Ch.174Beyond the Dream (2)

It was no empty saying that times were changing.

As far as Llewellyn knew, countless events had unfolded in Netel since the moment it became “the time of the game.”

Change had already been urged, and one change inevitably gives birth to countless others.

Llewellyn knew that many more events would unfold in this Netel in the future.

And Lucilla felt the same way.

But their thoughts on the matter were completely different.

Llewellyn was contemplating how he should influence the world with his knowledge, and what he could do.

He felt a sense of responsibility.

The power he possessed, the qualification he had obtained.

Just as his sister had taken care of him diligently, supporting him without a single complaint, he felt a responsibility toward the world.

That was why he remained unbroken despite the world’s malice and all manner of adversities.

He had nearly succumbed to the illusion for a moment, but it was something he could overcome given enough time.

Ortemilia had merely accelerated that process.

So Llewellyn thought to himself that he would become a responsible person like his sister.

However, his sister Lucilla’s thoughts were vastly different.

Lucilla was thinking about what to do in the worst-case scenario.

Though it was only three years, the three years Lucilla spent alone were not of low density.

During those three years, Lucilla had cleared all the main quests and strived to achieve the best results from everything she remembered.

It was a path that was both self-righteous and inconsiderate of others.

She didn’t bother to explain much to others, and she had no hesitation in doing so.

The public tended to dismiss her as a madwoman. And that wasn’t entirely wrong.

She was somewhat of a madwoman. Unless one was mad, they couldn’t care for and look after even their beloved family to such an extent.

The feelings she harbored, the emotions she still held for Yoon Sejin, were nothing short of madness in themselves.

Though they probably weren’t madness from the beginning.

That’s why their thoughts diverged so drastically.

Unlike Llewellyn, Lucilla didn’t feel a sense of responsibility toward the world.

What had been faint since she first possessed the body became even fainter with the possibility of losing her brother forever.

Her ideal, the death of a star, represented that will.

The determination to return even if it meant burning a star and reducing it to dust.

That’s why it was incomparably powerful, a unique skill that no one could replicate or understand.

It was her madness-driven ideal.

Lucilla would do anything for her brother.

Even now, she walked ahead of her brother.

While it was the soldiers’ role to disperse and part the crowd, it was Lucilla’s role to prepare for any potential threats.

A twisted will to immediately deploy her ideal to protect her brother in case of any incident, to sacrifice everything else to protect him.

Only Llewellyn, unaware of such will, was hurrying his steps behind her.

“Are we going to the sewers?”

“Yes. We have to.”

“It’s going to smell. Will you be okay? I could get something for you to cover your mouth… Ah.”

Lucilla flinched mid-sentence. She was recalling the past, and so was Llewellyn.

The siblings were cautious of each other for different reasons.

Lucilla because of the time when Yoon Sejin, still in middle school, had gotten angry at being treated like a child and told her not to treat him like one.

And Yoon Sejin because he felt sorry that his sister was being cautious around him as he recalled that incident.

On one hand, he wanted to act spoiled, but that wasn’t manly.

Ortemilia was observing the cautious siblings intently.

“If thou needest a face covering, here it is.”

A piece of cloth was subtly offered. Llewellyn reluctantly accepted it, noting that Ortemilia’s tabard had been reduced by that much area.

“I’ll use it if I can’t stand it.”

Despite his words, as they entered the sewers, Llewellyn had to wrap the cloth around his face due to nausea.

Perhaps that’s why Lucilla had brought up the mask. Having experienced it firsthand, she knew that the stench of the sewers was unbearable to a homunculus’s enhanced senses.

But Llewellyn couldn’t show it, because Arba was following behind.

She was practically their first recruit. This could be the first step in establishing the city, and he couldn’t afford to leave a bad impression.

Llewellyn, thinking he needed to maintain his “image,” took the lead with the cloth covering his mouth.

The sewers of the city of Arba they encountered were by no means clean, even as a figure of speech, but what was worse were the “residents.”

Monsters that occasionally appeared in places devoid of crowds not consumed by dreams, former assassins, and wanted criminals.

When such beings appeared, Llewellyn didn’t even need to move.

Lucilla, who was leading ahead of Llewellyn, had more experience.

A light jumping sound was followed by the sound of bones breaking.

Mostly the sound of necks and spines snapping, turning humans into mere sacks of meat.

There was no mercy in Lucilla’s hands, and her attacks always struck the most fatal spots.

Daggers that flashed and flew in the darkness failed to hit her and missed, and those that seemed like they would reach her were all seized by her outstretched hand and plunged into their owners’ bodies.

Only those she deemed useful found a place on her waist, back, or side.

Daggers, single-edged swords, axes, and short war darts.

There was even a two-handed hammer; Lucilla blocked the jaws of a giant alligator that appeared around a corner with a knee kick, then smashed down, completely pulverizing its brain and killing it.

As a result, neither Arba nor even Llewellyn had anything to do.

They could only watch as Lucilla disposed of enemies with indiscriminate and cruel hand movements, as if in an auto-hunting game.

