North Shore of Conquest, Navaja.
In the southern part of Navaja, in the port area, the twisted monster that had been wantonly attacking in the night sky suddenly vanished without a trace. The Knight's Order warriors, whose attacks had just taken effect not long ago, found their subsequent offensive completely missed. They looked at the dark night sky, their expressions filled with bewilderment.
"It's gone... such a big guy... just vanished?" The Captain stood on the roof of a warehouse, frowning and looking around in all directions, trying to find where the twisted monster had gone, but no matter how he searched, he couldn't find any trace of it.
"That monster might have run away. Our combined attack just now caused it substantial damage, and it felt it couldn't defeat us, so it fled."
Standing below, Santos, holding the Holy Mother's Light, speculated this, and the one who answered him was Jode, who stood on another small building.
"No, it might not be fleeing. This guy is a'Shadow' monster. It might have used some method to hide. It might be around us right now. We all need to be careful."
Jode said this solemnly, while Santos spoke with some disbelief.
"Hidden? Is that possible? Such a big guy can also use its ability to hide?"
"Don't underestimate it. To be able to continuously create hypnotic effects of this range and degree, that evil entity is already a being above Chalk. It's not surprising that it can use large-scale hiding abilities. We cannot be careless..."
Beside Santos, the old monk Weil said seriously, and Jode also agreed with the old monk's words and nodded.
"Monk Weil is right, we cannot be careless. I suggest we all initiate detection to find that guy!"
Jode suggested this to the three teammates in front of him, and they also nodded in agreement. Afterward, the four Chalk 'Light' Extraordinaries began to simultaneously activate the detection ability that comes with their main Spirituality. By consuming 'Light' Spirituality, they conducted extraordinary detection over a large area around them, probing for all spiritual traces and extraordinary activities in the surroundings. Hearing that they were going to use this move, Dorothy in the distance quickly canceled her control over the small Corpse Puppets near them, allowing the Corpse Puppets to return to ordinary corpses.
As the Light in the eyes of the four flickered, their investigation of the surrounding space officially began. However, after detecting for a while, they did not feel any trace of the Pseudo-Moth. In the end, they had to stop the detection due to the consumption of Spirituality.
"Didn't sense that guy's trace... Is it because its'Shadow' Spirituality is too much? Or has it already left?" Looking at the empty darkness around him, Jode muttered with a frown, and the truth was, it was both.
At this moment, the Pseudo-Moth was no longer in the dimension of reality, but the minions it controlled were secretly approaching the four Light users in the port.
In the darkness that the four Light users had not reached, countless exhausted dream cocoons, like walking dead, were walking in the dark alleys. Coming from all parts of the city, they gathered towards the port, secretly approaching the four Light users.
These afflicted, who had become the Pseudo-Moth's puppets, were connected to the Pseudo-Moth in the dream world. The Pseudo-Moth provided them with a large amount of'Shadow' Spirituality to allow these afflicted to hide. In terms of Spirituality reserves, the four Light users combined were far less than the Pseudo-Moth, so these four did not detect the secret approach of the afflicted.
Unknowingly, the afflicted who had gathered from all corners of the city had secretly surrounded the four. Taking advantage of the time when the four Light users were conducting spiritual detection, under the protection of the Pseudo-Moth, countless afflicted were approaching Jode and the others from the alleys and buildings. Some of them even slowly climbed onto the roof of the warehouse, slowly approaching the Captain from behind. However, as knights of the Er Knight's Order, their senses were very sharp even without relying on their abilities. The Captain immediately turned around after hearing something Something is wrong behind him, pointing his burning sword at the approaching afflicted.
Facing the attackers from behind, the Captain attacked without hesitation. The flames spewing from the tip of his sword immediately engulfed the attacking afflicted. The walking dead afflicted were quickly burned to charcoal in the high temperature, emitting painful sounds. This level of emaciated puppets would have difficulty defeating even an ordinary person, let alone an Extraordinary of the Chalk tier.
However, just as the Captain was burning the attacking afflicted, one of the afflicted whose bodies were engulfed in flames suddenly underwent a change. This was an afflicted who was behind his companions and had not yet been burned by the flames.
Just as the flames that had consumed his companions in front were about to reach him, silver light suddenly burst from his eyes, and then amidst a heart-wrenching howl, silver cracks suddenly appeared on his head. Silver light erupted from these cracks, and then his entire head suddenly exploded under an invisible force from within. At the moment his head exploded, the silver light within his skull intensified greatly, and then from that silver light, a massive translucent body rushed out at high speed, charging towards the Captain who was close at hand. It was none other than the Pseudo-Moth that had disappeared earlier!
