Chapter 811: 408 Li Ang

This… this is…

Watching the endless line of Lis forming before the giant of gray mist, each taking turns to punch it every two seconds, the Snow Woman could not help but gasp in shock:

"You… you…"

"Stop saying 'you'! Get moving!"

Seeing the King of Nightmares collapse with a thud into the sea of sand, trembling every two seconds, Li Ang finally exhaled in relief and hurriedly urged:

"Hurry! Run to the next level! I can only hold it for less than two seconds each time—you've got just over three minutes! Go!"

"Ah! Got it!"

Hearing Li Ang's urging, the Snow Woman snapped back to attention, puffed out her pure white cheeks, and resumed blowing the freezing wind from the Snow Mountain Nightmare, her face swollen like a hamster's.

With the King of Nightmares no longer blocking the nightmares, the cold winds used for traversing nightmares accumulated rapidly, finally enveloping Li Ang and the Snow Woman entirely.

…

Phew… thank goodness my mind's still fast enough! Even though the "processing speed" was lowered by the Immortal of Wine, half instinct, half experience, I still managed to figure out what I needed to do.

Feeling that familiar sensation—the strange feeling of peeling away from this world—the wine had already begun to wear off; Li Ang, who would soon exit the "Drunk Life, Dream Death" state, let out a long breath.

The King of Nightmares may be a weakling, but he's still a true god. Fighting him head-on is impossible—never in this lifetime. Only by dragging out time, using underhanded tricks, and finding a way to escape can I keep this life going.

There's no choice: the nightmares attempting to invade reality this time are far too numerous. The Director won't arrive anytime soon—maybe not even before dawn. So my goal has always been to find the Scorpion Director as quickly as possible to ensure my safety.

But this endless desert is simply too vast. I don't have any ability to locate people over extreme distances—even if the Scorpion Director is in this layer of nightmare, I still couldn't find him.

So my objective is clear: I must leave as soon as possible, go up to a smaller nightmare, and either find the Scorpion Director or make him find me.

But the problem is, the Snow Woman, as the "transport" through nightmares, likely can't carry me through while the King of Nightmares interferes. So what I most need to do is find a way to control the King of Nightmares and buy her time to carry me through.

And the only possible way to achieve this is the excruciating pain brought by the 【Crying Hand】.

As he thought of this, Li Ang couldn't help but gaze through the surrounding cold wind at the King of Nightmares, battered in turn by countless versions of himself, his gray mist writhing in agony, and gave him a smile only a victor could wear.

Don't think just because you're the Lord of Nightmares you're immune to nightmares!

Also, sorry, strictly speaking, I'm your colleague too. The bonus from the overlap of dream and reality applies to me as well—【Desire Dream Invader】 has been greatly amplified.

And the core ability of 【Desire Dream Invader】 is to let the target's dream invade reality. With the 【Desire Dream Invader】 strengthened by both the Dream Realm and the Archer's Mark, it now has the power to affect the King of Nightmares.

Moreover, according to the 【Desire Dream Invader】's activation rules, the more contact the target has with me, the more easily they're affected. The King of Nightmares unleashed over a hundred nightmares on me—【Desire Dream Invader】's effect has long been stacked to its maximum.

Dream Realm, secret mark, abnormal object stacking—three buffs combined. What can you possibly block that with?

Also, during this entire escape, I wasn't just passively taking hits!

Every time he hurled a complex, lifelike nightmare at me to wear down my will, I seized the chance to "strike back," planting a tiny, fleeting, extremely hidden, even crude nightmare—no more than a single punching motion—into his trembling, pained soul.

The King of Nightmares, now possessing flesh and soul after entering reality, was not immune to 【Desire Dream Invader】 before the Archer's Secret Art was activated—its effect simply couldn't harm him.

But once I activated the Archer's Secret Art and detonated all a hundred "Li Angs punching" nightmares at once, using the King of Nightmares' own memories as a breeding ground, these "punching Li Angs" successfully invaded reality and gained the true ability to land a blow.

