Chapter 306: The Confirmed Hypothesis
At this moment, the Dream Demon was acting as if it had gone mad, frantically attacking me. For some reason, I felt that the existence of the Dream Demon was like a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest provocation, and I had only teased her a few times.
However, after several rounds of fighting, I found that the most threatening attack from the Dream Demon at this moment was her close-range combat. Her ability to traverse between dreams and reality, combined with her close-quarter attacks that left me almost no time to react or defend, truly tested my agility and positioning skills.
Moreover, I only had some enhanced physical attributes; I had never systematically learned techniques related to close combat or body techniques.
I could only rely on my instinct in battle.
Nonetheless, my spellcasting prowess was something she also greatly feared. I started to enjoy the environment here; the effects of spells were amplified many times compared to the Main World. This was true firepower suppression!
Furthermore, facing my seemingly endless tactics, like the shaping floating spells, explosive traps, and even summoning spells, I had almost pinned the Dream Demon down to fighting only against the City Guards in the reality.
When the long spears held by the City Guards pierced through the Dream Demon’s body, they finally realized that the monster they feared could also be hurt by them!
I had to admit that this Dream Demon was more troublesome than most of the opponents I had encountered before. It wasn’t that her strength was exceptionally powerful, but rather her tactics were too difficult to counter.
In gaming terms, it was a case of mechanics triumphing over raw power, perhaps?
If I were the Dream Demon, I could definitely use this ability to traverse between dreams and reality in more creative ways.
Moreover, this Dream Demon revealed a weakness during the prolonged battle of attrition: her frequent jumps between dreams and reality also consumed a lot of energy. Regardless of whether she was exhausting her physical strength, mental energy, or something else, it was visibly clear that she was becoming increasingly sluggish.
“d*mn… d*mn it! Why is this happening? A bunch of lowly fish, and even a Little Witch can force me into this state!”
At this moment, the Dream Demon let out a furious roar filled with unwillingness, her previously aggressive demeanor turning conservative, as if she was preparing to flee.
“You can’t escape!” I followed closely behind, as the Dream Demon flapped her transformed wings, trying to leave the battle from the sky. Although I couldn’t fly, my spells could still hit airborne targets.
“Hahaha! I admit that you working together is indeed somewhat difficult, but so what? This city is still a place I can come and go as I please!”
I watched as my spells passed through her body without inflicting any damage. At this height, I realized I could no longer reach her, so I subconsciously looked at Sister Bai. But then I realized that she too was unable to attack the Dream Demon currently in reality.
A sense of regret filled my heart; after all, it felt too lenient to just let this guy go.
Just as I was lamenting, a deafening boom echoed down the entire street.
In the next moment, the Dream Demon’s body lost balance in the sky, as a burst of bl**d blossomed from her chest cavity.
“Firearms?” I stared in shock at what had just occurred, unable to believe it.
“Reinforcements! Reinforcements have arrived, quick! Capture that monster!” At this moment, Ninglan Qiuyu also reacted quickly and darted towards the falling figure.
I also did not hesitate. Although I was surprised that this world still had firearms, being able to stop the opponent was a good tactic.
“Don’t move! Monster, you are under arrest!”
“Arrest?” The weakened Dream Demon struggled on the ground, her tone mocking, as if she couldn’t believe she could be captured by these natives. “Impossible! You will never catch me!”
“Confinement, then… how about this?” I stepped forward and cast a confinement spell over her, seeing that the City Guards were helpless against the Dream Demon.
“You!”
“Your vitality is truly resilient,” I remarked, glancing at the hollow in her chest, where she had been pierced through but was still alive. Was her chest cavity not her fatal weakness after all?
“By the way, is this your III-type extraordinary weapon?” I turned to Ninglan Qiuyu and asked.
“Yes, but I can’t disclose any further information… This monster is truly formidable; that attack only left such a puncture wound on her body, which, under normal circumstances, would be enough to tear a mutated beast apart.”
“I see… But I still recommend killing her. You may not be able to control this monster,” I shook my head. After all, a Dream Demon was still a Dream Demon, and not something an ordinary person could subdue.
