In the blink of an eye, the skeleton cub named Little Little Red ran into a Black Forest.
Black Wood was a type of tree that was incomparably tall. Walking in this forest that was completely made up of Black Wood, humans would feel as if they had entered a mini country. The dense foliage of the trees blotted out the sky, making the whole place look like a ghost town.
Sunders walked through the forest carelessly without paying attention to the shadows that appeared from time to time.
They looked like phantoms. Their eyes glowed with a green light, which was a terrifying sight to behold in the dark forest. However, Sunders knew that these phantoms were actually illusionary cantrips used to monitor the movements in the forest.
Without a doubt, this was Sumesh's handiwork.
"Illusionary Phantoms? Looks like Sumesh was seriously injured this time," Sunders muttered to himself.
Soon, Little Red led Sunders to a fork in the road. She stopped and looked at Sunders as if she wanted to say something.
Sunders knew that the fork in the road was an illusion that forced people to choose between going left or right.
However, neither choice was correct. This was not a fork in the road.
Sunders took a step forward in the opposite direction of the fork. He stretched out his finger and lightly tapped it. The originally dense black wood seemed to come alive as it suddenly parted to form a winding path.
Little Red hugged its rose-wreath and ran toward the path excitedly.
In the next ten minutes, Sunders had to choose many different paths. Some were hypnotized, some were real, and some led to dangerous nests. To find the correct path in this maze-like Black Forest, one had to be a master of illusions and understand the mind of the caster.
This was a simple task for Sunders.
After choosing the right path again, Sunders saw a small house in the woods with candlelight.
Instead of entering the house, Sunders walked around it and knocked on a tree stump with an axe stuck in it. The cross-section of the tree stump, which was covered in veins, flickered like water ripples and instantly formed a pitch-black tunnel.
The house was still a trap. This was the final entrance.
Sunders jumped into the hole and followed Little Red's guidance. After walking for about a hundred meters, he finally saw a karst cave beside an underground river.
Deep inside the cave, there was a castle surrounded by black rose vines.
The castle was a special kind of magic house. Judging from its style, it was obviously built by Flora.
In front of the castle, there was a petite figure in dark red.
She was wearing a long red dress and a black veil. She was barefooted and floated toward Sunders while holding an umbrella in her hand.
It was Flora, whom Sunders had not seen for a long time.
When Little Red saw Flora, it ran to her excitedly and jumped into her arms … before disappearing.
When Little Red disappeared, a skeleton named Chéng Rén slowly appeared behind Flora. The skeleton nodded at Sunders and stayed still.
Flora looked excited when she saw Sunders. Only when she saluted did she manage to control her emotions. "Professor."
Sunders, on the other hand, remained calm. He nodded and did not ask why they were still in the radiation zone of the Red Plague believers. He walked past her and entered the castle.
"Sumesh is in the Boiling Blood Pool in the basement," Flora quickly followed Sunders. She knew what kind of person Sunders was.
"How's he doing after he sent me the message?"
"He's fine as long as he doesn't use any more nightmare illusions."
Sunders raised an eyebrow. "So you didn't run into any Red Plague believers these days?"
Flora said, "Half a month ago, the Supreme Cult sent a team of priests from the Heresy Inquisition to this area to train the Red Plague believers. They attracted all the Red Plague believers' attention, so they didn't have time to look for us. "
"You're in luck then," Sunders commented.
From time to time, the Supreme Cult would send the peak-level apprentices of the Heresy Tribunal to the territories of the demon gods and otherworldly beings for training. The official bishops would keep the supernaturals at bay while the peak-level apprentices would clean up the believers. The death rate of such training was extremely high. The ones who survived would become red-robed clerics from the Heresy Tribunal.
Red-robed clerics were the strongest in the Supreme Cult. They gave Flora and Sumesh some time to catch their breath.
"Are you still going to look for the Blood Fusion Formula?" Sunders looked at Flora seriously for the first time.
The latter pondered for a moment and nodded. "Yes, this is my chance."
