Episode 32. The Dream Forest Trial (1)
“Kuaaaah!”
Participants were dragged into the pond with screams from unknown sources.
The ground I was standing on suddenly disappeared and darkness enveloped all around me. It was a darkness that felt like it was suffocating me.
Some participants struggled as they were left helpless and breathless. However, no matter how hard they struggled, they could not stop sinking into the darkness.
The participants could not make a sound, but all the words they uttered with their mouths moving in pain were conveyed to the dream spider.
“You’re whining for help! How noisy!”
The dream spider brought its grotesquely distorted eyeballs to Kun. The image of Kun struggling and tearing at his own neck was reflected in the eyeballs.
“Hmm. Remember what you said about tearing me apart.”
I read Kun’s reaction as he twitched his lips and glared.
“The prospective assassins who will pile up the deaths of others in the future. The trials haven’t even started yet. This is just a fanfare to announce the start of the trials.”
There’s just a little more left before this suffering ends.
Then the dream spider found the only contestant who wasn’t struggling.
“I thought you passed out… but you didn’t?”
Although he was being dragged deep into the water, Rubin just crossed his arms. Eventually, he opened his closed eyes and glared at the dream spider.
‘Isn’t this enough? I wish we could just start over.’
Rubin’s thoughts were passed on to the dream spider as is.
“Sometimes there are guys who act like that.”
One of the dream spider’s legs hovered around Rubin.
“If I kill one of the contestants, do you think your family heads will even say a word of protest?”
The dream spider and the assassin swordsman had a kind of contractual relationship, not a superior-subordinate relationship. Rubin was not unaware of this.
‘If the contract is broken, the existence of this forest will also be revealed to the world.’
The dream spider’s eyes changed color for a moment.
“Ah, you were a participant of the Roinenga. I can’t help but be arrogant, just like my mother. Even in the agony of drowning, you still stretch out.”
At those words, Rubin uncrossed his arms.
‘Drowning? Hey, I’m not fooled. I knew I was standing on top of a pond all along.’
“Hmm, what a strange fellow. Let’s see how long he survives the test.”
At those words, the deep, deep darkness that had surrounded them ended.
The surroundings changed again. The children who had been dragged under the pond had returned to the surface of the pond at some point.
All the other children, except Rubin and Kun, lost their balance and fell to the floor.
“Haaah… . Haa… … .”
“Ugh.”
The children were gasping for breath. They were feeling their necks to make sure they weren’t dead.
“Ugh, this is so different from what I know.”
Hamilton said with difficulty.
It couldn’t be otherwise. She also knew about the existence of the dream spider through prior information. She also knew that it spreads dreams and enchants. However, that doesn’t mean that the dreams can be broken at any time.
“It’s starting now, so everyone get ready.”
Up until now, it was just a prank by the dream spider. The real test was from now on.
At Rubin’s words, Hamil, who was on the floor, got up and looked around cautiously. The same goes for Kun and Blaine, who are on either side of Rubin.
Rubin has also completed all preparations.
And then.
‘It has begun.’
In an instant, the pond where the participants had been standing disappeared again. A short, loud whoosh sound rang out, and the location changed in an instant.
‘Here.’
Rubin looked around. They were now standing in a hallway of some building. It was a spacious and clean hallway.
The floor was covered in tiny checkered patterns that were so small it hurt the eyes. The participants looked down at the floor and frowned.
“Where is this place?”
“Ugh, look at the floor. I feel dizzy.”
When a hallway appeared out of nowhere, the participants reacted with bewilderment.
There didn’t seem to be any particular danger.
Hamil, who is biting his lips and looking around cautiously, and Kun, who is still trembling as if he is still angry at the dream spider.
Rubin observed another contestant, a member of the Reincrocchi family.
‘The first order is the same as before the regression, which is Reincroquis.’
According to Rubin’s memory, this was the mansion of the Reincroquis. Of course, it wasn’t real. It was a virtual space created by the dream spider that penetrated Reincroquis’ mind.
“They say the second selection is a test of dreams.”
Rubin nodded at Hamilton’s words.
“Or call it the test of fear.”
A spider’s thread was wrapped around each participant’s wrist like a bracelet. The bracelet explored the participant’s inner self and analyzed what fears were contained within.
And that is how the testing center was born.
“Ugh.”
In the changed location, Raincroquis was looking unusually disheveled. He shook his head while trembling.
When he was about three years old, Reincroquis became the plaything of his mischievous older brothers in a room with a prominent checkered pattern.
The memory is not clear, but the fear is engraved deep in the heart. And it becomes bigger than reality, and it manifests in a very bizarre way.
