Chapter 208

"Damien."

The voice echoed.

"Damien, wake up!"

That familiar voice resounded.

Damien slowly opened his eyes. As his blurry vision cleared, he saw an old, dusty ceiling dimly lit by sunlight.

The worn-out blanket, the smell of boiling milk, the creaky bed, and the cold wind coming through the slightly ajar window.

'Huh?'

This was the orphanage where he had spent his childhood.

As Damien slowly sat up, a girl sitting on his bed put her finger to her lips and hushed him softly.

"We promised to hike to the hilltop today, remember? You didn't forget, did you?"

She was a tomboyish girl with cropped hair.

Her skin was a rich tan, and both cheeks sported a faint blush. She had long, slender limbs and a mischievous smile.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Damien smiled back at her.

"Sorry, Van. I overslept."

"Heh, it's alright. I knew you'd oversleep, that's why I came to wake you up."

She jumped off the bed, butt-first, with an enthusiastic "Whoop!" and extended her hand toward Damien.

"Come on, let's sneak out before the director catches us."

Van grinned widely.

"This time, we'll definitely reach the summit!"

"...Alright!"

Blushing, Damien extended his hand to hold Van's.

But the moment Damien touched Van's hand...

Boom! Rumble...!

The scenery around him changed instantly.

He was now in a collapsing forward base. It was the battlefield he was immediately deployed to upon his arrival at the Crossroad.

All around, soldiers screamed as they fell. The cacophony of cannons and the monstrous roars filled the air.

Dazed, Damien looked around.

Suddenly, he was dressed in blood-soaked priestly robes. Crimson-eyed black spiders swarmed around him.

One of the spiders swung its claw viciously. But Damien was too exhausted to move.

"Damien, move!"

Someone rushed in and pushed Damien out of the way.

Dazed, Damien saw Van's face smiling back at him as she pushed him aside.

"See, I told you, you always need me to look out for you..."

Thump! Thud! Splat-!

A horrifying sound accompanied the mangling of Van's body. Damien screamed.

"Van! Nooo!"

Damien kneeled next to Van, who was lodged in a pool of blood. Despite coughing up blood, Van managed a weak smile.

"Heh, it's fine. You know me, right? Invincible Van... This isn't painful at all..."

The spiders' claws mercilessly shredded Van's body.

Her leather breastplate and chainmail shattered to pieces, serving no purpose.

"No, no, no..."

Bones were visible, and her insides spilled out. Holding back tears, Damien tried to cast a healing spell next to her.

"I'll fix you, Van. I can do it, just hold on."

But his magic power wouldn't gather.

He had already exhausted his magic power from healing others.

In trying to save others, he had nothing left to heal the most important person to him.

"Please, Van. Let me heal you. Please...!"

Sobbing, Damien's hand was gently grabbed by Van's blood-soaked hand.

"Damien."

With a face scratched up by the monster's claws, Van managed to give a half-smile.

"Do you remember the day we climbed to the peak behind the orphanage?"

"...Yeah, I remember. How could I forget?"

"Don't forget the promise we made then."

"But Ban, without you, I..."

Damien tried to say something, but Van was already gone, no longer breathing.

His eyes closed peacefully, and his head drooped down with a smile.

"...Ban?"

Warmth quickly dissipated from Ban's hand. Damien blankly stared down at the face of his lifeless friend.

And then—everything froze.

The spider monsters rushing in with cries, the flames from the erupting gunpowder, the blood oozing from Ban's wounds, and the tears streaming down Damien's face—all of it stopped.

Only then did Damien realize.

This is a nightmare.

It's a memory from the past, one that's gone, unchangeable, untouchable.

"Orlop!"

A furious cry erupted from Damien's mouth.

"Is this your doing again...!"

Suddenly, the once peaceful and closed eyes of Van's corpse shot open. A malicious voice seeped from his blood-stained lips.

"You're always so slow to catch on, Damien."

"Don't speak through Van's mouth! Get out of my head now!"

"What an odd thing to say."

The bloody body twisted grotesquely as Van's corpse stood up straight.

"I am Van, Damien."

"Don't spew nonsense! You're not Van, you spider monster!"

Covering his tear-streaked face with both hands, Damien wailed.

"Leave Van alone! Let him rest in peace...!"

"What difference does it make whether I'm Orlop or Van?"

Staggering closer, the corpse of Van whispered into Damien's ear.

"After all, you killed us both, didn't you?"

From behind his covered face, Damien's brown eyes glowed with a sudden flash.

Swiftly extending his right hand, a long magic gun appeared—Black Queen. Damien aimed the barrel forward.

Click!

The gun pointed directly at the forehead of Orlop, who wore Van's form.

"There's only one way to end this nightmare, you know?"

Van, or rather, the black spider queen Orlop, continued to smile leisurely.

"Give up the fight and escape into a peaceful dream."

Damien was about to pull the trigger—

"...!"

But he couldn't.

In a blink, the surroundings shifted back to the orphanage of his youth. And the one in his gun's sights was a young Van.

"Give up the fight, Damien. Let's run away together."

Smiling tenderly, young Van whispered.

"We can live happily here."

***

"Damien!"

Awakened by the shout before him, Damien opened his eyes wide.

The devastated forward base, the orphanage from his youth, the corpse of Van, the young Van's smile, Orlop's voice—all vanished.

It was a bright morning, and he stood in the temple at Crossroad.

The white stone walls around him were in ruins, and in Damien's hand was the magic gun, Black Queen.

Dazed, Damien looked around. He couldn't comprehend why he was standing there.

"Calm down, Damien."

