NOVPUB
Chapter 198: Erosion (3)
Of course, natives were already living on the New Continent, the newly pioneered land. However, their species was extraordinary.
“Concubi?”
Extraordinary.
“Yes, Mr. Death King, yes.”
After I hit the incubus exactly fifty-nine times, he raised his hands in surrender.
Incubus, succubus... Concubi populated the New Continent.
I cracked my fists. “Why are you so quiet? Does my question bore you and make you sleepy? Shall I wake you up?”
“No, Mr. Death King! We, concubi, couldn’t be more energetic than this!”
“From now on, only speak when I ask you questions. If you don’t give me a proper answer, your face will suffer in return.”
“Yes, Mr. Death King!”
I nodded, satisfied with his compliance. “Good.”
The Guardian seemed very touched.
—Kim Zombie, you... you really mastered the art of screwing someone up!
When one looked into the abyss, the abyss also tended to give them the stinky eye. Having been trained by the Guardian and Teacher, I became a specialist in beating up people without even realizing it.
“The whole crew on this ship is asleep. Is this your and other concubi's doing?”
“Yes, it is!” 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓾𝒷.𝒸ℴ𝓂
“How do you do this?”
“We live by parasitizing on the dreams of other animals!” the incubus confessed. “Actually, your dreams are what we call reality. On the other hand, what you call reality is our dream. We thought we were the only life forms to have developed intelligence, but after you guys crossed the ocean, it left us very dumbfounded...”
“Oh.”
This species’ reality was our dreams.
“Do you guys not have physical bodies?”
“A physical body by your definition... No, we don’t. Our knowledge and yours are so different that it’s usually hard for us to communicate.”
“But we’re talking so easily.”
“Oh, that's because we’re using this animal's mind as a host.”
The animal the incubus was talking about was the Shellmount captain of this ship. Their habit of calling others animals gave me a rough idea of the concubi’s stubbornness.
“Consuming the dreams of other animals allow us to share their memories. Because of this, we got to know you in great detail. Over the past twenty-four years, we have been working on a plan after we got over the shock of meeting you all.”
“Plan?”
“This is the first time we’ve seen animals with so many memories. From our perspective, you guys are must-go restaurants. It’s like... a feast. Anyway, it was quite a shock.”
Hmm.
“My children don’t know anything about you," I said.
“Well, we live as parasites in others’ dreams. Since we don’t have real bodies, we just choose someone appropriate to copy the appearance of from your memories. You can’t see us in your reality, but even if you could, you’d just brush it off as another dream.”
The incubus now looked like the Fire Emperor because I had ordered him to change forms. No matter how fake the dream was, I couldn’t hit someone who looked like Raviel. Before she became my love, she was the universe’s treasure with her beauty alone. As a cultured citizen, I couldn’t treat such a treasure with violence.
“Um, Mr. Death King, you’re the first person to be unaffected by one of our dreams,” the incubus confessed. “I find this very interesting. How did you know it was a dream with just one glance? Actually, how did you end up in this dream in the first place?”
“If you looked through my memories, you shouldn’t have a hard time figuring that out, don’t you think?”
The incubus kept glancing at me curiously. “Well, this is unusual, but your memories are hard to read. I can only glimpse at fragments. This is really unusual in many ways.”
I had a rough idea of what had happened.
It’s probably because of Dream Appearance.
This wasn’t my dream. I just used an item to enter the Shellmount captain’s mind. That was why the incubus could only read fragments of my mind.
A species that lives only within dreams.
It sounded mythical.
“Well, I guess your illusion doesn’t work because of my very strong willpower.”
“That’s odd. I don’t think that’s the issue...”
I turned around. “I get that you’re an interesting species, but why did you capture these innocent sailors and put them to sleep? If you keep this up, they’ll die of dehydration. Because of you, this ship has already become a ghost ship.”
The incubus hesitated. Seeing the Fire Emperor make such a face made my gastric juices want to flow in the opposite direction and harmonize with my phlegm.
It seemed he was an incubus for a reason. His muscles were an upgraded version of the Fire Emperor. The incubus’ shoulders were wider, and his chest was firmer. Perhaps I was imagining it, but I could see a halo behind him.
Annoying.
“Agh!”
When I came to my senses, I realized that my hand had a minor collision with the incubus’ cheek. I let out a soft gasp.
“What was that for?”
“It’s just that your face was asking to be slapped.”
“Didn’t you give me the order to take on the form of this animal?”
“Sorry. Anyhow, why did you hijack this ship?
The incubus stopped protesting and started to mumble again. “Umm... I’m not sure I’m allowed to tell you this. This is probably something that should remain confidential within our species.”
“Probably?”
“Yes, we had no idea there were animals living beyond the ocean, let alone how delicious they could be. So, after contemplating and discussing what to do for the past twenty-four years, we finally decided to invade your land. This isn’t the only ship we hijacked through dreams. All thirty-three ships crossing the ocean at the moment are under our control.
“We also put all the animals that trespassed our territory to sleep. The vanguard had already set sail ten days ago. We’re the second unit.”
Only then did I realize something was off.
Show me the quest window.
A hologram appeared before me, showcasing the quest that I had to complete on the thirty-fifth floor. I focused on the paragraphs below.
