Nightmare Despair

Chapter 115 Summoning Part Two
This is the meaning of the ciphertext after it has been translated into Old Latin.

Zhou Kai chuckled, shook his head, and casually placed it aside.

"Chenxing is indeed from the same hometown; I vaguely remember that sentence."

Zhou Kai has a broad knowledge of Western history and ancient literature, and his translations immediately evoked a sense of familiarity.

This saying comes from an ancient emperor, specifically used to warn future generations to seize the time and live each day as if it were their last.

"Every day is like the last day before I die."

"It does fit my current precarious situation... But Morning Star wouldn't be so bored as to encrypt a famous quote to annoy newcomers. There's probably more to it than meets the eye."

Zhou Kai had just put it down when he felt it was inappropriate, so he simply put it away and casually stuffed it into the lining of his gauntlet.

As for the second card, Zhou Kai guessed its general purpose after only deciphering half of it.

Now that the entire text has been deciphered, it's clear that it's not simple at all.

[Pippen's Ceremonial: Silver dust... My blood has a heart, the enemy's blood has no heart... Drawing the array...]

The slip of paper described a simple ceremony that required silver fragments and two special types of blood.

Once the three materials are mixed and the magic circle is drawn, it can be activated.

"What effect? ​​Pippin... the second sacred object, the Pippin tree? Could it be related to that sage of the Limpinian school?"

Zhou Kai's eyes narrowed, and he began to consider that he had to find an opportunity to try out this ceremony.

"Enemy Blood Unintentional"... It emphasizes that it cannot be obtained intentionally, which is really cumbersome.

Well, there's always a way.

After finishing those two cards, Zhou Kai patted his bottom, got up, and put away all the things he had in his hands.

The password is too complex; deciphering it completely would be a huge undertaking.

Time in dreams is precious, especially before the blood tide arrives; it cannot be wasted.

Zhou Kai got up to check that there was enough fuel in the fireplace, then went straight down to the basement.

According to some unspoken rule, he cannot stay in one place without moving.

During the full twelve hours of mandatory conscription, he was required to spend at least four hours in other areas of the town.

To ensure a safer and more efficient exploration, Zhou Kai had two final preparations before leaving the shelter.

Zhou Kai stood by the nursery, holding a lantern and looking down.

The Moonlit Orchid, emitting a faint glow, is growing well, with wider leaves and swollen flower buds... It looks like it will bloom within a few days.

Gastrodia elata, on the other hand, still looked lifeless, like bare finger bones of a dead person, sticking out of the soil.

If it weren't for the lingering pungent herbal smell, Zhou Kai would have suspected that the thing had already gone stale.

"After this forced nightmare ends, we must expand the nursery and transplant the Moonshine Orchids to other locations. But right now..."

The key ingredient to consider is Gastrodia elata.

He needs a portable vitality effect, a mobility buff.

The method is simple and straightforward: either upgrade the existing Gastrodia elata or use Gastrodia elata as a prop.

Zhou Kai glanced at the experience required for enhancement and decisively chose the latter.

"Upgrading directly to double the effect requires a whopping 89 points... I can't afford to be so wasteful for now."

Making the props is more cost-effective; the cost to achieve the goal is only slightly more expensive than the Moonlit Orchid Amulet.

Zhou Kai shook his head, temporarily pulled the gastrodia elata out of the ground, stretched out his finger, and pried off a small piece with a distinct bud from the tuber.

There are two types of propagation for Gastrodia elata: sexual and asexual. The latter is similar to potatoes; it can survive as long as it has a sprout.

Zhou Kai felt that the Gastrodia elata grown with this addition was not the same as the herbs in reality, so he directly cut off a piece to use as material.

With the tuber resting on his fingertips, Zhou Kai had a sudden thought.

Subtitles appeared.

[You have consumed 11 general experience points, and the gastrodia tuber in your hand has undergone a miraculous change!]

Sure enough, a small tuber that can grow into an independent individual is perfectly qualified to be used as material.

The moment the experience points disappeared, it began to change; the tender stems and buds that were originally full of moisture quickly dried, twisted, and elongated.

Finally, right under Zhou Kai's nose, this little thing grew into a thick rope.

[Props: Gastrodia elata wick]

Lamp wick?

Zhou Kai looked at the wick in his palm, then at the oil lamp, and his eyes lit up instantly.

Indeed, it was a pleasant surprise.

……

The willow man vanished completely into the thick fog, leaving no trace, as if he had rolled away entirely.

After it left, the torrential rain that enveloped the town became even more frenzied, pouring down almost retaliatory.

In the rain.

Zhou Kai's outfit was somewhat incongruous.

He wore a three-eyed night vision device painted black on his head, medieval-style gauntlets on his arms, and a two-handed greatsword on his back.

An oil lamp hung from his waist.

Zhou Kai huddled in the corner, fiddling with the night vision goggles a few times. Soon, a hazy, dark gray vision unfolded before his eyes.

Although it is full of noise and blurry.

But this still allowed Zhou Kai to breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally, even without firelight, he could see in this pitch-black nightmare.

"Unexpectedly, the infrared night vision that I had placed so much hope on was useless... because most of the monsters have no body temperature, and due to the torrential rain, the ambient temperature here is almost completely constant."

Zhou Kai chuckled self-deprecatingly, determined the direction, and headed towards the lowlands of the town.

With 6 experience points, Zhou Kai upgraded his ordinary night vision goggles into Nightmare Goggles, which are adapted to Nightmare environments.

As a result, Zhou Kai's experience points were reduced to a paltry 7.

