The convoy moved along steadily.

Zach was practicing his magic when he started thinking.

‘Isn’t it about time in the story where the cliche attack by bandits happens? This is the princess’ team after all. Plus it’s an escort mission. The devilishly handsome protagonist has to save the day at some point.’

He checked through his quests list, but didn’t find anything besides his daily quests and {Defender}.

‘I guess I’ll just have to be vigilant and watch the treeline-’

Suddenly Lydia stopped walking. Zach ran into her back.

“Hey, why’d you stop?” he asked after his train of thought was de-railed.

“Something is going on up ahead. Take a look.”

He looked forward, rather than at the trees on either side of the road, and saw a man sitting on top of a heap of human bodies.

‘Hmm!! Bandits? Wait…’

His eyes narrowed because he recognized the figure. It was Elmarud, the werewolf, grinning menacingly!

Zach sprinted to the front of the convoy while gripping his staff.

Sir Deltris was dismounting his horse, drawing his rapier at the same time. The guards readied their weapons as well.

‘Nevermind. The protagonist doesn’t always need to save the day.’

“Sir Deltris,” Zach called. “That is the werewolf I told you about. It looks like he followed us here!”

“I see. Be on guard men, our opponent isn’t human,” Sir Deltris ordered. “Capture him dead or alive!”

The knights charged.

Elmarud’s smile was immediately wiped off his face.

“Please wait!” he called out to them. “These people are bandits that were waiting to ambush you.” He held up his hands. “They are merely unconscious.”

The knights ignored him, slashing and stabbing with unmistakable intent to kill.

Elmarud dodged and blocked as best he could. Whatever attack he couldn’t sidestep his regeneration took care of in an instant. The soldiers were mildly surprised at how ineffective their attacks were, but kept fighting.

Lydia finally caught up to the front of the action as the rest of the mages were preparing spells.

“What language is that?” she asked rhetorically.

Zach answered anyway. “Language? He’s clearly saying those unconscious men are bandits.”

‘Is that why that cliche didn’t happen?’ he thought.

“Wait, you can understand him?”

“Hmm? Yeah.”

“Then what is he saying?”

Elmarud called out from the center of the fray. “Please, I surrender! I just want to talk.”

Still, the knights ignored him and kept attacking.

“Wait, he surrenders?” Zach said quietly. Then a little louder, “He says he surrenders!”

His voice entered everyone’s ears and they realized Elmarud wasn’t fighting back with even an ounce of strength.

The knights cautiously stepped backwards. The mages held their spells. Elmarud didn’t make any moves himself. Instead, his clear voice reverberated over the area.

“Zach, if you can understand him, repeat what he is saying,” Sir Deltris called out.

Zach was flabbergasted for a few seconds.

‘Can they not understand him?’ he thought. ‘But I understand him perfectly. How does that work?’ His mind quickly pieced together an explanation. ‘Is this another function of my system?’

Zach repeated Elmarud’s words. “He says he’s not dangerous. The unconscious men over there were bandits waiting in the trees. He took care of them before they could attack us.”

“Is that so?” Sir Deltris glared skeptically at Elmarud. “Then why were you waiting here for us? Why did you follow us all the way from Fernsdale? What is your agenda?”

Elmarud made a shaky smile, then looked directly at Zach. “You know I can’t understand them either, right?”

Zach made a thoughtful expression, then nodded and translated Sir Deltris’ question for him.

“The reason I have followed the convoy is because of you, young man,” Elmarud explained.

“Huh? Me?” Zach said in a surprised voice.

Elmarud nodded. “It’s been years since I’ve been able to talk to another person... and even now,” he looked around, “you are still the only one I can talk to.

“But it’s more than that! You freed me from my imprisonment. You destroyed my dungeon! For that, I owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Zach made an incredulous face, “So that’s the situation?! Then what was THAT back in the city?! I thought you were trying to kill me!”

