In the darkness of the night, several people could be seen carefully unloading wooden barrels from a wagon.
They looked like ordinary locals, but there was something suspicious about them.
They were unloading their cargo in a secluded place, and each of them was armed.
“Be careful.
The stuff inside is highly explosive.” “Why are you telling me that after I’ve already unloaded two barrels?
You should’ve said that before I touched them.” “Sorry.
I forgot.” “What are all these even for?” His companion raised both hands and gestured as if something were exploding.
“Kaboom,” he said casually.
“When?” “When the festival reaches its peak.” One of the men picked up another barrel from the wagon and carefully lowered it to the ground.
He turned toward the companion he had been talking to earlier— But the man had suddenly disappeared.
“Where did he go?” He looked around, searching for his companion.
Then a skull-like face with glowing red eyes suddenly appeared directly in front of him.
“Wha—?!” Before he could react, a fist slammed into his stomach.
His consciousness immediately faded.
Dreamless had made his move.
One after another, the people gathered there lost consciousness.
Above him, the companion of the man from earlier floated unconscious in the air before slowly descending and landing on the ground.
Dreamless approached one of the wooden barrels and inspected it.
A familiar smell reached his nose.
“Gunpowder?” He couldn’t understand why there was a supply of explosives in the middle of the city.
Originally, Val had only intended to take a casual walk around the city in his Dreamless costume and beat up a few criminals.
He hadn’t expected to stumble across something this dangerous.
He recognized the smell because it was identical to the gunpowder from the flintlock pistol he had obtained before.
“What should I do with these?” He looked toward the river running through the city, not far from where he stood.
“Just throw them away.” Using his telekinesis, Dreamless lifted every barrel containing explosives and threw them into the river.
“Problem solved.” Even so, the reason these people had brought explosives into the city was still unclear.
Dreamless had overheard part of their conversation, but he still hadn’t learned enough to understand their actual plan.
“Are they trying to cause chaos?
But why?” If his suspicion was correct, this situation could become troublesome.
If something happened in the city, his journey to the capital might be delayed.
Whether he liked it or not, Val would have to secure the situation himself if he wanted to make sure his journey wasn’t interrupted.
Dreamless jumped high into the air and landed on the roof of a nearby building.
Standing beneath the darkness of the night, he looked across the surrounding city.
“If I were a criminal…
where would I hide?” His eyes scanned the buildings nearby.
Eventually, he found something that looked like an abandoned church.
There were no lights inside.
From the outside, the entire building looked completely dark.
Inside the dimly lit temple, several people were organizing boxes containing various pieces of equipment—weapons and other dangerous items.
There were many people inside.
Some were ordinary armed men.
Others were witches.
“Hurry up!” One of the witches shouted orders while standing beneath the statue of a goddess positioned at the front of the hall.
“Tch.
Damn witch.” One of the armed men complained.
The statue of the goddess appeared to be praying while standing upright.
Her head was covered by a piece of cloth connected to another cloth that covered her entire body.
None of them realized someone was watching from above.
Dreamless stood upside down on the temple ceiling.
No one had noticed him.
He silently observed them and listened to their conversation.
It turned out they were a group of armed criminals—or perhaps terrorists—planning to attack the upcoming festival.
The reason behind their attack was still unknown, but it appeared that several groups were working separately from one another.
Val also learned that the festival would last for several days.
For those few days, the citizens would celebrate the birthday of the noble’s child.
A little too extravagant for a birthday.
It was practically a national festival.
Whatever their reason was, Val couldn’t allow a group of criminals to carry out their plan.
Otherwise, his journey would inevitably be delayed.
“Wait…
what’s that up there?” One of the witches finally noticed Dreamless.
Dreamless had no choice but to confront them.
He dropped from the ceiling and forced everyone inside the temple into unconsciousness.
Outside the building, Goutte approached the temple alongside a witch wearing a black robe.
Goutte carried an enormous shield in her left hand, large enough to almost cover her entire body.
A sword was also secured inside the shield.
“Lady Goutte, you don’t need to trouble yourself by carrying your weapon.
I can protect you,” her accompanying witch said.
“No.
This is preparation in case I encounter the person who’s been interfering with us.” “But why are we coming here?” “If he intends to attack us, we can wait for him at one of our bases.” “As expected of you, Lady Goutte.” The two of them opened the doors of the temple.
