The pond was deeper than expected, and there were many Rusalkas.
Fortunately, the Rusalkas did not relent in their will to attack us, so we did not have to go to the trouble of entering the depths of the pond to catch them. Moreover, even with Zenon and Samuel beside me, these creatures only attacked me.
'Come to think of it, when the Empress was attacked as well, only one person among all those present was targeted.'
Whatever the reason, the fact that I was the only target was very convenient. No matter how strong Zenon or Samuel's mental power might be, they probably wouldn't be able to escape the Rusalka's illusions more easily than I could.
Furthermore, annoyingly, the divine power was distributed slightly among all the Rusalkas, and it was recovered from within the illusions they showed me.
I had to suffer the Rusalkas' attacks in order to recover the divine power.
At first, Zenon, Samuel, and the Dullahans were startled every time I kept collapsing, but after it exceeded five times, they seemed to be gradually getting used to it.
Zenon even contacted his teacher while killing the Rusalkas one by one, obtaining real-time information about them.
"It is because they seek the dreams of the most noble one."
As I opened my eyes after grabbing the collar of Maxel, who had become Emperor in the fifteenth illusion, Zenon passed on the additional information he had learned.
"The noble one?"
"Yes. They are monsters that learn by observing stolen dreams and imitate humans, but when multiple humans are present, they prioritize selecting the most brilliant and beautiful dream."
"To think my dream appeared the most brilliant and beautiful, those things have no eye for quality... Ah, they don't have eyes in the first place, that's why."
I pressed my forehead and murmured as I glanced at the Rusalka corpses piled on the shore.
The Rusalkas did not flee even knowing their abilities did not work on me.
Rather, they increasingly could not hide their greed. Apparently my dream was quite covetable.
They say they imitate humans—did they learn that greed through human dreams as well?
"They say their only ability is mental attacks, so we just need to be careful of that."
"Considering they die by my hand, their physical abilities are about what you'd expect."
No matter how I come back to life with a healthy body, I didn't gain monstrous strength.
The Rusalkas that died by my grip must have had truly pitifully weak bodies.
"Still, their numbers have decreased quite a bit."
I murmured with inner relief as I looked down at the ground.
"Do you still want to keep all of them alive?"
[Ah, no. I apologize, Master.]
Mori, who at first didn't know what to do when looking at the Rusalkas, now had a resigned expression.
The Rusalkas that initially pretended to be frail no longer did so and openly looked at me with appetite, so it seemed difficult to sympathize with them anymore.
"Mori. Compassion should be given at the right time and place."
[Yes...]
[Stupid Mori!]
Zigor sighed deeply and approached Mori with light steps. Though he was scolding her with words, I could tell from how carefully he checked on her that he was worried.
[I apologize. I should have taught her better.]
Nadab, whom I had called out to both monitor and calm Mori, bowed his head with yet another apology I've lost count of.
At the sight of Nadab sighing repeatedly as if ashamed, Mori could only hang her head in dejection.
During the brief conversation, Samuel, confirming that I had opened my eyes, pierced a Rusalka without a shred of mercy.
The expressions of the other Rusalkas watching their comrade meet its end without even screaming after failing to steal my dream grew fierce.
However, they did not hastily attack Samuel. They didn't seem interested in Samuel's dream.
"Killing them isn't the problem, but having to endure that attack at least once is troublesome."
I murmured indifferently as I gazed at the Rusalkas. Should I call it fortunate? The numbers had decreased enough to be visible to the naked eye.
Zenon, with a displeased expression, glanced at the Rusalkas and lowered his voice to whisper so only I could hear.
"Lady Aneli, do you realize the time you lose consciousness is gradually increasing?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Those things seem to know that and continue attacking."
"Even so, it's useless."
Unlike my nonchalant attitude, Zenon had a thoroughly troubled face.
"Those are monsters with learning capabilities. There must be a reason they continue these repetitive and simple attacks."
I also agreed to some extent with Zenon's opinion. Their attacks were not meaningless repetition.
"I know. The content of the illusions they show me is all different, so it's hard to call them simple attacks. They might be searching for an illusion that would work on me."
"The content is different?"
"Did you think I was seeing the same illusion over and over?"
After saying that, I turned my head.
From his expression, it seemed Zenon had thought so.
I continued speaking with my gaze fixed on the Rusalkas whispering among themselves with no intention of approaching.
"It was various things. All illusions that would have worked only before my head was cut off, though."
The Rusalkas' movements changed slightly. The ones that had taken positions scattered widely across the pond, revealing only their eyes to watch us, began to gather toward the center.
Samuel and Palides gripped their swords tightly and watched the Rusalkas' movements.
