The nightmare
Aaron··· Aaron··· Aaron···.
Knight Adela frowned at the sound coming from beside her.
‘I just heard he was one of the leaders of the outer wall guards.’
Knight Adela lightly swung her sword, splitting the two skeletons apart and standing on the wall.
A distinct presence was revealed beyond the raindrops.
As if to say, come if you are confident.
‘Is this a provocation? How dare you, devil.’
Knight Adela snorted and raised her aura.
Then, the darkness around them was pushed away and they shone brightly like stars above the ground.
Adela swung her sword in a long stroke, and a blue light extended from the sword, drawing a long line.
In an instant, the raindrops parted, and the skeletons climbing the wall collapsed in an instant.
‘I think I can endure this much.’
After a quick calculation, Adela jumped down the wall.
I couldn’t just leave alone that demon who dared to provoke the sword of humanity.
***
‘Where is he?’
Huh… The weasel laughed in vain as he watched the knight jump down.
It was obvious that his brain had melted as he jumped down and gave up the advantage of Mercury.
“Anyway, these knights···.”
Although they grumbled, they still showed off their strength before going, so there was some room on the wall.
“Are you okay, bro? You’re a total elf! An elf! An elf with torn eyes!”
The weasel raised his voice and made a fuss to lighten the heavy atmosphere a little.
Grass, who had been rubbing his index finger and thumb against him, smiled faintly.
The weasel took a look around the top of the wall.
Blood and bone dust were mixed together.
There were quite a few people who had collapsed and were gasping for breath, and the monks were walking around treating them.
Among them, the new abbot was the best. He kept going around and treating the wounded with light.
If it weren’t for him, the number of people who have fallen or died by now would have doubled.
“Don’t thank me, thank Him. And if you really realized something, in the beginning of the Bible….”
Those whose lives he saved were initially grateful, but soon turned away and moved away.
The only good thing was that although all four members of Group 4 looked tired, none of them were injured.
“But don’t you think we can somehow stop it? Don’t brag to the leader later.”
Brick, with his round face, smiled weakly and joked.
The rest of them chuckled at that.
The weasel raised his head and let the heavy rain cool his face.
We almost got into big trouble because we discovered the skeletons approaching us too late in the heavy rain, but because of the rain, more than a few skeletons slipped against the wall and got stuck in the ground.
‘You idiots. If it were me, I would have broken down the gate.’
The weasel chuckled and taunted the skeletons.
Others were telling similar stories.
They were talking about how stupid this attack was, how clearly this guy had never been in a siege before.
Kwaaaaang-!
A loud noise erupted from where the knight was heading.
Blue light flashed through the thick raindrops, looking like lightning striking the ground.
Seeing that no more skeletons were coming up, it seemed like the knights had somewhat resolved the issue.
“I want to go in quickly and have a warm stew.”
“Come with me. I’ll buy it today.”
“Oh- Really? Full?”
“Kel, you have to appease Rosa first…”
It was then that the weasel instinctively felt something ominous.
With a sense of foreboding that was beyond ominous, the weasel hurriedly pretended to faint and fell backwards.
with a splash.
The weasel, immersed in a puddle of water, only opened its eyes slightly. Since its face was half submerged, water entered its nose and then exited through its mouth.
Among the people who were still unaware and chattering noisily, a skeleton wrapped in a black cloth was sitting on the wall.
It was stamping its feet and mumbling something.
“Oh, oh, oh… You don’t know that the most dangerous moment is when you think it’s over! You are just stupid people who breathe!”
Hard!
The skeleton’s jaw moved and made a clicking sound.
Only then did people notice its presence and focus their attention on it.
The guy was sitting alone in front of hundreds of people, but he was nodding his head playfully. The weasel gulped at the sight. It turned out that it wasn’t spit, but rainwater.
“This time it’s a talking skeleton… What a load of crap he’s doing!”
The first to approach was the giant Flip, the leader of the 5th squad of the Outer City Guard, known for his short temper. Flip swung a huge hammer, almost as big as a human thigh, at the talking skeleton.
It was a flip that shattered the skull of a person over ten, but the weasel did not feel well. His heart felt tight as if he had swallowed a stone.
The five guys behind Flip were giggling and betting on how many pieces the skull would break into.
No one on the walls suspected anything.
That skeleton that speaks in front of that giant hammer will be instantly destroyed.
“Hey… you guys.”
Then the skeleton lifted the index finger bone.
The hammer stopped just above his skull.
Flip made a ‘creaking’ sound as if in pain.
Then, all of a sudden, the surroundings became quiet.
There was only the sound of rain.
The skeleton slowly rose, rocking its body from side to side.
A skeleton standing on the wall looked down at the crowd, its jaw cracking as if it was playing a joke.
