Episode 533 Rip Van Winkle (2)
Zero Order sat quietly in his seat.
A quiet room without people.
In front of Zero Order, who was sitting on the sofa, was a small wooden table and a chessboard.
The chessboard was different from the typical ones found on the market.
The pieces on the board were made up of black and white, but the location was central, and the chessboard did not have a black-and-white grid pattern.
However, anyone who knows about the current situation will be able to guess that that plate symbolizes something.
Dreamland, a world of unconsciousness and dreams.
The plate was largely divided into upper, middle, and deep layers.
This is a simplification because if you break it down into details, it becomes much more complicated than that.
“Almost the entire upper floor collapsed.”
Zero Order used the stick in his hand to push the black pawns gathered in the upper layer towards the middle layer.
“Because Nirva had a hand in it, the middle layer is probably being eaten away from the top.”
To attract guests to my house, I set fires from the front door to the garden.
Since I couldn’t go outside, I had no choice but to head inside the mansion to avoid the fire.
Crazy things you do to invite guests.
But at the same time, it was also the most certain method.
“The broken yard and front gate will be able to be repaired quickly.”
Zero Order placed five white pieces in the middle layer.
A descendant of Nirva’s dreams.
Although it can only appear in Dreamland, the members who appear there are very powerful beings.
Although its power is less than that of an apostle, it has similar characteristics and can even handle dreams, the energy of Dreamland.
Even if he was an apostle, he was not sure whether he would be able to guarantee victory against the dream family in Dreamland.
This was not because of the apostle’s lack of power, but because of Dreamland’s unique environmental characteristics.
“Nirva must have summoned his family. “There’s no way I’m just going to leave it alone when I’ve declared war.”
Nirva tried to pretend to be okay, but he was a more insidious and cunning apostle than anyone else.
At the point when he said this, he must have taken it seriously instead of just passing it off.
I would have thought about it again there.
Should we believe Zero Order’s words and send an apostle, or should we just scoff and ignore them?
Nirva may have sent an apostle with the intention of knocking on the stone bridge and crossing it.
“No problem. It’s not just any other task, it’s the task of awakening the goddess. “You won’t be able to overlook even the slightest mistake.”
The five families sent in this way will move in search of the most powerful people in Dreamland.
This is to get rid of the bud in advance as it will be a nuisance to his master, Nirva.
They are members of the family who have the ability to detect beings with strong mental power.
A battle on a scale never seen before is taking place in five locations.
It is difficult to know who wins and loses here.
However, Zero Order was able to predict at least two things.
“Ludger Chelsea. Victory.”
Zero Order nudged the pure white woman.
Next to him was a black crow horse.
“Franz. Victory.”
Next was a horse wearing a black hood.
Next to him, a horse wearing pure white armor fell on its side.
There were other phones around Hood’s words.
‘He’s probably not just a soldier. They must be talented people, as they were selected by Franz himself.’
There are a total of 3 places left.
Among them, Zero Order briefly looked at one place.
“I guess I won here too.”
Tuk.
Unlike the other horses, the one that fell down with that horse was at least three times larger.
The old woman’s black horse lay quietly next to it.
“With this, there are only two words left.”
Zero Order lightly stroked his chin.
The most likely one here would be Elisa Willow, the rector of Ceorn.
Excellent magic skills, beautiful appearance, and overwhelming political sense.
If Dreamland is a place where spiritual power is important, even taking that into account, Elisa Willow’s presence would be overwhelming.
However, Elisha Willow’s victory was ambiguous to predict.
Because the people she had to deal with were not easy.
There may be a chance of winning with the help of a helper.
In Zero Order’s opinion right now, there was no one impressive enough to provide enough help to Elisa Willow.
“The only thing left is Esmeralda… no, it’s Selina.”
Zero Order was well aware of what had happened to Esmeralda.
In fact, it was not Esmeralda who was directly called by Zero Order to the First Order, but Quasimodo, who controlled her in reverse.
However, now that Quasimodo has died, the existing existence of Esmeralda has also disappeared.
What remains is Selina, an artificial spirit that Esmeralda created by scraping together her past memories and scraps.
