8. Alive, barely.

Nich was standing in the familiar, vast expanse of the Nothingness, once again, and the surreal scenery that surrounded him was here again.

Nich was standing in front of the incomprehensibly vast castle again, but there was a subtle difference this time.

Usually when he stood in his dream, he would be far away from the castle, where he would sit, contemplate life decisions and make new theories for the novels that he read.

But today, he was closer to the castle than ever before.

The closeness of the distance... Was not measurable, as in his dream the plain of darkness is infinitely vast.

And time was also not reliable, because whenever he tried to focus on how long has passed, his mind would wonder off to different thoughts.

Now, the distance between him and the castle seemed lesser, as if the castle was moving close to him... Or was he moving close to the castle?

'Everything moves here!'

How can he deduce the direction and location if nothing around him remained stationary?

Nich was still very relaxed, despite the fact that there could be an evil spirit lurking about, waiting to take over his soul.

'What am i thinking?'

Nich shook his head, not wanting to think about the unknown.

Not like he was scared.

Nich carefully took a few steps back, while having his gaze fixiated at the illuminating castle, then sat in the nothingness.

'Hmm.'

Nich thought for a while.

'Hmm.'

Nich decided what to think to about.

Today, was rather strange and eventful, so much has happened and so much is about to happen, he felt that he could keep contemplating everything till the brink of dawn.

So the most important issues to be pondered were, first of all why was he able to move faster than a flying knife, second, why was he able to sent the criminal flying in one punch, and third would be why was he able to see in the darkness without any light.

His hearing was also improved, not to mention his appearance seems to be improving as well.

'Am i a superhero?'

Nich hesitated, then lifted his hand, pointed in a random direction, then bent his wrist downward.

Nothing happened.

"..."

Yeah right, i was just sore in my wrist because of that punch.

Ignoring the fact that people could not be sore in their dreams, and also the fact that he punched from his other arm earlier, Nich arrived at another conclusion.

'Must be related to this dream.'

That conclusion was the most obvious one, everything began changing when he first had this dream.

"Then what should i do?"

Nich asked to no one, not expecting a reply.

'...'

After a while, he got up and looked towards the castle, which was as inviting as ever.

All his answers might be behind those doors, and maybe he doesn't have to wonder this much about it.

'It's just a dream... What's the worse that could happen?'

He, unknowingly raised a flag.

Nich walked towards the vast castle, then soon reached it.

He was glad that the doors of the castle were open, he doubted he had enough strength to open them.

The gates of the castle were just as grandiose and humongous as the rest of the castle, the strange intricate patterns were present all over the gate, and beneath them a blue soft light escaped from it's depths.

On the other side of the gate, there was nothing he could see, or maybe nothing he could comprehend from here.

Nich took a deep breath, fuled his resolve, then stepped in the gateway that lead to unknown.

He felt dizzy for a moment.

Inside the castle there was a strange silence, and the atmosphere was tranquil and peaceful, more peaceful than the scenery that was presented outsid.

The walls of the castle, from inside, were made up of beautiful white marbel, their shape being perfectly in sync with each other.

On the walls, there were lanterns that illuminated the Inerexpanse of the castle.

And well, the sheer scale of the hallway was unimaginably large.

Nich walked forward, this time since there was solid ground beneath his feet, he could hear his footsteps.

*thump* *thump*

There were rooms in the castle, and these rooms seemed like they were built for humans of normal size , but every room was exact copy of the room before him, he even thought that maybe he was not walking, but looking back he could see the vast doors were long left behind.

Which made him shudder a little.

Nich walked for what felt to him like hours and then arrived at another door, this one being in the center, as if the end of the end of the castle.

This door, fortunately was not huge, it was just the right for him to enter.

Nich pushed the door open.

*creak*

The door made an creaking sound, and when it was completely exposed the depths of it were revealed, making Nich take a step back.

There was nothing but darkness in the expanse of the gate, darkness that seemed to flow through the gate and inside the castle, as if wanting to devour everything in existence.

"What the—"

Before Nich could take a step back, or even curse he was already sucked into the abyssal expanse, devoured by the void.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—"

Nich was falling, He just knew he was.

Even though the darkness of the void made it indescribable to decide where he was, he was still sure that he was falling.

The darkness continued for a few more minutes, before he saw something in the distance.

There was an ocean, a vast ocean that seemed to dwarf everything, even the huge castle he had seen.

Nich was slightly relived, this dream felt true real to be a dream, he could now actually feel sensations of his skin as well.

At least he would have a soft place to fall.

Nich froze, remembering a crucial detail.

He did not know how to swim, even if he did there was no land in sight.

He was as good as dead.

And then he realized something else.

In the distance, there was a huge serpent like structure, that set his eyes upon Nich as soon as he entered the serpent's field of vision.

It's colossal body moved, and opened it's gaint maw, in the direction of Nich, while it's sharp fangs were revealed in full their full glory.

Nich's mind went blank, it seemed like there was someone wanting him to be dead.

He could do nothing but approach the gaint serpent, there was basically no escape.

'I... I... '

Nich was...

Infuriated.

'Damn you!'

At that moment, his body began turning cold, and then there were visible frost on his fists, the air around him trembled slightly, then he clenched his fist.

Nich was falling in the direction of one of the serpent's fang.

*boom*

Nich hit the serpent's fang, as hard as he could, he even felt that the bones of his arms shattered, but he dismissed the thought.

The serpent, with it's maw still open and welcoming, was carefree.

*creak*

Then there was a creaking noise, and then, frost appeared on the body of the serpent, freezing it.

*pant*

Nich lay in silence, gasping for air, then a message appeared in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations, host]

[Host has successfully cleared the Trial By Elemental]