Elmarud scratched his cheek. “Well… I was trying to give you a hug, but I guess it’s been a while since I’ve had human interaction.” He laughed boisterously. “I guess it’s even worse in my werewolf form!”

Zach smacked his own forehead.

“Can I have the name of my savior?”

“Err… Zach.”

Lydia turned to him. “Hey, what is going on?”

Zach sighed and explained.

“So you see, it seems like everything is okay now,” he said.

Sir Deltris sighed and sheathed his sword. “Not again…” he muttered. “I’ll be right back.”

He left for a moment and returned with the handmaiden Zach recognized as Snowy’s.

The woman took one look at Elmarud and nodded before leaving without a word, but this seemed to be enough for Sir Deltris.

“So be it. Everyone return your weapons. There is no danger here.”

The knights sheathed their blades, while the mages erased their spell circles.

Zach was thoroughly confused, but before he could say anything he was suddenly wrapped in an enormous bear hug. The air was squeezed out of his lungs.

Lydia was alarmed, and tried to stop Elmarud from crushing her apprentice, but it was futile.

Elmarud laughed boisterously as he spun around with Zach in his arms.

“Can’t… breathe!” he gasped.

“Oh, sorry.” Elmarud put him back on the ground.

The convoy shook their heads at the pair then went to investigate the unconscious men.

What Elmarud had said was true. They found incriminating evidence identifying them as bandits. They were put in shackles and forced to walk with them to Caeli to face trial.

When everything was proceeding normally, Zach continued to translate for Elmarud, Lydia, and Sir Deltris.

“How are you able to withstand the attacks of my men? We must’ve stabbed you dozens of times in that short exchange?” Sir Deltris asked.

“I have the power to use my magical energy for healing and strengthening. It’s what made me stronger than the other wolves.”

“Is your shape-shifting power the result of witchcraft?”

“Witchcraft? What is that?” Elmarud asked.

“It’s a practice of magic that most of society looks down on. It involves taking on the characteristics of monsters or turning others into monsters, usually through alchemy and potions.”

“I don’t think so. I was forcefully transformed into a monster by the instance dungeon itself. I don’t really know how it happened, but it wasn’t with a potion.”

“So what will you do now that you are free?” Lydia asked.

Elmarud thought for a moment. “I want to follow you, Zach. I need to repay my debt and learn the language of this place. Until then, please let me accompany you.”

Zach was surprised at his straight-forwardness, and nodded. “I’m probably the only one on the planet who can understand you, right now. I also want to pick your brain about some things later.”

Of course, Lydia was reluctant to accept the hulking figure of Elmarud staying with them. Her house was small and she only had one guest room. Now Zach and Elmarud had to decide who would get the bed, and who would take the floor.

“I’ll sleep on the ground like I have been doing for years,” Elmarud said.

“No, no. You take the bed. I don’t mind the floor,” Zach argued. ‘I can’t feel pain or discomfort.’

“I couldn’t possibly do that to my savior. You should have the bed.”

“I don’t want it. Since you haven’t slept in a real bed in years, you should have it.”

Elmarud, Zach, and even Lydia proceeded to argue about housing arrangements for the next couple of hours. Noon came and passed in a flash. Finally, the city of Caeli came into view with only an hour left of sunlight.

Like Fernsdale, Caeli was surrounded by fields and fields of crops. However, the walls were taller, and seemed to extend much further. The entrance was also wider to support more traffic. Inside the city, there appeared to be an inner wall.

‘Now that would fit perfectly in a fantasy game!’ Zach thought.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage, a certain princess was getting more and more anxious.

“Bella! What should I do? We are about to part ways and I still haven’t talked to him!”

The handmaiden smiled gently. “I know you had a vivid and pleasant dream that night, and the next day you found someone with the same name, but princess, was it not a dream? Considering how he hasn’t said anything, perhaps it was just a coincidence? These things happen, you know.”

“Do not reduce it to a mere coincidence! Use your power on him, quickly. Tell me what his intentions are.”

“That’s not how it works, princess. You know I cannot read minds.”