Sunders nodded without showing any expression. He did not comment on the matter. As a matter of fact, he already knew what Flora was going to do when she did not leave the area of the Red Plague believers.
He only asked because he wanted to know Flora's determination.
Sunders did not show it on his face, but he actually agreed with Flora's decision in his mind. Since Sunders decided to pursue the path of truth, he should not let go of any opportunity.
Of course, it was not right to act recklessly without considering the danger. However, Sunders knew that Flora was not a brainless person.
Soon, they arrived at the underground pool of boiling blood under Flora's lead.
The thick smell of blood, the pungent smell of sulfur, and the rising white mist assaulted their noses.
Through the mist, Sunders saw Sumesh.
He was not in the pool. Instead, he was wearing formal attire and sitting by a table outside the pool. A cleansing force field surrounded him. He held a teacup in one hand while reading a leather scroll on the table with the other. He looked just like an elegant young noble.
She waved her hand, and the blood mist and white mist around her vanished.
It was at this moment that Sumesh noticed the person at the door.
"Professor." Sumesh's eyes lit up. He stood up and saluted Sunders.
Sunders nodded in return.
Without further ado, Sunders asked about Sumesh's condition. "Can you still activate your Nightmare Domain?"
Sumesh hesitated. "About 80% of my Nightmare Domain is damaged. I can't activate it on my own. If I want to force it open, I'll need a nightmare stone. But I'm afraid the Nightmare Domain will continue to crumble. "
Sunders took out a high-quality nightmare stone from his pocket and tossed it to Sumesh. "Try it."
Sumesh wouldn't dare to activate the Nightmare Domain on his own. It was no longer a possibility, but a certainty. However, with Sunders by his side, he felt more confident.
He took the stone and held it tightly in his hand. "Thank you, professor."
With that, Sumesh used the Nightmare Stone.
As the nightmare aura from the stone entered his body, Sumesh quickly activated his Nightmare Domain. As more and more illusions appeared around Sumesh's body, his face turned pale. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his eyes turned red.
As an outsider, Flora could see that something was wrong with Sumesh. She gave Sunders a worried look.
Sunders did not pay any attention to Sumesh at all. Instead, he was observing the illusions around him.
The shadow looked like a giant black hole, in which strange figures would appear from time to time. They were only silhouettes, but Sunders could tell what they were: goat-horned demons, snake-tailed succubi, fire demons, lava trolls, bone-winged demons, and so on.
They were all demons from Abyss.
When they appeared, they carried a terrifying demonic aura. However, these demon phantoms didn't appear for long before they completely shattered.
Even the black hole in the background began to crack.
The only thing that did not shatter was the shadow of a dark golden gargoyle. However, as Sumesh activated his Nightmare Domain, cracks began to appear on it.
"That's enough." Sunders confirmed Sumesh's condition.
Out of instinct, Sumesh exhaled and tried to stop activating his Nightmare Domain. However, he could not do so. He could only feel endless pain coming from his brain. The Nightmare Domain that was attached to his mind space began to break away bit by bit, as if it would disappear at any moment.
As Sumesh panicked, an image appeared behind Sunders. It was the image of the Tower of Darkness. Fu Fu wrapped around Sumesh's shattered Nightmare Domain and began to heal it slowly.
Sumesh showed a grateful look. He knew that this was the Nightmare Domain created by Sunders' Black Tower. Sunders was using the main Nightmare Domain in his Nightmare Domain to repair his Abyss Nightmare Domain.
The process of repairing the Nightmare Domain damaged Sunders' Nightmare Domain greatly.
A moment later, Sumesh finally retracted his Nightmare Domain. However, it was already about 85% damaged.
Sumesh gasped for air and tried his best to suppress the pain in his mind. He did not speak, but his bloodshot eyes were asking, "Can I still be saved?"
"Professor, can you fix his Nightmare Domain?" Flora asked. Sumesh had used his Nightmare Domain so many times in order to help them escape from the Red Plague's Chosen. His Nightmare Domain was already damaged to the point of shattering. Flora did not feel good about it either.
