Chapter 6: The Life Hunters
Seeing these prompts, Su Xiao understood the situation. First, after entering the Nightmare Realm, his main body would be trapped in one place.
How to explore within the nightmare world? The method was simple: through an avatar constructed within the nightmare world. That is, his consciousness would enter the avatar and use it as a temporary body.
The avatar shouldn't be very strong; its main purpose was to allow movement within the nightmare world.
A simple analogy: all nine participants, including Su Xiao, would have their main bodies trapped after entering the nightmare world, using avatars to act. Each person had three lives. Once all three lives were lost, they would be kicked out of the nightmare world.
The Scroll World was filled with madness. Each time an avatar died, the main body's sanity value would inevitably drop significantly. That was death, and the impact of the moment of death could be imagined.
Once the sanity value fell below 1 point, they would be buried in the Scroll World. Therefore, although it seemed like they had three lives in the nightmare world, if they dared to act recklessly, the probability of the main body dying there was extremely high.
Su Xiao didn't immediately enter the nightmare world. He opened his task list and checked the main mission.
[Main Mission: Victor! (This mission has only one stage)]
Difficulty Level: Adaptive
Mission Brief: Win the Scroll Competition.
Mission Duration: Until the end of this competition.
Mission Reward: Determined by the degree of restoration of the Scroll World.
Mission Penalty: Deduct three currently worn equipment pieces, randomly selected (currently worn equipment has been recorded, and all currently worn equipment cannot be traded, transferred, etc. temporarily).
...
The mission content was simple and crude. It could be said that this was the clearest main mission Su Xiao had received since entering Reincarnation Paradise, and it had only one stage.
Regarding the mission penalty, although it wasn't a forced execution, Su Xiao still felt it was very bad. What if the three randomly selected equipment pieces were [Dragon-Slaying Flash] + [Fate Dominator] + [Black King's Reincarnation (Black King Bracer)]...
The importance of Dragon-Slaying Flash needed no elaboration, and the same went for Fate Dominator. Without this equipment, Su Xiao's income from opening treasure chests would be very unstable. Finally, the Black King Bracer's strongest ability wasn't Dead Silence Arrival or Dead Silence Annihilation, but Undying Will (Passive).
Undying Will (Passive): Exempt from dying state until death.
Su Xiao closed the mission prompt. While he was checking the main mission, five of the other eight people had already entered the nightmare world, leaving only the Autistic Sisters and Zuiyasi from Doom Star.
"White Night, what a coincidence."
Mo Lei's expression was natural, even with a hint of a smile on her face. She and Yue Shitu had indeed been autistic for a short while earlier, but they quickly recovered. Past experiences couldn't defeat them!
"..."
Su Xiao smiled at Mo Lei. Mo Lei, who had just regained her confidence, felt her heart clench.
"Competing on the same stage again! Revenge!!"
Mo Lei suddenly shouted. Yue Shitu beside her was startled, looking at Mo Lei as if to say: 'Why are you shouting so loudly?'
"Broken-legged girl, the sky is clear, the rain has stopped, and you think you're good again."
Ba Ha teased with a smile. Mo Lei never refused Ba Ha's provocations. She gave Ba Ha a delicate middle finger. She had cooperated with Su Xiao once and knew Ba Ha's temperament.
"Damn it, Broken-legged girl, just you wait."
Ba Ha said this, but he didn't really care. It was just pre-battle greetings. He treated it as entertainment. Besides, Mo Lei's greetings were too sweet. If it were him, he would have already attacked at the family tree level, making the opponent's family tree thinner and thinner.
The Autistic Sisters upgraded to the Apocalypse Sisters and entered the Dream World.
The firelight in the fireplace flickered. In the reception hall, only Su Xiao and Zuiyasi remained among the participants.
"You first."
Zuiyasi said with a smile.
"No, you first, please."
Ba Ha was even more polite, even using 'please'.
"It's just an entry qualification, no need to be polite."
Zuiyasi was obviously going to do something, which was why he wanted to be the last to enter the nightmare world.
"Why are you being polite with me? One-on-one or group fight? You choose."
Ba Ha's eyes glowed red. Not far away, Amu stood up, the Dragonheart Axe appearing in its hand. The axe blade clanged against the ground, sinking in slightly.
Zuiyasi fell silent. He naturally knew that a one-on-one fight would be him vs. Su Xiao + Amu + Ba Ha + Bubu Wang + Beini. As for a group fight, that was something Zuiyasi couldn't imagine, because a group fight might also include Lie Chao and the Big Axe Brother summoned through items.
Zuiyasi touched the 'Nightmare Painting'. Layers of ripples rose, and he entered the nightmare world.
