Chapter 1216: 203. Recurring Dream
The world was a scene of utter misery.
Thick blood gathered into a vast sea of blood. Countless mutilated corpses floated within it, while pale bones were piled up like mountains. Muen raised his head and silently stared at the skull at the very top, blood tears streaming from it.
"What are you looking at?"
"What if I'm looking at you?"
"Try looking again."
"Fine, I will."
"..."
After tentatively questioning and answering himself for quite a while, the skull did not react at all. It seemed this was merely an ordinary sea of blood, an ordinary mountain of bones, and... an ordinary skull.
"I really am getting paranoid."
Seeing this, Muen laughed at himself and shook his head.
"Why did I actually think a skull might talk?"
If a skull could talk, then Ariel's flat chest would probably have a chance at developing a second time too, but how could that possibly...
"Why..."
A cold, gloomy questioning voice echoed above the sea of blood. It was like a sinister wind blowing past, instantly freezing Muen's expression.
The skull on top of the pile of bones had actually spoken. Its hollow, deep eye sockets seemed to be staring directly at Muen. Its upper and lower jaws opened and closed, and clear words flowed out from within.
"Holy shit, Ariel couldn't really still develop a second time, could she? That would go against her character. Don't scare me."
Muen was startled.
However, before he could do anything, the skull suddenly rolled down from the mountain of bones and accurately smashed toward Muen.
Muen reacted quickly and caught it with one hand.
"You think you can ambush me with this?"
Muen sneered.
Talking was one thing. A talking skull still could not possibly do anything to him...
Boom!
A tremendous sound exploded like thunder from a clear sky. An unimaginable tremor suddenly arose, and the entire world seemed to shake violently.
Muen's face instantly turned deathly pale, because as an enormous shadow descended over him, he discovered that the mountain of bones was rapidly collapsing!
Countless bones...
Were flooding toward him!
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Muen's cheek twitched.
"I only casually raised a flag! Are you serious? I really didn't mean to look down on you just because you're a skull!"
No one answered.
Only countless bones roared!
"Damn it!"
There was no time to care about anything else. Muen kicked the skull in his hand away like a ball, then turned and ran at the speed of a hundred-meter sprint.
He ran very fast. The scenery on both sides continuously retreated. Logically speaking, he had already run an extremely long distance, but this strange world was astonishingly vast.
Moreover...
There was blood everywhere.
Bones everywhere.
When his feet stepped on the ground, what came from beneath them was not the soft sensation of soil, but hand bones, leg bones, and ribs belonging to unknown people giving the soles of his feet a massage.
To be honest, this kind of massage did not feel good.
If possible, Muen would still prefer Miss Dragon's soft, fair, jade-like hands to do it for him...
Cough, he was getting off topic.
Muen hurriedly focused his attention and continued running wildly. His stamina here was unbelievably good. No matter how far he ran, he did not feel the slightest fatigue.
And so, after running wildly for an unknown amount of time, the collapse formed from the bones finally stopped.
Muen turned his head to look back. Although he had already prepared himself, the spectacular sight still made his heart tremble.
Because even after collapsing, the mountain of corpses had continued chasing behind him like a tsunami. Only after stopping did it form a wall of corpses dozens of meters high.
It stretched from one end of his vision to the other, completely blocking the horizon.
Just how many corpses were there?
Hundreds of thousands?
Millions?
Tens of millions?
Muen could not count them.
He could not be bothered to count them either.
Whether there were corpses or not had absolutely nothing to do with him.
He turned around and prepared to leave, searching for the exit from this place.
"...Why?"
At this moment, the sinister question sounded again, following him like a shadow.
Muen first shuddered, then became furious and suddenly turned around.
"Still asking? What are you asking for? I only kicked you once. If you have the ability, kick me back..."
He froze again.
Because what stood there now was not that skull, but...
A long-haired girl dressed in white.
The girl should have been very beautiful. She had large eyes, long eyelashes, and a small cherry-red mouth.
Unfortunately, no beauty could be seen now...
Because only half of that face remained.
Her single eye stared directly at Muen. Half of her cherry-red lips opened and closed, while half of her tongue moved up and down, producing a sinister and terrifying voice.
"...Why?"
"Why is it you again?"
Something inexplicably shifted in Muen's mind.
He looked at the girl's pale and somewhat familiar half-face, then lowered his head and looked at the pair of mostly intact bare feet exposed beneath her long white dress.
Without saying another word, he turned and ran.
It was not because he had been frightened by that half-face.
Nor was it because he was afraid that those thighs, although mostly intact, had already rotted down to the bone and might suddenly really kick him.
It was because the instant the girl in white approached him, an extremely ominous premonition suddenly arose in the depths of his heart.
He could not let her touch him.
Absolutely not.
Otherwise...
Something extremely terrible would happen!
It was instinct, yet it was incomparably clear.
So clear that Muen did not have even the slightest room for any other thought.
Run!
Run!
Run!
...
Unfortunately...
Muen still did not manage to run far.
"...Why?"
"...Why?"
"...Why?"
One after another, more and more figures walked out from the depths of the darkness and gradually approached.
They were still the same.
Most of their bodies had only fragments remaining. Their clothes were stained with blood and torn to pieces. Some could not even stand and could only writhe and crawl across the ground.
Yet they stubbornly and obsessively tried to approach Muen.
They stretched out their hands toward Muen.
Their hollow and silent eyes were filled with resentment and fury.
"...Why?"
"Shut up! I have no grudge against any of you! I'm the one who should be asking why!"
Muen twisted, shifted, leaped, and dodged, avoiding being touched by these things that resembled living corpses...
No.
They were even more miserable than living corpses.
But gradually, he began to struggle, because there were simply too many of them.
