Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 161 Seed of Nightmare

Without the slightest hesitation, Kate flashed into the cave that exuded endless evil and misfortune.

Ashe transformed into a streak of silver light and followed closely behind, while Amber gritted her teeth and kept up, her staff glowing with a resolute emerald light.

The cave was far more spacious and eerie than imagined, as if stepping into a living, otherworldly stomach woven entirely from nightmares.

The cave walls were made of nightmare flesh that constantly writhed and secreted a viscous black liquid, with countless painful and distorted faces appearing on the surface, emitting silent wails.

These faces, sometimes clear, sometimes blurry, seemed to embody all the despair and fear in the world. Their empty eye sockets stared intently at the intruders, and their silent shrieks formed a tangible mental shockwave, crashing against the three men's mental defenses like waves.

The ground was covered with a thick, black velvet-like fungal carpet, which was soft and slippery to the touch, yet exuded a cold aura that seemed to suck away life force.

Upon closer inspection, extremely tiny, black maggot-like energy bodies were wriggling on the surface of the fungal carpet, attempting to wrap around the intruders' ankles and drain their life force and spiritual energy.

Each step that landed stirred up a faint, unsettling ripple of energy.

The air was filled with a thick, impenetrable gray-green mist. This mist not only obscured vision but also directly affected the soul, frantically trying to implant all sorts of fear, despair, and madness into the minds of the intruders.

It felt as if countless cold, invisible tentacles were caressing my skin in the mist, sending shivers down my spine.

What filled my ears was a blasphemous symphony of wails, curses, and devouring words from billions of living beings, assaulting the very limits of reason.

Ordinary beings here would likely suffer a mental breakdown instantly, their souls corrupted, and become slaves to nightmares.

"Keep your mind focused! Its mental attacks are powerful! It's operating in a cycle, centered on me!"

Kate gave a low shout, her voice as steady as a rock.

The Heart of Reincarnation domain was fully activated, enveloping the three of them.

The domain force field, with its interplay of silver-blue, emerald green, gray, and amber light, is like a lighthouse in a storm, steadfast and stable.

The edge of the domain clashed violently with the nightmare energy, emitting a hissing and piercing sound, constantly forcibly pushing back, neutralizing, and annihilating the surging waves of nightmares.

But the domain itself was trembling slightly, clearly under immense pressure. Kate could sense that the succubus power here was pure and concentrated, far surpassing the scattered energy outside.

Ashe was surrounded by dazzling starlight, her spatial power highly concentrated, constantly reinforcing the spatial structure of her domain, counteracting the distortion and erosion of space by the nightmare energy, and precisely deflecting the most deadly mental spikes.

Amber sang with all her might, her emerald green life radiance acting as the warmest barrier, protecting the core of the three souls and dispelling the coldness and despair that tried to seep in. Although her singing was weak, it was like an indomitable sprout in the darkness of despair, stubbornly resisting.

Deep within the cave, the chilling, malevolent energy reached its peak, pounding like a giant, cold heart, each beat causing the entire cave to tremble and exuding an even stronger aura of despair.

In the very center of the cave, a cocoon of nightmares, composed of countless twisted, blood vessel-like energy channels and jet-black crystal clusters that seemed to absorb all light, was slowly pulsating.

Its size is comparable to a small house, and its surface is covered with strange, eye-like holes that open and close constantly, from which flows a viscous, dark green energy stream.

It is like a living womb, gestating a terrifying monster, radiating a vast and pure dream energy that freezes the soul.

With each pulsation, a large amount of gray-green mist and more solidified, distorted phantoms that seemed to have a physical form were pumped out, spreading throughout the cave like a black tide, and even affecting the valley outside through the cave entrance.

This is the core nest and cocoon of evolution that the "Seed of Dream Demon" built for itself after absorbing so much power and devouring countless dreams!

It is undergoing its final transformation here. Once completed, its strength will experience a qualitative leap. At that time, it will no longer be satisfied with hiding, but will become a true "Dream Lord", and may even be able to materialize its nightmare domain and erode large areas of reality.

"It wants to complete its final transformation here!" Kate's pupils contracted as she instantly discerned the other party's intentions, and alarm bells rang in her mind.

It must be stopped; it must not be allowed to succeed!

Seemingly sensing the arrival of the intruder with pinpoint accuracy, and clearly perceiving the deadly threat originating from the Heart of Reincarnation—a threat sufficient to threaten its very existence—the Nightmare Cocoon suddenly trembled violently.

A shockwave spread through the air, a mixture of rage, anxiety, and a hint of disbelief and panic.

