Chapter 29: Nightmare Overlord
The Lord's Train decelerated, a ring of scorching steam blasting from beneath the carriages before the compartment doors slid open. The slacker girl, Delona, was the first to leap out, her eyes darting around with lively curiosity.
「Woof.」
Bubu Wang chased after her off the train. Logically, being the laziest, he should have been the last to disembark, but unfortunately, Delona had yanked off his headset receiver, worth thirty Soul Coins, as she jumped down.
「Doggy, go fetch.」
Delona tossed the headset receiver into the distance, intending for Bubu Wang to sprint over, leap gracefully, and catch it in his mouth in one smooth motion. Bubu Wang lowered his stance, his glutes and hind leg muscles tensing as he locked onto the target, poised and ready. Swift as the wind, he shot forward with a whoosh, only to step on a loose stone on the ground, instantly losing balance. His chin hit the dirt, and he performed a spectacular faceplant for everyone to see. In a flash, Baha, who had appeared in the distance, caught the headset receiver with ease, much to Bubu Wang's relief. He turned his head to look at the Great Noble, Luciwa.
「Woof howl woof!」
Bubu Wang's meaning was for Luciwa to rein in his own sister. Luciwa remained silent. Since entering this nightmare-infested land, he had noticed his sister Delona acting very strangely. In the past, Delona was often listless, only showing energy when it came to mealtime. Otherwise, she was indifferent to all sorts of trivial matters. On ordinary outings, unless someone urged her, she could sit alone on a quiet park bench all day long.
Delona's favorite pastime was sitting alone in the dark, gazing out the window at the deeper darkness beyond, never feeling bored. In contrast, the current Delona was humming a song in some strange language, bouncing along with lively steps. When she spotted a small flower by the roadside, she crouched down and happily chatted with it. Delona's state was clearly off. The closer they got to the distant nightmare entrance, the more hyperactive she became, even flipping over to ride on Bubu Wang's back, laughing as she tried to use him as a horse, leaving Bubu Wang utterly speechless.
「I've been waiting for you for a long time.」Sitting on a bizarrely shaped boulder, Ailukelu, clad in a gold-white robe with a red lining, spoke up. Her silver hair billowed, indicating her mood was far from good—not because of the wait, but because she loathed nightmare regions. It reminded her of a close friend who had tragically perished in a nightmare.
Su Xiao, Ailukelu, Luciwa, Delona, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha set off toward the Nightmare Gate. Though they were in the same team, each had different goals. Luciwa aimed to resolve his sister's troubles. She was symbiotically linked to some unknown entity from the Abyss, and worse, Delona was undergoing a dark awakening. If this awakening was passively completed, the unknown Abyssal entity would seize control of her body, and Delona's consciousness would cease to exist. To briefly explain Delona's situation: her father, the old Legion Commander of the Hunting Expedition, had spent his life exploring the Lightless Zone and trying to eradicate the Blood Night's arrival. His life was both glorious and perilous. Returning to Twilight City for a stable retirement was already miraculous, and having a daughter in his old age brought a constant smile to the old commander's face.
Unfortunately, dealing with the Lightless Zone—a region of Abyssal spread—for a lifetime made a peaceful end nearly impossible. When Delona was born, her first misfortune was causing her mother's death during childbirth. Four Sun Scholars were helpless against the postpartum hemorrhage, which was utterly baffling. As one Sun Scholar put it at the time, the lady was beyond saving; her soul had been dragged into the darkness by something, vanishing without a trace.
Under the old commander's authority, only a few knew of this. If things had continued, Delona might have had a decent childhood. But on the morning of Delona's second day of life, the old commander sat by the crib, a serene smile on his face. His eyes, dimmed by death, seemed to gaze gently at his swaddled daughter.
What truly alienated Delona from all her family was that on the third morning, every living thing in the manor was found to have stopped breathing. A farm worker delivering milk and vegetables that morning was so traumatized by the sight that he suffered mental breakdown for half a year, constantly muttering delirious phrases like "noble one" and "great lady."
Faced with such events, the old commander's lawful wife decided to keep everyone away from the manor, hoping to starve the newborn monster. At that time, Luciwa, who had just become the new Legion Commander of the Hunting Expedition, carried the ancestral family longsword and walked into the manor alone. He came to avenge his father and the sister he had never met. But when he saw the infant in the crib, already too weak from hunger to cry loudly, he knew—this was his sister. Anything could be faked, but as an Absolute Strength powerhouse, he couldn't be wrong about the bloodline resonance. Time proved Luciwa right. His sister was no monster. Aside from a passive talent that made others feel negative, Delona was just a girl who disliked going out and rarely expressed her emotions.
Though the unknown Abyssal entity remained symbiotically linked to Delona, it wasn't near her. Symbiosis differed from parasitism; it used causality as a bond, nearly impossible to sever. Previously, Luciwa didn't know where the entity was, but now, seeing his sister Delona's emotional changes, he was certain—the unknown entity was ahead, within the Dark Moon Nightmare.
Su Xiao stopped before the door of the Dark Moon Nightmare. Ahead, a dark purple rock wall sealed the area. The only entrance to this Nightmare Wall was a door ten meters high and five meters wide. This Nightmare Gate seemed composed of dark particles. When he tried to reach his hand into it, the black particles forming the door were naturally repelled by the creature's aura, revealing the darkness within, glowing with purple fluorescence.
Su Xiao stepped into the black mist. Around him came vague, obscure noises—the boundary between nightmare and the material world. Once crossing this boundary, no matter how bizarre the nightmare region became, one must remain calm, or their sanity would plummet. A strange pressure emanated from the surroundings, causing Su Xiao to feel a peculiar life force surge from his head, spreading throughout his body. More intuitively, the red health bar in his personal attributes gradually dimmed, fading from bright red to pale red before settling. Originally, his health bar, mana bar, and blood energy bar were aligned side by side. Now, beneath the blood energy bar, a dark purple health bar appeared.
[Tip: You will temporarily gain the Nightmare Constitution. This is the Void Tree's certification for this region. All targets entering this area will automatically receive this certification (including entrants from outside the Paradise factions).]
[Tip: Due to your imminent entry into the nightmare region, while inside, your body cannot rely on Primordial Life Force to prevent nightmare invasion. Moreover, the nightmare's encroachment will erode your Primordial Life Force, causing it to temporarily enter a dormant state. Once you leave the nightmare region and return to the material world, your Primordial Life Force will reactivate, restoring your normal constitution.]
[Under the Nightmare Constitution, your Sanity Value will replace your Health Value. When your Sanity Value reaches zero, you will die (all negative effects such as damage, erosion, and curses you receive will deduct from Sanity Value).]
[Your base Sanity Value is: 1950 points.]
[Sanity Value Level: High.]
[Based on Nightmare Constitution calculations, your final Sanity Value is: Base Sanity Value + (Willpower Attribute x 0.92) + (Soul Strength x 0.5) + (Abyss Resistance x 50) - Final Sanity Value.]
[Your Sanity Value is: 7588 points.]
[Sanity Value Level: Extremely High.]
[Tip: Due to your excessively high Sanity Value, the Void Tree will re-certify you for the nightmare.]
[Certification complete. You have lost the Nightmare Explorer identity.]
[You have been judged as a Nightmare Region: Overlord-level Unit.]
[Sanity Value below 1000 points: Explorer level. Sanity Value above 1200 points: Leader-level Unit. Sanity Value above 3000 points: Lord-level Unit. Sanity Value above 6500 points: Overlord-level Unit. Sanity Value above 10000 points: ??? Unit.]
[Within this nightmare region, the total number of Overlord-level Units has increased to five. The total count is: