It was a colossal eel devouring the island.
Each time it opened its maw, entire swathes of land the size of mansions disappeared into the abyss.
In moments, the monster consumed the whole floating isle.
And still unsatisfied, it slithered forward in search of its next prey.
Its target was the island where Ludger stood.
“I-it’s coming this way!”
“Run, everyone!”
The students broke into panic.
Even Ludger found himself unsettled.
To face a creature that fed on sky-islands head-on was pure madness.
“Stay calm and move back!”
“You heard Professor Ludger! Move quickly!”
Ludger and Selina led the students toward the island’s edge.
As they ran, Ludger asked Julia,
“What in the world is that giant eel?”
“It’s an Island Swallower.”
“Gods, what kind of naming sense is that?”
“Don’t complain to me—take it up with the Dreamwalkers who came before me.”
“Tell me this—are monsters like that common here?”
“Not at all. They’re rare even in the middle layer. I’ve never seen one in the upper middle before.”
Julia’s expression was just as shaken as his.
There was no reason such a far more dangerous monster than the nightmare constructs should suddenly appear here.
“That old man’s voice earlier—what was that?”
“The cause of this whole incident.”
“Just who the hell is he, to be able to stir up even an Island Swallower...?”
But Julia never got her answer.
By the time they reached the edge of the island, the opposite end was already crunching away inside the Swallower’s gaping maw.
The ground quaked as though an earthquake had struck.
Trees and rocks making up the isle were dragged straight into its black throat.
The Swallower pressed forward without pause, maw yawning wide as it lunged closer to Ludger’s position.
“Everyone jump!”
“B-but it’s too high—”
“No time for that!”
At Ludger’s bark, the students squeezed their eyes shut and hurled themselves off the edge.
Only after the last of them leapt did Ludger himself jump down.
A split second later, the monster’s gullet swept across the spot they had all just been standing.
“Uaaaaahhh!!”
The falling students screamed.
Not one ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) of them thought to use their training spells in the moment.
“Hold still, all of you!”
Julia whipped out her staff and traced a formation.
Her formula was brief, almost simplistic—far too crude to work in reality.
But this was Dreamland.
In the middle layer, where the unconscious shaped the environment, magic didn’t rely only on formulas, mana distribution, or flow.
The only thing that mattered was will—fixing a firm image in the mind and giving it form.
With a great flutter, translucent white wings spread wide.
A giant bird made of paper unfurled, catching the falling students on its back.
“We—we’re alive.”
“What is this? Some kind of magic too?”
The students were stunned by the sight of such a spell for the first time.
But Julia had no time to answer.
The Island Swallower, having already consumed one isle, now turned its sights on them.
It looked like an eel, yet the way it writhed and slid between floating islands made it more like an immense eastern dragon.
It was known for devouring islands—but this time it was hunting people.
“Hold on tight!”
Julia commanded her conjured paper bird.
The bird darted through gaps between the floating isles, weaving and darting like a swallow.
But the Swallower had no intention of letting its chosen prey escape.
Craaaash!
A massive floating island exploded into fragments.
The beast simply smashed aside whatever obstructed it with head or body, surging ever closer.
“It’s gaining on us!”
The paper bird’s flight was swift, but not swift enough to outpace the gigantic Swallower.
Julia gritted her teeth.
This was already her limit. She couldn’t push its speed any further.
Now she understood why Dreamwalkers before her always said to flee on sight of an Island Swallower.
‘But this is unfair. I didn’t even go to it—it came to me.’
The thought that she might die here filled her chest with a hot, bitter surge.
No matter how calm she tried to stay, she was still just a student of Seorn, no older than the ones she carried.
“I’ll drive it back with magic.”
Ludger’s words made her snap her head around.
“What did you just say?”
“If we keep running, it’ll catch us. Better to resist, even desperately.”
“And you think magic will work on a monster that eats islands?”
“We won’t know until we try.”
“Did you forget? This is the middle layer!”
Magic here was far harder to control than above.
Even Ludger’s mastery didn’t guarantee victory against a creature like this.
The Swallower was a beast that fed on entire islands—its scales alone might shrug off any spell.
That was why Dreamwalkers always fled at the mere sight of it.
And yet he meant to face it?
“We can’t just sit and do nothing.”
“......”
Julia couldn’t bring herself to argue.
After everything he’d shown until now, part of her couldn’t help but hope maybe.
“Imagination!”
She shouted over the wind, giving advice as she steered the bird.
“In the middle layer, theory’s worthless! Like my spell just now—it’s will that matters! Don’t rely on formulas or chanting. Project it straight from your heart!”
The moment she said it, she realized how absurd it sounded.
“Feel it in your heart” was the kind of thing people mocked as superstition now.
And yet, in this crisis, that was all she could offer a fellow teacher.
She braced herself for him to ask how, or scoff at the nonsense.
“Then that makes it simple.”
Was it a lie to reassure her? Or bravado to appear unshaken?
No—his voice carried a certainty that was neither.
Ludger stepped past the wide-eyed students, standing tall on the paper bird’s tail feathers.
The Island Swallower loomed close, gaping maw opening like a tunnel into the abyss.
“So—magic of the heart, is it?”
The Dreamwalkers’ way of wielding Dreamland’s power.
Foreign, forgotten, long abandoned in modern sorcery.
But for him—
“That’s my specialty.”
A dazzling white radiance burst from behind his back.
The glare was so bright the students shielded their eyes.
Peering through the blaze, their jaws dropped.
A vast divine general towered behind him, gripping a sword in its right hand and a cord in its left, its savage visage twisted as it glared at the Swallower.
