North Shore of Conquest, Navaja.
Late at night in Navaja, the Pseudo-Moth's chrysalis, which had been slowly growing in the city's underground space, was now rapidly maturing under the city's underground catalytic ritual. The dream cocoons that hadn't been fully absorbed yet were forcibly swallowed by the chrysalis. The moment the chrysalis was fully ripened, the giant chrysalis finally cracked open. Immediately, an incredibly powerful hypnotic force spread from the giant chrysalis, affecting the entire Navaja. All living creatures in the city who were still awake were forcibly put to sleep by this force, including Dorothy, who was currently scouting.
After observing the strange situation of the Moth's followers and the patients with wasting sickness in the mental hospital, Dorothy became vigilant. Therefore, the moment that powerful drowsiness descended, the prepared Dorothy had a brief moment to resist. She knew deeply that she absolutely could not fall into the blurry dream like this. In the blurry dream, she would only be a puppet of the Black Dream Hunter Group. And at this moment, there was only one way for her to resist falling asleep in this short time.
"Hmm… Hmm ah ah ah ah!!"
In the hotel room, the girl sitting on the wooden chair trembled all over, her hands clasped to her chest. Amidst the tingling pain, she couldn't help but cry out, her eyes wide and rolled upwards, revealing a large expanse of white.
Dorothy had never thought before that she would one day experience the taste of her own electricity. Although she controlled the voltage and current, the taste of being electrocuted was still not pleasant. This electric shock was definitely the most severe injury her body had suffered since she transmigrated.
After the electric shock that permeated her entire body, Dorothy slumped powerlessly onto her chair. She stared blankly ahead with her mouth open, her legs on the floor and her dangling hands still twitching occasionally. Although she looked a bit disheveled at this moment, the good thing was that she was not asleep. The intense sensation brought by the electric shock allowed her to temporarily withstand that powerful hypnotic force, preventing her from falling into a hazy dream where she knew nothing.
"Hoo… Hoo… Hoo… I didn't expect to taste the feeling of being electrocuted myself so soon after gaining the Thunder Technique User ability."
Gasping, Dorothy sat up straight in the chair. She knew very well now that it was not time to rest. She had to seize this brief moment of clarity to do something more important.
"Now… taking advantage of the time gained by the electric shock… I must finish the preparations…"
Dorothy sat properly in the chair, then she silently closed her eyes and began to give herself self-suggestions in her mind, preparing for conscious dreaming.
And just a few minutes after Dorothy closed her eyes, another new wave of powerful hypnotic fluctuations came from the distant underground, quickly reaching Dorothy again. Dorothy's mind, which had just been stimulated awake, felt a strong drowsiness once more.
This time, Dorothy did not use electric shock again to keep herself awake. Instead, she let this drowsiness hypnotize her. Just like that, Dorothy sat on the hotel chair and fell into a deep sleep. However, this sleep was not a Drowsiness death sleep.
After Dorothy completely fell asleep, her consciousness quickly condensed in the dream. Soon, Dorothy's dream entity condensed in her dream space. What appeared before Dorothy's eyes at this moment was the scene of Green Shade Town No. 17, her study.
Using the conscious dreaming method, Dorothy successfully entered the dream state while maintaining a clear consciousness. If she hadn't prepared for conscious dreaming, she would have fallen into a blurry dream where she was completely unconscious and knew nothing. In the state of conscious dreaming, she could think normally in the dream to deal with the current situation.
"Finally, I have time to think. Such a city-wide Extraordinary influence suddenly appeared, and not just one wave. What exactly happened? Did something happen to Black Dream and the Pseudo-Moth they were cultivating?"
In the dream space, Dorothy sat on the chair in her room and murmured. She didn't expect such a situation to suddenly appear just as she was preparing to investigate the Black Dream Hunter Group.
Since Dorothy had seen many awake people suddenly fall asleep during her previous monitoring of the city, she understood that the drowsiness affecting her was not only directed at her but was a super-large-scale hypnotic influence targeting the entire city. The source of this influence was beyond the limit of ordinary Chalk level Extraordinary, and according to Little Fox's information, the only thing in the entire Navaja that could do this was the Pseudo-Moth that the Black Dream Hunter Group was cultivating.
According to Little Fox, the Pseudo-Moth at the egg stage is equivalent to an Apprentice, the worm stage is equivalent to Black Earth, the chrysalis stage is equivalent to Chalk, and the adult stage is equivalent to Scarlet. This kind of hypnotic fluctuation affecting the entire small city is clearly only achievable by an Extraordinary ability close to the Scarlet level.
