Offer a Tribute and Become an Archmage - Chapter 168



Only Noblemtl

Offering Tribute to the Archmage Chapter 168

Nightmare [4]

Episode 168.

Ronobe had a dream.

There was a child hugging a doll in a dark place where there was no one.

“I’m scared… Mom… Dad…”

The crying child was simply a child who was frightened by a bad dream. The child would cry so hard that he would collapse and fall asleep. Then he would wake up with a nightmare and cry again. He often had nightmares and said that he saw demons or strange beasts that he normally couldn’t see.

Everyone has nightmares.

But no parent would like a child who cries and whines every night from the moment they start talking, even if it happens once or twice.

At first, they were wrapped in love, but as a year or two passed and things remained the same, the parents became increasingly bored and irritated.

“Stop crying! How long are you going to whine and cry like that?”

What would a child know?

When they shouted at him to stop crying, he got scared and cried even more. When words didn’t work, the parents started hitting the child, and when they got tired of that, they left him alone again.

Around that time my younger brother was born.

Unlike his brother, the younger brother did not cry.

I never had nightmares, I didn’t cry often, and I always had a bright smile.

Naturally, parents had no choice but to pour more love and attention on the second child than on the first.

“Again? When your little brother wakes up, cry quietly.”

He cried quietly.

He hugged the doll, buried his mouth in its head, and cried quietly. However, even though he endured it, the nightmares he had every night tormented him every single day.

The crying child had no one.

There was only a doll.

Time passed. Even though the boy was ten years old, he still had nightmares. The nightmares were not vivid. He didn’t know what kind of dreams he had that were so scary and tearful.

“You’ll be bothering Light. Don’t come out for no reason. Got it?”

“yes…”

His parents would introduce him as the eldest son, his younger brother Light. On those days, he would be locked in the attic on the second floor and not be able to come out.

Even when I had a nightmare, I couldn’t cry loudly.

I cried quietly.

“I envy Light. He doesn’t even have nightmares. He always smiles. I want to smile too.”

I couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

He really wanted to laugh.

The boy had another nightmare today.

When I woke up, I didn’t remember anything, but when I started dreaming, all the nightmares from before came back to me vividly.

But today was a very different nightmare.

It was a nightmare where he turned into a devil and swallowed his younger brother in one bite.

He even swallowed his parents who were screaming. It was a very horrible dream. He woke up crying and sobbed as he looked for Light and his parents.

But there was no one in the mansion.

“I cried all the time… I guess he left me behind.”

He was about to cry again, but for some reason he smiled.

“I’m not that sad. I wonder why.”

I didn’t know why.

I could just laugh.

On the contrary, when it was there, I could rely on it, so I may have cried. But when it wasn’t there at all, there was no reason to cry.

“But what was my name?”

I couldn’t remember the name.

The boy left the mansion that day.

I liked the name anyway.

Because he has a younger sibling’s name.

“When I become famous, they will come to me. Then… I can smile and live.”

*

Ouch.

Ronobe opened his eyes and grabbed his head.

“What was that just now?”

It wasn’t God’s dream.

It was Light’s dream.

I thought the name Light was his original name, but it wasn’t.

“This crazy bastard swallowed my little brother?”

It’s not just my younger brother.

It seemed like he had swallowed up even his parents and was unaware of himself.

Ronobe looked around.

It was to find that guy.

“Just because you had a few nightmares, you act like you have to shoulder all the world’s misfortunes. I never cried when I was little, but I was beaten up so much growing up! You’re not supposed to whine about having a few nightmares after being born into a rich family! Do you know the pain of getting beaten up like a dog on a hot day just because you said you wanted to take a break from going out to do farm work at dawn!?”

I can’t help but feel a little sympathy for him. But he and I are enemies.

It’s no use sympathizing.

That would actually be something that cannot be done.

“But where on earth is this?”

I have no idea where it is.

Magic still doesn’t work.

“Hmm… no?”

It’s not that magic isn’t used.

It is also possible to produce thread from the mouth and change the hands into bear paws.

It’s not like you can pump up oil or freeze the surrounding area with ice.

“It’s a forest, but it doesn’t feel like the forest I was in. Where on earth am I?”

Even if you go there, it’s a forest.

The only thing that’s a little strange is that there’s no distinct forest animal smell.

The forest originally had many different smells.

It smells like wood, wet earth, animal droppings, and fruit.

It would be natural for a Ronobe with a sensitive nose to smell something like that, but there is no smell in this forest.

As if it were made.

‘Come to think of it, the scenery was strange from the moment I made eye contact with that guy Light.’

Before I knew it, I was caught, the world was white, and the floor had turned black.

It was a completely different space.

But what if that isn’t space?

‘nightmare.’

