Ch.284284. Lust (4)

Shortly after observing the precursors of otherworld formation, which had become somewhat familiar to me by now.

It happened literally in the blink of an eye.

The time it takes to turn a page, lift a teacup, or blink once—an extremely brief moment.

If I were to describe what a “moment” feels like, it would be something like this.

Yet that alone was enough for the world, the view to be flipped, instantly transforming the landscape.

The form of the otherworld created by the Demon Commander, Succubus Queen Drakilia… was a dreamlike and somewhat bizarre shape.

The sky was completed as a single painting that resembled modern art, with purple, pink, blue, and indigo colors intermingled.

Bumpy terrains not much different from the material world except for their colorful hues, and various objects half-buried within them.

A surreal world where all sorts of things reflected from human unconsciousness were scattered chaotically.

A spiritual space existing somewhere between reality and dreams.

This separate dimension and space operated on completely different laws from the material world. Feeling this to my core, I tried to form a simple barrier otherworld to exclude the influence of this otherworld while…

The dragon’s horn I obtained through my contract with Yongyongi (tentative name). This organ, specialized in reading the components of the surrounding environment and such things, was transmitting information about this dreamlike otherworld to me.

This world, Succubus Queen Drakilia’s otherworld, was “Dream World”—a type of integrated mental world that had the effect of bringing into reality the otherworld of dreams within the minds of those with souls.

Dream World—an otherworld that exists in this world originally without anyone’s intervention. Overlaying it onto the real world… or conversely, it wouldn’t be strange to evaluate it as a world that’s simply just that.

Deploying an already existing otherworld separate from oneself.

This form of otherworld creation, which tends to appear among some innate superior magic users, would normally just end at deploying an environment racially advantageous under normal circumstances…

The problem is that for a dream demon, the dream world otherworld is too significant to be downplayed as merely an “advantageous environment.”

‘This isn’t good at all…’

For dream demons who specialize in operating in dream worlds, this world allows them to use reality manipulation abilities where fantasy magic is directly manifested into reality.

Although even this ability of dream demons is limited to manipulating material forms, that alone was enough to put me on edge.

Additionally, illusion magic that would normally be neutralized by my magic and unable to exert its full potential, would undoubtedly demonstrate its original power in this overlaid otherworld…

“…Ugh!”

-Swoosh-swoosh-swoosh!!!

Decisively, seeing dozens of metal spears suddenly shooting up from the ground without any warning signs, it’s impossible not to be tense.

In reality, such spears would be easily blocked by my dragon leather cloak, but this dream world is a spiritual realm governed by the unconscious and dreams, different from the physical laws of reality.

Those spears, born from common human perception, would ignore my defense and pierce holes in my body, and the same would apply to any subsequent attacks.

-…Whoosh!

The swirling jade-colored flames summoned by Drakilia with a single gesture easily burned through the turtle shell barrier I had formed as a test.

Junk golems created from various debris and scrap metal scattered around. Each one could be called intermediate-level without exaggeration, and though they collapsed when struck by a slash, they would reform into their original shape and attack me again after a moment.

From the sky, glittering with all kinds of strange lights, eerie pillars of light or waves occasionally descended to the ground. Thinking nothing good would come from touching them, I avoided them… while inwardly expressing my dissatisfaction with the current situation.

‘If only I could properly activate my magic…’

The critical reason why I’m on the defensive, unable to counter or confront the enemy before me, is because this otherworld environment isn’t particularly conducive to activating druid magic.

Druid magic essentially manipulates natural phenomena or forces. This allows for casting spells with reduced magical consumption by utilizing the surrounding natural environment, but at the same time, the efficiency of magic drops dramatically without such natural surroundings.

Though it’s an extreme way of putting it, the difference between simply using what’s available and creating the foundation from scratch is quite significant.

And that’s when it happened.

[Grrrrrrrr….]

“…Huh?”

What suddenly appeared before me was a messy and crude monster with a form resembling a child’s scribble.

Its entire body was dyed in colors that evoked nothing but thoughts of disorder rather than vibrancy, and it had a bizarre body structure that seemed to disregard any practicality.

Arms that grew larger toward the fingertips. Small wings that somehow contributed to its hovering despite seeming incapable of flight given their size.

A bumpy tail far from smooth, and a head that resembled a crude imitation of a dragon.

And through the horn protruding from my head, I could read the information coming in and discern the exact identity of the being before me.

A dream monster born from children’s vague fears and terrors. A hideous otherworld creature whose essence is tied to the fear that never disappears, existing through vagueness and irregularity.

It was a Dream Dragon, the highest species among Dream Beasts.

‘…Did the Demon Commander summon it?’

While deflecting the incoming pillars with my hands, I tried to investigate the root of this phenomenon, but it was also a reality that this simple investigation was insufficient to fully grasp it.

However, according to what was transmitted through my horn, this otherworld is not the real Dream World, but merely a recreation of it.

Considering that this monster couldn’t possibly appear and inhabit a small world that was just formed, my best hypothesis was that Drakilia had directly summoned it—

‘…Kechak, sorry! I need your help!’

[…Sure! Leave it to me!]

In the end, I had to use Kechak, who was busy chomping on the succubi and incubi snarking around, to prevent that superior creature from coordinating with Drakilia, another superior being.

The powers Kechak borrowed through his unique ability were three in total:

The regenerative power of a hydra, Gretel’s aura, and Cretinus’s gigantification ability.

Normally, Kechak would be outmatched in both class and rank, unable to show anything special, but this combination of three powers gave him time to stall against a superior opponent, if only briefly.

Additionally, the aggro drawn by the unintentionally gigantified Kechak was no joke, as even Drakilia began directing her attacks toward Kechak rather than me.

‘Can you come out directly?’

[I’m sorry… But if I squeeze out my strength, I can at least manage a jewel…]

‘Good.’

During this time I had gained, I conversed with Yongyongi (tentative name) who resided in a corner of my soul, and then extracted a baseball-sized… iridescently shining orb, a yeouiju, from Yongyongi’s soul.

For an Eastern dragon, the yeouiju is equivalent to a dragon’s heart. In other words, it’s an organ that infinitely generates magical power while also serving as a mana tank and the source of a dragon’s mystical powers.

A miraculous object that recreates phenomena desired by the user based on the magical power stored inside.

It faithfully followed my will, strengthening the simple otherworld I had deployed using a bit of the stored magical power, then returned to my soul.

And with this, by removing the magical power of the otherworld that interfered with magic… and even the formation of otherworlds, the conditions for activating magic were perfectly met.

-Crack!

‘…Sorry, Kechak.’

Just as I felt Kechak’s soul being retrieved and returning to my side after failing to withstand their combined attack, I immediately tried to form a small world by reconstructing the structure of the otherworld based on his soul—

The moment I put all my strength into one of the twelve chains extending from the wasteland in my mind, particularly the one with a simple and thick structure, fragments of tropical jungle began to take root one by one within the Dream Land recreated by the Demon Commander’s power, infiltrating the dreamlike landscape.

Heavy and massive elements of reality seep in through the boundary between dreams and unreality, and as these things forcibly intrude, making the Dream World landscape even more chaotic, they begin to dominate the entire space.

“Round two begins.”

[You…!]

Coldly snapping back at it as it growled sharply, I gradually harmonized my soul and prepared for a magical attack.