The Novel's Extra-Chapter ss37: Side Story 37 – Dream in a Dream (37)

“You have to… wake up… now…”

A clear voice slowly faded into the distance as Rachel opened her eyes.

She sat in a daze for a while before touching her face and the ground. She could feel the stone’s coldness underneath her. Then she suddenly recalled her dream.

“Are you alright, Vice Leader?”

Another familiar voice completely woke her up. It belonged to Marcus this time.

“It’s time to get up.”

He extended a hand towards Rachel.

“What about the others?” she asked as she grabbed his hand.

A piece of her clothing suddenly fell when she stood. Rachel quickly tried to hold on so she wouldn’t be undressed. However, the clothing was far too big for her.

“Huh?”

She definitely didn’t have this coat on a while ago.

Rachel recalled what happened and looked around, but couldn’t find Kim Hajin anywhere. They left him behind in the bedroom downstairs with Yoo Yeonha since Marcus suggested that would be the safest place for him.

“…”

Rachel caressed the coat before taking a whiff of its scent. She could still smell him.

This truly felt mysterious and borderline supernatural. They had only met in her dream, so how could she have his coat?

Unless I’m still dreaming right now… She thought to herself and rummaged through the coat.

Marcus tilted his head in confusion as he observed his vice leader squirming in embarrassment with her face flushed.

“Hmm…” Rachel looked around her surroundings. It seemed she hadn’t been dreaming until she got up to this part of the staircase.

Fermin, Dale, Karen, Sehit, Tilma, and even Chae Nayun sprawled out on the stairs asleep.

“Almost all of them fell asleep,” Marcus said.

Chae Nayun suddenly got up screaming, “Whoaa!” She looked around with a shocked expression and Rachel couldn’t help but wonder what she dreamt about.

“What the hell? Was it all just a dream?” Chae Nayun grumbled in a daze.

After that, the others began waking up one by one. Every one of them had a different reaction. Some of them screamed at the top of their lungs while others violently convulsed before waking up.

“Is everyone alright?” Rachel asked after they woke up.

She told them to do some light exercises and stretch to wake up their mind and body. They resumed climbing the staircase after a round of aerobic exercises.

Step… Step…

Rachel could hear them murmuring from behind after they climbed a few steps.

“What kind of dream did you have?”

“I… It’s something from the past.”

“Me too.”

“It seems that whoever is doing this is purposely targeting our traumas. Don’t you think so?”

“Yes, but it was exactly as Yoo Yeonha said. That man appeared in my dream and helped me.”

“Huh? He appeared to you too?”

Rachel faked a cough and straightened her back. She felt somewhat proud for no reason after hearing that Kim Hajin helped them.

“Hey, what’s that?” Chae Nayun asked as she grabbed Rachel’s coat.

Rachel nonchalantly replied with a shrug, “A coat.”

“Isn’t this the coat Kim Hajin was wearing? When did you have the time to make a trip back down to get this? No, there’s no way that’s possible. Am I dreaming right now?”

“You’re not dreaming and I did receive this from Kim Hajin.”

“Who are you trying to fool? I know very well this is all a dream,” Chae Nayun said with a scoff.

They continued climbing for quite a while, but could no longer distinguish the boundary between dreams and reality.

Soon, they began collapsing one by one again and had to take a break if the ones carrying those who fell asleep also fell unconscious. It took them an eternity just to climb the staircase.

“I see a light over there.” Rachel pointed into the distance.

Marcus looked and nodded. “Yes, that’s the entrance to the central hall.”

The other party members grew exhausted already.

Marcus turned around and smirked at them, “We somehow managed to come all the way here, eh?”

He spoke as he usually did since it seemed like everything had returned to normal.

“Shut your filthy mouth.”

“You better watch it before I kill you.”

“Has that bastard finally lost his mind?”

However, the English Royal Court members still treated him like an outcast.

“Ehem… Shall we go?” Marcus opened the door.

Creak… Ddruuu!

He pushed the door as hard as he could.

A vast, empty hall appeared before them. However, the original Hampton Palace hall had never been this vast and empty.

Rachel stepped forward after looking around, but Marcus grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. He pointed at a large stone statue on the other side.

“That’s the gatekeeper.”

The large statue with broad shoulders and a long beard slowly moved its empty hands when it spotted the intruders.

The party members prepared for combat when Rachel suddenly pondered if she was still dreaming.

— Can you hear me? We don’t have much time.

Yoo Yeonha’s voice rang out from the walkie-talkie to inform Rachel that the sky over England was turning red. That definitely seemed like an ominous omen.

Marcus frowned at the bad news.

“I’ll handle this guy,” Chae Nayun stepped forward with her greatsword. She turned around and told them, “We don’t have much time, so why don’t you all go on ahead.”

The stone statue opened its eyes.

Creak…

The ground trembled as the statue took a step.

“Got it?” Chae Nayun urged them.

Rachel and the others nodded. They firmly believed that Chae Nayun wouldn’t lose against that gatekeeper.

Chae Nayun infused mana into her sword and it grew exponentially until its tip reached the ceiling.

“Guuuu!”

The party members ran towards the corridor on the other side when the huge sword distracted the stone statue.

Chwaaaak!

The stone statue shot out hundreds of tentacles to tie up the intruders, but Chae Nayun released a ray of light that disintegrated the tentacles.

***

Rachel opened the Hampton Palace’s main entrance and proceeded inside.

Lancaster waited for her across the pond surrounded by withered grass. The sky here had turned purple with gray clouds.