At this moment, I also realized the limitations of being human. This Dream Demon was merely one type of Abyss Demon; surely there were other more unsolvable existences in the entire Void?
“This…” Ninglan Qiuyu hesitated, as now that they had finally captured this monster, he naturally hoped to extract some useful information from her, even hoping to bring it to the City Lord for questioning.
But he also understood that without the assistance of this outsider, it would be practically impossible to achieve these goals, so he had to reference my suggestion.
“Don’t you want to learn anything from her?”
“Well, that depends on whether she is willing to speak,” I replied, my gaze resting on the now pitiful Dream Demon, who was significantly weakened from the previous attack.
Moreover… my confinement spell could not prevent her from moving between dreams and reality.
Though her back-and-forth movements looked quite disastrous, they indeed caused us a considerable amount of trouble.
“How about we seal this area and interrogate her on the spot?” I suggested.
“Hmm, thank you both for understanding. This… Dream Demon has strange tactics, so could I ask you both to cooperate with us in the interrogation? You probably have no experience with interrogations, right? We can teach you in this area.”
“Interrogation? You think you guys can interrogate me?” At this point, the Dream Demon sneered through her struggles.
“Why not? Now that you’re still stubborn, I will collect from you the troubles you’ve brought to Ninglan New City and the City Guards you’ve killed, one by one!”
At this moment, Ninglan Qiuyu seemed to pour all his anger onto her. This was the first time I had witnessed such an interrogation scene. Honestly, it wasn’t quite the spectacle I had imagined…
Instead, it was somewhat simple and unpretentious. When the Dream Demon struggled to evade, it was soon my turn for punishment.
“You’ve entered the Dream World, haven’t you?” I remarked as the City Guards faltered in their interrogation techniques, smiling as I walked towards her, with a whip made of fire elements glowing ominously in my control. Hitting her this way was no joke~
“You! Don’t come closer!”
After the previous ordeal, the Dream Demon finally realized fear.
In reality, those City Guards had professional extraordinary interrogation tools. But here with me, it was the most direct kind of torture.
Especially when the fiery long whip struck her exposed skin, I felt a strange thrill, particularly as it was accompanied by her screaming, which was quite melodious.
It felt as if I had awakened an incredible kink…
In the end, under our torture, the Dream Demon seemed to become utterly broken, just babbling incoherently. Throughout this process, she never once begged for mercy, and I genuinely admired her resilience.
“By the way, don’t you have anything else you want to ask her?” I turned to Ninglan Qiuyu. Earlier, they had asked her quite a few questions, such as why she attacked Ninglan New City, why she targeted outsiders, how many Dream Demons were like her, and even inquired about her relationship with that Nightmare, etc.
But it was clear that her answers did not satisfy Ninglan Qiuyu. Perhaps she really did not know, but at this point, this character undeniably had little value left to extract; she had simply become a target for pure torture.
After all, this Dream Demon had previously killed many City Guards and absorbed their life force and soul material; this grudge needed to be avenged.
“Oh, thank you both for your help. Just now, we were so focused on our questioning that I didn’t ask if either of you had any inquiries.”
“Well, I do have some questions I’d like to ask,” I nodded.
“Please go ahead. If there’s anything we can assist with, just let us know.” Ninglan Qiuyu also nodded, curious about what questions these two outsiders would pose, as both parties had different perspectives and angles of thought.
Perhaps they had overlooked something they hadn’t even considered themselves.
“Dream Demon, let me ask you, do you know where this is?”
“Uh… Hmph… Ninglan New City… stupid question…” At this point, the Dream Demon glared at me with resentment, spitting out those words.
“You know I’m not asking this. Where is this world?” I reiterated my question.
“The world… hehe… you dare to ask me this…”
“Is there a problem?” I frowned, sensing that the Dream Demon’s expression seemed to mock me, laughing at my ignorance.
“This… isn’t this… your Main World? You don’t even recognize the Main World you are living in? Hahaha… cough cough…” At this moment, the Dream Demon laughed as if she had just unveiled something amusing, laughing so hard that she choked on her own spittle and bl**d.
