Chapter 238: Main Characters... Assemble! [I]

Walking out of the underground cavern, I paused and looked around.

It had been a full day since those spider-monkeys attacked us.

After spending countless hours buried beneath the earth, waiting for the fire to die and the beasts to scatter, we had finally decided to exit the hollow chamber.

And the first thing I noticed upon coming outside was that all traces of the forest fire I started yesterday were gone.

The scorched plants and charred vegetation had already been overtaken by fresh undergrowth — lush vines, curling ferns, and sprouting moss blanketing the forest floor.

Even the towering black trees had recovered from the burn damage, their bark now unmarred and leaves rustling softly in the breeze.

The jungle looked

exactly

as it had before I set it ablaze.

And just like before, the whole place was swarming with overgrown insects — many of them

so

creepy they sent shivers down my spine.

"Juli is

not

going to like this place," I muttered.

I wondered where she was.

In the game, Michael and Ray found her on the seventh day. After that, the trio went on to locate Lily and Alexia. Then, finally, all of them stumbled into Vince on the tenth day.

But since Lily was here with me now, the entire lineup had changed.

I was sure some twisted butterfly effect had probably already taken place and knocked the plotline off-course.

My mere existence had already disrupted this event far too much.

Which meant Juliana could be

anywhere

by now.

And I didn’t like the thought of her being in this hellish jungle alone.

"Juli?" Lily’s voice echoed from behind, still somewhere near the mouth of the cavern. "You mean Juliana Blade, your

Shadow

?"

I nodded without turning to her, eyes still scanning the treeline for any sign of danger.

"...You worried about her?" she asked.

Her tone was laced with a teasing undercurrent, which was another thing I didn’t like.

"Worried? Why would I be worried about

my

servant? If anything,

she

should be the one worrying about

me

," I scoffed. Then touched my chin thoughtfully. "Although... this place is teeming with bugs. And she’s always been ridiculously grossed out by them."

Lily snorted. "Well, who isn’t?"

Fair point.

I sighed and kept watch.

The

Noctveil Wilds

, true to its name, was a region of the Spirit Realm forever shrouded in night.

The sun never rose in this cursed forest.

Thankfully, the bleeding moon hanging in the fractured sky was bright enough to illuminate everything with its rust-red glow.

But honestly, what unsettled me wasn’t the haunting scenery. Or the enormous insects. Or the ancient trees that could scream even though they had no mouth.

No.

Instead, I was worried about that dream I had before waking up in this place.

For some reason, my mind kept circling back to it.

Every moment since I opened my eyes in this hellhole had been so chaotic and draining that I hadn’t had a moment to stop and think.

But now that things had calmed down a bit, my head had been constantly replaying that surreal dream I saw.

The image of this very cracked sky I was standing under right now — this same bleeding moon spilling crimson light like blood over a still, silver lake.

Then, from that lake, several hands — pale as snow and big enough to dwarf mountains — erupted and reached skyward.

It felt as if those hands were

desperate

to grab the moon.

And then, the scene shifted.

And I had that conversation with...

With

him

.

The Primordial Prince of Desires.

Asmodeus.

...Gods, just remembering that encounter was enough to make the hair on my body stand on end.

I still couldn’t believe it.

I had

really

come face to face with the Seventh Demon Prince.

I had

really

talked to him.

But what I couldn’t wrap my head around, even more than the fact it happened at all, was...

how?

Just

how

did Asmodeus invade my dream?

I’d been so damn careful.

I’d never

once

come into direct contact with his

Summoning

Card.

He shouldn’t have had any hold over me.

He shouldn’t have had the power to influence me in any way.

So then how did I end up seeing him in my dream?

...No.

Wait.

"If I’m remembering correctly, he said

I’m

the one who wandered into

his

dream."

Okay, maybe not in those

exact

words.

But he definitely implied it.

I think his precise words were:

``You’re not an ordinary young man. Even here... you can keep your eyes open. Most mortals who wander into my dreams come screaming. Or kneeling. You’re doing neither.``

Now, I’ll admit that being called extraordinary by an eldritch entity was kind of flattering.

Flattering in a

’my-life-just-flashed-before-my-eyes’

kind of way.

Because, sure, I

have

been called charming before. But never by a mythical being whose gaze felt like it could peel the flesh from your bones like skin off an orange.

But what actually troubled me was the fact that it was

me

somehow who entered

his

dream!?

How?

Why?

This was far more confusing — and

way

more horrifying — than if it had been the other way around.

I rubbed my temples, trying to chase off the rising dread. "Arghh, I hate dealing with the unknown."

Behind me, Lily called out. "Did you say something?"

I waved her off without looking. "Talking to myself."

"Should I be concerned?"

"Only if I start speaking in a distorted voice."

"...Noted."

I sighed again.

Then frowned.

Wait a second.

I’d been standing here monologuing to myself for... what? A few minutes now?

Why hadn’t Lily come out of the cavern yet?

What was she even doing?

"Hey, what the fuck is taking so long?" My frown turned into a full scowl as I spun around — only to see her crouched a few steps away.

She was kneeling over a thick black branch with a short dagger in hand.

From the looks of it, she was carefully wrapping bandages around one end of the wooden stick to secure the blade in place there.

I blinked. Then scowled harder. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lily looked up as if I had just asked something obvious like why people breathe. "Making a spear."

I blinked again. I had so many questions, starting with, "Why?!"

She tilted her head, as if

that

should’ve been obvious too. "Because you broke my staff. And now I don’t have any good weapons."

I kept looking at her for a few seconds, trying

very hard

not to smack her.

Finally, I opened my mouth and spoke slowly, like I was explaining something difficult to a particularly dumb child. "I mean —

why

are you doing it by

hand

when you could’ve just

asked

me?"

I summoned my Origin Card and tapped my foot.

The ground near her rippled. A chunk of earth rose, shaped itself into a gnarled hand, and snatched the dagger from her grasp.

The earthen hand then twisted, stretched, and hardened into a long, smooth shaft of stone.

Its fingers clenched tight, fusing perfectly with the metallic hilt of the dagger.

And just like that, a cleanly forged spear dropped in front of her.

Lily stared at it in silence.

"See that?" I yelled, exaggeratedly throwing my arms wide. "Took me two seconds! No bandages wasted! No arts-and-crafts hour in the middle of monster territory!"

She didn’t reply.

Just picked up the spear, gave it a light test swing.

And muttered, mostly to herself, "...I was having a moment."