Princess Blanchefluer watched through the shutters as the mages waved to the knights of the convoy. The boy, Zach, was also waving.

Finally, she couldn’t take it any more. To everyone’s surprise, she opened the door to the carriage.

Before anyone could get on their knees and worship her, like they always did, she said “Mister Trenner and Miss Lagron, thank you for your company. You are always welcome at Skyarrow Castle, please feel free to visit whenever you like.” Then she hastily shut the carriage door.

The princess and the handmaiden stared at each other, the princess with a blush and the handmaiden with wide eyes.

“How bold, Milady!” Bella chided. “You invited the boy so you could talk to him, but also the mage, so your intentions aren’t misunderstood. However, the manner of that outburst...”

“Don’t say another word,” she covered her face from embarrassment.

Outside the carriage, the mages stared in shock because of the outburst they had just overheard. The knights looked at the carriage like a prized jewel suddenly fell out of its container.

‘Tighten the security,’ the knights panicked. ‘Even in the city, there are criminals trying to get to the princess. We must keep her safe at all times!’

‘What an outrageous display. How unbecoming of her,’ Sir Deltris sighed.

‘Wait. Did the princess just invite that female mage and her apprentice to the castle?’ the other mages wondered and shot envious looks. ‘What did they do to earn such a privilege?’

‘I wonder what it’ll be like to eat cooked food again,’ Elmarud scratched his chin.

Although she was as surprised as everyone else, Lydia quickly picked up on some of the meaner looks being directed at them.

“Time to go boys,” she said, then started leading Zach by the sleeve.

Elmarud followed them blissfully.

Lydia lived in the outer court, in a small apartment-like space above a bakery.

She unlocked the door with a key and walked inside. Finding nothing was disturbed, she told Zach to start the fire and prepare dinner. Soon after, they ate a very large, very satisfying meal.

Lydia was disheartened at how much the two boys ate, even telling Elmarud to get a job soon. But her mood quickly changed when he returned with a giant bucket of water for the bath. When Zach came back from his “evening jog,” he heated it.

In the end, neither Zach nor Elmarud took the bed. They both stubbornly lay on the ground next to it, waiting for the other to finally relent, which they never did. In fact, Elmarud was already asleep, so Zach couldn’t even ask him more personal questions about the instance dungeon and Elmarud’s planet.

‘I guess I’ll talk to him tomorrow. It’s been a long day.’

Zach felt his eyes getting heavy when he received a system message.

*ping

[Nightmares Detected: 10 in range]

- [Battlefield of Scaled Mirrors]

- [Battlefield of Hearts]

- [Battlefield of Scrambled Memory]

- [Graveyard of Trees]

- [Well of Wind]

- [Graveyard of Swords]

- [Well of Riches]

- [Lucid Apocalyptic Mirror Space]

- [Ferney’s Battlefield]

- [Battlefield of Castles and Webs]

Zach was surprised at the sheer number of the nightmare dungeons. They must’ve come from people all over the city. He looked over the list several times, analysing the names of each dungeon while deciding which one he should enter. The last three were especially intriguing.

Anything with “apocalyptic” in its name meant it was hard. Of course, Zach had no intention of entering that one. The one called [Ferney’s Battlefield] was also interesting because it was the only one with someone’s name in it. Finally, [Battlefield of Castles and Webs] was Snowy’s personal nightmare.

Without hesitation, he mentally clicked the last one.

[Battlefield of Castles and Webs]

[Notice: You can only enter one nightmare every night.]

[Enter: y/n] [Open: y/n]

It was a shame that he could only enter one nightmare dungeon at a time. He would have to wait until tomorrow to check out Ferney’s nightmare. But maybe this was for the best! He could ask Ferney what kind of dreams he had before he even went inside.

Resolute with his decision, Zach entered Snowy’s dungeon right away.

[Entering Special Dungeon]

When Zach found himself in the familiar castle ruins, he immediately noticed a difference in the surrounding space.

