Chapter 21 - The Legend of The DreamWalker

".....Crescent" The masked man's blade carved a crack into the mountain. Three blue vertical blades shot out from his sword. 1/3 of the cloaked people were taken out in an instant. "I don't tolerate nightmares and I especially don't tolerate people that worship them!"

After the attack, Luna and Noll realized that this was the very DreamWalker that everyone actually knows. Not the crazy, sleep deprived girl who could massacre an army without any remorse, but an actual elegant swordsman.

Their swordsmanship cut through the nightmare worshippers in quick succession. "Storm" 10 blue streaks of lightning traveled through the group in an instant. It was completely different from the storm that Luna was familiar with. Instead of keeping both feet planted on the ground, the DreamWalker was dashing at lightning speeds through the enemies without a single second wasted.

The lightning chained from one nightmare worshipper to the next. Their bodies were stunned by the shock effect. "Dust" The DreamWalker's body turned to sand as it sank to the ground. Suddenly, five masked swordsmen appeared in the group of nightmare worshippers. Their bodies looked almost identical. Luna herself couldn't tell the difference between them.

At the same time, the DreamWalker and his copies spun creating a gust of wind. Their swords cut in every direction around them in an instant. It was a massacre. Not a single nightmare worshipper was left alive. Unlike Luna's, the DreamWalker's swordsmanship of the past looked incredibly powerful.

The DreamWalker's blade dripped with blood. Well It actually didn't really even look like a blade. It was sharp, that much was true. But the sword looked more like a pointy steel pipe. Almost as if it were a needle from some giant porcupine. Luna had heard that he had some crazy moon slicing sword, but this must have not been it.

After witnessing the fight, her previous perception of the sleepless swordsmanship was completely changed. She already knew it was strong, but after seeing it at a level where it's mastered or maybe even still improving, implanted a desire for growth in Luna's mind. How strong was the DreamWalker currently? Would they still get even stronger?

Thoughts like those filled Luna's mind as she started to drift off. But a screaming voice interrupted her day dreaming. "Do you realize what you've done?! Destroying the symbol of our god is one thing! But going around and killing every one of his followers?! You will write this day!"

It was a young man. He was just barely alive with cuts all over his body.

"The "ancient god" you consider to be almighty is deceiving humanity. It's a nightmare from the Dream dimension." The DreamWalker tried explaining to the man.

"You spew lies behind the hideous mask of yours! For your sins, you must desire the wrath of the ancient one!" The follower raised his hands to the sky and prayed. "Oh great lord Niroshi! Please use this body as a vessel and eradicate this heretic from our world!"

A sigh came from underneath the DreamWalker's mask.

A flame sprouted in the sky above the follower. It swirled in a circle around the man until a tornado of flame was brought forth. Beautiful flames of every color circled around him. The follower had tears dripping down his eyes at the sight. "Oh great lord Niroshi! Thank you for your gra-"

The beautiful flames were absorbed into the man. From every crevice, his skin started to cook itself alive. "AHHHHH!!!" The pain brought forth from the flames entering him, made the follower turn mad. After the flames were completely absorbed, the man's eyes glowed a blinding bright color. A tail made purely of the rainbow flames sprouted from his behind.

"You lowly human. You think that killing a few of my followers will stop my growth?" The voice made the crimson haired child and Luna fall to their knees. It felt like the gravity around them had increased ten-fold. The pressure exuded by the possessed follower made it hard to breathe.

[Your sanity is decreasing]

'What the hell is that thing?!' Luna was so scared that her body shivered uncontrollably. The possessed follower put his hand out. It almost looked like the souls of the dead were rising from the ground. Each of the previously dead follower's bodies were lifted into the air and drained of their souls. The souls gathered at his palm, lighting to create a horrifying flame. Screams could be heard as the flame burned in front of him.

"I hope you realize that by calling us humans lowly, you're admitting that you were never really a god." The DreamWalker looked unfazed by the burning souls.

"So I assume you are the one from the rumors. The so-called DreamWalker. You're a lot weaker than I've heard. Well no matter, I'll take you out just like the others." The souls screamed out in pain as the flame condensed itself. The possessed follower shot the screaming flame right at the three of them.

"You would be surprised..." The DreamWalker didn't falter as the grin on his face only deepened. His right shoulder went backwards as his right arm got into a charged position. "Inception!"

A blue streak of light shot forth from the needle-like blade. It was faster than light. Piercing through the flame made of souls, it reached the possessed follower. "Did you think simple swordsmanship would work on a god?" The possessed follower already predicted what the DreamWalker was thinking. A barrier made of flames appeared in an instant and blocked the attack.

The DreamWalker's smile disappeared.

But somehow the possessed follower suddenly fell over in a pool of blood. "*Sigh* Humans truly are weak. This body couldn't even handle a middle class barrier spell." Every crevice of the possessed follower dripped with blood. "I guess we'll have to leave this for another day, DreamWalker."

The flames surrounding the follower's body dissipated and he was left as a corpse. The DreamWalker wasn't fazed by his death as he went over to the corpse and gathered something off of it.

'Noll do you know what possessed that cloaked guy?'

'You mean it's like one of those tentacle monsters I saw in that dream?!'

'Never mind...'

