“No!”
Carmina’s scream echoed through the mountain range.
How many times has it been now? For the same nightmare to visit her.
No, it was a nightmare, but not the same dream.
The content changing little by little was wearing Carmina down.
“Are you alright? Queen.”
A succubus cautiously approached and asked. Her concern was genuine, but Carmina waved her hand and coldly brushed her off.
“Don’t mind me!”
Her voice was no longer sweet and alluring. Her sharp, hoarse voice carried fear and exhaustion.
Carmina quickly looked around.
It was still the same place, the same time.
“It won’t end…”
Then, she muttered quietly.
She had another nightmare.
The first nightmare began with her going to the Silent Mountain Range and entering a dungeon. As she wandered inside, she soon came to a fork in the road.
Among them, Carmina chose the path furthest to the right and met her demise by a skeleton of unknown origin.
At that moment, Carmina opened her eyes.
That was the first nightmare.
But what happened afterward was the problem.
Carmina dismissed it as a mere dream and resumed leading her procession.
Soon, she found the dungeon she had seen in her dream, and similarly, there was a fork in the road as she had seen in her dream.
‘In the second one, I took the left path.’
She trusted her judgment. She chose the left instead of the right path where she had met her death in the first dream.
But to her surprise.
To her astonishment, the left path was occupied by a 5-star Arch Lich and a Death Knight.
Moreover, the combination of the two exerted a power that surpassed that of the Succubus Queen.
With the sword swung by the Death Knight, the succubi turned into ghouls, and the undead monsters exploded due to the Arch Lich’s skill, making the fight unwinnable.
Still, Carmina was a 6-star succubus.
She tried to charm the Death Knight and the Arch Lich, but the charm was quickly broken.
‘…!’
Shock spread across her face. Her most powerful weapon, charm, was ineffective.
Eventually, her plan failed. And she met her death, caught in the chain explosion of the succubi who had turned into ghouls.
It was the conclusion of the second nightmare, her second death in a dream.
When she woke up from the dream, she always returned to the current point in time.
The point where she seduced humans with her charm and began ascending the Silent Mountain Range in earnest.
But what happened next was predictable.
In the third dream, she chose the central path of the dungeon.
However, in the center, there were a 5-star Goblin Lord and a Wyvern.
It was a disaster.
Goblins were weak creatures, but it was a different story if there was a Goblin Lord commanding them.
Charm?
The probability of goblins falling under charm was already significantly reduced by the mere presence of the Goblin Lord.
More than anything, the presence of the Wyvern was also a nuisance to Carmina.
Even if it wasn’t a dragon, it was a highly intelligent monster.
Even as the Succubus Queen, she, who had just reached 6-star, had no capacity to deal with two 5-star monsters.
Thus, Carmina met her third death. And she woke up from the dream, returning to the past.
‘What kind of dungeon is this, to have such powerful beings?’
All the paths – left, center, and right – contained monsters of 5-star or higher.
Carmina was astonished that even the path to the right had a skeleton of a comparable level to her own.
However, in the fourth dream, something unusual happened.
“…”
This time, before she could even reach the fork in the road after entering the dungeon, a vampire appeared.
A vampire standing alone, without any other monsters.
She thought she could handle that.
So Carmina stepped forward herself.
But.
“How dare you touch my descendant.”
The vampire’s demeanor changed.
As if it had become another being.
‘It’s a being far beyond my realm…!’
An oppressive presence so strong that it made it difficult to breathe weighed her down.
A being that couldn’t be explained by 6-star.
A being that even she, at 6-star, couldn’t dare to look at.
“You truly are a foolish creature.”
As the vampire gestured, she immediately perished.
That was Carmina’s fourth death.
And when she opened her eyes, she was back at the original point in time.
Thus she experienced her fifth, sixth, seventh… now countless deaths.
Of course, they were all dreams.
She was still only near the entrance of the Silent Mountain Range.
But her face grew increasingly grim.
She was becoming worn down. Carmina was exhausted by the continuous dreams.
“Are you alright, Queen?”
The situation unfolded just as before.
“A considerable number of humans have also been captivated by your charm.”
And the scheduled conquest.
But Carmina knew.
This, too, was a dream, or something terrible would happen in the dungeon she was about to enter.
“…Hah!”
She was angry. A fierce rage surged within her.
She had long since realized that these nightmares were not normal.
But to deceive her with dreams that felt like reality.
And seeing that it was constantly repeated, she could guess that her opponent was also an immensely powerful demon.
The problem was the opponent’s true strength.
‘I can’t even tell if this is a dream right now…’
Carmina clenched her fists tightly. Her fingernails dug into her flesh, drawing blood, but even that provided no basis for judging whether she was in a dream or reality.
But she had no choice.
If the being who had already killed Neara could exert influence over her, there was only one option.
Either the opponent died, or Carmina herself died.
Carmina, of course, was in the position of needing to kill the opponent.
This was a matter of the Queen’s pride.
Carmina’s procession continued.
Succubi and Dream Sites followed behind her, and the humans captivated by charm served as shields at the forefront.
