Chapter 83 - Episode 12. Path of the Abyss (4)
Chapter 83: Episode 12. Path of the Abyss (4)
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Her voice sounded as though it held a million schemes.
Jaehwan walked to the center of the room where Sirwen stood. A hatch in the ceiling opened, and an iron contraption descended with a loud rattle.
What was that?
Jaehwan eyed the device suspiciously.
It was shaped like a cross.
It even had restraints designed to bind someone in place. At a glance, it looked exactly like a torture device.
Sirwen gently ran a fingertip along the device. “A tool that will help us become one.”
“...Become one?”
“I explained it earlier. Squeeze!”
Squeeze.
Taken literally, it meant to wring something out. To dream demons, though, the word carried a metaphorical meaning.
Forcibly linking souls to wring out a target’s memories.
That was what a Squeeze truly was.
“You cannot call yourself a dream demon until you have tried Squeeze at least once.”
Normally, dream demons whose inspiration had run dry often resorted to Squeeze.
It allowed them to condense and experience not only someone’s memories, but their emotions and realizations as a whole. After a single Squeeze, dream demons would not have to worry about running out of ideas for quite some time.
Of course, grabbing just anyone and performing a Squeeze would not make ideas pour out endlessly.
To think my first partner would be this guy.
Sirwen watched Jaehwan climb onto the cross, her eyes tense. Even after living for two thousand years, Squeeze was unfamiliar to her. She belonged to the anti-Squeeze faction, which believed that stealing others’ experiences through indiscriminate Squeezes violated the spirit of art.
Most dream demons, naturally, did not care in the slightest about the ethics of Squeeze. The guilt of wringing out another being’s soul? Ethics of the soul? Why should they care? Ethics would not build a tower for them.
“Do I just lie here?”
“Yeah.”
Sirwen’s expression grew complicated as she watched Jaehwan settle onto the cross. Dream demons were a species that revered the mind over the body, which made this all the more unsettling. A Squeeze meant perfectly connecting one’s mind to that of a complete stranger.
Ha. What a stupid thought.
As Sirwen fastened the restraints around Jaehwan’s arms, she shook her head without realizing it. Jaehwan asked, “Why are your hands shaking?”
“Shut up. I’m starting.”
“Hurry up.”
His composure somehow hurt Sirwen’s pride, and she pressed her lips together.
Let’s see if you can keep acting so relaxed once the Squeeze begins.
Squeeze was an incredibly painful process.
More accurately, it was painful for the target, not the caster.
The next moment, dozens of tentacles extended from Sirwen’s soul. They drifted through the air like seaweed lost in a current, then suddenly lunged at Jaehwan like beasts that had found their prey.
Thudududuk!
Countless tentacles pierced his soul.
A horrible sound, like flesh being torn apart, rang through the room as Jaehwan’s soul was pierced beyond recognition.
Yet for some reason, it was Sirwen, not Jaehwan, who cried out.
“Ah, ngh?”
Then the Squeeze began.
She had expected it when Eight Gates of Hell broke last time, but Jaehwan’s mental energy far surpassed anything she had imagined.
Kwaaaaaaah!
Memories rushed through the tentacles like a waterfall. There was no way a single human being should have contained this much.
“Urgh...!”
Sirwen struggled to stay conscious. If she were swept away by this tidal wave of memories, there was no telling what would happen. She might be trapped inside Jaehwan forever. Even if she somehow escaped safely, she could be left with lasting aftereffects for the rest of her life.
Stay focused.
Her consciousness was pulled in at once, and her breathing grew ragged. Sirwen desperately pushed through the waves of memories.
Ding. Ding.
Something rang inside her head.
Then, after some time had passed, an intense sensation pierced through Sirwen’s entire body.
The feeling of being connected.
When she opened her eyes again, Sirwen was inside a vast universe. Boundless darkness. Stars too numerous to count.
An explosive thrill consumed her whole body. A sensation she had never experienced before filled her anew. Excitement made her tremble.
