Chapter 22: Because It's Interesting
Not long after Zuiyasi’s juvenile and young ‘sacrificial vessels’ went to clear the black dogs, Zuiyasi’s expression suddenly changed.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Three crisp sounds came from Zuiyasi’s left hand. His middle finger, index finger, and thumb all burst open. The time eye on the back of his hand widened, its ring-shaped pupil gradually fading.
Seeing this, Zuiyasi’s face darkened. He knew that in a few seconds, minutes, or perhaps a dozen minutes, he would die. That was why the three fingers representing the present (middle finger), middle age (index finger), and old age (thumb) had exploded.
This meant he was about to have neither present nor future. Only the dead would be like this. The dilation of the time eye’s ring pupil further confirmed this.
“I’ll die in a few seconds or a dozen minutes. Give me your thoughts.”
Zuiyasi was very calm. Although he already had a plan, he wanted to borrow the opinions of the other two old schemers. As for explaining in detail why he would die, there was no need. One sentence was enough. Zuiyasi believed that both Su Xiao and Wood could quickly understand what was happening, and they would never ask a stupid question like “Why are you going to die?” at this critical moment.
“You won’t die. Hurry up. This thing is expensive.”
Wood took out a spiral metal cross pendant. Seeing this, Su Xiao put away the [Sea’s Wrath: Endless Army (Immortal Rank Item)] in his hand.
At that moment, countless black dogs surged from all directions. They covered the streets and buildings, like a black tide rolling in from the surroundings. Were there tens of thousands of black dogs? Hundreds of thousands? Perhaps even more.
“Roar!”
Some of the black dogs rushing from the surroundings merged together like liquid, transforming into a two-headed dog that roared.
Seeing this, Zuiyasi frowned. The black dogs were indeed troublesome, but this level of danger shouldn’t be enough to kill him. If that were the case, how could the changes in his left hand be explained?
A sour, rancid stench accompanied the encirclement of the black dogs. Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi stood back-to-back in a triangle formation. Among them, Wood released the spiral cross pendant in his hand.
Ding~
The tip of the spiral cross touched the ground. A magic circle appeared beneath Su Xiao, Wood, and Zuiyasi, and the three of them instantly vanished.
The spatial fluctuations subsided, and the white light before Su Xiao’s eyes disappeared. He had arrived at the back gate of the amusement park. He saw a cross-shaped mark on the iron gate frame emitting white light. Clearly, Wood had already prepared an escape route.
“It seems this is the Nightmare King’s trump card. Zuiyasi, you said you were going to die just now?”
Wood’s pupils condensed into flames. He used his withered, fleshless fingers to touch his skeletal chin, which was studded with rice-sized black gems.
“Yes. I don’t know what happened just now. Facing that situation, I had at least a 70% chance of dying.”
Zuiyasi raised his left hand. His fingers regenerated at a visible rate. The time eye on the back of his hand fell off, causing him a pang of heartache. He would have to be scolded by his mother-in-law again when he got back.
“Based on my assessment of you, your chance of dying in that situation was very low. So the problem must be with the black dogs. Do they get stronger? Or is there another powerful enemy?”
Wood couldn’t find the answer for a moment.
“The black dogs are infinite.”
Su Xiao suddenly spoke, which puzzled Wood.
“What do you mean?”
“This is a nightmare world. It’s a nightmare. The black dogs are the ‘terror’ within the nightmare. They are not truly biological entities or corpses. They are more like conceptual manifestations. That’s why they are endless within Nightmare Town, just like fear itself—without limit.”
Hearing Su Xiao’s explanation, Wood understood, and his thoughts became more active.
“I see. Because the black dogs are infinite, Zuiyasi would have been trapped and killed there. If we had been slower, that place might have been sealed off, becoming a land of terror… A land of terror? I get it now. That was a domain, a domain ability representing ‘terror’.”
“A domain? Isn’t the range too large?”
Zuiyasi didn’t quite agree with this view.
“This is a nightmare world. Don’t forget the Void Tree’s prompt at the start of the game. The Nightmare King is the ruler of the nightmare world. Of course, his domain can…”
“Impossible.”
