[ QUEST 2 - MONSTER HUNTER ]
[ DIFFICULTY - C ]
[ KILL 100 MONSTER SPECIES IN A DAY ]
[ TIME LIMIT - 24 HOURS ]
[ REWARD - 2000C ]
[ FAILURE - EXILE OF 10 DAYS IN THE DEMON REALM ]
Fuck.
Wasn't the system supposed to give me a quest suited to my situation..?
This quest is completely different...
I don't think monster souls count here.
I was unable to see anything, but the system interference was clearly visible to me.
I could clearly see the system interference, but when I tried to look at other things… there were just souls wandering around me, trying to block my vision.
How did I end up like this..?
I continued running in the same direction.
Monster species…
How would I find them..?
The main protagonist got to kill 100 humans, but I got this...
My life is sad.
[ MONSTER SPECIES WILL START SPAWNING ]
[ GOOD LUCK! ]
Good luck, my ass.
It shouldn't be a problem... I need to clear Quest 2 before sunset.
Because for the next three nights, the moon will be red… which means it will be a blood moon.
On a blood moon, monsters mutate and become harder to kill.
At my current level, it's impossible to kill monsters during a blood moon.
But who would tell that to the souls controlling me..?
[ SEVERAL MONSTER SPECIES HAVE BEEN SPAWNED WITHIN A 500-METER RADIUS ]
[ TRY COMPLETING THE QUEST BEFORE SUNSET ]
They're even telling me to complete it as soon as possible...
I need to do it.
The time was 7:00. The clock made a beep sound, which is how I knew the time.
I had been counting how many times it beeped since 12 AM.
It beeps every hour...
This quest seems hard to complete...
Let's do it.
Hisss! Hissss!
In front of me, three spiders spawned. They were big—way bigger than I thought they would be.
They were maybe 5–6 meters tall.
I knew that because I'm the author of this Endless Dream...
Let's see how these souls control my body.
I got closer and closer to them.
They... aren't... humans...
Not... killing... run... away...
Huh..? What did they say??
Fuck.
Hisss! Hissss!
The spiders saw me. One of them moved a leg toward me...
To stab me.
Why... aren't the souls doing anything..?
Aren't they supposed to control my body..?
Did they say…
They wouldn't kill humans, so they would run away..?
I kept running.
Shlck!
The spider's leg was sharper than I thought it would be… it slashed my stomach and sent unbearable pain through me.
Blood splashed onto the ground… a lot of blood.
Splat! Splat!
More blood splashed.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
Thud!
I fell to my knees.
My face didn't show any reaction, but inside, I was screaming.
ARGHHHH!!! FUCK!!! NO, IT HURTS!! IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!! IT FUCKING HURTS!!!! DON'T STAB ME!! DON'T STAB ME!! LEAVE ME!!! PLEASE LEAVE ME!! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!
Was this my punishment for ruining this Endless Dream..?
Was I being punished for what I did to my novel..?
I get it… I get that I did wrong with my novel, but I've changed now... I'll change this Endless Dream… so is there any reason to...
Punish me..?
There is.
I killed my characters like this… how could I forget the treatment I gave them..?
I killed them mercilessly like this...
And now, this novel is making me taste the pain my characters felt...
That's why it's not killing me immediately… it will make me suffer first… it'll make me suffer and then kill me when all of my gathered souls are used up.
Would I let that happen..?
Yes.
***
"Anna?"
"Hm?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to complete my Quest 2."
"I see… come back before nighttime."
Someone walked out of a building.
She was wearing a cloak, so her face wasn't visible at all.
Let's see what type of quest I got.
Her eyes focused on the quest.
[ KILL 100 HUMANS ]
Huh... pretty easy.
Shing!
She swung her sword.
"I'm pretty good at it."
***
Will I die..?
Multiple thoughts started gathering in my mind… a lot of thoughts.
The screams of the souls got suppressed… in other words, my thoughts were more frequent than the screams of the souls...
GO DIE NOW!! GO-
Was this the life I was supposed to live..?
KILL HUM-
Didn't I decide to be—
FUCKING KILL HUMANS NOW!!!
The strongest of this dream.
KILL KI-
I decided to become the strongest.
The voices of the souls were completely suppressed.
The spider went for another attack.
This time, it was aiming for my head...
Shlk!
It stabbed its leg into my head.
It broke the skull and made a hole in it.
Crunch!
The spider twisted its leg inside my head to completely destroy my brain.