It could be that the bastard had been causing nightmares from beginning to end. I don’t know if it was his nightmare or my nightmare, but if this was a dream, there was a way.

“Yonterion.”

I don’t know how to get out of this dream.

Ronobe never knows.

But is that wrong? No.

If you don’t know, just ask.

There is nothing wrong with seeking knowledge. The bigger problem is those who take the wrong path out of pride without knowing.

“also.”

[What is this? Where is this place?]

Yonterion appeared in the same space as Ronobe. When Ronobe calls upon a god, he always meets them in another space, that is, in the mental world. Now, Yonterion appeared not in the black space, but in the forest where Ronobe walks. This meant that this place was a similar mental world.

“If you are the embodiment of wisdom, then guess.”

[Hmm, it was a dream. And it was another weird guy’s dream.]

“How do you know that for sure?”

[Isn’t the space you’re calling us from also a dream like this? A deep sleep. You’re calling us to a place like that.]

“Huh? I didn’t know that…?”

[I guess that’s not important.]

That’s right. It’s more important to get out of here than that.

Yontirion spoke quickly.

[Dreams have a subject that makes them come true. The simple way is to destroy it. But this place is not a simple dream.]

Yonterion’s face became serious. Judging from the way he looked at me with his eyes narrowed, I could tell that the situation was not easy.

[Is the price enough?]

Ronobe puffed out his chest.

“It may seem like a hopeless situation, but I have just shown the might of an incredible magician who has just destroyed an army.”

Sweeping away an army.

It’s different from the old days when people would fight over catching a single wolf.

The soul offerings are piled up in the hundreds.

There is more than enough tribute to be offered.

[There are many ways to escape someone else’s dream. However, most of them are related to the subject of the dream. There is only one way to escape that excludes the subject.]

“What is it?”

[Dying beggar. That is, suicide.]

Yonterion waved his hand.

Then, Ronobe’s neck snapped!

“Ugh!”

Ronobe was startled and grabbed his head.

“What are you doing!”

[Looking at the way you’re doing it, I know it won’t work.]

“Huh! How am I alive?”

He was still alive even though his throat was cut.

Ronobe threw his head at me and was greatly surprised by this fact.

[Looking at the situation, you seem to have become deeply entangled with the dreams and fairy tales of this place. In short, you are becoming one. Perhaps it was trying to swallow you whole.]

“yes?”

[… I am becoming one with this place as if I had used the transformation magic of a gray bear.]

“Am I a bad person?”

[Would you like that, you blockhead!]

Unable to bear it any longer, Yonterion suddenly became angry. Ronobe stuck his severed head out and bit his lip.

“You might not know that…”

[You don’t always know, do you? When on earth are you going to find out? No. Tsk, yeah. That’s right. That’s the kind of guy he was.]

“Oh, what is it? You’re ignoring me so much?”

[Okay. It should have worked originally, but since it didn’t, I guess I was lucky.]

“Please tell me it’s not luck, it’s skill.”

For once, Yonterion didn’t bother to bother anyone.

[It’s not like it’s a rare mistake.]

“Huh? Really?”

It was not luck to have the god of revenge.

[He probably didn’t know that you were the one who held the god of vengeance. That’s why you weren’t eaten by his nightmares.]

That’s probably because of the special nature of Ronobe. It’s because it holds multiple gods.

[I bet he never dreamed of that. He probably didn’t know that he would be a pot-bellied man carrying eight gods.]

“That’s right. Why would you be so greedy? How foolish. Hahaha!”

Speaking with his neck cut off, he couldn’t look more foolish.

“Isn’t there any other way?”

[If you are already in a fairy tale, it is best for you to swallow this dream. Didn’t I tell you earlier? The place where you call upon the god to offer tribute is also, simply put, a part of the dream.]

“hmm…”

Ronobe hesitated as if he didn’t understand. If he didn’t understand, he could have just said he couldn’t do it, but he didn’t like that, so he hesitated.

Yonterion clicked his tongue and said, “Tsk.”

[If you become the master of this dream and offer him up as a tribute, then this dream will disappear as well.]

“Oh! But how do you do that?”

[Realize your dreams. This is where his nightmares unfold. Think of yours, not God’s.]

Ronobe put the severed head around his neck and thought.

‘Nightmares aren’t just bad memories.’

His own nightmare.

Ronobe, who could only think of being hit by Venom, soon remembered what happened before that.

A road full of gray concrete.

Skyscrapers soaring high into the sky.

Guns and tanks. Passenger ships and fighter planes.

Computers and ramen. Kimchi stew and steamed eggs!

[Dreams are where your world unfolds. Spread your dreams wider and bigger. That will be your miracle.]

“Can I do it?”