Esmeralda had the talent to become the strongest spiritist of her time if she had stayed alive.
If it’s Selina, the last keepsake she left behind… she could at least show some of that possibility.
But Zero Order decided not to rely on such flukes.
In the first place, the war games he sees now (Kriegsspiel) always had to assume the worst.
“If there’s anything else that bothers me, it’s the little sign room that’s been stalking us lately.”
Did you say Aidan?
I remember him as a boy who used unusual magic.
Anti-magic.
Magic that demonstrates absolute compatibility with magic.
The so-called magic killer.
It is a crazy magic that disassembles fully completed magic as is, rather than disassembling it at the stage of the magic spell before creation.
It was surprising that he could use such a nonsensical ability, but the fact that the kid was able to hold onto many of the tails of the organization he had built made Zero Order extremely happy.
‘You recently completely foiled Victor Dreadful’s experiments and plans in the southern water people region, right?’
Given enough time, he has the potential to grow into a truly dangerous opponent.
However, selfishness should not enter into war games.
“No matter what, the loss of at least three members of the family is unavoidable. If that happens, Nirva’s power will be greatly reduced.”
Nirva will also change his plans due to stronger resistance from customers than expected.
Although I wasn’t the owner of the house, I was probably a butler, so I just watched them arrive at the mansion as leisurely as possible.
“But it would be a different story if what came to the mansion were robbers with knives and guns rather than children chasing breadcrumbs.”
If this happens, Nirva will have no choice but to step forward.
From an absolute position, looking down on everything as if observing it.
He said that he, too, had to get into the mud.
Of course, considering Nirva’s level, he would stand proudly even when others tumble in the mud.
But can we really be confident that mud won’t splatter?
Your shoes will get dirty enough, and even the bottom of your pants will get wet.
Will he, who has always been so relaxed, be able to endure that situation?
Even if you don’t make an effort to show it, it will be difficult to control the anger slowly boiling up inside you.
‘What I want is that decisive moment.’
The best scenario is Nirva’s death.
There is still a long way to go to achieve that.
Zero Order had to calculate what it could take immediately.
“Are you thinking about it alone again?”
At that time, someone quietly entered the room.
Zero Order didn’t bother to look back. It was impossible to tell who the enemy was from his childish tone and uninhibited behavior towards us.
“My right hand man, Cetadel, is still busy. “Have you been thinking about how to kill me?”
“Wasn’t Franz your right-hand man?”
“okay? Then do it with your left arm.”
“Forget the lame jokes. “What are you planning to do this time?”
“It’s an intention. Did it seem like I had something like that?”
The man only sent a cold gaze towards Zero Order, who smiled lowly.
The look in his eyes that he wanted to kill me right away.
Zero Order lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“There must have been something you were looking for in Seorn. That’s why you sent John Doe, and weren’t you always paying attention to that? But it’s quite strange that he shows such leisure in the current situation.”
“What if this margin is false? “What if I’m actually more nervous than anyone else, but I’m just pretending not to be?”
“….”
“Oh my. After all, jokes like this don’t work on you. Anyway, he’s a boring guy. “I guess it’s because he’s a guy who has lived his entire life by faith.”
“Shut up.”
The growl returned at Zero Order’s words.
“That’s harsh. Well, don’t worry. Rather, it is because now, at least part of what I hope for is being realized.”
“…you will fail.”
“Maybe so. But you have to hope for success, right? “Shouldn’t we regain the lost power of the saint?”
“….”
“Oh my.”
Seeing that response in silence, Zero Order just smirked.
Zero Order’s eyes turned to the game board.
‘Seorn.’
The reason Nirva was aiming for this place was probably because he knew he was looking for something and was trying to kill him.
If Nirva were to do something, the only one who could hinder it more clearly than anyone else was Zero Order.
That’s why Seorn was chosen to disrupt this side and at the same time shake up the board itself.
‘Maybe Nirva also noticed something.’
But do we really know this?
There is a deadly poisonous snake hiding in the bundle that he thought he had stolen with the promise of victory.
Nirva will not go down easily either.
However, if you just brush against it, the poison will definitely spread throughout your body.
