Chapter 246: Nightmare
Ellen was a maid in the City Lord’s mansion. She was sold to a trafficker by her parents when she was six years old.
Because of her pretty looks, she was passed around and eventually entered the City Lord’s mansion, working as a servant attending to guests.
She is now twenty years old.
Since she had memories, she had been busy, flattering, and working hard for food, drink, and survival.
Now, thinking back carefully, it seems there were no good times in her short ten-plus years of memories.
She doesn’t even understand what ‘happiness’ is.
Until now!
Walking quickly through the familiar ‘passage’, a smile unconsciously appeared on Ellen’s face.
‘What is happiness?’
‘Not having to worry about food and drink, not having to worry about being bullied or exploited by others, having endless delicacies to enjoy, being able to have water to drink when thirsty and soft, well-made bedding when tired, just like the people I used to serve, and even having handsome young men to play and frolic with.’
“This is a magical paradise!”
“Upon entering this paradise, one can have eternal youth and immortality, and can fully enjoy the world’s prosperity.”
A faint voice echoed from ahead:
“Come in here, and the suffering of the mortal world will be completely gone, leaving only endless pleasure.”
“Swish…”
At the end of the passage was a water curtain.
Ellen quickened her pace, letting the water from the curtain wash over her body, and stepped into a large hall.
The rough linen clothes on her body had somehow turned into soft silk, pure white and smooth.
The calluses on her hands and the dirt on her feet had also disappeared, and the skin on her body was like that of a newborn baby.
The ground beneath her feet was paved with gold and jade, the walls on both sides were adorned with pearls, the small stream not far away flowed with fine wine, and the fruits on the trees were soft bread and delicious desserts…
The sky was azure, and the air was fresh.
There were soft couches everywhere to lie down on, and she could reach out and pluck the jujubes that were once unattainable.
“Ellen!”
Several handsome young men quickly came to greet her:
“You’re here, come quickly, we found a good place to play hide-and-seek in the back hall, we were just waiting for you.”
“Hehe…” Ellen smiled and approached, holding hands with the young men as they ran towards the back hall, her figure lively and full of joy.
A transparent squid, the size of a palm, fell from behind her, its tentacles full of eyes and serrations wriggling thoughtfully:
‘A magical paradise?’
‘This is a dreamscape that was created, and then all the sleeping people of Death City were pulled in?’
‘Not bad!’
He also had the ability to create illusions with his mental power, and he had even set up a soul cage outside the Divine Domain Fragment.
But he had no way to make an illusion as real as this, and even less to accommodate so many people.
‘A dream demon!’
‘No wonder Mevia couldn’t deal with it, this thing is hidden in other people’s dreams, it can never be killed unless you find its true body!’
Karl muttered a few words softly, then swung his tentacles, burrowing towards the ground, and extending like tree roots.
His tentacles expanded in all directions from the hall, connecting all the people who had entered the dreamscape.
‘Seven hundred and sixteen people!’
‘Seventeen palaces, more than two thousand illusionary servants, and it can accommodate more than seven hundred people in a dream, this guy’s mental power must have exceeded forty!’
Karl muttered to himself, his tentacles quickly wriggling:
‘An Upper Follower?’
‘I’m at a loss!’
A dream-specialized Upper Follower, if he wasn’t careful, even he might not be able to retreat unscathed.
If he had known this, he definitely wouldn’t have agreed to Mevia’s request.
“Who’s there?”
Suddenly.
A cold voice rang out in Karl’s ‘ear’, and a feeling like being pricked by needles rose in his heart.
“Hmm!”
Karl grunted, his tentacles suddenly shaking.
Instantly.
The ‘paradise’ ground trembled, and the hundreds of people playing inside couldn’t help but stop their actions, their faces showing panic.
“Courting death!”
Before his ‘eyes’, ‘Barn’ suddenly appeared in front of Karl, raising his hand to activate a spell.
“Barn?”
Karl’s heart trembled, and then he came back to his senses.
The dream demon was just using his own scattered thought waves, and from them, extracted someone he feared.
