Chapter 349: Chapter 349

"The Murderer Kruger?!"

But Tom Thomson immediately dismissed his own guess, shouting at the empty rain curtain before him, "Impossible! The last place Kruger was resurrected was in the Royal Capital of the Grand Duchy of Curland. It’s only been two years since it was killed by the Church’s Night Watch. Even for a Curse Spirit, it’s not possible to resurrect so quickly, let alone come to the colonies to kill. Who in the world are you?"

At the same time, he suddenly clenched his fists. The blood-colored Supernatural Aura burst forth from his body, transferring to every soldier of the duchy nearby, exploding into dazzling Iron Blood Halos. He had rashly activated the Knight Profession’s core ability at the Third Order, Knight Commander: "It can gather the strength of the knights under one’s command. The stronger the force, the greater the number of people, the better the effect. And it can bestow various aura abilities on the subordinates, enabling them to exhibit a combat power far greater than the sum of their parts. Only this Third Order ability can surpass the Pirate profession’s power-gathering Pirate Battle Flag (Chapter 83)."

Thomson roared, "Gather up, form the ranks!"

Soldiers hiding in other longhouses, as if infused with courage, immediately pulled out their military sabers and charged out. The blood-colored divine light on their bodies merged into one, and the military formation of more than two hundred people appeared as solid as a copper wall and iron barrier. The aura condensed the bloodthirsty courage of the soldiers into substance, providing comprehensive protection while being most suitable for dealing with ethereal Spiritual Bodies.

Whether facing evil spirits or Evil Spirits, fear is the surest path to ruin. Moreover, in this world of low magic, even the mightiest Kingly Titles amounted to no more than the power to fight a thousand men; nothing is more powerful than collective strength. Even facing a Tier 4 Hero without his Guardsmen, Major Thomson was confident he could boldly execute him!

However, it was still futile. The seemingly impregnable copper wall and iron barrier were as if non-existent before that frighteningly hideous murderer. As one soldier after another died tragically, torn to pieces, the rest of the survivors were scared out of their wits, and their morale completely collapsed. The Iron Blood Halo, founded upon the courage of blood, naturally failed on the spot.

"Help me, don’t kill me!" ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝓷𝓮𝓽

As the first soldier screamed and broke ranks, fleeing desperately toward the warship at the seaside, the copper wall and iron barrier fell apart. The rest of the soldiers had no intention of being the ones who ran slower than their comrades and scattered in all directions. The sailors were still there on the ship; maybe if they could get on the warship, they could escape from that terrifying existence.

"This is impossible! Even the real Nightmare Kruger doesn’t have such a heaven-defying ability to completely ignore the Iron Blood Halo." Thomson’s face changed drastically. He, too, was a battle-hardened warrior, but it was still difficult for him to imagine what kind of force was needed to completely overrun his troops.

The head of the Black Witch Taggart beside him suddenly split into four segments, and an iron claw effortlessly pierced through his chest, clutching a still-beating heart.

A voice that sounded quite young and magnetic chuckled beside Thomson’s ear, "Heh heh heh, you don’t really think you’re still in the real world, do you? Open your eyes and see. From the moment the first drop of rain fell, you’ve already entered... the shallow Dream Realm. If not for that Spirit Medium leaving, and you failing to distinguish reality from the dream until now, it wouldn’t have been so easy for me, this Nightmare, to kill you all."

Thomson slowly lowered his head, looking at his own still-pulsating heart. As if realizing something, his eyes gradually widened. "Able to speak, sentient... you’re not a Curse Spirit but the mastermind hidden in the Dream Realm spoken of by the Archbishop! You... how did you come out of the Dream Realm on your own?"

The voice seemed somewhat amused. "Arrogant outsiders, you don’t actually believe all enemies are like those in knightly tales, foolishly waiting at the topmost level of the castle, watching with open eyes as you clear out the underlings and enhance your own power before facing them, do you? When one discovers an existence that can threaten them, of course, they should crush it before it has a chance to grow!"

But Thomson could no longer hear his words.

THUMP! He fell to the ground, lifeless.

In the increasingly dense fog, a bizarre silhouette slowly extracted itself from the Spiritual World strewn with corpses. It materialized in the air into a hybrid of an octopus and jellyfish. Its head resembled a jellyfish, topped with a semi-transparent, thick bell, underneath which hung tattered human blood vessels, organs, and the tendrils of jellyfish, the tentacles of an octopus, or the withered limbs of reptiles.

This was an already mutated Mythical Creature, Nightmare, a formidable presence akin to the Bloodthirsty Cult’s Night Demon and The Skinners’ Church’s Snake-haired Gorgon.

The Nightmare’s somewhat amorphous form changed again, first into an ugly half-fish, half-human appearance, and finally into a handsome young gentleman in formal attire, wearing gold-rimmed glasses. It was none other than the exiled Bayfolk who had appeared numerous times in the dream city of Luanyun City in the New World!

