Chapter 155
Chapter 155
Palace of Dreams (1)
“Hmm?”
The place I arrived at, guided by the bracelet, was drenched in blood.
On the back where the right wing began, countless wyvern corpses were strewn about, and among them I spotted familiar ice.
“Worden!”
No matter how high-ranked wyverns were as monsters, they weren't enough to threaten the Imperial Princess and the Vice-Commander.
They didn't seem to be losing, but neither did they appear capable of decisively pushing the wyverns back. At my call, Worden raised his slingshot.
“We're going straight in.”
An ice shard shot out in an instant and struck the wyverns surrounding the Imperial Princess and the Vice-Commander.
At the same time, flames and ice began to rage around them. I immediately activated Lightning Armor and charged in.
Clinging to a wyvern, I swung the sword created through Blood Magic with all my might. The others trying to attack from behind couldn't regain their footing under Worden's covering fire.
“Are you alright?”
As we gradually reduced the number of wyverns, the Imperial Princess and the Vice-Commander came into view. Hidden by the swarm of wyverns until then, they joined the fight the moment they saw me cutting down part of the pack.
After sweeping her cross-shaped spear through the air and killing the last wyvern, the Imperial Princess turned toward me, and I cautiously asked,
“Are you alright?”
“I am.”
She answered as she shrank her spear. Behind her, the Vice-Commander was catching her breath while repeatedly pounding her lower back.
“Vice-Commander, are you alright as well?”
“Ah, Student Davide. Yes, I'm alright. What about you, Student Davide?”
“I am as well.”
I answered while wiping the sticky blood off my face. The Vice-Commander looked exhausted, but she didn't appear to be injured anywhere.
“The fan carries quite a heavy risk. I'm feeling rather dizzy at the moment.”
With the Imperial Princess's combat ability, defeating the wyverns would have been easy.
But there was a reason she hadn't.
The backlash from the fan she had used to fly through the sky had left the Vice-Commander in poor condition. Because of that, the Imperial Princess had focused on defense instead of attacking while waiting for us.
“In this condition, it's difficult for me to use magic.”
The Vice-Commander awkwardly tried to explain after noticing me staring at her.
Without magic, the Vice-Commander was only slightly stronger than Winter. In that state, escaping from the wyverns would have been impossible.
If even one wyvern targeted the Vice-Commander, the entire battle would inevitably take a strange turn.
“Davide. Do you know where we must go now?”
“To the head. Beyond it is the Cloud Tower.”
The Imperial Princess let out a sigh of relief as she watched the Vice-Commander drink the potion Worden handed her before asking about our next destination.
I pointed toward the distant head.
The Imperial Princess nodded.
“Worden. Help support the Vice-Commander.”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“Oh my! Oh my!”
Seeing the Imperial Princess preparing to move, I entrusted the Vice-Commander to Worden.
Worden immediately lifted the Vice-Commander in a princess carry.
Startled, the Vice-Commander let out a panicked cry.
“...You should ask for permission first.”
I told Worden that.
Worden widened his eyes as if he'd had no idea. Just as he was about to set her down again, the Vice-Commander stopped him.
“It's alright. I can't exactly complain. It's been a long time since I've been carried like this. Hehe.”
She actually seemed to be enjoying it.
She had to be fairly old already. Did she really have no sense of embarrassment?
I stared blankly for a moment before turning my gaze away.
“We're setting off.”
The Imperial Princess and I immediately dashed forward.
Worden quickly followed behind us.
“Hmm? What is that?”
“Another blessing from The Goddess.”
After the continuous fighting and repeated use of Blood Magic, my stamina had fallen considerably.
I summoned the Circle of Reincarnation to replenish it.
The stamina I had expended was restored in an instant.
Seeing the massive circle appear behind my back, the Imperial Princess's eyes sparkled.
She seemed to think it was an artifact. I brought up Anaye, my all-purpose excuse.
“I see.”
The moment the word Goddess came up, the Imperial Princess instantly lost interest.
Watching her reaction, I quietly chuckled to myself.
“We're almost at the head.”
