Ancient Dream Demon

Dream Demon.

Dream.

Cappuccino.

Americano summoned [Pet House].

She took out Cappuccino and placed him next to Nabi.

Nabi fell fast asleep, comforted by the [Heal]. Cappuccino, placed beside her as she slept, asked,

‘I heard that only divine power works against Ancient Devils?’

“Just try to run away well when that happens.”

Americano didn’t expect Cappuccino to be harmed at all.

‘This isn’t what I wanted.’

Still, he did as he was told.

Cappuccino leaped onto Nabi’s forehead.

The Dream Frog gently placed its body down and initiated mental magic.

Cappuccino infiltrated Nabi’s dream.

Entering Nabi’s dream as Americano, Cappuccino floated in a zero-gravity space before gradually feeling gravity and meeting the floor.

Bricks seeped out of the floor.

Bricks also emerged from the walls in the air.

On another wall, a windowless railing appeared.

Beyond the railing was a garden.

In the square garden, only one apple tree grew.

Nabi had begun to dream.

Cappuccino’s magic made her dream.

He could even penetrate the subject’s mind, but he didn’t go that far this time. The Dream Frog had penetrated that far to gain self-awareness.

But he didn’t want to mix with Nabi’s self-awareness.

So, because he was only making her dream, he couldn’t know the content or meaning of the dream.

“Where is this?”

Where’s Nabi?

Cappuccino stood in the corridor of a medieval castle.

What was Nabi dreaming about here?

He wandered around, looking for Nabi.

As the name suggests, the Dream Frog possessed the power to make people dream, and the dream became clearer with the Dream Frog’s intervention.

If he could read memories, that is.

There was nothing he couldn’t do if he took the risk of mixing with self-awareness.

But he really didn’t want to do that.

Americano herself would have tried it coolly, but Cappuccino was a Dream Frog. He was easily influenced by self-awareness.

Originally, he should have entered Nabi’s ordinary dream. A hazy dream that constantly changed shape.

But this dream world was strangely clear.

Based on his memories as a Dream Frog, he tried to deduce the current situation, but,

“Hmm…”

He didn’t know.

He had never experienced anything like this before.

Was it because she was a mage?

That wasn’t it.

He had made mages dream before, but they ended up realizing too much, creating a bizarre world.

But Nabi’s dream was quiet.

So quiet that it was eerily silent.

But it was still strange.

He felt a sense of longing.

A sense of déjà vu.

Not a sense of unease?

Regardless of Americano’s self-awareness, the source of this longing was coming from the Dream Frog.

Creak.

He heard a sound.

He went straight to it.

The sound came from a door.

Before opening the door, he pricked up his ears and went inside, where someone was lying sound asleep in bed.

Was it Nabi?

Wrong.

It was someone else.

Who was it?

A bearded man was asleep.

“….”

He was sleeping in a dream.

‘Really’ sleeping.

He was already in a dream.

It was strange.

Then the door creaked open.

“What are you doing here?”

“..!”

He was startled and turned around.

Americano’s bare-handed combat.

There were no Skills, but it was roughly Heavenly Destruction Fist.

But the opponent was a maid.

She was a maid in an outfit closer to traditional than subculture, and she had horns on her head.

A horned woman was wearing a maid outfit.

The sight of the deflated woman made his fist unclench for a moment.

The horned maid looked Cappuccino up and down, then shouted as if she had realized something.

“So it’s you!”

“…?”

“I heard a new recruit was coming! You must be lost? This castle is very large!”

The horned maid gestured to Cappuccino.

He was wary, but followed the horned maid out of the room.

The corridor, which had been empty until just now.

Now, countless people were walking around.

Everyone was wearing a maid outfit.

Maids in similar outfits were busily moving along the corridor.

Surprised by the changes in the dream, which he had never seen before, he thought, ‘What is Nabi’s dream?’ and realized that the premise was wrong.

The Ancient Devil Hite had said that Nabi was possessed by an Ancient Nightmare.

Ancient Nightmare.

Dream Demon.

Dream.

This horned maid was an Ancient Nightmare.

Those maids were all Ancient Nightmares.

They all seemed to be from different races, but the Dream Frog’s instinct could intuitively feel that their roots were all the same.

The horned Ancient Nightmare pushed Cappuccino’s back.

“I was so excited to see a new recruit after so long.”

“….”

“But I can’t forgive anyone who abandons such a precious new recruit anywhere. I’ll have to say something very harsh.”

“….”

Cappuccino was walking quickly down the corridor.

He could peek into the rooms through the slightly open doorways. In each room, people were sleeping as if they were dead.

Each room had different people.

And his instinct told him.

This was a world inside a dream, but those people were all ‘real’ people who were dreaming.

They weren’t illusions created by the dream, but real humans whose memories could be read and whose dreams could be intervened in if one was determined to do so.

Nabi was not an imaginary human created through dreams.

Strange.

Dangerous.

A strong sense of crisis ran up his spine, telling him that he had stepped on the wrong foot.

It seemed like he hadn’t been caught yet, and he could wake up from the dream at any time if he tried to, based on his senses.

Even if he was suppressed and couldn’t wake up, Americano in reality could wake him up at any time.

The risk was close to zero.

Even if he was caught and attacked, it would be fine.

