CH 72

[The bell rang at the end of class- the students all left the classroom chatting and laughing.

Karina called out to Marie, who was about to leave the classroom.

“Marie!”

Karina called Marie with a smile on her face. She was about to share the weird dream she had yesterday—it was related to her.

“Oh, Karina, what, what’s up?” Marie patted her messy chestnut hair, expression somewhat uneasy. Her eyes kept flicking back and forth, as if she was wary of everything in her surroundings.

Karina suddenly felt that the scene in front of her was familiar, just like her dream yesterday.

Such a strong sense of visual déjà vu made her raise her eyebrows in interest: “Ha, you would never have imagined that I had a dream yesterday. En, really, just like what’s really happening, we were standing on the street just like this…”

Before she finished speaking, Karina saw tears drip down Marie’s face.

Karina was panicking now.

She really liked her new friend, but she had been in a bad mood lately. That’s why she wanted to talk to her more, but she didn’t expect that her rare good friend would cry after so few words.

“En, I’m sorry! If I said something wrong, please ignore it, ba!”

The girl with chestnut hair could no longer suppress the fear within her heart and began crying bitterly.

The few students who hadn’t left the classroom all sent them some strange glances.

“Wuwu- no, Karina, it’s not you who’s wrong. It’s me who’s wrong… Do you believe me?” Marie lifted her eyes which were red from crying.

“Of course! You’re my best friend, of course I believe you! No matter what!” A pure smile full of trust appeared on Karina’s beautiful face.

Marie choked back her tears, raised her hand with a twist, and untied the scarf around her neck.

The thin scarf fell, revealing the chestnut-haired girl’s white neck—and a deep red bloodstain.

“That dream— He’s back.]

