Chapter 3891: Nightmare Overlord

The Lord Train slowed down. After a circle at the bottom of the train sprayed out scorching steam, the carriage door opened. The slacker girl Delona was the first to jump off the carriage, looking around with lively eyes.

"Woof."

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang chased off the carriage. Logically, as the laziest one, it should have been the last to get off, but when Delona got off, she casually snatched away its head-mounted receiver, which was worth 30 Soul Coins.

"Doggy, go catch it."

Delona threw the head-mounted receiver far away. This was to make Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang rush over and gracefully leap to catch the receiver in its mouth.

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang lowered its body slightly, its gluteal muscles and hind leg muscles tensed and exerted force. At this moment, it locked onto the target, ready to go, swift as the wind. With a *whoosh*, it darted out, then because it stepped on a floating stone on the ground, it lost its balance on the spot, its chin hit the ground, and then it performed a face-plant for everyone to see.

Baham, who appeared in the distance in an instant, easily caught the head-mounted receiver, which made Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang breathe a sigh of relief and turn to look at the great noble Luciva.

*"Awoo-woof!"*

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang meant for Luciva to keep an eye on his sister. Luciva remained silent. Since entering this area where the nightmare was spreading, he had discovered that his sister Delona had become very abnormal.

In the past, Delona often appeared listless. Except for having energy when eating, she was indifferent to all trivial matters at other times. When going out, if no one urged her, she could sit alone on a quiet park bench for an entire day.

Delona's favorite thing was to sit alone in the dark, watching the deeper darkness outside the window, and she wouldn't feel bored because of it.

Conversely, Delona at this moment was humming a ballad in a strange language, walking with energy, hopping and skipping. When she saw small flowers by the roadside, she would even squat down and happily talk to the flowers.

Delona's state was very wrong. The closer she got to the nightmare entrance in the distance, the more active she became, even climbing onto Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang's back, laughing and wanting to ride Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang like a horse, which made Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang particularly speechless.

"Been waiting for you for a long time."

Sitting on a strange boulder, Eluklu, dressed in golden-white robes with red trim, spoke. Her silver hair represented that her mood wasn't very good—not because of the wait, but because she hated nightmare areas, which reminded her of a close friend who had died miserably in a nightmare.

Su Xiao, Eluklu, Luciva, Delona, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baham's group headed toward the Nightmare Gate. Although they were in one team, their goals were all different.

Luciva was there to solve his sister's trouble. His sister was symbiotic with an unknown existence from the Abyss. What was even more fatal was that Delona was awakening in the darkness. Once the passive awakening was completed, that unknown existence from the Abyss would seize control of this body, and Delona's consciousness would naturally cease to exist.

A simple explanation of Delona's situation was that her father, the old Legion Commander of the Hunting Group, had spent his whole life exploring lightless zones and trying to find ways to eradicate the Blood Night. It could be said that the old Legion Commander's life was glorious and dangerous. Being able to return to Twilight City and retire peacefully was already incredible. Having a daughter in his old age made the old Legion Commander often have a smile on his face during that time.

Unfortunately, having dealt with abyssal spreading areas like lightless zones for a lifetime, it was really hard to have a good end. Delona was born. The first misfortune she brought was causing her mother to die in childbirth. Postpartum hemorrhage that four Sun Scholars had no way to deal with was simply inconceivable.

According to what a Sun Scholar said at the time, the Madam was beyond saving; her soul had been dragged into the darkness by something, disappearing without a trace.

Under the old Legion Commander's majesty, only a few people knew about this. If it had continued to develop like this, Delona would have had a decent childhood. But on the morning of the second day after Delona was born, the old Legion Commander sat by the crib with a peaceful smile on his face. Those eyes, already dimmed by death, seemed to still be looking gently at his daughter in swaddling clothes.

What truly caused Delona to be shunned by all her family was the morning of the third day. All living things in this manor were found to have stopped breathing in the morning. The farm worker who came to deliver milk and vegetables in the morning was so frightened by this scene that he became mentally deranged for half a year, and during that half year, he kept muttering crazy ravings about "noble person," "noble young lady," and so on.