“They’re all weaker than me?”
Hard.
It was clearly just a skeleton, but there was something about it that made me feel like it was smiling.
And as soon as the guy finished speaking-.
All those who had filled the walls fell.
A soldier of introspection.
A Scar of enormous size.
The one-eyed leader of the first platoon, Bulant, was said to be exceptionally skilled at swordsmanship.
As if they had made a promise, they fell down at the same time.
The only one who was unharmed was the weasel who pretended to faint and was watching.
‘what?’
The weasel just rolled its eyes to check its surroundings.
No, there was one more person who didn’t fall.
“How dare you… use your unholy power against the believers.”
He was the abbot of the monastery.
The abbot stood there, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, staring intently at the skeleton.
As those stubborn eyes trembled, a bright light burst out from behind the abbot.
It was a bright light that pushed away the darkness, but it kept shaking, so the condition didn’t look very good.
“Oh-ho. The saint is here. What a joyous day. I am happy.”
The skeleton approached the abbot, muttering in a playful voice.
‘Is it now?’
As the skeleton passed right in front of him, the weasel flinched for a moment, but held back. His instincts were still screaming, “No.”
“To have endured the ‘nightmare’, you are truly amazing. Applause! Clap! Ah! I am a skinny sack, so clap! Clap! Clap!”
The skeleton babbled playfully, but the abbot did not respond and continued muttering something.
“Hmm… I guess so.”
The skeleton holding the skull in front of the abbot muttered something softly.
Then the abbot’s eyes grew wide as if they were going to tear.
Then, tears flowed from the corner of the abbot’s eyes, and they were red in color.
“A saint who killed his own son with his own hands… Isn’t the person you serve really mean?”
The skeleton muttered again, and the abbot stumbled violently and fell backwards. A large puddle of water rose up, spreading red around the abbot.
“Of course, you don’t know.”
The skeleton giggled and kicked the abbot’s head with its foot. It was not a kick intended to kill him, but rather as if it were handling a toy.
Then, the feeling came.
The weasel trusted his instincts and quickly got up from his seat and ran.
My fingertips tingled and my head spun with excitement. I felt it instinctively.
Now is the perfect moment to stab that skeleton guy in the back of the head with a dagger!
The weasel ran quickly and stabbed the dagger near the joint between the skeleton’s neck and head.
“Ha! You stupid, hard-skulled little bastard!”
The seam broke and the skull fell to the ground, rolling around.
The weasel couldn’t help but laugh loudly at the sight of such a pitiful sight.
The stupid skull was submerged in a puddle of water.
When the weasel lifted his paw to finish him off.
“Did you expect it?”
Hard.
His body froze in the empty hole of the skull that stared back at him.
“Oh! I really expected that! Ahaha! As expected! You stupid breathing people!”
Hard.
At that sound, the weasel’s mind wandered away.
The ‘Nightmare Eater’, standing alone on the wall, looked around and nodded again.
All around was a sweet nightmare.
Some people were killing their children with their own hands.
Someone was sticking a sword into the back of my colleague’s head.
Another person was being beaten up by a big man.
“Nightmares all taste different.”
Hard.
The ‘Nightmare Eater’ looked down at the newly created nightmare field for a moment before moving on.
Then he stopped in front of a man.
He was the big guy who attacked first.
“No matter what, the nightmare of guys rolling around together is not fun. Tsk.”
The Nightmare Eater, his jaw cracking, picked up the sword that had fallen beside him and stabbed it deep into the man’s neck.
However, I struggled for a long time as if I was out of strength.
The ‘Nightmare Eater’, who had finally managed to stick his sword into the man’s neck, pretended to wipe his forehead with the bone in his hand.
The ‘Nightmare Eater’ who was doing such mischievous things turned his head.
There was a tolerance there.
***
‘Skeles and demons on the outer side. And one skeleton wrapped in black cloth?’
I slowly replayed in my head what I had heard from that guy named Gillian.
‘The skeletons are numerous, but they are at a level that can be dealt with somehow. The skeleton that destroyed the wall alone headed towards the inner castle. The demon is fighting with the knight Adela outside the outer castle…’
“That skeleton is most likely the ‘Nightmare Eater’! He’s a black magician who operates in the eastern part of the empire, and he’s infinitely strong against those weaker than him, but also infinitely weak against those stronger than him…”
Gillian nodded as if listening to a story from somewhere and continued speaking.
‘It’s strong, weak, weak… It’s trash, right?’
I looked at the inquisitor next to me and collected my thoughts.
At first glance, the unconscious people and skeletons left on the wall looked dangerous, but according to the guy’s information, they didn’t do anything to the unconscious people…
‘I should take charge of the strong and weak weak skeletons and send the heretic inquisitors to the walls to prepare for any unforeseen situation.’
