North Shore of Conquest, Navaja.
In the nocturnal Navaja, after the powerful invisible force swept through the entire city, almost everyone in the city fell into a deep slumber. In this desolate silence, grotesque and illusory twisted monsters floated in the night sky, becoming the nightmare of all witnesses.
Under the ritual of the Black Dream Hunter Group, the Pseudo-Moth from the Dream World had already descended into reality. The giant moth, ten meters long, flew and hovered over the city, its chaotic triangular wings flapping. The white cocoon on its body slowly wriggled, and its slender tentacles gently swayed. Its head had countless eyes looking in different directions, and the fluorescence covering its entire body illuminated the city. There was a faint distortion in the space around it, and through the distortion, scenes of trees and grass appeared.
The newly emerged Pseudo-Moth stretched its body, seemingly emitting a silent call. Those patients with Insomnia who had been worshipping in the mental hospital, those shells whose minds had been emptied, stood up one after another after hearing this silent call. They began to move together, climbing over doors and windows to get outside, groaning like zombies as they walked towards the nocturnal city. In the city, those original Moth believers instantly worsened their Insomnia at the moment of the Pseudo-Moth's emergence, immediately progressing to the final stage of the disease, becoming shells manipulated by the Pseudo-Moth. They also whimpered and crawled out of their homes, beginning to wander the streets.
For a time, the entire Navaja, besides those who had fallen asleep, only had these walking dead-like Sleeper wandering everywhere. They made strange sounds as they walked through the streets and alleys, seemingly celebrating the Pseudo-Moth's emergence together.
In the dark underground, at the Black Dream Hunter Group's ritual site, within the vast dark space, the previously suspended giant chrysalis was now gone. The Sleeper who had been worshipping were scattering and heading towards the ground, eager to see the newly born Pseudo-Moth. At the ritual site now, only the Black Dream members wearing robes and forming a circle remained.
"The Scale Moth... has successfully emerged. It's been over ten years, and our Scale Moth has finally emerged..."
Looking up at the darkness above the space, Gómez murmured in a daze, and Garcia on the side also replied.
"Yes... but unfortunately, it's not time for it to emerge yet. Its development is not fully mature, and its state is not complete. I can feel its current emotions; it's very crazy, it's very scared, it's very hungry..."
Also gazing at the darkness above, Garcia murmured. Although their efforts of over ten years had finally yielded results, this result was not the most perfect. At this moment, her heart was extremely complex, filled with both joy and complexity.
"The Moth's mental state is very unstable right now. It must eat a lot to compensate for the damage caused by its premature emergence, and we must also help it stabilize its mind to guide it.
"Everyone! Our ritual is not over yet. The Scale Moth needs our guidance, and we must be with the Scale Moth, guide it to feast on all dreams! Then guide it away from here!"
Garcia spread her arms and shouted loudly to her companions around her. Because the Pseudo-Moth that emerged prematurely was also mentally unsound, they needed to stabilize and guide it for normal actions.
Upon hearing Garcia's call, the Black Dream Hunter Group members at the scene sat down on the ground, lowered their heads, and fell into a deep slumber. Garcia and Gómez also followed suit. For a time, all the Black Dream members forming a circle fell into a deep sleep.
In their sleep, the Black Dream members, with Garcia as the core, began to connect with the Pseudo-Moth above the city. Their dream cocoons had long formed a whole with the Pseudo-Moth. Normally, they could obtain Extraordinary abilities from the Pseudo-Moth, and at critical moments when the Pseudo-Moth itself had problems, they could also use this link to help the Pseudo-Moth. For example, the underdeveloped Pseudo-Moth needed their help now.
After the Black Dream members fell into the Dream World, the giant moth hovering over the city made another abnormal movement. Its head, which had no mouthparts, seemed to let out a new round of hissing, and then, the frequency of the many tentacles under its forebelly began to increase.
Those translucent tentacles waved and grew longer, then extended downwards towards the buildings. These invisible tentacles penetrated windows and walls and went straight into bedrooms. The sleeping citizens were entangled by the tentacles that suddenly burst into their homes, wrapping around their heads. Immediately, they let out painful groans in their dreams, showing the same symptoms as the Insomnia patients.
In the Woodland of the Dream World, the Pseudo-Moth's huge body still existed here, and it was even more real. Those in reality who were touched by its tentacles had their dream cocoons forcibly transported to the Pseudo-Moth's side. After being captured by the Pseudo-Moth, they were integrated into the dense mass of cocoon-like objects in its abdomen, becoming its nourishment. In reality, those whose dream cocoons were taken would gradually become Sleeper.