[A miracle is not something that can be done or not. A miracle is something that happens when it absolutely must happen.]

“…”

[You are destined to become a great wizard. How can you not even do this?]

“So you also knew, Master, that I had the potential to become a great wizard?!”

[… That, that’s right.]

“Understood! This disciple! I will show you my qualities as a great wizard!!”

[…]

That was when.

The quality of the dream begins to change from under Ronobe’s feet. The ground of the black forest rises like a digital sculpture and changes into a gray road. On the gray road, cars made of scrap metal drive around, and moving traffic lights, tall gray buildings, and bad fine dust obscure the sky.

[You’re really doing this…]

In the heart of a smoke-filled city center.

Ronobe looked down on the world he had created from the rooftop of the building. It was a place where the electronic billboards were alive and breathing with virtual YouTubers, and below them, drug addicts were swarming.

“iced coffee…”

Ronobe was overcome with emotion.

His eyes were half-open. The smell of dirty air laden with fine dust. The smell of exhaust fumes, the filthy neon signs, and the high-rise skyscrapers were all so welcome.

“Kimchi stew! Ramen! Pork cutlet!!”

A dream come true just as you imagine!

Ronobe imagined various things and then became fixated on food. The sorrow of Koreans who have not been able to eat kimchi stew and white rice for over a decade is truly a sorrow that lasts a thousand years.

My life was on the line and I couldn’t miss this golden opportunity.

Ronobe went into a restaurant and ordered pork belly and kimchi stew.

“Ma’am! Can I get some steamed eggs for free?”

[What is this…]

Yonterion frowned as he looked at the world that Lonobe had created with admiration.

Why did he go to a restaurant after having a good time! Regardless, Ronobe was happy to set up the spoon and chopsticks.

“This is it. These metal chopsticks! A metal spoon!! I’ve been missing these!!”

Let’s wait a moment. Kimchi stew and pork belly with white steam have arrived.

The same goes for pure white rice.

Steamed eggs were also served as a side dish.

My mouth watered like a waterfall.

“Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad?”

Just as I was about to take a bite.

Kwaaaaang-!! A giant black nightmare that will destroy the city has appeared.

-This dream is mine. It’s mine!! It’s not a place that you can change! This is my world!!

The devil was crying.

The devil, who looked like he had scribbled a pencil haphazardly, shed black tears from his only eye. When the tears fell, the world turned black.

The bastard became enraged and started destroying and eating the buildings and cars that Ronobe had built.

The collapsing building. Ronobe screamed as he watched the building and kimchi stew disappear like a mirage, shaking and staggering.

I shed tears of blood.

“… That kimchi stew was filled with dreams and hopes. You just now! You trampled on a man’s dream.”

-?

“You are being told you are lost.”

Ronobe couldn’t stand it.

Even if that thing looks like some giant nightmare.

Even if that’s not light, but something else inside the light.

I couldn’t stand King Chijjigae’s revenge.

“Eww!!”

Ronobe, who had transformed into a gray bear that he still couldn’t control properly, appeared, destroying the building and tearing at the demon’s flesh.

But the bastard was too big. In order to defeat him, he had to grow bigger as well.

“I can grow up too! This is a dream! Everything I imagine will come true! Urdisia! Lend me your strength!”

Ronobe also inflated his own size to resemble a giant demon. For some reason, it happened just as he had imagined.

[Ronobe! Imagine! Imagination is the greatest power of living, breathing things!]

Ronobe bit the bastard’s ear and scratched its body. The demon’s screams of pain echoed and the demon’s hands struck Ronobe, but the gray bear was strong.

I was used to getting hit. As the monster war broke out in the middle of the city, the city began to crumble.

-This is mine! Mine, mine! It’s a dream!

“Shut up! You poor bundle of imagination! There’s no such thing in your world, is there?”

Behind Ronobe, who had transformed into a giant bear, countless guns suddenly appeared.

Pistols, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and bazookas appeared on the grizzly bear’s shoulders like epaulets and fired at the demon.

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo! Boom! Kuuung!!

-Ugh! Aaaah!

The demon with holes ripped through it screamed in agony.

[What the heck is this?]

Even Yonterion, the embodiment of wisdom, was surprised to see something like this for the first time.

But he was no pushover. He suddenly armed himself with black foam and the iron from the city!

“You little thief! You stole my magic!”

-You’re not yours either! You god-bitch!

“I pay tribute fairly and use it through trade! You steal it, you son of a thief!”

The devil’s black iron sword struck down Ronobe. Kwaaaaang-!! The bastard’s black sword sliced ​​through Ronobe’s firearm like a blade.

Ronobe rolled over to avoid it and looked at his own claws. He rolled over and hit the thing, but his own claws broke instead.

