Nightmare Despair

Chapter 119 Second Realm
The night wind swirled and hovered above the flames, gradually intensifying, turning the exploding sparks and smoke into a dazzling pillar of fire.

It pierced the night sky.

Amidst the raging fire, the townspeople's faces radiated a long-lost happiness. At least for this moment, they were no longer afraid of the fog, no longer worried about the increasingly shorter days and longer nights.

Westchester also smiled.

Once the fire is completely burned out, this year's ceremony will be over, and perhaps everything will take a turn for the better.

However, his smile quickly froze.

One moment the people are so joyful and excited, the next they are so painful and desperate.

Wow!

What began as a light drizzle quickly turned into a torrential downpour of cold water, with an endless curtain of water crashing down on us.

With a piercing sizzling sound, the flames burning the willow branches went out.

Everyone's hearts sank.

……

"how come……"

"Mr. Kailan calculated that the rain only got heavier more than an hour later!"

“Mr. Westchester!” the two priests in black hurriedly explained, “This is not our fault, something must be wrong…”

But Westchester didn't even look at them, and said without changing his expression, "It's alright, we can continue tomorrow."

The priest's voice trembled: "But this is the third time already..."

Westchester raised his hand to interrupt, "Seven times, one success is enough."

The priest swallowed hard, his voice barely audible: "Her body... can't hold on much longer."

Witchester then glanced at him. "Oh?"

The priest fell silent instantly, his back soaked with cold sweat.

……

Zhou Kai's consciousness became attached to the willow man, and he entered a state of absolute observation.

He watched as the distant fog drew ever closer, and as the clear lake water gradually turned blood-red.

The next day, the rattan doll was refurbished.

Zhou Kai saw that there were several living people among the offerings, their noses cut off, and the blood soaking through the rags used to gag their mouths.

On the next day... Zhou Kai realized that this was the fifth sacrificial ceremony.

The newly added offering... can be described as a piece of "flesh" that has been skinned and is still twitching slightly.

On the sixth day, two more deer with strange eyes appeared.

On the seventh day, all the offerings were replaced with straw dolls and cloth dolls stained with blood.

Seven sacrificial rites were performed, none of which were successful.

Heavy rain always seems to come down at the most inopportune time.

The residents of Soraka seemed to have given up completely, retreating into their homes and refusing to go out again.

One day, Westchester rode his warhorse and led his cavalry into the fog.

They returned before the short daylight ended.

The sound of horses' hooves pounded the ground like a heavy hammer, making the entire town hum. Following them came a tide of blood, a thicker fog, and a gradually graying rain curtain.

At that moment, the willow-twig man, who was attached to Zhou Kai's consciousness, also stood up.

Zhou Kai realized this.

From that moment on, the town of Soraka was completely dragged into a nightmare.

……

Zhou Kai frowned as he pulled himself out of that memory.

He glanced at the countdown timer on the fireplace; the numbers weren't changing much, and his momentary lapse in concentration wouldn't last more than twenty seconds.

"12 points of occult experience."

Aside from knowing about those messy past events, Zhou Kai's only gain was these twelve points of occult knowledge.

"I don't know whether it's a loss or a gain."

Zhou Kai sighed softly, raising his hand to rub his stiff temples. Who wouldn't feel uncomfortable being possessed by a willow tree person and turned into a statue for several days?

But this level of mental exhaustion was instantly suppressed and disappeared in his perception.

As the discomfort subsided, Zhou Kai reflected on his achievements and calmed down.

Not a loss.

His first gain was finding two paths, one visible and one hidden, to infiltrate the manor... the hidden path was the key.

He might be able to sneak into the manor by water, through the water prison.

Secondly, the core defenses of the manor consist of... twelve heavily armored knights and one knight commander. Thirteen in total, guaranteeing at least a third-level cultivator. Zhou Kai gasped.

Furthermore, Zhou Kai could roughly guess the extraordinary power that Westchester possessed.

【Scars and Restraint】

Zhou Kai smiled.

"I had my suspicions when I got the chariot, and now I have new evidence... The Mark System, it really is from the Fool to the World."

"The Soraka family, is it all about restraint and the chariot?"

Zhou Kai's gaze darkened. An adventure leading close to the mist and the manor, a synthesis of memories returning to the past.

This gave him a clearer understanding of the danger level of the nightmare he was in.

Grade B?
Zhou Kai chuckled.

There are multiple levels of three realms, and it is highly likely that there are four realms and higher realms.

Conservatively speaking, let's call it Grade A, or perhaps higher.

This means that Zhou Kai's growth in strength in the small town nightmare will gradually reach a bottleneck.