'Scarlet level Extraordinary ability… Could it be that those guys' chrysalis has successfully molted into a Pseudo-Moth? It can't be such a coincidence, can it? I just prepared to target them and then they successfully molted? This feels a bit unreasonable… Could it be that I'm so unlucky that I arrived in Navaja just before these guys completed their molting?'
In the dream space, Dorothy covered her forehead, thinking somewhat depressedly in her mind. If the Pseudo-Moth had really successfully molted in the current situation, then things would be really serious.
'Anyway, I don't know anything in the dream right now. I have to continue to get information from the real world. Let's try to wake up first.'
Dorothy thought this way. Although her spirit was awake in the dream now, her body was still in a state of unconsciousness in reality, unable to move and at the mercy of others. This was very dangerous, so getting her body moving again was the primary task.
Then, Dorothy immediately began to try her best to wake up, but no matter how hard she tried, she still couldn't wake up. Encountering this situation, Dorothy couldn't help but frown.
'This is… deep sleep? Sure enough, the sleep induced by this ability is deep sleep that cannot be awakened voluntarily. In that case, I have to find another way.'
Dorothy thought this in her dream. Fortunately, after Vanya was unknowingly deeply hypnotized last time, Dorothy had thought about what to do if she encountered this situation in the future, and she came up with some methods and made some related preparations.
In the dream space, Dorothy, sitting on the chair, concentrated her spirit and began to use her Extraordinary ability. That's right, Dorothy in a conscious dream could use her ability! As long as her consciousness remained clear, her ability could be used.
Dorothy did not choose to use the Summoning Thunder Master's ability to electrocute herself awake. She was not sure if a non-lethal electric shock could electrocute her awake after successfully entering deep sleep. Even if it could electrocute her awake, she would fall asleep again when the next wave of ability influence arrived. She couldn't keep electrocuting herself, could she? Dorothy suspected that she wouldn't last many rounds of this repeated electrocution before she was gone.
So Dorothy didn't use the Summoning Thunder Master's ability, but the Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch's. Dorothy used the Living Puppet's ability to link the puppet mark on her body and manipulated herself as a Living Puppet. After Vanya was put into a dream, Dorothy had also drawn a puppet mark on herself in case of need.
Just like that, under Dorothy's operation, the body that had originally fallen into deep sleep in reality slowly opened its eyes again. A screen appeared before the spiritual body of Dorothy in the dream space, and on the screen was the scene that her body was seeing at this moment.
With the puppet mark, Dorothy successfully manipulated her body, which had fallen into deep sleep, from within her conscious dream. Now, even in her dream, Dorothy could see the scene in reality!
And because Dorothy is essentially still in a state of sleep and hasn't woken up, with only a Living Puppet active in reality, Dorothy in this state is completely unafraid of being hypnotized again. No matter how many times that powerful hypnotic wave comes, Dorothy in reality will not stop moving, because at this moment, she is essentially already a sleeping person, already in a dreamland, so any further hypnosis is useless.
Relying on lucid dreaming and Living Puppet control, Dorothy is directly immune to hypnosis.
"Heh... it feels like I'm controlling some giant robot from a cockpit right now..."
In the dream space, Dorothy's spiritual body couldn't help but comment as she looked at the screen reflecting the outside scene. Then, after glancing around the study, she snapped her fingers. The surrounding scene began to blur and change according to her will, eventually turning into a rather sci-fi cockpit. She was sitting in the cockpit seat, just short of shouting "Dorothy, launch!"
"So the current task is to first figure out what happened..."
Murmuring like this, Dorothy controlled her body to slowly stand up from the chair.
...
At Navaja Port, many ships of the Church fleet were still anchored there.
The powerful hypnosis from beneath the City did not take long to spread here. Under the influence of this power, the sailors on guard and patrol all fell to the ground without warning, falling into a deep sleep. Even the most devoted worshippers in the cabins could not resist this powerful drowsiness and fell unconscious to the floor.
This included Jode, who was working in his cabin. When the drowsiness struck, he couldn't resist and immediately fell asleep on his desk. The other Chalk Extraordinary in the fleet also couldn't withstand the powerful fatigue and collapsed at their respective posts.
If the Chalk Extraordinary were like this, let alone the Extraordinary and even ordinary people below them. In just an instant, the large fleet fell into a deathly silent slumber.
In a single cabin on the flagship cruiser of the fleet, an old man in his fifties, wearing a monk's robe, with a thin figure, bald head, and bare feet, was sitting cross-legged on the ground, sleeping peacefully. In front of him was an open Saint Book, and before the Saint Book was a small Saint Father altar.