The DreamWalker stood back up. He placed his needle back in it's sheath. "Pack your things, you're going south."

"What do you mean pack? You're coming with us right?" Luna started to speak. Or at least the person whose eyes she was seeing through spoke. It was a young male's voice that came out.

"Magnus!" The DreamWalker sounded distressed. His smile was gone, it was replaced with a complicated expression. "I need you to take him and go south!"

"We're not coming back.... are we?"

"No... you're not."

"Where are you going?"

"Ushain is already corrupted, I realized today that I can't keep putting you two into danger. There's something that Nightmare said that pissed me off and I need to go somewhere alone for a while. It'll be too dangerous if you both come along."

Luna felt tears welling up in her eyes. Magnus's emotions were overwhelming her. "Are we going to see you again?" He sounded heartbroken. Luna couldn't understand the situation. She was forced to see everything from the perspective of Magnus. From her emotions to her physical ability was changed.

"I hope so..." The DreamWalker then turned away and started to leave. Magnus wanted to say something. 'He was going to leave? Just like that?' Magnus thought. He felt a deep sorrow, but couldn't bring himself to tears. The person he once called a friend now felt like a stranger.

[Your wisdom is limited]

[The book cannot be completed]

'Huh?! What hell is this?!'

[Dream sequence ending]

When Luna awoke the entire room was dead silent. She could see sunlight peeking through the windows. It felt good seeing the sun in the morning when she just experienced a terrifying nightmare. She just wasn't expecting it to already be morning.

'It's already morning?'

'I hope my parents don't think I'm starting to get addicted...'

She grabbed the book that fell over onto the floor. When she opened it, Luna found that the pages that previously had words on them were now blank. When she tried reading further, the book's pages felt glued together and wouldn't open.

[100 wisdom is needed to continue]

"Those goddamn game devs.... they're definitely trolling me!"

It was annoying, but it definitely was her fault for discriminating against wisdom. Even at level 65 she still didn't distribute any of her points into wisdom. There was only just the one point she used from when she first started the game.

Some stats had hidden uses outside of their normal needs. Like strength, increasing your weight limit and agility when increased to a certain point would give you better reaction timing. It was all relative to the stat. The restriction of reading books being locked behind wisdom definitely didn't seem like a huge problem to Luna because of her hate for reading. But she did need to at least complete her class quest.

Her finger reluctantly pressed the wisdom stat and distributed 100 points into it. Now that she could read it, she decided not to. Luna wanted to finish the quest, but she also needed to act as Jess's bodyguard. If she failed, it would mean Jessica was dead. She didn't want to lose her new friend over reading some book.

Looking around the apartment, Luna couldn't find Jessica anywhere. The only thing she found was a note placed on Jessica's bed. "You've got to be kidding me...."

*Dear Mrs. Luna, I noticed that you were sleeping so pleasantly. I didn't want to wake you so I decided to visit the king on my own. I know my grandfather warned me, but I'll be as careful as possible. I'll return to the inn by evening.*

"This is seriously not good..." Luna equipped all her items and ran out. "Why is she so nice!?"

-

The Cosal king's throne room. It was an intense atmosphere for Jessica who just entered. Nobles from around the capital were gathered and watched as Jessica made her way down the blue carpet. The king himself sat upon the throne. He was getting terribly old, but still stood as the Cosal king.

His wife died 10 years before and the king never wanted to remarry. He only had one love and he wanted it to stay that way. In her youth, the queen had 3 children, but each one died early. Either naturally or unnaturally, the children died causing the queen great grief. So much so that she refused to give birth to any more children.

Whispers were heard from the nobles. Once Jessica knelt before the king, every voice quieted except one. "Jessica Braggart, I hope your grandfather is doing well?" The king spoke in a kind tone. But it felt like her life was on the line as one slip of the tongue in this conversation could cause her to be imprisoned.

"Y-yes your majesty, he is still in recovery after our last battle, but he hasn't lost his fighting spirit."

"That is good to hear." King Eldon smiled. He gestured towards a tall lean man standing next to the throne. "This is Damien, an apostle of the Kaxtia church. Based on your letter, I thought it was best to bring someone from the church of life."

"Greetings, Dear child." Damien bowed his head towards Jessica.

"Greetings to you as well, holy one." After introductions, Jessica explained the situation. Going into detail she first talked about the attack she and her grandfather received as they traveled to Kefria Village. Not forgetting any details, she mentioned that the 5th knight of the Northwind household attacked them with his men.

-

"I do not mean to interrupt you, but are you saying the Ushain kingdom tried to attack nobles of our kingdom?" King Eldon looked serious.

"Y-yes your majesty, I do not mean to insinuate anything, but I believe the attack was preemptively planned against my grandfather and I."

The floor rumbled. It wasn't common for him to lose himself in his emotions. King Eldon was referred to as a weak king because of his kindly nature.

"So someone in our kingdom leaked information I take it?" But when King Eldon felt threatened, his real strength started to show through the cracks. A few nobles ran over to calm him down.

"Your majesty please calm down!"

"Calm down sir!"

"I'm fine!" King Eldon put his hand out to stop them. "Mrs. Braggart, explain to me how you came to the conclusion of leaked information."

"W-well your majesty I-"

"There's been an intruder! Everyone proceed through the castle with caution!"

""""What?!""""