In a situation no one had expected, the Pseudo-Moth emerged from the light within the exploded skull of the afflicted. Its massive body, more than ten meters long, suddenly reappeared on the scene. At extremely close range, the Pseudo-Moth launched a surprise attack on the Captain who was spewing flames. At such close range, the Captain, reacting at his limit, had to stop spewing flames and dodge at his limit. However, due to the extreme proximity, he did not succeed in dodging. As the Pseudo-Moth flew over him from above, a translucent tentacle successfully touched him. After being pierced through the body by that tentacle, the Captain's eyes widened.
"Ugh..."
In that intense mental daze, the Captain dropped the burning sword in his hand, covered his head, and knelt on the roof of the warehouse, then began to sway unsteadily. This daze only lasted for a moment before subsiding. The Captain, with wide eyes, directly knelt on the ground. A powerful drowsiness wanted him to fall asleep, but the power of the precepts was forcing him to remain conscious, so he was in this state of mental confusion.
"Vide!!"
Seeing his companion attacked, Jode couldn't help but shout out loudly. At this moment, he was both surprised and angry. He was angry at his companion's fall and surprised at how the monster had suddenly appeared.
But the situation at this moment no longer allowed Jode to think too much. Facing the Pseudo-Moth that had suddenly reappeared, he had to immediately counterattack. After making the flames on his sword burn even more fiercely, Jode leaped into the air, slashing at the grotesque creature that had returned to the world, while Santos below was also ready with the 'Blessing' of flesh and blood.
Just then, the huge Pseudo-Moth that had just appeared suddenly became transparent and thin again, and vanished once more in an instant. Jode and Santos's attacks both missed. Jode, who had fallen back onto the roof, looked around blankly, his eyes full of confusion.
"Where did that guy... run off to again?"
"Careful! That evil entity might have the ability to cross realms, shuttling between a certain reverse side and the real world! It might be relying on fleeing into the reverse realm to avoid our attacks!"
Just as Jode was looking around blankly, on the side of the road below, in a room, an afflicted person hiding inside let out a painful cry, and then silver light overflowed from his eyes, and his entire head exploded directly. In the bursting light from his skull, the massive Pseudo-Moth emerged again, its ethereal body directly passing through physical barriers, bursting through the wall when passing through the building, and attacking Santos and Weil on the ground. The two wanted to dodge in surprise, but due to the extreme proximity, Weil did not manage to avoid in time and was touched by the Pseudo-Moth's tentacle.
Immediately following, the old friar Weil also knelt on the ground in a daze under powerful mental interference. The mental interference directly from the Pseudo-Moth caused the sleepiness suppressed by his precepts to surge again. He also entered a state of dazed confusion, and this result led to the precepts issued by old Weil becoming ineffective under this state of determined will. Without the protection of the precepts, the hypnotic fluctuations constantly emanating from the Pseudo-Moth itself also began to take effect at this moment.
The moment the hypnotic fluctuations took effect, Jode and Santos, who were still able to move at the scene, immediately felt an irresistible and powerful sleepiness. They wanted to struggle with all their might, resisting the onset of sleepiness with their willpower, but it was completely useless. In frustration and unwillingness, they could only fall into a deep sleep.
"This is bad..."
Finally, under the Pseudo-Moth's powerful hypnotic influence, and using the Somnolent as a gateway with its ghostly world-crossing ability, all four members of the Light fleet were defeated. At this moment, they were all deeply asleep, unable to wake up on their own. Without the resistance of the four, the entire Light fleet, the entire Navaja, would become the Pseudo-Moth's dining hall.
"Even the Light of the Sun cannot dispel the dream brought by the Moth..."
"The moth flying into the fire will eventually extinguish the fire..."
"Now, it is time to feed..."
Within the underground ritual site, the Black Dream cultists encircling and linking with the Pseudo-Moth were murmuring the same dreamlike words in unison. Although it was a prematurely emerged Pseudo-Moth, it still possessed power extremely close to the Scarlet Tier. This kind of power was not something that a few Chalk could stop, so the current outcome was not surprising to them, but rather expected.
After rendering the four opponents incapable of action, the Pseudo-Moth began its formal feeding process. Its tentacles extended towards the four people who had fallen in various places. After touching their sleeping bodies, their dream cocoons in the Dream World would be formally guided towards the Pseudo-Moth.
At this time, the part of the Pseudo-Moth in the Dream World also extended its four tentacles to open four Dream World portals, and then through these four portals, it rolled out four white dream cocoons. These four dream cocoons were placed and absorbed onto its abdomen, which was covered with countless cocoon-like growths, under the movement of the tentacles. What it needed next was to fully extract the Spirituality within. After the Spirituality was drained, the four members of the Light would become Somnolents, becoming the Pseudo-Moth's puppets and gateways to invade reality.
After absorbing the dream cocoons of the four members of the Light, the Pseudo-Moth moved towards new food. At this time, its target was several ships of the Light fleet docked in the harbor. It seemed to be able to sense that there were many dream cocoons there that were more delicious than those of ordinary people.