The Pseudo-Moth that has emerged does not need Moth worship to obtain dream cocoons. As long as its illusory tentacles in reality touch humans, it can forcibly take dream cocoons. At this time, the Pseudo-Moth is preying using this method.
The grotesque moth from the Dream World hovered over the city in reality, constantly extending countless translucent tentacles to capture innocent people in their sleep. This small coastal city of over 100,000 people had now become a fully open cafeteria for it. The thirsty creature needed to replenish the hunger caused by its premature emergence here. Before its hunger was temporarily relieved, the Black Dream Hunter Group members could not completely control the Pseudo-Moth to fly away from this troublesome place.
"What exactly is that monster?"
At the port of Navaja, on the deck of the cruiser, the commander of the Light Fleet, Jode, looked into the distance and said in astonishment. Even though he had experienced countless storms at sea, this was the first time he had seen such a scene.
"What exactly it is... I'm not sure, but I can guess that it should be an Extraordinary creature from the Dream World that can affect reality. I've heard that some cultists who worship'Shadow' can command such creatures. There should be some secret hidden beneath this city that we haven't discovered..."
Standing behind Jode, the old monk Weil held the Light Holy Book and said lightly. At this time, there were two other figures standing beside Weil. One of them was Jode's Vice Captain Santos, and the other was also an officer wearing a Captain's uniform, who seemed to be the Captain of another cruiser.
The two of them had just been woken up by the old monk using the Precepts to break their sleep. At this moment, they were also looking at the grotesque illusory creature in the distance in astonishment.
"Holy Mother above, this city actually hides such an evil creature. What is it doing with those tentacles reaching into the city?"
"This thing gives me a very ominous feeling. Everyone, should we go over there and check the situation?"
Santos and the other Captain said with serious expressions as they looked at the Pseudo-Moth in the distance. Just then, the Pseudo-Moth, which was constantly preying, seemed to sense a more delicious dream cocoon. It immediately changed its direction, flapped its wings, and flew straight towards the port. Seeing this, the four awakened people on the fleet immediately became alert.
"It's coming towards us, it might have been attracted by something. Everyone, fulfill your duties, prepare for battle! Protect the fleet, protect the citizens, protect all the Lord's believers!"
Looking at the Pseudo-Moth flying in the distance, Jode commanded, and the three people behind him also entered a state of full alert. Jode and the other Captain drew the swords from their waists, Santos held the Holy Mother's Light on his chest tightly, and the old monk held the Holy Book in front of him.
"This evil creature's hypnotic ability is very powerful, and it comes in waves without stopping. Now that it's closer, the hypnotic power has become stronger, exceeding the influence of a normal Chalk level Extraordinary.
"Under this level of influence, I can only maintain the sleepless Precepts for the four of us at most; I may not have any other energy to support the combat. So please remember to be cautious in dealing with the enemy. And we must finish the battle quickly. If my Spirituality is exhausted and the battle is not resolved, we who are not protected by Precepts will fall into sleep and be at its mercy."
The old monk Weil warned the three people in front of him solemnly. The most powerful ability of this monster was the continuous hypnotic wave covering the entire city, and the only one in the entire fleet who could resist this hypnotic wave was the old monk's Precepts. At this time, he had done his best to awaken the three most powerful Chalk level combatants in the entire fleet besides himself. He could no longer spare the energy and Spirituality to issue Precepts to more people.
"We understand..."
After hearing the old monk's words, the three continued. Facing the approaching ugly giant moth, the three directly jumped from the deck to the shore, and then launched an attack on the Pseudo-Moth that was already close at hand.
"Holy Mother, please grant your blessing..."
Santos tightly held the Holy Mother's Light on his chest and prayed devoutly. Immediately, faint golden light appeared on Jode and the other Captain. Both of them simultaneously felt an unparalleled power surging through their bodies. At this moment, their power could easily crush giant stones, approaching the Chalk level "Cup" Extraordinary.
After being buffed with immense strength, the Captain and Jode tightened their grip on their swords, then applied a'Shadow' talisman to themselves, reducing the weight of their equipment. Then they jumped together with great force, directly jumping ten meters high, onto the tall buildings of the port, and then continuously jumped on the rooftops, rushing to meet the Pseudo-Moth attacking from afar. Soon, they approached each other to fighting distance.