— From <<Nightmare>>

~~~

This church was different from the one in the middle of town. The decorations were more simple, or in other words—crude.

Few people came to this church to worship—not just because it was on the edge of town, but also because it had a desolate and gloomy aura.

The tall gothic building stood in a remote corner of the town. Bricks and tiles that held traces of being worn down by time were hidden in the countless trees of the dense woods.

Fallen leaves filled the open area around the church, and weeds grew rampant on the uncared-for lawn.

A cold wind blew past from time to time, bringing only some isolated rustling and more fallen leaves.

The reincarnators walked along the street opposite the church and headed all the way toward its main entrance.

The ones who knew about the plot were aware of how much sin was buried in this church, which had once symbolized the light, so they maintained calm faces yet didn’t dare to relax.

They were actually somewhat scared.

Because in the first part of the movies, the location of Morris’s body was revealed—underneath the ground of this church.

There lay one of the strongholds of the Holy Sect. There was a luxurious sect hall built underneath the ground for the rich and powerful fanatics to discuss matters.

Or even to offer some sacrifices—for example, some children who represent purity or some rebellious people who disrespected their god.

It was there that Morris was secured to a cross and burnt into a pile of cinders—his skin and flesh were charred to ash, and even his bones were stained black.

Because Morris was busy with his revenge in the first part and didn’t pay much attention to this stuff, they were daring enough to approach.

And the reason they took the risk to go there was because they had to retrieve an important tool from within the church—Samael’s staff.

In the second part, that prop was extremely helpful. It protected the heroine and those around her along their way to the town. During that time, only a few unfirm people were killed. It could be considered their most powerful life-saving tool in the plot– bar none.

Although in the second half of the second part of the movie series Morris gradually familiarized himself with the power he inherited from Samael and was eventually no longer able to be restrained by the prop, in the first part of the series, the prop could be considered almost invincible.

It could be said that as long as they didn’t blatantly run across Morris’s line of sight, Samael’s Staff could render them completely invisible to Morris’s eyes and help them avoid confrontations.

Although they wanted to meet Emily and kill characters involved in the plot, and would thus inevitably interact with Morris, they also had other life-saving items. As long as they used them properly, they could be 50-60% sure that they could retrieve the entire body and retreat.

After all, they didn’t really want to earn reward points at all. They just wanted to last until the end of the plot.

Then—they would return to the Lord God’s Space and give back the ‘great love’ that the Lord God granted to them.

Sha sha1—

The wind grew louder, and everyone finally set their feet upon the path in front of the church.

The rusty iron door was wide open. As the cold wind blew, it made an odd creaking noise, making them feel a chilly sense of foreboding.

Along the side of the small path leading to the main entrance of the church, there were bunches of tall, unmaintained roses, all of which were extremely bright and delicate.

“In the story—are there any flowers there, ma?” A reincarnator on the team frowned and thought back to the story with a suspicious look on his face.

To prepare for this mission, each of them watched the <<Nightmare>> movie series numerous times, trying to memorize every detail.

After all, in the Reincarnation Space, details truly could determine success or failure sometimes.

""

So that reincarnator who had memorized each movie and scene by heart was very sure that in the original movie, there were no roses there. No, they should still be there—but the rose bushes should have long been withered.

“Perhaps the plot has begun changing. There have been plenty of reports about this kind of occurrence already. Don’t worry about it, let’s go in quickly, ba!” The thin man off to the side replied in a deep voice.

As a result of the odd discrepancies, everyone hastened their steps and walked straight to the main entrance of the church.

Samael’s Staff wasn’t easy to find. They needed to activate several mechanisms to reach it, so they needed to hurry up.

Soon after, the reincarnators all walked into the church.

Next to the rose bushes beside the iron gate, a lurking shadowy figure revealed itself.

The figure was scorched. In its hand, the most delicate rose was held, its fragrance bright and refreshing.

Jiejiejie—were these remnants of the Holy Sect?

I smell fear—what are they afraid of?

Me? – Jiejiejiejie

A wide smile appeared on the slightly exposed face of the figure.

Dang—

The large bell at the top of the church rang. The bell sounded long and thick, its ring resounding throughout the dilapidated church.

The people who just entered the main entrance of the church were terrified by the sound of the bell before they even hat time to look at the area around them.

“We should hurry up. I don’t feel quite right.” The white-haired man took out his specially-made gun and spoke with a serious expression on his face.

Milo, the girl with dyed red hair, shut her eyes and silently muttered a spell. It was like she was communicating with some mysterious existence.

It was her special ability. She could detect things which were invisible to the naked eye, and also release some mental abilities.

Because the movie didn’t describe each corner and hall where Samael’s Staff was found in detail, Milo needed to explore using her special ability.

Milo’s originally apathetic expression gradually turned pained. It took some time before she weakly opened her eyes.

“The props are over there!” She pointed her finger toward a hallway to the side of the church. “Hurry up, Morris is here!”

The white-haired man suddenly frowned. He never would have expected that Morris, who should be obsessed with the students in the original plot, would be guarding his corpse. It was beyond all of his expectations.

“Jiejiejie—Hello all of you, ah. Our first meeting, it’s odd that you can recognize me~”

As soon as Milo’s voice stopped, a man in an indecent school uniform appeared behind the reincarnators.

His charred face was full of frivolity, cunning as a cheetah trying to tease its prey.

“Aaahhh–!!!” Morris impaled a newcomer standing toward the rear of the team through the chest. He screamed as his blood gushed out.

Morris looked at his hand where it passed through the chest, then sent a look of innocence to the waiting bystanders: “Tsk tsk, an unexpectedly frail soul, oh, this kind Morris swears, I didn’t expect to kill him so—”

As he spoke, Morris’s smile was crazed and terrifying: “At least it was somewhat torturous, ba. Jiejiejiejiejiejie—”

“Run!”

The white-haired man used the gun in his hand and fired at Morris, ordering everyone to run to the hallway that Milo pointed out.

The sound of gunfire continued, temporarily impeding Morris’s actions.

All of their weapons were enchanted with light attributes, and were specially purchased by the reincarnators. Although they had no way to kill Morris, they could at least annoy him for a while.

The man reached his hand out to block the bullets that were shot continuously at him, eyes gradually darkening: “It seems that my good mother truly has prepared many good things for me, ah. I’m truly flattered.”

Clearly, he considered the reincarnators to be the secret weapon of the Holy Sect.

Morris laughed deeply, voice harsh and striking.

“Well, well, interesting, very interesting. Let me play with you! Jiejiejie~”

Laughter filled their ears. In the next moment, Morris disappeared from where he was standing in the door of the church.

The white-haired man and the few reincarnators remaining beside him immediately began running to the hallway. They went extremely fast; it could be considered a race against time.

“Damn, hurry! Hurry!”

They couldn’t determine the specific location of the boss, nor could they determine whether or not they were currently in a dream-like state. They could be considered to be at the boss’s mercy.

They could only pray as ardently as possible that they could get to the prop smoothly, all so they could survive the boss battle.

But in the next moment, the rushing reincarnators found that the hallways around them had begun to become distorted. The walls were as soft as cotton, and they would sink into it and lose their lives if they didn’t pay attention.

“Aah–!”

One reincarnator didn’t notice that the walls changed, and they were immediately devoured by the soft, continuously writhing wall. Even their screams were swallowed.

Actually, if it was one of the native people of this world who encountered these situations, they wouldn’t really die. They would experience the sensation of suffocation and death, then start the next dream sequence.

But for the reincarnators, it was fatal.

In Morris’s dreams, they would encounter many odd traps. Sometimes they would survive, sometimes they wouldn’t.

They didn’t know where they would die in those intricate designs. That was the most terrifying aspect of this boss.

As the walls got closer, they all felt helpless.

At that time, as they followed the white-haired man, the man with the excessively muscular appearance took out a cross from his backpack space that shone with a holy white light.

As the light from the cross became more and more powerful, the malformation of the wall halted. Everything returned to normal, as if they were finally waking up from an irrational dream.

“Captain, hurry up! The time limit for this prop is only one minute.”

The man held the cross aloft, blue veins bursting throughout the muscles of his arms.

The prop that could impede Morris’s dreams for that short time required him to continuously provide power from light magic for it to be used, so it could be considered strenuous.

“Hurry up!” The white-haired man understood the limitations for the prop’s use and immediately sped up.

After a while, everyone finally escaped the hallway, arrived at the base of the stairs, and quickly ran up.

There were still marks left behind by Milo and the others, so there was no need for them to worry about losing their way.

Hong—A raging fire emerged in the hallway behind them. The hot temperature made all of the people on the stairs feel as if they couldn’t bear it.

Looking back, they all hurried to the next floor above the stairs.

The fight with Morris would hopefully not be too long. Otherwise, just as they were deeply afraid of, their situation would only worsen.