Apocalypse Baby

In the real world…

Oracle stood deep within the Beast Lord's Forest.

His fingers flew across his system window, eyes darting between the endless lines of data.

His heartbeat pounded in his ears.

He had to stop this.

He had to interfere.

Somehow.

This was a disaster.

His biggest mistake was making nightmare monsters drop upgrade stones as a reward.

And then there was the cursed mark.

Alex had everything to exploit the nightmare.

He needed stat points? Killing nightmare monsters gave him stat points.

He needed to kill nightmare monsters? The cursed mark attracted nightmare creatures like nails to a magnet.

It was the perfect combination.
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Oracle's fingers clenched into a fist, his teeth gritting in frustration.

What the hell?!

Did this guy have luck as a hidden attribute or something?!

His gaze darkened.

He had to do something. Before it was too late.

Oracle's claws clicked against his system window as he worked.

He couldn't stop the Nightmare Realm from spawning monsters, that was impossible at this point.

But he could put a condition in place.

A way for Alex to remove the cursed sigil.

If Alex met that condition, the cursed mark would vanish.

Oracle let out a slow exhale, feeling a small sense of relief.

Then, he frowned.

His forehead was damp.

Moisture?

He wiped it away with the back of his hand, only to realize—he was sweating.

Over a human.

A damned human.

His frown deepened. He shook it off—

But then, something worse happened.

A patch of his fur peeled off his skin, drifting to the ground.

Oracle's eyes widened.

"What the hell?"

His fur was falling off.

From stress.

Because of one human.

His gaze snapped toward Alex's unconscious body, wrapped tightly in a cocoon of vines.

A deep, burning resentment flared in Oracle's eyes.

"If I just kill him now… then all of this will end."

He raised his hand, preparing to unleash.

But before he could, a force crashed down on him.

Heavy. Immense. Overpowering.

His entire body shuddered, muscles locking up.

A deep vibration rumbled through his core, his very being trembling under an invisible weight.

Oracle lowered his hand, and the weight vanished, his claws clenching in frustration.

If he attacked Alex, it would be his end.

A punishment so severe it would erase him from existence, replaced by another overseer.

He couldn't risk that.

His eyes narrowed one last time at Alex's unmoving form, resentment boiling beneath the surface.

But he quickly looked away, deciding there were other ways to handle this situation.

Ways that didn't involve getting personally involved.

With a deep breath, he vanished into the shadows.

*

Back in the Nightmare

The rocky ground was littered with the lifeless bodies of the Nightmare monsters Alex had slaughtered.

Big ones, small ones—all of them—sprawled out like a broken swarm of locusts.

In the middle of it all, Alex stood tall, holding the neck of a Blight Eagle.

The once-mighty creature's wings were gone, its sharp caw reduced to a weak rasp as it died in his grip.

Alex glanced around his brow furrowing.

No more monsters were coming.

Alex frowned.

What the hell happened to Unlimited?

He gritted his teeth, fuming.

Just as he was about to break the blight bird, a notification blinked in front of him.

Ding!

[You have killed 1000 nightmare monsters.]

[Cursed Mark has been lifted.]

Alex blinked, his mind struggling to catch up.

What?

He stared at the message, completely thrown off.

"1000 nightmare monsters?" he muttered to himself, his voice tinged with confusion. "Where the hell did that condition come from?"

He scrolled back through his thoughts, trying to recall anything he'd seen. He was sure he hadn't read anything about this condition before.

His eyes snapped to the old notification he had gotten when he first received the cursed mark.

[You have killed the store vendor]

[You have been branded with a cursed sigil for a day]

[Nightmare monsters will hunt you relentlessly]

[Kill 1000 nightmare monsters to get rid of the curse mark]

Alex's eyes narrowed as he scanned the last line:

[Kill 1000 nightmare monsters to get rid of the curse mark]

Wait!

Alex's brow furrowed as his confusion deepened.

There's no way.

He stared at the last line in the notification, the one about killing 1000 nightmare monsters to lift the curse mark. It didn't make sense. There was no way he could've missed it before.

He was sure it wasn't there when the cursed mark was first placed on him.

Suddenly, the creature's eyes snapped open, its body writhing as it came back to life, desperate to break free.

His grip tightened on the blight bird's head, and summoned [Black Flame] with a single thought, his hands glowing with dark energy.

The black fire roared to life, engulfing the blight eagle in an instant.

The creature screeched, its body burning away under the intense flames.

Alex held onto it, watching as the bird struggled in vain.

He let go and watched the body fall to the ground, its form shrinking as it sizzled and popped in the heat.

With a deep exhale, Alex turned and began walking toward the starting line of the trial, still deep in thought.

The more he thought about it, the more certain he was: something or someone had changed the rules on him.

There was no way he would've missed such an important condition before.

And now, he had no doubt.

It had to be him.

"That damned bunny!"

The more Alex thought about it, the more everything clicked into place.

Oracle had been messing with him from the start—

Dropping him in a D-rank zone while he was still E-rank.

Withholding critical information he revealed to other players.

Allowing deities to toy with him and only stepping in when they pushed the limits.

And now, this stunt with the cursed mark.

It was all too obvious.

Oracle was purposely limiting his growth.

Alex clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palm.

Yeah, it pissed him off.

But it also pleased him.

Because if he had drawn this much attention from Oracle, from the deities, from beings older than time itself…

Then his potential had to be something truly insane.

So insane it was driving them all crazy.

A slow grin spread across Alex's face.

He raised his head and spoke to the sky, to the unseen overseer watching his every move.

"Let's see, you piece of shit—whether or not you'll have your way."

Even though the restriction still irritated him, his eyes gleamed as he pulled up his system window.

Because staring back at him was a ridiculous amount of nightmare points and stat points.

{Total Nightmare Points: 33,400}

{Stat Points: 1500}

Alex's eyes scanned the numbers, his focus zoning in on what mattered most—the stat points.

He quickly ran the math in his head.

1500 stat points.

If he used the attribute converter…

That would give him 30 upgrade stones.

"Oh..."

A slow, wicked grin spread across his face.

He rubbed both palms together, feeling the anticipation build.

With 30 upgrade stones, he could level up so many of his skills—

Becoming an even bigger nightmare to the overseer.

A broken character.

Exactly the kind Oracle hated.

Alex let out an amused chuckle, but before he could relish in his victory any longer.

He felt something.

A sharp, lingering sensation pulsed through his chest.

Like a ghostly echo of a wound he hadn't received.

His fingers gripped his chest instinctively.

A stab wound.

Then, it hit him.

His clone.

Kato had landed a serious injury on it.

Alex exhaled sharply, shaking his head.

"That clown."

It was annoying, but no big deal.

He was done here.

Alex rolled his shoulders, took a breath, and swapped places with his clone.