Skrrrt! Skrrt! Skrrt!
Then it pushed its leg forward and pulled it out of my head...
Squish!
More bones broke.
Crack! Crack!
My head looked like a "U" if viewed from above.
I was dead.
Again.
[ YOU DIED ]
My brain fell from my skull… my eyeballs burst when my head was stabbed.
The human skull, which is known as one of the strongest bones in the human body, broke into pieces… all because of a spider's leg.
My dead body lay there, soaked in blood. The nerves attached to my brain were leaking blood.
Drip… drip…
Grasshoppers, spiders, lizards, mosquitoes, honeybees—blah blah—are small and can be killed by any human. But would that stay the same if they got bigger..?
The answer is obviously no.
There's a saying: if even a small insect became bigger, just one attack would be enough to kill any human on Earth.
Literally anyone.
I added bigger insects to the Endless Dream and named them "Monster Species" because they are no less than monsters.
I added them as a joke, but now this joke has taken another soul of mine.
[ ANOTHER SOUL HAS BEEN SACRIFICED ]
[ TOTAL SOULS REMAINING - 34/100 ]
The spiders started retreating...
They thought I was dead.
Last time, I regenerated in just a millisecond... was it the same now..?
Of course not.
My empty skull started regenerating.
Crack… Crunch…
My brain regenerated, then the nerves reattached.
Squelch… Squish…
My skull started regenerating, hiding my brain again.
My eyeballs formed inside their sockets.
My skin regenerated.
All of this regeneration made a lot of noise…
The spiders noticed something was wrong.
Hisss… Hissss…
The moment my head regenerated, I started thinking again.
Wait… am I just being used by these souls for their entertainment..?
If they truly wanted me to kill humans, they would have let me run from these spiders...
But they didn't.
My stomach regenerated, and I got to my knees.
THUD!
I was facing downward while the thoughts invaded my mind...
The screams of the souls grew quieter and quieter.
[ YOUR MENTAL BARRIER IS IMPROVING ]
I placed my right hand over my right eye.
I could move my body again.
Fuck. For real.
The spider raised its leg towards me for an attack.. this attack was aimed for my heart.
[ FIRE ELEMENT LVL 1 HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ]
I raised my left hand and
Sizzle!
I burned half of the spider's leg.
The spider took a step backward due to the pain.
Hissss! Hisssss!
The spider was crying in pain.
The other spiders behind it started running back.
Maybe they were scared and didn't want to lose their leg.
The smoke which drifted away slowly, revealing a 23-year-old novelist.. who wrote this endless dream.
I looked in front of me slowly and slowly.. while keeping my right hand covering my right eye.
I looked straight.. in front of me..
My left eye, which had become a bit red, was now a bit more red.. it was darker than before but was still lighter than the normal red colour.
I smirked.
The question is..
Would I let myself be used by Skill Plagiarist..?
And the answer is..
Obviously no.
DIE!! FOLLOW OUR ORDERS!! KILL HUMANS!! DO IT PROPERLY!...
The screams of the souls completely got suppressed.. in other words.. my thoughts became more in frequency that it completely lowered the frequency of the screams of the souls.
[ FIRE ELEMENT LVL 1 HAS BEEN ACTIVATED ]
I bended my back a bit.. widened both my hands..
Made a fist.. flames started gathering around it.
Upgrade Fire Element lvl.1.. take all 34 souls and do this.
[ FIRE ELEMENT LVL.1 HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO LVL.3 ]
I smirked.. looked at the spider who was moving backwards with each second.
My left eye became a bit more red.
More flames gathered around my fists.
The pressure exerted by my fists increased each second.
I'll run.
The spider gathered all its courage and rushed towards me.
Maybe it wants to die.
The spider stretched its leg ...aiming for my left fist.
"That's what you want."
The control which the souls had over me got disrupted and I took control over my body.
I was able to speak again.
I went for a clash of fists between my left fist and the spider's leg aimed for my left fist.
Will this flaming fist destroy the spider's leg..?
Yes.
I looked at the souls behind my body which were trying to cover my eyes with their hands.
Their screams weren't hearable anymore.
All of this is work of Skill Plagiarist.
This isn't a test nor a corruption.
I was only getting used by Skill Plagiarist for entertainment.
What do you think.. will I be used by Skill Plagiarist or will I use Skill Plagiarist..?
I'll...
Use Skill Plagiarist and destroy this dream.
〆 You think I'm just another soul in this dream? Watch me burn it to the ground.
— Kang Hong