#215

I had heard from Fabio about an Othergod who manipulates dreams.

The Lord of Nightmares.

One who molds dreams as they please.

It was said that if one is unlucky, they may never wake from a nightmare, and their physical body becomes the sole property of the Lord of Nightmares.

‘But he said that in reality, he lacks the ability to even protect his own body.’

Athanas continued his thoughts calmly.

Would someone serving the ‘Lord of Nightmares’ bother to declare this moment a dream?

It would be far more advantageous for them if I wasted my time, unaware that I was dreaming.

‘…Does he want me to attempt to wake up?’

In the Order, they teach that when one has a nightmare, they should pray to the Lord. Since the Lord can hear prayers offered within a dream, someone else will soon come to rescue them.

In the unlikely event that support cannot be expected, one is told to use the blessing of condemnation on oneself to end their life. If it truly were a dream, they would wake in reality; if they had mistaken reality for a dream, they would reach the Land of Order without pain.

Ending one’s own life to escape hallucinations and [[stolen content]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">visit our site]confusion is not considered suicide according to the Doctrine.

‘…Neither is possible right now.’

I cannot fall asleep either. I cannot fix this moment as the starting point for Regression.

There must be another reason why I cannot use Regression now.

A Curse? A Sacred Relic? A Sanctuary?

First, I must get away from here.

If I wash off the liquid on my body and purify the Curse with a Sacred Object of Order….

“If it were really a dream, he wouldn’t have told you it was a dream, right?”

Marcello Teres continued, laughing as if it were all absurd.

“Not a bad deduction, but your premise is wrong. People use deceptive tactics hoping the opponent will be fooled only when they aren’t confident they can win in a fair fight, right? When you have an overwhelming advantage, it’s a gamer’s instinct to want to toy with the opponent a bit.”

“Nyaaaang.”

Marcello Teres scooped up a red-furred cat that had appeared from somewhere.

“You’re saying I shouldn’t teabag without dignity?”

“Myang.”

“But if I leave the possibility that you might have won, you’ll just keep being miserable, won’t you? You’ll become a ‘what-if’ bird, thinking ‘I should have done this’ or ‘I should have done that.’ To prevent that, I have to crush you overwhelmingly. That is the virtue a strong person must possess.”

“Myanyanyamyanyanya.”

“…You think I’ve been contaminated by the War God? Maybe. But it doesn’t feel bad. I feel like I absolutely cannot lose.”

“Myaaa.”

“I get it. Nyapoleon. You want to eat me? Want to eat? Or shall we mate?”

‘…I’ll distort space and escape.’

Athanas took the eye of ‘Reyes Floren’ from Horeum’s vault and hid it between his palms.

There is only one chance.

“Wait, wait a second. Athanas is waiting.”

Snap.

With the sound of a finger snap, something attached to a piece of flesh pushed itself up.

An arm severed at the shoulder, a head with vivid stitching marks, and cloudy eyes that couldn’t focus.

It looked like a dried-up corpse that had failed to rot.

However, its ribs were heaving rapidly.

It was breathing.

It was alive.

“Athanas, I invite you to a nightmare.”

“Aaa…thanas. I invite you… to a nightmareeee.”

The thing, drooling profusely, moved its jaw and clumsily mimicked Marcello Teres’s words.

Something like a blue-gray mist rotated above its head.

It was a bizarre Halo.

Athanas immediately ran toward the 13th chapel of the Pantheon.

Simultaneously, he used ‘Distortion’ to connect the chapel door to the exit.

‘If I can just get out of here…!’

“Item… use… forbidden.”

With a grotesque voice, the ‘outside scenery’ was instantly erased and replaced by a pitch-black space.

Despite this, Athanas did not stop running.

‘I must not trust my sight.’

However, as Athanas stepped into that darkness, he came to a dead halt.

Cold sweat ran down his spine.

‘Wait.’

This place was truly ‘empty.’

Athanas suddenly realized this fact.

‘No, that can’t be.’

Then what about this ground I’m stepping on?

There is no way the void can support weight.