Encountering such a thing, the old Legion Commander's original wife prepared not to let anyone near that manor, trying her luck to see if she could starve the monster that had just been born to death.

At that time, Luciva, who had just become the new Legion Commander of the Hunting Group, carried his ancestral family longsword and walked into the manor alone. He had come to avenge his father and the sister he had never met. But when he saw the infant on the crib who was so hungry that even her crying was weak, he knew this was his sister. Anything could be faked, but as a Strongest-tier powerhouse, he wouldn't judge the resonance between bloodlines wrong.

Facts proved that Luciva was right. His sister was not a monster. Except for having a talent that could make others feel negative, Delona was just a girl who didn't like to go out and didn't express emotions much.

Although that unknown existence from the Abyss maintained symbiosis with Delona, it was not near her. Symbiosis is different from parasitism; symbiosis uses causality as a bond, which is almost impossible to sever.

Previously, Luciva didn't know where that unknown existence was, but now seeing his sister Delona's emotional changes, Luciva was certain that the unknown existence was in the Dark Moon Nightmare ahead.

Su Xiao stopped at the door of the Dark Moon Nightmare. The front was sealed by a dark purple rock sky wall. The only entrance to this nightmare sky wall was a door ten meters high and five meters wide. This Nightmare Gate seemed to be composed of dark particles. When he tried to reach his hand into it, the black particles composing this door would be repelled by the biological aura, revealing the darkness inside that exuded purple fluorescence.

Su Xiao walked into the black fog. Blurred and obscure noises came from the surroundings. This was the boundary between the nightmare and the material world. When walking across this boundary, no matter how bizarre the nightmare area entered was, one had to remain calm, otherwise, their Sanity value would plummet.

A strange pressure came from the surroundings, which made Su Xiao feel a very strange vitality emerging from his head and spreading to all parts of his body.

A more intuitive manifestation was that the red health bar in his personal attributes gradually dimmed, turning from bright red to light red before falling silent. Originally, he had a health bar, mana bar, and blood energy bar side by side. At this time, a dark purple health bar appeared below the blood energy bar.

【Prompt: You will temporarily obtain "Nightmare Constitution." This is the Tree of the Void's notarization for this area. All targets entering this area will be subject to this notarization (including entrants outside the Paradise faction).】

【Prompt: Because you are about to enter the nightmare area, while in the nightmare area, your body cannot rely on source vitality to keep you from being eroded in the nightmare area, and the nightmare's erosion will also erode your source vitality. Therefore, your source vitality has temporarily entered a dormant state. When you leave the nightmare area and return to the material world, your source vitality will become active again, allowing you to recover to your normal constitution.】

【Under the effect of Nightmare Constitution, your Sanity value will replace your Health value. When your Sanity value reaches zero, you will die (all damage, erosion, curses, and other negative blows you receive will deduct Sanity value).】

【Your base Sanity value is: 1,950 points.】

【Sanity level: High.】

【According to the Nightmare Constitution judgment, your final Sanity value is: Base Sanity value + (Willpower attribute × 0.92) + (Soul Strength × 0.5) + (Abyss Resistance × 50) = Final Sanity value.】

【Your Sanity value is: 7,588 points.】

【Sanity level: Ultra-high.】

【Prompt: Because your Sanity value is too high, the Tree of the Void will re-notarize you for the nightmare.】

【Notarization complete. You have lost the Nightmare Explorer identity.】

【You have been judged as a Nightmare Area · Overlord-tier unit.】

【Sanity value below 1,000 points is Explorer, 1,200 points or more is Leader-tier unit, 3,000 points or more is Lord-tier unit, 6,500 points or more is Overlord-tier unit, 10,000 points or more is??? unit.】

【In this nightmare area, the total number of Overlord-tier units has increased to five, totaling:

1. White Wolf Lord.

2. Shadow of the Law Breaker · Kukulín · Bai Ye.

3. Dark Moon Grand Prince.

4. Nightmare King.

5.??? (Unstable state).】

【As a highly dangerous unit in this nightmare area, you will possess a nightmare ability unique to highly dangerous units in this nightmare. This ability can only be carried by an object and cannot be bestowed upon yourself.】

【You need to choose an object to carry the nightmare ability.】

【Warning: After choosing the object and nightmare ability, even if you enter other nightmare areas later, you must continue to use this choice and cannot change it in any form.】

【You can choose one of the following Overlord-tier nightmare abilities. Once chosen, it can never be changed. The quality of the ability that appears will be randomly drawn.】

1. Nightmare Synchronization (Normal): When in a nightmare area, you can choose one of your own abilities and temporarily nightmare-ize it, thereby causing stronger effects on enemies within the nightmare.

