It was incomprehensible when exactly they had become trapped.

No, perhaps they had been fighting inside this hourglass from the beginning.

That wasn't what mattered now.

The sand pouring down like a waterfall from above was gradually filling the floor and raising the water level.

Before they knew it, the sand that had risen to their ankles crossed past their calves and reached their waists.

"Eek!"

Sedina tried to create trees, but it wasn't easy because of the dream sand.

The plants she somehow managed to create were swallowed by the sand in reverse and decomposed on the spot.

Once trapped in Nirva's antlion pit, there was no way to escape by their own power.

"I'm sorry. I got you involved for nothing."

Zantman apologized to Sedina.

If only he, as an adult, had fought a little better, she wouldn't have had to go through this.

"No. This happened because I was unnecessarily greedy."

But regrets didn't bring to mind a way to overcome this situation.

Most of their power had been consumed anyway.

"Be buried in the sand to deeply regret your actions."

Nirva sneered from outside the hourglass.

By now, the sand had risen past their chests and up to their necks.

Even trying to struggle with both arms was impossible due to the pressure of the sand.

Just as their vision was about to be buried in darkness, completely submerged in sand.

What Sedina saw was a pink flash of light shining from afar.

-Bang!

With a loud explosion, the entire hourglass shook violently.

As the glass shattered, sand flowed outward.

Sedina and Zantman could finally gasp for breath as the sand receded like an ebb tide.

Zantman's face, which had been colored with despair, formed a smile full of ecstasy.

"These stupid kids. You're late!"

Along with Zantman's shout, in the distance, a group with green wings spread out could be seen flying towards them.

"Zantman! Old geezer! Are you alive?"

"Kid! Tough life thread you've got! Khahaha!"

Zantman barked at his colleague who was flying towards him, mocking him from afar.

"You jerks! What were you doing to come only now! I almost crossed the path to the afterlife!"

"That's why we came to help. Why are you grumbling like that?"

Dreamwalker magicians with wings approached through the broken hourglass wall and extended their hands.

Zantman took their hands with a smiling face.

At that moment, the hourglass vanished like a mirage.

Zantman was fine thanks to his colleagues' help, but Sedina wasn't.

"Ah."

Sedina fell into the desert sand quagmire that still remained below.

The event happened so suddenly that the other Dreamwalkers' reactions were slow.

In the slowly flowing time, Sedina stretched her hand toward the sky as if hoping someone would grab her hand and miraculously a hand of salvation approached.

A shadow with snow-white wings barely caught Sedina's slender body as she fell.

Sedina could only look at the person who came to save her with round eyes.

"Julia...?"

"I came to save you."

Seeing Julia holding her like a princess, Sedina burst into tears that she had barely been holding back.

She had tried to be brave, but even that fear couldn't be shaken off at the moment of death.

"I, I thought I was going to die!"

Julia smiled helplessly at Sedina who hugged her neck tightly.

"...I had hoped such a situation wouldn't arise."

Nirva shook his head looking at the Dreamwalkers.

The process of recovering strength was completely lost.

If it had been just Zantman, it might have been different, but with Sedina Roschen intervening, everything had gone wrong.

-Flash!

A pink flash burst again from afar.

‘That attack again.’

It was the magic that shattered the hourglass he had created.

Nirva raised dream sand to create an octagonal shield.

It was a shield that had blocked even the attack of the giant librarian. With this level of power, it should be easy to block.

But just before touching the shield, the pink beam suddenly spread into dozens of branches.

The light streams that bypassed the shield pounded Nirva's entire body.

-Boom boom boom!

Spherical explosions made of pink magical power occurred consecutively in the air.

As Nirva escaped to the side through the explosions, an old woman with a hunched back was already approaching right beside him.

In a split second, in the slowly flowing time, Clara Cowen's and Nirva's eyes intertwined in the air.

"Do you remember who I am? Nirva."

"Clara Cowen."

As Nirva called that name, Clara swung her staff.