I nodded at the conclusion I quickly came to.
“Your Majesty, please go towards the castle walls. I will go towards the inner castle and deal with the strong and weak.”
The inquisitor tilted his head at my words.
I nodded without explaining, and the heretic inquisitor, who hesitated for a moment, nodded along.
‘I guess he’s better than me when dealing with multiple opponents.’
The Inquisitor walked away into the heavy rain.
I headed towards the opposite side, towards Naeseong.
The guy named Gillian followed me, stepping back slightly. He seemed to think I hadn’t noticed.
I hastened my steps, habitually stroking the handle of my sword.
***
The guy could be confronted in front of the inner gate.
‘A skeleton wrapped in black cloth.’
I was impressed by the accurate description.
Surrounding the guy were unconscious guards and soldiers.
The guy in the middle was looking at the gate in front of him while fondling the apple in his hand.
It seemed like he was mumbling something, but it was inaudible over the sound of the rain.
I drew my sword and slowly approached behind the guy.
The sound of the rain was so loud that it was enough to mask the sound of my footsteps.
When they reached the vague distance, the guy’s head was spinning.
“Oh-.”
Two black holes in the skull stared at me, making a playful sound effect.
The boy brought the apple to his mouth and took a big bite. The split apple fell down his chin and onto the ground.
Then the guy made a squeaking sound.
It seemed like the skeleton had quite a talent for comedy.
I stared at the guy and thought of a cool skull joke.
“I guess you’re on a diet.”
“Hmm… You’re a bit ambiguous, aren’t you?”
“Are your parents skeletons too? Like planting a broken shoulder blade in the ground and watering it.”
“It seems strong, but… it smells familiar… hmm… I really hate ambiguous things.”
“I guess there is no such thing as a snail shell.”
He clicked his tongue slightly at the conversation that was not taking place because they were only talking about what they wanted to say, and adjusted his grip on the sword. He gripped it tightly so that no rainwater would get between his palm and the sword handle.
The distance between us is about eight walking paces.
If you run···.
‘About three steps.’
Considering the heavy body soaking wet and the sticky mud, it wasn’t a distance that could be closed in an instant.
“I wonder! I wonder! Are you really strong? Or! Are you weaker than me? I really, really wonder!”
Hard.
‘What a loud skull, I want to break its skull.’
I strained my eyes to keep them from getting wet from the rain and glared at the guy.
When dealing with humans, it was easy to aim for when they closed their eyes or were momentarily distracted, but since the opponent was a skeleton, it was difficult to tell the difference.
‘Are you closing your eyes?’
I was amazed at the obvious racial advantage.
“I’m really curious.”
When I felt like the grim skeleton was laughing, I took it as a signal and kicked the ground.
One step. The legs, stretched to their limit, pushed away the mud and sprayed water around.
Two steps. I raised my sword upward.
I don’t know what the guy’s weakness is, but…
‘I guess I can just cut it in half.’
Three steps. My feet were heavier than I expected, so it took a little longer.
But when I tenaciously swung my sword towards the guy’s skull…
My vision darkened.
“Oh, you’re weak!”
As if I had guessed the correct answer, I lost consciousness at the end of the guy’s playful voice.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a black space.
‘What is this?’
I looked around hurriedly, but all I was surrounded by was a black space with nothing in it.
‘Is it some kind of enchantment magic?’
I guess I was under the spell of that weird skeleton guy.
The casting speed was incredibly fast, faster than I expected.
It didn’t even seem like he was memorizing the order.
As always, the magic was hard to predict.
‘Should I commit suicide?’
As I was thinking about my past experiences and considering whether I should pull out my own neck, a change occurred in front of me.
A tattered woman crawled across the floor in the darkness. She seemed very familiar, coming at me with a hostile look on her face, as if she was going to bite my neck at any moment.
And behind her-.
You ungrateful bastard! Betray me!
A man dressed in fancy clothes, but most importantly, without a head, approached me holding my severed head.
A crown was perched askew on top of the severed head.
Whoever cut it did a very neat job.
After that, there was also a kid who became a zombie.
There was also a black beast with a hole in its belly.
There was also a woman with a cane stuck in her head.
The guys poured out randomly, without any order.
Familiar faces approached me, each expressing their joy at being reunited in a variety of ways.
‘The one who eats nightmares…’
They were all familiar faces.
It was a leash I couldn’t take off.
‘It’s like this.’
I muttered softly and released my hand.
‘Yeah, I’m glad to see you all like this.’
I also held out my hand to welcome them, muttering the words that were stuck in my mouth.
As always, the first one was my lover, Udra.
She loved to die in my arms.
maybe.
‘It would be much easier if I had a sword.’
I forced the corners of my mouth to rise and spread my arms wide.