Their expressions immediately changed.
Their people were unconscious all across the temple floor.
Dreamless sat casually on the hand of the praying goddess statue, one of his legs bent comfortably.
“Lady Goutte.” The accompanying witch immediately stepped forward and positioned himself in front of her.
“I was looking for him myself, but I didn’t expect him to show up so conveniently.” Goutte pulled her sword from the shield.
The sword itself looked ordinary.
However, the shield possessed a strange mechanical design and contained several openings.
The accompanying witch created two spears of ice in his hands before throwing them toward Dreamless.
Dreamless avoided the first spear simply by tilting his head.
He caught the second one with only one hand.
The ice spear he caught suddenly exploded, releasing a thick cloud of freezing mist.
“Did we get him?” Dreamless suddenly appeared from above.
He dropped toward the witch who had attacked him, but Goutte reacted quickly and protected her companion with her shield.
Dreamless stepped onto Goutte’s shield.
The impact made her feel as if something incredibly heavy had crashed against it.
Dreamless immediately jumped away again and landed in front of them.
Goutte then realized something.
Dreamless was holding one of the ice spears.
It hadn’t exploded in his hand.
After catching it while standing on the goddess statue, he had retrieved it with his telekinesis before it could detonate.
Dreamless threw the spear toward Goutte, increasing its speed with telekinesis.
The witch quickly detonated his own ice before it could reach Goutte.
Another thick curtain of freezing mist filled the area, blocking their vision.
“Lady—” The witch’s voice suddenly stopped.
The freezing mist disappeared.
Now, Goutte was standing alone.
Her accompanying witch was no longer beside her.
Goutte realized that the enemy she was facing wasn’t someone she could defeat easily.
She would need a proper plan if she wanted to fight Dreamless.
“Damn it.” Dreamless hid behind the shadow of one of the temple’s massive pillars.
The accompanying witch lay unconscious beneath him.
His original plan was simple.
Knock everyone unconscious and then call the authorities.
This situation couldn’t simply be ignored.
His eyes noticed a crowbar lying on the floor near a pile of boxes.
Using telekinesis, he picked it up.
He intended to use it as a weapon.
Dreamless stepped out from behind the pillar.
Since Goutte only carried a shield and a sword, he intended to attack her directly.
The moment he appeared, however, Goutte immediately noticed him.
She aimed her shield toward Dreamless.
Suddenly— Pshuu.
A sharp mechanical claw shot out from one of the shield’s openings.
A chain connected the claw to the shield.
The claw moved incredibly fast.
Dreamless immediately changed his direction to avoid it.
However, the claw continued following him.
It was chasing him.
Then— It caught him.
Dreamless was confused by the mechanism of Goutte’s weapon.
How could a mechanical claw chase him like a guided missile?
Goutte slammed her shield into the floor.
The ground cracked beneath its enormous weight.
Krrrtttt.
The shield’s mechanism began pulling the claw back with tremendous force.
Dreamless was violently dragged toward Goutte.
He continued being pulled forward before finally freeing himself.
Part of his costume was torn apart in the process.
Unfortunately, he was already within Goutte’s range.
Her sword came swinging toward him.
Ting!
Dreamless successfully blocked Goutte’s attack using the crowbar.
He immediately counterattacked, swinging the crowbar with all his strength.
Goutte protected herself with her shield.
Dak!
One of the shield’s openings was now positioned directly in front of Dreamless’s face.
He immediately prepared himself.
If the mechanical claw came out again, he would use his telekinesis to stop it.
However— A flash of light suddenly appeared inside the opening.
Something was wrong.
Dreamless immediately jumped backward.
BOOM!
As expected, it wasn’t the mechanical claw.
A blast of fire erupted from inside the shield.
Goutte drove her sword into the floor before pulling an empty bottle from the shield and throwing it aside.
She then took out another bottle filled with a thick liquid and inserted it into the shield before retrieving her sword again.
Dreamless realized that Goutte’s shield contained more hidden mechanisms.
And at the moment, he still hadn’t completely mastered his telekinetic abilities.
After carefully considering the situation, Dreamless decided to retreat.
He jumped high into the air and escaped through one of the large stained-glass windows decorating the temple.
Crash!