Chapter 144 : Ancient Curse (The temperature suddenly dropped to 24°C)
Chapter 144: Ancient Curse (The temperature suddenly dropped to 24°C)
“Creed?”
Seeing their companion suddenly appear here, both Joe and Miss Godney were visibly surprised.
“How are you here?”
“Why shouldn't I be here?”
Faced with his companions' questions, Creed smiled and spread his arms.
“Who do you think this dream belongs to?”
“Wait, what do you mean? Isn't this the professor's dream? This is about the archaeological excavation the professor took part in years ago. It has nothing to do with you!”
Joe frowned and glared at Creed in dissatisfaction.
Creed merely smiled without saying a word.
At that moment, Levi spoke.
“Although I think it's unlikely... You wouldn't happen to be that little boy, would you?”
“Huh?”
“The local guide and his son.”
Levi explained to Annie and the others.
“When I first saw him, I felt he resembled someone. And if this isn't the professor's dream, then it can only belong to someone else. In the professor's dream, only three people appeared: the professor himself, the local guide, and his son. Now that Mr. Johnson has appeared here, I think that's the only possible explanation.”
“………………”
Hearing Levi's deduction, everyone was left dumbfounded.
Creed then looked at Levi once more.
“As expected of a detective. Even the professor failed to recognize me. But that's only natural. Back then, he abandoned us and escaped from this temple alone. I imagine he wanted nothing more than to erase everything about this temple from his memory.”
“The professor abandoned you?”
“That's right.”
Creed nodded.
“Let me show you what really happened back then.”
As Creed spoke, everything around them began to change.
The sealed underground chamber transformed into an old fishing village.
A group of villagers knelt on the ground, continuously kowtowing in prayer.
Standing atop a wooden crate before them was a little boy.
At the same time, Creed's voice rang out once more.
“Ever since I was a child, I possessed the ability to peer into dreams. Through dreams, I could foresee the future. I knew whether tomorrow's weather would be good or bad and whether the fishing boats could safely put to sea. Because of that, the villagers regarded me as the Child of the Oracle. But only I knew that this wasn't my own power. Every time I dreamed, I would see a temple. It called to me and guided me toward itself. Unfortunately, I was only a child back then. I had no way of reaching such a place. Until... an archaeological expedition arrived.”
The scene shifted once again.
A ship docked at the village pier.
A group of archaeologists disembarked.
Leading them was the young Old Professor.
He carried a backpack and wore an energetic, ambitious expression.
“They came here searching for ancient ruins. I knew my opportunity had arrived, so I told the expedition that I knew of a place where there was a temple. As expected, they became interested. The professor negotiated with my father. At first, my father refused to let me leave, but the professor offered enough money that he eventually agreed to accompany me in searching for that temple.”
At this point, Creed let out a cold snort.
“My father was a devout follower of the Holy Lord Church. I never dared tell him about my dreams, especially about the temple. He would have believed I had been seduced by evil and might even have killed me. But I believed that as long as I truly found that temple, none of those problems would matter anymore.”
Soon, the scene changed once more.
The young Creed led the archaeological expedition to a nearby mountain.
They passed through a narrow crevice before descending underground.
Then they arrived at the same temple Levi and the others had seen.
“The archaeological team entered the temple... but they awakened its guardians...”
As Creed narrated, the tightly sealed temple entrance was blown open with explosives.
The expedition rushed inside.
They entered the great hall and began setting up camp.
None of them noticed that above their heads, the Night Fiends awakened by the explosion had already silently prepared their ambush.
“And then... came a merciless slaughter...”
The Night Fiends swarmed downward and attacked the archaeologists.
The archaeologists had no way to escape.
There were simply too many Night Fiends, and they had sealed off the entrance.
Their only choice was to flee deeper into the temple.
Seeing this, Annie, Joe, and Miss Godney all looked at Levi in surprise.
The events had unfolded almost exactly as Levi had deduced.
Of course...
Levi had never known the monsters existed.
“I fled deeper inside with them. Unlike those people, who ran around like headless flies, the moment I entered the temple, I heard the voice that had always called to me in my dreams. So I followed it all the way forward. I didn't know what it was, but I could feel that my destiny was inseparably connected to that voice.”
Creed paused briefly.
“Perhaps fortune was on our side. Along the way, we never encountered another Night Fiend. Then, just as my father and I were about to reach the place where the voice originated, we reunited with the professor and several surviving members of the expedition. I don't know what happened to them, but they had clearly survived the Night Fiends. Then my father, the others, and I continued toward the deepest part of the temple. Eventually... we reached that place.”
The scene shifted once again.
The long tunnel transformed into a burial chamber.
At its center stood a stone coffin almost identical to that of the Baskerville Ancestor.
Unlike the well-maintained coffin of the Baskerville Ancestor, however, this one appeared ancient and badly worn.
More importantly...
The coffin was tightly bound by countless massive chains, making it impossible to open.
Just looking at it was enough to tell anyone that whatever lay inside...
Was definitely something that should never see the light of day.