It was much more stable than last time. His feet were connected to the ground, and he could move faster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sounds of explosions entered his ears, so he started running in their direction.

The scene before him left him shocked to the core.

Snowy was perched on top of a large boulder while the ground around her was being swallowed by a swarm of millions of tiny spiders. She threw wind spell after wind spell, which shockingly distorted the air and reverberated like concussive blasts, but it was hardly making a dent in the swarm which behaved like an unstoppable tidal wave. Her only saving grace was that the elevated boulder she was standing on was smooth. Even so, dozens of them were able to make it past her defenses and were crawling over her nightgown. Had it been any other person, they would have stopped and vigorously brushed themselves off, but Snowy chose to continue fighting the rest of the swarm so they wouldn’t all get to her at once.

“AAeeeeee!” She screamed as spiders crawled up her back and toward her exposed neck and face.

“Snowy!” Zach called out. “Brush yourself off while I take care of this!”

Zach put his meager spell casting knowledge to the test. He drew the basic spell for summoning a fire spear and turning it sideways before launching it so that it would catch the most area. The spiders burst into flame and continued to burn, stopping more spiders from advancing.

*ping

[Save the last spell for quick casting? You can only save one spell at a time. y/n]

Surprised by the suddenly convenient function of the system, Zach immediately selected ‘yes.’

‘I guess it’s because this is the first time I’ve used magic on an enemy,’ he thought. ‘Now!’

[Quick Cast]

An identical version of the spell he just drew appeared in front of him before activating. The spell behaved in exactly the same way as the previous.

“Perfect!” he said.

[Quick Cast] [Quick Cast] [Quick Cast] [Quick Cast]

Zach quickly depleted the rest of his mana as he set fire to the area around the boulder.

Snowy finally got a chance to breathe. She swatted the spiders off her clothes and out of her hair before stepping on them with a vengeance. Without Zach’s timely help, she would have repeated the nightmare she suffered last time when he wasn’t there, the same dream she had back in the carriage.

Zach took a sprinter’s stance before accelerating right towards the swarm, and right towards Snowy.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

[Defeated: Uloboridae Net Spider (level 1)] (x14)

[Defeated: Uloboridae Net Spider (level 1)] (x11)

[Defeated: Uloboridae Net Spider (level 1)] (x17)

The spiders died by the dozens as he ran. Even still, a few of them stuck to the tops of his shoes and started ascending on both the inside and outside of his pants.

Pinch. Pinch. Pinch.

The pain almost made him lose his concentration. He had forgotten that he could feel pain in the dream dungeons. But if he stopped now, his situation would only get worse. He forced himself to leap over the line of fire and onto the boulder with Snowy.

The feeling of spiders crawling over his bare skin finally overwhelmed him. He shook and brushed like there was no tomorrow.

It was (almost literally) something out of his worst nightmares.

Finally he had swatted all of the nasty little buggers. He climbed to the top of the peak where Snowy was shivering.

“Well, this seems horrible,” he stated. “Are you okay?”

“They aren’t venomous, so we won’t die.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant,” he sighed, then held out his arms. “Come here.”

“What are you-”

Zach wrapped her in a hug.

Snowy wanted to protest, but the feeling of another human touching her rather than a swarm of spiders calmed her down like no one would understand. She stopped shivering almost immediately.

“Better now?”

Snowy nodded.

Zach let go of her and analysed the chaotic swarm from their vantage point. The stupid spiders wanted to get to them so badly that they would crawl over their burning brethren and start burning too, fuling the “fire stop.”

“Let’s wait here until my mana recovers,” he said. “It looks like you should have just used fire from the beginning.”

“I don’t have that affinity,” she retorted. “And I’ve still got tons of mana left. I could have taken care of it on my own.”

“I see…” Zach made a flat face.

“So why didn’t you come talk to me after we met in Fernsdale?” she suddenly asked.

“Well, I guess there really wasn’t a chance to. You didn’t join us for any meals and never left that carriage except to camp and that one other time today.”

Snowy sighed. “I guess that’s true. If I hadn’t been born into nobility, maybe things could be different.”

Zach tilted his head. “I have noticed that you act differently here than you do in real life.”

“A princess has to present herself properly, unlike commoners such as yourself.”

‘I guess even royalty have their own problems to deal with,’ he thought.

Before the topic could get too personal, she changed the subject. “By the way, what in God’s name are you wearing right now?”

Zach looked down at his body. He hadn’t noticed he was wearing normal apparel from Earth, and not the stuff from Vera. He even recognized the t-shirt and jeans as the same when he was talking to Jacob and Saya the day before.

He clicked his fingers, “Clothes, of course.”

Snowy rolled her eyes.

After about an hour of sitting and talking to each other, Zach’s mana had almost completely recovered. The line of fire had continued to burn and be fueled by the swarm. Still, there were millions of spiders left.

“That spell you were using earlier, the one the sounded like explosions,” he asked, “does that translate to the fire element as well? If so, can you teach me the formula?”

Snowy nodded.

“Sure. It’s just an absolute value function. The shape is always a ball. Negative end behavior denotes an ethereal explosion, while positive end behavior denotes a corporeal explosion. Placing the ‘point’ further positive on the x-axis increases time until detonation, but it also increases the speed of movement, just like a linear spell.”

Zach nodded his understanding. “I think I get it. So since I want a corporeal explosion, I will draw it like the letter V.”

“Correct.” Snowy nodded. “And make it very steep.”

Zach spread his fingers. The spell circle collapsed on itself and a ball of fire shot out. When it reached the center of the swarm, it exploded! The ball even seemed to have a fluid consistency, bathing the spiders below it with scorching fire.

[Defeated: Uloboridae Net Spider (level 1)] (x19254)

‘What does it take to level up in this place?’ he thought bitterly. ‘Well, fine. How do I save it to quick cast?’

*ping

[Save the last spell for quick casting? You can only save one spell at a time. y/n]

Zach made a smug grin and saved the spell.

[Quick Cast]

To Snowy’s astonishment, the spell circle in front of Zach reappeared without him having to move his hands.

The fireball shot out and exploded again, but in another area of the swarm, killing twenty thousand more.

‘I like how the magic of this world is more skill-based than most games I’ve played,’ Zach thought. ‘It takes the same amount of mana to cast this spell as the fireball spell. I’m only restricted by my knowledge, not my level.’

[Quick Cast] [Quick Cast] [Quick Cast] [Quick Cast]

Zach spammed [Quick Cast] until his mana had depleted again. Needless to say, he completely decimated the swarm.

Snowy shut her agape mouth before Zach could see, and finished off remaining bits with her own magic.

*ping

[Nightmare Dungeon Conquered]

[Exit The Special Dungeon: y/n]

Zach chose to ignore the message, and stay there with Snowy.

[Time Remaining: 08:59:59]

“So what do you want to do now?” he asked with a charming smile. “I was thinking of exploring.”

She crossed her arms stubbornly. “Fine. But you are definitely telling me how you can quick-cast on your first try.”

“Is it really that hard?” he asked.

“Only someone who has ingrained it in their muscle memory can do it.”

Zach paused thoughtfully, then shrugged. “I guess I’m a quick learner.”

He looked at the timer once again, rubbing his eyes in shock. Only one second had passed.

[Time Remaining: 08:59:58]

Remarkably slowly, the next second passed.

[Time Remaining: 08:59:57]

Zach grinned. “It seems we have a lot of time here, don’t we?”

“What kind of weird nonsense is running through your head?” Snowy asked while exploring up ahead.

Zach shook his head. “Never mind.”

‘It seems that dream-time is a weird thing,’ he thought inwardly. ‘Aside from not gaining a single level, this could potentially be OP.’

“I just had a good idea,” he suddenly said while looking at the castle ruins around them. “Why don’t we rebuild this place!”

[End Chapter 24]