***
“Unfortunately, you are weaker than me-.”
Darbun, the ‘Nightmare Eater’, playfully cracked his jaw as he looked at the man before him.
I was a little nervous for a moment because he gave off a strange feeling, but I was certain of my victory when I saw the blank stare of the man who was clearly in a nightmare.
There are opponents who resist without falling into nightmares, but there has never been an opponent who escaped from a nightmare after falling into it.
Darbun was thinking of running away quickly if the man had not fallen into a nightmare. Darbun did not have the ability to defeat someone who was not in a nightmare.
“Ahem… What would your nightmare taste like?”
Darbun approached the man, tapping his foot as if dancing.
A very sweet scent came from the man who was just standing there blankly.
He rocked his hips back and forth and tapped them with his fingers, making a cracking sound.
Soon, Darbun arrived in front of the man and playfully wiggled the index fingers of both hands in front of the man’s blank eyes as if he was going to stab them.
Then he grabbed the man’s head with both hands.
His vision flickered and the man’s nightmare unfolded in his mind.
However, the shape was different from what he had thought.
A man stood there, holding the corpse of a woman in his arms, atop dozens of corpses that had been brutally torn to pieces and piled up like a mountain.
The man was looking up, covered in blood, and it was hard to tell whether he was crying or laughing.
However, the man’s eyes did not show the sadness, despair, or fear that other nightmares had.
I was just filled with extreme fatigue.
‘Uh··· how···.’
– That’s what that poor guy does every night.
Darbin turned his head sharply at the answer he heard from the side.
There… there was something in the abyssal darkness.
It was my first time feeling its presence, but I could instinctively tell that it was on a different level.
Darbun froze like a rat in front of a snake in the face of its overwhelming presence.
‘···Why here?’
– The little punk wouldn’t know.
The golden eyes curved as if smiling, and Darwin was pushed back as if someone had pushed him hard.
The vision flickered again and Darbun was looking up at the man through the rain.
‘What the heck is this···.’
Darbun couldn’t understand what was happening right now. He was clearly in his own ‘nightmare’.
Any person’s mental strength is bound to have weaknesses. Even saints are bound to have regrets and mistakes throughout their lives.
It was Darbun’s ‘nightmare’ to confront him by maximizing him. So, it is possible to avoid falling into a ‘nightmare’, but once you fall into a ‘nightmare’, you won’t be able to get out…
And the countless corpses he had seen in the man’s ‘nightmare’ reeked of regret and sorrow.
At that moment, the man slowly lowered his head.
Eyes filled with heavy fatigue stared at Darbun.
The raindrops running down the man’s disheveled hair felt like spittle flowing from a beast’s mouth.
Boom!
A thick bolt of lightning struck the dark sky, illuminating the surroundings for a moment. The man’s scar cast a shadow on it.
“Uh··· how···.”
Darbun stuttered and took a step back.
Darbun’s jawbone was no longer clicking.
At that moment, the man’s large hand grabbed Darbun’s neck. Darbun dangled from the vicious grip.
Although Darbun was a ‘one who did not breathe’, he felt as if he was suffocated by the man’s gaze.
“It’s hard at first. It gets easier after that.”
A growling voice, perhaps mixed with playfulness, perhaps with tears, perhaps with suppressed anger, filled Darbun’s head.
‘···It’s hard at first and easy after that? What the heck?’
Why does that voice remind me of a man holding a woman’s corpse?
The world darkened as the man’s large other hand approached.
“Wow, I’m stronger.”
Crunch.
The playful man’s voice was the last of Darbun.
***
I have two nightmares in one day.
‘This sucks.’
I looked up at the sky, muttering curses at the vivid memory.
The sky was still as dark as a hole in hell. The raindrops falling from it were thick and felt like a punishment, hitting my face.
‘···This is hell.’
I shook off my thoughts by forcing the corners of my lips to rise.
Feeling as if there was still hot blood on his face, he took a handkerchief out of his bosom and wiped his face.
I wiped it for a long time, but unfortunately the handkerchief was clean. I was angry that it wasn’t clean, so I threw the handkerchief on the floor.
The night wasn’t over yet, so we had to keep moving.
‘Fucking medieval.’
I walked through the heavy, dark rain, gripping the sword handle like a cross.
***
“Who is that guy?”
Baron Fullfoot, who was looking out the window, asked stammeringly.
“···This is Aaron, the leader of the 4th company of the Foreign Guard.”
Nova answered that question with her lips pursed.
“Baron, in fact, he···.”
Nova and Youngju were talking about something, but Youngae, who was behind them, couldn’t hear them.
Yeong-ae just looked at the handkerchief the man had thrown on the floor.
The handkerchief the man had left behind looked very familiar.