Regarding hostility with Zuiyasi, it wasn't important. When fighting an old yinbi, even if you don't offend the other party, you'll eventually cross paths. It's better to show sufficient strength.
Confirming that everyone had entered the nightmare world, Su Xiao raised his hand to touch the 'Nightmare Painting'. A pulling force came from his arm. Layers of ripples appeared on the 'Nightmare Painting', and his hand was pulled into the 'Nightmare Painting'.
There was a boom in his ears. Su Xiao briefly lost consciousness. When his vision recovered, he was in a sealed room.
The walls and ceiling of this room were iron-black. Dim yellow light came from a lamp covered in stains above, rendering everything in the room a dim, warm yellow.
This room was about 20 square meters. Three old machines were embedded in the wall. From the seats of the machines, the machines themselves were very large, with various energy threads hanging down. Some involved consciousness transmission, and others involved soul aspects.
Su Xiao looked at the opposite wall. There were two double wooden doors on that wall, old, beautiful, and exquisite.
Su Xiao pushed open these two doors. In front was a purple-black flowing mist with starry specks and unknown insects flying around. A surreal feeling greeted him.
As long as he walked out of this door, Su Xiao could return to the reception hall of the main painting world. Of course, this also meant he gave up exploring the dream world.
Closing the double wooden doors, Su Xiao came to the machine embedded in the wall. After observing for a moment, he lay down in a human-shaped groove. As soon as he lay down, the machine beneath him rose slightly. Semicircular metal plates extended from his left and right sides, and strands of energy threads spread toward him.
Liquid filled the area around Su Xiao, gradually submerging him. He didn't feel difficulty breathing. The energy threads clinging to his face had formed a structure similar to an oxygen mask.
A slight, needle-like pain came from all over Su Xiao's body.
[Tip: A nightmare body has been constructed based on your appearance, height, and other data. The nightmare body's Reincarnation Mark is being granted...]
[Grant complete. This is a temporary mark.]
[Consciousness linking...]
[Mark synchronizing...]
[Synchronization complete.]
After receiving this prompt, Su Xiao suddenly opened his eyes. A feeling of 'discomfort' came from all over his body. He could feel that this was a weakened version of his own body. No, calling this body a clone wasn't accurate. This body also had flesh and blood.
Su Xiao closed his eyes, adapted for a moment, and opened them again. He tried to release Cyan Steel Shadow energy, but nothing happened. After all, this was only a temporary body.
[Tip: Your storage space can be used normally, but items unrelated to the nightmare world cannot be retrieved.]
Su Xiao checked his storage space. Sure enough, the items inside looked gray and hazy. Only one item emitting a purple glow stood out as particularly different.
Seeing this item, Su Xiao narrowed his eyes. This thing might bring him unexpected help.
[Tip: The nightmare body has been stabilized. The hunter has 100% adapted to this body. You can view the nightmare body's data.]
Su Xiao chose to view it. He wanted to see the combat power of this body.
Name: Bai Ye (Nightmare Body State)
Health: 100%
Mana: 1000 points (increased by 200 points)
Strength: 30 points
Agility: 30 points
Stamina: 30 points
Intelligence: 30 points
Charm: 0 points (Due to special reasons, your nightmare body's charm attribute is 0 points. The nightmare is cruel but also fair. Your body energy has been increased by an additional 700 points.)
Skill 1: Nightmare Eye (Passive), Go and kill until you can 'see'.
...
The combat power of this body was clearly not good, but Su Xiao wasn't worried. The previous prompt indicated that all participants' nightmare bodies had constant initial body attributes, unless the situation was too special, such as Su Xiao's -9 charm attribute.
Su Xiao looked around. He was in a dilapidated metal pod. Nutrient fluid was still dripping from above. It seemed that after his nightmare body was constructed, it fell from above and entered this initial pod.
He took clothes from the side. The style was exactly the same as [Wild Night], but they were just ordinary clothes. Checking their attributes, they were provided by the Void Tree.
Su Xiao exited the initial pod. In front was a metal passage. The metal walls in sight were iron-black, appearing heavy and sturdy.
Following the long, straight metal passage, Su Xiao walked dozens of meters. The space ahead suddenly opened up.
The night sky was illuminated by moonlight and starlight, making the night dark but not hindering vision. Su Xiao exited the passage and looked at the top of the door behind him. It was marked with the number 9. On the left were eight parallel passages, marked with numbers 1 to 8. Obviously, the 'spawn points' of the female spellcaster Luo Xi, the mad believer Zuiyasi, and others were also here. Presumably, this was also the 'respawn point'.