The other dream demons had been right.
Whenever Sirwen saw dream demons describing Squeeze in exaggerated, ecstatic terms, she had never believed them. They called it paradise, a pleasure far more intense than sex.
To Sirwen, they had been nothing more than vulgar, lowly hedonists. One dream demon had even once told her this.
“Hahaha! You, who have opposed Squeeze for two thousand years, will never understand. How should I put it? It feels like comprehending all creation.”
Now, to her frustration, Sirwen felt she understood those words.
Once she experienced it herself, none of those descriptions were enough. She had been arrogant, and a being was far too vast a thing.
A single being was a single world.
Her soul, accepting a new world, was steeped in ecstasy.
So this was the inside of an Awakened One.
A universe covered in endless darkness. Countless stars of memory, and the stories those stars gave off.
Sirwen continued exploring Jaehwan’s universe, struggling not to be pulled into the gravity of a star.
Do not go too deep. If I am not careful, I will fall into the Uncanny. Read only the memories about Godfather, then get out quickly.
Squeeze was that dangerous. There was a reason dream demons before and after Squeeze were described as different beings.
Anyone who intensely experienced another world would continue to be strongly affected by that world in some way.
It was also fairly common for dream demons to fall in love with their targets after a Squeeze.
Her breathing became labored, and her body kept growing hotter.
A typical side effect of Squeeze.
The energy of a new world stimulated her. Her world was meeting Jaehwan’s world and resonating with it.
The reproduction of worlds. An explosive outpouring of emotion.
Sirwen desperately tried to restrain herself as she moved through Jaehwan’s universe.
Godfather, Godfather... Please. Ah?
Then something caught Sirwen’s eye. A planet that seemed to have formed relatively recently stood out to her. A sensation that was deeply familiar and dearly missed seized her.
There was no doubt.
This was her godfather’s presence.
Without hesitating, Sirwen moved toward the planet. At the same time, countless waves of memories crashed over her again.
Aah!
Tears gathered at the corners of Sirwen’s eyes as pain, as though her soul were being crushed, engulfed her. She felt that she was almost there.
Godfather!
Her godfather, Mulack Armelt.
One of the Great Thirteen Masters.
A legendary dream demon who had constructed towers that would remain in 《Great Realm》 history before he was even a thousand years old. Every tower he built afterward had received endless praise from the Dream Demon Association and the monthly publication 《T.O.P. (Tower of Power)》.
“Soon, ‘regression’ will become popular, so how about building a tower about ‘regression,’ Sirwen?”
“Regression has fallen out of fashion now, so make a tower centered on a classic adventure. The Cultivators will surely like it.”
She still clearly remembered the prophetic insight he displayed, as though he knew the future.
That was why Sirwen could not understand.
Whether in imagination or Combat Power, Mulack ranked among the strongest in the 《Great Realm》. Even beings of the 《Abyss》 should not have been able to harm him.
Yet he had disappeared without saying a word to her, his daughter.
And nine hundred years had passed.
Godfather!
At last, Sirwen encountered traces of her godfather.
But why?
She could not approach the memory of her godfather right before her eyes. It felt like she had entered a sea where she could not move forward no matter how hard she swam.
An ominous feeling washed over her. Sirwen turned around.
There was no sound in the vacuum, but if there had been, deafening explosions would have filled the air. Strange rocks flew through space, drawing brilliant tails behind them.
A storm of meteors was bearing down on her.
Aaaaaaah!
Fragments struck the back of Sirwen’s head, and she was swept into the meteor shower. Mulack’s memories, which had been so close, vanished beyond a distant nebula.
Her body was tossed helplessly within the storm.
Kugugugu.
Amid thick dust, Sirwen realized that her body had returned to a place with gravity. Her vision swayed. She shook her dizzy head and rose to her feet.
She had landed deep inside some planet.
Damn it. I fell into the 《Uncanny》.
She instinctively realized it.
