It was a garden full of red roses.
Carmina walked slowly. As her fingertips brushed the rose petals, they flowed down like blood.
The moonlit garden was quiet, but an uneasy aura lingered.
She stopped for a moment and surveyed her surroundings. The sensations she felt were utterly strange.
“A dream?”
Carmina’s red eyes narrowed.
She realized that the situation she was experiencing was a dream. But this was not a dream she had created.
“How dare you play such a trick!”
Her lips contorted with anger. She was a succubus who controlled dreams.
Not just any succubus, but a queen.
Yet, someone had intentionally made her have a dream.
For a long time, she had manipulated the dreams of numerous humans and monsters at will. But this was the first time she had been mocked by someone else.
Who dared to make her dream without fear.
Anger rose.
She was annoyed.
“I don’t know who you are, but I’ll make you suffer greatly.”
Carmina moved her fingers to destroy the dream, but changed her mind.
There was only one reason.
She wanted to know who had concocted such a prank.
So, Carmina continued to walk through the garden in the dream.
Just then, she heard someone sobbing.
“Who’s there?”
Carmina’s voice echoed through garden. The sobbing continued, and as she followed the sound, she saw a figure huddled among the rose bushes.
In the soft moonlight, black hair scattered over her shoulders.
Carmina immediately recognized the back.
“Neara?”
Carmina approached and placed her hand on her shoulder.
Could Neara be the one who created this dream?
But as far as she knew, Neara was dead. A dead succubus could not control dreams.
Then, Neara must also be a part of the dream.
“My child, why are you like this?”
Nevertheless, Carmina spoke kindly.
She thought she might be able to find the culprit by using Neara, who was part of the dream.
As Carmina spoke, Neara’s sobs stopped. Then, Neara’s head slowly, very slowly, began to turn.
“Neara?”
Carmina’s voice held a question. Neara’s movements were strange. Her neck wasn’t turning naturally; only her head was turning backward.
Finally, Neara’s face completely turned towards Carmina.
Her neck was severed. Only her head floated in the air, and red blood flowed from the cut end.
“…”
Carmina’s breath caught for a moment.
As a queen, she rarely felt fear. But the sight before her froze her heart.
Neara’s eyes were vacant, but her lips moved clearly.
“Lady Carmina…”
More blood began to flow from Neara’s neck. The blood pooled at Carmina’s feet.
It started as a small puddle, but quickly became a red lake that engulfed Carmina’s ankles.
“It’s your turn now, Your Majesty.”
Neara’s face contorted grotesquely.
Her mouth opened wide, and something writhed within.
It was as if thousands of insects were trying to crawl out of her throat.
“!”
Carmina recoiled, but the lake of red blood held her captive.
No matter how much she struggled, the blood had already reached her waist.
Neara’s severed head drew closer.
At that moment.
“How dare you play such a trick on me…!”
Carmina clapped her hands, and everything disappeared. She had destroyed the dream space with her will.
“!”
Simultaneously, Carmina’s eyes snapped open.
“Are you alright? Your Majesty.”
A succubus spoke to her with a concerned gaze.
Carmina felt the cold sweat on her forehead.
Her dress was already soaked with sweat, and her palms were damp.
As the supreme being among succubi, she could not show such weakness.
“I’m fine.”
She waved her hand elegantly, trying to hide her emotions.
“I was just a little bored. Is it time to depart again?”
As Carmina stood up, the succubus quickly replied.
“Yes, quite a few humans have been captivated by Your Majesty’s charm.”
They were in a border area within the Silent Mountain Range, between the Kalrn Empire and the former Free City Alliance territory.
Along the mountain range spread between the borders, Carmina and her subordinates were advancing.
The number of followers drawn by the succubus queen’s charm also grew with time.
“Yes, let us depart again.”
It was certainly good for the procession to grow in size. That meant an increase in their power.
However, her heart felt heavy.
‘Who on earth…’
Carmina’s thoughts returned to the nightmare. What kind of being dared to inflict a nightmare upon her, the queen?
Could it be the same entity that killed Neara?
‘How can they possess such an aura?’
Carmina believed she controlled all the succubi she knew.
Of course. She was the Queen of Succubi.
Yet, this aura was clearly succubus-like, but deeper and more powerful.
She had believed that no unknown succubi existed, but that belief shattered.
“Hmm.”
Carmina’s lips moved slightly.
She intended to make whoever was playing such a shallow trick pay dearly.
* * *
The procession continued in the Silent Mountain Range.
A few days passed.
Finally, Carmina arrived at a cave, following an unknown aura.
“Your Majesty, it’s a dungeon.”
As the succubus reported, it was not an ordinary cave but a dungeon.
The aura that Carmina had felt was still emanating from within the dungeon.
This was an obvious provocation.
“How pathetic.”
Carmina’s red eyes gleamed coldly. Of course, she would not fall for such a provocation.
Even as queen, she had no intention of walking into a trap set by an unknown entity.
“Send the humans into the dungeon first to scout the interior.”
“As Your Majesty commands.”
Her chosen method was to send in the humans who had fallen under her charm first.
Under the queen’s gesture, the humans began to slowly enter the dungeon.
However, a moment later, an unexpected anomaly occurred.