Its pulsation speed increased several times in an instant, like a war drum pounding wildly, urging destruction, and the nightmare energy in the entire cave boiled over.

The next moment, countless hideous gashes suddenly split open in the "flesh and blood" walls of the entire cave, as if the whole lair was roaring in anger.

One after another, grotesque and twisted dream guardians, composed of pure nightmare energy and enslaved, torn fragments of souls, surged out like a black tide.

Some of them resemble multi-limbed shadow spiders, with human faces constantly wailing embedded in their abdomens, spewing out viscous spider webs that can corrode the soul.

Some resembled rotting moths covered in wildly rotating, malevolent eyes, their flapping wings scattering scales that drove people into madness.

Some were indescribable monsters pieced together from various terrifying images, emitting piercing, soul-piercing screams as they frantically pounced on the three.

Their numbers numbered in the hundreds and thousands, almost completely filling the passage ahead. Their attack was frenzied and chaotic, yet they were united in their goal of tearing the invaders apart.

At the same time, the largest hole on the surface of the Nightmare Cocoon suddenly opened, and a dense, ink-black, icy, and highly condensed core nightmare shockwave, like a cluster cannon, tore through the air and shot towards Kate with precision, silence, and lightning speed.

This attack contained most of the Seed of Nightmare's original power, and was the ultimate manifestation of its anger and fear. It was enough to freeze the mind instantly, annihilate the soul of an ordinary first-ring wizard, and even cause permanent mental damage.

"Be careful!"

Aisha and Amber exclaimed in unison, feeling the terrifying power contained in that shockwave.

"Good thing you came! I was afraid you'd hide and never show yourself!"

Kate, however, was not surprised but delighted, her eyes burning with a fierce yet calm fighting spirit.

What he feared was that the other party would remain hidden inside the cocoon, using the advantageous location of the nest and countless guards to buy time and complete the metamorphosis.

Since it actively expends its own resources to launch an attack, it has revealed a weakness, which plays right into their hands.

"The Heart of Reincarnation, the Four Symbols Revolve, Control!"

Kate let out a low growl, and the phantom of the Heart of Reincarnation suddenly appeared and expanded in front of her. The four rules of life, death, space, and dreams rotated and intertwined wildly with unprecedented tacit understanding.

A perfect and stable four-colored energy vortex shield, containing the mysteries of the cycle of birth and death, was formed in front of him.

The terrifying, soul-destroying shockwave of the nightmare crashed violently into the four-colored vortex.

The anticipated earth-shattering explosion did not occur. The darkest energy was like a mud ox sinking into the sea, being frantically torn apart, decomposed, transformed, and absorbed by the four forces of law.

The verdant life force neutralized its deathly stillness and coldness, the gray death force greedily devoured its resentment and despair, the silver-blue spatial force distorted and deflected its absolutely straight attack path, and the amber dream force rapidly analyzed its energy structure, searched for its weaknesses, and simulated its frequency to interfere.

In an instant, Kate skillfully neutralized and absorbed most of the power of this fatal blow through her clever use of the rules!

The residual impact only caused his body to sway slightly, and the ripples in his mind quickly subsided.

"What?! This is impossible!!"

An unbelievable surge of emotion, a mixture of deep-seated fear and rage, erupted violently from the Nightmare Cocoon like an explosion, even causing the entire cave to tremble slightly.

It clearly had no idea that its long-awaited, powerful strike, imbued with its very essence, would be so easily and almost perfectly parried by its opponent.

This approach goes beyond its understanding of "living beings".

"Now, it's my turn!"

The moment Kate deflected the attack, without pausing, she launched a counterattack.

He knew the principle of striking while the iron was hot and would never give the enemy any chance to catch his breath.

He pointed his fingers like a sword, gathering highly compressed, purified energy that had been harmonized and transformed by the Heart of Reincarnation at his fingertips. At the same time, it was mixed with a trace of the dominating power that simulated the dream demon itself, but was purified and closer to the original dream rules.

Transforming into an invisible and intangible thorn of thought, yet as swift as a thought itself, it pierced directly across space, striking with unparalleled precision at the very core of the Nightmare Cocoon, the point where energy fluctuations were most active.

This attack was not merely an energy surge; it also contained a usurpation of authority over the rules of "dreams" and an absolute crushing of the spirit.

puff!

A faint sound, like rotten leather being pierced by a sharp awl.

The nightmare cocoon suddenly stiffened, its frantic pulsation abruptly ceasing. With a "crack," more cracks appeared on its surface, and a stream of pure, unsettlingly pale green primordial energy gushed out like blood.

