Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 19 - Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: The Dream’s End

Whimsical Dreality, Dreamland, Interior

Whimsical Dreality, Dreamland—the Superior Embryo belonging to ZZZ.

Its ultimate skill, Nightmare Kingdom—Dreamland, was an ability that switched the dreams and reality of its Master and any servants he included in the effect.

ZZZ had no knowledge of real dreams. Instead, he thought of them as nothing but an extension of reality. This aspect of him gave rise to an ultimate skill that placed the real body—the player’s HP—into the dream.

Anyone harmed in a dream could not be harmed in reality. Conversely—and through the same principles—the real body of anyone under the effect of this skill was immune to damage.

Though there was an SP limit tied to the number of, as well as additional costs for, extending the skill’s duration, those affected by this skill were invincible in reality. While they were within the dream, they would remain unharmed no matter what happened to their real bodies.

This was what was happening to Cardinal A—the servant of ZZZ now fighting as though it were nothing but its master’s limbs.

Its real body couldn’t be harmed even after April reduced its toughness to absurdly low levels. And as long as Cardinal A’s real body was in the dream, it would remain its guardian—its existence prevented the Thralls imbued with Dreamland from being exterminated, thus making it impossible for those sleeping to wake up.

On the other hand, even if someone within the dream fought with Cardinal A, that would do nothing to deal with the Thralls in reality, which would inevitably lead to their real bodies being destroyed by the Thralls. Someone trapped in the dream would have to somehow destroy all the Thralls in reality except Cardinal A, and then defeat Cardinal A inside the dream—which was simply impossible if they couldn’t somehow fight in both the dream and the real world simultaneously.

This was the primary reason that Overlord Acedia, ZZZ remained undefeated.

But now that April had exterminated the Thralls in reality, all of this would fall apart the moment Cardinal A was destroyed in the dream.

And as it happened, there was now someone in the Dreamland who was capable of doing just that.

◇◆

The deadly battle between Ray and Cardinal A had now become extremely taxing to both sides.

Ray’s right arm was still bleeding, and even more blood gushed out from countless wounds all over his body every time he swung his blades.

On the other hand, Cardinal A’s Mythical metal body was being carved open every time the axe of searing light struck it, molten metal flowing out as though it were the creature’s blood.

Silently, Sechs watched them fight.

He knew the background of this battle better than anyone else here. From the designs of the white axe, Sechs realized that it had a connection to the celebrated blade of Altar, while his observations of Overlord Acedia’s skill suggested to him that the job was related to The Evil.

He knew this because he had witnessed the powers of The Evil himself—namely, her ability to make monsters out of trees and stones—and felt that Overlord Acedia’s Thralls were far too similar to be a coincidence.

That, combined with his experience with the power of the Overlord Gula, whom he’d fought before—the ability to absorb the Resources of the dead—Sechs guessed that each one of the seven jobs in the Overlord series specialized in one aspect of the skills and traits belonging to The Evil. He figured that they were prototypes for The Evil, or perhaps the other way around.

With that in mind, this fight could be looked at as a clash between lesser versions of Sacred King and The Evil—a strange reflection of the battle that had been waged a few centuries ago.

Ray and ZZZ themselves were completely ignorant of this, but as an onlooker, Sechs saw all of this very clearly. Neither the Sacred King nor The Evil were that important to him, but he thought that there was value in gathering information about them for later.

Even if there wasn’t, he was beginning to develop an interest in Ray himself.

Thus, he continued to watch them from the sidelines.

This battle wasn’t the only thing Sechs was observing. He also had a full grasp of everything his head saw as Candy carried it, as well as whatever was around all of the tinier slimes he had split into.

He was processing so much visual information it would overwhelm any normal human.

Sechs was a slime and thus did not really have anything that could strictly be called a brain—but on the other hand, it could be said that his entire body constituted a brain.

Whether it was the years he’d spent inside Infinite Dendrogram or just a natural talent, over time Sechs’s mental faculties had diverged more and more from what was strictly “human.”

“...There you are.” And at that moment, one of his many visual points discovered something.

It was Overlord Acedia, ZZZ himself—the Master was inside his own Dreamland with them.

