"W-wait a moment. Are you saying you're going to fight that demon alone?"

Sedina asked in disbelief.

Zantman was an excellent Dreamwalker, but not enough to face Nirva alone.

Didn't he say with his own mouth that even if everyone here combined their strength, they would be no match?

Yet going to fight was practically suicidal.

"What? Are you worried about this old man?"

"O-of course! Who wouldn't worry about someone going to their death! How is this different from a moth diving into flames!"

"Hehe."

At Sedina's honest answer, Zantman stroked his beard with an appreciative smile.

"When I heard you were Julia's friend, I thought you'd have a similar personality, but you're quite an honest child. No, perhaps it's because you're so different that you could become friends."

Why did Julia suddenly come up in the conversation?

Just as Sedina was about to speak, Zantman was one beat faster.

"Anyway, once that demon recovers all his power, running away will be useless. Perhaps we'll be the first examples before reinforcements arrive. If that's the case, wouldn't it be right to at least grab onto his ankles and hold on?"

"Still, you don't have to do it alone."

"No. I have to do it alone. If not me alone, then who?"

"We can fight too!"

Sedina said with a resolute voice.

Though still inexperienced, they had learned how to handle power in the dreamland.

It was a given that with a little more refinement, they would become excellent combat strength.

Zantman agreed with that, but sadly, there wasn't enough time now.

"Your heart is in the right place, but to be brutally honest, right now you would only hold me back. It's enough for me to go there alone. No, it must be me alone."

"But..."

"Keep that Siesta safe. It will protect you from the deep environment. It won't last long with just one piece, but it will be more than enough until support arrives."

Sedina looked at the Siesta glove in her hand and asked.

"Why are you doing all this for us?"

Sedina couldn't quite understand Zantman's kindness.

Rudger, the only one he had any connection with, was already taken, and the other three people here were strangers he'd just met today.

Yet Zantman was handing over the Siesta and showing concern for their safety.

It was an act filled with pure goodwill rather than obligation.

Sedina wasn't naive enough not to feel that so she asked.

Why go this far?

"Why?"

Hearing those words, Zantman answered as if it were nothing.

"Because you're our youngest's friend."

"Just...for that reason?"

"Just? Our youngest, always pretending to be prickly and arrogant on the outside, but actually feels very lonely. Aren't you the first friend that kid made? Of course you're more precious than anything."

It was an embarrassing statement, but Zantman's expression couldn't be more serious.

"And if I can't properly protect that friend, how sad would our youngest be? I may tease that kid often, but I've never once disliked her sincerely. Well, maybe once or twice? Anyway, it was all done with affection."

Zantman laughed playfully like a child, then erased his smile and gazed at Sedina with a calm look.

"So I'm helping. You need to live so our youngest won't be sad. Our youngest shouldn't be sad. As for the other two people, well, to be honest, they're just along for the ride."

He openly treated them as tagalongs, but Hans and Seridan didn't get angry with him.

How could they be angry at someone who chose self-sacrifice?

"Our youngest will probably come here with the Master. That kid always talks tough, but has a sense of responsibility. So when you meet them, please relay my message well. Tell them that their very cool and strong senior Zantman was incredibly cool even when he left."

Zantman turned his back but no one tried to stop him from leaving.

They weren't shameless enough to stop someone who had prepared for everything.

"Ah, right."

At that moment, Zantman, who was about to leave, turned only his head and said to Sedina.

"Take good care of our youngest from now on."

* * *

Nirva opened his closed eyes.

His golden pupils turned toward the old man standing before him.

"A bug I thought had escaped appears before me on its own. Are you not afraid of death?"

"Not afraid? Bull. I'm scared to death."

Zantman whined with a smiling face but despite his words, his body stood perfectly straight.

Nirva's eyebrow twitched slightly.

Zantman's behavior exuded a resolve that was hard to express in words.

"Still, what can I do? I'm not generous enough to stand by and watch what a demon is trying to do."

"Sigh."

Nirva exhaled a slightly annoyed sigh.