2. Sanity Erosion (Rare): Use your own Sanity value to erode the consciousness of monsters in the nightmare, thereby controlling the monster to fight for you for a period of time.

3. Targeted Explosion (Normal): By consuming a small amount of your own Sanity value, perform a nightmare explosion within 300 meters, causing high nightmare attribute damage.

4. Nightmare Lord (Rare): Form a passive characteristic domain centered on you. The domain diameter is 10–500 meters (depending on your activation). All enemy targets entering the domain will lose 10 Sanity points per second and randomly suffer one of five negative states per second: "Despair," "Confusion," "Madness," "Pain," or "Absolute Fear."

Despair: The enemy immediately loses 320 Sanity points.

Confusion: The enemy loses 15 Sanity points per second for 30 seconds.

Madness: The enemy is more susceptible to nightmare characteristics, changing the negative state of the Nightmare Lord domain from triggering once per second to triggering once every 0.5 seconds.

Pain: The enemy's Sanity is more easily damaged. Within one hour, any Sanity damage suffered +35%.

Absolute Fear: The enemy immediately loses 150 Sanity points and has a probability of deriving two negative states: "Escape" and "Fearful Submission." If the target "Escapes," an instant-death judgment is immediately triggered. If the target "Fearfully Submits," they temporarily become a summon unit you can command.

No need to consider; of course, choose Nightmare Lord. This ability is not in the same dimension as the other three. He continued to move forward, walking out of the dark area filled with dark purple light particles.

Su Xiao took out a "Library Silver Coin" as a medium to carry the nightmare ability. Previously, he had obtained the 【Blood Moon Queen】, but he could only sacrifice several pieces of equipment he had used for a while to successfully activate the 【Blood Moon Queen】.

With the strength of the Soul Great Library, the "Library Silver Coin" was naturally not an ordinary item, so carrying the nightmare ability went very smoothly. This "Library Silver Coin" turned into a "Nightmare Silver Coin."

As if passing through a layer of barrier, the scene in front changed suddenly. Su Xiao was in a city gate tunnel, the tall city gate behind him was closed, and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baham were not nearby, let alone Eluklu, Luciva, and the others.

After walking out of the city gate tunnel, the full moon hung high in the sky. There was a hint of blood on the edge of the full moon. There were no stars in the night sky, only thick, dark purple cumulonimbus clouds.

Under the moonlight, a magnificent royal city came into Su Xiao's view. This royal city was 80% similar to the central city area of Twilight City. Let's call it the Old Royal City.

The Old Royal City was somewhat quiet. Although steam lamps were lit in many buildings, it was best not to knock on the doors. Once a door opened, a large number of monsters from the nightmare might rush out.

However, this was the rule that explorers had to follow. Su Xiao stepped forward and found a relatively large spire building. Because this was a nightmare world, buildings were difficult to destroy; they were either incredibly hard or like rubber, flexible and impossible to tear or smash.

*Knock, knock, knock. *

Su Xiao knocked on the door. There had been rustling sounds inside just a moment ago, but after he knocked, it suddenly became quiet. The feeling that all the monsters inside were holding their breath was particularly obvious.

*Knock, knock, knock! *

Su Xiao knocked again. The hundreds of various monsters entrenched inside were still holding their breath. A Dream-Eating Beast quietly turned off its steam lamp. As for why this steam lamp could burn for so long and what it used for fuel, in a nightmare, these irrationalities were instead rational—this was part of the nightmare.

The so-called nightmare was not an illusion or a dream; it was a buffer zone between the material world and the spiritual world. Here, there were both characteristics of the material world and things in the spiritual world that were difficult to explain.