He held a sword and was fully dressed in armor, which made him look exactly like the knight from her memories.

“Have you arrived?” Lancaster asked. His voice sounded clear despite the distance between them.

Rachel took out Galatine while pondering if this was still a dream or reality.

“I have a lot of things I want to talk about with you, princess.”

“…”

Rachel stepped forward and felt something strange.

“Guuuooh…”

The bloody face of a spirit that resembled a human eerily cried out.

Rachel felt the urge to puke, but suppressed it.

“You!” She glared at Lancaster with seething anger and gripped Galatine so tightly that her hands turned pale.

“All of these spirits were born that day. They lost their bodies and were reborn as spirits,” Lancaster nonchalantly said. He pulled out his sword and added, “They are regrets embodied and pain manifested…”

“Kyaaak! Kwuaaak!”

Rachel felt a sharp pain in her head from the spirits’ constant screaming.

Dozens of tentacles suddenly shot up and tried to grab her, but she quickly cut them down.

“Kieeeek! Gwuoooh!”

The spirits cried out even louder. Their cries seemed to carry both anguish and agony.

Rachel felt her heart being torn to pieces as she listened to their tormented cries.

“Princess,” Lancaster said as he slowly walked towards her. Then he asked, “Do you still not understand?”

Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke, but Rachel couldn’t understand his sadness.

“This dream… This is the only way we can change the cogs of fate. This is the last chance we have to turn back time and right our mistakes,” Lancaster said before extending his hand towards her. “Join me and let us save these people. You have already suffered enough too, princess.”

The spirits’ tormented cries grew louder after Lancaster finished speaking.

“…”

“Please, take my hand.”

Rachel remained silent as she thought. She may have accepted his offer a year ago when she was still weak. She was too young, dumb, and naive at the time.

However…

“No,” Rachel refused and decided to stop blaming herself for everything that happened. She decided to march forward from now on for the people that trusted and supported her.

“You shouldn’t try to change something that can’t be changed. The only thing we can do is to honor them by remembering them as we live on,” she told him.

A large hole appeared in her heart after that incident, but that hole had already healed and left a scar. Rachel would never forget because of that.

That was the difference between her and Lancaster, who still had a gaping hole in his heart.

“Is that so…” Lancaster muttered as he stared at Rachel. He sighed and nodded in acknowledgment of how much she had changed from her younger days.

“I guess I have no choice then,” he said.

“Kwuaaaaah!”

The spirits of the dead shot up from the ground and gathered to form a monster. The monster had a large head and dozens of arms and legs hanging all over its body. The cries of hundreds of spirits could be heard from each limb.

“Have you finally decided to become someone who can’t be redeemed?” Rachel asked as she gritted her teeth and gripped Galatine.

The monster shot hundreds of tentacles towards her.

Rachel summoned her spirits and a bright light shot out from the coat and her necklace.

Shwaaaaa!

Her spirits appeared and shone a bright light on the monster.

Lancaster watched the entire scene with a smile. He looked at Rachel with warmth in his eyes.

***

Chae Nayun could easily distinguish between dreaming and reality. Her sharp instincts noticed the slightest difference. This meant that she could recklessly swing her sword without any worries. Chunks of the stone statue broke every time she slammed her sword against it.

The stone statue shot out its tentacles, but couldn’t even touch Chae Nayun before she cut them down.

Chae Nayun felt confident in winning. No, she felt confident in never losing. After all, the difference in their strength was close to ten times apart.

“Ah… Damn it…”

However, something kept bothering her. A sad cry from somewhere in the hall grew louder every time she cut down the tentacles and smashed the stone statue. The cry began tugging on her heartstrings.

The stone statue contained numerous spirits in its body, which left a bitter taste in Chae Nayun’s mouth. However, that didn’t deter her as she continued her merciless onslaught without a hint of hesitation. She swung her sword again and again without stopping.

The stone statue seemed greatly taken aback by her composure and coldness.

“You…” The stone statue spoke for the first time in a low depressed voice that seemed to evoke one’s empathy.

Chae Nayun smirked at the stone statue’s attempt. “Cheap tricks won’t work on me you little shit.”

The stone statue tried to wage psychological warfare against her like a coward since it couldn’t win against her physically. However, such cheap tricks would never work against Chae Nayun.

I’m probably in the top ten in the world when it comes to mental fortitude. Chae Nayun’s mind slightly wandered before her face suddenly hardened.

“…”

She sensed the emotions of something whenever she slashed the stone statue. Her sharp instincts automatically picked it up.

Chae Nayun looked at the stone statue, the ground, and then the ceiling. Countless spirits squirmed all over the place. No, this entire space was made up of the spirits themselves.

She looked at them and muttered, “All of you want to regress as well, right? Regardless if it’s real or not…”

They seemed aware that their regression wouldn’t be the real thing. Lancaster himself seemed aware of it too. However, Lancaster chose an eternal dream anyways and tried to drag Rachel along.

That’s not what I want. What I really want is…

Chae Nayun spoke with the spirits as she swung her sword. They knew they had already died and seemed to want eternal rest now.

Chae Nayun swung her sword with all her might when she suddenly spotted a dark silhouette behind her.

“Huh?” She immediately turned around.

“Ack!” She screamed and her eyes shot wide open.

Kim Hajin shouldn’t be here, but he suddenly stood behind her and shocked her.

“W-What?! What the hell?! When did you come here? No, why are you here?! You surprised me!” Chae Nayun exclaimed before nervously gulping.