“What?!”
Carmina’s face contorted in shock.
“My charm is completely gone?”
All the humans who had entered the dungeon were freed from her charm.
* * *
“… Huh?”
“Where… where am I?”
“Why am I here… Ugh! My head…”
The humans who had entered the dungeon slowly began to regain consciousness.
As if awakening from a deep sleep, a liveliness gradually returned to their eyes.
The blacksmith, holding a sword, looked down at his hand in shock.
The hunter, carrying a bow, had a confused expression as if he couldn’t even remember how he got here.
The elderly and children were the same.
Why were they in such a place?
Their vacant gazes were filled with confusion and fear as they looked around.
They had completely broken free from Carmina’s charm.
Unfortunately, they had not broken free from the charm on their own.
It was thanks to Celia’s power that they were able to break free from the charm.
“Oh my, to be doing something like this. Ms. Carmina has become quite the coward.”
Celia sneered and turned her gaze towards the humans who had entered the dungeon.
“Even if you came in under my charm, how dare you trespass into the domain of our great Master.”
As her fingers moved elegantly, a Death Knight near the dungeon entrance approached.
“Alright. I need more labor for construction, so I’ll leave these people to you, Death Knight.”
“…”
The Death Knight nodded with apparent pleasure.
As Celia gestured again, the eyes of those freed from the charm became vacant once more.
This time, they had fallen under Celia’s charm.
They silently followed the Death Knight holding a pickaxe.
* * *
“… Ugh! How dare you bring such shame upon me!”
Carmina’s scream-like cry echoed through the Silent Mountain Range.
This was the first time she, who reigned as the Queen of Succubi, had experienced such humiliation.
Moreover, the charm she had placed on the humans was so easily broken.
This was a disgrace to her as a queen.
“No more wasting time!”
Carmina commanded the succubi gathered around her.
“Everyone enter the dungeon. I will see with my own eyes who dared to challenge me!”
Carmina led the way, stepping into the darkness of the dungeon.
The interior of the dungeon was, contrary to her expectations, ordinary.
No, the ordinariness was almost strange.
The walls were neatly trimmed, and there wasn’t a speck of dust.
‘Strange.’
It seemed trivial for a dungeon inhabited by the being whose aura she had felt.
A dungeon filled only with quiet silence. The procession continued forward.
As they walked a little further, the passage suddenly split into three.
The three paths extended to the left, center, and right, respectively, and it was impossible to know where each path led.
Carmina stopped for a moment.
Here, she should not divide her forces.
If they were divided, they would be at the mercy of the dungeon’s master.
Concentrating their strength in one place was the better choice.
“…”
So, where should she go?
This was where the deliberation began.
* * *
The path Carmina chose was the one on the far right.
She, the succubi, and the Dream Sites, monsters that parasitized dreams, moved forward.
A moment later, a vast space appeared. It was astonishingly wide, and blue plants covered the floor.
Of course, they weren’t ordinary plants.
They were moving, carnivorous tentacle-plant monsters.
Next to them, two small figures were visible.
One was a young vampire, and the other was an elf.
However, Carmina’s gaze passed them by, fixing on the being standing behind them.
‘What is it?’
Carmina’s vision caught sight of a Skeleton.
But it was not an ordinary skeleton by any means.
It was a skeleton imbued with some kind of strange power.
However, even with an unusual power, a skeleton was just a skeleton.
Not a Lich, not a Death Knight, just a mere skeleton.
“How dare a mere skeleton block my path?”
Anger tinged Carmina’s voice.
She gestured to the subordinates behind her.
“Eliminate them!”
As the command was given, the Dream Sites moved first. They frenziedly charged towards the Skeleton.
The succubi also spread their wings and soared into the air.
However, the Skeleton showed no sign of panic. He slowly raised his sword and then firmly planted it on the ground.
“Ugh!”
A powerful light filled the entire chamber. The light was so pure and intense that the Dream Sites evaporated with screams.
A wave of light surged towards the succubi, and they collapsed on the ground, screaming in pain.
“Impossible!”
Carmina’s face was filled with shock once more. She tried to evade the light, but it was too late.
The holy light enveloped her body.
For the Succubus Queen, who had lived in darkness, this light was unbearable pain.
“Who… who are you?!”
Carmina asked, writhing in agony.
The Skeleton slowly approached.
“Tuk-tuk.”
(Maru.)
“…”?
Carmina couldn’t understand the meaning of that word.
She gathered her last ounce of strength and shot a red aura towards the Skeleton. But the aura dissipated in the face of the holy light.
Maru raised his sword again. And with a single, elegant motion, he thrust the sword towards Carmina’s chest.
* * *
“No!”
Carmina opened her eyes, screaming.
“Are you alright? Your Majesty.”
A succubus spoke to her with a concerned gaze.
Carmina felt the cold sweat on her forehead.
‘What was that?’
She had just had one dream.
No, she had a sequence of two dreams.
One was a dream featuring Neara, and the other was a dream of entering an unknown dungeon and meeting her death at the hands of a skeleton.
“…”
Carmina gazed at her trembling hands in silence.
It was shameful for her to show such weakness as a queen, but she couldn’t calm herself.
An ominous premonition washed over her entire body.