“…Scissors, scissors cut my finger!”
“What are you talking about, you little punk?”
Kun frowned at Reincroki’s muttering. The next moment, Kun’s face crumpled even more and he shouted.
“What the f*ck is that!”
At that moment, a pair of sharp scissors flew towards Kun from across the hallway, legs spread apart.
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Although it was a surprise attack, it was not a threat. Kun simply turned his body and dodged the scissors.
“Tch, how petty.”
Then, sharp scissors flew towards the other contestants. Rubin also leisurely dodged the pouring scissors.
“Euuuuu.”
Raincroki started to sob.
‘It wasn’t just scissors.’
According to Rubin’s memory, Reincrocchi’s fear at this time was grotesquely transformed.
Whatever his brothers did to the three-year-old, Reincrocki’s latent fear gave birth to a creature that did not exist in this world.
Kiriririk, kiririirik.
Across the hallway, something appeared in the darkness.
The strangely shaped scissors made a terrifying sound as their blades clanked together. The real problem was that they were not small enough to fit in a person’s hand.
It was about the size of an adult dog. A large pair of scissors floating in the air was aiming towards me, clashing their blades like crazy.
There are dozens of them.
Soon the scissors started to rush at me like wild dogs.
‘But the first order will be over soon. Raincroquis won’t be able to endure it.’
If the master of fear fails to overcome and allows limitations, the sequence ends. This was the rule of this test.
Rubin was still relaxed. The raincroki would soon collapse. He was weak-hearted and could not even last five minutes before returning.
“Save me, save me!”
Finally, Reincroquis screamed like crazy. Then, his whole body was cut and slashed by large scissors.
“Eww!”
With the final scream, the surroundings changed in an instant. With a loud whoosh, the hallway they had been in disappeared.
“… … ?”
Before they knew it, the children were back on the black pond. The children who had been frantically avoiding the scissors were all in a dazed state due to the sudden change in scenery.
“Looks like the bad guy got eliminated.”
As Kun said, there is one less participant on the black pond.
Raincroki, who had been screaming until just a moment ago, was probably caught in a spider web and carried to where the owners were.
“Could he be dead?”
Hamilton asked nervously. He saw his entire body being cut up with large scissors right before his eyes. The blood splattering everywhere was vivid as if it were real.
“No. I’m not dead. This is the Forest of Dreams. Of course, the pain of having my entire body cut off must have been real.”
It was Blaine who had remained silent the whole time who answered like this. She carefully placed her hand on her left shoulder, where the burn was deepest.
“This is a test to find your fears, your fears that lie deep within you.”
The children were making a fuss. Kun, unable to stand it any longer, glared and shouted.
“Hey, you! If you’re going to squirm like that kid a little while ago, get back. It’s too noisy.”
“Everyone, don’t let your guard down. The next turn will begin soon.”
It was Hamill who was comforting the children. As she was doing so, she secretly observed Rubin. While the other participants were confused by the new situation, Rubin seemed strangely calm.
‘A test to face fear.’
Surviving and overcoming the fears that are deep inside you. How you act in the face of your fears alone can tell you something about your qualities as an assassin.
Are you afraid, are you trying to run away, or are you trying to fight and overcome?
Dream Spider will do his best to test and filter out the children according to the contract.
‘Of course, that’s from the dream spider’s point of view.’
Rubin also had something to gain from this test. Hamil, Kuhn, Blaine. The three kids who took the test. Among them… … .
Then again, a brief sound of change echoed through the surroundings.
Whoosh.
Vast meadows. Green land. Warm sunlight. Just looking at the scenery made me feel like I was on a picnic with a packed lunch.
The kids who had overcome the first test did not relax. They only thought about the danger that would soon come. Rubin held onto the vague memory.
‘This is the fear of Calcred.’
Kalkrid was accidentally trampled by a horse’s hoof when he was two years old. Fortunately, his advanced healing magic prevented any physical damage, but the fear from that moment was deeply engraved in him.
Horse hooves poured down before our eyes. Kalkrid’s distorted fear materialized and engulfed everyone.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Participants in the green meadow had to throw their whole bodies to avoid the horseshoes that suddenly poured down from the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Tch, how annoying!”
The one who finished this sequence was none other than Kun. As soon as Kun realized that this sequence was about Kalkrid’s fear, he immediately took action.
“Huh! What the hell is this?”
Kalkrid, who was focused solely on dodging the hooves pouring down from the sky, was letting his guard down against the other participants.