If the Tree of Illusion had the 《Abyss》, then a being’s inner self had the 《Uncanny》.
A place commonly called the valley of the unconscious.
Mulack had once told her about it.
He said that every illusion in the world had been created with the 《Uncanny》 as its motif.
The source of all illusions.
Its formal name was Uncanny Valley.
...I need to find a Guide.
There was only one way to escape the Uncanny, the realm of the unconscious.
Find the Guide, the sole consciousness within the unconscious realm, who knew the path out.
Sirwen quickly took in her surroundings. She had fallen into the middle of a city. Tall buildings that seemed vaguely familiar. Dark gray asphalt roads.
Some people passing by glanced at Sirwen’s pink hair. Voices from people looking at her suspiciously could be heard from all around.
“Did that woman just fall from the sky?”
“What? No way.”
...People?
Wait. This place...
To her surprise, this was a planet she knew.
It was a world famous among dream demons by word of mouth. Even Sirwen’s fashion came from World 294.
Dream demons traveling along the roots of the 《Tree of Illusion》 would sometimes visit this place for amusement. It was a world that had not been discovered by Cultivators for quite some time because older dream demons had desperately protected it.
World 294, Earth.
The Uncanny was structured around the target’s homeland.
I see. That guy was from Earth.
At least it was fortunate that she was wearing clothes fashionable in World 294.
Act naturally.
The ruler of the Uncanny was the unconscious itself. If it discovered that she was an outsider, the entire world of the unconscious would become hostile toward her.
A world that rejected what was unfamiliar.
That was the Uncanny.
Sirwen calmly blended into the crowd.
The topics people discussed everywhere caught her attention.
“Getting a job after graduating from a no-name college is killing me.”
“Hey, you think Seoul schools have it any better?”
Talk about daily life.
“I do not know when I will ever finish paying off my loans.”
“I have put off going back to school for ages because of tuition.”
Talk about money.
“Some people are born with silver spoons. They can eat and play all they want, study abroad, then come back to a job handed to them through connections. Others study themselves to death, get into college, and barely end up as entry-level workers.”
“Still, keep trying. If you wait, an opportunity will come someday.”
Talk about effort.
“Wow, look at her. She’s seriously something else.”
“Should I go talk to her?”
Talk from people glancing at Sirwen herself.
Amid the flood of conversations she heard everywhere, Sirwen had little trouble grasping what the world called Earth was like.
A class society formed around capital and power.
It was not strange. Every world had a class system. The only difference was whether it was visible or concealed.
Watching the noisy Earthlings, Sirwen clicked her tongue inwardly.
Maybe the 《Great Realm》 are better. The humans there are open about it, but at least they are not deceitful.
That was when it happened.
“Move!”
A small child wearing a cap pulled low over their face ran toward her from the distance. The child looked full of urgency, as though fleeing from something.
Sirwen casually moved aside to avoid colliding with the child, but her eyes flashed.
The child’s face, briefly visible beneath the cap, resembled someone.
Sharp eyes. Stubbornly pressed lips.
“Ah?”
Sirwen reached out without thinking. The instant her fingertips brushed the child’s shoulder, a jolt of electricity ran through her entire body.
“Ghk!”
No being that was not made entirely of consciousness could emit such a powerful mental signal.
And that face.
There was no mistake.
A Guide!
Sirwen quickly turned toward where the child had run. Yet people faster than her were already chasing after the child.
“You little brat! Stop right there!”
Men in blue uniforms. Shouts of “Police!” rang out from all around. The crowd murmured noisily.
“Looks like another child has appeared.”
“Tsk, tsk. Still remaining a child? How foolish.”
“Throw that brat in jail already!”
It was a conversation she could not understand.
What crime was there in existing as a child?
At that moment, a chilling shudder crawled up Sirwen’s spine.
She slowly looked around.
Then looked again.
And realized it.
There were no children anywhere.
A world where everyone was an adult.
There was something wrong with this world.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion