551
[Chapter 149]
[Belphegor (3)]
Dreams are the imaginary world.
Because dreams are a world reflecting the unconscious of the dreamer.
No matter how desperately you try to hide it, dreams don't lie.
Even if the unconscious doesn't realize it.
What the dreamer thinks remains in some form in the dream.
Even if it seems to have no meaning, even the tiniest, most trivial thing.
Everything that exists in a dream has some meaning.
So if you can interpret it─
─You can see through that person's mind, and furthermore even dominate it.
The demon containing over a hundred souls made over a hundred dreams his own.
So he thought he was truly the ruler of dreams.
Therefore, the demon who entered the young man's imaginary world was certain of victory.
Was certain.
"Is this... that guy's world?"
The demon, Belphegor muttered standing blankly.
A voice that seemed to have lost certainty.
It was such a desolate world that he wanted to ask someone.
"Hah, really..."
A pitch black sky.
A world that seems to have no beginning or end, endlessly spread out.
No, darkness.
Perhaps, emptiness.
"Just what kind of life has he lived..."
The demon was naturally curious.
The vast spread out world represents the dreamer's ambitions or aspirations.
The meaning of darkness is twofold.
One is worry and expectation for an unknown future.
Darkness could be said to be a world not yet created.
A blank space that can be filled in depending on the dreamer's mindset.
On the other hand, the other meaning is─
─Endless despair...
Belphegor fell silent.
Darkness is despair.
The sky being pitch black meant the dreamer had experienced despair enough to make the world collapse.
"...A strange world."
Belphegor looked around and evaluated it like that.
A truly strange world.
Despite experiencing terrible despair, he still holds hope for the future.
It was impossible.
If he experienced this much despair, it wouldn't be strange if he had already given up on life.
Nevertheless, he's holding onto life.
Just what kind of mental state do you have to maintain to be like this?
With an incredulous heart,
And on the other hand an awe-inspired heart,
Belphegor moved his steps.
He's only arrived at the entrance.
If he keeps walking like this, something else will appear.
Sure enough,
"...Is it blood?"
As he kept walking,
Something was flowing down from up ahead.
A red stream.
Belphegor immediately realized it was blood.
He walked following the direction the blood was flowing down in winding streams.
Seems he's been through a lot.
What blood means is effort and sacrifice.
The fact that it formed like a river stream revealed the dreamer's life.
"..."
Eventually he discovered something in a world with only darkness and blood.
A clue to interpret the dream.
It was corpses.
"What is this..."
Starting with the first corpse discovered, corpses kept appearing.
The miserable state of the corpses varied.
But generally what corpses mean is─
─Lingering attachment?
Lingering attachment and regret for life.
Belphegor frowned.
Just what kind of life did he live.
To create such an unsettling world.
...What are those two?
Then he discovered two corpses leaning on each other's shoulders.
A woman with silver-white hair and,
A woman with a benevolent expression.
They were women who made you think they were sleeping rather than dead.
It seemed like they would open their eyes at any moment.
"─Found it."
Belphegor grinned.
Beings or values precious to the dreamer.
In other words, the moment you remove them you can collapse the world maintaining a precarious balance.
Moreover─
─Is that your wish?
Beyond the women's shoulders,
A faintly visible light.
Noisy sounds could be heard coming from there.
The dreamer's purpose.
The purpose for living life.
In other words, if you just destroy that, the dreamer's self will collapse and fall to become your puppet.
Of course, before that─
"─I have to take you down first."
Belphegor turned his head towards the direction killing intent had been flying from for a while.
─Don't touch them.
There was a human figure there.
The dreamer's self.
The master of the imaginary world.
Gift <Berserk >
A man who looked somewhat older than the dreamer.
Eyes sunken endlessly.
A sword stained with blood and,
Armor that lost half its function.
The man rushed at Belphegor while scattering killing intent.
☆
I shouldn't be the one to say this but...
You're quite different on the inside and outside.
Belphegor faced the man.
The man rushing at him was too reckless.
Mana Crasher
If the man he faced in reality seemed to calmly observe the situation,
The man he met in the dream was just entrusting his body to instinct.
An extremely barbaric fighting style.
But he couldn't ignore it.
"...Kuk...!"
The man is getting stronger and stronger.
Because he was the master of this world,
The man was pouring out attacks without being constrained by internal mana.
Each strike was heavy.
Eventually─
"─Kuhek...!!"
Belphegor couldn't help but open his eyes wide.
The man's sword cut the mountain goat's arm, then fired a gun through the gap.
Invisible Tracker
Revolver Shot
The bullet became a giant thorn,
And pierced Belphegor's abdomen.
Damn it...
Unexpected.
Belphegor clicked his tongue while restoring his abdomen that had been pierced through the middle.
The man's movements became faster than before.
Boom!
You can't help but say he's crazy.
The giant with mountain goat horns swung its fist violently.
The man rushed towards the fist without any sign of avoiding it.
As if not fearing death─
─Single Point Breakthrough
He lowers his body towards the flying fist and digs underneath.
Even when Belphegor intercepted with magic, the man was charging forward taking the magic head on while leading with his crude sword.
Ignorant, barbaric, and violent.
Just what kind of guy are you? To gamble with your own life...!
Belphegor was flustered time and time again.
But the situation soon flowed in his favor.
...!
The man was the master of the imaginary world.
No matter how barbaric, the man had a duty to protect this world.
So when Belphegor suddenly launched magic at the woman maintaining a perfect state,
The man sharply changed direction and left to protect them.
And was directly hit by the magic as is.
"You're really annoying. To show such power even in a dream..."