Just because they were Ancient Nightmares didn’t mean they were strong.

They were only difficult because only divine power worked on them.

He hadn’t interfered with the dream, but based on the senses connected to the dream, he watched the maids and was able to confidently say that he could beat them all.

As the risk faded, a strong curiosity was triggered to investigate this bizarre space further.

“Hey!”

The horned maid kicked a certain room open with her foot.

That room was different from the rooms where people were sleeping.

It was like a room where people were sleeping, but it was a little different.

No, it was very different.

Beds were gathered together in a large room.

The beds, aligned in rows and columns without partitions, stretched out. Those who used the beds were maids. The maids went back and forth between the beds.

Maid 1 woke up and got out of bed, and a new Maid 2 lay down on the bed to sleep, and immediately got up again in a matter of seconds. Maid 3 followed after her.

He didn’t know what kind of recycling it was.

He could guess as much as he didn’t want to know.

‘What kind of hard labor is that?’

Anyway, the horned maid kicked the room open roughly, and a maid wearing glasses responded.

“Can’t you manage the new recruits properly?!”

“I told you not to kick with your foot so dangerously?!”

She was a maid who managed the maids, and she had an imposing presence.

She possessed that much power in a practical sense, not just the atmosphere that came from her impression.

“More than that, what about the new recruit?”

“The new recruit got lost and wandered all the way to my workplace!”

“….”

The glasses maid looked at Cappuccino.

Cappuccino glared as if to say, ‘What? Are you going to catch me because I’m not an Ancient Nightmare?’

His body tensed up, planning to cause a ruckus if he was caught.

The glasses maid’s eyes sparkled at that moment.

She handed a list to a secretary-like maid next to her without saying a word.

“What’s your race?”

“…Race?”

“Yes, race.”

It was strange that she suddenly asked about his race.

He thought she would ask for his name first?

“Why do you need to know that?”

“I need to know where you came from to decide how to treat you. It seems like you came here because our kids touched a human they were putting to sleep, but we’re always hoping for a visit from someone like you.”

….

…His head was spinning.

It was very different from what he had expected.

“So you recognized that I’m different from you guys?”

“Of course. Do you think this stupid kid and I look like we’re on the same level?”

No.

They were on different levels.

The horned maid had stronger power than the other maids, but that was it.

The glasses maid had a much stronger influence on dreams.

“I think you must have been very surprised by the sudden appearance of this space. Usually, they rampage and break things. But you’re smart, aren’t you?”

“….”

“We welcome cooperative friends. But it’s a shame that you’re so wary. But I guess that can’t be helped. So, I’ll explain it to you step by step. If you have any questions before I explain, tell me.”

“….”

He was dazed by the very unexpected reaction and situation.

A desired talent.

A cooperative talent.

The glasses maid welcomed Cappuccino’s cooperative attitude.

“Where is this?”

“A dream. To be specific, it’s a dream within a dream that is created when all dreams come together. We call this world the Dream World.”

The Dream World was a world created by Dream Demons by gathering people’s dreams.

Dream Demons, who could only exist if people dreamed, connected people’s dreams together to create their own world.

This was the first time that Dream Demons, who had to move around like migratory birds every day, had a settlement from the beginning.

But the Dream World was also just a dream in the end, so if all the people the Dream Demons had captured stopped dreaming, the Dream World could not survive.

So, they needed more people’s dreams, and they needed dreams that wouldn’t go out.

“So that’s why you need me.”

“That’s right. If you, who have a body in the real world while going back and forth between reality and dreams, cooperate, our world will become much more prosperous than it is now.”

“What are you talking about?”

The horned maid tilted her head, as if she didn’t understand.

But the glasses maid ignored her words.

“How about it?”

“Not really.”

“Just tell me. We’re the ones who are in need, so we can grant you almost anything you want. Should I give you the humans who are sleeping now as your share? Or should I attach Dream Demons to you so that you can use them as your limbs? I have the authority to use up to 10 people as I please.”

“….”

“You must have a lot on your mind. You don’t have to decide right now. You know about the existence of our world, so come back later and give me your answer then.”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course. What can we do to touch the existence of reality?”

Cappuccino still didn’t let his guard down. It was too friendly to let his guard down.

And soon.

Cappuccino disappeared like a dream.

“….”

“….”

The glasses maid adjusted her glasses.

The horned maid asked dissatisfiedly.

“Is it okay to send him away? If he’s an outsider, it’s a good opportunity to expand the factory.”

“If you want to catch big game, you need to prepare accordingly. Rather, you should think of it as a stroke of luck that you survived thanks to his gentleness.”

“You were scared? Ack..!”

The glasses maid’s fist hit the horned maid’s head.

“Yes, I was scared. If he had rampaged, the entire castle would have collapsed. Our world was in danger of losing 1/10th of its size, so wouldn’t I be scared?”

“Was he that strong?”

“When you mistook him for a new recruit and brought him here, I thought my heart was going to stop.”

The glasses maid sighed.

The intruder was hiding his identity and trying not to interfere with the dream as much as possible.

Even so, the sticky feeling that the dream was trying to cling to him gave an idea of the intruder’s ability to dream.

“Even the Succubus Queen wasn’t that strong.”

An existence from reality that seemed to be specialized only in dreams.

It would be quite a struggle to catch him.