The Yun Family’s Ninth Child is an Imp!

, , It was impossible. , No matter how long he thought about it. , It was just impossible. , Yet, Nick just couldn’t stop getting excited. , He wanted to do it. , He wanted to try it! , … , But he would likely die… , Nick clenched his fists. , ‘I know it’s a ** idea.’ , ‘I know I will most likely die.’ , ‘But I have to give it a go!’ , ‘I just have to give it a shot!’ , ‘Otherwise, I will never become happy!’ , Nick took a deep breath. , Then, Nick silently swam over to the black domain. , Nick tried his best to move as silently as possible as he moved in a circle around the domain. , He poked his head into the darkness and looked at the ceiling from different angles. , Since Nick now knew what the Dreamer looked like, he could search a larger area of the ceiling. , However, even after searching for over 15 minutes near the edge, Nick still couldn’t find the Dreamer. , ‘This means it has to be at the center.’ , ‘It’s probably even sitting on a part of the broken tower.’ , The tower in the middle had several holes in it and a very uneven surface. Half of it had collapsed, while the other half supported the block of houses above it. , The Dreamer had to either be in one of the higher windows or on top of one of the two walls leading up to the ceiling. , Nick took a deep breath and looked for a good way upward. , ‘I have to move silently. This means I can’t just jump from wall to wall.’ , ‘I have to climb constantly and consistently.’ , After a bit of looking around, Nick found a fitting spot. , ‘I can only climb the small windows at the tall front of the ruin. I think the tower is just one big spiral staircase in the middle, but I doubt that the spiral staircase is still intact.’ , ‘I could attempt to walk up the staircase, but the Nightmare’s illusions won’t allow me to actually see where I’m going, and if I’m not careful, I might actually fall through a broken or missing step.’ , ‘That would alert the Dreamer to my location.’ , Nick just looked at the broken tower. , It was so enticing. , He could just use the stairs. , Nick sighed. , Nick couldn’t trust his eyes in the darkness, and since he couldn’t inspect the staircase from here, he couldn’t risk climbing it. , He had to navigate blindly, and he preferred taking the difficult route he could see instead of the potentially easy route that he couldn’t see. , ‘Luckily, there are quite a lot of windows.’ , ‘Right to left for about three windows. Jump to the top right to grab the lowest one of the next floor of stairs and climb another three.’ , ‘After that, two more windows will be above me and one more window above those.’ , ‘There’s a small chance that the Dreamer is in the two lower ones but a relatively high one that it’s in the highest one.’ , Nick went over this plan a couple more times. , And finally, he was done. , The plan was set. , Nick slowly swam to his starting position, which was facing the highest part of the ruined tower. , Silence. , Nick couldn’t see the Dreamer right now, but he knew that it was there. , He knew that the likelihood of death was very high, but he had to do it. , Nick took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. , Silence. , Seconds passed. , Nick’s eyes shot open, and he swam forward. , As soon as Nick entered the darkness, he closed his eyes again. , Then, he suddenly submerged! , Swimming on the surface was way too loud, which was why Nick decided to move forward while being about a meter below the surface. , Almost immediately, Nick felt several small fish glide across his body. , It was like Nick had been submerged in a thick vat of small fish. , The bodies of the fish disoriented Nick’s senses, and he couldn’t even feel the liquid around him anymore. , Was he swimming forward or downward? , He had already lost all sense of direction. , ‘The only thing I can rely on is my muscle memory!’ , ‘As long as I order my body to continue swimming forward, no matter what, I will reach the tower!’ , However, just two seconds later, Nick felt things around him change. , The mouths of the fish opened, and they started to tear into his body. , Right now, Nick was surrounded by a pile of swimming maws with terrifying teeth. , They were tearing at Nick’s muscles, bones, and tendons. , The pain was horrible. , Nick’s body kept shaking, but he just kept moving forward. , ‘This isn’t real! This isn’t real! This isn’t real!’ , ‘The pain isn’t real!’ , ‘It isn’t real!’ , Nevertheless, Nick felt like a dark void of hopelessness had opened in his chest. , ‘Just continue!’ , Nick’s flesh and blood were scattering across his surroundings. , He was dying! , But he continued! , He had to continue! , BANG! , Suddenly, Nick hit something solid! , ‘Did I reach it?!’ , But then, Nick found an issue. , Was this actually the end? , Or was this another illusion by the Nightmare? , At this moment, Nick’s emotions were going crazy. , Was he? , Wasn’t he?! , In a state of panic, Nick did the first thing that came to his mind. , BANG! , Nick rammed his face against the wall! , Nick immediately felt his eyes water as his nose broke in several places. , ‘This feels real!’ , The Nightmare’s illusions were terrifyingly accurate, but when Nick compared the Nightmare’s sense of pain with actual pain, there was something different. , Yes, the pain the Nightmare created was real, but there were some accompanying sensations missing. , For example, Nick had felt his entire head and mind vibrate when he had headbutted the wall. , Additionally, Nick had felt like he was about to lose consciousness for just a moment. , While the pain was the same, these sensations didn’t exist when the Nightmare created an illusion. , ‘Luckily, the ruin is massive. The Dreamer shouldn’t have felt that vibration.’ , The next moment, Nick surfaced and grabbed the wall in front of him with his hands. , ‘I have to find the first window!’ , In Nick’s mind, he was rubbing against a huge wall as he desperately tried to find an invisible hole in it. , ‘Where is it?!’ , ‘There!’ , Nick felt something and pulled himself up with one arm. , ‘This proves that my ability is still active, which means the Dreamer hasn’t noticed me yet!’ , CRKSH! , The hole Nick had put his hand into suddenly sprouted teeth and was grinding it into a meaty paste. , Nick’s eyes became bloodshot beneath his eyelids as he tried to ignore the pain. , After pulling himself up, Nick moved his hand to the left and jumped. , He knew where the window should be, but he didn’t know where it was exactly. , CRK! , Nick’s hand entered a hole, but his fingers hit the other side of the window, splitting the nails of two of his fingers. , Nick just gritted his teeth as he grabbed the window with his hand. , The fact that he could stop his jump with one hand meant that the Dreamer still hadn’t noticed him! , The next moment, the wall seemed to split open, and Nick felt like he was falling through it. , ‘It’s not real!’ , Nick moved his bleeding fingertips to the left side and felt the scratching feeling traveling over his body. , He was still in the window! , Even though Nick felt like he was falling into a never-ending abyss of pain, he jumped once more to the left. , CRK! , One of Nick’s nails exploded off his body as it hit the wall of the window again. , But when Nick felt that he could still pull himself upward with one arm, he became more excited. , ‘I’m doing it!’ , Nick hadn’t opened his eyes yet. , He had done all of this blind. , ‘Now, for the most difficult jump!’ , After amending his plan a bit, Nick decided to jump to the second window in the second row. , The jump was a bit higher vertically but not as long horizontally. , Nick’s knees bent down, and he gathered all his power. , The next moment, Nick jumped upward. , In Nick’s illusory reality, he felt like he was jumping upward hundreds of meters. , It was impossible to tell how high he had actually jumped. , Nick felt the wall in front of him rapidly move as he desperately tried to find the window. , Fear and terror reached new heights. , CRACK! , When Nick felt the tips of the fingers of his left arm getting crushed, he felt elated. , The window! , Nick fell a bit, but he managed to grab the bottom of the window with both of his hands. , By now, Nick’s left hand had become severely injured, with a couple of broken bones and destroyed nails. , He pulled himself into the window easily, which meant the Dreamer hadn’t noticed him yet. , He was so close! , Nick quickly jumped to the left again as razors appeared on the wall in front of him, cutting his chest into pieces. , CRACK! , Nick felt the impact of his broken bones rubbing against each other and grabbed the window. , After pulling himself into the window, Nick’s excitement reached new heights. , He was so close! , He could do it! , Instead of jumping towards the next window, Nick grabbed the last tube of Arclight. , The next moment, Nick opened his eyes. , A red hellscape of flesh and blades encompassed his reality. , Everything was being consumed by the Nightmare. , However, Nick’s eyes only looked forward with determination. , Then, he threw the tube of Arclight upwards with all of his power. , BANG! , The tube broke, and the Arclight exploded at the ceiling of the dark domain. , For an instant, all the darkness vanished as a shining star seemingly appeared in the dark sky. , The hellscape vanished, and Nick found himself in the third window of the second row. , However, Nick’s eyes immediately moved across the ruins above him. , ‘There!’ , In the highest window, Nick saw a black owl with black eyes. , It was quite big, over half a meter tall. , At this moment, the owl was looking at the Arclight shining on the ceiling. , This was why Nick had thrown the Arclight instead of breaking it directly. , The Dreamer’s attention would remain fully on the Arclight, and Nick would get a bit of time to reach the Dreamer with his ability. , As long as he managed to grab it without it noticing him, he could break several of its bones, turning it almost helpless! , When Nick saw his target, his eyes narrowed, and he immediately jumped upward with all of his power. , Nick easily and quickly grabbed the window directly above him, but instead of pulling himself into the window, Nick continued. , The Dreamer was now paying attention to its surroundings, and pulling into the window would take too long. , Because of that, Nick immediately pulled himself upward and threw himself at the Dreamer. 𝘪𝑟𝒶.𝑐ℴ𝘮, The Dreamer was still looking at the Arclight. , Nick was only a meter away from the Dreamer! , But then, he noticed that his jump hadn’t been strong enough, and he found himself dropping. , Nick gritted his teeth and rammed his feet into the broken stone of the tower. , Some of his toes broke, but Nick managed to create a hole in the wall, making a foothold. , Naturally, that was extremely loud, and the Dreamer’s head turned towards Nick. , But Nick had already jumped again. , Nick was flying at the Dreamer. , The Dreamer was turning to Nick. , Nick’s hand came closer. , And then… , Their eyes met. , Nick managed to grab the wing of the Dreamer. , He pulled with all of his strength. , The Dreamer pulled its wing upward. , CRKSH! , Nick tore out a couple of feathers. , His ability no longer worked. , He didn’t have enough strength to break the wing. , Nick’s expression turned into shock and horror as he felt himself fall. , The Dreamer’s black eyes looked into Nick’s eyes. , ‘No!’, This chapter is updated by 𝑙𝘪𝘳𝘢.𝒸𝑜𝑚