The progression until entering the dungeon was the same.
Carmina had already experienced the same scene dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times.
They sent the humans in first, and when the charm wore off, Carmina, the succubi, and the Dream Sites would rush in.
But this time, another anomaly occurred.
“Scout each fork in the road.”
Carmina ordered her subordinates to scout each of the three paths and report back, but the result was different.
“Queen, there is… nothing.”
“The center is the same. There is nothing.”
“The right path also had nothing but grass growing on the ground.”
What?
Carmina’s expression turned surprised.
“…That’s impossible. Check again!”
But the result was the same.
No matter which path they took, there was nothing.
There was no abnormally powerful skeleton, no Arch Lich, no Death Knight, no Goblin Lord, and no Wyvern.
Not even a single monster was found.
Carmina’s brow furrowed deeply.
‘Is this another dream? Or…’
Confused thoughts filled her mind.
Perhaps this was reality, and the dreams she had been having were merely terribly horrific nightmares?
“I will go to the central path.”
She made a decision.
Following Carmina’s command, her procession cautiously walked down the central passage. In the previous dreams, the Goblin Lord and the Wyvern had been on this path.
But now it was empty.
Only the torches hanging on the dungeon walls cast long, flickering shadows.
When they walked for a long time along the passage, an unexpected sight unfolded before them. In a spacious area, there was a large lake.
Such a large lake inside a dungeon…
“A lake this size in a dungeon.”
On the opposite side of the lake, another passage was visible. This time, it was a staircase leading downwards.
“Let’s proceed.”
At Carmina’s command, she and her subordinates circled the lake and headed for the stairs. While descending the stairs, a strange sense of unease settled in Carmina’s chest.
‘What is it?’
At that moment, a peculiar pain pierced her heart.
But she didn’t know what it was.
Upon reaching the end of the stairs, a spacious hall appeared. In the center of the hall, a red carpet was laid, and at its end stood a grand throne. And on that throne—
Carmina’s steps halted.
Her eyes widened in disbelief. The figure sitting on the throne was all too familiar.
“C-Celia?”
Her voice trembled.
Celia Ishar.
The succubus whom Carmina had used and discarded.
The being sealed by the White Church, unable to die eternally, was now alive before her eyes.
Celia’s appearance was completely different from the Celia Carmina remembered.
The once weak and fragile succubus was now sitting confidently on the throne.
“What is this…”
Carmina felt an immense pain surge through her head.
Dizziness?
It felt like being hit on the head.
The shock must have been that great.
“It’s been a while, Ms. Carmina.”
Celia’s voice was soft yet full of dignity. Her voice no longer carried the fear or weakness of the past.
No, rather, she had reappeared as a being with immense power exceeding Carmina’s own.
Carmina instinctively backed away.
Fear and confusion tangled within her chest.
How could Celia escape the White Church’s seal?
How could she become so powerful?
The succubi standing around her also began to stir.
They too felt the overwhelming aura emanating from Celia. The Dream Sites wriggled uneasily and retreated.
“H-How…!”
Carmina’s voice cracked. Her hands trembled unconsciously.
“Then… all these nightmares were also…?”
Celia was the one who had caused them.
She couldn’t believe it.
How could the once weak Celia become stronger than her?
“That’s right, Ms. Carmina.”
Celia approached Carmina with a smile.
But Carmina was the Succubus Queen.
Yielding now was against her pride.
*Thump*
At that moment, Carmina’s hand pierced Celia’s heart.
“Hehehe, Celia! Serves you right!”
Having gained the initiative through a preemptive strike, Carmina began to laugh maniacally.
An attack was always unpredictable.
Victory’s joy gleamed in Carmina’s eyes.
“With this, I’ve won, Celia!”
She laughed. She kept laughing.
But tears began to fall. They must have been tears of joy at finally being able to escape this nightmare.
* * *
The dungeon was filled with the thick scent of blood.
Warm blood pooled on the stone floor, forming puddles.
The corpses of succubi and Dream Sites lay scattered on the cold dungeon floor.
The once beautiful bodies of the succubi were torn and mangled beyond recognition.
The Dream Sites, in their monstrous forms, were in an even more gruesome state, as if a nightmare had melted into reality.
The few surviving succubi knelt with their heads bowed.
Their posture conveyed a blind loyalty to their master.
At that moment, Necros moved its jawbones.
“Click, click, click.”
(This one is smiling.)
At Necros’s words, Celia looked at Carmina lying on the floor.
Carmina was already dying.
Her entire body was covered in deep wounds, and in the end, her heart had been pierced by Celia’s attack.
The life force of the queen who had once reigned at the apex of succubi was rapidly fading.
Yet, even so, Carmina was smiling.
Tears flowed from her once alluring eyes.
“Click.”
(Crying even while smiling.)
At the sight, Celia smiled.
“Perhaps you’re having a good dream.”
Celia’s voice was soft.
“May you continue to enjoy your never-ending dream.”
She slowly reached out her hand over Carmina’s face and gently closed Carmina’s eyes.
