A Strand

[A Strand of the Dreaming Great Devil]

Ominous black letters.

What…?

‘That’s the Great Devil?’

What’s with “a strand”?

I get that it’s a part.

But that’s just…

…Never mind.

I shook my head.

“….”

I look at the giant eyeball staring down at me.

[A Strand of the Dreaming Great Devil]

What an absurd thing.

If it’s “a strand,” does that mean there are two strands, three strands? How big is the main body?

The Great Devil, considered a boss monster just below the final boss level.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I could catch even a strand of that Great Devil. I want to fight it, but right now, I don’t see a clear path to victory.

It’s not that I can’t win.

I haven’t confirmed my current maximum power since the duel with Hongyeom.

Until I use the 100 points of Mana again, I can’t estimate how much power I can exert, so I can’t discuss victory or defeat.

It feels like it’s within reach, but I can’t see ahead.

Clang.

Handcuffs.

Should I just unlock them?

‘No.’

Let’s leave them on.

I don’t want to go back on a decision I’ve already made.

It would be easier to reverse it, and I’d get used to that ease.

Laziness is my main enemy.

More than that, it’s this thing right now.

Can a fight even be established against that size?

Even at the minimum, it doesn’t seem possible without firepower equivalent to an A-class Awakened Ability.

But it’s not like I’ve never fought something that big before, right?

It’s bigger than the Elder Treant, but if I fight like I did with the Elder Treant, a victory pattern will emerge on its own.

Tendrils poured down.

I drew the Black Sword.

Levitating Black Sword.

The black trajectory protected her like a shield.

I cut the flying tendrils and pulled out additional chains from the Inventory, wrapping them around Nanos’s body and lifting her with Electrical Ability.

Tendrils.

Cut.

Many.

I took out more levitating swords.

Took out.

And took out.

Nine swords.

Simultaneously,

Slash × 9

Nine Slashes strike at once, cutting down dozens of incoming tendrils.

After cutting, Phantom Sword.

The Phantom Sword flew and was shattered by a tendril. Ugh.

Did I lose to a tendril?

The Phantom Sword was swept away powerlessly.

“Tsk.”

Cutting the tendrils with the levitating Black Sword and levitating swords, I retreated from the giant tendril for now.

I didn’t have a sense of how to fight it yet, but it wasn’t an opponent I could fight while carrying baggage.

I went to Lilietta’s location, which was being transmitted through the bronze hand,

And sensed Lilietta’s presence in a House.

I slashed upwards at the House with the Black Sword, blowing it away, and there was Lilietta, sound asleep inside.

The House that had swallowed Lilietta, who had been sent flying by Nanos’s tendril attack, was shattered, but it had been evacuating Lilietta from House to House.

“Saying you’d kill her.”

“….”

Nanos was limp, wrapped in chains.

It seems she’s exhausted from summoning that giant tendril.

The source of her power seems to be that giant tendril.

Succubus Queen Nanos

Crimson letters.

Nanos’s information window turned crimson.

I wrapped Lilietta in chains as well and fled from the scene.

This isn’t running away.

It’s a strategic retreat!

“….”

I looked back at the giant tendril.

I thought the tendrils had stopped coming at some point,

Crescent Moon

[A Strand of the Dreaming Great Devil]

The giant eyeball turned towards Crescent Moon, and tens of thousands of tendrils wrapped around Crescent Moon.

Crescent Moon resists with a terrified expression, but can’t shake them off.

“….”

The surreal sight makes my mind feel faint.

Looking at the giant tendril, I feel a strange sense of distance where I can almost see victory or defeat.

I can’t be sure I’ll win, but it doesn’t feel like I’ll lose either, so I continued my regrettable retreat.

I escaped the alley.

Leaving the winding alley, I came to a street with right angles.

The night street received the ordinary moonlight, and the atmosphere settled down quietly.

I had escaped the alley mixed with dreams.