The Captain was the first to attack. On top of a warehouse, the Captain leaped with all his might, and with the blessing of immense strength, he leaped directly above the Pseudo-Moth, then descended and slashed straight at the Pseudo-Moth's head, but he missed.
The Captain's sword passed directly through the Pseudo-Moth's illusory translucent body without leaving any mark. After the Captain landed on another rooftop and made a dent in it, he turned around and shouted to Jode, who had already jumped into the sky.
"It's an ethereal body! Simple swords, guns, and bullets are useless!"
Listening to the Captain's words, Jode, who had just leaped, held his sword even tighter. At the same time, scorching flames ignited on the sword's body. When he transformed into a fiery meteor smashing down from the sky, the Pseudo-Moth had to dodge. Jode's flaming sword struck a tentacle on its way down, cutting it into two segments, and at the same time, spiritual flames also burned on the tentacle.
One tentacle was cut off and caught fire, and the Pseudo-Moth's body began to tremble. Then, the part that was on fire began to become blurred, and the flames were extinguished in this blur. Then, the broken tentacle automatically drifted back and reconnected as if nothing had happened. Immediately, the Pseudo-Moth's countless tentacles began to wave wildly, sweeping towards the two people on the rooftop from all directions. Seeing this, the two immediately applied a'Shadow' talisman to themselves, and then began to continuously dodge the translucent tentacles.
Although they had the blessing of immense strength and talismans, the Captain and Jode were still struggling to dodge so many incoming tentacles. The reason for this was, of course, the sheer number of tentacles, but more importantly, these tentacles were all translucent ethereal bodies, which could ignore physical rules to a certain extent and were quite flexible, and they could also penetrate physical barriers, making cover ineffective.
If it weren't for the fact that they could cut off the tentacles with their flaming swords and surround themselves with spiritual flames to burn the tentacles they couldn't dodge during the dodging process, they would have been captured long ago. And those tentacles that were injured by them would recover after a period of blurring. Due to the difference in size, the damage caused by the Captain and Jode to it was quite limited.
"Spirituality enchantment is useful! But it's not enough! Such a large ethereal enemy is too difficult to deal with. Without pain and without vital points, this can only turn into a battle of Spirituality consumption! We need to pull it into a more material dimension to cause greater damage to it! Otherwise, it won't take enough damage from us!"
While dodging, Jode shouted his judgment. Hearing his words, the Captain, who had just jumped to a safe position, turned his head and shouted to Santos, the Holy Mother believer below.
"Santos! Transform it!"
"I understand..."
Listening to the Captain's words, Santos again tightly held the Holy Mother's Light, praying devoutly to the Holy Mother. His eyes were fixed on the illusory giant moth, staring at one of its tentacles that was attacking Jode, and he released his ability.
"Holy Mother, bestow upon the void the flesh and blood of reality..."
Along with Santos's prayer, the tentacle that was attacking Jode suddenly changed. Within its originally illusory translucent body, veins and muscle fibers sprouted out of nowhere. The void became no longer void at this moment.
Seizing an opportunity, Jode swung his flaming longsword straight at the fleshy part of the tentacle and instantly cut it off. Blood immediately flowed, and the air around Jode was filled with the smell of roasted meat. An unprecedented feeling of intense pain was transmitted to the Pseudo-Moth through the grown nerves, making the Pseudo-Moth feel the true meaning of injury and pain. It couldn't help but let out a silent roar and struggled violently. Before, it had been cut countless times by the flaming sword but had not shown such a reaction.
Seeing that the attack was very effective, Jode and the others were overjoyed. Just as they were about to continue their efforts, the Pseudo-Moth flapped its illusory wings and flew into the higher dark sky, to a position that Jode and the others could not reach. Then, its transparency became higher and higher in front of everyone's eyes, and finally, it completely disappeared into the void, completely vanishing from everyone's sight.
"Did this guy... run away?"
Looking at the giant moth that had disappeared before his eyes, Jode couldn't help but murmur. After his words were heard by the small Corpse Puppet monitoring the battle nearby, Dorothy in the distance gave her conjectured answer.
"No... that guy... I'm afraid it has temporarily completely disappeared into the Dream World, making itself disappear from the reality dimension to avoid your subsequent attacks, and is now trying to find a way to counterattack..."
In front of the hotel entrance, Dorothy stood in the cold wind of the night, staring at the night sky where the ugly giant moth had disappeared, and murmured silently.
"It seems that now is not the time to sit back and watch from behind the scenes..."