At the sword’s tip, energy coalesced and erupted into a torrent of golden fire.
“Acalanātha.”
At his command, the god moved.
The flaming sword lunged into the Swallower’s open maw.
The fire speared straight down its gullet.
────!!!
Heat blazed through its throat, scorching not only its esophagus but its innards, spilling outward until even its scales burned.
In moments, its entire bulk was engulfed in golden flames.
The Island Swallower writhed violently.
Its thrashing head, body, and tail smashed floating isles into fragments, scattering debris in all directions.
Those shards hurtled toward the paper bird carrying the students.
If Julia hadn’t barely managed to change direction, she would have fallen straight down.
“We’d better put some distance.”
Ludger turned his head and looked at Selina.
“Professor Ludger?”
“Take care of the students.”
Leaving only those words behind, Ludger rushed straight toward the Island-Swallower.
“Professor!”
“That’s too dangerous!”
He ignored the desperate voices calling out behind him as he controlled the Immovable Wisdom King.
Achalantana appeared behind his back, raising its sword and striking down at the monster’s forehead.
────!!!
Engulfed in golden flames, the Island-Swallower tangled with Ludger and plummeted down below.
Selina could only stare in hollow disbelief at the sight.
Julia, on the other hand, was shocked for another reason.
‘What was that magic just now?’
That dreadful deity-like figure that appeared behind Ludger’s back—
it was magic Julia had never seen in her life.
To burn away the Island-Swallower in a single blow? Was such magic even possible?
‘Magic? Can that even be called magic?’
It looked far more transcendent than anything she knew of as magic.
‘No. This isn’t the time for such thoughts. That commotion just alerted other creatures to our presence.’
She felt new presences in the distance.
Not as massive as the Island-Swallower, but still dangerous—creatures of the Middle Floor that could pose a serious threat if encountered.
“Everyone, hold on tight!”
Julia commanded the paper bird, pulling them swiftly away.
* * *
Ludger and the Island-Swallower kept falling endlessly.
The monster was stubborn.
Even with no part of its body left untouched by fire, it screamed and thrashed violently.
On the way down, it smashed through who knew how many islands.
But like everything else, its rampage too came to an end.
“You damn persistent beast.”
Standing on its completely charred corpse, Ludger caught his breath.
The way of manifesting whatever one imagined connected with the method of his real magic from the outside world.
If anything, the lack of mana restrictions here made it easier than reality.
Still, since it was his first time using it, the drain on his mind was far from light.
Ludger stepped off the Island-Swallower’s carcass and leapt toward a nearby island.
Behind him, wings of shadow spread wide.
“This part’s convenient, at least.”
Normally, he would have had to use Ater Nocturnus to fly. Here, simple imagination sufficed.
He headed toward the largest-looking island nearby.
The reason was simple: the larger the island, the more likely he’d find someone there.
Landing at the island’s edge, Ludger looked upward.
Light poured between countless floating islands, and the spray of waterfalls painted rainbows in the air.
‘They should have gotten out safely.’
He thought of those he had sent ahead.
Though he worried, Julia was with them. In Dreamland, few mages could match her.
After steadying himself, Ludger started walking inward.
A modest hill, a modest forest.
The kind of landscape often seen around Rederbelk.
Keeping his guard raised, Ludger walked slowly.
The forest was silent—so silent he wondered if everything inside had died.
But Ludger did not relax.
For all he knew, something bizarre could burst out at any moment.
Rustle.
He stopped walking.
The undergrowth in the distance was moving rapidly.
Something was rushing toward him.
Ludger heightened his senses and prepared magic.
Just as he was about to fire at whatever emerged—
“I–I’m alive!”
Through the leaves burst a familiar face, halting his hand.
The same happened to the other side.
“Huh?”
A small-bodied dwarf girl with white hair.
Seridan Ironfeet stared blankly at Ludger with wide eyes before letting out a joyful shout.
“Master! You came to save me!”
“Seridan. You’re safe.”
“I thought I was dead for sure! What the hell is this place? Ah! No, no time to explain!”
Seridan grabbed Ludger’s hand and pulled.
“Sedina’s in danger right now!”
“What?”
“I’ll explain while we run!”
Ludger followed as Seridan ran ahead.
As they moved, she quickly recounted everything she’d gone through.
“So, Sedina is fighting some unknown monster right now?”
“Yeah. She said at least one of us had to survive, so she sent me out first. I was trying to find help somehow. Master! If we don’t hurry, Sedina might die!”
“I understand. Which way?”
“Over there!”
“I’ll go first.”
Black wings spread wide behind him.
With the crow mask on his face, Ludger skimmed low over the forest.
As he raced ahead, a tremendous noise echoed in the distance.
That’s the place.
He turned and headed straight toward the sound.
When he arrived, he saw a black beast baring its teeth at a collapsed Sedina.
“How dare you.”
Blue fire sparked in Ludger’s eyes.
Without slowing down, he accelerated even more.
Air exploded around him as he wrapped mana around his legs and slammed a kick into the beast’s flank.
Boom!
The giant creature was sent flying sideways.
Saved at the last possible moment, Sedina’s eyes widened when she saw him.
“P–Professor!”
Roooar!
The beast staggered back to its feet, furious after the blow.
“Save your thanks for later. First we deal with this thing.”
Just as Ludger was about to unleash his killing intent and cast magic, Sedina rushed up to stop him.
“W–Wait! That’s no ordinary beast!”
From her mouth came a shocking truth.
“That’s Senior Hans!”