Zuiyasi interrupted Wood. He said, “Except for the Chosen One, even if you suck a world dry, you can’t use the world to amplify your abilities. I bet the Nightmare King doesn’t have that kind of power. The problem isn’t the nightmare world. This world was created by the Nightmare King stitching together scroll fragments. He’s not the founder of this world. At best, he’s a tailor.”
“Hmm… You’re right. When it comes to persecuting worlds, Doom Star is indeed professional.”
When Wood said this, he glanced at Su Xiao. Seeing this, Zuiyasi coughed dryly. A Law Destroyer, i.e., an Element Guardian, was right here. Don’t bring up such an awkward topic.
“So I conclude that the reason the Nightmare King’s domain is so exaggerated is because he relies on Nightmare Town. That’s also why he never leaves Nightmare Town. It’s not that he doesn’t want to; it’s that he doesn’t dare. Besides us, there must be others eyeing the scroll fragments in the Nightmare King’s hands. I can’t think of anything more.”
Zuiyasi said this, then turned his gaze to Su Xiao, signaling him to join the analysis.
It could be said that Wood and Zuiyasi’s deductions were over 95% correct. These two fellows, without any hints, had deduced the existence of the Great Knight based on the Nightmare King’s behavior patterns.
The Great Knight came from another inner painting world. From the fact that the spoils of war had to be paid to him for cooperation, it was clear that he was the person the Nightmare King feared and the one who wanted to seize the scroll fragments.
The intelligence was now clear. Before even meeting the Nightmare King, its strongest ability had already been analyzed.
“Bai Ye? It’s come to this. Don’t stay silent. Nightmare Town must be very difficult to destroy, but we have to break the connection between the Nightmare King and Nightmare Town. Otherwise, its domain is unsolvable.”
“Mm.”
As Su Xiao spoke, he took out [Blazing Sun’s Wrath: Apollo] from his storage space.
“What… is that thing?”
Zuiyasi and Wood both looked wary.
“This is a countermeasure.”
Su Xiao introduced the alias of [Blazing Sun’s Wrath: Apollo] to Wood and Zuiyasi: [Countermeasure].
“Wait. You must have thought of the same things Wood and I analyzed just now, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then… why didn’t you take this out earlier? You just watched us analyze?”
“Because your analysis was quite interesting.”
“?”
“(⊙﹏⊙)”
Ignoring Zuiyasi and Wood, who were about to kill him with their eyes, Su Xiao activated Apollo and assumed a throwing posture.
[Blazing Sun’s Wrath: Apollo] had an explosion diameter of 3,000 meters. If Apollo were thrown into the center of Nightmare Town, the explosion’s impact and subsequent incineration would leave almost nothing of the town.
Su Xiao calculated silently. When Apollo had three seconds left before detonation, he threw it.
Bang!
Apollo broke through a wave of air, leaving a golden-red parabolic arc before landing in a small circular plaza in the center of Nightmare Town.
In the small plaza, as soon as Apollo landed, a figure clad in full body armor, with a red cape draped over its back and standing less than three meters tall, immediately rose from the steps. It had been resting just moments ago.
Thud~
The figure in full body armor heard a dull sound, then flew up, slammed against a wall by the shockwave. Solar flames swept over it, and the armor on its body instantly turned incandescent red. It hadn’t rested for days, and it had only slept for five minutes before being bombed. Very unjust.
Boom!!!
The explosion was deafening. A massive shockwave spread outward. After that, a giant golden fireball appeared within Nightmare Town. As the golden fireball expanded, the buildings it touched crumbled inch by inch, eventually being burned to ashes.
This was the terror of over ten thousand true damage. Instantaneous over ten thousand true damage versus the cumulative ten thousand true damage from sustained effects were not on the same level in terms of instantaneous destructive power and impact. That was precisely why Su Xiao didn’t dare to detonate [Blazing Sun’s Wrath: Apollo] at close range.
The perpetual night of Nightmare Town was illuminated, as if a sun had fallen to the earth.
When the solar flames began to subside, Nightmare Town had essentially disappeared, leaving only some broken buildings at the edges.
“Ah!!”
A furious roar came from within Nightmare Town. The voice was filled with extreme rage, even turning into frantic desperation. Then, purple-black energy sprayed out like scattered flowers.
Hearing this furious roar, Su Xiao speculated that this should be the Nightmare King. Judging from the sound of its voice, it was in a very bad mood.