Chapter 37 - 34: Blood-Red Rainbow Light Piercing the Sky

Chapter 37: Chapter 34: Blood-Red Rainbow Light Piercing the Sky

Large-Scale Nightmare: Withered Wood Forest.

The west.

Gray mist drifted through the air. A spring pool, enclosed by a pile of large boulders, stood tall here.

The pool was about two meters high. From a distance, it looked quite spectacular, with spring water bubbling up from the top with a loud BUBBLE BUBBLE.

However, the gushing water was not clear in the slightest; it was a deep blue.

So deep it appeared purple, and so purple it appeared black!

The entire spring pool was permeated with an eerie and ominous aura.

"Based on the clues we’ve pieced together, this Spring Eye is the core of the entire Nightmare World," Profound Sword explained. "It pollutes humans, turning them into Ghost Shadows in the gray mist, and it pollutes Wizards, turning them into Anomalies."

Profound Sword was describing the "background" or "script" of this entire Nightmare World.

Of course, their only reason for understanding the script was to avoid danger or conquer the Nightmare.

Hair Ghost frowned. "But there are several Ghost Shadows wandering around the Pollution Spring, and we can’t be sure if there are more. If we want to destroy the Pollution Spring, we’ll inevitably be discovered by the Ghost Shadows."

These Ghost Shadows were no mere lackeys!

To deal with the Ghost Shadows, they could only rely on their three main fighters. But even if the three of them combined forces, they could slay at most one Ghost Shadow.

Naturally, they didn’t actually need to slay them.

If they could just stall the Ghost Shadows and destroy the Pollution Spring, the mission would likely be completed.

Still, there were simply too many of them.

Xi Xue raised an eyebrow. "Mere Ghost Shadows! We should just avoid the brunt of their attack... Uh, I feel like we should still avoid them."

She was just impulsive, not stupid.

Her intuition told her they couldn’t win.

But just as they were pondering a strategy and preparing to ask the Manager for his opinion, the Ghost Shadows wandering in the distance—one, two, three of them...

Pairs of eyes suddenly locked onto them in unison.

A cold, malicious gaze enveloped them as roars echoed out.

They lunged!

What should they do?

"We fight!"

If they ran, they were ultimately just mortals of flesh and blood; they could never outrun these Ghost Shadows, which were faster than track stars.

SWISH!

Hair Ghost’s messy long hair detached from his scalp and flew out, transforming into a Wet Hair Ghost dripping with water, quickly blocking two lunging Ghost Shadows.

But in the blink of an eye, the Wet Hair Ghost was torn to pieces.

After all, it wasn’t a true Anomaly.

Xi Xue’s hair spread like snowflakes, then ignited with flames to form a massive blazing web. However, this killing move—which had been a trump card against small spiders—was breached in an instant like wet paper before the Ghost Shadows, which were as strong as Anomalies.

If it were just a matter of dodging and stalling, she might have been able to tango with a single Ghost Shadow for a while.

But if she wanted to trap them, relying solely on the power radiating from the Curse Object itself was far from enough.

Not to mention there was more than one Ghost Shadow!

Facing the Ghost Shadows that broke through the flaming web and pounced at her, Xi Xue still did not dodge or retreat.

She needed to buy time for Profound Sword.

Therefore, as everyone knew, Xi Xue possessed three Curse Objects, and each was extraordinary.

Among them, Hair Snow was her reward for clearing her initial Nightmare. The other two were relics left behind by her parents!

One was the Blazing Flame Gloves.

The other was the Snow-Blowing Transverse Flute.

This was a Curse Object of a considerably high Grade. Logically speaking, a Fusion Stage Dream Descender like her would find it difficult to even use, but since it was a family relic, it formed a bloodline resonance the moment she held it.

The melodious sound of the flute drifted through the air.

The flute’s melody formed wind and transformed into snow.

Xi Xue’s face instantly turned pale, and she shivered as if caught in a chill, but a raging blizzard had already engulfed the several Ghost Shadows nearby, freezing them into ice sculptures.

CRACK.

CRACK!

The ice sculptures began to fracture.

Not far away, Hair Ghost forcefully activated his Curse Object as well, causing the Wet Hair Ghost to continuously reform.

His eyes were bloodshot, and streaks of mottled marks crawled up his cheeks.

"Are you done yet?!"

"Done!"

Profound Sword let out a low roar.

The unfamiliar Curse Power finally constructed a specific symbol within his body, Spreading along his arm into the Evil Eye Sword.

Universal Curse Art—Instantaneous Sword!

Cold, gloomy Curse Power erupted from the blade, transforming from formless into a tangible deep blue, intertwining with the inherent luster of the Evil Eye Sword itself.

