Master Assassin of the Ronan

Chapter 35: The Trial of the Black Dream Forest (4)

“You can’t finish this phase by just breaking golems. You have to destroy that thing to end Blane’s fear.”

It was something made of slime—a form difficult to describe, writhing on the ground.

“Destroy that, and it’s over? Young Master, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“Of course not. It doesn’t exist in this world. It’s a monster born from Blane’s nightmares.”

Kun, who had been standing a distance away, approached Rubin and Hamil to look down at the nightmare beast.

It was completely unlike the other creatures that had appeared.

“It’s just slime, isn’t it?”

As Kun stepped on the edge of the slime, the nightmare creature cried out in pain.

“Ahhh!”

It screamed in a human voice.

The center of the slime took the form of a human face, writhing in agony.

“Ah, now I understand.”

“Pardon?”

The face of the nightmare beast was now visible.

Seeing it made everything clear.

The golem had been only a disguise; Blane’s real fear lay elsewhere.

“Don’t you recognize this face? It’s Nes Krieger.”

“Ah!”

The father of Blane Krieger and head of the Krieger family—the face embedded in the center of that writhing slime belonged to him.

“Tsk, so she’s only afraid of her own father? How pathetic.”

Kun pressed harder on the creature with his foot, then brandished his dagger.

If he struck down the helpless monster with it, this phase would be over.

Compared to their struggle with the golem, finishing this felt far too easy.

“I’ll take care of it right now. Do you know how badly I got burned because of you? My whole body’s scorched.”

All three of them had raw, exposed skin from severing the golem’s metal limbs.

And they felt the full agony that came with it.

The faster they cleared this phase, the faster the pain and injuries would vanish.

But it wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

“This isn’t ours to finish.”

Rubin spoke, turning his head to look back.

Blane had come down the hill, standing there trembling.

Kun scowled at Rubin, who he understood all too well.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What’s he talking about?”

“Blane’s fear is something she must handle herself.”

“Rubin, are you out of your mind? Do you really think she can stab her own father’s face right now?”

“She can finish it. She has to, Blane.”

“Shut up! She’s done nothing but cry uselessly this whole time. You think she’s going to be different now? She’ll just keep crying until all of this vanishes.”

Indeed, the boundary of the nightmare world had drawn closer.

The hill they’d just been standing on had already been swallowed by it.

They had mere minutes left.

“Just eliminating her would be faster!”

“Stop, Kun.”

“Rubin, you’re trying to stop me? Ha, exactly what I wanted. I’ll just take you down right here.”

Kun turned to face Rubin directly, his dagger aimed at him.

The gleaming blade looked ready to strike and tear through flesh at any moment.

“Young Master, we’re running out of time. At this rate, we’ll all fail.”

Even Hamil, who had been silent, now backed Kun.

“Why are you trying to take Blane along? This is a competition, isn’t it? A fair contest where only the strong can pass.”

Competition.

Yes, it was a competition.

But to Rubin, competition meant something far greater than this.

A battle against beings far stronger than these mere children.

That was Rubin’s idea of competition.

And to win in that competition, they couldn’t just let Blane fail here.

Nor should anyone else rid her of her fear on her behalf.

Without taking his eyes off Kun, Rubin spoke.

“Kun. Stand down. This is your final warning.”

“Are you threatening me? You think I’m the same as I was before?”

“If that’s what you believe.”

Rubin looked at Blane, who was hesitating.

Could she face her fear in the form of her father’s face?

Probably not.

Even before he’d turned back time, Blane had never been able to overcome her fear of her father, even to her death.

But Rubin didn’t want to be the one to sever that thread for her.

Just then, Kun’s bloodlust, desperate to clash with Rubin, enveloped him.

There was no longer any avoiding the fight.

‘I wanted to see what Kun’s fear was…’

Rubin and Kun were about to take their fighting stances when—

“I… I’ll do it.”

Blane took a step forward, holding her dagger.

That was all Rubin had been waiting for. He lowered his guard.

“Kun, I’ll face you in the next round. You’ll want to be in top condition, too, right?”

“…Lucky. Very.”

Kun, having fought the golem on his own, was more exhausted than anyone else.

Instinctively, he knew he had to be in his best condition to face Rubin.

“What are you waiting for? Hurry and finish it!”

Rubin, Kun, and Hamil stepped back, leaving only Blane and the nightmare beast.

The creature moaned in pain.

The root of her fear—her father, Nes Krieger—shook his head weakly like a frail old man on the brink of death.

As though begging for mercy.

Blane’s hands trembled as she held her dagger. As her hesitation lengthened, Rubin stepped forward.

“That is your fear.”

He placed his hand over hers, helping her tighten her grip on the dagger.

“You’re killing the fear within yourself.”

With those final words, he locked eyes with Blane and then stepped back.

‘Killing fear…’

A breeze swept by.

Each time the wind touched her burned skin, Blane felt the pain rekindled.