After running for about five minutes, the wyvern's snout finally came into view.
Beyond it lay the Cloud Tower.
“We'll head straight into the Cloud Tower.”
Using the momentum from my sprint, I made a tremendous leap.
The distance between the snout and the Cloud Tower was considerable, but none of us lacked the ability to clear it.
The Vice-Commander couldn't have done it without magic, but since Worden was carrying her, it wasn't an issue.
Just like that, we landed safely on the soft clouds.
“What a peculiar place.”
The Imperial Princess rolled as she landed before rising to her feet immediately.
She looked around at the endless clouds filling her vision and voiced her thoughts.
“Let's go inside.”
I walked toward the enormous door standing firmly in place.
The others followed behind me without saying a word.
“What is this place?”
“I heard there's something suppressing the Dream Bird. Personally, I think we just need to kill or destroy everything.”
“I see.”
I answered the Imperial Princess's question.
She seemed pleased by how straightforward the solution was.
Taking out her favorite treble-clef axe, she rested it on her shoulder.
If we defeated the gatekeepers protecting the Cloud Tower one by one, we could finally escape this tiresome dream.
There were five bosses in total, but since they were event bosses, they weren't particularly difficult.
“I can sense something.”
We were currently on the first floor.
The doors had already been opened from the outside, so all we had to do was break through with unstoppable momentum.
The first enemy to appear was a wyvern in human form.
Of course, its body was entirely made of clouds.
“I'll take care of th—”
Just as I stepped forward, the boss was suddenly struck by something and scattered apart.
A single blow.
I turned toward the Imperial Princess, who had created that unbelievable sight.
She merely shrugged at my gaze.
“It was beginning to grow rather dull. As long as we're not in the air, this much is nothing.”
Even if it was an easy boss, could it really be defeated in a single strike?
Confusion filled my face.
The Imperial Princess casually picked up her axe as though she had merely gone out for a walk.
Looking down at it, she tilted her head.
“How strange.”
“Yes?”
“It wasn't originally this powerful. It's far easier than those wyverns we fought earlier. Come to think of it, my body feels lighter as well.”
The Imperial Princess honestly spoke about what she was feeling.
I glanced toward Worden.
“Now that I think about it... my body does feel lighter. Almost like when I received the Priest's buff.”
“...”
Worden's words made me frown.
I had a suspicion.
The more of its voice the Dream Bird recovered, the greater its influence became.
Even though it was still bound by chains, the Dream Bird was a genuine spiritual creature.
It seemed it had been helping us through some kind of buff.
The problem was that I didn't feel anything at all.
“I haven't noticed any changes.”
“Leave it to us. It's been a while since I had a chance to properly stretch my body.”
The Imperial Princess answered coolly.
Apparently intending to take the lead herself, she began loosening up with a few stretches.
I wasn't sure whether putting the Imperial Princess at the front was really the right decision.
I looked toward the Vice-Commander for guidance, but she wasn't much help either.
“Hehe. Her Imperial Highness, the Imperial Princess is very strong.”
With even the Vice-Commander saying that, I had nothing left to argue.
I nodded and stepped back.
If I had to summarize our party's advance in a single phrase, it was unstoppable.
Everything standing in our path was smashed apart as we moved forward.
Five bosses in total.
The cloud wyvern humanoid on the first floor and the weapon-wielding wyvern humanoid on the second floor were both effortlessly dealt with by the Imperial Princess.
“Hah.”
From the third floor onward, it became a battle of numbers.
Countless cloud wyvern warriors appeared, but once the Vice-Commander had recovered her magic and joined the fight, they were dealt with easily.
On the fourth floor, an even larger horde of armed cloud wyvern warriors appeared, but Worden and the Vice-Commander eliminated them all by themselves.
“Hmm. That was only enough for a warm-up.”
On the fifth and final floor, the giant cloud wyvern warrior met its end when the Imperial Princess, supported by the Vice-Commander, split its head open with her axe.
Throughout that entire campaign, I hadn't done a single thing.
I had freeloaded so thoroughly my teeth were about to rot.
