Chapter 266

“Kya, haak…!”

Coughing up blood like a fountain.

The shock that hit my entire body made my vision flicker.

Gritting my teeth, I try to steady my dizzy, flickering consciousness.

I could immediately tell what had hit me.

Before I knew it, my vision had completely twisted.

“Ahahaha…! Where are you aiming? I’m right here!”

An unpleasant laugh echoes like a cheer.

Everything around me disappears, replaced by the figure of a witch.

Every pillar, every shattered fragment, even the cracked floor.

A line of Isabellas blocks the surroundings, replacing the walls.

The rippling Isabella flows between the Isabellas, the flowing Isabella stands on top of the Isabella, the Isabella floats horizontally above the Isabella’s head, and the large Isabella cracks, causing small Isabellas to rain down.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of Isabellas wiggle their antennae and sneer.

Literally, the entire world had turned into witches!

—

“Kuuuh…”

I get up, letting out a blood-stained groan.

The remaining blessing from Lacey seeps into my damaged organs, healing the wounds.

A fatal lapse in judgment. It was a miracle I wasn’t cut in two.

No, not a miracle—it was thanks to this woman.

[What are you doing! Leaving the enemy alone and swinging your sword at a rock!]

Hersela scolded me as if she were berating me.

Right, if it weren’t for the life force she extended… I would have lost my life before I even realized it.

The witch’s third power.

【The Nightmare That Embraces】

A hallucination that digs into the target’s mind, making them perceive everything around them as the enemy’s form.

Originally, it was a power that activated against the entire team, causing them to kill each other.

I let my guard down.

I never thought she had already cast it…!

I thought mental magic wouldn’t be a problem, but when it reaches the level of a power, even resistance is useless?

“You look like you’re having a bad dream! The nightmare is just beginning!”

Everything I see spews black magic and mocks me.

The world is full of wriggling insect legs.

Even my senses, which I’ve always trusted, perceive all of them as Isabellas without a doubt!

Even though I clearly blocked the wall by breaking it, now it feels like I’m half-embraced by Isabella instead.

The hard sensation of a carapace caresses my back.

The witch’s arms wrapped around me wriggle, and a sweet scent rushes in.

Sticky saliva drips from above, running down my cheek.

It’s probably just underground water or stone dust… but it only feels and smells like saliva.

Damn it,

I really got hit hard by this hallucination…!

Among those countless Isabellas, there’s probably the real one.

But my mind can no longer distinguish what’s real. If I’m not careful, I might attack Lacey or Ophelia!

Even the hallucination, which somewhat resembled the structure of the underground waterway, begins to twist and distort on its own.

As nightmares often do, I can’t even tell which way is up or down anymore.

And then, thousands of magic circles rise into the world.

Instinct sounds a fierce alarm.

A sense of crisis I’ve never experienced before runs through my nerves.

Most of those are probably illusions, but there’s definitely some real ones mixed in.

…But distinguishing them is pointless.

Even if I cut through an illusionary spell, I’ll feel the sensation of the magic dispersing, and if I get hit, the pain will be vividly transmitted.

Truly, it’s a power worthy of being called a “power.”

Once caught, there’s no way I can fight it alone.

…Alone, that is.

[What are you just standing there for! Dodge!]

Hersela’s voice was urgent, but there was no trace of the confusion that should have been there.

If she were seeing the same scene as me, she would have been just as panicked.

That means Hersela is seeing the real underground waterway, not Isabella’s illusion!

That’s probably why she was able to block Isabella’s earlier attack.

Right. The power’s effect is on the mind.

Even if my mind is trapped in an illusion, there’s still one more person in my head.

The existence Isabella could never have anticipated—Hersela’s mind is the key to breaking the power I carelessly fell for.

—

I spread the life force thinly, binding my entire body.

The Falling Technique. A skill that forcibly moves the body using the power of life force, allowing me to fight until my last breath, no matter the injury. This should…!

‘My body, can you move as you want? Dodge and fight on your own! I can’t tell what’s what because of the illusion!’

[An illusion? Don’t tell me you were caught by that…!]

Hersela, who immediately understood the situation, takes control of the life force.

My body moves as if being pulled, not reacting to any scene before my eyes, simply surrendering to the flow of life force.

I leap out of Isabella’s embrace and throw myself at the cascade of Isabella’s magic.

Dozens of black blades fly straight at me.

Is this an illusion? Or real?

My arms don’t move.