She knew that she had to kill this fear here if she was to grow stronger.

The groaning became more desperate.

Blane leaned toward Nes Krieger’s face, which wailed all the more miserably.

The trembling in her dagger-wielding arm gradually subsided as it drew closer to Nes Krieger’s face.

Stab.

“Arrrgh!”

As tears fell from Blane’s face, the slithering Nes Krieger fell still.

Watching this, Rubin let out a sigh of relief, a faint smile on his face.

Whoosh.

The background shifted once again.

The four of us were suddenly back at the black pond. A thick silence hung in the air.

The first to break it was Kun.

“Damn it, I’m so sick of this place.”

Kun’s face was one of complete exhaustion.

“Just how much have we been running around since we entered this pond?”

“It’s only been a few hours since the trial began.”

Blane, who had begun to calm herself, replied.

After conquering her fear, Blane’s demeanor had visibly changed. Her voice carried strength, and there was a new air about her.

“What? It feels like it’s been days.”

“This is the Dream World, where everything is an illusion.”

Blane’s words hinted at something deeper. Having overcome her fear, she could answer this way.

She was beginning to show a confidence that had been rare to see, even before my regression.

“The injuries are gone.”

Hamil inspected his body as he spoke.

The burn marks they’d earned from clinging to the golem’s searing metal shell had vanished.

Their stamina had recovered, and their bodies felt lighter.

“Now, only Young Master Rubin and Kun’s fears remain.”

Hamil seemed excited about the remaining two turns.

Since he’d fought against the Krulty Orc directly, he knew well how powerful Kun was. But what about Rubin? Just how high was his level?

‘It’s possible that even if I team up with Kun, we might still be unable to face Young Master Rubin.’

Judging by how he had handled the nightmare beasts, I had to admit that he was far ahead of me.

‘For someone like Rubin to have a fear… what could it possibly be?’

Just then.

A massive shape reflected in the black pond.

Descending along a web from above was the Dream Spider.

Until now, the Dream Spider had continued the trial without showing itself. But this time, it seemed to want to speak directly.

“There are only two turns left, yet four of you have survived. How unexpected.”

The word ‘unexpected’ also hinted at displeasure.

For the host of the trial, it was a humiliation for participants to survive this long.

What the Dream Spider wanted to see was the selfish, merciless side of assassins.

Not this pathetic show of cooperation.

“Child of the Ronan family.”

Since it had been watching everything, the Dream Spider knew who was causing the trial to veer from its desired course.

“You’re Rubin Ronan, aren’t you? Little one, do you think you’ll survive the next round?”

The Dream Spider swayed back and forth like a pendulum, moving toward Rubin menacingly, then retreating.

“Will there be a dropout next time?”

Rubin remained unfazed, giving only a brief reply.

“If necessary.”

At that curt response, the Dream Spider’s entire body stiffened, its hairs standing on end.

“If necessary? That sounds like you think you can control it. What a cocky little brat. Disgustingly so.”

That was the end of the chatter.

The Dream Spider climbed back up its web. As it disappeared, the next trial began.

The heads of the Assassin Blade Family wandered around, awaiting the next dropout.

It had been quite some time since the elimination of the Bondog and Stone family participants, with no further eliminations.

Of course, it was only a matter of minutes. But considering that time in the black pond flowed ten times slower than reality, it was an unusual occurrence.

In other words, the participants were handling the nightmare beasts and advancing to the next round without anyone being eliminated.

‘Rubin, are you perhaps conquering this trial by the most difficult means?’

Collaborating to solve problems together had almost never been done before in the history of these trials.

Sacrificing or directly eliminating other participants was always the easier way to escape from the nightmare beasts.

But for all participants to grow stronger together, pushing on to the very end was the true path.

Seiren wondered if Rubin might have intended this from the start.

“Finally, an elimination.”

Seiren, who had been watching the thick gray mist, sharpened her gaze.

A new figure appeared in her line of sight.

“…….”

The Head of the Rainkroki family paused, about to plunge his dagger into the arriving cocoon.

He yielded his spot to Seiren as she approached.

“It’s a bit larger.”

This time, Seiren stepped forward herself, drawing her dagger.

“Well, it seems two have been eliminated together again. Didn’t you say there were only two female participants left…?”

The Head of the Krokisson Family spoke lightly, as if unconcerned about Kun’s elimination.

Ziiing.

The moment Seiren’s dagger sliced through the cocoon.

As her dagger was one of the rarest weapons on the continent, the heads of the families gathered closer, their eyes alight with interest.

And in unison, they let out gasps.

“Well.”

“My, that’s unexpected.”

“I thought he’d survive till the very end.”

The heads spoke one after another, their eyes shifting to the Head of the Krokisson Family.

At that moment, the Krokisson Family Head’s displeasure was impossible to hide. His face twisted with a grimace as he stared down at the cocoon.

Inside lay Kun Krokisson, unconscious and unable to even close his mouth.