Compared to the path of balance that Byron must tread—embracing both Divinity and Beastliness, the Ladder of Glory, and Forbidden Knowledge, striving for mastery in both—this young man, who had utterly surrendered to the Old Gods and succumbed to his Beastliness, had clearly traveled much farther on the path of Forbidden Knowledge. He had completed the third sacrificial ritual that countless Black Witches could only dream of, becoming a Mythical Creature comparable to a Tier 4 Hero. And for the Bloodline Codex that could reach the Divine Domain, this was still far from the end.

The young gentleman elegantly bent down and blew out the ritual candles the Spirit Medium had placed, destroying the other’s beacon for return. He then took out a piece of sheepskin parchment with a black background and red letters and flicked it towards the corpses strewn on the ground. A red light flashed, and the corpses on the ground had all been transmuted into the Philosopher’s Stone by the Contract Devil, once the Great Pirate Flint.

The power of Greed Worm Mammon works surprisingly well in such places. With its ability resembling a wishing machine, it’s truly worthy of the title ’God of Wealth and Greed’ from the Mythical Era.

He pocketed one-third of the Faustian Pact and strode towards the sea. The three warships docked here were not spared either, as their crews had all fallen into a deep slumber as well.

The young gentleman took out a thick tome from his breast pocket. The cover was adorned with fish scales, its corners bound in brass, and in the center of the front cover lay a skeletal octopus. This was a Forbidden Book of the Deep Dive Church, the "Spiral City Manual," and also a powerful Cursed Object belonging to the Grimoire category.

"In the name of the seabed sanctuary of Luanyun and its inhabitants, praise be to the Slumbering God. In the name of the Mark of Kish and all who bow to this mark, in the name of the Gate of the Deep Sea and all who use it..."

Long, undulating waves of strange incantations poured from his mouth. The humid air rippled as several translucent creatures, resembling both jellyfish and octopuses, emerged from the deep Dream Realm and attached themselves to the warships. Immediately, the three warships became infested with barnacles, as if they had been submerged for many years, sprouting tentacles similar to an octopus warship. The slumbering sailors’ bodies also rapidly mutated, transforming into marine biological colonies that covered the entire warship, armoring them with carapaces.

The three warships then twisted their bodies and plunged underwater, guided by a common source towards the May Wind, which was hiding in the deep sea, licking its wounds. The return of the fully formed octopus warship had clearly begun its countdown.

At this moment, behind him, strange sounds also gradually emerged from the still-slumbering native tribe: "The Luanyan Epoch is coming; all beings shall perish. In the eternal mansion of the deep sea, the Slumbering God, though dead, still dreams, silently waiting... Enter the dream, enter the dream..."

It seemed the Old God’s dream whispers from the dream city of Luanyun City had already descended upon the real world. For the natives, these two waves of foreigners—one from the Northern Hemisphere and the other from the Southern Hemisphere—vying with each other only resulted in them becoming the greatest victims.

The young gentleman watched the departing warships and revealed a satisfied smile. "If it weren’t for these self-righteous fools who helped me connect the Dream Realm of the seabed creature races and the natives, achieving a ’docking’ between the collective subconsciousness of two vast races, it wouldn’t have been easy for me to return to the Bantaan Archipelago through the dreamscape. The only thing I find unbearable is the environment here... ugh, it’s simply too dry! I do hope the Luanyan Epoch arrives quickly so the Deep Dive Church that serves my lord can reshape this world."

Looking at the pouring rain, the "dryness" he referred to clearly wasn’t the climate. It was the plentiful Source Tide that became more abundant the further one was from the Old Continent.

When the Mad Blood Calamity creates more converts for my lord, we can coordinate with the priests of the Deep Dive Church to perform Anchoring in reality and hold the Advent Ceremony, summoning more of the Touch of the Kraken into the Mortal World. The first tentacle, currently hunting in the North Sea, could only approach the Material World of the Bantaan Archipelago with the help of the massive sacrifices from the destruction of the Taya Empire. Eventually, it was brought to the North Sea Region by the fools of Hightins. This time, without such large-scale Blood Sacrifices, the dreams of the local Bantaan natives alone are not enough. At least a colonial city with a population of over ten thousand must be sacrificed. With more Anchors and ’variables,’ we can successfully summon the second tentacle of my lord. Let me see if there’s a colony isolated overseas, abundant with seawater, crowded with colonizers, of complex nationality and race, yet not strong in power...

The Bayfolk youth scanned a waterproofed nautical chart, his gaze finally settling on... the intersection of the east-west sea routes. A smug and unrestrained smile crossed his lips.

This is the place. Through my bloodline sense, there seem to be descendants of a very pure Bayfolk Bloodline there. To welcome the return of my lord, I have a good plan.