque, terrifyingly jagged teeth?

That massive mouth split as wide as my own face?

What if kissing it wasn't the answer?

No matter how I looked at it, if I offered my delicious head to that monster, it would most likely just crunch and chew it to pieces.

...Let's keep kissing as an absolute last resort.

Then, my last hope.

The [Keyword Dictionary].

I focused my gaze on it.

Immediately, another window appeared.

How very kind.

So if I die here, I die in reality too.

Not that it mattered much to me right now; I was already bleeding out.

Clutching my bleeding neck, I looked at the next keyword.

The grand rules of the world.

It was probably referring to my use of the divine relic, the Pale Cameo.

The bottom line was that the Pale Cameo, which I had thought was a growth cheat, was actually a trap item.

Pinning my absolute last hope on it, I turned my gaze to Sheol.

Sheol was a word that appeared frequently in the original novel. It definitely meant the underworld. Like, "Fall into Sheol," or something along those lines.

The first few lines were just like the previous explanations.

Boring, pedantic, and useless to me.

But the last line.

That sentence caught my eye.

"Because dreams are unstable, the space collapses every time you enter a new room."

A room?

Come to think of it, I had been too out of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it earlier to pay close attention, but a message like this had definitely popped up:

"To wake up from the dream, you must find the exit!"

Ugh, what an idiot!

A curse escaped my lips.

They had given me the solution right from the start, and I hadn't even realized it.

Drunk on the confidence of being an aura user, I had forgotten the most obvious fact.

I should have been looking for a safe way to escape first, instead of acting like I was some kind of hotshot.

...Dammit.

No time for self-pity.

Let's think.

What do I need to find to get out of a room?

"...A door."

Entering a new room collapses the world.

If I took that literally, it meant the moment I opened a door, I would wake up from this dream.

Growl!

"Oh, come on!"

The growling echoed again.

There was no time to hesitate.

To escape a maze, keep one hand on the wall and keep walking.

A random piece of trivia I had read somewhere popped into my head.

Following that advice, I pressed my right hand against the wall and ran blindly.

Please let there be one. Please!

Growl!

"Stop following me, you fucking goat-head!"

Shuddering at the skin-crawling texture of the human-face wallpaper beneath my fingertips, I ran with everything I had.

"...Ah!"

Finally, I reached a door.

It was a plain, unadorned wooden door.

Seeing such a normal door in a place covered in human faces made it look even more bizarre.

This... should be it. Probably.

Doubt flickered for a second, but I couldn't afford to hesitate.

Could it really be worse than dying of blood loss?

I threw the door open.

"—*Gasp*!"

I woke up in reality.

When I opened my eyes, it was still the middle of the night.

What had just happened wasn't hazy like a normal dream; it was vividly etched into my memory.

It definitely wasn't just a nightmare.

Through the window, the dark night sky filled my vision.

Did I really just—

"Ugh...!"

As I sat up, a sharp pain shot through me.

I looked down.

"...Huh?"

My bed was completely soaked in blood.

It was easily enough blood to cause death from blood loss.

Please, no.

I tentatively reached up to the back of my neck.

"I'm... so fucked... seriously!"

The wound I had received in the dream was still there.

"...N-no."

Unlike in the dream, the effects of the blood loss hit me much faster in reality.

The moment I stood up, the world spun violently.

Am I really going to die like this?

No.

I need someone who can heal me.

Magic. I need healing magic.

"Outside... I have to get to the academy."

My consciousness was fading.

I dragged my body to the window and tumbled out.

Thud!

I couldn't afford to dwell on the pain.

Forcing myself up, I stumbled forward.

The academy campus was just ahead.

Only a few dozen paces from the dormitory.

I just needed to make it there.

Was it always this far...?

My mind kept slipping away.

It felt like I had walked hundreds of steps, yet I still hadn't set foot on the academy grounds.

No. Making it all the way there is impossible. It's better to head to the faculty quarters...

The faculty quarters were right nearby.

Squeezing out every ounce of my remaining consciousness, I made it inside the building.

I knocked on the nearest door.

Knock, knock...

"...Ah."

My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto the floor.

No.

I don't want to die like this.

Not like this.

"...Oh my, what is this...?"

My vision was still blurry.

Even so, the pain seemed to have eased just a tiny bit.

A woman was standing before me.

I couldn't tell who she was.

No, I definitely knew her, but my brain couldn't summon her name.

The only thing I could clearly make out were two massive, swaying objects right in front of my face.

...Maman, maman.

Reverting to a helpless child, I grabbed onto those massive mounds and buried my face between them.

A soft gasp echoed, followed immediately by a giggle.

"Kyaah...! Ah, hahaha... What an interesting child."

She chuckled softly.

What was so funny?

I was in so much pain.

I was literally dying.

"Your body is practically dead, yet you're holding onto your soul through sheer willpower? I watched you closely during my lectures, but you really are a fascinating child."

I weakly reached out with my other hand and grabbed the other massive mound.

"And to lust after flesh even in this state... Is it an expression of your attachment to life? Or a craving for maternal affection in a moment of crisis? How intriguing."

She giggled again.

"Hmm... Very well. I shall save you. Consider yourself lucky. If anyone else had found you, you'd be dead by now."

Her face drew closer.

She gently pressed her lips against mine, slowly kissing me as if breathing life back into my body.

"Mmm..."

My consciousness cut out right there.

With one final notification window flashing before my eyes.