Ch.261[Chapter 261] Journey to Awakening

“How did you figure it out? My analysis was perfect, and my transformation was flawless!”

Sir Dominic glared at the demon through the fragments that were falling all around.

The demon had three heads—one of an old man, one of a young man, and one of a child—with the heads and body separated and skewered on a wheel made of heated brass—

Sir Dominic shook his head.

The demon before him seemed to possess abilities related to dreams, though he wasn’t sure of the specifics.

If it only manipulated dreams, that would be one thing, but given that it could gather information, analyze it, and even transform, it might be capable of inflicting mental damage, or perhaps multiple types of damage.

“It’s quite simple.”

Sir Dominic answered the demon, regretting that he hadn’t been able to cut its throat with a single stroke.

Having failed the surprise attack, he knew the demon would be prepared for the next attack, so he decided to buy time until he found an opening.

“At first, it was just suspicion. Someone suddenly claiming to be a fan and offering to help me advance—it seemed strange.”

Sir Dominic took the shield from his back into his left hand and transferred the sword he had been holding in reverse grip to his right hand.

“And when you said there was no price to pay, I became even more suspicious. When you asked for an autograph, I was mentally certain. That’s the method demons use to trick humans into contracts.”

All that remained was confirmation, Sir Dominic muttered.

“You swung your sword just because of that? What if I had been genuine!”

“Of course, that wasn’t all,” Sir Dominic countered the demon’s words.

“After all, the Unborn President wouldn’t die from something like this.”

Sir Dominic stated proudly.

In fact, Sir Dominic had seen the Unborn President once before.

The moment had been so intense that Sir Dominic could barely remember it, but conversely, it meant that the Unborn President wasn’t someone “ambiguous” like the being before him now.

“Now I’d like to ask you something in return.”

Sir Dominic pointed his sword at the demon.

The dimensional fragments still fluttering in the air sparkled like glass shards, creating a halo-like effect behind Sir Dominic.

“Nameless demon, how exactly did you infiltrate this place?”

“Why should I tell you that?”

All three of the demon’s heads sneered vilely as they glanced at Sir Dominic.

However, cold sweat was continuously running down the demon’s back, overwhelmed by the imposing presence of Sir Dominic, the demon hunter.

Though perhaps due to a demon’s characteristic pride, it was still putting on a brave front.

In truth, unlike Slaton Bex who had been summoned, this three-headed demon had simply arrived in Gachaland by chance.

Recently, when dimensions were connected through a collaboration event, this three-headed demon had been swept along with it.

It wasn’t clear which dimension it came from, but upon arriving in Gachaland, the demon needed to find a way to survive.

Just as some people like shrimp, others like broccoli, and still others prefer baguettes, demons also had different tastes.

And what this demon loved most was humans’ negative emotions.

It particularly enjoyed making people think they had reached the pinnacle, then dropping them into an abyss, completely crushing their spirit.

Of course, this wasn’t an easy task in Gachaland.

Getting someone to the top was difficult to begin with.

Gachaland was under the System’s management, so even minor stat changes were all recorded.

And even if someone did reach the top with great difficulty, was it easy to bring them down?

That wasn’t the case either.

The citizens of Gachaland generally had a positive… or perhaps questionable mindset.

To be precise, the citizens of Gachaland mostly operated on the principle that they could always earn back what they spent.

Since they couldn’t die anyway, they believed they would eventually hit the jackpot, whether through lottery tickets or gacha.

Working daily part-time jobs while spending all their money on gacha was the essence and daily life of Gachaland.

Additionally, many people in Gachaland had the strange idea that falling was a signal for a rebound, and rising was a sign of reaching the upper limit.

Making such people mentally devastated?

It was truly difficult.

Of course, there were many unmotivated people, but what the demon wanted was to see someone fall from the highest position and break—simply being unmotivated wasn’t meaningful.

This was the cold, cruel wall of reality.

However, the demon didn’t give up and found an alternative.

And that alternative was dreams.

This demon had the ability to move through others’ dreams.

It couldn’t completely alter dreams, but it could slightly manipulate them or view their contents.

