[Nightmare]
Chapter 75 [Crossroads]

[A/N: Helix shows the women his Nightmare in the last chapter. You can read it. Skim skim… skim skim, ah, found it.]

"Heh. My Nightmare? It's… hahaha haha hah!"

Helix rolled over, laughed, and landed face first in Riley's lap.

However, after losing his virginity, it didn't feel so awkward.

He simply rolled back to his original position.

Marie, Charlotte, and Riley looked at his strange expression with confused expressions.

"Hmmm. Death flag?" Charlotte asked herself.

He looked at Helix's strange expression as he laughed.

"Yup. Definitely a death flag."

Riley gave her a confused look.

Marie, on the other hand, glared at her.

When he saw the standoff, he stopped laughing.

Helix let out a deep sigh.

"Charlotte's right… unfortunately." He confirmed.

The women looked at Helix with complicated expressions.

"What… do you mean?" Marie asked worriedly.

"Haaaaah. Where to begin?" Helix chuckled.

"My Nightmare specializes in killing its user.

I've doubled the survival record for the last fifty years for perspective.

The evil god of Myriad has targeted me.

None of this has to do with being assassinated by the recently reformed otaku super-virgins."

Helix laughed heartily.

The three women on the bed gave him a bewildered expression.

"Hellie… Why didn't you tell us?" Charlotte asked with a gentle voice.

She didn't understand what he was talking about, but she could see its impact on his soul.

"Charlotte… It's so dangerous to disclose I have three blood pacts with people just to tell them about it." Helix chuckled.

"I planned to tell you once we all entered this relationship.

Now I am right now."

Marie crawled over and laid her head on his chest.

"Tell us about it." She whispered.

"Okay, Marie. Everyone, please touch a part of my body…. Tactfully." Helix requested with a chuckle.

Charlotte gave him a playful [let down] expression and snuggled up on his stomach.

Riley laid her cheek on his hand on his shoulder.

Helix touched his blood-red sun tattoo.

"Here you go." He sighed with a smile.

—

[Name: [Nightmare]: Level 3.

Description: The genesis [Nightmare] wielded by Elise, the god of Myriad.

Allows the user to create illusions that bring nightmares to life.

Skills:

[Nightmare]: 50% SP: Summons a non-lethal illusion of the enemy's greatest known fear.

[Nightmare Hallucination]: (?) > 75 SP: Uses [Nightmare] skill but is only visible to user and victim(s).

[Minor Summoning]: > 10 SP: Call upon simple object illusions.

[Summoning]: > 150 SP: Call upon an illusion of your design.

[Summoning Hallucination]: > 150 SP: Uses [Summoning] skill but is only visible to user and victim(s)

[Conditional Summoning]: > 150 SP: Design illusions triggered through conditional parameters. Requires a full mental design blueprint.

[Multi-Party Summoning Hallucination]: > 250 SP: Create multiple related illusions yet experienced differently by others. Requires conditional summoning.

[Conditional Summoning Combining]: > 0 SP: Make multiple summonings interact. Active skill with zero cost.

[Tracks Deletion]: 0 SP: Hide the Nightmare is an illusion by summoning and naturally releasing the illusion. Active skill with zero cost.

[Scent Addition]: 5 SP per/second: give your illusion a matching smell to increase its voracity.

[Elemental Heat Integration]: 5 SP per/second: infuse a related elemental heat spell to increase the veracity of your illusion.

[???]: 10 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 15 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[???]: 20 SP per/second: you have successfully identified a use case for [Nightmare]. Requirements for unlocking unknown.

[All other skills and derivatives are locked. Requirements for unlocking unknown.]

—

"This… is the original Nightmare." Charlotte gasped.

"It's the Nightmare used by the god of Myriad?" Riley asked.

"This explains why we could feel and smell the illusion." Marie added.

Helix nodded.

"Yes, it's the original [Nightmare], and it still is wielded by Elise.

You've also pointed out that it's not a simple illusion skill set." He confirmed.

The women nodded in response.

"After learning that the illusions interact with people's real bodies… in the most fantastic way possible…."

Charlotte burst into light laughter on his stomach.

Marie and Riley giggle as well.

"I am now nearly certain it's connected directly to the Myriad Record."

Silence befell the room.

"Wait… seriously? That's logical but…." Charlotte muttered.

"I understand your feeling, but it's the Nightmare wielded by the god Myriad." Marie reasoned.

"True…. It's just hard to grasp that he has God's Nightmare…." Charlotte replied.

Marie and Riley nodded in agreement.

"Isn't that… cool, though?" Charlotte asked.

"No. Not in the slightest." He chuckled bitterly.

