Chapter 574: Entering Dreams
Under the pitch-black nightfall, off the coast of Montcala’s main island, a semi-transparent giant semi-dream realm creature, the Pseudo Moth, was struggling desperately in the sky above the sea. Dozens of thick, long water snakes burst out from the sea’s surface, dancing wildly in the night sky as they bit and attempted to drag the dreamlike moth down from the air. Although one of the water snakes was destroyed by a booming explosion moments earlier, this did not diminish the control the other water snakes exerted over the Pseudo Moth.
Standing on the distant land of an island, Edward fixed his gaze on the Pseudo Moth restrained by him at the horizon, using more power to pull it down from the sky. After losing one water snake, he immediately created a new giant water snake to fill the gap and increased the pulling force. The height of the Pseudo Moth in mid-air began to visibly decrease.
“It’s useless… Just using Dreamwalking to control one or two cannons can’t do anything to me…”
As he watched the Pseudo Moth being dragged down from the sky, Edward muttered solemnly. By now, the Pseudo Moth was already struggling closer to the sea surface, and the panicked Dry Wing began to thrash its tentacles wildly, causing damage to the surrounding water snakes. However, each time these large water snakes sustained even minor damage, they immediately siphoned in an uninterrupted flow of seawater to replenish themselves, maintaining their complete forms. In contrast, the Pseudo Moth itself was covered in wounds from the bites, with severed tentacles and torn openings; its self-healing ability could not keep up. Ethereal, silver mist-like bl**d spurted from the Pseudo Moth’s injuries, evaporating into the air.
Under the numerous injuries, the Pseudo Moth’s strength began to wane, unable to withstand the dragging force of the water snakes any longer, and it quickly approached the sea surface. At that moment, a group of uniformed Montcala city guards suddenly burst from a nearby port, having arrived at the shores, lined up with their guns aimed at the Pseudo Moth and began firing. Accompanied by a series of gunshots, the bullets struck the Pseudo Moth not far from the coast, causing very minor damage, indicating they were seemingly enchanted projectiles.
Noticing this minuscule damage, Dry Wing turned its attention to the group of city guards on the shore, and an angry frustration rose within its previously panicked state. What was one thing for the veteran Red Tier Edward to pressure him, but now even these foot soldiers dared to lay hands on him—this was entirely intolerable.
Thinking this, although Dry Wing didn’t clearly understand how those guards resisted its hypnotic waves and remained awake to attack, this didn’t prevent it from immediately retaliating against these audacious brutes. It controlled the Pseudo Moth to extend two tentacles, sweeping toward the shore over a hundred meters away. In an instant, these members of the guard were swept by the semi-transparent tentacles of the Pseudo Moth, swaying and falling to the ground, their dream cocoons directly stripped away by the tentacles and pulled back into the Pseudo Moth’s body. If it could successfully escape, Dry Wing could absorb the nutrients from the dream cocoons stored within itself to heal the Pseudo Moth.
Anyone who came into contact with the Pseudo Moth’s tentacles would immediately be swept away into a dream cocoon. Even those like Edward with stronger resistance would still suffer significant mental damage, and these ordinary city guards naturally couldn’t withstand a single touch from the Pseudo Moth’s tentacles.
Though the disposable soldiers were cleared away, Dry Wing and the Pseudo Moth still faced the impending problem; the water snakes continued to drag the Pseudo Moth down, bringing it ever closer to the sea surface. Faced with this situation, Dry Wing could only struggle more desperately, even choosing to let the water snakes bite away a few pieces of its dream body to escape their control because it understood that once pulled into the sea, everything would be over.
Thus, amid a near-d*ath struggle, large parts of the Pseudo Moth’s body began to tear away. However, this couldn’t stop its fate from being dragged down. Just as the Pseudo Moth was about to be pulled into the sea, a series of sharp, piercing sounds suddenly rang from the sky, followed by a continuous series of explosive booms around the Pseudo Moth.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!!!”
The successive explosions erupted in mid-air, flames and light completely engulfing the Pseudo Moth and the water snakes biting it. Strong shockwaves violently spread out, swirling up gigantic waves on the sea that crashed in all directions, sweeping over the nearby port where the city guards had previously fallen, now completely vanishing.
‘More artillery fire… still simultaneous bombardment from multiple directions! How is that possible! How could that guy possibly control so many fortresses at once! Even a Black Dream Deceiver of the Red Tier shouldn’t be able to control so many dream puppets simultaneously! Has he used some secret item?!’ Realizing the strange phenomena occurring over the distant sea, Edward was astounded in his mind, and the current situation left no room for further thought.
After the intense explosions, the flames and fire dissipated rapidly. On the sea surface, the heads of the water snakes that had been biting the Pseudo Moth suddenly vanished, blown away by the shock of the explosion.