“I presumed you must be here somewhere,” Sechs mused. He had guessed that ZZZ would be inside his own dream—this would be the easiest way for him to explain his skill and use it within Dreamland.

And now, with his body dispersed across Dreamland, Sechs had finally found the Overlord that controlled it.

Currently, ZZZ was using the cloud-screens he’d been seen with earlier to watch the battle between Ray and Cardinal A. With all his attention on those screens, Sechs could easily kill him.

ZZZ was wearing a tapir costume, but it wasn’t clear if it offered him any protection, for nothing without a mind actually existed in Dreamland. But even if it did have a mind somehow and functioned as equipment inside the dream, Sechs would certainly be able to deliver a powerful enough attack to break through that. Catching ZZZ off guard and killing him was child’s play for Sechs.

However...I will wait a bit.

Despite that, Sechs chose not to assassinate ZZZ yet. That was because he had developed an interest in Ray and wanted to observe Ray’s battle a bit longer.

Sechs decided to postpone ZZZ’s death until that fight was concluded. Perhaps this was not the most rational choice—but if Sechs was a rational man, he wouldn’t have become King of Crime, nor would he have been sent to the gaol.

Sechs Würfel was someone who followed his heart—or searched for its desire—and this decision was simply the result of doing just that.

But...this is... After making his decision to keep watching, Sechs actually noticed that the battle had changed somewhat.

Ray was fighting just as he had been before. He used his instincts to evade his enemy’s attacks and fight back with the shining axe.

What had changed was Cardinal A’s movements. It was acting more and more meek—less aggressive. Despite being a temporary form of life similar to a golem, Cardinal A had become hesitant to attack—almost as though it was afraid of dying. At first it seemed as though the overpowering axe had somehow struck fear into its heart, but...

I see. This is certainly the most efficient way to fight.

Sechs had noticed what Cardinal A was doing and realized that this was something Ray couldn’t counter.

Ray, in Sechs’s estimation, would almost certainly lose.

“Hey, leader,” Gerbera whispered to the piece of Sechs that was currently observing the battle.

“What is it?”

“I’m just guessing here, but...” Gerbera spoke hesitantly and with little confidence, as if she was afraid that she’d guessed wrong. “Isn’t that thing just...buying time?”

Sechs said nothing in response at first. He didn’t show it, but he was actually impressed by what she’d said. It showed that she’d gotten to the point where she was observant enough to notice such things on her own.

“Buying time for what, do you think?” he asked.

“He’s fighting that thing because dying in the dream would give him the death penalty, but...” she said as she looked at Ray, still giving it his all, as she thought about what she’d realized—the reason why Ray was actually powerless against Cardinal A’s strategy. “That’s not the only way to get the death penalty here, right?”

◇◆◇

The Southernmost Edge of Altar, A Mountain Forest Near the Border

April instantly noticed the change in Cardinal A’s movements.

This was in addition to the many changes in its shape that had happened already.

Its left arm-blade was first broken, then completely shattered, and then the same happened to the tail-blade.

April’s attacks did nothing to it, but it was now breaking apart by itself.

This damage was the result of the destruction it had suffered in the dream, but it was accompanied by a change in its actions—more than the effect that the loss of limbs had on its movement.

Though it was still facing April, its focus seemed to be elsewhere.

Thralls had no need for eyes or anything of the sort to begin with. The poorly made mithril Thralls could sense their enemies despite not having any faces, and Cardinal A was no different in that regard—it could focus on something without even looking at it.

As a battle-hardened, combat-focused Prism Person, April noticed detail and waited to see what it would do next.

Was it targeting Sechs? Gerbera? Candy? April herself? She prepared to counter whatever was coming no matter what the creature attacked.

“G h e...” And so, Cardinal A took to action and fired its head-blade at the speed of sound to sever Silver’s legs.

The two Prism creations were overcome by surprise. The crimson blade that Cardinal A had fired was a kind of hidden weapon it had, and it truly fulfilled its purpose as a surprise attack.

Both April and Silver had been on guard, but there were no lumps of mithril that the creature could have used for the same kind of explosive ranged attack they already knew how to deal with, and Silver was outside its melee range, so they were both unable to counter this new assault.

