Chapter 427: Act 179 – Dream
Brendel took out the gem, and a beam of pale gray light shot out from it, piercing through the mist as if pointing in a certain direction.
“What is this?” Faina asked.
“Why should I answer you? You Crusian people wouldn’t be interested in the words of an Erluin, would you?” Brendel lifted the gem, resembling a lighthouse in the mist.
“You—you—” The noble maiden was infuriated.
But Brendel ignored her and walked ahead, with Faina following quietly— the light from the gray gem was a kind of resonance, with its counterpart somewhere within this abyss. The two walked through the mist for a while, surrounded by ever-changing black rocks, and beneath their feet seemed to be a flow-like air stream.
The monotonous scenery was drowsy, and after a while, the gem in Brendel’s hand flashed and suddenly dimmed.
“What’s wrong?”
Faina asked curiously upon seeing this.
“We’ve arrived.” Brendel put the gem away and leaned his body against the rock. Although this was part of his plan, compared to Andisha, the nightmare was no less fearsome.
Then he cautiously peeked out from behind the rock and saw an immense pit behind the white mist, but as his gaze went downward, he abruptly held his breath—
What kind of scene was this?
A prehistoric giant beast lay beneath the enormous pit.
It was not the multi-headed dragon he had imagined, but a wolf, a massive wolf with a length equal to that of a canyon.
The giant wolf was sleeping, entirely snow white, its silver hairs shimmering in the darkness. Even curled up in the canyon, it was more magnificent than the mightiest mountains, its massive and elegant wolf snout resting on its front paws, its eyes closed, with a silver scar running across its eyelid and cheek.
Brendel swallowed hard while staring at this creature, nearly forgetting to breathe.
At that moment, Faina behind him also peeked out, her eyes widening in shock, almost letting out an “ah!” before quickly covering her mouth with both hands.
“W-what is this?” Faina stammered in disbelief.
Brendel’s eyes shone with the light of the giant wolf, and he took a deep breath: “The Son of the Twelve Phases of the Demon Moon, the Head Wolf Echis!”
“Ah!”
Faina gasped, covering her mouth.
The Head Wolf Echis was a progeny of the Twelve Phases of the Demon Moon, the source of the wolf calamity. The northern borders of the Crusian Empire were plagued by wolf disasters, so Faina naturally knew the legend behind it.
However, the Head Wolf Echis was a semi-divine being from myth; despite countless stories depicting its legends, no one truly believed such a creature existed in the real world.
“W-wait, you—you must be mistaken, right?” Faina asked, stuttering.
“The fully snow-white giant wolf is indeed Echis, not to mention it has the wound from fighting a winter wolf over its right eye—”
Brendel suddenly paused, realizing that this creature might be a form of the nightmare. After all, it could transform into the multi-headed dragon; why couldn’t it turn into the Head Wolf Echis?
But just then, he felt Faina poke his waist from behind.
“B-Brendel…”
The noble maiden raised her head, gasping for breath, her tongue seemingly tied.
Seeing her ghostly expression, Brendel felt a surge of alertness. He looked up and was met with an unbelievable sight.
In the air above the Head Wolf Echis, the vast atmosphere slowly transformed, forming various shapes— at one moment it looked like the multi-headed dragon, at another it resembled other mythical beasts, but the mist gradually converged, ultimately becoming the image of the fifteen heads of the multi-headed dragon.
The spectral figure of the progenitor beast appeared in the sky.
But suddenly, fifteen ball-like eyes snapped open, exposing Brendel and Faina to a gaze filled with malice and murderous intent, causing a chill to run down their spines; in that instant, they felt as though they were simultaneously pierced and pinned to the ground by fifteen swords—
At that moment, Brendel suddenly considered a possibility.
He gazed at the still-sleeping Echis and then back at the massive shadow in the sky. If this was a dream of the Head Wolf Echis, then influencing another world through dreams was the true nature of the nightmare.
No wonder it was called the Mist Nightmare.
So this creature was merely a dream of Echis?
Only a dream, yet this powerful?
“D-did it… see us?” Faina stammered.
Brendel quickly pulled her down: “Don’t be foolish; it hasn’t seen us. If it did, it would have attacked by now. Keep your voice down; we don’t want to attract its attention.”
He glanced at the fifteen dragon heads coiled in the abyss and understood that his gray gem had caught their attention, prompting the nightmare’s reaction. However, it was strange—how did the gray gem relate to Echis?
Thinking of this, he retracted his gaze from behind the rock and pulled Faina back.
“Do you want to lure that woman over here?”
The noble maiden squatted down behind the rock, placing her hand on her skirt—though the edges were torn beyond recognition—lowering her head, she asked.
Brendel was stunned, looking up with surprise at the golden-haired girl with twin ponytails.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were quite clever—”
“What do you mean by that?!” Faina bit her teeth in anger, staring harshly at Brendel.