Helix spent an hour explaining the experiences with [Nightmare].

He started with Lucas and even told them about the variations to the Mirror of Helioquie.

After that, he explained the risks and the possibility of being blamed for everything.

"Woah. You have the dangerous protagonist cheat skill, and you didn't hide a single thing from us." Charlotte chuckled in amazement.

"You'll need to buy a mask, but you should've done that in Alzeria.

Then you could have convinced us to love you with and without the mask separately."

Helix burst into laughter.

"If you still love me in the future, I plan to marry you all.

So I'm not hiding secrets." He reasoned.

Marie and Riley's faces flushed red.

They were embarrassed and happy to receive the news.

"That's the thing, chief.

In the cliche known as life, husbands hide secrets better than OP protagonists." Charlotte mused.

Helix chuckled in bewilderment.

"I love you, Charlotte." He laughed.

Charlotte blushed lightly but quickly donned her wicked grin.

"Hmmm? Is that so? Better prove it to me later." She teased.

"Haaaaaaah. As long as you let me, I plan to." Helix chuckled.

"Hoh? Hellie's getting bold." She chimed.

"No, he's getting spoiled." Helix laughed.

The women on the bed giggled.

"I'm so happy we can live like this without threat of retaliation now." Riley smiled.

"Me too." Marie smiled gently on Marie's chest.

"Yeah. I like Alzeria, but they're lucky I even stayed after what they did to Hellie." Charlotte commented.

Marie's smile disappeared.

"Helix… your heart… are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"Helix, we can stop talking about Alzeria…." Riley responded.

"Oh…. My bad…." Charlotte added awkwardly.

Helix laughed awkwardly.

"No. Don't worry about me or what happened in Alzeria." He responded.

"It's just that…."

Helix closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and sighed.

"Woah! I just realized this is the first time we've heard a Hellie sigh!" Charlotte gasped with excitement.

Marie and Riley recounted the day at lightning speed, only to draw the same conclusion.

"You're right…." Riley commented.

"I feel… special." Marie giggled.

After remembering the mysterious reason for the sigh, Marie's face became worried.

"Helix, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Two months from now, the Alzeria Capital will get attacked." Helix sighed.

"Elise herself gave me a quest to save it."

"Putting aside how manly it was that Hellie didn't say the word [theory] or downplay his information source…." Charlotte prefaced.

"I'm going to cunt punt that bitch for giving him that responsibility!"

An overwhelming amount of gravity crushed the atmosphere in the room.

If the people she loved weren't real, the [gravity] addition would be real.

"This isn't fair…." Marie whispered worriedly.

She gripped her arms around Helix's chest.

Silence befell the room for a period.

"Why would she send Helix in his current state?" Riley asked.

"He was injured for a good while, and he doesn't have a lethal Nightmare.

Do you think that she's really after us?"

The other women looked at her with complicated expressions.

"You mean if he's willing to put our lives in danger to save Alzeria?" Charlotte asked hesitantly.

Before the atmosphere could turn brutal, Helix shook his head.

"No. I may not be as strong as any of you in a fight, but I'm not weak anymore." He declared with a firm voice.

"I refused to stay idle and let any of you get hurt protecting me."

Before Marie could counter, he continued.

"From now on, you'll protect me, and I'll protect you.

We'll share in the responsibility to protect one another." He chuckled.

Charlotte's eyes glittered with a mischievous light.

"Okay, cliche killer. Can't you say something like, [I'm going to get stronger until no one can harm you], just to be charming?" She mused.

The women burst into laughter.

"That's a death flag, Charlotte. Nothing's charming about a death flag." Helix sighed.

"That's Helix for you. Always snuffing out the romanticism for pragmatism." Charlotte chuckled.

The women giggled.

"That's not necessarily true. I'm about to as you all what you want to do about Alzeria?" He replied.

The atmosphere cooled again.

No one wanted to be the first to speak.

"Helix… are you giving us this decision for our own happiness?" Riley asked, shattering the silence.

"Yeah… putting aside our harem duty to follow you regardless of your decision.

You realize how hard something like this will be for us to answer after what happened to you. Right?" Charlotte asked while staring at the scar on his stomach.

"Helix…." Marie whispered while gripping his chest.

"I want to save them." Helix sighed.

The women jolted with surprise.

Helix chuckled bitterly.

"I've been training because I don't want to put you all in danger.

I've dedicated my life to protecting you all and sharing our struggles." He declared with resolve in his eyes.

The women looked at him with awe and racing hearts.

"If I thought it was impossible, I would have already turned it down.

I trained relentlessly and gave myself time to determine whether we could do it.

Now that I feel there's a chance of success, I've resolved I would if you wanted to." He continued.

