Chapter 145: Anything Is Possible in Dreams |
When you are riding high in a dream, holding all the cards, smug and utterly convinced that everything is under your control, only for someone to suddenly pop out of nowhere, slap you across the face, and tell you that you are absolutely nothing—that is the definition of a nightmare.
For Creed, that was exactly the case.
"What is that?!"
Staring at the massive, terrifying beast before him, Creed felt a chill run through his entire body. Ever since that fateful day, he had spent every single night trapped in nightmares. Creed considered himself battle-hardened, believing there wasn't a nightmare in existence that could break him. Yet, when this predatory behemoth, looking as though it had charged straight out of a primeval era, tore through the darkness, it ruthlessly shattered everything he possessed.
"Screeech!"
Even the Night Demons looked like mere bats in front of this terrifying titan. Flapping their wings, they unleashed piercing shrieks and lunged at the beast. The prehistoric predator responded with a soul-shaking, low rumble of a roar. Opening its massive jaws, it snapped up the lunging Night Demons one by one, crushing and tearing them to shreds, while lashing its heavy tail to swat away the pesky flies hovering around its flanks.
But the onslaught was far from over.
"Tweet—!"
Accompanied by a sharp whistle, several Velociraptors shot forward like arrows released from a bowstring. They nimbly darted through the chaotic swarm of Night Demons, opening their jaws as they pounced toward Creed, who was cowering behind the lines.
Watching the charging Velociraptors, Creed's face twisted into an expression of sheer terror. Well, that was only natural. After all, back in movie theaters, these little darlings always elicited the exact same expression from the audience. Though, Creed's reaction was considerably more exaggerated—after all, there wasn't a silver screen separating him from this pack of raptors.
Panicking, he scrambled backward while drawing a firearm from his waist. But in the next split second, a Velociraptor clamped its jaws down hard on his wrist.
"Aaagh! Aargh!"
Creed shrieked and wailed, pulling desperately in an attempt to break free, but the raptor clamped its teeth firmly into his arm, dragging him down. Before Creed could make another move, a second Velociraptor leaped into the air. Its thick, razor-sharp hind claws slammed directly into Creed's chest, sinking deep into his flesh, while its jaws snapped down toward his throat. A single bite would be enough to end his life.
Or at least, that was how it should have been.
"Thud!"
Yet in the next instant, the Velociraptors that had lunged forward to tear Creed apart were suddenly sent flying backward, crashing heavily into the stone walls and the surrounding Night Demons. Then, Creed stood back up.
"You cannot kill me!"
By now, Creed's appearance had completely transformed. The Velociraptors had torn several gaping wounds across his body, but what flowed from those gashes was not blood. Instead, it was a substance resembling thick, pitch-black sludge. The sight instantly reminded Levi of the turbid, foul sewage found in the underground channels of Mist City. It swirled and churned inside Creed's body like some kind of hidden monster using his flesh as a vessel.
"I am the envoy of the deity! The Great God is with me!"
"If it were really that great, it wouldn't have been locked inside a stone coffin," Levi interjected dryly, drawing the Persuader from his side. He still hadn't figured out exactly what was inside that coffin, but it was glaringly obvious that the old Professor hadn't managed to completely destroy it back then. The entity had clearly found a way to parasitize Creed to survive. While Levi didn't know what kind of monstrosity it was, he knew one thing for certain: if they didn't act now, they would be the ones dying here.
Levi fired two shots at Creed. Both rounds hit their mark, but they had no effect whatsoever. The guy seemed to have stopped pretending entirely. Or rather, the current Creed didn't look human at all; he looked like a puppet possessed by a monster.
Bellowing loudly, Creed's body began to deform. At the same time, more and more Night Demons swarmed in from the surroundings, clashing with the prehistoric beasts in a chaotic, tangled brawl.
What a pain. Levi shielded the others as they retreated, his brow furrowing. Don't tell me this thing is a boss with some kind of invulnerability mechanic that requires a specific sequence to defeat?
But speaking of which...
Levi suddenly remembered the statue of the Goddess of Night he had seen earlier in the temple's main hall. That coffin had been sealed away inside the temple of the Goddess of Night. In other words, the Goddess of Night should definitely be able to handle this thing, right?
The thought merely flashed through Levi's mind, but in the very next instant, something strange occurred.
Everything plunged into total darkness. The shouting, the fighting, the crumbling ruins, the Night Demons, and the prehistoric beasts—everything vanished without a trace. An unparalleled silence and darkness enveloped the surroundings. Aside from that, there was nothing.
"???"
Levi turned his head to look around, only to find that Annie and the others, who were supposed to be right beside him, had also vanished. In the darkness, he stood completely alone.
No, not completely alone. A sudden intuition struck Levi. He lifted his head, gazing up into the space directly above him. Then, he saw her.
Surely everyone has looked up at the pitch-black sky on a clear night. But who would ever view the night sky as a person?
That was exactly what Levi was experiencing right now. Looming before him in the night sky was the silhouette of a woman. The bright, luminous twin moons formed her eyes, while countless cascading stars traced the delicate lines of her hair. Her long, ink-black hair drifted through the void, transforming into the night shroud that blanketed the earth.
The Goddess of Night. Levi had encountered her twice before, but on those occasions, her appearance was no different from a mortal's, her height and stature matching human proportions. This was his first time seeing the Goddess of Night in such a colossal form. Or rather, this was what a true divine being was supposed to look like—exactly as people imagined them in myths.
Yet, looking up at her, Levi didn't feel any overwhelming sense of religious awe. To be precise, it felt like visiting a top-tier scenic reserve and witnessing a breathtakingly magnificent mountain range. Aside from the thought, 'Holy crap, that's incredible,' his mind was pretty much a blank.