Sunders gave Sumesh a cold glance. "Like I said, you shouldn't use your Nightmare Domain in your current condition. You need to rest for a while. You haven't fully stabilized your truth-finder state, and your Nightmare Domain hasn't been repaired, yet you're already using it again. "
"It's my fault. I was the one who invited him …"
Sunders snickered. "It's one thing for him to help you, but it's another for him to use his Nightmare Domain. His Nightmare Domain is the Abyss Nightmare Domain he acquired from the Abyss Plane. Killing Abyss Demons in his Nightmare Domain can repair it to some extent. He can't go to the Abyss Plane right now, but when he followed you to investigate the Blood Fusion Art, he noticed that the Red Plague believers were also infected by the Abyss Plane.
Sunders could see through Sumesh's thoughts.
Sumesh lowered his head in embarrassment. It was obvious that Sumesh used his Nightmare Domain on his own accord.
A Red Plague believer died in his Nightmare Domain. Regardless of whether his Nightmare Domain was repaired or not, he still attracted a bunch of fanatics and almost destroyed his own Nightmare Domain.
Sumesh mumbled, "I didn't expect a Chosen to show up either."
Sunders humphed when he saw the guilty look on Sumesh's face. He did not comment further on Sumesh's behavior.
"Your Nightmare Domain is on the verge of being destroyed. The only way is to give it up, repair it for several decades, and put it back together again. This is the safest option."
Sumesh knew this as well, but he was still hesitating.
It was not that he could not wait for several decades. But … where would he find a suitable Nightmare Domain after that?
A Nightmare Domain was a unique demiplane. It could only be formed when the Nightmare Domain merged with the real world. And even if it was formed, it might not be suitable for him.
Therefore, they would not be waiting for a few decades. Perhaps it would be even longer.
While Sumesh was hesitating, Flora asked, "Sir, you mentioned that we're going to abandon the Nightmare Domain and rebuild it. If that's the case, there should be another way, right?"
Sumesh also looked up at Sunders with a hopeful look.
"There is another way. You need a Nightmare Domain that is far more powerful than your current one to repair it for you."
A Nightmare Domain that was far more powerful than Sumesh's current one … Sumesh's face turned pale again. That was impossible.
Flora did not have a Nightmare Domain, so she did not know the difference between different levels. "Not even Professor's Nightmare Domain?"
"No." Sunders paused. "You need a Nightmare Domain that is at least as powerful as the one in Sleepless City."
Flora knew something about the Nightmare Domain in Sleepless City. The so-called Nightmare Domain of Sleepless City was actually the demiplane under the dome of the city. It was a real Nightmare Domain controlled by a powerful nightmare creature. Until now, no wizard organization in the southern region had dared to set foot in it.
In fact, the dome of Sleepless City extended to the entire Evernight Kingdom. The Evernight Kingdom had truly become an evernight kingdom that would never see the light of day again.
Only a Nightmare Domain of such a level could repair Sumesh's Abyss Nightmare Domain. Flora did not know much about Nightmare Domains, but she knew it was impossible.
Everything became silent again. Despair and helplessness were spreading around Sumesh's body.
Sunders did not say anything. He only looked at Sumesh in silence.
Sumesh finally spoke in a desperate tone, "Let's remove the Nightmare Domain then. The sooner we do it, the sooner we can go back to Brute Cavern."
Sumesh closed his eyes and signaled Sunders to do it.
Sunders did not do it right away. Instead, he spoke in a low voice, "My Nightmare Domain can't help you, but someone else's Nightmare Domain can."
Sumesh opened his eyes and stared at Sunders with a confused look.
Flora did the same. Sunders said that only a Nightmare Domain as powerful as the one in Sleepless City could repair Sumesh's Abyss Nightmare Domain. If Sunders could not handle such a powerful Nightmare Domain, who else could?
"Angor's dream wasteland," Sunders explained in a soft voice. "Angor's dream wasteland."
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
