The Dreamer's Epilogue-Chapter 12: The Portal

Chapter 12 – The Portal

The plan was just pure bullshit.

Océane stared at Emrys as if he had grown a second head, her lips and eyes twitching repeatedly.

Emrys, meanwhile, tried his best to not show any embarrassment on his face.

"Do you have better?" He scowled, irritated by the eyes of Océane.

"Well," Océane began, "I don’t, but—"

"But nothing." Emrys cut her off, scattering the items around the dirty floor. "Time is scarce, and I don’t think you are ready to witness and go through the very process of the literal end of the world."

"Sounds like something I would enjoy, to be honest."

Emrys shot her a hard glare. Océane smiled innocently, then shrugged.

"Also," he continued, his voice lowered in a timid whisper, "you will do most of the work. Will you be okay?"

Océane smiled at the worried tone of Emrys. Her fear eased significantly, and she gently caressed his hand.

"I will be fine," she said with a tender smile, "and I prefer it like this."

Emrys smiled, nodded, then focused again, inwardly praying that everything would go smoothly.

Océane then peeked above the boulder, watching the Boss-level monster.

This time, her eyebrows knitted tightly, her eyes squinting, finally noticing something.

"The boss monster," Océane whispered, understanding dawning upon her, "can’t move outside of a delimited zone."

As if that insight was the déclic, she began to see a translucent barrier surrounding a couple hundred meters around the monster and the portal in a wide circle.

Hearing it, Emrys snapped his head toward it.

Knowing already what to expect, he noticed the barrier as easily as breathing.

He sighed in relief, having now more faith in his reckless plan. Still, Emrys couldn’t help but wonder why Océane noticed it and not him.

That question immediately made him remember how their enhancement worked.

He was mostly strength. But it seemed Océane was speed and perception.

However, though his perception was fuzzy and unstable because of the random voices and thoughts inside his head due to his schizophrenia, it couldn’t be that bad.

’Interesting,’ Emrys thought, wafting away a shrill shout inside his mind, ’but not the time to think about it. What I should wonder is if attacking from outside the barrier would work.’

Emrys hoped it would. But by now, he had learned to not act with only hope inside his heart.

Hope was a nasty feeling.

Exhaling, Emrys and Océane began their plan.

"Can you guess what type of world the Tower was talking about? How our lives would be?" Océane suddenly asked as Emrys began to use one of the Red Flammable Liquids and the Vial of Miasma Poison.

The red and the purple mixed, giving an incredible color. Emrys was surprised it didn’t blow up.

"Huh?" Emrys paused for a moment at Océane’s question, but then continued rapidly. At that instant, he was just putting things together, praying it would birth something.

Emrys was hoping once more, it seemed.

He cursed irritably.

"I don’t know." Emrys finally answered, taking the chemical substances smeared on the ground and putting them inside the vial.

The vial began to tremble, about to crack. It was unstable. Emrys immediately added more of the substance, thinking the instability was from imbalance.

He was right. He sighed in relief, wiping sweat trickling down his temple.

He continued his words.

"And the only way to know is to kill this boss and enter the portal before the spots are filled."

Océane nodded and fell silent next, watching Emrys mix different chemical things and potions inside the vial of poison.

Finally, after minutes of stress, with Océane constantly looking at the number of spots left — only four remained — Emrys finished his shady and completely random mix of elements into a vial of poison.

The result was something none of them could ever dream of.

The system itself chimed.

[NEW ACHIEVEMENT! What The Fuck Is This?]

[You have created something unheard of; something that would be better unheard of, honestly. But you created something! And that has to count as something.]

[Reward: Alchemist Token.]

Then the creation itself,

[Emrys’s Shady BOOM BOOM Potion]

[Description: This is something created by Emrys Frost, an unawakened human from Earth, in a desperate situation. This is an insult to any alchemical creation, and Emrys would be taken into trial by those obsessed Alchemists if they found out. This dubious creation only succeeded through an abnormal amount of luck. He probably used all the luck of his goddamn life.]

Then, toward Emrys,

[This is your creation. It will be allowed to be on the Tower’s alchemy recipe list for rewards and those who wish to learn. And anyone foolish enough to use it in the future will earn you rewards. If you die, you get nothing.]

[Effect: Will completely detonate 2 min after creation. Automatically. You certainly don’t wish to be near the explosion. Trust.]

Emrys paused, eyes glued to the effect of the potion. They dilated in horror as he snapped his head toward Océane.

"NOW!" He bellowed.

Océane didn’t hesitate.

She stepped out of the hiding place, her gun in her right hand, running toward the boss monster with all her speed.

"Grhhh?" The monster sensed it immediately, turning its head toward Océane, seeing her pointing the gun straight at it.

She shot.

Bang! Clank!

The gunshot was barred by the barrier. The meaning behind this was clear.

Océane cursed, knowing that only by entering the barrier could they hurt the monster.

She counted the number of ammunition left. It was seven.

The monster was screeching, huffing and growling like a mad-touched, the sword in its right hand glowing with a bright crimson hue, causing Océane’s heartbeat to spike in deep fear.

