🌘 Chapter 61
"He who controls dreams... controls all doors to reality."—Inscription found in the Mindroot Temple
🏛️ Inside the Death Labyrinth
The Death Labyrinth was designed to be a final test—complex but controlled. Every student team had been dropped into different zones filled with ranked monsters, puzzles, and traps.
But not this time.
This time... something else had entered the game.
🔥 Team Anshi's Descent
Anshi, now team leader of her group, composed of:
Kiren – a silver-rank seeker with elemental affinity
Liya – a stone-level trap expert
Kael – an iron-rank dual-blade wielder
They progressed deep into the labyrinth, slaying monsters with ease. But as they reached the Black Spiral Room, something changed.
The torches went out.
The map glitched on their wrist screens.
A sound echoed—not mechanical, not human.
"Why do you breathe when dreams die?"
Kiren froze. "That's... not from this dungeon."
And then came the thump.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
Something massive moved behind the ancient walls, and the stone began to melt.
🩸 The Entrance of Throgg the Dream-Devourer
The wall cracked—and Throgg emerged.
A Level 9 Nightmare-class monster. Banned from known dungeons. Tall as a house, shaped like a centaur of shadows with a stitched face and thousands of blinking eyes on its chest.
Its claws glowed with dream energy.
One swipe, and Kiren was thrown back, bones shattered.
Anshi screamed and launched her bloodline ability—"Evergrowth Binding Chains." The vines wrapped around Throgg, glowing blue…
But Throgg laughed.
"I've eaten gods in dreams. You are but crumbs of hope."
⚫ Meanwhile: Aeren's Dream Trap
While others fought in reality, Aeren was elsewhere.
He opened his eyes inside a memory loop. A cliff. A sky of red. A cloaked man stood over him.
"You're not ready," the man said. "But fate has no patience."
Behind the man, all monsters knelt again—from levels 1 to 10. Even Varnyx, his crimson fang broken, bowed.
Aeren looked at his own hands. They were glowing with symbols of time, space, mind, and fate.
He turned to the man. "Are you me?"
The man just said:
"No. I'm what you'll become... if you survive."
Suddenly, Aeren was yanked out of the dream.
⚡ Aeren Awakens in the Labyrinth
He fell from the sky like a comet into the Black Spiral Room, landing between Anshi and Throgg.
His hair shimmered faintly with energy. His eyes reflected rotating clock hands. And the mark on his back pulsed.
"Aeren?!" Anshi coughed, barely conscious.
"Who summons the echoes?" Throgg hissed.
"I don't know what I am," Aeren said slowly, "but I know you don't belong here."
With no training, no weapon in hand, Aeren raised his finger.
And the entire room paused for half a second.
Aeren whispered: "Borrowed time. Let's see what it costs."
⚔️ Aeren vs Throgg (Partial Battle)
Using only reflex, prediction, and raw instinct, Aeren moved like a whisper. Every strike of Throgg missed. Every step Aeren took created ripples in space.
He wasn't attacking. He was rewinding and observing.
And then… he vanished.
And reappeared behind Throgg—his finger tapped the beast's core.
"Collapse."
Reality folded. Throgg was thrown backward, smashing into three stone walls.
The monster roared in shock and fury.
Aeren collapsed too. His nose bled. He couldn't hold that power long.
But it was enough.
Anshi's team used the opening to fire a combined blast, finally forcing Throgg to escape back into the dream realm.
💠 Aftermath
The dungeon glitched. Admins pulled every student out instantly.
But the system said:
"Unknown Force Interfered With Dungeon Code. Reality Breach Logged."
The teachers were horrified. They began investigating—but found no trace of Throgg's entry point.
Only this:
A sigil burned into the stone, a clock with a single eye.
Aeren, unconscious, with another symbol glowing behind his ear—one that hadn't appeared before.
🧠 The Sigil of "Mind Gate."
🕯️ End of Chapter 61