The muzzle of the gun in Damien's hand was aimed squarely at the man right in front of him—Ash.

However, Ash was far from rattled; he spoke with composure. 

"It's me, Ash. Recognize me?"

"Your Highness?"

"Yes, it's me. Calm down and lower the gun."

Visibly shaken, Damien lowered the magic gun to his side. A collective sigh of relief filled the air around them.

When Damien glanced around, he noticed that his party members had their weapons trained on him.

"What have I...?"

Struggling to comprehend the situation, Damien asked hesitantly.

"What did I do?"

Ash wore a wry smile, as if the situation was difficult to explain.

***

I decided to bring Damien to my mansion for now.

After wrapping him in a blanket and handing him a warm cup of cocoa in the reception room, I explained what had happened.

That morning, the dark aura emanating from Damien's magic gun, the 'Black Queen,' had intensified to the point where it began to leak outside his room.

Concerned, the priests entered Damien's room to find him, previously asleep, now enveloped in a dark aura, swinging his magic gun around like a man possessed.

Fearing a catastrophe, my party members and I had hastily tried to restrain Damien.

But fortunately, Damien woke up on his own, diffusing the situation.

"..."

"Damien."

Damien looked down at his cup of cocoa with a troubled expression. I spoke in a gentle voice.

"Are you okay? You're not pushing yourself too hard or feeling drained, are you?"

"...Your Highness."

"It's okay to be honest with me. You know that, right?"

Biting his lip and bowing his head, Damien hesitated before opening his mouth.

"Recently, I've been having nightmares every night."

"Nightmares?"

"I dream of the most painful moments of my life. But I can't distinguish whether it's a dream or reality."

"..."

"I told you before that I had a friend named Van, right?"

I nodded. Damien had told me about a friend who had died when I saved him during the tutorial stage.

"In my dreams, I constantly see Van dying. She dies, and dies, and dies again, trying to save me, torn apart horrifically..."

"..."

"And I just stand there, helpless, watching."

Damien bowed his head even lower.

"Whenever I go through this torture all night, and my heart is tattered, Orlop appears."

"Orlop, you mean..."

"The monster queen contained in this magic gun."

The black spider queen we had killed in the tutorial stage; her name was Orlop.

"Orlop makes me an offer. She says that if I give up fighting her, she'll send me to my most beautiful memories."

Damien's hands, holding the cocoa cup, trembled.

"And then she shows me my childhood, the happiest time of my life. Everything is peaceful and warm in that dream... and Van is alive. I... don't know what to do."

"..."

"But if I resist, the dream quickly breaks, and I return to that day at the forward base. And I watch as Van dies before me. Over and over..."

To think he was undergoing such mental torture.

I looked at Damien with a concerned gaze.

'So, the cause is...'

[Black Queen].

My eyes briefly scanned over the magic gun situated at Damien's feet.

It must be because of the newly unlocked option for this Nightmare Slayer.

- Orlop's Hunger: The user becomes consumed by a nightmare, revealing their inner darkness. If the user wins the struggle for control against the nightmare, the darkness disappears. If defeated, the user is completely devoured by the darkness.

It seemed that he was caught in this 'struggle for control.'

I thought he'd just emit some dark aura and display some adolescent awkwardness before overcoming it, but it seems the issue is more complicated than that.

"Damien, how about just scrapping that magic gun?"

Even if it's good equipment, Damien with [Far-Sight] is far more valuable.

When I cautiously spoke up, Damien quickly waved his hands, visibly startled.

"N-no, don't do that! I... I will! I will overcome it, Your Highness."

"But..."

"I mean it. I'm not so weak as to be defeated by a nightmare like this!"

But you were weak.

Wasn't he nearly consumed by that nightmare just today? Hence, losing control of his body and causing a scene?

"Give me... another chance."

Damien pleaded earnestly.

"This is my nightmare, my darkness. Therefore... I should be the one to solve it."

"..."

"Please give me the opportunity to reconcile my memories, Your Highness."

Seeing Damien speak so desperately for the first time, I involuntarily nodded, granting him permission.

"Fine. But remember this, Damien. If something like today happens again, your gun will be confiscated immediately. Understand?"

At this, Damien's face lit up.

"Yes, Your Highness! Trust me. Heh heh..."

It seemed he regained some of his composure. I even saw the awkward adolescent smile make a return.

Damien hurriedly gulped down the remaining cocoa and swiftly picked up the [Black Queen], rising to his feet.

"I'll take my leave now! Sorry for causing you trouble today!"

And with that, he hastily exited the mansion, holding his magic gun close to his chest.

"..."

I looked at the spreading black aura behind Damien and clicked my tongue.

If Damien could overcome this 'darkness,' it would be a chance for him to grow. But if not, the risk was too high.

From a strategic perspective, disposing of the [Black Queen] would be the right choice.

However...

- Give her back to me. Give my friend back...

I remembered what Damien had screamed at me when we first met during the tutorial stage. I also recalled the words he had muttered when he faced a cursed mental attack in the underground passage during the 'Path of the Overlord' dungeon.

- I'm sorry, Van. I'm sorry for surviving. I messed up. So...

"..."

Damien was a cheat character.

He was my ultimate trump card, capable of carrying me to the end of this game.

But he was also a fragile and ordinary boy.

I wished for Damien to find happiness. To shake off the regrets and guilt of his past and to forgive himself.

And to do that, he had to learn how to confront his past.

'Hang in there, Damien.'

I decided to trust Damien's judgment. To believe in his confidence that he could overcome this darkness.

And I hoped this process would help him grow mentally.

...It didn't take long for me to realize that this decision was a mistake.