Arba’s complexion worsened in real-time as she watched, and the soldiers behind whispered the title “Annihilation” with a gulp.

But that wasn’t Llewellyn’s concern. He was busy observing his surroundings.

‘It’s similar to a dungeon.’

After observation, Llewellyn could find similarities between the sewers and dungeons.

The structure was similar. It resembled the format shown by about 20% of dungeons found mainly in the Old Continent.

Dungeons that typically had “living facilities” and were populated not by numerous enemies but by a few strong ones.

So Llewellyn took the lead when Lucilla reached a blocked path.

Even when his sister called out, “Sejin?” he just nodded and continued walking with Ortemilia’s scent-infused cloth covering his mouth.

Llewellyn’s steps were unhindered, and he was advancing to the deepest part of the sewers ahead of any crowd.

Anyone could tell it was getting deeper. They descended stairs, climbed down ladders, and lowered themselves on thick ropes brought by Arba’s subordinates.

Before they knew it, the murky air was beginning to dissipate.

Instead of the damp and pungent stench characteristic of sewers, a different odor was becoming noticeable.

It was more like the stench of corpses, the smell of death.

There was even a sense of gloom.

In that gloom, Llewellyn thought.

That what awaited Llewellyn below might be some kind of deity.

He didn’t know what connection that deity had with Renia, but perhaps a difficult battle awaited.

But even in the worst case, his sister was there.

Llewellyn trusted his sister. And he trusted her deeply.

It wasn’t a habitual worship, but an insight based on intuition.

Lucilla was stronger when alone, and she shone brighter when the enemy was stronger.

Above all, Llewellyn didn’t think his sister would fail to read his intentions. They had lived together for so long.

So Llewellyn presumed that if he fought alongside Lucilla, they would work better together than with any top-tier companion.

And that was indeed the case. Lucilla had already read what her brother was thinking and quietly moved to stand at Llewellyn’s side.

The sewers ended, and an unfamiliar structure appeared.

It was a place that felt like the entrance to a massive bunker. Strange cyan light burned like circuits on the walls, running along the cracks.

Llewellyn felt that the cyan light was a kind of signpost.

It felt as if it was beckoning to him.

And that wasn’t an illusion. Llewellyn heard the divinity that had seeped into his brain whispering.

That someone was waiting for Llewellyn inside.

‘But who? Renia?’

He frowned as soon as he thought of it and denied it.

‘Renia would be an ordinary human.’

He remembered seeing settings where characters who reached the highest level lived long, but Llewellyn didn’t think they could live “this long” even so.

Even if they lived long, it would be at most 200 years. Living 300 years like Valterok was impossible unless one was a special race like a golem or an elf.

Renia was a pure human.

Then, what was waiting inside?

‘A deity?’

Was it waiting without knowing it would be devoured? Or was it hoping to be devoured? Llewellyn quietly took the lead and excellently guided numerous people to reach the deepest part.

It was a cavity with a structure that spread like a spider web in all directions.

It was natural since it was designed so that one could reach here by walking from anywhere.

And at the same time, it was a familiar place. It was the cavity that Renia had led Llewellyn to when he briefly lost consciousness due to the effects of drugs at the brothel.

What Llewellyn expected to see there was one of three things.

A deity sealed after losing consciousness.

Or Renia.

Or… that eerie and grotesque “structure” made of humans that he had seen at the brothel.

“…What is that?”

As Llewellyn stood still, staring blankly, Lucilla frowned.

Ortemilia muttered vacantly, and Arba and her subordinates who had been following also stopped.

It was something difficult to explain.

It resembled a living being, but it also looked like a mycelium that had grown wildly.

It was even more so because it didn’t move at all, but the difference was that there were traces indicating it had moved at some point.

It had arms and legs.

The legs and arms were bent in a strange structure with many joints, and countless appendages sprouted from the legs like twigs.

Each one was about the size of a decent spear.

Only then did they notice its enormity. Looking at it gave a feeling of distorted vision. The sense of distance blurred, and even its size was hard to estimate.

It wasn’t extremely huge, but the height of the fallen creature was as tall as Llewellyn, who could be called a giant.

It was quite large. But all of that could be overlooked as unimportant.

What mattered was that no one knew what it was.

Not Llewellyn, a veteran player who understood the game well and had learned much.

Not Lucilla, who had matured through many experiences.

Not even Ortemilia, who had glimpsed countless secrets of this world as a researcher.

None of the three could identify what it was.

Only two things could be recognized.

The long sword thrust into the body of that massive strange life form.

A greatsword crafted with “lines,” the basic spell structure of the School of Construction and the School of Protection.

The unfamiliar power emanating from the body of that strange life form, neither divine nor magical.

Llewellyn stared blankly, and only after the strange life form slowly raised its head, which resembled an expanded spore, did he realize what that power was.

“Trans… cendent?”

That power was similar to what he had felt when Ethan, the Star Blade, had summoned flames before.

As if in response, the creature opened its eyes.