Judging from the scene, this old monk was affected by the hypnotic wave during his prayer and fell into a coma. Looking at his peaceful sleeping appearance, it seemed he wouldn't wake up until tomorrow.
Just as the old monk was sleeping more and more soundly, something unusual suddenly happened. Behind the old monk, a translucent whip emitting a faint golden Light appeared out of thin air. It automatically whipped violently towards the old monk in the air. Although the translucent whip hitting the old monk's body did not cause any physical effect or leave any marks, it still woke the old monk up and made him cry out in pain.
The old monk, woken by the whipping, widened his eyes, his face full of pain. He immediately looked around and saw the transparent illusory whip behind him gradually disappearing into nothingness.
"I actually fell asleep during prayer... Saint Father... please forgive my slackness."
Seeing the illusory whip disappear, the old monk turned and prayed to the altar in front of him. Soon after, he felt another wave of powerful drowsiness. Just as he was about to fall into a deep sleep, the old monk abruptly closed the Saint Book open in front of him and spoke directly in a stern tone.
"Discipline, no sleeping."
As the stern words were uttered, a golden Light appeared around the old monk's eyes. Immediately, the powerful drowsiness that was invading his consciousness vanished in an instant, and the old monk returned to a state of full energy.
"I didn't expect to encounter such a powerful'Shadow' force in this place..."
Sighing, the old monk stood up from the ground, tied the Saint Book to his waist with a chain, opened the cabin door, and walked out quickly, proceeding along the ship's corridor.
The old monk ignored the sailors who had fallen unconscious asleep in the corridor and walked all the way to the Captain's cabin. After opening the door, he saw Captain Jode sleeping soundly on his desk. Then, he extended his hand in the air, and a translucent golden whip condensed in his hand.
"Sleeping during work hours... even Captain, requires punishment."
Murmuring, the old monk swung the whip in his hand mercilessly towards Jode. The illusory whip struck Jode's body, and Jode, in his deep slumber, cried out in pain, woke up, and fell to the ground in agony.
"Ah! Hah... hah... What, what happened? Monk Weil, why are you here? I was just... ugh..."
Covering his head, Jode, who had fallen to the ground, looked at the old monk in front of him and said in confusion. Just then, a new wave of drowsiness surged in Jode's mind again. Jode, unable to resist, seemed about to fall asleep again.
"Jode Schneider, I command you to abide by the discipline, no sleeping."
Seeing Jode's state, the old monk spoke to him in a stern tone. Hearing the old monk's words, the drowsiness in Jode's mind immediately began to subside. Jode seized this opportunity and immediately spoke.
"Yes, I will abide by your discipline..."
With these words, Jode was immediately affected by a strange influence. His drowsiness vanished instantly, and Jode also stood up silently, panting.
"Hah... hah... This is... hypnosis, and it's hypnosis that even I can't resist, such a powerful'Shadow'... we've been attacked!"
Jode said, panting heavily. At this moment, he had a rough idea of the current situation. The old monk beside him, seeing Jode completely free from sleep, also nodded and spoke.
"Yes, Captain Jode, we have been attacked by the power of'Shadow'. Everyone has been hypnotized. After I was woken by the whip of self-discipline, I immediately came to find you. We are now in danger."
"Thank you for your help. This city hides a power we didn't expect. Monk Weil, please go and wake up Santos and the others! We need to establish defenses now!"
Jode said sternly to the old monk. Just as the old monk nodded, preparing to say something more, a loud bang suddenly came from the distant City.
Hearing the sound, the old monk and Jode exchanged glances, then immediately walked out of the Captain's cabin and onto the deck. They stood on the ship's deck and looked towards the direction from which the loud bang came, and saw a scene that astonished them.
In the distant urban area, behind the dark outlines of the continuous buildings, a massive object was slowly rising. Upon closer inspection, it was clearly a twisted, illusory giant moth.
On its triangular, translucent giant wings, which it was gently fanning, there were dazzling circular patterns everywhere. Its ten-meter-long, plump body's rear abdomen was densely covered with countless white cocoon-like objects, looking like innumerable white lumps. Where insect legs should have been under the front abdomen, countless illusory wriggling tentacles grew. The head at the front of the abdomen had no typical insect mouthparts, replaced instead by countless eyes growing on it.
Grotesque, twisted, even disgusting... the monster from the dream had now emerged from the chrysalis and was soaring in the night sky of Navaja.