The events in the alley, where it was shattering and even swallowing the moon, felt like something from another world, and even though it was so noisy, not a single person woke up.

I looked back.

Winding.

The alley was wriggling as if it were alive, with dreams and reality overlapping.

Cappuccino asks.

“What was that?”

Cappuccino is held in my handcuffed hands.

I brought Cappuccino with me on the way out.

She was imitating Americano’s swordsmanship and winning against the Succubus and Hero.

Americano appeared and escaped the alley with Cappuccino.

When I put her down, she couldn’t contain her excitement and shouted.

“A monster ate the moon!”

“Great Devil.”

“Great Devil?!”

“It’s said to be a strand of it. It’s a jumble of delusions with dreams and reality overlapping, but its size was ridiculously large.”

The thickness itself was the size of several buildings combined, but what was even more impressive was its length.

The giant tendril that sprang from the hole pulled out a strand that was dozens of times longer than the diameter of the hole.

It was narrower than the Elder Treant in width but much taller in height, and frankly, just looking at it at a glance, it was much bigger than the Elder Treant.

“Can you win?”

“Huh?”

Cappuccino asked anxiously.

“If that’s really the Great Devil, it must be a part of the Great Devil that the Dream Demons worship.”

“Well, I guess so. No, is that what it is?”

“I’m a kind of Dream Demon too. I can tell by looking. That tendril is that alley.”

The alley was still wriggling.

“It’s dyeing that alley with dreams. If you can deal with it, the anomaly in the alley will disappear, but if you keep neglecting it, maybe…”

“Maybe?”

“It’ll spread?”

No sooner had she finished speaking than,

Zzzzzzz.

A sound of something twisting.

Looking at the place where the sound came from, the entrance of the alley began to bend.

“Whoa.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Catch it, of course.”

“In that state?”

Cappuccino pointed to the handcuffs on Americano’s wrists.

“Even if it’s just a part, it’s the Great Devil. I know the Succubus gave you a handicap because they’re weak, but from my perspective, it’s a crisis for the world.”

So, she glares with scary and fearful eyes, telling me not to joke around and be serious.

“…Okay.”

“If you understand, give me a hug.”

“….”

“Sit down.”

When I knelt down, Cappuccino rushed over and hugged me tightly, pressing her chest against me.

“Mmm… I’m being healed.”

“….”

Someone told me not to joke around.

But there was sincerity in her words.

It really feels like I’m being healed, so I stroked her head to soothe her anxiety.

Zzzzzzz.

It’s spreading.

“Then let’s call the others too. It’s more certain than facing it alone, right?”

“Yeah. As soon as possible. Show me the spirit to beat them up and wake them up even if they’re asleep.”

“That’s a bit much.”

Anyway,

First Home Clan.

The Awakened Abilities of the Hunter Hero are specialized for large monsters.

I sent a text to Chris.

In case she’s awake?

I sent it thinking that, and a reply came back.

I explained the current situation.

<Chris>

[There too?]

There too?

<Me>

[What do you mean, there too?]

<Chris>

[I came out with the Clan members to camp outside.]

[But a Death Knight appeared, so it’s an emergency.]

[Death Knight].

I could guess why that guy came.

‘It must be because of me.’

<Me>

[Can you catch it?]

<Chris>

[It’s a bit difficult because I have to control my power, but]

[Don’t worry!]

[If I was alone, maybe, but the members are all here, so the Death Knight is doomed. We’ve already caught it several times in party climbs.]

[I’m more worried about you.]

<Me>

[Don’t worry about me either.]

[I’ll try to catch it alone first, and if I can’t, let’s catch it together in the morning.]

<Chris>

[Okay!]

When I closed the window, another message came.

<Chris>

[But are you going to be okay?]

<Me>

[What?]

<Chris>

[You could die.]

<Me>

[So what?]

If I die, I die.

<Chris>

[Haven’t you heard the rumors?]