On top of that, since Ray had suffered heavy damage in the dream just like Cardinal A, that made it even more difficult for Silver to take any intense evasive action.

And thus, the Mythical metal blade that flew toward Silver severed both of his left legs. Silver couldn’t actually fly, strictly speaking—he merely made platforms in the air that he galloped on like an ordinary horse would on land. Losing his legs on one side made it impossible for him to remain in the air, causing him to lose his balance and fall.

Despite that, he used Wind Hoof to create an air barrier to cushion the fall and minimize the damage on Ray. Thanks to that, Ray’s HP didn’t drop to 0 and his death penalty was prevented.

However, the loss of his legs had rendered Silver unable to move anymore—which of course made Ray an easy target as well.

“G h e g h e g h e...” Cardinal A charged toward them. It was obvious by now that its target had already changed. Before, it had been targeting Sechs—the most powerful one here—and April—who was protecting him—but now, it was completely focused on Silver.

Or, to be more precise, Ray’s unconscious body which was still clinging to Silver.

That was the realization that both Sechs and Gerbera had come to—the Thrall was now basically treating Ray as he’d been treating Sechs earlier.

Its usual strategy against strong opponents was focused on killing their helpless bodies. Once Ray received an overwhelming power, Cardinal A had given up on defeating him in the dream. The Thrall was still invincible in reality, so now that it had recognized him as the true threat, it had decided to kill Ray’s unconscious body there. For the Thrall, the battle in the dream had now been reduced to nothing but a way to buy time—and it was almost done now. Cardinal A’s surprise attack had stripped Silver and Ray of any mobility, making it impossible for them to escape.

April’s eyes widened as she considered the situation.

Back in pre-ancient times, her role was the protection of VIPs, so having to choose what to prioritize was an everyday thing for her. Her processors quickly analyzed the situation and came upon two possible actions: assisting her brother and his owner, and protecting her own owners.

Cardinal A was currently focused on Ray, but it actually didn’t have to do that. There was plenty of distance between Sechs’s group and Ray, so if April went to protect Silver and his owner, Cardinal A would no doubt go after Sechs instead.

Either way, the Thrall got what it wanted.

It would gladly kill its dreamscape opponent, and it had nothing against killing the other enemies while Ray was being protected. Regardless of whether April helped Ray or not, Cardinal A would be able to kill one of its owner’s enemies.

April ran her calculations, taking into consideration every aspect of the situation, and concluded that someone would die here. She had no choice but to protect her owners.

Ray’s group was cornered—they already had no chance of winning.

◇◆◇

Whimsical Dreality, Dreamland, Interior

Suddenly, Ray felt something strange on his right shoulder.

He was still evading Cardinal A’s attacks, but for some reason, he felt as if he’d just been hit by something blunt.

“Oh...I get it now.” Ray instantly realized that he was feeling damage his body had received in reality. He’d already noticed the change in Cardinal A’s actions and didn’t need much time to figure out that it had begun trying its hardest to kill him outside the dream.

That didn’t change what Ray planned to do, though.

He couldn’t wake up until Cardinal A was defeated, so his only option was to give his all to the fight that lay before him. He had to set aside the fear of being killed in a world he couldn’t see and fight in the world he could.

“RRRAAARRGHHH!” He roared and swung the shining axe as he closed the distance between him and Cardinal A. The creature moved to defend itself as though it were frightened by the attack.

The force of Ray’s swing with his left pulled him forward, so Nemesis supported him in his right hand to help him maintain balance. He managed to charge at Cardinal A without losing his footing, keeping Cardinal A close even as it tried to retreat to buy time.

“...G h e.” Ray’s unyielding, unbreakable charge filled the Thrall with panic.

However, the battle was as good as over. Cardinal A had already stripped Silver of any mobility, and it would kill Ray in less than a minute. That meant all it had to do was hold Ray off for that long.

“G h e...!” In order to do that, Cardinal A employed the same secret weapon that had severed Silver’s legs—the fireable head-blade.

The blade flew toward Ray as he tried to charge at it yet again. The surprise attack could surely have been fatal, but Ray’s instincts allowed him to evade it, however barely.

