’Are you for real?’
Come on, I was tired after all the stress at the warehouse. All I wanted to do was to have some sleep.
Some ’peaceful’ sleep, without anything disturbing it!
But I remembered Arias’ words about me having to fight with all I had when I went to sleep.
But Arias didn’t have to warn me about it, I was already pissed enough to not try and fight back.
But instead of, like the last time, the thing grabbing me underwater, it emerged in all its height, and I was a bit confused for a second.
It was a humanoid creature, enormous but completely translucent and with countless arms hanging from all around its body, but I myself couldn’t go too much above water.
The only thing I could see before the thing punched me down, was that when it prepared the punch, all its form glitched. And then, I was underwater, with all air being sucked out of my lungs.
[YOU CANNOT OVERPOWER ME!]
That fucker was fast, despite its ginormous size, and now it could speak?
But I wasn’t going to go down without a fight this time, so I swam harder than ever, and in no time, I was in the surface again.
The only thing was that my strength allowed me to boost my whole body above water, if that red liquid was even water.
"YOU LET ME SLEEP, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I heard myself yelling at the thing before it snapped some of its arms against me, throwing me underwater once more.
It was starting to get boring, but how was I supposed to fight a thing that size, underwater, in a dream?
Hold on.
It’s a dream...
And it’s ’my’ dream.
Shit, I’m so stupid!
I felt the pressure underwater, and it was overwhelmingly oppressive, but I knew that pressure. It felt like the migraine from when the system kept me from using it.
Because of that, I finally embraced the reality that we were inside of my head, and I just didn’t know which part it was, because I never dreamed of a red sea.
But it didn’t matter, I had my strength, and it was time to see if I could have the rest of my things, so I summoned [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and swam as hard as I could, getting as far as possible from the... System-creature.
When I felt that I was far enough, I braced even harder, my muscles screaming with the effort. But it was worth it, because the more I approached the surface, the easier it was to gain momentum, so I jumped above water with the impulse and started sliding through the surface.
When I began losing speed, I stomped my feet towards the surface of the red liquid, harder and harder, and as I imagined, I began running above water!
It was so sick!
The adrenaline pumped through my veins like fire, and I approached the system-creature as it threw its countless hands towards me.
"YOU’RE IN ’MY’ HEAD, BITCH!"
I cloaked myself with [SHADOW WALK] and the monster seemed to lose sight of me. It was getting better and better, and it was a shame it was nothing but a dream, because if I could fight like this in real life, I would be unstoppable!
I reached its back and slit whatever solid surface I was able to touch with my blades, and when my blade touches the monster’s bizarre skin...
It bled mana.
It bled ’my’ mana, and it sparked an idea in my head.
"You weren’t keeping me from accessing you, you were feeding on my mana so I couldn’t use my skills... YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed as I ran away from its grasp again.
And as it bled mana, I began feeling it being released in the air, and the more it spread, the more I grabbed.
I didn’t even need to use [INVISIBLE HAND] anymore, the sensation of the mana became so natural that it was as if it became second nature to me, even though I haven’t studied about the mana laws yet.
However, the system-creature seemed to finally be understanding what I was doing, and it began sucking the mana back into its body, but... Did it become smaller or was just my head playing tricks on me?
Also, the water underneath my feet.
It was getting a slightly brighter tone, getting a bit blueish. And I was able to stand over it!
So that’s how it was?
I felt a grin spreading through my lips as I prepared my next move, and the creature began stepping towards me, sending giant waves all around while trying to suck all the mana from its surroundings.
But I wasn’t going to let it win that easily, now that I knew it was going to be a contest of will power.
I uncloaked myself and looked deadly straight at the monster, feeling the mana flowing inside it.
"Two can play this game."
But it didn’t need to be a tug of war, since I could clearly feel my mana flowing inside the monster.
I focused as best as I could while the waves got closer, and too late, the system-creature realized what I was aiming at. I pulled my hands as if I was pulling strings, and the creature was so heavy that my whole body moves towards it in mid-air.
It tried swinging its arms against me, but I pushed them away with the mana inside them, using it as a propeller to boost my speed.
And the faster I got, the faster the creature realized it was impossible to stop me.
I raised the [MIDNIGHT SISTERS] and began rotating around my own axis, like a drill, and the next thing, I was digging a hole through the system-creature’s enormous chest, slowing my rotation to a stop, only when I was fully inside.
"Now, how do you like that?" I smirked even wider as I began absorbing my mana back.
The creature shrieked and squirmed and screamed, but there wasn’t anything it could do to take me out.
It just slowed its movements and started shrinking, getting smaller and smaller, the more I absorbed its source of power.
My source of power.
[IT MAY NOT BE NOW...]
[BUT YOU WILL SUBMIT...]
[TO THE *#&¨$¨#%@]
"Yeah, go to hell, I won’t let you get in my way anymore!"
When the creature finally vanished, I felt the air getting lighter, it became easier to breathe, and the water became clear again, the sky got its blue back, and I felt like I was, finally, dreaming.