Kun didn’t miss that opportunity. He rushed at Kalkrid and grabbed the back of his neck. Then, he threw Kalkrid towards the direction where the giant horse’s hoof was coming down.
“What the heck. This is how I win!”
Kalkrid, who was thrown into the air, was trampled by a horse’s hoof and was buried in the ground.
There would be no scars, but the pain would be vivid. He lost consciousness, vomiting blood along with the pain of his body being crushed. At the same time, all the horse hooves disappeared without a trace.
“Shouldn’t everyone be thanking me? I rushed and finished it.”
“Kun said to the other contestants with a grin. Hamil frowned and shook his head, and Rubin shrugged.
‘Kun throwing away Kalkrid is no different from before the regression.’
The second test ended early, but the atmosphere among the children had become somewhat strange. They had all realized the ‘new solution’ that Kun had personally shown.
‘You just have to find the master of fear and eliminate him.’
By now, everyone must be thinking the same thing. Even the little camaraderie that remained among the participants began to fade.
From now on, not only the dream monsters, but also the other participants had to be considered as equal enemies.
The children returned to the black pond again. Now the third turn was about to begin.
The children, who had learned how to survive in the meantime, looked at each other warily. Who would be next? They revealed a subtle hostility.
“The order of this test is in order of decreasing fear level. That means it gets harder as you go on.”
Hamil looked at Blane with eyes that asked for agreement. Blane nodded silently. No one objected to Hamil’s words, since they matched the information provided by each of the heads of the households.
“I have no fear or anything. Of course it will just pass, right?”
“Kun said, grumbling.
But that’s impossible. The other kids also admitted that Kun’s fears would come out at the very end, but they didn’t believe that Kun wouldn’t have a turn.
Hamilton pointed that out sarcastically.
“Kun, there is no one who does not have fear in their heart.”
“That’s what fearful kids say. I don’t have that kind of thing, you coward.”
“You’ll see. Just don’t pee your pants when it’s your turn.”
Kuhn responded immediately to Hamilton’s provocation.
“Even if that happens, at least, Hamill, you won’t see my turn. You know why? Because I’ll attack you whenever I get a chance.”
Hamilton didn’t back down and fought back hard.
“Really? I’ll look forward to it. Anyway, what are you afraid of? Maybe it’s Master Rubin. Do you remember? Of course you do. After all, you were treated so badly by Master Rubin two years ago.”
“What, you little shit?”
Nothing enraged Kun more than the fact that he had failed to defeat Rubin. Unable to bear it any longer, Kun tried to attack Hamil.
However, fighting while not in a dream state is strictly prohibited. If you break that rule, there is no way to know what the dream spider will do. In the end, Rubin had no choice but to stop the two.
“Hamil! Kun! If you fight while not in a dream state, you may both be eliminated. You already know this because you heard about it in advance.”
“Tch.”
“…I’m sorry, Master Rubin.”
The children returned to their respective seats. Soon a dreary wind blew, creating small ripples in the black pond. It was the signal for the third turn.
Whoosh.
The third order was the fear of the Galliotrick family participants. But this order ended in a trivial way as well.
Following the Galliotrick, which was imprinted with a fear of lightning, this time the participants were tormented by striking lightning.
Galliotrick was unable to overcome his fear and his movements were not very good.
Soon after, he was hit directly by a lightning bolt, and his turn ended in a burning pain all over his body. It was such an easy turn that Kun didn’t even have to move.
“No contestant has survived their turn yet.”
“Because the three guys before were all jerks. Aren’t they, Rubin?”
Rubin didn’t respond.
‘If things go as planned, it’s my turn next.’
Before the return, Rubin’s fear was of the fourth order. This also meant that the size and nature of the fear were so poor that it was only the fourth.
Rubin recalled his memories before his return. The fear he felt from his two older brothers, Dorian and Mafis, who despised him.
‘You couldn’t even endure such a small fear?’
The result of such a miserable elimination was 6th place. He could not overcome the two monster-like brothers. At that time, the one who grabbed the small and weak Rubin and threw him at the two monsters was none other than Kun.
‘This time it’ll be different. I don’t know what’ll come out when it’s my turn.’
It was clear that it wasn’t Kun or the two brothers. And whatever it was, I was confident that I could overcome it easily.
Rubin is a regressor who has been given a second life. Unlike other children, he has 30 years of memories from his past life and new experiences after being reborn.
‘Still, the future will change little by little.’
It was as Rubin had expected. A new sequence began with a whoosh. It was definitely not Rubin’s.
Kun screamed with a face of unprecedented surprise at the scenery that changed magically.
“Hey, what the hell is this!”