The surprise in the women's hearts was palpable.

He lifted his head and scanned the women's faces.

When he saw their conflicted expressions, he chuckled bitterly.

"I'm not going to downplay what happened to me.

The treatment of many led to Emelia being killed.

That is a fact which I haven't forgotten."

Helix could feel Marie and Charlotte's jaws clenching against his skin.

"However—"

The women looked up to study his facial expressions.

"Some beautiful women I knew sent a carriage full of gifts, and 95 Circle of Remembrances to remind me why people were jealous." Helix chuckled.

The women's eyes illuminated when they heard his words.

"After listening to an audiobook's worth, I remember why I put up with it to begin with." He smiled.

Tears of joy ran down the women's cheeks when they remembered [why] they loved him.

"Also… do you know what cliche I really fucking hate?" He asked.

The women looked at each other, hoping to find some clues.

"Aside from all of them?" Charlotte asked.

The room burst into laughter, and Helix raised his head to give Charlotte a helpless smile.

"Yes, aside from all of them." He chuckled.

"Nah. Tell us." She laughed.

Helix nodded and then closed his eyes.

"I hate that cliche where the recounted character—"

"[Protagonist]"

"[MC]"

"[Hero AKA Harem Leader]"

The women interjected to correct his terminology.

Helix sent a wry smile to the ceiling.

"—goes back to the place that caused him trouble only to find it burned to the ground." Helix sighed.

"Then they find a teddy bear or some other emotionally conflicting momentos, and regrets eat their soul.

I don't want to experience that, and I don't want any of you to."

The women smiled with light tears rolling down their cheeks.

"There's another cliche I hate even more! No, dozens!" Helix growled.

The women looked up with surprise.

"First up, protecting the people you love from pain, only to cause them more by not acting.

That's the most cringe-worthy one of all." He announced.

"If you want to save the people you love, I'm not going to do it by myself or hold you back.

I don't want you all to live with regrets!"

The women's eyes lit up with excitement and impending giggles.

"Second, finding out that people protected you, and you let die.

Learning that a quest gives you the item to save your loved one's life.

Figuring out that turning one down triggers a worse one.

Blah, blah, blah." Helix complained.

​ The women started giggling with enthusiasm while listening to his endless list of cliches.

"Number 25! The most important one." He announced.

The giggling women stopped squirming on his body and prepared to listen.

"The worst is not playing the mad gods game, letting people die, and being forced to play anyway!" He declared.

"If you want me to say, [girls, my life will be fraught with danger and hardship, you should leave now…], don't.

I'm greedy, selfish, and hopelessly in love with you.

I don't want to sit through thirty minutes of hearing your vows to me, and I'm not letting you go even if you take me up on that offer."

The woman's eyes sparkled after hearing his declaration.

"I don't plan to play, but I'm not going to ignore it either.

I hope that she gets bored of my weak gameplay and decides to leave me alone in time.

She's agreed to never make us face a trial that is impossible to overcome.

As a result, we can decide if we get quests like this.

It's like a choose your own regrets novel."

The women burst into laughter again.

They were rolling all over his body, making him queasy.

"Look. There's a lot of cliches I love." Helix chuckled with a warm smile.

"For example, I love bad bitches that like cute things.

I've recently discovered how amazing it is to find multiple of those types loving and following me."

The women's faces brightened with smiles.

"There are also cliches I've suddenly started loving.

I love cheat scenarios that make people strong if that person is me.

Harems are suddenly a god cliche in my life as of late.

Being taught by legendary people is… a good investment.

I've hated systems my whole life—until I had one.

And having future technology—aka a search engine—in a medieval society fucking rules."

Helix was grateful to have this small home himself.

Tyrene or Tilos, or both, would beat his ass senseless if they had to endure the sound of this much laughter much longer.

"There are cliches I hate and cliches I love.

But my preferences don't matter, so listen up!" He announced boldly.

Charlotte grinned, Marie's face lit up with awe, and Riley was stunned.

"I hate the MC reluctantly fighting god for… any reason, cliche.

If I have to become strong, raise an army, and skull fuck God to keep you all alive—I will!" Helix declared.

Sparkling eyes circled him.

"But… let's try to avoid that at all costs, kay?" He chuckled with a pitiful gaze.

The women looked at him and then at each other.

"Get him!" Charlotte ordered.

The other women pounced on him.

He closed his eyes and chuckled.

Suddenly something hit his face.

When he opened his eyes, he was staring at a piece of white fabric.

Helix shook his head helplessly.

"This is going to be a long night." He sighed.

"Unfortunately, it's not going to be long enough."

—

Power stones and grammatical errors = more content. :)

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