The next one is the 'Nightmare Room'.
This is where my knowledge from the novel will not work. Any person who enters this room faces different threats.
For one person, it might be getting hunted by monstrous creatures. For another, it could be forced to stand in front of their loved ones and their faces turning into something grotesque that will whisper how we, that person, did not save them, how they betrayed their trust.
It does not care who you are, how physically strong you are, or how intelligent you are. This room simply reaches for your darkest secret and uses it against you.
In the novel, the protagonist walks into this room and confronts his own nightmare. But things are different now. I am the one who is standing here, not him. Whatever nightmare awaits inside will not belong to him. It will belong to me.
It is a gamble now. If the room creates something I cannot overcome, everything I have done to reach this place becomes meaningless.
But there's no turning back now.
***
Red.
An unsettling, blood red.
The moment I stepped through the entrance, a wave of scorching heat crashed into me. The air is thick due to smoke, and every breath I am taking feels like ash.
I slowly lift my head. The entire sky is filled with red color. The sky is burning.
Anywhere I looked around me, I just saw destruction. All the buildings I could see were destroyed. The ground beneath my feet is littered with debris, and the distant sounds of crumbling buildings echo through the empty streets.
It is a scene of complete devastation. It looks less like a city and more like the remains of a world that has already ended.
Is this really my nightmare?
I should be afraid.
Yet, strangely enough, I do not feel even the slightest trace of fear.
The goal of clearing this is to defeat my nightmare. But what the hell do I have to defeat in this destroyed world? Should I just pour water into this burning world?
With no better option, I decide to keep moving, hoping I will eventually find something.
After several steps, I suddenly stop. Someone is standing ahead of me.
A young man. He looks to be about my age, and his white hair is gently swaying through the air.
Strange, I did not remember seeing him a moment ago. My eyes remain fixed on his back, and just when I was about to open my mouth to say something to him.
A violent chill went down my spine. My instincts scream at me to back away. Without thinking, I take a step backward.
Fear.
A quiet laugh escapes my lips.
"Seriously, what kind of nightmare is this? I am standing in the middle of an apocalypse, yet somehow instead of being scared of this burning world, I am afraid of this boy I have never even seen before in my whole life."
It doesn't make sense. This must be a joke.
After collecting my thoughts, I force myself to move toward him. Every bone, every muscle, every cell in my body screamed at me to run away from him. He felt dangerous. But I couldn't move forward until I faced him.
I stood right behind him, and I was going to lift my hand to call him. But as I moved, he turned his body to face me.
The fear inside me multiplied in an instant.
His face… I can't see his face. Instead of his face, I could only see nothing but shifting static. Black and white glitches that, just simply seeing them, makes someone's head ache.
Despite his appearance, he stands perfectly still. He stands there as if the chaos and destruction that surrounded us is of no concern to him. The burning world around us seems meaningless to him.
Suddenly, he began to speak with a disoriented and bizarre voice.
"ᒷ ̇/╎ᓭℸ ̣ᒷリᓵᒷ ╎ᓭ ⎓⚍リ↸ᔑᒲᒷリℸ ̣ᔑꖎꖎ|| ⎓ꖎᔑ∴ᒷ↸. ℸ ̣⍑ᒷ∷ᒷ⎓𝙹∷ᒷ, ᒷ⍊ᒷ∷||ℸ ̣⍑╎リ⊣ ᒲ⚍ᓭℸ ̣ ᒷ⍊ᒷリℸ ̣⚍ᔑꖎꖎ|| ʖᒷ ↸ᒷᓭℸ ̣∷𝙹||ᒷ↸."
I couldn't make out what he was saying; it sounded like gibberish, and I couldn't even recognize his speech.
The ground beneath my feet began to tremble.
But something isn't right. Tremors beneath my feet. The ground was shaking.
The space around us began to fracture. I had not done anything, yet everything was breaking apart.
The space is supposed to shatter only after I defeat my nightmare.
Everything went black. And when my vision cleared, I found myself in a vast, open space. The whole area was completely scattered.
I fell to the ground. My full body was still shaking from fear.
I still don't know who that person was. I still don't know why that person came as my nightmare.
What should I do?
Questions swirled in my mind
I slapped my face to snap out of my daze. I needed to focus and stay calm.
I need to think straight right now. I should just get the relic and get out of this freaking place as soon as possible.
I struggled to stand up, dusting off my clothes as I rose from the ground.
According to the novel, this is where the protagonist receives his reward after overcoming the Nightmare Room.
Which means the relic should be somewhere nearby.
The problem is nothing about what just happened follows the story. But with the illusion destroyed, I couldn't see how I would find it.
I decided to search the area, hoping to stumble upon it somehow.
Just as I began looking around, out of nowhere, a red screen appeared in front of me, much like the one that displayed my stats.
___
!! ER-ROR !!
___
Suddenly, screens popped up all around me, each flashing the same message: "ERROR."
Confusion swept over me. What was happening?
A new red screen appeared in front of me:
Quest : Your Nightmare
Clear Condition : You need to face your own nightmare and defeat it with whatever means.
Reward : Unnamed Relic
Failure : Death
___
Loading…
___
Quest : ⨳⍜⨅⨂ ⋏⟟☍⟧⟑⟃⍜⨂⟊
Clear Condition : ⨳⍜⨅ ⋏⟊⟊⟄ ⟑⍜ ⎎⏃☊⟊ ⨳⍜⨅⨂ ⍜⍙⋏ ⋏⟟☍⟧⟑⟃⍜⨂⟊ ⏃⋏⟄ ⟄⟊⎎⟊⏃⟑ ⟟⟑ ⍙⟟⟑⊑ ⍙⊑⏃⟑⟊⩔⟊⨂ ⋔⟊⏃⋏⎎ ⨳⍜⨅ ☊⏃⋏.
Reward : ⎍⋏☍⋏⍜⍙⋏ ⨂⟊⌰⟟☊
Failure : ⟄⟊⏃⟑⊑
Status : Error
___
Proceeding to give reward, due to dungeon system error.
I continue staring at the corrupted quest window.
The strange symbols don't resemble any language I've ever seen. If I have to guess, the system itself has encountered some kind of error. Fortunately, the only part that seems unaffected is the reward.
After everything I've endured just to reach this place, walking away empty-handed would've been unbearable.
One after another, the red windows vanish into thin air.
A white ball hovered in front of me. I extended my hand and touched it. The light from the ball slowly diminished, revealing two earrings.
Holding it in my hand, I couldn't help but marvel at its beauty.
I couldn't help smiling.
"They'll look pretty good on me."
Without another thought, I put them on.
I barely finish adjusting them before a familiar blue screen suddenly appears before my eyes.