The green dream-blade formed at the end of the staff fell, aiming for his collarbone.

Nirva reached out his hand and grabbed the blade.

-Crack!

As Nirva's palm and the dream-blade collided, sparks flew.

As Nirva's snow-white gloves tore, wounds began to form on the palm inside.

Like the stab wound received from Rudger, golden blood flowed from the palm wound.

Nirva frowned at that and summoned dream sand.

As a sand pillar that sprang up from the ground flew toward Clara, the Dreamwalkers provided covering fire.

Green magical cannons falling from the air collided with the sand pillar.

In the meantime, Clara safely pulled back her body.

Looking at Nirva's injured right hand, she said.

"So you bleed too. Your power has weakened a lot."

If Nirva had been at full strength, it would have been impossible for her to even inflict a wound, that's how tired Nirva was right now.

"You've worked hard, Zantman. You held out well."

"Tch. This old hag. Coming when it's almost over to show off."

Though his words sounded grumbling, a smile never left Zantman's lips.

He had prepared for death, but he was still alive, so it was fortunate for him.

It was worth risking his life to buy time.

Moreover, it wasn't just Dreamwalkers who came as reinforcements.

Again from afar, a pink light flashed.

Nirva frowned.

‘Again. That bombardment again.’

"Chancellor of Theon. Elisa Willow."

A woman he had seen once in reality, and afterwards hadn't paid much attention to.

Even though she had entered Dreamland, she hadn't even been a consideration.

"Have you grown stronger as you descended into the deep layers?"

Elisa, who had accumulated experience through various battles, had become unrecognizably mature compared to when she first fell into Dreamland.

As if to prove she wasn't a 6th-rank magician at a young age for nothing, she quickly adapted to the environment of Dreamland.

The attack that Elisa Willow fired now had dream essence mixed in.

She had been taught how to handle dream essence by the Dreamwalkers she had met.

The experience of being taught by someone must be extremely rare in Elisa's life.

Nevertheless, her innate talent allowed her to quickly acquire even long-awaited teachings.

Elisa, who noticed what Nirva said from a distance, chuckled and gave instructions.

"Not just me. Everyone begin."

The teachers lined up behind her simultaneously manifested magic.

It was a spectacle of magic splitting the air.

Seeing that sight, Nirva drew up the sand of the desert.

Magic blazed above the giant sand ramparts that rose up.

Theon's teachers who had come this far used magic from the street outside the desert, persistently targeting Nirva.

If Nirva had been at full strength, he would have ignored such attacks with a sneer but now wasn't the time to afford such luxury.

'If only I had time to recover.'

Such regret was felt, but it didn't take long for his thoughts to change.

-Crash!

Each time magic hit the sand wall, the sturdy dream sand wall visibly broke and collapsed.

This was clearly different from the power of magic that Theon's teachers normally displayed.

'They've all grown stronger than before.'

Theon's teachers are also people born with their own skills and talents.

They might be slightly underestimated because they teach young students, but they are people who can be respected anywhere on the continent.

Such people had even received advice from Dreamwalkers and learned how to handle dream essence, albeit temporarily.

It was absolutely not a situation to look down upon or ignore.

'Even if I had recovered my strength in that short time, it would have been difficult to confidently guarantee victory.'

Nirva frowned.

Above the ramparts, he caught sight of those with green wings spread out at high altitude.

The Dreamwalkers of the Dream School faction attacked from blind spots that Nirva's ramparts couldn't block.

Magic made of dream essence fell on top of his head.

It was like seeing a green shower falling locally.

Nirva put up multiple layers of barriers with dream sand to block it, but he couldn't completely defy the massive flow.

His body fell to the desert created on the ground.

Nirva got up and looked down at his body.

The neatly worn suit was covered all over with the sand he had created.

Parts of his clothes were frayed and torn, and even his body had two small wounds.

The wounds recovered quickly, but the blood already spilled didn't return.

"...What a miserable sight."