The inability to defeat stronger monsters and acquire more resources, leading to a slowdown in progress, was something Zhou Kai could not accept.

However, Zhou Kai has always had an alternative way to bypass the bottleneck period.

Zhou Kai breathed a sigh of relief and kept the matter in mind.

Of course, this is something I'll only start thinking about after tonight.

……

After observing the blood tide for a while, Zhou Kai couldn't figure out what was going on.

So he decided to stop wasting time and start practicing the newly acquired Buzzard Claw Technique.

This type of Qi-inducing martial art places a new level of demands on physical form, even requiring practitioners to distort their mindset into that of a wild beast during practice.

The talisman technique of the buzzard needs to imitate birds of prey such as the peregrine falcon and the red-tailed buzzard, which rely on speed and talon strength to hunt.

Zhou Kai didn't know much about these birds and beasts, but when he added points to his basic skills, the general experience points inexplicably poured all the relevant knowledge into his brain.

For now, you can simply practice by imitating the image from your memory.

He practiced for about one or two hours, then stopped.

Even though I practiced until my joints were weak, my hands cramped, and my muscles were sore and tired, I felt like I was about to scream out the next second.

Unfortunately, there was no progress whatsoever.

"Just as Chen Ping said, without the secret medicine, these martial arts are really difficult to practice."

Zhou Kai shook his head and looked at the panel. With the experience points contributed by the fireplace, the panel had changed significantly.

[Character: Zhou Kai]

[Status: Erosion, Clear Mind, Vitality]

【Scars: Chariot - Part 1 (57/100)】

【Characteristic: Strong】

【技能：鵟爪功lv1（0/15），隼击术Lv5（max），索拉卡剑术lv3（41/50），神秘学lv3（13/50），综合格斗lv3（1/50），轻盈步伐lv3（17/50），枪术·射击lv2（3/25↑）】

[Items: Residence Permit, Morning Star Notebook, Exquisite Moonlight Orchid Amulet, Sturdy Two-Handed Greatsword, Heat-Resistant Gauntlets, For's Gift (Life Candlelight), Mutant Wolf Hair, Slime Fungus, Nightmare Goggles, Annihilation, Skins*6...]

[General Experience Points: 126]

His spear skills leveled up instantly, and his swordsmanship was also close to level four. Reaching 126 experience points also made Zhou Kai look towards the fireplace beside him.

It is important to know that the intensity of the Nightmare Force's corrosive influence is increasing as Zhou Kai survives.

At first, it could clear away the abnormalities all over his body and gradually eliminate the flames of the erosion process, but he became increasingly weak.

From this day forward, he stretched out his hand, the firelight licking his palm, leaving only a lukewarm warmth.

"At first I thought that as long as I accumulated enough burning time, everything would be fine, but it turns out... it's not as simple as I thought."

Everything returned to Zhou Kai's initial understanding of the nightmare world.

This is a chase between life and death.

Stop?

Even slowing down is absolutely not allowed.

Zhou Kai shook his head and looked at the fireplace, where the flames were still blazing, but the feeling was completely different.

As the thought of strengthening arises, the required experience points slowly emerge.

【188】

Zhou Kai's eyelids twitched.

You could have just robbed it directly.
This was according to his idea, to strengthen the fireplace to the point where it could completely purify the erosion.

Although it hurts to see Zhou Kai earning experience points so efficiently these days, the effort is definitely worthwhile and acceptable.

However, there's no need for that now; let's wait until we have a better reserve of experience points...

For now, we'll focus on expanding the nursery first, and the fireplace project will be postponed.

Expanding the nursery only requires bricks and clean soil; the key is the plants grown inside.

A fireplace is different; the most important thing is the flame itself.

Zhou Kai can get clean soil from reality, but he doesn't have the ability to get a more magical fire from reality; he can only rely on experience points to fight it head-on.

"It's too difficult." Zhou Kai exhaled a breath of stale air. "Construction of the shelter, improvement of combat power, and exploration of the dream world—we have to take all three paths, and we can't be slow in any of them."

Zhou Kai's eyes narrowed as he recalled the official Nightmare Walker information Lin Sheng had given him.

Thinking back to the two to four years lifespan limit of those travelers, Zhou Kai couldn't help but sigh, "Not bad, they are all long-lived immortals."

Zhou Kai shifted his focus back to improving his own abilities.

With 126 experience points and various combat gains, there are still many areas where you can improve.

First, there were the six pieces of dried, rolled human skin with crude markings.

Zhou Kai pricked his fingertip, and the blood dripped into the stone bowl, soaking and melting the six dried human skins into a pool of blood ink. He then held a devouring ceremony.

Not long after.

[You have absorbed 6 'Chariot One', and your Marked Chariot experience points have increased by 18.]