He ended his meditation and changed his posture.

With his hands behind his back, he stared at Zantman, but his expression contained a hint of displeasure.

"Honestly, I'm not in a very good mood right now."

"I know."

Zantman nodded at Nirva's words.

"That's why I came in the first place. You're openly trying to recover your strength, how could I just stand by and watch?"

"Even so, you alone cannot face me. It's like a single moth diving into flames."

"Still, I can affect the wavering flames."

Yes. That was the problem.

For Nirva, who was trying to recover his power, this human called Zantman was like a bone in the throat.

If he ignored him, he would be attacked, but if he tried to capture him, it would be difficult to continue his meditation and recover his strength.

If Zantman had been frightened and run away or hidden, he wouldn't have experienced the annoyance of having to find him but Zantman stood before him.

Even knowing he would be defeated if he fought.

Even knowing he would die if he fought.

He came all the way here and Nirva found that irritating.

To him, humans were little more than insects.

He wondered if they followed without objection because the Goddess embraced them; if it were up to him, he would eliminate all humans.

And now such a human was interfering with his grand plan.

If they had brought an army, he might have reluctantly accepted it but now his opponent was just one and he came targeting his most vulnerable moment.

He came to clash even knowing he was no match.

Along with the self-loathing of having fallen this far, his murderous intent toward the human before him rose.

"Oh. This is quite frightening. Where did the relaxed demeanor you showed when fighting the teacher go?"

Zantman threw a sneer after feeling Nirva's piercing gaze.

"Yes. I'll see how far that relaxed expression goes. The sin of disturbing my meditation is very great."

Seeing this, Zantman smiled demonstratively, but his inner feelings were not the same.

'He's properly angered. That's what I disturbed him for, but at this rate, my body won't be in one piece.'

The moment Zantman took his stance, Nirva's attack came flying.

Just as something seemed to fill his vision, Zantman moved his body to the side.

-Whoosh!

A huge blade of sand sliced through where he had just been standing.

It was so sharp that the ground beneath the cut formed a smooth cross-section.

'If my reaction had been just 1 second slower, I would have been split like firewood.'

Zantman clenched his fist with a trembling hand.

Before Nirva could launch another attack, he immediately drew out dream threads and deployed magic.

Zantman's green dream threads extended like silk and quickly surrounded Nirva.

Dream Magic [Tangled Threads]

The threads that had been fluttering tied around Nirva's body tightly as if to squeeze him.

New threads piled up on top of the bound body, forming a huge green ball of threads.

Zantman didn't end his attack there.

Dream Magic [Needle Knot]

A giant needle was created above the threads and stabbed inside.

It was a technique to trap the opponent inside and unleash a one-sided attack, but Zantman couldn't feel relieved.

After all, in the Sacred Library, Nirva had remained unharmed despite suffering even worse attacks.

As if to prove this, the threads binding Nirva began to break from the outside with a snapping sound.

"Where do you think!"

He had to prevent him from breaking through.

Zantman pulled out long dream threads and quickly wove them into one object.

What he completed was a green cloth covering a large area.

The cloth wrapped around the ball of threads.

One layer, two layers.

The cloth continued to cover it again and again.

It was not an ordinary cloth, but one made of dream threads and its strength, elasticity, and tensile force were at a level not seen in reality.

Dream Magic [Wrapping Bundle]

Covering it with cloth was far from enough.

Zantman created large needles and threads on both sides.

The needle with thread quickly moved between the cloths, meticulously filling in the gaps.

Dream Magic [Herringbone stitch]

He perfectly stitched the layers of cloth.

"Huff. Huff. At least this should buy some time, right?"

Zantman gasped for breath.

His goal wasn't to defeat Nirva, but to interfere with his meditation and buy time until reinforcements arrived.

If things didn't go well, he was also considering running away.

'After tying him up like this, I'll escape, and if he tries to recover again, I'll hit and run each time...'

Zantman was planning ahead, but because of that thought, his reaction was delayed.

-Thrust!

Two blades of sand protruded from the giant bundle.