Still, it made him lose his footing.

Ray’s eyes widened as he raised the axe in his left hand, bracing for Cardinal A’s follow-up attack.

However, it never came.

In fact, the Thrall had put even more distance between them—it had actually turned away and was now running away from him.

Using all the AGI it had, it was speeding off on the dream-road toward the horizon like a startled rabbit.

In its mind, it would’ve been great if the surprise attack had actually hit—but even now that it hadn’t, it could use the distraction the attack had caused to run away.

That had been the actual purpose of the attack.

Even if Ray lost his balance, as long as he had the axe, there was still a chance that he would retaliate. But if it just ran away from him as it was doing now, the speed difference between them would make it impossible for Ray to catch up. Even if he used the same laser attack he had earlier, the Thrall could avoid it by just looking in the direction of the cannon.

Cardinal A had considered what was most likely to result in a victory and had chosen to buy time by running away. It was the kind of utilitarian conclusion that truly arose from a mind that was both living and inorganic—the mind of a Thrall.

Alas, it was a critical mistake.

“Nemesis, stop it halfway.”

“Form Shift—Shooting Wheel.” Nemesis responded to Ray’s words in an instant. Fixed to Ray’s right hand, she changed into her third form β—the Shooting Wheel.

At the same time, she sped up and began to spin.

It seemed like a meaningless action. The Shooting Wheel was a form focused on the ranged, homing counterattack called Payback Beyond the Stars. However, because of some trait of the Thrall or Dreamland itself, Cardinal A couldn’t add to Ray’s damage counter and thus couldn’t become the target of the skill. Because of this, Ray’s counterattack skills didn’t work against Cardinal A.

However, this Shooting Wheel seemed different.

Normally, the transformation from The Black Shield to the Shooting Wheel made the shield bloom like a flower or a star before taking on a shape similar to a windmill. But now, although its handle had grown, the Black Shield wasn’t open.

It looked as if it had failed to transform.

Ray then fixed his eyes on the enemy in the distance and touched the dream-road with the semi-transformed Shooting Wheel.

The next moment, Ray disappeared.

“...Huh?”

“Heh heh...” Gerbera lost sight of him, but Sechs had seen everything, so he chuckled.

“G h e?”

Cardinal A suddenly heard something behind it, and its eyes met Ray’s, who was quickly approaching it.

“G h e...?!”

The Thrall was overcome by shock. It had been certain that this opponent had no means to move that fast.

Its surprise only grew when it looked at down at Ray’s feet.

He was riding the Shooting Wheel.

The tip of the Shooting Wheel—the shield that was supposed to open up—was still closed and spinning at an immense speed.

Obviously, it couldn’t fire the shooting star in this state. But even though it was closed, it could still do the preparatory action for Payback—the spinning windup.

That turned the sixty second-long spin into a wheel and closed the distance between the two of them like an electric unicycle.

Effectively, it was now a vehicle that could deliver Ray right to Cardinal A at an incredible velocity.

“The fact that you can even think of such acrobatics is certainly something,” Nemesis said.

“I just looked at things from another perspective. There was one other thing that inspired it, though.”

The reason Ray could think of something like this on the spot was actually his first battle in that day’s Tournament.

Lang had a motorcycle-like Embryo that he’d used for high-speed stunts. That battle had put the idea of “fast, acrobatic movement on wheels” into the back of Ray’s mind—and in this battle, right when it counted, that thought came to the forefront and resulted in the ludicrous idea of “high-speed movement using the skill prep-stage Shooting Wheel.”

“You are a reckless sort,” said the axe.

“Well, this is simply how he is,” Nemesis replied. This really was an extremely dangerous thing to do, though. Ray’s right arm was already badly damaged, and it was possible that this ride would’ve torn it right off, and it wouldn’t be out of the question for the Shooting Wheel to end up dragging him straight through the dream-road, finally dealing enough damage to kill him.

However, Ray was able to ride it all the way despite this being his first time trying this kind of stunt.

This action truly showed part of what made Ray who he was, for the flair that could make him think of such moves on the spot was yet another one of his strengths.

“We’ll end it with the next one...! Raise your output as high as you can!”

“I shall.”

