Chapter 95
Chapter 95
* * *
"Aaaack!!"
Nari opened her eyes with a splitting headache. Someone was talking to her, and her body was being shaken violently, but she didn't even care about that.
Her head was throbbing as if it would shatter. Nari screamed, shaking her legs wildly from the pain that felt like her brain was being peeled away layer by layer with a sharp scalpel. Her eyes were stinging because her head hurt so much.
"Nari!! Breathe deeply. Slowly!"
"Ugh, hgh, hghh."
Nari finally took a deep breath, tears streaming down her face at the sounds she heard. Only then did the pain, which felt like it wouldn't improve, subside just slightly.
Nari, who had not yet fully recovered her senses, held her face and breathed heavily for a long time, when a familiar voice was heard above her.
"Nari, are you alright?"
"...Kang Ihyun."
Nari made a small sound close to a groan and slightly opened her eyes between her fingers. Kang Ihyun, wearing a white rabbit costume, was running while holding her.
Since the real Kang Ihyun wouldn't possibly wear clothes like this, this must be Nari's subconscious.
"You've come to your senses. That's a relief."
The white rabbit looked at her and smiled. Crash! The sound of something breaking was heard behind them. Only then did Nari realize that the white rabbit was running at full speed while holding her.
As it was clear they were being chased by someone, Nari tried to look at the pursuer, but the white rabbit held her tightly and stopped her. From that action, Nari guessed who the one following them was.
"Don't look. Your head will start hurting like that again."
"Why did it hurt so much?"
"You endured the Constellation's power all alone. For a few seconds."
The Constellation Nari contracted with was too strong, and the Incarnation couldn't handle the power alone. Therefore, The Lord of Chaos voluntarily played the role of a bridge, distributing only enough authority so that Nari wouldn't go mad.
It seems he only released it for a few seconds, yet the pain was this intense. Nari bit her lip tightly and said,
"But why is it okay now?"
"Well, look. Check the message log."
Nari scrolled up the message log. Soon, she blinked as she found a text she had never seen before.
[Borrowing skill from the Old Man 'Abyss's ◼◼◼◼'!]
['The Lord of Chaos's skill weakens!]
“Old Man?"
This was a Constellation she had never seen before. Seeing that it was 'discovered' by her Trait, it seemed to be an Outer-Cosmos affiliated Constellation with whom she was contracted.
When Nari looked at him with a puzzled expression, the white rabbit spoke again.
"The important thing is that there is a Constellation on Nari's side even within the Outer-Cosmos! So, don't give up!"
The white rabbit spoke as if he had guessed Nari's state of mind. Nari, coming to her senses at those words, nodded. Soon, the white rabbit stopped running and let Nari down.
"Nari, it's here."
"This place is,"
Nari looked around. It was the cave she had seen while traveling in her dream. The white rabbit spoke with a hurried tone.
"Nari. Go inside this place quickly."
The white rabbit grabbed Nari's shoulder. His eyes were serious. He continued speaking in a small voice, as if worried someone might hear.
"The reason The Lord of Chaos and the Outer-Cosmos Constellations are so obsessed with you is because of this. Honestly, you aren't at the level to enter here right now. But we're in a hurry, so I'll let you in."
"Where is this place?! Wait, explain more!"
"I can't defeat The Lord of Chaos. All I can do is buy you time. So, go inside there, grow, and come back. If you don't, there really isn't any solution."
Crash! The sound of something huge chasing them was heard from behind. Crack, and cracks began to form in Nari's subconscious.
"...Alright, I'll go!"
Nari, intuiting that there was no time, ran straight into the cave without asking any more questions. This was the method chosen by her subconscious, which wouldn't abandon her no matter what happened.
Before entering the huge cave, Nari heard the white rabbit shouting from behind her.
"Nari! This isn't a path where reason and logic work. Trust your instincts!"
Crash! After that, the sounds of something colliding and a struggle were heard. Realizing that there was no time to delay, Nari quickly stepped into the cave.
The inside of the cave was a rabbit hole, like the one she had fallen into before. Nari tightly closed her eyes at the sensation of endlessly falling downward.
She was with the white rabbit then, but she was alone now. Even so, strangely, it was bearable. As she thought that.
[Entering the 'Dreamland'!]
['Little Explorer in the Dream's' entry has been confirmed!]
[The entry permission procedure is in progress. Please wait a moment!]
[......]
['Little Explorer in the Dream's' entry has been denied!]
"Ah, why!! The white rabbit let me in, didn't he?! Come on!!"
Nari shouted loudly. Her subconscious flinched for a moment as if it were frightened, and then a loading window appeared again.
['White Rabbit's' approval has been confirmed!]
[Entering the Beginner Zone! Be careful not to get lost!]
"Beginner Zone?"
Nari raised an eyebrow. Thud, something touched Nari's feet, which had been falling endlessly. Nari, standing on the hard floor, looked around.
"...What is this?!"
There were countless doors there. The size and type of the doors were all different. Nari, flustered, raised her hand to rub her eyes and found something fastened to her wrist. It was a band that looked like a free pass to an amusement park.
[Number of possible entries: 1 time]
"One time?"
It was a straightforward meaning. She could go through one of these doors. Only once. Nari, whose thoughts reached that point, wildly messed up her hair.
"Ah, seriously! What the hell am I supposed to do? I don't understand any of it!"