“This is also the Main World?” The answer she provided validated my suspicions, but it didn’t surprise me at all.
“Over a thousand years ago, those Extraordinary Races forcefully broke into the Main World, turning everything into ruins. Those guys established the Extraordinary Academy in your world… cough cough… and you… are still serving those invaders! Hahaha, cough cough, it’s laughable! You think you’re so noble? You’ve even forgotten your ancestors…”
“Hmm…” I restrained myself from using a silence spell on her, but the truths she revealed, if they spread back to the Main World, or even to other Extraordinary Academies… it could cause an even greater upheaval, possibly shaking the very foundation of the existence of the Extraordinary Academy!
Of course, the Academy would not allow such statements to circulate. However, this truth genuinely had a tremendous impact on the people of the Main World!
“You… Why don’t you…”
“What do you mean? Hatred towards those Extraordinary Academies? Naive…” My indifferent expression seemed to deliver her a final blow. She anticipated a visual collapse or even slight panic from me, but she found no hint of emotional change on my face.
Eventually, when she gasped her last breath, her body uncontrollably turned into vapor and scattered, marking the end of it all… the Dream Demon had died entirely in the Dream World.
“Sorry for asking some out-of-bounds questions; it seems this guy… committed s*icide. You guys shouldn’t have any questions left to ask, right?”
“No…” Ninglan Qiuyu glanced at us with a complex look. He had heard the previous questions as well, but… even he needed some time to ponder; wasn’t that information just too much to digest?
“Ah… I’m sorry, let’s leave it at that. If you see the City Lord upon your return, just tell him we need to take a breather; we’re just going to wander around the city.” I shook my head and said to Ninglan Qiuyu.
I then walked over to Sister Bai. At this moment, I could tell from Sister Bai’s expression that the previous Dream Demon’s words had impacted her a bit too much.
After all, who would have thought that their country had been invaded by foreign enemies a thousand years ago, becoming the rulers of the world through subterfuge, and they were still serving it? This fact, for any normal person in this world, would undoubtedly be quite shocking.
“Sister Bai, let’s go.” I took the initiative to hold Sister Bai’s hand, which felt slightly cold, and I gently squeezed it, swaying it a bit. After a while, Sister Bai finally reacted.
“Sister Bai, I’ll go wander around a bit elsewhere.”
“Uh… Hmm? Okay.” Bai Yu came to her senses, instinctively gripping my hand tighter in agreement.
“Take care as you leave. We’ll remember your contributions to Ninglan New City,” Ninglan Qiuyu said, reflexively saluting us as we prepared to leave.
I glanced back at them, slightly nodding as a gesture of acknowledgment.
Ninglan Qiuyu then commanded the City Guards to begin cleaning up the battlefield, as they still needed to restore normal order. The crowd couldn’t be left in a state of disturbance for long, especially since this area, being the Ninglan Aroma Hotel, had a high volume of traffic; dispersing the crowd caused great inconvenience to the residents.
Moreover, given that such a significant incident occurred within the city, Ninglan Township Fort would surely have to respond. It was foreseeable that the next steps would be even more troublesome, but that would be a concern for the City Lord, Ninglan Qiuyun.
At this moment, I accompanied Sister Bai away from the battleground, avoiding the crowd and the journalists snapping photos, walking out of the quarantine zone. Sister Bai was still the same.
I understood that at this time, everything couldn’t be rushed; such matters could only be truly resolved once she came to terms with it herself.
However, the impact of this stark reality seemed too great for Sister Bai…
A magnitude beyond my expectations. Perhaps I never truly had a sense of belonging in this world, making it impossible for me to empathize. Of course, it could also be due to the Earth Vein Shackles.
Not breaking the Earth Vein Shackles means there is still a connection with the original world.
Maybe I just realized why many seniors who had graduated from the Witch Academy hadn’t broken free from this world; perhaps it stemmed from this sense of belonging to this world?
As for whether this sense of belonging was a creation of the world’s consciousness, not wanting its children to leave its control, that would require further understanding.
“Sister Bai, are you feeling better?”