As time passed, the Shooting Wheel accelerated its spinning. Holding on to it, Ray gave the axe an order, and it instantly responded. “Give rise to power: a tenth for light—ten percent.”

The light on the axe became even brighter. Though it was limited to just the element of light, it now channeled a tenth of its output—the theoretical limit.

The light coming off the part of the axe clutched in Ray’s hand was absorbed by Monochrome, but it was now so intense that it burned Ray’s face and body without even touching him.

He still held on to it, however, and watched as the distance between him and his enemy closed.

Cardinal A began to panic as the beacon of heat powerful enough to utterly destroy it drew inexorably closer—but at the same time, it knew that victory was at hand.

Outside the dream, the real Cardinal A had approached Ray’s sleeping body before the Ray inside the dream had caught up. It had just broken through Silver’s final Wind Hoof barrier like it was paper.

Cardinal A now had the upper hand. In the dream, Ray’s axe would reach Cardinal A and defeat him in only about five seconds, but the real Cardinal A would kill Ray in no more than three.

However barely, Cardinal A would win this.

◇◆

“G h e g h e g h e!”

Silver faced Cardinal A as it swung its right blade toward his owner. The steed was trying to protect Ray, but his efforts were not enough to stop the blade.

It was already clear how this would end. Cardinal A, April, and Silver had taken into account everything they could see and calculated the outcome.

All of them had arrived at the same result—they’d seen no way to turn this around.

Thus...the situation was saved by something they couldn’t see.

Right before the final moment, Ray’s body—which was most certainly in the trajectory of the blade—slightly changed its position.

“...G h e?” The real Cardinal A’s blade cut through nothing but the air. Ray and Silver had moved out of the blade’s range as though something invisible had pushed them. Because of that, Cardinal A had sliced through nothing.

But despite there being nothing, there were bits of light scattering around.

It was as though it cut something invisible instead of Ray—as though this unseen thing had come to protect him.

◇◆

“G h e...?” The event made so little sense that Cardinal A briefly forgot itself in both the dream and reality.

Two seconds later, the pursuer caught up with the Thrall in the dream.

As Ray passed by the creature, still riding the Shooting Wheel, he swung his left hand and used the shining axe to split Cardinal A’s torso and head in one stroke.

Thus, the scarlet Thrall wrought of Mythical metal shattered without ever understanding or realizing why it failed and what it had overlooked.

◇◆

Ray and Cardinal A’s battle reached a conclusion.

Cardinal A’s real body was split by immense heat, then vanished from the world of dreams. Death had stripped it of its mind, making it lose its right to exist here.

Ray—now victorious—dismounted the Shooting Wheel, and fell to his knees. He was breathing raggedly, no doubt because of the fatigue and injuries.

Gerbera looked at him with a somewhat gloomy expression on her face. Then, she dropped her gaze to the back of her left hand.

Her Embryo was focused on stealth, so even her crest was invisible. She herself could see it, however, and for some reason she was staring at it now.

“...I see,” Sechs said as he looked at both of them and immediately understood exactly what had happened here.

The real Cardinal A’s attack had nearly reached Ray’s sleeping body, but Ray hadn’t died, and then something unexpected had made the Thrall freeze, giving Ray a chance to finish it.

Ray himself didn’t know what had protected him, and Cardinal A hadn’t understood what had come between it and its opponent either.

The only ones who did know were Gerbera and Sechs.

It wasn’t April—she would’ve prioritized protecting Sechs’s group even if Ray was at the risk of dying.

Thus, the thing that had protected Ray must have been Gerbera’s Alhazred—the Embryo that had remained in reality.

B-But my Alhazred is almost out of HP... I guess I’ll pull him out anyway...

It had happened when Ray had found Sechs’s group and they had all been attacked by Thralls. While Sechs and Candy had sensed the approaching horde and prepared to fight, Gerbera had also done what she could.

Half-dead though the Embryo may have been, she still had pulled Alhazred out of the crest.

He had been so damaged she hadn’t even made him fight the Thralls—but he’d still been there.

Soon after that, Cardinal A had blown up a mithril Thrall and spread Dreamland’s aura in every direction. This indiscriminate, wide-scale spread had obviously caught Alhazred as well.