[No, it’s almost proven,]

[The more you die, the more your body becomes like a real body. The number of people experiencing physiological phenomena is increasing, so everyone is not climbing the Tower and being careful.]

<Me>

[….]

I knew that.

But I don’t know.

There is a risk of experiencing female physiological phenomena because it is a female Avatar.

But in the end, when I return to reality, I will return to my original state, so it doesn’t matter how many times I die.

Experiencing being a woman as a man is also a little interesting.

I was worried about my dignity as a man, but,

Either way, I didn’t intend to die easily in the first place.

Besides,

‘It seems like I die less when I rush in to die.’

I came to a conclusion based on the experience I have accumulated so far.

So far, death has occurred almost when I didn’t fight with the determination to die.

The only time I died even with determination was when I faced Witch Win. Even then, I froze to death from the aftermath of the Cold Energy, and I wouldn’t have been able to kill the Witch if I hadn’t been prepared.

Considering these and other cases, hesitating because of the risk of death is a loss.

…I came to that conclusion.

<Chris>

[You didn’t know.]

[Besides, there’s also this rumor going around.]

<Me>

[What rumor?]

<Chris>

[If the Synchronization Rate reaches 100 percent, you become a member of the game world.]

[You can really die like an NPC.]

[Haven’t you heard?]

I haven’t heard that.

<Chris>

[Of course, it’s just a rumor, but considering the situation, I think it’s necessary to be careful.]

[Especially since you use your body too recklessly, I’m worried.]

<Me>

[Even if it looks like that, I haven’t died that many times.]

<Chris>

[How many times have you died?]

[20?]

How many times have I died?

I counted on my fingers.

One, two, three, four.

<Me>

[5 times.]

[1 time was when I died in the Match.]

Witch, Witch, Spider, Landlord, Hongyeom.

Huh? The Witch came up twice.

“Oh? I died to Win twice?”

“What?”

“The Hero might really die and become a real body if they die too many times. I’m newly counting, so I died 5 times, and 2 of them were to Win.”

“Amel.”

“Why?”

“Win is gloating.”

“She deserves to gloat.”

I turned my gaze back to the text.

<Chris>

[You’ve only died four times?]

[Then that means you cleared almost all of those strategy videos on your first try?]

<Me>

[Are you in awe of my genius?]

<Chris>

[You’re really amazing.]

Haha.

Anyway.

This side is this side.

That side is that side.

It was difficult to join them at night because there was an enemy to face.

“Hoo…”

“What did she say?”

“She said a Death Knight came outside, so she can’t come.”

“Death Knight. Why is that guy stalking?”

“How would I know?”

I shrugged.

“Anyway, I’ll try challenging it once at night, and if I can catch it, I’ll bring it.”

“Be careful. You know, right? I think you know what I know.”

“What?”

“You know. The possibility that the game might have become reality. They say they even found a smartphone that was lost in reality in the Dungeon.”

“….”

That was a bit of an old story.

I was too deaf to hear it, so I had forgotten.

Cappuccino’s words contained worry.

Cappuccino, who came to exist as an independent ego rather than a self-awareness replica due to humanization, clearly recognized the world in the game as her own world.

Until before humanization, she had been unknowingly influenced by Americano’s, the gamer’s unique nonchalance,

But not now.

She understood the seriousness of the problem not as a game but as reality.

“What are you trying to say?”

“What if the Great Devil affects your reality and kills you?”

“What nonsense.”

“I know it’s a sudden thing to say, but there’s the smartphone. There’s a slight possibility that it could happen, so don’t let your guard down. I might cry a lot if you die.”

“….”

Americano unknowingly stroked Cappuccino’s head.

She ruffled her green hair.

“It hurts.”

“….”

I stroked it gently.

Anyway.

“Then I’ll leave them to you.”

“Be careful.”

I left the Succubus to Cappuccino and returned to the alley.