By peering into consciousness and subconsciousness through dreams, it gathered information and then called people into dreams to make contracts.

Of course, even this wasn’t easy due to the System’s protection—the Sleep Safety Program—but this problem could be solved by routing through multiple dreams.

“That’s how you were selected, Sir Dominic. In a way, I wasn’t lying. I am very interested in you… oops.”

The demon was blurting out its thoughts.

It had a habit of muttering when deep in thought, but at this moment, that habit betrayed the demon.

“You’re quite impressive, extracting information from me like this.”

“No, didn’t you just blurt it out on your own?”

Sir Dominic replied incredulously to the demon.

Why was it getting angry after voluntarily revealing information?

“…Anyway! Now that you’ve seen my true form, I can’t let you live! Even if your body can resurrect eternally, it means nothing if your soul disappears. Entering this dream is your defeat.”

The demon clashed its fists together and charged at Sir Dominic.

It seemed to be charging recklessly due to wounded pride, but Sir Dominic didn’t let his guard down or underestimate it, raising his shield and glaring at the demon.

…

A short while later.

“Please spare me.”

The demon was kneeling before Sir Dominic, begging desperately.

“I’ll tell you anything, just don’t hit me anymore. If I take any more damage, I might get banished.”

The three-headed demon turned out to be unexpectedly weak.

Sir Dominic couldn’t help but laugh at the pathetically weak demon.

He had thought the demon must have had some hidden trump card to be so confident despite knowing it faced Sir Dominic of Feralant, but it was just a moth rushing into flames, unable to recognize the difference in power.

“If you spare me, I’ll even become your servant. I swear!”

“There is no mercy for demons. But if you provide information, I’ll give you a painless death.”

“Th-that’s… well, thank you. It’s better than nothing.”

The demon seemed to want to protest Sir Dominic’s words, but the decision-making power lay with Sir Dominic.

And it didn’t want to lose its last chance at mercy.

“I saw my senior’s appearance earlier. Whose dream is this?”

“Y-yes, it is that person’s dream. I merely borrowed the framework of the dream. The actual person is probably… taking a nap in the night duty room right now?”

The demon made a guess since it didn’t know the exact situation, but the guess was almost accurate.

v.a.l.l.o.c. was currently taking a nap at work, dreaming of returning home from work, eating potato chips, drinking beer, and eating donuts while watching a daily drama.

“Then now that the dream has shattered, won’t there be problems?”

“Nothing serious will happen. He’ll just wake up from the dream; it won’t affect reality.”

Sir Dominic nodded.

“Then why am I still here?”

“That’s because of my influence. I have the ability to keep people trapped in dreams.”

“…Then if you release me, you could live, so why are you still holding me here?”

“Well, about that…”

The demon’s expression changed from submissive to malicious in an instant.

“I was planning to give you one last blow! Hahaha!”

The demon charged at Sir Dominic once more.

Sir Dominic pushed the demon away with his shield, but the demon persisted, trying to embrace Sir Dominic.

“Self-destruction! Since I’m going to be banished anyway, I might as well leave a scar on your soul before I go!”

The demon tenaciously clung on and managed to grab Sir Dominic’s waist.

Then the demon’s body began to bulge and shift as if about to explode at any moment.

Sir Dominic tried to remove the demon by stabbing it repeatedly with his sword, but the demon seemed to have forgotten the pain and just laughed maniacally.

As Sir Dominic struggled to detach the demon, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

And he quietly said one thing to the demon on the verge of explosion.

“Wait, if this is a dream, doesn’t that mean you’re also in a soul state? Then, banishment or not, wouldn’t your soul disappear?”

“Oh.”

The demon made a dumbfounded sound.

Suddenly terrified, it tried to cancel the self-destruction, but it was already too late.

A massive explosion spread across the shattered dream world.

Sir Dominic fell through the cracks of the collapsing dream world.

Through the gaps in the crumbling dream world, he could see someone’s face.

It was a giant with closed eyes, and Sir Dominic remembered seeing him somewhere before.

Perhaps when he had met the Unborn President.