Therefore….

‘…I am falling.’

A whistling sound echoed in his ears.

Marcello Teres, leaning his upper body through the door, shouted to the falling Athanas.

“The gimmicks differ for every stage, but there’s only one victory condition, so if you’re lucky, you might actually wake up from the dream!”

The voice grew distant.

As did the noise filling his head.

Athanas took a breath—

---

…and inhaled deeply.

All sorts of signals suddenly flooded his awakened consciousness.

Blink.

It took a moment for him to understand the scenery reflected in his eyes.

[Engagement begins in 5 minutes.]

A translucent blue window floated in the sky.

Athanas reflexively tried to grip his sword, only to realize it was gone.

No, the sword wasn’t the problem right now.

‘What is this?’

An object he had never seen before was in his arms.

It was made of metal and crafted with precision.

‘…A weapon?’

[Assault Rifle]

Faint letters floated above the object.

As he looked closer at the letters, a more detailed description appeared beside them.

‘…I have no idea what this means.’

Athanas gave up on understanding the content and observed the posture of the people holding this ‘weapon.’

People hiding behind obstacles had the end of the long rod slightly protruding past the cover.

Those talking to each other held the end of the rod pointed downward.

‘Is it like… an improved crossbow?’

One must be careful not to point the end of a projectile weapon at people.

Athanas lowered his posture and quieted his breathing.

A landscape he had never seen. Objects he had never encountered.

This was certainly a dream.

‘…What do I have to do to wake up?’

In the upper left of his vision, text appeared.

[Kill ‘Fabio’.

Survive.]

‘What….’

[Engagement begins in 10 seconds.]

He didn’t know what that thing was, but he had no intention of following those damn instructions.

No matter what.

‘But telling me to kill Fabio… does that mean Fabio is also in this dream?’

[Engagement begins in 5 seconds.]

The moment the number hit 0, a noise like ear-splitting screams rang out incessantly.

It was the sound emitted by this ‘weapon.’

Athanas hurriedly checked the posture of the person next to him.

First, he had to figure out how to use the weapon….

‘A trigger? Do I pull this?’

Thump, roll.

Just then, something rolled in front of him.

As he looked closely, a name appeared.

[Grenade]

‘Grenade, consumable throwable weapon….’

Before he could finish reading the description, his vision turned red.

[You have been killed by ‘Fafabio’.]

[Cause of Death: Explosion]

---

Athanas took a deep breath.

The same window as before floated in the sky.

[Engagement begins in 5 minutes.]

‘…I died? I did?’

He felt like he had caught a glimpse of his limbs flying off.

But if he had truly been caught in an explosion, it made no sense that he had witnessed such a sight.

‘Fafabio.’

The name, a play on ‘Fabio,’ made him feel unpleasant.

The same phrase was still written at the top of his vision.

[Kill ‘Fabio’.

Survive.]

‘How can I escape this dream?’

His contemplation did not last long.

The ‘engagement’ began again.

Athanas first crouched down….

[You have been killed by ‘Fafabio’.]

[Cause of Death: Headshot]

---

“…….”

It was the seventh time.

As soon as the engagement began, his vision turned red with a thwack sound within one second.

The cause of death was a headshot.

It was only by the sixth time that Athanas finally realized that a ‘gun’ could fire from very far away.

Once again, the blue window announcing the start of the engagement appeared in the sky….

And in the seventh round, Athanas died after taking exactly two headshots.

The sixteenth time.

Athanas finally utilized the ‘map’ function to approach a glowing area.

‘Fabio is probably inside here.’

He advanced, shooting and killing every human who emitted a faint red light.

By the fourth engagement, he had already confirmed that the enemies were not human.

The enemies treated as dead simply flopped over like dolls and stopped moving. No blood or guts spilled out.

‘Shouldn’t the difficulty increase the more I repeat this?’

Athanas felt a strange sensation at the increasingly simple reactions of the ‘enemies.’ It was unpleasant, as if he were being mocked, but….

‘…It feels as if I’m being encouraged to move toward the goal.’