The Goddess of Night shifted her eyes slightly, fixing her gaze upon Levi, and Levi stared right back at her.
I don't really know what to say... but this is your mess, so clear it up yourself!
Whether the Goddess of Night actually heard Levi's internal complaints or not, she lowered her eyelids once more. Following that movement, Levi saw the night sky begin to shift. Indeed, the darkness beneath the Goddess of Night's head now rippled like a massive curtain, giving off the impression of a billowing, floating robe. Then, Levi saw a hand emerge from the darkness, pointing directly at him. A beam of light shot from the tip of the Goddess of Night's finger, striking the Persuader in Levi's hand.
A chilling sensation washed over him. It didn't feel like ice, but rather like a cold night breeze—cool and gentle. Levi looked down, only to find that the Persuader in his grip had completely transformed into a different weapon. The entire frame of the revolver had become as pitch-black as the dead of night, faintly shimmering with a starlight-like glow that formed constellations along the barrel. It felt incredibly comfortable to hold, as if the gun itself had transformed into the soft, delicate hand of a young girl, gently wrapping around his fingers in return.
And then, the vision dissolved.
The ruined temple, the Night Demons, and the prehistoric beasts rushed back into Levi's field of vision. The roars of the primeval beasts and the shrieks of the Night Demons echoed in his ears once more. Levi gripped his newly altered firearm tightly, raised it, and aimed straight at Creed, who was lurking behind the wall of Night Demons. At the same time, the chime of a system notification rang out in Levi's ear, but he didn't even need to look at it.
Levi pulled the trigger.
"Bang—!"
The bullet spun out of the barrel, leaving a lingering trail that looked like a streak of pure moonlight as it streaked forward. It pierced right through the swarm of Night Demons fighting the prehistoric beasts, striking Creed squarely in the chest without a millimeter of deviation.
Creed's body shuddered violently. His eyes went wide as he looked down at his own chest, then he raised his head, staring blankly at Levi. Simultaneously, beams of light began to erupt from inside Creed's body.
"Ah... Ah... Aaagh!"
It wasn't the brilliant, dazzling glare of the sun, but a soft, cool moonlight. Yet right now, this gentle radiance seemed to transform into countless razor-sharp blades, ruthlessly tearing and slicing Creed's body apart from within. Accompanied by a wretched shriek, Creed's body was ripped to shreds, exploding outward into fragments. With his demise, the entire dream world began to collapse completely.
"................"
The world plunged into total darkness once more.
"Phew..."
Levi let out a long breath, sliding the Persuader back into his holster at his waist. Then he looked up, and as expected, he saw the presence of the Goddess of Night once more. She remained there, quietly watching him without uttering a single word.
"Are you not planning to say anything?" Levi was the first to break the silence. "You must have a reason for seeking me out."
From Levi's perspective, this deity had already appeared before him three times. She wouldn't seriously be showing up just because she was bored and wanted to watch the show, right?
But the Goddess of Night merely kept her gaze fixed on him. After a long silence, a soft whisper finally drifted into Levi's ear.
"The world will change..."
"Change?"
"Mankind is facing a brand-new choice. What is your choice, mortal?"
Faced with the question from the Goddess of Night, Levi gave it some very serious thought.
"Eat well, sleep well, and have fun?"
"................. That is all?"
"I think there is nothing more important than that in life."
Before his reincarnation, Levi had been the very ordinary type of person who believed in enduring hardships first to enjoy life later. But after surviving that terminal illness, his mindset had completely flipped. After all, you never know which will come first: tomorrow or an unexpected tragedy. Perhaps you think you should work yourself to the bone while you're young, and then enjoy life when you're old. But then you open your eyes one day only to find that after working your life away, you're on your deathbed without ever having a chance to enjoy it. All that struggle would be for nothing. All your retirement savings would end up going toward medical bills. If you got cured, that was fine, but if you didn't, it was a total waste of a life. You would just end up suffering through work in the first half of your life, and suffering on a hospital bed in the second half. Forget about enduring hardships for a sweet reward later; it was usually just suffering followed by even more suffering.
Therefore, after crossing over to this world, Levi's attitude became entirely self-centered. He didn't care what tomorrow would bring, but he damn sure wasn't going to wrong himself today. He would eat when he wanted, drink when he wanted, sleep when he wanted, and play when he wanted. That way, even if a tragedy struck tomorrow, he wouldn't regret not living the good life, nor would he be sad because he didn't have time to enjoy himself. Hoarding pine nuts like a squirrel for the winter was a dead-end path. You could never be sure if you'd get scooped up and eaten by an eagle before winter arrived, leaving all the pine nuts you saved to benefit someone else.
"................"
The Goddess of Night fell silent. It was highly likely that Levi's answer, which flew completely in the face of mainstream values, had completely stunned her. It took a good while before her voice echoed once more.
"But you will eventually face a choice."
"Then I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In any case, it's not happening today," Levi shot back smoothly. It was just like taking an exam. Staying up all night to cram at the last minute was a choice, and playing video games all night then sleeping through the test was also a choice. In reality, staying up to cram didn't guarantee a high score, and playing video games all night didn't guarantee a failing grade. But if you asked which option was more comfortable, it was naturally the latter.
"................. An amusing mortal."
The Goddess of Night was clearly at a complete loss for words by Levi's thoroughly lazy response.
"The deities will eventually return. I would like to see just how long you can enjoy your days."
Leaving those final words, the Goddess of Night vanished entirely from sight, leaving Levi to quietly let out a sigh.
"Doesn't that just mean I still have plenty of good days ahead of me before you all come back?"