Crash! The sound of something breaking was heard from above again. Rumble, and the inside of the burrow shook as if there were an earthquake. Nari snapped to attention and bit her lip tightly.
The Lord of Chaos was chasing her. There was no more time to delay. She had to escape somewhere. Nari looked around and instinctively found a familiar door.
The door to her room during middle school, which read 'Knocking Required!'
"Quickly...!!"
Nari, feeling something black blocking the entrance of the rabbit hole, headed toward the door without looking back. And bang, she immediately closed the door.
"Ugh, ha, seriously.... I really almost died."
Nari, leaning her back against the door, took a few deep breaths. Only when The Lord of Chaos's presence disappeared did she finally come to her senses.
"What happened to the white rabbit? And 'grow' he said.... I really don't know what he meant."
Even after coming to her senses, she still couldn't understand the situation. Didn't she enter here as if she were being chased?
Nari looked around. It was underwater. Specifically, an underwater city in the sea. But strangely, she could breathe. She didn't even know that a space like this existed in her subconscious.
"What?"
Nari, puzzled, walked forward one step at a time. Boom! In the ruined underwater city. A tremendous sound was heard behind Nari.
Nari quickly turned around, wondering if The Lord of Chaos had chased her even here. Fortunately, it was the sound of a rusty street lamp collapsing.
"Ah, what the. Seriously, I got nervous for nothing.... Huh?"
Nari, who naturally looked at the area around the street lamp, blinked. The ground was littered with monster corpses. Only then, after checking the energy that enveloped her surroundings, did she realize where she was.
"This is a Gate. Right here."
An unrealistic space that couldn't exist in reality. Energy that gently repelled the strong. And the corpses of monsters scattered everywhere. This was inside a Gate.
"Ugh, what is this place, seriously?!"
She couldn't distinguish whether her dream was connected to a Gate, or if this was also part of her dream.
"Gurgle."
And a strange cry was heard from behind her. Nari immediately turned around. Before her eyes was a fish-headed, human-legged fish-man.
"Ha..."
The fish-man was only rolling his eyes as he looked at Nari, but Nari immediately pulled out the black half-scissor. This was because she perceived that the fish-man was clearly not an ordinary opponent.
Now that she thought about it, she was told to 'grow.' Nari bit her lip at those words. It seemed this place was a training ground just for Nari.
The fish-man in front of her was continuously making gurgling sounds while only rolling his eyes, but that type would definitely call its comrades.
Nari, thinking that, imbued the half-scissors with spirit energy. And she recalled a word she had seen in a comic book sometime.
"So, this is the Room of Spirit and Time, isn't it?"
The fish-man immediately screamed and summoned his comrades, and at the same time, Nari's black spirit energy covered the fish-men in droves.
* * *
"...What."
Nari, having defeated the group of fish-men, wiped the blood-stained scissor blade. Something was strange.
It was too realistic to be a dream or a training ground in the subconscious. Of course, Nari's dreams were uniquely like that, but even putting that aside, it was too real.
And the monsters were too strong. They were among the strongest mobs Nari had ever encountered. It didn't make sense for mere mobs to possess the power of a general boss monster. In terms of Gates, it would be...
'This is probably a Tier 1 Gate.'
Nari, who sighed while thinking that, looked at her inventory. Fish-man scales she had just defeated were piled up abundantly.
If this were a product of the subconscious created in a dream, the monsters wouldn't drop items.
"Is this not a training ground... or something?"
Perhaps, it really might be a Gate. A Gate connected to her dream. Nari, thinking that, cautiously took a step forward. Simultaneously, someone's voice was heard from a distance.
"-!!"
A woman's shout, and a rupture sound. It meant someone was in combat. Nari ran toward the sound without looking back.
"Is this place really not my dream, but a real-life Gate?!"
If so, it was a huge problem. This Gate was at least Tier 2, almost comparable to a Tier 1 level Gate. Wouldn't it be a disaster if it were left alone? Moreover, judging only by the sound, there seemed to be only one person fighting.
She couldn't understand anything, but she felt she knew one thing. If this was really a Gate in reality, and if she left it alone, people would get hurt. And very badly!
"Seriously, what is going on with this? What is this situation!!"
She absolutely hated being caught up in a situation she couldn't control like this. Her impatient nature spurred her running legs.
Fortunately, apart from the fish-men she had encountered earlier, there were no monsters blocking Nari's path. Nari ran through the underwater city, leaping over buildings and stepping on stopped cars.
Slowly, she approached the combat scene. Nari gradually slowed down as she saw the faint outline of a Hunter.
An unbelievable sight unfolded before her eyes.
"I'm requesting backup! I can't do this alone. Seriously. No, come on, do you want to see everyone die?! Move, if you're a Hunter!"
A pirate with an octopus head and an eye patch, about five meters tall. And far below him, a small woman fighting alone.
Nari recalled again that the door to this place was 'the door to Nari's room when she was a middle school student.'
Surely, that door wasn't connected to a dream, but...
"Ugh, seriously. Nothing is ever helpful!"
The woman, who kept requesting backup via her communicator, soon gave up and pulled out an ox-blood-colored thread. A bell sound rang from the fan attached to one of her hands.
Nari subconsciously muttered when she saw that figure.
"...Mom?"
At those words, the woman quickly turned around. It was her mother, exactly as she looked ten years ago. She stared intently at Nari and spoke with an expression of disbelief.
"Are you, by any chance, Nari...?"