The moment Creed's father saw the coffin, he trembled violently before collapsing to his knees.
Meanwhile, the Old Professor's eyes shone with excitement.
He walked over and carefully examined the stone coffin as though preparing to conduct some sort of research.
Soon afterward, he swiftly removed tools from his backpack and began smashing the chains wrapped around the coffin.
The others joined him, intending to dismantle it.
“Clang! Clang! Clang!”
Heavy impacts echoed through the chamber.
Levi folded his arms and silently watched everything unfold.
Although he had no idea what was inside the coffin, he was absolutely certain of one thing.
Judging by every ancient tomb adventure movie he had ever seen...
Nothing good was about to happen.
“Clatter.”
Eventually, every rust-covered iron chain wrapped around the coffin was smashed apart and thrown aside.
Several members of the expedition stepped forward and pushed open the stone coffin with all their strength.
Then...
The ground began to tremble.
Accompanied by a piercing scream, the scene suddenly went black.
After an unknown period of time...
Light finally returned.
What appeared before them this time left everyone utterly shocked.
Several bizarre tentacles formed from something resembling black sludge extended from within the stone coffin.
They tightly wrapped around the archaeologists, Creed's father, and the Old Professor.
The archaeologists screamed in agony.
Then Levi and the others watched as the bodies of the archaeologists and Creed's father gradually shriveled.
Like frozen treats that had been completely drained dry...
They became withered corpses.
Only the little boy remained standing there.
Without saying a word.
Wearing a strange smile as he silently watched everything before him.
“At that moment, everything was proceeding perfectly!”
Creed's voice echoed once more.
“I knew it was about to awaken completely, and I would obtain the power that rightfully belonged to me... But...!”
“Die!”
Suddenly, an angry roar rang out.
Everyone turned toward the source of the voice.
The Old Professor reached into his backpack and pulled out a bundle of explosives.
Staring at the opened stone coffin, he used the pipe clenched between his teeth to light the fuse.
Then...
He threw the explosives directly into the coffin!
“Boom——!!!”
The next instant, the entire stone coffin exploded apart.
At the same time, the earth began shaking violently.
A deafening howl, like the mournful wail of something in unbearable agony, echoed from deep beneath the ground.
The tentacles hurled the Old Professor onto the floor.
He immediately leaped back to his feet with a speed no ordinary human could possibly achieve before disappearing down the end of the corridor.
“Rumbleeeee!!”
The roaring of the earth grew increasingly violent.
It sounded as though some existence was venting its boundless rage.
Creed, who had been standing on the ground, suddenly lost his footing.
He slipped and fell.
Then...
A crack opened beneath him, swallowing him into the abyss before he even had time to scream.
Moments later...
Everything around them vanished.
The surroundings returned to normal once more.
“When I finally woke up, I was lying on the beach. My village... and every villager who had lived there... had completely disappeared beneath the tsunami caused by the earthquake.”
“So... that earthquake wasn't a natural disaster?”
Miss Godney looked utterly incredulous.
“It was caused by the professor?”
Joe frowned deeply.
“So that's why you wanted to find the professor... to avenge your family?”
“Revenge? Yes, revenge. But it has nothing to do with my family.”
Creed shook his head.
“After that day, I dreamed every single night. I screamed, struggled, and wailed within endless Nightmares. I could feel that existence's anger and suffering. It seeped into my soul and permeated my entire body. It desired only one thing.”
“Revenge!”
As he spoke, Creed glared viciously at the professor, who remained suspended high in the air, bound by chains.
“And now... I've finally found my opportunity! I know this place. This is the World of Dreams. Here, I am the master of this dream! And I will use this power to make him suffer the punishment he deserves!”
“Stop! You can't do this!”
Joe attempted to rush forward to stop him.
However, several more Night Fiends descended from above and blocked his path.
“Of course I can.”
Standing before the coffin, Creed looked at everyone with a cold smile.
“In fact, it is starving right now. It is weak. It needs more power... more emotions... more souls...”
“So... all of you can stay here with it.”
“———————!”
Hearing those words, everyone's expressions changed dramatically.
Joe and Miss Godney raised their firearms.
Annie silently drew her own weapon as well.
Only Levi remained completely calm.
“So... you're saying you don't intend to let us leave?”
“Of course.”
Hearing Levi's question, Creed smiled smugly once again.
“This is my world. Here, I can create anything I desire. There's no way any of you can fight against me.”
Levi merely shrugged.
“In that case...”
“I suppose there's no helping it.”
“Huh?”
“ROAAAAAR—————!”
Before Creed could understand what Levi meant, a furious roar suddenly exploded beside him.
Instinctively, Creed turned his head.
A gigantic monster burst forth from the darkness with its enormous maw wide open.
It bit down upon the Night Fiend Creed had created...
And instantly tore it into pieces.
“………………”
Creed stood there dumbfounded.
Levi's voice quietly rang out beside him once again.
“I forgot to mention.”
“Creating things within dreams... isn't your exclusive privilege.”
(End of Chapter)