The armor of the one who borrowed Vivian’s power was stronger than I had imagined. It wasn’t for nothing that he brought down the empire.

[Imagine! Imagine something stronger and more powerful than that! You can do it!!]

It’s just as Yonterion said.

No matter how strong that thing is, it’s just armor.

Ronobe knew of a product of modern science that was stronger than that.

-My magic is nightmare. The scale of the nightmares of the gods is different from that of ordinary humans. The miracles that come from their nightmares can also be mine. You, your miracles, even your gods! They are all mine now. They must all be mine!!

“Who is it that collapsed and vomited blood after seeing the nightmare of the gods, and yet you still can’t let go of your obsession?”

-That’s not me. It’s weak Light.

“… Then who are you?”

-It’s a nightmare.

“Are you in your second year of middle school?”

-What is otitis media?

He said that, but he was not an opponent to be taken lightly. The potential of the one who claimed the power of the gods as his own was extremely high.

The main body had collapsed, but the nightmare inside it. Perhaps the grimoire itself had another self-consciousness. Otherwise, it wouldn’t still be alive.

“What are you going to do with all of this?”

-I create my world. A world of nightmares. No one! In my world…

“Why did you stop talking?”

-In my world… no one… no one… what? Why, why! Why can’t I remember! Whyeeeeeeee!!

“That crazy guy.”

Ronobe imagined.

I imagined and made a remote control.

“Do you really think that everything I’ve worked for will be taken away by a guy who doesn’t even know what he’s trying to do?”

Ronobe created a remote control and struck the glass-covered button with his fist. Crunch! Then the sky lit up.

The end of the sky.

A satellite beam fell from an artificial satellite that had suddenly appeared.

-Ahhhhhhhh!

He started supporting the devil.

Jieeeeeeing-!

It smelled strongly of squid.

“What the heck! What the heck is this! What the heck is this! Aaaah! Aaaah!”

[A collection of photon particles? Wow, what an amazing power it has!]

Even the nightmare was surprising, and even Yonterion was surprised.

“Never ignore modern science again, you uncivilized medieval bastard.”

Click.

Let’s press one more button, Ronobega.

A small missile fell from the sky.

It wasn’t one.

-Something like this!!

The demon who was lying down while collapsing the building ignored the rather small missile, but the moment it landed, the firepower that could not be ignored engulfed the world.

The most powerful weapon that Ronobe could imagine.

It was nuclear.

“Never again underestimate the meteors of modern science.”

Suddenly, a bear wearing sunglasses and a suit smoking a cigarette walked away with his back to the nuclear explosion. Nuclear weapons poured down like rain. The demon, who was hit by the carpet bombing, shrank and shrank.

Even the ruler of nightmares was dying in the bombing that was no less than a disaster.

‘He’s so charismatic.’

Ronobe, who was smoking a cigarette and feeling faint, threw away the tasteless cigarette and thought about kimchi stew again.

“The time has finally come to enjoy kimchi stew without any regrets.”

Kimchi stew began to be made again. The food eaten after defeating the enemy was sure to taste like honey.

“No, why!”

But it soon disappeared.

This was because the ground that had supported Ronobe had suddenly shattered into pieces of glass.

“Wow!”

Ronobe’s appearance also changed back to human form and he fell into the abyss, floundering. The dream world where everything was possible was collapsing.

The gap of that collapse.

There was a boy crouching inside.

“Light?”

-If I take all the nightmares away… the world will be peaceful. Because no one, no one will be happy if they have nightmares. Not my parents, not my brother…

The world completely collapsed with the last appearance of Light, who seemed to be welcoming.

A little later.

When Ronobe opened his eyes, he saw the rising sun in front of him.

The sunlight blooming in the pale morning was blindingly bright.

“A world without nightmares…”

Ronobe, who was reminiscing about Light’s past, closed his eyes due to the dazzling light and then opened them.

In front, people covered in mud were seen.

“Ronobe!!”

“Benny, Liam.”

It’s not just Benny and Liam.

Tommy and Benald, and the soldiers of Gradas were with them. Among them, there were many dead and wounded.

Everyone was looking at him.

It seemed like a huge battle had been fought, but Ronobe had no idea what they were fighting.

However, in front of him is Light, who is dead and bleeding from the Chilgong.

“ah.”

Only then did Ronobe understand the situation and sigh in relief.

I don’t know what’s what.

But I knew one thing.

“It’s better to have no nightmares.”

There were no more nightmares.

dump.

“Ronobe!”

Ronobé, who had lost consciousness, woke up several days later.

*

A dark, ancient space.

A man standing in the center of dim candlelight, his body floating in the air.

Genos’s eyes opened wide.

Because one candle went out, emitting white smoke.

He stared at it quietly and then closed his eyes again.