"The faster you spend it, the faster you earn it... This little bit of wealth will come back soon."

The Nightmare Goggles interface has a built-in time display, which Zhou Kai can use to accurately judge the time.

His explorations, battles, and even the total time he spent in the nightmare could be precisely recorded.

This was extremely useful for Zhou Kai in controlling the erosion process.

...The Nightmare Goggles provided a dark gray view with jittery noise, but it was still better than being blind.

As for the sudden burst of intense light from lightning, it can also be blocked by the eyepiece's built-in function.

Zhou Kai finally grasped the concept of vision within the nightmare.

This is absolutely a landmark change.

The changing scenery and the monsters' movements are all clearly visible.

From this moment forward, Zhou Kai, armed to the teeth, has truly become a hunter.

……

Tapping.

The heavy sound of horses' hooves echoed from the lakeside estate shrouded in thick fog, a sound that even the torrential rain could not completely drown out.

Zhou Kai only caught the clear sound when he got close enough to touch it.

He hunched over and looked in that direction.

The moment Zhou Kai saw what it was through the fog, his pupils constricted sharply.

Because... that thing was the largest monster he had ever seen, besides Elizabeth!
A four-meter-tall armored giant.

The giant sat astride a massive skeletal horse clad in full plate armor, wielding a lance nearly ten meters long. Like a moving colossal statue, he eternally patrolled the thick fog.

Every move it made looked mechanically sluggish, but Zhou Kai knew very well that this monster was "on standby".

Once it locks onto its target, the power and speed it unleashes will be far more terrifying than its appearance suggests.

Zhou Kai stared at the heavily armored cavalry, then hesitated.

"If this was transformed from a cavalryman in the Soraka Guard, then there's definitely more than one of these!"

The mansion diary clearly states that Westchester had a cavalry unit that could be considered an army.

These people are definitely the elite knights of the Soraka family. Their numbers may be fewer than those of swordsmen and chainmail warriors, but how many fewer?
Soraka, whose family tradition is marked by chariot engravings, rely on cavalry as their core strength.

"Those knights, are they all guarding the manor in the fog? How am I supposed to get in then?"

Zhou Kai's face darkened, and his mind raced.

First, the manor must be explored.

As the heart of the town, that place, second only to the Limpini Church atop the mountain, was a must-visit for Zhou Kai.

For the Morning Star Manual, and even more so to acquire the Nightmare Core as soon as possible.

Elizabeth had died by her own hand, but the nightmare remained unchanged.

Therefore, the core could only be Evelyn, or Westchester's group.

Evelyn is most likely at Limpini Church, so Zhou Kai doesn't need to try and cause trouble for the time being.

But the mayor's estate is just a stone's throw away.

There's no reason to let this place go.

Zhou Kai pondered for a moment, then his eyes narrowed.

"If only we could kill this iron cavalryman, with such a large size, he would definitely be able to withstand the fire, and the reward would surely be generous."

But he knew he couldn't just blindly rush in.

Before embarking on an adventure, two things must be clarified.

"What is the strength of this cavalry?"

"How many are there, how are they distributed, and if there are many, how can we get around them..."

Having clarified his purpose, Zhou Kai bent down and conjured "Annihilation" from his inventory.

The so-called Annihilation was previously known as the "Silent Gran Industries Anti-Material Sniper Rifle RK".

Zhou Kai felt that the name was comparable to Jiraiya's Double Shiki no Maru, so he simply renamed it "Anmaku".

"It's best to snipe from a distance... No matter how many there are, it's not a problem. As long as the defense isn't high, the bullets will just keep coming."

Zhou Kai confirmed that he was at a safe distance, set up his Dark Destroyer, and aimed at the head of the heavily armored cavalry.

Because the sniper scope wasn't upgraded, otherwise it could have been positioned even further away.

In theory, all beings are equal before an anti-materiel rifle.

Forget carbon-based life forms, even beings from the second realm would have to kneel before them!

Spend a little experience to upgrade your bullets to steel-core armor-piercing rounds.

Zhou Kai is like a black panther with its claws drawn, quietly waiting for its prey to reveal a weakness.

About two minutes later, the heavily armored knight moved.

With the clatter of hooves, the rider turned and moved more than ten meters toward Zhou Kai.

Its chest and head were completely exposed to Zhou Kai's aim.

At a distance of nearly two hundred meters, the other person's face was blurry in Zhou Kai's eyes. He thought to himself that he must upgrade and install a sniper scope when he had the chance, so that he could not only see more clearly, but also get further away.

"It's not a full-coverage helmet..."

The thought had barely crossed Zhou Kai's mind when his finger had already firmly pulled the trigger.

Whoosh!
The bullet left the barrel silently, tearing through the rain and leaving a white trail of water.

In Zhou Kai's understanding, no living being should be able to react to this white streak that travels at nearly twice the speed of sound.

An armor-piercing bullet, once fired, should have only one outcome—piercing through armor and pulverizing flesh.

but.

Zhou Kai's pupils suddenly froze.

The moment he pulled the trigger, the knight's arm moved!

Its movement of raising its lance was incredibly fast, and a muffled sonic boom tore through the air.

The thick, slender metal gun accurately blocked its face.

Ding! !

The bullet struck the rifle with a piercing, sharp sound.

It blocked...?
This medieval tin man, with a seemingly cumbersome lance, managed to stop an armor-piercing bullet?!
Zhou Kai was stunned, and his planned burst of fire suddenly froze.

And in that half-second of his mind going blank.

The killing intent has arrived.

(End of this chapter)