Faint though it might have been, he was an Embryo with a mind of his own, which meant that he, too, should’ve been drawn into the dream.

However, he was a Superior Embryo specialized in stealth. He couldn’t be seen, heard, or felt.

That was why not even Dreamland had realized that it had touched Alhazred, and as a result had been unable to pull him into the dream. It simply hadn’t even noticed that he was there.

After that, Alhazred had simply stood by his sleeping Master. The Embryo had been left behind by the dream and remained in reality.

That was the reason why Gerbera was unable to use him in Dreamland.

However, when Sechs had told Gerbera his guess about Alhazred’s state—that, having been barred from the Dreamland, he was likely still nearby in reality—the situation had changed.

Knowing that he was out there, Gerbera called out to him from the dream and sent him a thought: “protect me.”

Normally, he could share his vision with her, but the barrier between the dream and reality prevented that. She couldn’t know what was happening in reality and could only give him the vaguest of orders, but Alhazred still did as he was told and stood ready to protect her if need be.

But then the order changed.

When Gerbera realized that Cardinal A had changed its strategy and was now trying to kill Ray in reality, she ordered Alhazred to “protect him” instead.

She might have done this unconsciously, but something within her had asked for this. Upon receiving the order, Alhazred moved to protect Ray.

The prison break had left Alhazred half-dead, so he didn’t have the power to fight Cardinal A—but he still did whatever he could to save Ray and Silver from the Thrall’s attack—to fulfill his Master’s command.

“Hmm.” Sechs was in the dream, so he obviously hadn’t actually seen any of this. However, he understood what had happened when he saw Gerbera looking at her crest.

She’d sacrificed her Embryo to protect someone else.

This was something that neither the old Gerbera nor the Gerbera that had received Sechs’s guidance would have ever done.

That meant that something had happened during the brief time she’d spent here in the dream that had an effect on her. She’d been influenced enough that she no longer wished for Ray to be defeated in this way.

The influence he has on other people may be even greater than Shu’s, Sechs thought, wondering about the degree to which they themselves may have been influenced in return. Anyway...

However, there was something Sechs had to do first.

The battle was over, but they were still in Dreamland. Though the Thralls binding them to the dream were gone, they could now do nothing but wait until they woke up naturally.

After all, you couldn’t wake from a nightmare by just wishing for it or struggling fruitlessly.

It would be quickest if April woke them up, but it didn’t seem like she was doing that yet.

However, they couldn’t stay here for much longer——it was possible that a second wave of Thralls could come before they woke up. For all they knew, more Thralls might already be on their way.

Time to kill Overlord Acedia and escape this Dreamland, Sechs thought, moving his focus to the piece of himself that he was hiding near ZZZ.

He would use the element of surprise to deliver a fatal attack, and that would be the end of this. Though a great many unforeseen things had happened since his escape, that would return everything to its expected course.

They would kill Overlord Acedia, wake up, and leave before Ray realized who they were. Then, they would pass by the defeated Overlord’s territory and move to the east of the continent while avoiding contact. And if they could meet Rascal’s group in Caldina, they’d be in the clear.

“Hm...?” As Sechs pictured what would happen next, he was overcome by a strange feeling.

Actually, it wasn’t the feeling itself that was strange. He’d experienced it many times here and even in the gaol.

However, he hadn’t felt it once while in this dream.

It was...

“Wind...?”

...the feeling of air flowing across his skin.

The air in the dream had been completely still the entire time, but it had suddenly begun to move.

The source of this wind was the thing in Ray’s hand—Nemesis. Even now after they’d chased down and defeated Cardinal A, the Shooting Wheel was still spinning.

The windmill that had been closed for his victorious ride against the Thrall was now blooming like a flower.

“Is he actually...?!” Sechs suddenly realized what Ray was about to do.

Ray wasn’t done yet. He might’ve beaten Cardinal A, but in his mind, the fight was still ongoing.

There was still the enemy who’d actually contributed to his damage counter—Overlord Acedia, ZZZ.

They were up against someone who’d sent a horde of Thralls after them. It was naive to think that nothing else was coming just because they’d defeated the one unique monster they’d encountered.

