The Villain has Perished



Cough—! 

I doubled over trying to force the water out that had entered my windpipe.

Cough—! Cough—!

As I took deep breaths, I found myself submerged underwater. I hurriedly tried to reach the shore while holding my breath. 

I continued to swim.

Yet, the sea wasn't ending. 

Slowly, my consciousness started blurring and I gasped for breath unknowingly.

But strangely enough, I was able to breathe.

The initial panic died down, allowing me to assess the situation calmly.

'...I'm in a Dream World.'

My last memory was of losing consciousness in a corridor beside Faena. I wasn't able to find Dream Tree nor was I able to stop it from blooming.

Unconsciously, I clenched my fists. 

'No, let's not get too hasty.'

It was unknown why the Dragon Kings awakened so early. However, this wasn't the time to search for answers. 

The Dream Creatures would be coming anytime soon.

'Summon Spooky Treant'

The treant appeared in the water. It was swimming using its vines. 

A few seconds later, I understood that the treant was capable of movement underwater.

'I'll use Jae-sung's mana recovery potions from his inventory and summon as many treants as possible. They are my strongest summon at this moment.'

Currently, I have nothing but my clothes on me. I willed for Crown and Gylothyn.

Swish—!

Craaack—!

A small portal formed above my head while a crack appeared in the space before me. The crown fell from the portal and the sword flew out of the crack.

I swam through the water while summoning treants continuously, my nerves tensed. 

The situation wasn't anything good. Rather, it could be called hopeless. The Dream Tree had long bloomed. 

Not to mention, it seems that Illusive Dragon King was invading with proper preparations, judging how I couldn't find the Dream Tree.

'It was a strange dream world.'

It didn't take long to scout my current dream world.

The 'sea' wasn't infinite. Although I couldn't reach its vertical ends, the horizontal ends were well within my range.

Upon closer look, I realized I was inside some kind of enormous glass capsule filled with an unknown liquid.

I looked around. There must be a dream core nearby that I would need to protect at any cost as it was my lifeline…

'It's that, isn't it? Other than me, that is the only thing inside this world.'

A gigantic baby, over 10 meters tall, was sleeping in a fetal position while a cord connected to its navel was going towards the top of the capsule.

The number of Treants was now over 20 but my hope of coming out of the situation alive was only dwindling further. 

'When the dream creatures attack, I need to fight while protecting the baby – and search for a way out of this world at the same time.'

The appearance of a dream world wasn't random. It depends on the ones who are inside the world.

I hadn't found Faena till now, meaning this was a dream world made for me but I didn't understand the significance of my surroundings.

However, before I could think further a sudden intense headache attacked me.

…

..

.

Faena clutched her forehead while floating inside the strange underwater world. Far above her, she could see a silhouette of a human baby.

The headache disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. However, Faena's expression was anything but good.

"Dream… world…?"

Her head was filled with information about the Dream Tree, its functions, and — the one who created this spell, the Illusive Dragon King.

It was a condition of activating the spell. 

Faena muttered the important bits of information.

"This is one of the dream worlds formed by Dream Tree."

"I need to fight against dream creatures who will appear in waves to escape this dream world."

There were two problems…

"It didn't specify the number of waves and—"

Bam!

An acute pain surged from her abdomen as her body suddenly ricocheted through the water.

The sea collapsed into itself, forming a budding vortex. Six strange creatures were thrown out of the vortex. They stood beside the one who had hit Faena earlier.

They were transparent except for the subtle white glow covering them. 

Four limbs, a tail, two small wings, and a long snot with jagged teeth, they seemed like hybrids between wyverns and humans – judging from the white outlines at least.

Faena swiftly stopped herself from spinning and spread her right palm downwards.

Green hue spewed out from her palm in great amounts along with dried wood, forming a platform below her feet.

[ Life Magic (D) + Wood Manipulation (D+) = Boosted Healing Wood (D+) ]

The platform healed Faena's injuries. 

At the same time, the seven figures dashed towards her, their arms transforming into gruesome spears. 

Faena clasped her palms and a massive magic circle appeared above her, followed by a giant red ball forming on the magic circle.

Sizzzle—!

The orb of fire was disappearing as the sea tried to douse it, forcing Faena to burn her mana reserves unrestrainedly. 

Faena wasn't a mage but a spirit mage. She fought using spirits. 

Her spirits didn't enter the dream world, causing her to depend on her pure magic skills.

Nevertheless, she wasn't the Priestess of the Elven village without reason.

The orb of fire crashed onto the wooden platform just as Faena jumped away to dodge the dream creatures.

Set on fire, the wooden platform started spinning furiously and attacked her enemies.

[ Boosted Healing Wood (D+) + Infernus Fall (D) = Ifrit Flaming Chakarm (D+++) ]

With every (+) the power of a skill or magic spell increases by a minimum of 1.5 times. A (+++) signified an increase of 4.5 times output from the base attack. 

Faena's attack was strong enough to melt steel just by passing next to it and it hit the dream creatures head-on.

Yet, the creatures didn't die and instead multiplied, now numbering 14. They also grew in size, having absorbed mana from Faena's last attack.

The rules of the dream world had told her. But Faena refused to believe it, at least until now.

The 2nd problem…

"Every dream creature will be stronger than the opponent they are fighting against."

In such a dire situation, giving up seemed to be the only way left.