Then, it must be an illusion.

Even if it’s an illusion… the pain will still feel real!

I grit my teeth and prepare for the impending future.

And then, dozens of blades pierce my body.

Fiercely and mercilessly.

“Kuh… uwaaaaah!”

It hurts.

Ouch, ouch…!

A terrible pain floods my brain, turning it white.

My trembling jaw is torn off, and my limbs are severed into pieces.

Shredded intestines spill out from my torn stomach, boiling hot as if I swallowed lava.

A blade grazes my face, slicing through one eye, and half my vision goes dark.

The dark energy piercing my chest tears through my lungs and bursts out from my back.

In an instant, I feel like I’ve died ten times over.

My mutilated body is now nothing but a rag-like upper half.

A scream erupts from my throat, now missing its lower jaw, and my consciousness fades…

[Snap out of it!]

A thunderous shout shakes my fading mind awake.

My vision clears again. Only one eye, though.

The fading pain surges back with a vengeance.

It’s like I’m melting in a pit of hellfire.

But thanks to her voice, I didn’t lose consciousness.

It hurts. It really, terribly hurts. I feel like crying.

I want to give up and run away. I’d rather die.

—But still,

I didn’t come this far just to collapse from something like this!

From my missing right arm, a warm vitality pours out.

Crimson threads coil through the air, forming the shape of my lost limb.

Yes. Even if I can’t see or feel it, the sword of my oath and my body are definitely still there.

That’s enough.

A transparent leg kicks off Isabella, launching me toward her.

An invisible arm swings, cutting through something dark.

I continue this incomprehensible battle, crossing through the void with limbs that don’t exist.

—

Above me, a fleshy earth.

Isabella, distorted and melted by the heat, pours down upside down.

Beneath my feet, a shining black sun.

Dozens of Isabellas, rolled into a massive ball, tumble through the sky, firing more Isabellas.

Isabella’s eyes, floating on the spilled blood, stare at me. With every swing of her arm, tiny Isabellas scatter like insects, laughing.

Isabella’s face bursts out from my stomach, biting into my chest with insect-like jaws.

My spilling intestines transform into mantis arms, slicing through what little flesh remains.

The nightmare’s hallucination reaches its peak.

I can’t even tell what’s what anymore. I just endure with all my might.

The left side of my body, touched by dark energy, rots away instantly.

Maggots boil out of the hole in my eye socket, devouring my flesh.

[Hold on! Not a single hair is harmed!]

“Kyaaaah!”

I let out a sharp roar, desperately clinging to my fading consciousness.

Green lava pours from the left, grazing my rotting shoulder.

No, not my shoulder—my skull’s right side boils and melts away in an instant.

“Ah, ugh. Uwaaaaah!”

I scream with all my might, my vocal cords tearing, as I endure and endure.

A hellish nightmare lasting over ten minutes.

All that’s left of me is half a brain turned to mush and one eye connected to it.

Am I even alive? Or was there ever a “me” to begin with?

In the midst of this fading battle, finally—

[Where do you think you’re running?!]

With someone’s shout, a red light spreads, splitting the world.

“Ahhhh!”

The sky screams. The earth sheds tears of blood.

The world shakes, and the air vomits out a wail.

Isabella’s world shatters into pieces.

—

“Haah… ha, huaaah…!”

My breath returns.

My consciousness, which had crumbled to the point of forgetting my own self, recognizes me again.

The pain, which was beyond words, fades like the stars at dawn.

The body I thought I had lost trembles vividly.

My kneeling legs, my left hand on the ground, even my right hand gripping the sword—all are clear before my eyes.

[I’m back.]

Before I knew it, the surroundings had returned to the ruins of the underground waterway.

“Haa… haa… Elpinel, thank you…!”

“I’m… alive…? My body… definitely…”

Perhaps they too had fallen victim to the nightmare, as Lacey and Ophelia sat slumped, breathing heavily.

Their pale faces and scarred bodies. Perhaps they mistook each other for Isabella, as both had their weapons aimed at one another.

“This can’t be…! I definitely trapped them in a nightmare, how…!”

The witch’s groan, filled with shock.

Her trembling voice was laced with pain.

I lift my trembling head and look straight ahead.

Just a few steps away from me, Isabella, deeply wounded, staggers and bleeds.

Yes. There’s no such thing as an unbreakable nightmare.

The horrifying power, “The Embracing Nightmare,” has finally met its end.

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