I immediately walked over to the Imperial Princess and shamelessly flattered her.
“As expected of Your Imperial Highness. Your combat prowess is truly extraordinary.”
“Enough with the flattery.”
The Imperial Princess smirked at my words.
I looked around.
Now that we had reached the top of the Cloud Tower, what we were looking for should have been visible.
“Worden, do you see anything?”
“Huh? Ah... I think there's something like a black monument.”
I asked Worden, whose eyesight was the best among us.
Narrowing his eyes, he described what he saw.
His gaze was fixed on the ceiling.
Sure enough, just as he had said, a black monument protruded downward from the ceiling.
“Should we destroy that?”
“Yes. That's what I believe.”
“I'll trust you.”
After confirming my opinion, the Imperial Princess drew out her cross spear.
The holy aura that had once split apart the Desert God's creation in a single strike gathered around the spear.
Shooting upward with tremendous force, the Imperial Princess swung her cross spear directly at the monument, which looked to be around two meters tall.
The spear traced a brilliant white arc before striking a barrier and rebounding.
“Hm?”
The Imperial Princess wore a thoroughly shocked expression, as though she'd never expected it to bounce back.
I was just as surprised.
The barrier was remarkably powerful.
Even the cross spear, imbued with that mysterious force, had been rendered completely ineffective.
It hadn't existed in the game.
If I had to guess, it was linked to the barrier outside that protected the mechanism.
“If Canis and Aro were here...”
With Canis and Aro around, this would have been solved in no time.
Even in the game, removing the barrier protecting the mechanism only required solving a simple puzzle.
Clicking my tongue, I drew the sword made from Blood Magic.
“This spear possesses the power to shake all magical things. Yet even it could not pierce that.”
The Imperial Princess warned me as I slowly walked forward.
“Ah, it's alright.”
The sword I had created was made entirely from my own blood.
It wasn't particularly sharp, broke easily, and wasn't very durable.
The Blood Magic Aro had taught me wasn't compatible with me, so I hadn't progressed beyond that.
However, a weapon made directly from my own blood held an overwhelming advantage in certain situations.
“Oh?”
The barrier that had deflected the cross spear revealed an opening with surprising ease.
I engraved three Thunder Horn Marks onto the sword before slowly backing away.
Watching the sword slip straight through the barrier without the slightest resistance, the Imperial Princess let out an impressed sound.
The sword was just a little too short to reach the monument, but that wasn't a problem.
-Tak.
The moment I snapped my fingers, the Thunder Horn Marks shone brilliantly before triggering a massive explosion.
The blast that erupted inside the barrier completely shattered the monument.
“Worden!”
The moment the monument broke, the barrier collapsed.
Then space began to distort, and a black hole appeared in midair.
I hurriedly called out to Worden.
Worden, who had been quietly watching, quickly ran over.
“Your Imperial Highness, you may pass through the hole.”
“And you?”
“I'll bring the Dream Bird and follow shortly.”
“Very well. Don't be late.”
After thinking for a moment, the Imperial Princess nodded without objection.
Only after receiving her permission did I move.
I intended to retrieve the Dream Bird I had left behind.
The Imperial Princess, the Vice-Commander, and Worden disappeared through the hole, while I ran in the opposite direction.
“Hey! Wake up.”
I stroked the Dream Bird's head, which was still hanging limply.
Then, with a playful grin, I let a tiny current of lightning flow through it.
-Mwi! Mwiaaaaaah! Mwia!
“You sure are a sleepyhead. Come on. The exit's open.”
Startled by the tingling sensation, the Dream Bird finally came to its senses.
Chuckling, I soothed the frightened bird.
After recognizing my face, it let out a sorrowful cry.
It sounded thoroughly aggrieved.
“Sorry, sorry. Let's go now.”
-Mwia....
Even after I told it to come, the Dream Bird only cried pitifully.
It pointed its beak toward the chains binding it.
I smirked and swung the sword created through Blood Magic.
The chains were severed with astonishing ease.
Watching them fall apart, the Dream Bird's beak dropped open in shock.
“Alright. Let's go.”