The Dreamer's POV

Chapter 149: Unbridled Rage

{Moments Earlier}

[00 Months: 17 Days: 9 Hours]

It's so long, so I had forgotten…

… I had a dream.

In that dream, I saw a world bathed in radiant light. The landscape flourished like nothing I had ever seen before.

The flowers gave off a sweet scent, and the melodies in the air were unbelievably surreal.

... And then, in the blink of an eye, everything went into chaos.

The paradise for all became a hellscape.

The world everyone witnessed, the one they all reveled in, was easily corrupted by the power of darkness and buried under flames.

As I watched all of this happen, I was transported closer to the origin—the source of the conflict.

And there I saw a man—clad in a dark robe, like the night. The robe flowed behind him, tattered, and he had it covering his face, so I couldn't see who he was.

An intense aura was surging from him, but more importantly, he seemed to be on his knees—in despair.

And floating above him were towering monsters he couldn't hope to defeat.

'Just stay there. Don't bother. You can't beat them.' I thought to myself as I watched the man.

Yet, the sound of his gritted teeth and clenched fists told me he would rise up.

... I wasn't wrong.

Lifting himself steadily, he straightened his trembling knees and gazed up at the adversaries.

A ball of light floated beside him, now coated in utter darkness—red and purple aura mixed with dark silhouettes.

"I'll kill you all..." I heard the man's voice reverberate through me, etched in my heart, making even me feel fear.

"... I'll definitely kill you all!"

Power suddenly surged from him, and it was enough to blow me away, as well as everything else in the scenery.

Back then, I struggled to witness more of the man's story, but everything slowly began to get swallowed up in black mist and rabid silhouettes.

Was he able win?

Did he kill all of them as he said?

Could he recover those he had lost at the hands of the monsters?

I wasn't able to find out.

Until finally, I woke up.

And it was all nothing but a dream.

However… this wasn't a dream. This… all of it… I could see all of it happening before my eyes.

I was that man.

And everything I had come to cherish… was burning down before my very eyes.

As I stood at the center of the city, witnessing how everything had now lessened to rubble, I finally understood my dream.

"Ahh…"

My Concealment Cloak shielded me from the eyes of the plunderers around me, and I could clearly see them all.

'You monsters…'

Perhaps I didn't know this in the past, but now I was more than convinced.

Humans… humans could be monsters too.

"I'll kill you all… ALL OF YOU!"

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One by one, I stalked them, my footsteps soundless on the cobblestones.

I was the predator and they, the unwitting prey.

My grip tightened around the hilt of my short dagger, the metal cold and unyielding beneath my touch.

I could feel the thrum of my heartbeat, a war drum pounding in my chest.

My first kill was quick and ruthless.

The man was laughing, his hands filled with stolen goods as he rejoiced in his ill-gotten victories. He didn't even see me coming.

My blade cut through the air, slicing through him like butter.

He fell to the ground, a look of surprise etched on his face as his lifeblood pooled around him.

<You Have Received A Human Essence>

One by one, I sought them out, the invaders who had dared to trample on my land, my people.

My blade found its mark again and again, painting the streets in a gruesome tableau of death and vengeance.

I showed no mercy, gave them no quarter.

This was their punishment for the atrocities they had committed.

They… they deserved this.

Every life I took, every man I brought down was a testament to my anger, my grief.

The air grew thick with the metallic scent of blood, the harsh reality of war and retaliation. But it did little to quell the fury within me.

I was a storm, relentless and unstoppable, leaving destruction in my wake.

Each swing of my blade, each life I took, was a defiant scream against the invaders.

<You Have Leveled Up>

<You Have Leveled Up>

The pings in my ears did nothing to stop my advancement.

My Stats kept rising due to <Carnage>, which I had to guess was still active due to the death and chaos around me.

'The condition for activation is that 100 people should have been killed… it never said anything about me doing the killing.'

In a sense… I was reaping the harvest of the malefactors of this catastrophe.

And before long, I was done killing all of them, taking in their Essences as a reward.

By the time I was done with all forty enemies… I was now in Level 42… with a 40% increase in my stats.

"More… more…"

In the end, I found myself standing before the only one left in the city.

He was a dark-skinned, well-built man. He had a seemingly calm expression on his face despite causing so much unnecessary bloodshed.

Haa… I didn't care anymore.

I just wanted to kill him. Destroy him once and for all!

He muttered some useless words, but none of them went into my ears. I heard something like: "You see, we're not supposed to leave survivors."

"I see…" My voice leaked out.

As expected, these people were not merely raiders. Their equipment, and their level of skill…

I thought they could have been the Nine-Headed Dragon Alliance, but piecing together all the details I had observed since starting this massacre… I realized the truth.

'They're from The Alliance!'

And that was what it took to finally snap my last strand of reasoning.

All the forgotten pain and memories that I intentionally buried began to surface. Even with <Visionary>, I couldn't bottle them up again.

No… I didn't want to bottle them up.

I wanted them to flow.

I wanted… TO KILL EVERYONE!

My five Great Rocks manifested around me, and I activated all the Skills that could help me achieve my goals.

Everyone who did this… everyone who was involved in all of this… THEY WERE GOING TO DIE!

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[A/N]

This is just a rage chapter, and I intentionally made it very incoherent because of the current state of the main character.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!