Narrowing my eyes wondering what trick they were up to, Zenon quietly asked.
"What kind of illusions were they?"
"Well, receiving marriage proposals, holding a royal wedding, going on a journey under the pretext of a provincial inspection... The very last one was an illusion of being given a successor."
Up to two or three times, it was disgusting enough to turn my stomach, but after it exceeded five times, getting angry at each illusion's content became bothersome.
They were all fabricated anyway. Illusions, events that would never happen in the future.
Honestly, when the successor came up, I did get choked up and grabbed Maxel by the collar and threw a punch at his face... But such damned illusions probably won't appear twice.
'If I see Maxel who became Emperor about ten more times, will it end?'
No, there might be Rusalkas hiding in the water, so generously about twenty times?
"...A successor?"
"Yes. It seems the major events I would experience living as the Empress appear."
Judging from the content they roughly showed, things like coronation ceremonies or festivals might unfold.
While thinking such peaceful thoughts and answering in a casual tone, I heard a small sound of grinding teeth nearby. I didn't need to turn around—it was Zenon.
He was glaring at the Rusalkas as if looking at an enemy. Zenon asked.
"Can't we just freeze the entire pond and kill them all at once?"
"No. I said there's a reason I have to see the illusion myself."
"That trash?"
"Do you think I'm enduring those attacks just to see Maxel's face?"
As I replied with cynicism, a change occurred in the Rusalkas that had gathered toward the center.
"Fortunately, it seems they'll save us some time."
I murmured.
I could see their water-soaked bodies entangling and clinging to each other, becoming a single mass.
Zenon, who had been watching the Rusalkas' movements with disgusted eyes, asked in a dissatisfied tone.
"What exactly is it that you need to recover?"
"Power."
At the sight of the monster approaching in an even more bizarre form as it became one mass, Samuel and Palides looked at me.
I gestured to them to step aside.
"It looks dangerous."
Samuel warned quietly. I smirked and replied to him.
"Snakes sometimes forcibly swallow prey larger than they can handle and end up with their bellies torn open."
Just like that monster's fate.
As I took away the fragmented divine power one by one, I realized. The pendant the former captain had given to Mori was not an object, but the divine power itself materialized.
I don't know how those things came to share the divine power.
What was certain was that the goddess's divine power was originally meant to give rest to living beings, and if the Rusalka had properly utilized that power, it would have taken the Empress's life.
Fortunately, thanks to the divine power being finely scattered, it seemed to only result in sleep.
The Rusalkas who realized that late seem to be trying to do something to me by gathering the remaining power into one... If they gather it for me, I would rather be grateful.
"This will probably be the last one."
I had that feeling. That those creatures had reached some conclusion through several repeated attacks, and that they intended to swallow my dream this time for sure.
A shadow much larger than before threatened undulatingly. The shadow that rose faintly like a heat haze suddenly grew its dark bulk and rushed at me.
I just stood still and gazed at it. I felt a dizzying pain in my mind, and soon, my vision turned black.
* * *
"How long has it been since the second young lady entered the forest?"
One knight who had been keeping his position endlessly looked up at the sky with a bored face.
The sun was slowly setting.
Though she said she simply came out for investigation, Aneli, who had entered the forest, was not showing herself for quite a while.
"Surely she didn't die, did she?"
The knights who naturally thought she came to this place to make a show for others looked at the forest with annoyed faces.
"With a Holy Knight and a mage accompanying her, they wouldn't let her die. Besides, she brought that monstrous woman too."
At someone's sneer, the knights clicked their tongues in annoyance.
The skill of the woman knight Aneli always kept with her was, though frustrating, something they had to acknowledge.
But what good would that do? That woman knight wore a suffocating helmet all day long, and her personality was eccentric as well.
The knights suspected she might be a heavy criminal who couldn't show her face. Otherwise, they wouldn't have not known such a skilled person.
No matter how good her skills, she was someone who couldn't even reveal her own face. To them, who were formally knighted and selected as Roam's knights, she looked like nothing more than a street ruffian.
"Didn't she get scared and run away?"
"I'd rather that happened."
Of course, if something like that actually happened, they themselves, who were assigned as Aneli's escort, wouldn't be safe either.
However, they had reached the point of praying for something bad to happen to Aneli even if they had to suffer some hardship. Serving her meekly was virtually impossible for the current Roam knights.
"Out of all people, the second young lady was chosen by God. God is truly indifferent."
"The rumor about her being undead suits her better."
They couldn't have not heard the news. God's chosen resurrected one. A woman whose head was severed and reattached.
It was just that what the temple called miracles was merely perceived as bizarre phenomena in their eyes.