He couldn’t understand it.

Was the very attempt to understand the incomprehensible a mistake?

What must he do to get out of here?

When he opened the door, there was a ‘Fabio’ lying curled up in the room and another ‘Fabio’ looking down at him.

‘No.’

The one looking down had the words ‘Fafabio’ floating above him.

Athanas aimed his gun at ‘Fafabio.’

Without shifting his gaze, the man replied.

“The mission should be to kill ‘Fabio.’ Not me.”

“…….”

“Do you think the one lying here is the real Fabio? Of course, that could be the case. Since you might be wandering around like a sleepwalker. Maybe the unconscious Fabio was stepped on a few times. But since you wouldn’t have an assault rifle in your hand, even if you pull the index finger, nothing will happen in reality.”

‘Fafabio’ walked over slowly and pressed his palm against the muzzle of the gun.

“And yet, you still can’t pull the trigger? Just based on the assumption that he might be the ‘real’ Fabio?”

Ink dripped down from his left eye socket.

“Why….”

Athanas checked ‘Fabio’s’ condition out of the corner of his eye.

The Fabio with his eyes closed was missing his left arm.

Tick.

The moment he heard the sound of a grenade pin being pulled, Athanas reflexively pulled the trigger.

And a beat later, he realized something was wrong.

To pull a safety pin, one needs two hands….

“Hahaha.”

‘Fafabio’ laughed, leaking black ink.

His left hand was tattered.

Black ink soaked the floor.

‘Fafabio’ raised his right hand and showed a small metal pin. When he flicked it, the metal pieces clashed, making a sound. Tick.

“I made this because I was fucking bored while waiting for you to arrive, and you fell for it immediately.”

“Why….”

“Athanas. Want a piece of advice? You can give up on this game.”

You need to learn how to give up.

‘Fafabio’ spoke in a voice that grew gradually quieter.

“Why did I do it? I don’t really like FPS games. They’re boring. Especially playing with someone who’s bad at it….”

With those words, ‘Fafabio’ collapsed to the floor.

His appearance was so excessively similar to the eyes-closed Fabio that….

[Mission Accomplished!]

‘Mission accomplished?’

Athanas hurriedly knelt and checked Fabio’s condition.

His pulse was beating, and his breathing was steady.

‘Fabio’ had not died.

Then what mission had he accomplished?

“What in the….”

---

“…Nonsense.”

Athanas frowned.

The first thing he recognized was the scent emitted by dense vegetation.

When he looked up, he saw thin sunlight piercing through the canopy.

The ‘assault rifle’ was nowhere to be found; instead, an excessively heavy greatsword was strapped to his back.

‘What is this now?’

“Athanas, shh!”

‘Fabio’ pulled him.

Startled, Athanas sat down on the ground with him.

“I told you. If you stand out like that, we’ll miss it! The new species I found this time is highly intelligent and very cautious….”

“…Fabio? Where is this?”

Fabio’s face crumpled.

“If this is a joke, it’s not funny, so stop it.”

“…My apologies.”

“And here you are, after following me by force because you didn’t trust me alone….”

The grumbling Fabio suddenly stopped breathing and stared somewhere. Athanas, also tense, followed Fabio’s gaze.

A giant creature resembling a reptile had its neck stretched out, surveying the surroundings.

It was a creature he had never seen in his life.

It had a long neck and a membrane attached beneath its arms.

‘…Is it a mutation created by an Evil God?’

Until the creature disappeared, Fabio did not move a muscle. He looked as if he were barely breathing.

Only after a long while, once it was out of sight, did Fabio take a deep breath.

“Phew. Athanas, did you see it? The new species I found! This is the first time I&#[unauthorized visit our sitecopy]8217;ve been this close!”

“…What kind of creature is that?”

“I said it’s a new species! I have to study its ecology from now on! Oh, it has a name. I named it after myself, the discoverer….”

Ding.

At that moment, a translucent window appeared before his eyes.

“…He calls himself ‘Fafabio’!”

“Can that name be changed?”