"Crack!"
Just then, a dazzling white light illuminated the night sky. From a dark street, a bending white light shot up, accurately hitting the Pseudo-Moth that was preparing to fly towards the fleet, hitting its wing and piercing a small hole. The attacked Pseudo-Moth stopped its movement towards the fleet and turned towards the direction from which the loud noise and the white light had originated.
"There are still Extraordinary? Who is it?"
"That Light just now... what was it?"
The sleeping Black Dream members on the ritual site spoke in unison with confused tones, then guided the Pseudo-Moth to search for the attacker. Then, on the street where the attack originated, they saw a carriage.
That's right, it was a common Navaja rental carriage. At this time, the carriage was pulled by a fine horse that seemed unaffected by the hypnotic fluctuations, stopped there. It seemed to have just rushed from a distance. The carriage door was tightly shut, and the curtains were still slightly swaying because they had just been pulled closed. It could be seen that someone was currently sitting inside the carriage. The white light just now should have been shot from inside, but the other party seemed to refuse to show their face, pulling the curtains closed again after the attack.
Having found the source of the attack, the Pseudo-Moth in reality spread its wings without hesitation and swooped down towards it. In just an instant, the Pseudo-Moth, traversing countless physical obstacles, swooped down above the carriage. As it flew over the roof, its tentacles penetrated the wooden boards of the carriage and extended inside. There, the illusory tentacles came into contact with a life form.
"Found it..."
"No matter who it is... no matter what Extraordinary... all shall enter the dream..."
"Now is the time to sleep..."
After successfully making contact in reality, the main body of the Pseudo-Moth in the Dream World also began its usual operation. It used more powerful hypnotic ability to force the other party to sleep. Seeing the fine horse pulling the carriage suddenly fall lifelessly, the will within the Pseudo-Moth was also convinced that the person inside the carriage had completely fallen asleep.
As usual, the Pseudo-Moth hovering in the Dream World Woodland extended its tentacles and opened a Dream World portal. The other end of this portal led to the dream cocoon of the Extraordinary person inside the carriage. At this time, the Pseudo-Moth's tentacles that had extended into the portal were about to pluck that dream cocoon and absorb it together.
Compared to ordinary people, it preferred the dream cocoons of Extraordinary people more.
However, just as the Pseudo-Moth's tentacles were stirring on the other side of the dream portal, a sudden change occurred.
The Pseudo-Moth, which had been quietly hovering in the Woodland, suddenly trembled violently, as if its hand extended into water had been bitten by something. The tentacles extended into the portal suddenly jerked and were violently pulled out, but the pulled-out tentacles were not the complete ones that had extended in, but only half-broken tentacles! The other half was missing at this time.
"What's going on!?"
"The Scale Moth is being attacked in the Dream World!"
"What's on the other side of the portal!"
The Pseudo-Moth, feeling threatened, wanted to immediately move away from the dream portal and withdraw its Spirituality support, waiting for it to naturally shrink and close. However, it was too late at this moment. A huge pressure came from the other side of the portal. The moment after it pulled out the broken tentacles, something had already passed through this door to this side.
"——!"
A long and distant roar spread from within the portal. Within this roar, the dream portal was not only not closed but was shaken and expanded. Then, from the illusory and blurred portal, a majestic and giant Dragon head emerged. Its golden vertical pupils stared directly at the twisted and grotesque Pseudo-Moth. Following closely behind the Dragon head were spiny backs and huge wings, and finally sharp claws and a long tail.
Within the Woodland, from the expanded portal, a dream Dragon that was even larger than the Pseudo-Moth revealed its mighty body, spread its wings, and flew directly towards the Pseudo-Moth. Upon seeing this, the Pseudo-Moth's first reaction was to tremble all over and then turn around and fly away.
"How is this possible! It's a Dragon! It's the Dragon Lord of the Ham River Woodland!"
The Pseudo-Moth wanted to escape, but its flying speed in the Woodland was completely incomparable to that of the Dragon. In just two breaths, the Dragon had already caught up with the fleeing Pseudo-Moth. The Dragon, soaring above the Pseudo-Moth, grabbed the Pseudo-Moth's back with its hind claws, then folded its wings and pressed it towards the ground. The completely irresistible Pseudo-Moth was thus pressed by the massive creature on its back, swooping down from the sky of the Woodland all the way down, and then slammed heavily onto the ground, creating a large pit.
Under the powerful impact, the Pseudo-Moth's body was almost squeezed and deformed. The dream cocoons that had just been absorbed and had not yet stabilized fell off its abdomen and scattered onto the grass of the Woodland.
At the same time, Jode, who had fallen asleep on the ground in reality, his eyes twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but murmur in his dream.
"Dragon..."