In the next instant, Profound Sword took a step forward, his figure blurring into multiple afterimages before reappearing right in front of the Pollution Spring.

Sword raised!

Sword descended!

"BOOM!"

Relying on the power of his Curse Art, Profound Sword leaped into the air, clearing the man-sized boulders to drive the deep blue sword glow straight into the core of the Spring Eye. The strike clove the polluted spring water apart.

It also split the boulders, causing the bluish-purple sewage to trickle out.

However, his expression was grim.

This strike had fallen far short of destroying the Spring Eye’s core.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! He delivered several more Slashes. Yet, having lost the amplification of the Curse Art, his sword glow could barely part the water to strike the Spring Eye at the very center.

What should he do?

What should he do?

In the distance, more Ghost Shadows seemed to appear within the gray mist.

The ice sculptures had completely shattered.

Suffering from the backlash of his Curse Object, Hair Ghost’s body was already covered in mottled marks.

Profound Sword gritted his teeth, stepped into the sewage, and swung his sword in a continuous flurry of Slashes.

He could only risk his life in a desperate gamble. Even if it was a point of no return, he had no other choice.

As for the Manager?

He had indeed hoped the Manager would lend a hand, and their original plan had been to return, discuss it with the Manager, and devise a countermeasure to take down this Pollution Spring.

Alas, things had changed far too quickly.

This place was extremely far from the Safe Zone shop. Even if they had a means of communication, by the time the Manager rushed over, it would be too late!

Moreover, there was a high probability the Manager wouldn’t step out of the Safe Zone; it was impossible for him to take risks for strangers like them. The Manager might have some methods, but they would require preparation and time.

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Profound Sword gritted his teeth.

He could only rely on himself!

To fight for a silver lining of survival.

Fight!

...

Meanwhile, in the Safe Zone.

The College Student guarding the walkie-talkie turned pale. "Manager, this is bad! Big Shot Profound Sword and the others have been discovered by the Ghost Shadows and are being besieged! What do we do? What do we do?"

Just by listening to the audio and using their imagination, they could picture how critical the situation was.

Previously, a single Ghost Shadow had cost them the life of one Dream Descender.

And it took the combined efforts of the several Big Shots to finally slay that Ghost Shadow.

Now, there were at least several Ghost Shadows.

And it seemed even more Ghost Shadows were about to emerge from the gray mist.

The College Student, the Pajama Woman, and the others looked at the Manager.

In truth, they understood that the situation had occurred too suddenly and the Manager likely didn’t have a solution either. Yet, they still subconsciously looked to him. With the Big Shots absent, the Manager was their only pillar of support.

"The dense forest to the west—the place Profound Sword and the others explored for an hour to reach? It should be around this area on the map," the Manager said.

"But if we look at the straight-line distance, it’s actually not that far.

"I’ll leave it to you."

Leave it to whom?

They only saw the Manager tap on the desk.

Instantly, a blood-red silhouette was outlined, rapidly turning clear.

It opened its eyes.

A dense Blood Mist swirled around its body!

Back in the Nightmare Dormitory, Xi Xue had once relied on her Hair Curse Object to tangle with an Anomaly for a full dozen seconds—a feat worthy of being called heroic.

However, Shi An clearly knew that the actions of Anomalies within a Nightmare were restricted by rules.

Initially, the Blood Hand Seal could only slowly extend one palm print at a time.

Later on, its palm prints began Spreading much faster, and it was even capable of Walking on Air.

But it was still restricted.

When Control Stage experts claimed they could tango with and resist Anomalies, they were referring to restricted Anomalies.

Right now, however, Little Blood was unrestricted.

The only thing capable of restricting it was Shi An.

Shi An issued his command.

"Go."

The Blood Hand Seal’s clay-sculpture-like body instantly transformed into Blood Mist. The Blood Mist condensed, turning into a streak of blood-red rainbow light.

It burst open the main door, howling as it swept across the ground, tearing through the gray mist and the sky!

Outside the Pollution Spring.

The ice sculptures had shattered, and the wet hair was torn to shreds.

Duckbill Hat stared at the monsters lunging over like afterimages, shivering uncontrollably.

But then, a streak of blood-red rainbow light flashed past, dispersing the gloom.

Within the rainbow light, a tiny figure stood tall in midair.

It reached out a hand.

A blood-red palm print pressed down, descending inch by inch.

With every inch it fell, the palm print grew a fraction larger.

Until—

"BOOM!"

Half a meter in front of Duckbill Hat, a monster with grayish-black skin resembling withered bark slammed face-first into the ground, its body sinking deeply into the mud.

Imprinted on its back was a massive, dark red palm print dripping with blood.