After gaining 18 experience points—

【Scars: Chariot - Part 1 (75/100)】

With only a quarter of the way to the next level remaining, the engravings themselves have finally shown noticeable changes.

The pattern outlined in blood and ink became clearer and more solid, and Zhou Kai's physical condition also improved slightly.

In terms of perception, the power unleashed by activating the chariot's engravings has also been significantly enhanced.

"I feel like I could go toe-to-toe with Elizabeth back then without even using firearms."

"But we're still far from being able to face that knight commander."

The iron tower, which appeared to be at least at the third level of cultivation, stood like a wall, firmly blocking Zhou Kai's path.

The monsters on the outskirts of the town have been almost completely wiped out. Once we enter the inner core layer, we will risk being bombarded by the Knight Commander from a distance.

This is all under the premise that the knight is unable to leave the fog for some unknown reason.

What if one day... or even just a few hours from now, he could leave again?

So, with a thought, twenty-five experience points surged into the chariot's engravings.

The illusory marks appear automatically even before the system is activated.

What was originally a dreamlike bubble drawn with rough lines suddenly solidified at this moment.

Zhou Kai's physical strength and energy, as well as some mysterious power, were instantly drained, turning into fine golden threads that flowed into the engraving.

These golden threads gradually wove together on the knight's phantom into an even more solid and heavy suit of armor.

boom!
The next instant, the illusory image of the engraving trembled violently, and a wave of energy swept outwards like ripples.

Zhou Kai, who was at the core, was so pressed down by this force that he was forced to kneel on one knee.

The power that was drawn away, like molten steel being quenched, flowed back into Zhou Kai's body with scalding heat.

It was tearing and rebuilding frantically.

The sudden, excruciating pain almost caused Zhou Kai to collapse.

But, it's all worth it.

"So that's how it is... This is the power of the Second Realm..."

Zhou Kai knelt on one knee for more than ten seconds before struggling to get up, leaning on his knee.

His eyes gleamed, and his expression was one of ecstatic joy.

There were clearly some unexpected gains!

The marks they leave behind enhance physical fitness and the intensity of a victorious charge.

This is expected progress.

What surprised Zhou Kai at this moment was... a completely new empowerment method.

[Shield of War]

"It can transform one's own will and the continuous accumulation of victories into a strong shield, and its defensive power theoretically... has no upper limit?"

Zhou Kai stared at the layer of engraved phantoms enveloping him, as long as he was willing.

He can materialize the armor on that phantom onto his own body at any time.

In the form of armor or shield.

The cost of using the Shield of Battle is very low when it is not activated.

Zhou Kai decisively started it, proving its effectiveness.

Driven by Zhou Kai's will, the illusory marks gathered and dispersed in an instant.

It then transformed into a translucent suit of armor emitting a faint white-gold glow, enveloping Zhou Kai's entire body. Zhou Kai tried clenching his fist, and the armor plates made a crisp friction sound.

This armor is the embodiment of one's will and victory. As long as one's will is strong enough and the number of victories is high enough, theoretically, there is no upper limit to the defensive power of this thing.

With the strength of Zhou Kai's "Shield of Fighting Spirit" granted by his seventy-five real victories, Zhou Kai may already be able to...

"To withstand bullets with one's own body."

Zhou Kai couldn't help but exclaim: "The charge of victory plus the shield of fighting spirit... the more we win, the stronger we become, and the stronger we become, the more we win. Is this 'shit monster' actually me?"

"Fortunately, these guys can't use engravings in the nightmare, otherwise I don't even want to imagine how difficult it would be to fight them."

With a thought, Zhou Kai deactivated the battle shield.

A hint of regret flickered in his eyes.

The Shield of War also comes at a cost.

That is, if the armor formed by the Shield of Battle Spirit is completely shattered, Zhou Kai's will will collapse on the spot, and his accumulated victories will be wiped out.

Although the grade of the engraving is not so low as to regress to a lower grade.

However, it will directly disable this skill until the number of victories is piled up again... and resetting the number of victories is only the smallest price to pay; the key is the collapse of willpower.

"Pity."

"A god-tier skill for crushing noobs. If you encounter someone you really can't beat, using it recklessly will result in instant cremation."

Taking the heavy armored knights as an example, if you use the Shield of Battle to withstand the lance bombardment, it's fine if you can withstand it, but if you can't... even the Candle of Life can't save you.

The vitality of Gastrodia elata cannot cure the collapse of will; without will, it is better to die.

"So... the core logic of the chariot markings is to squeeze the weak to death?"

After gradually getting used to the surge in power, Zhou Kai couldn't help but almost burst out laughing.

(End of this chapter)