The water snakes biting the Pseudo Moth were constructed from the seawater Edward controlled with spiritual power, possessing both spiritual and material structures. The Pseudo Moth’s tentacles could affect the spiritual structure of the water snakes, while the explosions could damage their material structure. Fortunately, due to the low spirituality of the shells, they could not cause any harm to the ethereal dream entity like the Pseudo Moth. As a result, after this round of bombardment, the Pseudo Moth was hardly affected, while the countless water snakes were obliterated.
After the explosions, Dry Wing was astonished to find that the mysterious explosions had revealed themselves once more. The binding of its water snakes was suddenly cleared away. Seizing the opportunity, Dry Wing immediately controlled the Pseudo Moth, flying upward with all its might in the direction away from Montcala, while also beginning to attempt to retreat into the Dream Realm.
“Don’t think you can escape!”
Seeing the Pseudo Moth’s actions, Edward sharply shouted, gripping his copper short staff. He then called forth several giant water snakes from beneath the sea again, lunging at the Pseudo Moth. Meanwhile, continuous gunfire erupted once more from various coastal fortifications on Montcala’s main island.
Accompanied by sharp, piercing sounds, countless shells tore through Montcala’s sky, landing on the battlefield where the water snakes and Pseudo Moth clashed. The shells exploded mid-air, and the resulting shockwaves quickly spread to the surrounding water snakes, blowing them apart and significantly obstructing Edward’s water snakes from pursuing the Pseudo Moth. Due to the nature of the Pseudo Moth, it was relatively unaffected by the shells; even when caught in the explosion, it could continue flying. Seeing this, Edward clenched his teeth, feeling a surge of urgency in his heart.
‘Why… why can that guy control so many coastal artillery pieces at once? Why do the projectiles he fires explode mid-air? This shouldn’t be the case?!’
Edward thought anxiously and confusedly in his mind. In fact, for projectiles fired from coastal artillery situated around the island to hit slim, long water snakes directly was quite difficult. Although the water snakes were several meters in diameter, from a distance of over a kilometer, they still appeared too thin, especially as they swayed under Edward’s control, making direct hits incredibly challenging. The first shell hitting was largely due to good fortune since at that time, the water snakes were biting into the Pseudo Moth, in a state of being held immobile.
However, the artillery aimed at disrupting the water snakes did not directly strike them. Instead, these projectiles, fired from various parts of the island, targeted the airspace through which the water snakes were pursuing the Pseudo Moth. Once the shells reached the designated airspace, they would explode directly, generating a wide-ranging shockwave that affected the water snakes passing through. Such successive airbursts created a zone of explosive denial in front of the pursuing water snakes. Yet, this perplexed Edward; he clearly remembered that his artillery shells were designed to detonate only upon striking a certain density of object, meaning they should not be capable of mid-air detonations.
What Edward didn’t know was that at this moment, it wasn’t Dry Wing controlling the coastal artillery but rather Doro’s zombie puppets. In Montcala’s bloody underground underworld and black market dealings, various corpses would arise each day from different causes of d*ath. If the corpses remained unclaimed, they would be sent to professional collectors, either sold to the “Cup” society as raw materials or processed into fish feed. Doro had found a large number of usable corpses from a collector in Montcala. Following the Pseudo Moth’s hypnosis of the entire city, she rapidly seized control of various strategic points’ coastal fortresses.
Doro had preemptively drained the Fountain of Eternal Youth and intentionally left marks of hypnosis on the staff at the auction house, prompting Edward to resort to extraordinary measures in search of the Black Dream extraordinary beings within the city, eventually leading him to Dry Wing. This stirred up conflict between the two, resulting in Edward helping Doro find Dry Wing as part of her plan.
Although this plan succeeded, Doro knew that if Edward and Dry Wing truly clashed, Dry Wing would absolutely lose on Edward’s territory; not only could it not win, but it couldn’t even ensure its escape. Doro’s target was the Divine Blessing Object on Dry Wing; she could not allow Dry Wing to fall into Edward’s hands, thus she had to ensure Dry Wing could escape smoothly amid any conflict and controlling so many coastal fortresses was a vital measure in aiding Dry Wing.
The coastal artillery from those fortresses was manipulated by Doro’s zombie puppets, and the shells they fired had been slightly modified. Considering Edward might use water flow to wrap around the shells and render them inert, Doro had added tiny zombie insects to the warheads. These small creatures could transmit Doro’s electric power, creating sparks inside the warhead to trigger detonations.
Thus, with the help of the zombie puppet fuse, Doro could manually detonate the shells fired from the coastal artillery, either on a near miss or in mid-air before direct impact. Relying on countless well-placed airburst shells, she successfully hindered the water snakes chasing after the Pseudo Moth.
Above the dark sea, aided by numerous artillery strikes, the Pseudo Moth controlled by Dry Wing was about to completely fly away from Montcala; its form had become increasingly transparent, seemingly about to fly out of the exclusion zone and into the Dream Realm. Not far from the Pseudo Moth, Doro, dressed in a robe, gazed at the scene before her and couldn’t help but speak.