The malevolent energy it emitted instantly diminished significantly.

It emitted a silent yet extremely mournful howl, as if it could tear the very soul apart.

The howl acted directly on the level of consciousness, causing both Aisha and Amber to feel dizzy.

The maddened guardians, who were rushing forward, suddenly froze, their forms becoming illusory and unpredictable, emitting chaotic hisses. As if they had lost unified command, they even began to attack each other. Clearly, their existence was closely connected to the Nightmare Cocoon itself, and if one was destroyed, the other would be destroyed as well.

"Ashe, Spatial Imprisonment! Amber, Life Suppression!"

Kate pressed her advantage, issuing concise and clear orders, seizing this fleeting, golden opportunity.

"Starlight Imprisonment Field - Ultimate Compression!"

Ashe shone brightly with starlight, and the silver-blue spatial domain power stopped spreading and suddenly contracted, like countless invisible and incredibly tough spatial chains, gripping the damaged, energy-disordered Nightmare Cocoon tightly, forcibly suppressing its instinctive power burst and possible spatial jump ability, fixing it firmly in place.

"Nature's Wrath - Root Seal!"

Amber plunged the staff wolf fiercely into the unsettling fungal carpet beneath her feet, and emerald green life energy poured in like a waterfall, causing countless thick, revitalizing roots, shimmering with powerful purification runes, to burst forth from the soil.

Like a giant python coiling around the cocoon of nightmares, it frantically purifies and burns the nightmare energy on its surface, and tries its best to suppress its activity, as if putting layer upon layer of green shackles on it.

The two coordinated perfectly, with impeccable timing.

It seamlessly connected with Kate's attack.

The Nightmare Cocoon struggled frantically, unleashing even more chaotic and desperate dream demonic fluctuations, attempting to break free from the spatial confinement, tear apart the roots of life, and even erode the spirits of Aisha and Amber, creating an even more terrifying illusion.

But under the suppression of the three completely different yet perfectly coordinated forces dominated by Kate, its struggles seemed futile and hopeless, like a moth caught in a spider's web.

The spatial chains are taut but do not break, and the roots of life are corroded and regenerated, firmly trapping and killing them.

Kate took a deep breath, slowly bringing her hands together in front of her chest. The Heart of Reincarnation shone brightly on her chest, and the four forces of law began to converge, compress, and fuse towards her palms with unprecedented intensity.

The power of life transforms into a vibrant, boundless light of creation;

The power of death solidifies into an absolute, all-annihilating darkness of end;

The power of space constructs a stable framework that can support all things;

The power of dreams weaves the prelude to the final judgment, a prelude of obsession and illusion—

Under the supreme command of the Heart of Reincarnation, the four forces achieved a dangerous yet incredibly harmonious dynamic balance, forming a perfect closed loop.

Finally, in the palm of his hand, a four-colored chaotic energy ball, no bigger than a fist, formed, which caused the entire cave space to violently distort and tremble, as if it could not withstand its existence.

Inside the sphere, it seemed as if a miniature universe was undergoing a cycle of creation and destruction, containing an indescribable, terrifying power capable of disintegrating all things and returning them to chaos and nothingness.

This is the attack that Kate currently possesses, which integrates the four major rules and represents the highest achievement of the Heart of Reincarnation at this stage—the Return of All Things to Nothingness!

"It's over. From whose dream did we come, let us return to whose nothingness?"

Kate's gaze was icy, like that of a god who wields the laws, as she firmly locked onto the nightmare cocoon that was struggling madly, radiating endless fear, resentment, and even the last trace of pleading. She then pushed her clasped hands forward with a sudden force.

call out-!!!

The four-colored chaotic energy orbs shot out silently, seemingly transcending the distance of space, and instantly sank into the core of the Nightmare Cocoon!

There was no explosion, no light; in the initial moment, there was only absolute silence.

Time seemed to stand still for a second.

The next moment, an indescribable burst of brilliant light erupted from within the Nightmare Cocoon.

The light was not a single color, but flowed continuously among the four colors, eventually transforming into a pure white that seemed to purify and annihilate everything.

There was no sound, only the release of pure light and energy!

The light filled the entire cave like a rising tide!

Where the light passed, there were writhing walls of flesh, black fungal carpets, swarming nightmare guards, and a gray-green mist permeating the air—

Everything constructed from the power of nightmares melted, decomposed, and transformed into the most primordial particles, like ice and snow under the sun, leaving no trace whatsoever.