Thus, Ray was now preparing to defeat the Overlord.

He’d come upon the same idea as Sechs, and as damaged as he was, Ray was in no condition for any more prolonged fights. Instead, he decided to use something that would end it right away.

“Payback...”

The acceleration of the spinning blades topped out, and they reached their highest speed. And so, for the first time since the battle against the Hell General, the shooting star prepared to fly once more.

This was the power Ray and Nemesis had created to reach things too distant for them, as well as the strongest attack currently possessed by the Maiden of Vengeance, Nemesis.

The Shooting Wheel wasn’t a wheel that blazed on the road...

“...Beyond the Stars.”

...but a star speeding through the heavens.

Nemesis became a star moving close to the speed of sound and arced through the clouded dreamscape.

The total damage Ray had suffered at the hands of Cardinal A was easily above 50,000. It was far greater than Ray’s current HP—a volume of built-up damage so great it would’ve killed him if he hadn’t used healing magic.

The overwhelming speed it provided was now propelling Nemesis through the world of dreams. She followed her damage counter and went directly toward its source. Her eyes didn’t help here, but her unique sense was showing her the way.

The target was, of course, Overlord Acedia, ZZZ.

He was the one who’d sent the Thralls—his limbs—and was thus the true source of the damage inflicted upon Ray.

Just like Sechs, Ray had also realized that using skills in this dream would require ZZZ himself to be here too.

That was why he figured that Payback would be able to reach him.

“There you are!”

Nemesis finally caught sight of the man clad in a tapir suit. However, ZZZ himself also noticed the enemy flying toward him and immediately responded with a skill.

“...Sleepwalking.” This was the ability that allowed him to control his army’s position within the dream. It was what he’d used to send out Cardinal A, and now he used it to place himself far away from Nemesis. Though it had a long cooldown and only worked within the dream, it was a teleportation skill that let him change positions as he wished.

Using it had placed ZZZ at the point in the Dreamland that was farthest away from both the piece of Sechs and Nemesis. Dreamland had a limited size, but it still put him dozens of kilometels away.

“That should do it,” ZZZ muttered. He didn’t know anything about Ray and Nemesis, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to show many of her powers in the battle against Cardinal A. He obviously didn’t know how Payback worked, but its homing range was limited to just a tenth of the total damage counter. The range of this flight was just about 5,000 metels, and now that the distance had increased, Payback couldn’t reach him anymore.

ZZZ had made the right move...

“...Still coming after me, huuuhh?”

...or at least, he would have, if this hadn’t been a dream.

5,000 metels. 10,000 metels.

Nemesis surpassed her maximum range and continued flying.

The reason for this was simple—this was a dream.

It was the same principle that had allowed Sechs to spread his divided body without limit—in a dream, the concept of distance simply didn’t exist, though it was unclear if this was just a general property of dreams or because none of them had actually moved in reality.

However, ironically enough, this facet of the dream worked against its own Master.

“You will not escape me this time...!” Nemesis continued to chase after ZZZ. She flew without limit, following the source of the damage counter, not slowing down her spin one bit.

Eventually, she had ZZZ in her sight once again.

“Found agaiiinnn...” ZZZ drawled, realizing he couldn’t escape a second time. Sleepwalking could only be used on the same target after a 30 minute cooldown. If it didn’t have such a limitation, he would’ve used it to support Cardinal A when it had tried to run away to buy time.

The cooldown applied to ZZZ himself as well.

Overlord Acedia also had some of the lowest stats in the Overlord series of jobs. All but a few of his stats were below Cardinal A’s, and he had no hope of evading the coming attack.

ZZZ let out a sigh and looked at Nemesis as she flew toward him. Then, he raised up his arms to cover his head and heart.

“Dreamland...” He spoke to his Embryo—this very space itself.

And right when he was about to deliver an order, the Shooting Wheel pierced into the arm covering his head.

The very next moment, the tripled damage from Payback was delivered upon him.

The pure damage flowing into ZZZ’s right arm was starting to shatter it, when...

“Self-destruct.”

...he finally issued his final order.

At that moment, Dreamland lost its color. It lost its sound...and was finally undone.