However, the New Continent is a new world only for the seven species. Other people are already living on that land.
A discord between adventurers and natives is about to erupt! Perhaps a one-sided massacre will occur. Will this exchange result in an invasion, coexistence, or banishment?
The seven species are in danger of annihilation. Guide them out of danger!
※If you fail to guide them, one or more species may be exterminated.
I see. It’s not the natives of the New Continent that are in danger.
The quest window clearly stated that it was the seven species that were in danger of annihilation.
My children could die!
The crisis of this era was the natives’ counterattack.
***
As soon as I woke up, I immediately told the Black Witch and Uburka what was going on. The more I told them, the more serious they became.
“I see. It’s completely different from what happened in our world,” the Black Witch muttered. “I was wrong. I thought the New Continent was getting invaded and its natives massacred. It makes sense. If the natives are stronger, it would be the other way around.”
“This isn’t a matter of strength, Uger. There are things in this world that a warrior cannot resist, regardless of their strength. One of them is sleep. Everyone needs to sleep.” Uburka frowned. “Concubi... Their species isn’t going to be easy to deal with.”
“Death King, you said the invasion has already begun, right?”
“Yes, Senior. They said the second unit has begun to parasitize the crew of ships that sailed ten days ago.”
“Is there any way for them to wake up voluntarily?”
“It’s up to the concubi. They deliberately make people experience their happiest dream so they can’t wake up, but they can just as easily give people nightmares so they’ll wake up early. Well, in my case, an incubus took the form of Raviel.”
“That’s dangerous.”
The rippling waves rocked the ship. None of the sailors opened their eyes.
“Although people may fight against misfortune, it’s difficult to resist happiness. If your dream could literally turn into reality, you wouldn’t want to escape even if that meant letting your physical body die.”
I nodded. “Yes, this will be the quietest massacre in history.”
The Black Witch clicked her tongue. “This is bad. Let’s make haste.”
“What about these sailors?”
“We can’t turn a blind eye on them.”
We tied up all thirty-two sailors with rope. From a distance, they looked like dried fish tied together[1]. Uburka grabbed the end of the rope, and the Black Witch held his hand tightly. He stared at her.
“Hmm? What is it, Junior II?” she asked.
“It’s nothing, Ugor,” Uburka answered and turned his head.
Huh? Is he...
I narrowed my eyes.
The Black Witch chuckled. “You’re silly. Teleportation!”
The Black Witch teleported thirty-five people in total. She and I were in our spirit forms, so we couldn’t use our Skills on someone else directly. However, Uburka, the Constellation of this world, served as our bridge. By holding his hand, the Black Witch could use her Skill on everyone.
“Good!”
After a successful Teleportation, the Black Witch’s eyes lit up brighter than before. The ocean breeze swept through her dark black hair.
“We’ll go to the New Continent like this. Hold on tight so you don’t fall behind!”
Uburka kept glancing at the Black Witch. She didn’t notice it at all because she was busy using Teleportation. Actually, she probably wouldn’t be able to understand a hobgoblin’s expression. It was difficult to tell the emotions of someone from a different species just by looking at their face.
Huuuuh?
But I could see it very clearly. I could even feel it. My romance radar, which had developed while sharing the romance of the century with Raviel, was beeping.
Is he really...?
We quickly arrived at a port, the village of the pioneers. Explorers, merchants, soldiers—every newcomer who crossed the ocean to the New Continent stopped by this village at least once.
We landed in the village square and looked around.
“It’s quiet,” I said.
Too quiet.
“The village doesn’t feel alive at all.”
Even though it was a fairly large village, I couldn’t hear any voices. Not only was there no sound, but I couldn’t even see a shadow of a single person walking down the streets.
The cold silence oppressed the air. It felt like a ghost village.
“Did the concubi already get them?” the Black Witch asked anxiously.
“Maybe. Let’s look around first.”
I entered a nearby building. As expected, everyone was asleep in their bedrooms.
“It seems like the invasion took place at night, when most of the people were asleep.”
The other buildings were in a similar situation. At least five hundred villagers were sleeping soundly.
“Most people are in bed. Only a few are down on bar floors or the streets. The concubi probably targeted them when they were most vulnerable.”
“Other pioneer villages—”
“Won’t be much different. The incubus said that he and his people had launched a large-scale invasion. It’s unfortunate, but quite a few people have already died from malnutrition. Once the concubi get to our children’s continent through the sailors, things will spiral out of our control.”
A plague of eternal sleep would strike the children on the continent before they could tell what happened to them.
“Maybe there are survivors the concubi haven’t gotten their hands on. I’ll take a quick look around other villages. Wait here.”
Without waiting for an answer, the Black Witch used Teleportation and disappeared. Some traces of her black aura remained and hovered where she had just been, leaving Uburka and me alone in the square. He blankly watched the spot where the Black Witch had been standing just moments ago.
Hmm. Yeah, I really think I’m right about this one.
I poked him in the arm. “Hey, Uburka.”
“Ugor. What is it, Daddy?”
“Do you have a crush on the Black Dragon Master?”
Uburka, a Constellation and the strongest warrior in the history of Terras, fell silent. He frowned, the corners of his mouth twitching. He was obviously blushing.
“Daddy, I think I've found my first love.”
1. Image ☜