Even though these "punching Li Angs" lack the real 【Crying Hand】, since they are born from the King of Nightmares' own memories of being beaten, every punch lands with identical pain.

And these nightmares—identical in sensation and force—will deepen his memory further. I suspect he'll never forget the taste of this punch.

Hmm… only regret is, I was drunk and slow-witted, didn't think to swap in the Testicle Pain Badge—otherwise the effect would've been even better!

…

Damn! Damn! Damn! You deserve to die!!!

Feeling the terrifying pain strike every two seconds, seeing Li Ang's hateful smile, the King of Nightmares, sprawled on the ground in agony, felt his soul trembling.

I am the Lord of Nightmares! How dare you use nightmares against me! And such a crude one at that!

Suffering the ultimate humiliation for a god of nightmares, the King of Nightmares' ashen, emaciated body erupted in waves of crimson.

Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!!!

As the crimson spread across his entire body, staining all his mist red, the King of Nightmares, whose mind now held only this one thought, strangely regained a sliver of calm.

During the gap between two bursts of pain, he turned his head slightly toward a direction—and his eyes flashed with lethal intent.

He must not escape!

This damn cleaner doesn't know, but I know perfectly well: the Scorpion Director is right here in this layer of nightmare.

To avoid him tracking me by scent, I held back from disturbing the Sand Worm's scales, which allowed the Scorpion Director to see this scene—and now he's forcing his way back at all costs, trying to return to the City of Dead Plague.

If he escapes this endless desert and reaches the upper layer—the City of Dead Plague—he'll immediately reunite with the Scorpion Director, and together they'll break out of the six layers of nightmare. Once I'm held back by the Scorpion Director, it'll be too late!

I must keep him here!

Realizing what he must do, the King of Nightmares took a ragged, uneven breath, then slowly closed his eyes.

If human flesh can be hurt, if human souls can be shaken… then I won't be human anymore!!!

"Stay here!!!"

With a near-hysterical roar, the King of Nightmares' massive body crashed to the ground, crushing a large portion of the line of Li Angs still queueing to punch him.

Then, before the stunned eyes of Li Ang and the Snow Woman, the gray mist surrounding the King of Nightmares suddenly "swam," coalescing above his fallen body into a new King of Nightmares—two sizes smaller.

What the hell is this? Boss phase two?

"You… are you insane?!"

Before Li Ang could finish his remark, the Snow Woman, pale-faced and wide-eyed, shrieked:

"How dare you?! In this world, soul and flesh are the First Rule! Doing this means defying the world itself! You're utterly…!"

"I'm perfectly awake!"

Shedding the flesh and soul he'd just newly formed, the reborn gray giant spoke without expression:

"Normally I wouldn't dare this—but now, dream and reality overlap, half the rules follow the dream realm's.

Besides, I didn't appear directly in reality—I appeared within this dream, upheld by six Nightmare Envoys. With this extra layer, though still affected, it's enough for me to accomplish what I need!"

"You… you… what about the others?"

A flush of crimson spread across her pale cheek, and the Snow Woman gritted her teeth:

"They didn't open the dream! They're bearing the world's suppression for you! If you keep doing this, those six…"

"Those six will fulfill the value they were meant to have."

Though now two sizes smaller, the dream-realm form of the King of Nightmares was far better adapted to the nightmare world.

He extended his withered arm, gestured toward the sun hanging high above the desert—and a heat wave ten times fiercer than before surged outward, scattering the cold wind around Li Ang and the Snow Woman, forcibly dragging them back from their escape from the endless desert.

"You seem to be getting nervous."

After intercepting Li Ang and the Snow Woman, the gray giant swept the Snow Woman off her feet, then grabbed Li Ang and squeezed hard—still couldn't kill him—but unexpectedly caught a whiff of a strange emotion.

After savoring the anxious, urgent feeling leaking from Li Ang's soul, the King of Nightmares' blurred, cruel face finally cracked into a faint smile.

"If I'm not mistaken, your troublesome state is about to run out of time, isn't it?"