Su Xiao was already a Strongest-tier powerhouse; why hadn't he been to the spiritual world? Of course, he wouldn't go there; that was where elves and elemental creatures lived. If he went there, not only would there be no benefits, but there would also be a not-low risk, making it not worth the loss. Moreover, the spiritual world wasn't large and was very difficult to find.

The lights in the building went out, but this didn't affect the nightmare creatures inside. These nightmare creatures stared fixedly at the Dream-Eating Beast that had turned off the light, wishing they could devour it alive. Their eyes meant: "The terrifying existence outside hasn't left yet; why are you turning off the light, you idiot?"

*Knock, knock, knock. *

Su Xiao knocked again. The nightmare creatures inside all began to twist their expressions. They looked fierce and surged, binding the struggling and roaring Dream-Eating Beast, then opened the door a crack, pushed the Dream-Eating Beast out, and then *bang*, locked the door tight.

The Dream-Eating Beast weighed its options. It stood upright like a three-meter-tall humanoid monster, covered in sparse, fluffy hair, and fiercely pounced toward Su Xiao.

The Nightmare Domain opened. In just an instant, the Dream-Eating Beast changed from pouncing to *thud*, falling to the ground. Its flesh and blood were torn by an invisible force, and dark purple blood burst out from all over its body.

"Despair," "Confusion," "Madness," "Pain," and "Absolute Fear"—these five negative states echoed each other. Different from what was expected, Su Xiao didn't need to use other means to drag out the enemy so that the various negative states had time to trigger. These negative states, in addition to killing effects, also had their own basic characteristics.

For example, "Despair," while immediately causing the enemy to lose 320 Sanity points, would indeed make the enemy feel despair in their heart. The attack they were about to use would hesitate.

It had to be said that monsters in this kind of high-level nightmare area were indeed thick-skinned. After triggering several negative states, the Dream-Eating Beast died on the spot. Su Xiao discovered that among the five negative states, "Confusion" and "Pain" had the best control effects, "Despair" had the best interruption effect, and "Madness" was very suitable for stalling time. Enemies caught in this negative state would attack wildly in place.

As for "Absolute Fear," this was a sure-kill. Once the enemy triggered this negative state, they would either die or be defeated.

However, there was one thing to note: if Su Xiao were dealing with an enemy who was also a Nightmare Overlord-tier unit, the negative states wouldn't trigger so quickly. Even the "Nightmare Lord" domain-type ability might cancel out with the enemy's nightmare domain ability. In that situation, Su Xiao wouldn't be afraid at all; his own combat power hadn't been weakened in the nightmare, and the true damage of Blue Steel Shadow was still very top-tier in the nightmare area.

The Dream-Eating Beast died after its Sanity value reached zero. In the nightmare area, once the Sanity value reached zero, it would begin to be absorbed by the surrounding nightmare environment.

Dark purple nervous-system-like tentacles reached out from the surrounding air, clinging to and piercing into all parts of the Dream-Eating Beast's corpse. In a very short time, the Dream-Eating Beast was absorbed clean.

Just then, Su Xiao heard a howl full of spirit from the distance. If he hadn't guessed wrong, that should be the White Wolf Lord, the target of the Big Brain Team. With the White Wolf Lord's strength, the Big Brain Team would have a hard time this time.

Su Xiao was about to continue moving forward when he suddenly felt something touch his leg, and then Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who had blended into the environment, appeared.

"Woof."

"Hmm."

"Woof, woof."

"Where?"

"Woof, woof."

"Good."

Su Xiao moved forward according to the direction Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang led. This was to help Baham get out of trouble. Baham had been swallowed by a giant carnivorous flower in the nightmare. With Baham's strength, it could naturally break free instantly. The problem was that Baham, who often helped Su Xiao prepare potions, recognized that this was a giant carnivorous flower unique to the nightmare area, so it was reluctant to break free violently and destroy the flower. With the defense of its feathers, being swallowed by this giant carnivorous flower wasn't dangerous.

On the street, Su Xiao and Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang hadn't walked far when a figure that looked like it had lost its way walked out from a nearby side street. This was... the slacker girl Delona, dressed in a black dress. ===== CHAPTER 3892 =====