Nirva searched his memories.

Has there ever been a time when he was pushed into such a defensive position?

Absolutely not.

"As a faithful servant of the Goddess, is this what I've become?"

Tired and wounded.

His appearance was terrible.

Moreover, what made Nirva feel more despondent was that all of this was a result of being defeated by humans whom he had looked down upon as inferior to the past.

"At this rate, I'll have no face to show when the Goddess awakens."

Nirva slowly raised his head.

The deep sky of the abyss, where purple, navy, and black were mixed.

He could see twinkling stars falling towards him, illuminating that place.

These were the starlight of killing intent, fired by humans trying to cut off his breath without missing this opportunity.

But Nirva's gaze didn't fix there and looked beyond.

The dream energy extracted from humans who had fallen into Dreamland.

It was floating in the sky and gathering at the obelisk.

The Goddess still needs time to awaken but if he falls like this, even that will be useless.

"Goddess."

Nirva shed tears.

The tears flowing from his golden eyes were black to an ominous degree.

"Forgive my disloyalty. Do not condone that your servant dares to lay hands on what should be presented to you."

Nirva reached out his hand towards the massive flowing energy in the sky.

"What's that? Why is he suddenly acting like that?"

"Is he trying to do something?"

The Theon teachers far away couldn't see that sight, but the Dreamwalkers saw it clearly.

When everyone was flustered by Nirva's sudden strange behavior, Clara Cowen was the first to sense the crisis.

"Everyone! Quickly pour on the attacks!"

Clara sensed that Nirva was trying to do something.

She didn't know exactly what it was, but if they didn't stop it now, something irreversible would happen.

The Dreamwalkers didn't ignore Clara's warning and attacked Nirva with stern faces.

Nirva didn't take defensive measures.

He focused only on the massive energy, regardless of whether the Dreamwalkers' magic hit his body.

Dream essence magic hit all over his body, tearing his clothes, creating wounds, and blood splattered.

Despite feeling considerable pain, Nirva didn't distort his expression at all, like a pious believer enduring asceticism.

"That, that madman!"

The Dreamwalkers felt even more impatient at that sight.

Sedina's fear peaked.

Nirva, who had been looking down on everything until now, was taking completely different actions as if he had changed.

It's not frustration.

It's not giving up.

Nirva, too, was prepared to sacrifice something in his own way.

'We weren't the only ones desperate!'

There was a change in the battle situation.

A part of the massive dream energy flowing above the sky slowly approached Nirva, as if flicking its tongue.

Everyone looked at that scene in astonishment.

While knowing they should block it, they didn't dare to intervene between that massive energy.

The dream energy met with the tip of Nirva's fingers and like a collapsed dam, the once-opened channel quickly absorbed into Nirva's body.

"Ohh."

Nirva opened his wound-covered mouth.

"Ohhhh!"

The enormous power rapidly rose from within.

Like a person who hadn't drunk water for days encountering an oasis, Nirva indulged in the energy roughly.

Even knowing it was an offering for the Goddess, he couldn't stop.

Rather, that sense of blasphemy fanned Nirva's hunger.

Nirva's body changed as he absorbed the dream energy.

All wounds healed, and the suit he was wearing was restored like a freshly ironed new one.

-Boom!

A fierce wave swept through with Nirva at the center.

The desert sand caught in the wave rose like a tidal wave, becoming a giant tsunami spreading in concentric circles.

"Ts-tsunami!"

"Everyone retreat!"

Elisa stepped forward and spread a barrier.

As the support magic from Theon's teachers was cut off, Nirva targeted the Dreamwalkers.

"You all. You're too high up."

Nirva captured the Dreamwalkers as if taking a picture with both hands.

It seemed like he was mocking them with a hand trick, but the result wasn't so.

When Nirva lowered his hands, there was a photo taken in his grasp.

And in that photo, the appearance of Dreamwalkers flying in the deep sky could be seen.

"Now our eye level matches."