“Shh—!” Brendel shot her a glare.
Faina jumped in surprise and quickly lowered her voice: “How did you know there would be such a thing? Does it have something to do with the gem in your hand?”
Brendel chuckled lightly.
“You guessed it; why not take another guess?”
“Pfft, even a fool can see through that strategy, thinking you’re clever—!”
Brendel cleared his throat, feeling a bit flushed, but he quickly shot back at her: “Is that so? No wonder you figured it out.”
“You—!”
Faina’s eyebrows furrowed, her golden locks about to bristle, but when she saw Brendel raise a finger to his lips, she immediately deflated.
“…Damn Erluin country bumpkin,” she muttered under her breath.
But Brendel had no time to bicker with her. He turned around, surveyed the area, and picked a spot that appeared less likely for the multi-headed dragon to discover. He then gestured to Faina, leading the noble lady carefully forward.
This spot was essentially a crack in the cliff, providing a clear view of the entire abyss below, with the massive pit visible on the other side.
Choosing to hide here was both to avoid the watchful eye of the multi-headed dragon and to monitor Andisha’s movements.
He calculated that that woman would catch up in no more than a few minutes.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the figure of the withering lord appeared in the mist. She had followed the traces left by Brendel and Faina, which was no easy task; in the rocky wasteland, tracking often relied solely on residual scents.
However, Andisha was still quite a distance from the rocky pit, so she hadn’t sensed the multi-headed dragon hovering above, and her direction precisely fell into the dead angle of its line of sight.
Brendel understood that he couldn’t let her continue forward, or it would raise her alertness.
He had to ‘cook the rice before it was done’ before she noticed.
He took a deep breath.
“…Hey, I’m asking! Country bumpkin, do you think this plan will work?”
Faina spoke anxiously, feeling her body tense again upon seeing Andisha’s arrival.
Brendel shot her an annoyed glance, thinking how his hard-earned courage and calmness had been completely defeated by her single remark.
But there was no time for further thoughts. As he took out the gray gem from his bosom, the phantom of the multi-headed dragon began to stir, seemingly sensing the presence of the gray gem, the fifteen heads encircling towards them.
It’s coming! Brendel’s heart raced as he raised the gray gem; indeed, the phantom was getting restless in the air.
Their target was the cliff in that direction.
“Y-you… what are you doing?” Faina asked, sensing something was wrong with his actions.
But Brendel had no intention of answering her; he had no time to waste because at that moment, one of the massive heads of the multi-headed dragon had already dove down from the air.
Brendel didn’t have time to think of anything else; he quickly pushed Faina aside while rolling away, allowing the multi-headed dragon to bite nothing but air.
Then he rushed over, grabbed Faina, and ran, as four massive heads of the multi-headed dragon burst forth from the mist, instantly in pursuit. One of its heads even charged right over their heads, startling the noble maiden into a scream as she crouched down, covering her head.
Brendel had no choice but to support her back with one hand while lifting her under the legs with the other, carrying her as he dashed towards the bottom of the canyon.
Fortunately, the multi-headed dragon was not adept at maneuvering with multiple heads in this abyss; if not for this moment, they could easily surround Brendel. But now, those fifteen heads clashed against each other, slowing them down compared to Brendel.
Moreover, with the crags full of rocky crevices, Brendel swiftly maneuvered with Faina through the gaps, making it difficult for the multi-headed dragon to catch up.
As the chase continued, Brendel soon slid down the rocks with Faina in his arms, rounding a bend in the valley, where he suddenly collided with Andisha, who had just emerged from the mist.
Andisha was holding the sheath of the Azure Sky, which had fallen into the valley when she had taken out her sword from the cliff earlier. The Azure Sky itself was a fantasy-grade weapon, its sheath made from special materials, and even after such a high drop, it hadn’t broken.
However, this female high priest of the shepherds paused momentarily upon seeing Brendel leaping forward with Faina in his arms through the mist.
Her purple eyes stared at the young man with a look of surprise, and after a brief moment, she teased, “So, you came to deliver yourself?”
But Brendel shook his head.
“It seems you already know that the Lionheart Sword is not in my possession—” he panted, then looked at the sword sheath in Andisha’s hand.
Andisha coldly huffed, “Doesn’t matter, the Dark God Envoy is more important to me.”
“Well then, what about this?”
“What thing?”
The withering lord was momentarily puzzled by Brendel’s words, but he raised his hand and tossed the gem over. Andisha instinctively reacted to whip it away with her vine whip, but upon realizing what the gem was, her expression suddenly changed.
“Seal fragment?”
Andisha quickly wrapped the vine whip around the gem, retrieving it.
……(To be continued, for more developments, please log in, find additional chapters, support the author, and support legal reading!)