Like the helmet of a stag beetle, the blades that protruded on both sides closed together like meshing.

A giant pair of scissors made of sand.

From the completely cut bundle of dream threads, Nirva walked out unharmed.

With each of his steps, golden light flowing from his pupils dispersed faintly.

"T-This..."

Zantman looked down at his left arm.

Unable to avoid the scissors in time, his left arm below the shoulder had been cleanly cut off.

One might fall into panic after losing a body part, but Zantman calmly pulled out threads.

Dream Magic [Running stitch]

Small dream needles and threads quickly stitched the cross-section of the severed arm, rapidly reattaching it.

Nirva watched this and sneered.

"Well. Reattaching a severed arm so casually. Commendable for a bug."

"Being persistent is one of my charms."

He said that, but cold sweat ran down Zantman's back.

The dream magic he deployed several times was broken by just one cut of scissors.

Since Nirva's expression showed no sign of strain, it meant the difference in power was overwhelming.

'This is ridiculous. How did that teacher gain the upper hand against such a monster?'

And that person was much younger than himself.

Zantman chuckled and raised his eyes.

Seeing the eyes still full of fighting spirit, Nirva frowned.

"You refuse to yield until the end. Well, let's see how long that expression lasts."

"Unfortunately, you won't see me whimpering!"

A huge shadow loomed over Nirva's head.

Just as he tried to look up to check, something massive crushed Nirva with a thud.

A cloud of dust rose with the shockwave.

What fell from the sky and crushed Nirva was a giant industrial sewing machine.

"Ever been hit by a sewing machine? If not, experience it once."

The sharp needle of the sewing machine pointed at Nirva.

Zantman's magic activated.

Dream Magic [6000SPM Overlock]

-Rattattattattattatta!

The sewing machine operated with a rough motor sound.

It was the maximum output magic Zantman could use.

A stitching that hits 100 times per second, 6,000 times per minute, doesn't give the opponent time to respond.

With each violent impact of the sewing machine's needle on Nirva, the ground shook and dust clouds rose around.

It was believable even if someone said it wasn't stitching, but a drilling operation piercing the ground with a giant stake.

Zantman continued the magic without stopping, despite sweat streaming down his forehead.

"A little, just a little more."

His eyes, while desperately muttering, were looking past Nirva toward Rudger.

And he saw three people approaching Rudger.

Hans, Seridan, and Sedina Roschen.

The real goal was to rescue Rudger while he fought and bought time.

Seeing Hans carrying Rudger on his back, Zantman nodded lightly.

'Go.'

Sedina, who was about to leave, hesitated at Zantman's gesture, but soon bit her lip and followed Hans.

When Rudger and the group disappeared from view, Zantman finally deactivated his magic, thinking he had succeeded.

He should have continued pressing Nirva now that he had momentum, but he didn't have any strength left.

As soon as the sewing machine stopped operating, sand rose and shattered it to pieces.

From the center of the sand tsunami, Nirva looked down at Zantman with cold eyes.

"Yes. Are you done with your antics?"

After attacking with all his might, and it's just antics?

-Huff. Huff.

Zantman only gasped for breath.

Anyway, whatever he said, the approaching future wouldn't change.

'Still, before I go, I wanted to see those idiots' faces.'

Still.

He couldn't go out looking pathetic until the end.

Zantman gritted his teeth and raised dream threads.

At that sight, just as Nirva's eyebrow was about to twitch and his gaze turned to one side.

'What? What is he looking at?'

Zantman was puzzled by Nirva suddenly shifting his attention away.

A shell that flew, drawing a long smoke trail like a tail exploded upon contact with Nirva's face.

The explosion's impact sent Zantman rolling backward.

Roots sprouting from the ground supported Zantman's body.

"...These guys."

Zantman couldn't hide his shock upon realizing whose doing it was.

"The fools I wanted to see weren't you guys. You fools."

"What can we do?"

Sedina, who had somehow approached Zantman's side, said with a smile.

"This is what I learned from the teacher."