Chapter "546"

Chapter 546:Indulgence in Blasphemy (2)

The Dream Walkers were flustered.

The moment they realized Nirva was doing something, they came to their senses only to find themselves trapped inside a photograph.

"Did we just get trapped inside a photo?"

"What is this?"

"Did he capture all of us at once?"

Nirva, looking down at the photograph, appeared like a giant.

The situation had completely reversed from when they were looking down from the sky.

"Don't panic. Have you forgotten what we need to do here?"

Their momentary panic at this extraordinary situation gave way to professional consideration of how to escape.

They were trapped in a photograph, but ultimately this was a product of Nirva's imagination created through dream essence.

If that was the case, they simply needed to respond in kind.

"I'll make a path."

Clara pointed her staff at Nirva, who was looking down at them from beyond the photograph.

"Hmm."

Nirva, examining the photograph, grinned.

Green dream essence burst forth from the center of the photograph he held.

The edge of the dream essence moved from top to bottom, cutting the photograph precisely in half.

The severed photograph exploded like light, and the Dream Walkers tumbled out from inside.

"We made it!"

"You fool! Don't feel relieved yet!"

Having escaped from Nirva, the Dream Walkers immediately launched their counterattack.

"Get him!"

"Don't give him any openings!"

The Dream Walkers spread out while firing magic.

Seeing the Dream Walkers scatter like flies, Nirva bared his teeth.

"Because of you, the time for the Goddess to awaken has been delayed. You will certainly pay for that with your lives."

Nirva said this as he stretched out his hand.

Despite being clearly out of reach, Nirva's outstretched hand precisely 'grabbed' one of the Dream Walkers.

The Dream Walkers' jaws dropped when they realized what Nirva had done.

"What just happened? Did he just ignore perspective?"

What Nirva did was simple.

He looked at an opponent far away and grabbed them with his hand.

Despite being separated by a distance of at least 300 meters, he caught his target precisely.

When he opened his clenched hand, the Dream Walker appeared, shrunk to fit the size of his hand.

"You truly look like insects."

Nirva sneered and clenched his fist tight.

-Crack!

Red blood flowed through the gaps between Nirva's fingers.

Seeing this, the Dream Walkers' eyes widened.

Chills ran down their spines, and anger boiled up.

"No! Jiben!"

"You bastard!"

Two elderly men, eyes wild with rage, rushed toward Nirva.

Nirva again extended his hand toward the two Dream Walkers.

There it was. The attack that ignored perspective and grabbed them.

The two Dream Walkers flew swiftly through the air, trying to escape Nirva's grasp.

But this wasn't an attack that could be avoided by simply trying to dodge.

Another one was caught in Nirva's hand and met his fate.

In that gap, the other one who approached Nirva drew Dream energy from Siesta's glove.

When the green sword was created, the Dream Walker thrust it toward Nirva's heart.

More precisely, he tried to thrust it.

The sword he struck should have been embedded in Nirva's heart, but it never made contact with his body.

"How...? how is this possible...?"

Did he misjudge the distance?

The Dream Walker gritted his teeth again and swung his sword at Nirva's neck.

The moment he thought he had swung it properly, confusion struck again as Nirva remained unharmed.

The distance between them was close.

Yet the sword he swung did not reach Nirva.

"Argh!"

The Dream Walker created a crossbow on the back of his hand and fired it at Nirva's forehead.

The bolt from the crossbow stopped just before Nirva's forehead.

"Time stop? No, this is..."

Finally, the Dream Walker realized why his attacks weren't reaching Nirva.

Even now, the crossbow bolt was still flying.

It just hadn't reached its target, Nirva, yet.

The distance between them was just 1 meter, but that was only the distance visible to the eye.

The actual distance was much longer, like a paradox.

"This, this..."

To the speechless Dream Walker, Nirva said:

"You. Why are you looking up at me?"

It was like a whisper directly into his ear.

In reality, their eye levels were equal.

But at Nirva's words, the Dream Walker fell into the illusion that he was looking up at him.

The Dream Walker widened his eyes.

‘Oh no.’

Without realizing it, he had just thought of himself as looking up at Nirva.

Such a negative thought was a taboo that should absolutely be avoided in Dreamland but Nirva's voice had a unique power.

Normally, Dream Walkers could regulate their mental imagery well, but due to losing their comrades, a vulnerability had emerged.