Exiting the No. 9 passage, there was a small circular plaza ahead. The entire circular plaza had a diameter of 100 meters, surrounded by walls. Above were intersecting arched iron bars. A sense of danger came from above. The surroundings and above were impassable. To leave this plaza, one could only go through the door a hundred meters ahead. That was the only exit.
At the center of the circular plaza was a green fountain. Water circulated inside while a small amount mixed into the air.
A feeling of comfort spread throughout Su Xiao's body. Rich life force was trying to heal him, but he wasn't injured.
Coming to the life fountain, Su Xiao found it was a facility of the Void Tree. He temporarily retracted his idea of carrying it with him.
The female spellcaster Luo Xi, the trickster Wood, and others were looking around the circular plaza. Seeing this, Su Xiao led Bubu Wang and Ba Ha toward the exit.
Bubu Wang and Ba Ha's appearances hadn't changed, but they weren't here in their main bodies either. Their current bodies had five attributes of 20 points each, weaker than normal participants. However, each had a special ability.
Bubu Wang's ability was 'Dream Dive'. This ability was similar to its ability to blend into the environment, but the rank wasn't as high. Unless it held its breath, as long as it held its breath, the rank of its concealment ability skyrocketed.
Ba Ha's ability was 'Void Shadow'. It could shuttle between nightmares, meaning it could phase its body for high-speed flight that ignored collisions. This ability could evade attacks.
Simply put, Bubu Wang could turn invisible, and Ba Ha could phase through walls. That was it. They had no other abilities.
This was the price of being able to 'respawn'. Su Xiao felt that using this body to explore the nightmare world was actually a trap. The real purpose of the dream body was to find the correct method to free the main body, then return consciousness to the main body and explore the nightmare world in a normal state.
Otherwise, the possibility of finding [Scroll Fragments] here was extremely slim. This temporary nightmare body was too weak in combat.
Regarding returning consciousness to the main body, there was no need to worry. Su Xiao now had a Reincarnation Mark on the back of his hand. As long as he performed a 'detach', he could return to a normal state, with his consciousness returning to his own body. However, this required more than 30 seconds to complete.
While moving forward, Su Xiao adapted to his current body state. He flexed the fingers of his right hand. Now he really needed a suitable weapon, preferably a blade.
Compared to other types, he had an advantage. Would a technique-type ability really be lost just because of changing bodies? The answer was no.
Su Xiao couldn't use his full blade techniques. Blade Grandmaster Lv.60 required a sufficiently strong body to unleash. If he used too strong a blade technique now, he would injure himself first.
Walking out of the circular plaza's exit, a cold wind blew. Ahead was a large area of ruins. Su Xiao leaped a few times, landing on a high wall, and saw the surrounding situation clearly.
He was in an area enclosed by four high walls. The four high walls to the east, south, west, and north were at least a hundred meters high. The walls weren't just vertical; they curved inward slightly. With Su Xiao's current physical condition, without auxiliary tools, it was impossible to climb them.
The area enclosed by these four high walls was at least 4 kilometers long and about 3 kilometers wide, with an area of 12,000,000 square meters, or 12 square kilometers.
The front part of this area was orderly ruins, and the back part was a maze terrain. From Su Xiao's height, he could vaguely see a metal gate at the end of the maze. That was the only exit. Without going there, one could never explore outward.
Su Xiao jumped down from the broken wall and led Bubu Wang and Ba Ha forward to explore.
Walking among the broken walls, Su Xiao often saw blood-stained writing on the walls. He didn't recognize these writings. It was obvious that many people had come to the nightmare world before.
Clatter, clatter~
The sound of chains colliding came. Su Xiao looked toward the source of the sound. A figure came into his view. The other party was wearing black-red clothing. The material of the clothing was unknown, somewhat heavy, with defense at least close to leather armor, or even higher.
On the other's head was a metal mask. The mouth of this mask had many air holes. Overall, the mask not only covered the face but also had loose white hair at the back that was part of the mask. The white hair gave a sense of inexplicable cruelty.
Besides these, the figure walking toward him held a one-meter-long hand axe. The blade's curve was more suitable for chopping. The handle was all metal, like a curved spine. In most cases, only perverted murderers liked to use such weapons.
This was a Life Hunter, a Life Hunter of the nightmare world. Cruel, ruthless, killing anyone they saw. The only way to survive encountering a Life Hunter was to run.
The chain sound grew closer. Bubu Wang beside Su Xiao swallowed.
"Retreat."
Click!
A bear trap suddenly appeared. From the blood-red patterns on it, using this thing to briefly restrain a sixth-rank contractor was no problem.
Su Xiao's legs instantly lost feeling. Bubu Wang and Amu were bound by blood-stained metal wires.