Achieving your own goals while ignoring the other person’s intentions.
It was something that Zero Order was confident they could do better than anyone else, as they had been doing it for hundreds of years.
* * *
Dreamwalkers, except for Zantman, joined those who had fallen to the middle level.
Their primary goal was saving lives.
However, the structure was not always ideal.
“This is the end.”
“Here too.”
What the owner of the bitter voice was looking at was people lying as if they were asleep on the island in the sky.
Although they looked fine on the outside, I couldn’t feel any psychological effects from them.
It was because my dreams had all been sucked away.
“Did you get hit by the nightmare subject?”
“He closed his eyes, but his facial expression was distorted, so he was probably right.”
Soon, people’s bodies began to slowly sink to Sky Island.
The sight of the ground, which seemed to be fine even if an armored vehicle climbed on it, only absorbing sleeping people like a sponge was somewhat foreign.
“Is it Jammae (潛寐)?”
A word meaning to fall asleep.
This is what happens when you close your eyes in Dreamland.
A sleep that won’t wake you up. People who are locked in so-called eternal sleep become part of Dreamland.
Even if this situation ends, they will never open their eyes in the real world.
For dream walkers, seeing scenes like this is quite common.
However, it was unprecedented that the number was occurring on such a large scale.
The Dreamwalkers’ search continued.
As the search continued, we were able to find survivors and join others.
The group led by Elisa Willow was in the process of escorting many people to safety.
The Dreamwalkers who joined them moved to the designated joining point.
“teacher!”
“Guys! “You’re safe!”
Selina and Julia, who were waiting there, were also able to join.
“You’re the youngest!”
In particular, the fuss from the dream walkers who discovered Julia was very great.
I couldn’t be happier than this even if I happened to meet my lover who was separated from me during the war.
Everyone around me looked at me in confusion as to what was going on.
“who are you? “I don’t know this person.”
Julia desperately pretended to be a stranger.
At the same time, with a look in his eyes, he said, ‘Ah. I fired a laser saying, ‘Be quiet,’ but the seniors’ tactics didn’t stop.
Julia’s flirtation was meaningless.
In the first place, no one knew where she belonged, and the people approaching Julia now had a large symbol symbolizing the Dream School on their clothes.
“Follow me.”
Julia sighed softly and dragged her seniors to a quiet place.
“Oh please! “Don’t act like that in a crowd of people!”
“oh my. We were happy that our youngest child was safe. right?”
“Gorum gorum. Our youngest did well though. “You’re safe even in the middle floor.”
“We raised our child very well!”
Julia closed her eyes tightly.
Anyway, these people wouldn’t listen if I argued further here, so I decided to change the topic.
“So what’s the situation now? How is things going outside?”
“That’s…”
Julia’s expression became serious after hearing Dreamwalkers’ explanation.
“Not only is the entire Lederbelk like this, it’s getting bigger and bigger.”
“okay. “Did something happen to you inside?”
“There are none. “It was a problem because there were too many.”
Julia also explained all the facts and what she experienced inside.
Even though they bickered on the outside, they cooperated at important moments and it was not for nothing that they were said to belong to the same school.
“What about Master?”
“Master stayed behind to fight the giant god soldier.”
“You call that a horse? “What am I supposed to do against that monster alone, Master?”
Julia witnessed with her own eyes the power of family.
Their characteristics and dreamlike power were enough to make even the Dreamwalkers who frequented Dreamland like their own home.
‘Miss Selina, you handled that family member by yourself, but that’s a very unusual case for you.’
Although I believed in the Master’s skills, there was no guarantee that I would not get hurt in the fight.
If you think about your age right now, you are a person who will do everything today and tomorrow, so what if something goes wrong?
“What? “Young youngest, are you really worried about Master right now?”
“oh my. “Our youngest is all grown up.”
“…Is that amazing now? Aren’t your seniors even worried about Master?”
The Dreamwalkers asked back in confusion.
“Do I need to worry?”
“Why?”
“Why should we worry about the person who is standing right behind you right now?”
“yes?”
Julia looked back and was startled to see Clara Cowen’s wrinkled face.
“Aaaah!!”