"…."

Indeed… I drank a lot, but after such intense exertion, most of the alcohol had evaporated with sweat—the drunken, dreamlike haze was almost gone…

Feeling the last traces of intoxication fading, no matter how hard Li Ang tried to suppress it, the pressure in his chest grew heavier.

Only five minutes left—if the Scorpion Director hasn't found me by then, I'll have to go to the Death Realm to find myself.

But I have the 【Near-Death Survivor】 badge—its hidden trait is that I'm always bitten by dogs when passing through the Death Realm. Three heads, each taking a bite… wait, isn't the Dog God also a dog? Will I get rabies? And if a dead person gets rabies… what symptoms would that even be?

…

He's… zoning out?

Watching Li Ang, clearly distracted in his grasp, the gray giant's fleeting expression of pleasure hardened instantly.

For this cleaner who dared humiliate him with such crude nightmares, a swift death would be mercy. As I planned, I should drag his soul into the Dream Realm and torment it until the entire dream realm is destroyed.

But faced with this predictable, horrific fate, though he's clearly anxious… he shows almost no fear? Even has the mental space to think of nonsense?

"Aren't you afraid of me?"

Watching Li Ang—his face still flushed with drunkenness, his gaze slightly unfocused, as if thinking of something amusing, his lips slightly curled—the gray giant's withered arm clenched tighter, his eyes cold and sharp:

"Human, care to guess your own fate?"

Knowing whether he lives or dies depends entirely on whether the Scorpion Director delivers—his own efforts mean little now. With the wine still lingering in his mind, Li Ang looked up at the King of Nightmares and lazily retorted:

"What? Is there a prize if I guess right?"

"…."

After carefully sensing multiple times and confirming Li Ang's heart held no fear—only a strange, languid calm—the gray giant's brow furrowed in deep discomfort.

For someone consumed by hatred, the most unbearable thing isn't being unable to take revenge—it's being on the verge of success, about to deliver a horrific fate to the hated enemy… only for the enemy to show utter indifference, even to joke with you.

"Stop pretending!"

Certain Li Ang was not the type to face death with calm resolve, the King of Nightmares loomed over him, his gaze icy:

"Is it an abnormal object's effect? Do you have an item that blocks fear?"

"…."

I do have one… but it's not an abnormal object—it's a badge.

The 【Immortal of Wine】 badge line, from Bronze to now Chromatic, has always had fear resistance.

Before Gold, it was outright fear resistance. Even though the 【Immortal of Wine】's description no longer lists fear resistance, fear inflicted by enemies still counts as an "attack." Since I'm still in the "Drunk Life, Dream Death" state, the fear is directly negated by 【Immortal of Wine】—I'm not afraid at all.

"Hmm, fine, let's say I do."

After considering the current situation, Li Ang couldn't think of any better option, so he simply admitted: he did have a way to resist fear.

After all, he'd done everything he could. If he couldn't win, it was truly beyond his control. He'd already arranged for his younger siblings to leave, entrusted to trustworthy people—he didn't have to worry about their future suffering.

Also, though it sounds bad to say it, honestly, after over three years in this world, maybe this is the first time he's ever felt truly relaxed, with nothing to worry about.

¤￠o

Hmm… even better—what if being dragged into the Dream Realm and enslaved and tortured isn't so bad? As long as the badge system still works, maybe I'll someday get a weird badge like "Born to Rebel" or "Adopted as Father."

Even if I can't become Director of the Cleaner Bureau, being the Lord of the Dream Realm isn't bad either. Wherever you're stuck, you might as well make the best of it, right?

"…."

Is he... truly without fear?

Mistaking someone's scattered thoughts—caused by lingering alcohol and lack of pressing combat pressure—for genuine indifference.

The King of Nightmare, wracked with discomfort, fell silent for a moment, then could no longer suppress his pent-up rage; he raised a hand to grip his crown, angling its mirror surface toward Li Ang's eyes.

"Excellent! Today, I shall see what thing you fear most!"