Belphegor clicked his tongue.
While smiling.
Because the giant surrounding him finally caught the man.
...Kuk...!
The man caught in the giant's arm.
The man struggled desperately but it was no use.
Rather, the giant put even more strength into the hand holding the man.
Kuaaaa!!
He's no different from a barbarian.
The man screamed making a sound like a beast.
However─
─Rip!!
The man suddenly bit the giant's hand.
Belphegor who had been cackling at the resistance that couldn't deal any damage soon doubted his eyes.
The man didn't simply bite the giant's hand.
"Crazy bastard..."
He tore off a piece of the giant's flesh.
And intensively applied high-level control techniques there.
A technique that interferes with others' mana.
Strange organisms oozing from the man's body messed up the techniques constituting the giant.
Then the grip holding him loosened.
Invisible Tracker
Heavenly Step
Single Point Breakthrough
Extreme Piercer
Though the man lost the use of one arm due to the previous attack,
As if that was no problem at all, he immediately rushed at Belphegor.
Nevertheless─
"─By entering your dream, you allowed me a weakness."
Grrrr...
As time passed like that,
Belphegor finally won, and the man was ultimately defeated.
Belphegor took the women hostage and restricted the man's movements.
"I'll acknowledge that you're strong."
...
Even with his arms cut off.
Even with his legs torn off.
The man fought without retreating.
And even now with his limbs cut off, the man hadn't lost his fighting spirit.
Sure enough─
"─Are you human?"
The man controlled the fallen sword while lying on the floor.
Belphegor avoided the sword the man threw with magic and stuck out his tongue.
I should get rid of him quickly.
Killing intent that naturally makes you wary.
Belphegor concluded he couldn't waste time like this.
He decided to quickly kill the man and dominate the imaginary world.
To do that, he tried to move the giant to pulverize the man.
Just then─
─Swish
A sound like something huge lifting its eyelid.
Belphegor paused.
He hadn't misheard.
He turned his gaze following the direction the sound came from.
And froze.
...What is that.
One eyeball that appeared from the darkness.
It was looking at him, Belphegor.
What on earth is that...
With just one,
He felt an unknown danger.
"..."
A presence that feels like it's shaving away your soul.
A sensation of your existence becoming infinitely small and disappearing.
But he couldn't turn his eyes away.
Because the red eyeball was looking at him.
Soon the eyeball─
─Grin
Smiled.
Whether it was a simple smile or mockery was unclear.
"...............!!!!!"
Belphegor screamed.
A sensation like his soul was being split.
A realization like he saw something he shouldn't have seen.
At that moment, his body collapsed.
And─
─Chomp
The man who should have had his limbs cut off,
Moved his body with mana and bit his foot.
The collapsing body was torn off too easily.
"...!!"
Eventually even his remaining foot was torn off.
Belphegor fell to the floor.
And the man climbed on top of him.
─Don't... touch them...
The man spoke with difficulty.
With those final words,
As the man's body recovered, Belphegor's body disappeared from the world piece by piece.
☆
He tried to use Violent Venom but,
Belphegor didn't give him any chance at all.
Someone who was hit by Violent Venom once clearly recognized the danger of the magic.
"...Kuk...!"
So Eunha couldn't use Violent Venom on the Slayers.
It was also because they didn't give him time to create Violent Venom as they rushed in without regard for their own bodies.
Damn it...
Meanwhile his internal mana was gradually falling and fatigue was slowly creeping in.
And he didn't miss that moment, interfering with his dream.
Eunha was exposed to mental magic.
"─Huk... huk...!"
It was just a very brief moment.
A time that felt like just an instant.
But Eunha knew well that a time that could be called an instant allowed him many things.
Eunha hurriedly broke Belphegor's mental magic.
"─Pipi pipi!"
"...Yes, thank you."
It was thanks to his Gift activating belatedly, and Fire Chicken awakening his mind through the Pass.
When he came to his senses, he was confronting the Slayers while being protected by Fire Chicken.
Gulp gulp
Though it was just for a very short time,
A barrier of flames was blocking the Slayers' approach.
Eunha immediately drank a potion.
It was close.
He almost had his Gift's effect end and his physical abilities drop due to the backlash.
Meanwhile─
"─Kuaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
"Why is he doing that?" "Pipi?"
Belphegor who had been leisurely watching the situation from behind the Slayers.
He suddenly screamed.
He groans while grabbing his head.
And the Slayers who escaped his control collapsed to the floor like marionettes with cut strings.
"Just what... just what are you...!!"
"..."
It was visible even to the eye.
The mana flowing around Belphegor was extremely unstable.
The giant's form shakes.
Inside it, the demon whose posture has collapsed is crying out in agony.
Did my Gift rebound on Belphegor too?
Belphegor's state was clear.
His existence is collapsing.
He's desperately gathering his scattering power, trying somehow to maintain his existence.
Eunha didn't know why he had fallen into such a state.
He could only guess.
That he who had entered his dream was forcibly ejected to reality due to his Gift, causing an abnormality in his existence.
Anyway─
─This is good for me.
Gulping down another potion,
Eunha called the swords that had fallen to the floor.
Clang
Then he grasped the necklace.
The necklace connecting a ring with a chain.
Whoosh!
The barrier of flames scatters.
The scattered sparks gather to him.
They wrap around his shoulders forming the shape of a cloak.
Thus he wears flames on his shoulders.
"─Now prepare to sleep forever."
Eunha raised the corners of his mouth.
Gift <Unknown >
Gift-bestowing Artifact
<Amplification >
Familiar Transformation
Phoenix Cloak
"..."