Su Xiao glanced at the two severed legs a few meters away. Trying to escape now had a 0% survival rate. Doing nothing was also not good. This was the first time encountering a Life Hunter. He might have to deal with this monster later. Before being 'killed', he needed to roughly understand the monster's movement patterns.
Su Xiao picked up a small stone. The Life Hunter walking toward him didn't stop. Seeing this, Su Xiao took something from his chest. The Life Hunter's steps paused, then it charged forward at full speed, its sharp axe chopping toward Su Xiao.
"Want this? Wait for me here."
Su Xiao put the item back into his storage space. Intense pain came from his neck.
[Tip: You have died.]
[You have consumed Nightmare Body × 1. Remaining Nightmare Bodies × 2.]
[Your sanity value has decreased by 36 points (originally decreased by 102 points, the reduction has been reduced by willpower, soul strength, and Blade Grandmaster effect).]
[Your consciousness has entered a new nightmare body.]
[New nightmare body activated.]
...
Su Xiao's vision went black for a few seconds. He suddenly opened his eyes. He had returned to the metal pod at the 'spawn point'. He had 'respawned', and his consciousness had entered a new nightmare body. Remaining respawns: 1 time.
After a while, Bubu Wang and Amu fell from above. If Amu and Beini were also there, it would be a whole family dying together neatly.
"Boss, that thing seems unbeatable head-on. The power gap is too obvious. But its speed isn't fast. That's good."
"No, that's bad."
Su Xiao walked toward the passage ahead. When he reached the circular plaza, he encountered Yan Qi · Suo Yege and the female spellcaster Luo Xi. It wasn't that the people from Arcane Eternal Star were slow, but that Su Xiao had died too quickly.
"You... died once?"
The female spellcaster Luo Xi couldn't help asking. She looked at Su Xiao with disbelief. She really hadn't expected Su Xiao to die so quickly.
Actually, encountering a Life Hunter wasn't a guaranteed death. One could run. As for whether one could escape, it depended on luck.
The reason Su Xiao died so quickly was that he had stepped on a trap. That thing probably wasn't set by the Life Hunter. He was just unlucky enough to step on it.
Ignoring Luo Xi and the other, Su Xiao exited the circular plaza. Following the route in his memory, he wound through the walls of the ruins. Soon, he returned to the place where he had 'died'. The corpse had disappeared, leaving only a large pool of blood.
Near the blood-stained bear trap, the Life Hunter stood there, holding a ferocious hunting axe. Its eye sockets were black, its pupils blood-red. Those eyes sent chills down one's spine.
Su Xiao took something from his storage space. It was called [Dream Bell Fragment · Small Piece]. He had obtained this in the Dark Star world when Brother Wusan solved the time-stop problem in the dream world. Su Xiao had also received a reward, which was this item.
This was the nightmare world. [Dream Bell Fragment] was the only item Su Xiao could take out from his storage space. Obviously, this thing had a huge attraction for the beings in the nightmare world. The fact that the Life Hunter was willing to wait here said it all.
The Life Hunter made a move to charge.
Crack~
Cracks appeared on the [Dream Bell Fragment] in Su Xiao's hand. The Life Hunter immediately stopped. It pointed at Su Xiao, then at its own head. It was asking what Su Xiao wanted.
"Your hunting axe, and your class."
Su Xiao estimated that the Life Hunter's sharp blade would be very special. Besides, he really needed a weapon now. If he couldn't have a long blade, a hand axe would do. The weight of that thing meant its chopping power was astonishing. As for the class, he just said it casually.
The Life Hunter hesitated. It stood there for a long time before pulling off its mask, revealing a head and body made of mist.
Clang, clang~
The Life Hunter threw out its hunting axe, metal mask, and long coat. These things piled up between it and Su Xiao.
Seeing the Life Hunter's actions, Su Xiao was quite surprised. At that moment, a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise appeared.
[Tip: Do you want to pay the Dream Bell Fragment · Small Piece to trade with the dark being of the nightmare world?]
[If you proceed with this transaction, your nightmare body will be converted to a Life Hunter.]
Seeing these two prompts, Su Xiao had an idea: complete this transaction and let this body convert to a Life Hunter to deal with the other participants.
Ask yourself, how to get more [Scroll Fragments]? Outsmart others? No. Chop them all out of the nightmare world, and then Su Xiao could safely search for [Scroll Fragments] here.
Moreover, the current venue was very suitable for hunting. The front part was ruins, and the back part was a maze.
[Tip: You have agreed to this transaction.]
[You have obtained Life Hunter Set (Weapon, Mask, Clothing...)]
[Your nightmare body has been converted to a Life Hunter!]
PS: (Two chapters today. The second chapter is a 5600-word mega chapter. Splitting it into two chapters would break the reading flow, so it's combined into one.)