“The time has come. Please prepare; I’ll leave it to you shortly, Nephnis.”
“I understand…”
As soon as Doro finished speaking, a shadow suddenly appeared beside her in the previously empty space—it was the semi-transparent Nephnis, currently in a soul-separation state, accompanying Doro.
“Alright, now’s the time. Let’s go.”
“Mm!”
Finally, after the right moment, Doro said one last time, then controlled all the zombie puppets in the fortresses to cease bombardment and jump into the sea. The spectral Nephnis immediately glided toward Doro’s magic carpet, resting upon a bound bone piece atop it.
Then, Doro removed her hooded robe, revealing that she was wearing an oversized Montcala city guard uniform beneath it; her silver hair was tied beneath the hat, and her face was masked.
After shedding the robe, Doro promptly used two sigils on herself, then controlled her hoverboard to dash toward the Pseudo Moth, which had been drawing closer all along. In the process, she took out an exquisite rifle filled with countless lenses.
Confronted with the increasingly gigantic and fading Pseudo Moth before her, Doro raised her rifle and pulled the trigger. From it erupted a dazzling orange beam of light that struck the Pseudo Moth in flight, leaving a small wound. Feeling the attack, Dry Wing turned its head, and what it saw was a Montcala city guard, appearing to ride a flying extraordinary item, attacking it from an extremely close distance with another extraordinary weapon.
‘Tireless pursuit…’
Seeing this scene, Dry Wing immediately recalled the guards who had previously ambushed it at the port, quickly determining that the figure pursuing it was likely an elite among Montcala’s guards. As before, it instinctively swept the two tentacles of the Pseudo Moth.
Then, in Dry Wing’s eyes, it saw the chasing Montcala elite panic as it attempted to dodge the sweeping tentacles while controlling its peculiar flying item. After narrowly avoiding the first tentacle, its upper body was swept by the second tentacle, and its dream cocoon was immediately stripped away. The utterly unconscious figure swayed slightly in mid-air before beginning to plummet directly into the dark sea.
After dealing with the final obstruction, the Pseudo Moth finally succeeded in fully escaping Montcala’s exclusion zone. Its massive body in the night sky became completely transparent, vanishing without a trace. Thus, under Dry Wing’s control, the Pseudo Moth successfully eluded Edward’s blockade and slipped into the Dream Realm, making it impossible for Edward to retain it.
“No!!!”
Standing on Montcala Island and witnessing the smoke rising from countless explosions, Edward felt the Pseudo Moth’s successful departure and let out an unwilling roar.
And just beyond the dense smoke, unseen by Edward, the unconscious body of Doro was plummeting rapidly. At this moment, about a hundred meters below her was the churning ocean’s surface, and if she continued to fall like this, it would be incredibly dangerous.
At that moment, from beside Doro, on the “magic carpet” following her fall, Nephnis’s soul suddenly emerged from a bound bone piece, floating directly toward Doro, quickly anchoring onto her.
Upon successfully binding to Doro, Nephnis immediately took control of Doro’s body, opening her eyes as they adjusted their position during the rapid descent toward the dark sea, extending her hand forward and aligning her body into a straight line while closing her eyes.
Thus, during the rapid fall, Doro’s body, under Nephnis’s control, entered the water with a proper posture. Though the position was correct, the impact from diving from over a hundred meters high caused significant damage to Doro’s body upon entry. Fortunately, she had previously activated a bl**d-Eating Sigil and received Vania’s physical blessing, greatly enhancing her body’s resilience, allowing her to just barely withstand the force of the plunge.
Upon entering the water, Doro’s body rapidly submerged deep down, and under Nephnis’s guidance, she took a deep breath of seawater, somehow beginning to absorb oxygen from it. Earlier, the sigils Doro had activated included not only the bl**d-Eating Sigil but also a Water Absorption Sigil that provided her with the ability to breathe underwater, which she had obtained from the Abyss Cult.
With Nephnis directing her, Doro began to breathe underwater while swiftly swimming forward; first, Nephnis had Doro retrieve the extraordinary rifle that had been floating on the surface with a Sigil marked on it, then she directed Doro to swim towards a nearby smaller island near Montcala. After a while, Doro finally reached the shore.
“Ugh… Bleh… Cough cough cough…”
“Doro” stumbled along the beach, first expelling large amounts of seawater and then began coughing violently. After finally completing the coughing fit, she gasped for air and turned to gaze at the distant night sky.
“Miss Doro… has she gone into the dream?”
In Doro’s voice, Nephnis murmured as she gazed into the night sky.
…
Well… Unintentionally, what began as daytime has updated to evening and now gradually into morning… Before I knew it, my routine has collapsed once more.
The Montcala chapter is nearing its end, soon to conclude, and the usual writing block phase has begun to set in, so let me take a day off as customary. I won’t push to adjust my schedule anymore; it’ll collapse again anyway, so consider it a day of rest while I think about the plot. I hope for your understanding if there are any inconveniences.