Her palms sweated.

She bit her lower lip, eyes narrowing, trying to stop the shaking of her body as she ran through shattered rock, jumping here and there like a professional athlete.

Instead of running directly toward the monster, she was running to the far right, baiting the monster to follow her.

It did.

The Red Spawn’s eyes flashed with a wisp of intelligence. It took its stance, the sword ready to strike when and where Océane would enter, its muscles contracting, angry veins slithering through its eyes and forehead.

In an instant, Océane was just an inch from the barrier.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion at that moment.

She raised her step, the tip touching the surface of the barrier. The boss’s attack was already underway by then.

Yet instantly, Océane stopped her action briskly. Her feet slammed hard into the shattered ground as she feinted to the left, her speed so fast dust erupted from where she was.

The monster’s sword already slapped the floor, attacking nothing.

Realizing the situation, it turned with eerie fury toward Océane, who now stepped inside the barrier at a completely new spot, running directly toward the portal left unguarded.

[You have entered the barrier. You can no longer go out.]

The monster was fooled. Its senses had been dulled because of the barrier, but now with Océane inside... she finally realized that she was against a Mortal Self monster.

The monster roared, causing shockwaves to ripple through the air like restless water, crashing down on her as if she was being pushed, making her miss her next step.

She fell face-first.

"Argh!" Océane groaned in deep pain. Her head had slammed onto a rock.

She raised her dizzy head, blood trickling down her forehead, hearing the sound of wind slashed by a sharp object.

Her eyes rested directly on the sword of the monster, a meter from her.

Her heart froze, and she shrieked, throwing a shield-shaped talisman onto the ground.

"Barrier!"

Her Unranked Barrier immediately flared up. The sword met the barrier. It creaked, then shattered almost instantly.

But that subtle delay helped Océane shift her head to the left in time, escaping certain death at the cost of her cheek being shredded away.

Blood gushed out, scattering through the air. Her eyes teared up, but she bit her lips, remembering the death of her brother and Emrys counting on her.

A surge of tidal anger burst from her, causing her eyes to go red with madness.

The monster was fully focused on her. It was running toward her, its palm facing skyward as a needle began to form from the blood around it.

Océane took that time and pointed the gun at the monster. She shot repeatedly at its palm — four times — causing its hand to fall and its action to fail.

It completely went berserk in anger, kicking Océane in the stomach.

"BARRIER!"

She bellowed once more just before the kick landed.

The barrier reduced the impact, but Océane was sent flying away like a cannonball.

"ROAAAAAARRR!"

The monster followed relentlessly, wrath still not quenched, not seeing the crimson liquid on the spot where Océane had been sitting.

It instinctively paused there, finding it sticky.

Océane coughed blood, smiled through bloodied teeth, looked up, and threw an explosive talisman ball.

It landed on the red flammable liquid with eerie accuracy, causing crimson flames to burst skyward.

The Red Spawn roared in agony, fire licking its body like a living torch. The scent of burning flesh already began to curtain the surroundings.

However, the flames were already dying down.

But...

’Is it... is it enough?’ Océane wondered in a haze, but smiled with relief upon seeing Emrys inside the barrier, just behind the monster. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"OCÉANE! THE PORTAL! RUN!"

Emrys shouted, and Océane turned her head toward the portal. She had been sent too far by the kick.

And with her injured, she would need around a minute and a half to reach it.

They still had three hours, but the number of spots was lowering too unpredictably.

Océane looked back at Emrys and saw him with her red spear tightly in his hand.

She remembered their words and her promise, and she set off, running toward the portal with all the strength she could muster.

The boss turned toward the screaming Emrys, the flames already dead.

However, the fire had dazed it, making it unsteady.

Emrys used that opportunity. He took the red spear and impaled the right foot of the monster.

It bellowed, jerking and yelping, mouth wide open.

"Take this!" Emrys threw his recent creation into its mouth.

It entered smoothly. It would explode in thirty seconds.

So without looking back, he ran past the monster at full sprint toward the portal, his heart beating so fast his eardrums were about to burst.

The monster behind him knelt on the ground, trying to vomit out the explosive item to no avail.

There were now three spots left for the portal.

Océane was already about to enter.

But just at that moment...

"W-What?"

"Thank you for taking care of the monster!" A cold voice echoed.

Emrys’s eyes widened as two humans — two males, one short, the other quite tall and big — appeared on the side of the barrier and ran toward the portal.

The short one was already beside Océane, fast with his short legs. He pushed her away mercilessly, making her topple down with her injuries.

Océane groaned in pain.

The man then swiftly entered the portal.

Just like that.

Only two spots were now left. And the tall, big man was just one step away from entering.

Behind them, the monster began to gag, its body melting, wrathful and volatile fire dancing through its skin, about to completely explode.

An explosion that would take the entire barrier radius because of the instability.

Realizing the situation, Emrys’s heart dropped completely as he watched the man enter the portal.

"NO!"

—End of Chapter 12—