In a World of Nightmares, I Keep Awakening Stronger Talents

Chapter 4

One Step. Another Step. More steps.

The possessed villager began taking steps toward him and those steps transformed

from sluggish to terrifyingly fast in an instant as the possessed village woman dashed toward him.

Her hands, dry like the bark of a tree, reached out, ready to tear his flesh open, a sharp current of fear ran through Levi’s body, almost paralyzing him, almost but instead of succumbing to his fear and surrendering, Levi raised both hands,

clenching his fingers into a hard fist before bringing his slightly pink knuckles right below his eye level.

‘I can’t die.’

He whispered the words like a vow, inwardly, his mind was waging a war against the gigantic wave of fear, thoughts screaming that this was it…he was surely going to die. After all, he had never seen something so grotesque in his life.

In every nightmare he had ever had since childhood, the monster never got to him but seeing this creature close the gap with every passing millisecond, Levi knew he wasn’t going to wake up if he didn’t do what he knew how to do best.

Fight!

A slow, hot breath escaped his lips.

Drawing his hand back a bit, Levi prepared to launch a punch… Puchi!

But before he could, warm blood splattered on his face. Levi’s body froze, his pupils shook.

The putrid smell of the blood smearing his face wasn’t the issue, but what sent ice through his veins was the sight before him…

The tip of a sword was protruding from the creature’s skull. Puchi!

The sword was withdrawn with a slick sound and the woman’s body crumpled to the ground with a soft thud.

Standing there, dressed in the white robes of a nobleman was a stranger, Levi and the man in white stared at each other.

“I’m Li Chen. What is your name, child?” The man slid his sword back into the sheath with practiced ease and introduced himself but the introduction was too faint as Levi’s ears were busy capturing the sound of the steel sword sliding against the scabbard in Li Chen’s left hand.

Li Chen raised an eyebrow at Levi’s silence, then followed his line of sight to his sword and chuckled lightly.

He had seen this several times.

“Even if I give this to you, you still wouldn't have survived this infected woman,” Li Chen remarked. “A sword is of no use in the hands of a child.”

After hearing this, Levi blinked and snapped out of his trance. Realizing his mistake, he bowed, cupping his hands together as he had seen in various animations. He was never much of a fan of the movies.

“I’m Levi.”

“Who taught you how to pay respect?” Li Chen studied him for a second before shaking his head with a sigh. “Nevermind, I have never come across that name before. Regardless, we need to reach Meng’s residence, that is the only safe place in the town.”

Levi responded with a nod.

He acted like the bow never happened.

Stepping over the corpse of the infected woman, he spared her a brief glance. ‘Is this what trials are like…’

As they walked, Levi made sure he took in everything he could, from destroyed

houses to lifeless horses, the broken carts and scattered lanterns, some of which were still flickering and others that had long since extinguished.

If anything were to go wrong and he would need to run for his life, it would not be much of a problem.

“Sir, where is Meng’s mansion?”

Li Chen raised his sword, pointing toward a brightly lit mansion perched atop a hill, surrounded by a dense forest. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there fast.”

Levi's relief faded like the receding waves of a tide. If the entire town was being ravaged by the infected, wouldn’t a mansion with bright lights be their number one target? As far as he was concerned, spirits should be afraid of the sun if they were actually scared of anything at all and not red lanterns.

That manor looked ominous, like a slaughterhouse!

Information about trials has become common knowledge in the real world. Those who survived spoke about it and one thing that was consistent in their explanations was that the first trial tested your ability to survive more than anything.

Because at this stage, he had no talent.

‘I see. The best way to keep yourself safe is to save a kid on the brink of death, then lead him straight to a house where the infected can satisfy their hunger, that way, they won’t come searching for you.’

This made Levi come to a chilling realization.

What if it was Li Chen who had sent that infected woman toward him in the first place?

So he was food all along!

Tilting his head to the side, he gazed at the looming darkness opposite the direction they were heading.

The darkness yawned like the jaws of the deep…the unknown.

Logically speaking, in every scenario, the manor was the place he should be going to but… Some dreams never made sense.

With one swift turn, Levi took to his heels.

Li Chen’s head snapped toward him. “You…!” He clenched his teeth, a venomous glint flickering within the depths of his eyes.

“Even if you discovered it, it's too late.” Shing!

Li Chen unsheathed his sword and hurled it, the sword cut through the darkness, cutting some strands of Levi’s hair as it grazed past his cheek, leaving a faint cut before embossing itself into the ground.

Sweat rolled down Levi’s brows.

Ignoring the stinging pain from the cut, he continued running. “Come back here!”

Li Chen chased after him.

Levi glanced back. Seeing Li Chen looming behind him, rapidly shortening the distance between them, he spun his feet and threw himself into the labyrinth of abandoned houses.

Bam!

His shoulder slammed into a bamboo paper door, tearing right through it. He couldn't even feel the pain as he rapidly navigated through the house, emerging from the back. Without slowing for even a moment, he jumped over a short wooden wall into the next courtyard.

He kept zigzagging through the alleys, taking random turns, confusing even himself. Fueled by adrenaline, he ran like never before.

He kept running until another wide street came into view, but there was a fallen fruit cart before it, blocking the path.

The ground was littered with crushed fruits but Levi didn’t care. They burst apart as his feet crushed them, the juicy insides splattering on the ground and also staining his pants.

Just when he was close to the carriage, he gathered all the momentum and jumped but his left foot still hit the carriage and his graceful leap transformed into a disgraceful fall.

At the very last moment, he saved the fall by using his hands to absorb the impact and succeeded in avoiding serious injury.

‘Has he stopped chasing me?’ He glanced back.

“Whew.” He breathed out in relief.

Levi couldn’t recall ever running like that in his life. Maybe it was because his life was on the line this time. It was either he took his chances with the unknown or be brutally ripped to shreds by those infected villagers.

Naturally, he knew how to fight but something warned him against taking on Li Chen. A man who could sneak up on the infected without being noticed wasn’t going to be like any of those loud street fighters he fought.

Suddenly, as the adrenaline died out, another thought struck him.

He recalled that those undergoing trials had access to something called “Status.” ‘Do I say it out loud or in my mind?’

‘Status.’

The howls of the wind echoed as if responding to him

. A failure. It was time to try uttering it.

“Status,” Levi whispered.