‘Barn’ naturally couldn’t have come back to life, he was just a copy of Barn, created by the dream demon to attack him.
Soul-Piercing Thorn!
“Bang!”
A large hole was blasted open in Karl’s squid head on the spot, blood splattering everywhere, and the intense pain made it difficult for him to control himself.
The injuries in the dream would be reflected in reality, and this kind of injury was no different from one that actually landed on his body.
***
Fortunately, Karl’s constitution was special, and even if his head was shattered, he wouldn’t die in a short time, let alone just a hole.
“Wake up!”
He roared, his tentacles dancing wildly.
“Rumble…”
The entire ‘paradise’ trembled violently, and the people sleeping in it were also awakened by the loud noise.
Losing the people who were dreaming, the dreamscape immediately became less real.
“Stop!”
Dozens of ‘blades’ slashed at Karl’s tentacles, causing him to lose contact with the people in the dreamscape.
Although more than half of the people were awakened, there were still quite a few who remained in the dreamscape.
“Hmph!”
The dream demon snorted coldly, his ten fingers flicking, and Soul-Piercing Thorns that directly attacked the mind shot out, as he spoke disdainfully:
“So you’re the helper Mevia sent?”
“It’s useless!”
“As long as there are still people dreaming, I can leave at any time, you will never be able to catch me.”
“Humph…” Karl waved his tentacles to intercept the attacks, but he wasn’t as anxious anymore:
“So you’re just a Middle Follower, the reason why the dreamscape is so real is because you’re borrowing the energy of the dreamers.”
“No wonder!”
“But a dream is still a dream, and there will always be a day when you wake up.”
“Haha…” The dream demon laughed:
“Foolish!”
“The real world is full of cruelty, even gods have worries, only dreams can create a perfect world.”
“Mevia accuses me of creating illusions and giving people unrealistic fantasies, but doesn’t she think about the shortcomings of the real world?”
“The paradise I create can both satisfy their imagination of a better life, and increase my strength, what’s wrong with that?”
“What’s the use of saying all this?” Karl lunged forward, a Buddha phantom appearing behind him, pressing down.
Ten Thousand Buddha HandsโBodhi Seal!
Bodhi is wisdom, which can see through all illusions, and is most suitable for dealing with existences that cause trouble in dreams.
“Bang!”
The palm print shattered a side hall, but the dream demon’s figure had already disappeared.
“It’s useless.”
The dream demon appeared above the hall not far away:
“As long as there are still people dreaming, I can go to anyone’s dream, and never die.”
“Then don’t dream!” Karl snorted coldly, the Buddha phantom behind him rose into the air, revealing the appearance of an angry Vajra, roaring:
“Wake up!”
“Wake up!”
“…”
The huge Vajra head filled the entire dreamscape, and the aura of fear caused the dreamers to wake up abruptly.
But there were still twenty or thirty people, who, although trembling with fear, were still unwilling to wake up from their dreams.
“My body in the real world has suffered from decades of illness, even if I die, I want to die here.”
“I know this is a dream, but so what? As an ordinary person, I can only have the beautiful dreams here that I can never achieve in the outside world.”
“From birth until now, I’ve been a laborer, a slave for my whole life, I don’t want to continue anymore, just let me die here!”
“…”
“Great Lord of Dreams, I am willing to contribute everything to you, just so that I can live here forever.”
“Haha…” The dream demon laughed:
“See?”
“Even if you are strong, you can’t satisfy people’s desires, this is the eternal shortcoming of the real world.”
“Hmm?”
Before he finished speaking, his expression suddenly froze.
One after another, the people in the ‘paradise’ fell to the ground, shattering like bubbles.
This is…
The bodies of the dreamers in the real world were dead!
*
*
*
Death City.
Mevia stood in mid-air, her eyes fixed on the crowd below.
Thousands of Death Knights were knocking on doors, pushing open houses to check, and as soon as they found someone sleeping, they would directly chop off their heads.
“The real world is cruel, but it is unavoidable, even an existence like me has to struggle to survive…”
“There’s no use in running away!”