At some unknown point, they had already filled Muen's entire field of vision. Packed densely together like a tide, they spread toward Muen.
Hundreds of thousands?
Millions?
Tens of millions?
Still impossible to count...
"Damn it..."
The ominous premonition in his heart grew stronger and stronger, while the space in which he could breathe became smaller and smaller.
At the final moment before despair, Muen could only grit his teeth and use all his strength to struggle within the last remaining gap...
Then Muen saw a flash of white.
A pale, rotting hand reached directly toward him.
...
...
"Hah... Huh!"
He suddenly took a deep breath.
Muen sat up, expelled the stale air from his lungs, then instinctively drew Elizabeth and coldly watched his surroundings.
There was no mountain of corpses.
No sea of blood.
Nor were there any approaching ghostly figures.
There were only beautiful flowers blooming on both sides of the streets and alleys. This enchanting scenery gradually drove away the terrifying bloody images in Muen's mind.
"...A dream?"
Muen panted heavily and suddenly came fully awake.
Of course it was a dream.
A strange world.
A strange scene.
There was no logic at all.
Normally, Muen might have realized he was dreaming while still inside the dream, but this time, he had become unusually deeply trapped in it.
Moreover...
"This dream even has a second part?"
Those scenes were not unfamiliar to Muen.
Not long ago, when he had fallen unconscious because of poisoning, he had dreamed of those scenes.
At the time, he had not paid much attention to it. After all, a single nightmare could not prove anything.
But now it seemed that he would continue having the same dream.
It certainly could not be because even in his dreams, he disliked stopping at cliffhangers.
"Could I be under the influence of something? The previous poison?"
Muen frowned and secretly guessed, but apart from that, he had no clues.
"Slacking off again?"
A fiery-red figure suddenly appeared.
Those cold golden pupils remained as lofty and condescending as ever, looking down at Muen, who had just sat up from the corner beside the wall.
"What do you mean, 'again'? During these entire two days, I've only rested for this tiny little while."
Muen's cheek twitched. He took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, discovering that he had actually been asleep for less than twenty minutes.
Twenty minutes of rest in two days.
Even beasts of burden would shed tears at that degree of exploitation, and even capitalists would feel pity.
"You cannot endure even this much. Human stamina truly is inadequate."
"Miss Dragon, are you saying that because you want me to declare war on you on behalf of all humanity?"
"You are not qualified."
Hamreign gave a cold snort and descended beside Muen.
A familiar fragrance entered his nose.
The foul stench he had brought out of the dream, which had seemed like an illusion, instantly vanished without a trace.
Her golden pupils swept over Muen.
Then that fair, slender, jade-like hand suddenly rose and rested on top of Muen's head.
"This is..."
Feeling the warm and soft touch, Muen froze slightly.
"Something is wrong with your condition?"
Hamreign asked coldly.
"Do not tell me that you have also been Polluted."
"...How could I possibly be Polluted?"
Muen smiled.
In a certain sense, he could now be considered an embryonic Evil God.
Although his strength was still not particularly great, at least in terms of resistance to Pollution, he was definitely among the best in the world.
Unless the true body of an Evil God descended and violated him face-to-face, he could not imagine any possibility of himself becoming Polluted.
"There is indeed no Pollution, nor is there any influence from another power."
Hamreign withdrew her hand.
"There isn't any other influence either?"
That point made Muen freeze.
"What is it?"
"Actually..."
Muen told Hamreign about the dream.
There was nothing to conceal in this regard.
On the contrary, at a time like this, they could not overlook even the slightest abnormality. It had to be carefully distinguished.
"A dream filled with corpses..."
Her golden pupils remained calm like a lake, deep and impossible to see through.
Her face also remained blurred and completely impossible to see clearly.
Hamreign fell silent for a moment, seemingly thinking.
"There was no external influence, and there was no mental suggestion. In that case, the dream is probably a problem with you."
"Huh?"
"As I said just now, as a mere human, your endurance is inadequate. You are overly exhausted, so naturally you will have some strange dreams."
"Miss Dragon..."
Muen's cheek twitched again.
"I truly may declare war on you on behalf of all humanity."
"Do not think too much. Get some rest."
Hamreign spoke without the slightest politeness.
"I do not want you to work yourself to death in front of me."
"..."
Muen became irritated.
If she told him to rest, then he would rest.
He directly sat down again on the spot.
But before long, he still could not help tilting his head and looking toward the fiery-red figure staring at some unknown place.
Her fiery-red hair floated gently.
Her long black dress swayed.
Because she hovered in the air, those jade-like feet decorated with scales were very close to Muen, as though he could touch them merely by stretching out his hand.
...
That sense of distance from before seemed to have faded somewhat at this moment.
This improved Muen's mood slightly.
Their current circumstances were simply like this.
One infuriating matter followed another.
Even the slightest positive development was enough to let someone breathe a long sigh of relief.
"Miss Dragon, aren't you going to rest?"
"I am not as frail as you."
"..."
Muen was speechless.
"I know Miss Dragon is extremely fierce, but after doing so many things, I think even you should temporarily rest for a while."
During this period, Muen naturally was not the only one who had not been idle.
Or rather...
Despite being so busy, Muen had merely been the one assisting.
Muen raised his head and looked over the city.
At this very moment, a faint golden radiance carrying a terrifying pressure was enveloping the entire city.
Beneath that radiance, barriers that flickered in and out of view extended from the center to the edges, from the closest part of his vision all the way to the horizon.
Like the lines on a chessboard, they divided the entire city into countless sections.
They were restrictions.
A number of restrictions so enormous that it was almost impossible to imagine.
They were so extravagant that each individual house had been used as a separate boundary in their construction.