The Dream Walker unconsciously raised his head.

Nirva's figure had grown impossibly tall, reaching the sky.

"No, this can't be."

Though he knew he shouldn't have negative thoughts, his mind increasingly harbored fear of Nirva.

It was like being told not to imagine an elephant, only to have its image appear more vividly.

The gigantic Nirva lowered his head to look down at the Dream Walker.

"Thank you."

Then he raised his foot and stomped down with a thud.

Red blood spread across the desert like a burst water balloon, then seeped into the sand and disappeared.

People felt chills at the sight.

Clara, Zantman, and Julia were no exception.

By now transformed into a giant, Nirva burst into laughter.

"Keheheh. Hahaha!"

His laughter was like thunder. The world shook from how loud it was.

The Dream Walkers flying through the sky were pushed back by the shock of the laughter.

"Good heavens."

Elisa, who had blocked a wave of sand, was speechless at the sight of the giant Nirva clearly visible even from afar.

What happens when you transcend the laws of physics and freely manipulate a world based on imagination?

The result was displayed clearly before their eyes.

Nirva made a circle with his thumb and index finger and blew a "whoo" through it.

An enormous amount of dream sand burst through the gap of his circled fingers and moved with his exhaled breath.

Instantly, a whirlwind wrapped in golden sand arose.

In this situation, everyone would be swallowed by the vortex and torn to pieces.

That's when Clara Cowen stepped forward.

"Devil. You look very small to me."

Proving this wasn't mere bravado, Clara naturally looked down at Nirva as if he really appeared small to her.

Nirva's body, which had grown giant-like, returned to its original size like a deflated balloon.

The sandstorm he had blown out also weakened in proportion to his size. It became a gentle breeze mixed with dust rather than a storm.

The Dream Walkers thought they were saved, but Clara's expression wasn't good.

Originally, she had intended to make him so small that she could crush him but all she could do was return him to his original size.

No matter how much dream essence she activated based on her imagination, Nirva's power was so strong that it didn't work properly.

'In that case.'

Clara surrounded her body with dream essence.

Nirva immediately guessed what she was trying to do from her changed behavior.

"Since attacks directly against me don't work, you're choosing to make yourself stronger instead?"

The Dream Walkers were also surprised by Clara's choice.

Especially Zantman, whose face was horribly distorted.

"This, this damn old hag!"

Normally, other Dream Walkers would have chided the master for such language.

But now, no one was in a position to criticize Zantman.

They too were perplexed by Clara Cowen's appearance.

Clara's hunched back straightened.

The wrinkles that had covered her face rapidly decreased, and her sagging skin became taut.

Her white hair also took on a light green hue from the dream essence energy.

Though fine wrinkles remained around her eyes, Clara Cowen had definitely become younger than before.

She went from an 80-year-old elderly woman to a woman in her mid-40s.

It wasn't just her appearance that had rejuvenated instantly.

The energy flowing from Clara became much stronger.

If before it was a candle, now it was almost like a torch.

The school's Dream Walkers were amazed at her rejuvenated appearance, but no one was happy about it.

"Why, why is everyone acting like that?"

Sedina, held by Julia, asked.

Julia's expression was also not good, like the other Dream Walkers.

"...The Master is now burning her life."

"Burning?"

"She's recalling her most powerful past self. In Dreamland, if you imagine it, it becomes real."

Julia's expression remained grim.

"That doesn't mean she's actually going back in time. Rather, it's nothing more than recreating a moment from her powerful past by consuming her own strength. Like a candle."

It was a power that should not normally be permitted to her, forcibly created through imagination and experience.

The hotter and stronger a candle's flame becomes, the faster the candle melts.

Clara Cowen's Prime Manifestation was exactly like that.

Clara stared at her palm.

It was a young hand unlike her usual one, without wrinkles.

Of course, this was still aged to some extent, but compared to her completely aged original appearance, it could rightfully be called rejuvenation.

For someone who has aged, youth is what they desire most.

The power it brings is a double-edged sword.

"What a splendid appearance. You must have been an incredible beauty in your youth."

Nirva sincerely admired her.

Clara, rejuvenated to her 40s, was a woman with mature beauty.

"It's regrettable that even such beauty can't escape the flow of time. Truly sad. In Dreamland, you could preserve your beautiful appearance forever."

"Being born, growing up, aging—people have such processes, which is why this appearance seems more beautiful."

Clara uttered in a cold voice.

Her voice was imbued with charisma and power, having rejuvenated from the kind grandmother figure she had been.

Clara raised her hand.

With just that light movement, storm clouds formed in the sky, and green lightning struck down at Nirva.

Even Nirva seemed to sense some danger in this, as he raised dream sand into a sharp point to create a lightning rod.

-Crash!

The lightning rod of sand struck by lightning couldn't withstand the heat and energy, turning to glass and scattering like powder.

In that brief moment, Clara grew younger from her mid-40s to her late 30s.

Real magic doesn't become stronger just by reverting to a younger age. If anything, there's an aspect of maturity that comes with age.

Nevertheless, Clara's rejuvenation occurred because that young era held a kind of symbolism.

A time when her mind worked quickly, when she was robust and didn't tire easily.

That symbolism manifested in Dreamland, which is why Clara grew younger as she exerted stronger power.

It meant the end of her lifespan.

It was a final struggle, wringing out all her energy and mental strength.

"Master! Stop! Any more and you'll die!"

Julia cried out anxiously, but Clara didn't stop.

Other Dream Walkers stepped forward to dissuade Clara.

"This damn old hag! What are you doing recklessly on your own!"

"Can't even call her an old hag anymore!"

They laughed brightly while attacking Nirva.

"You all..."

Clara gazed at the school members with surprised eyes.

"Fall back! This is beyond your level!"

"When have we ever fought based on the opponent's level?"

"Shouldn't you know what kind of people we are by now?"

Clara's heart ached at the sight of the school members giggling.

"This is truly a touching scene."

Nirva raised a sandstorm.

The Dream Walkers scattered, but one person who couldn't dodge in time was swept away.

"Aunt Jenny!"

Julia's eyes widened at the sight of a person being torn apart by the sand.

She was someone with a masculine personality who always got angry alongside her when senior members teased her.

Another victim had appeared, Evans, a Dream Walker from the Reverie School, his hair half-white like a person in his 60s.

"Senior Evans!"

The one who usually gave her candy with a smiling face fell helplessly onto the desert sand.

His corpse was greedily swallowed by the dream sand of the desert.

One by one, precious people were dying.

"No."

Julia's lips trembled.

These were people she always bickered with.

It wasn't just for a day or two that she had been angry because they treated her like an abandoned child.

But she never truly hated them.

Even though she outwardly expressed anger harshly, inwardly she was happy for their warm hearts.

"No."

Such people were dying.

For Julia, who had never lost someone precious, the current situation was too great a shock.

Even while wearing Siesta, her mind was severely shaken.

"Julia!"

Sedina checked Julia's condition.

Julia's pupils wavered in emptiness. Sedina remembered that look.

It was exactly the same as her own appearance after her mother passed away long ago.

But there was nothing Sedina could do for Julia.

That fact made Sedina feel powerless.

She knew from experience that no words of comfort would reach the current Julia.

"Will you continue to disregard your comrades' deaths? Dream Master."

Nirva mocked Clara, who was catching her breath.

Clara had already rejuvenated to her early 30s.

"Seeing you like this reminds me. Yes, you came to this world many times after losing your loved one in Dreamland. Was his name Nathanael?"

When Nathanael's name was mentioned, Clara's expression turned fierce.

"Oh my. Judging by that expression, it seems I've hit the mark. Ah yes, that's right. When I hadn't fully awakened from sleep, a human came this far."

Nirva recalled the distant past from decades ago.

"That man back then. He was truly brave. He had very straightforward eyes. He actually had strong mental fortitude and endured my torture well. In the end, he went mad though."

"You...!"

"But, come to think of it, Nathanael wasn't alone at that time."

That's right.

Nathanael was indeed the one who entered the depths of Dreamland at that time.

But Nathanael 'alone' was not who came.

By his side was a very young and small boy.

"A blond brat was with him. Right. What was his name again?"

"Franz."

Yes. That was definitely the name.

But Nirva wasn't pleased to have this curiosity satisfied.

Because the one who just answered the name wasn't Clara, nor was it the Dream Walkers.

It was from a third party.

The moment Nirva turned around, he saw the figure of a young blond man.

And also the sight of him stabbing a dagger into his heart.

-Squelch!

"Remember me?"