Chapter 227 Nightmare Ghost Seed

This was a battle of wills. She struggled, but the strength just wouldn't come. Her body twisted and turned within the tent, making soft rustling sounds. *Pop*—that was the sound of her clothing buttons bursting open. Sweat streamed down her forehead and neck, drenching her entire body.

Her consciousness began to wane, and the surroundings grew darker. The last shred of awareness brought to mind a terrifying name: Child Emperor, the possessor of the rare Nightmare Breed, the most mysterious assassin of the Dark Hall.

If it were a straightforward fight, she wouldn't fear ten Child Emperors, but once dragged into the nightmare, ten thousand Karidas would be helpless.

*Swish*...

No matter how fiercely she struggled, it was all in vain. A red skull mark appeared on her forehead, and Karida ceased her writhing and twisting. Her eyelids closed, her face turned away, and she fell into an endless slumber.

*Snore*...

Duetong, who should have had the keenest sense of danger, snored evenly, completely oblivious to the situation. But Old Wang's eyes snapped open, a flash of gold in his pupils.

The air was filled with an unusual chill, enveloping the tent where Karida lay.

This is witchcraft!

Is there an Aberrant Ghost?

Old Wang sprang up and strode quickly to the tent entrance. This time, he didn't hesitate, pulling back the curtain with a serious expression. Inside the tent, Karida lay curled on the ground, wearing a soaked single garment. She clutched her shoulders, drenched in sweat yet shivering uncontrollably.

The special breed of Ghosts is the Aberrant Ghost, extremely rare, and among them, the Nightmare Breed is the finest!

Old Wang dared not shake her too hard; those ensnared by nightmares could be worsened by external force, potentially leading to a collapse in their dream world. Real fear could turn them into idiots at best or kill their spirit and soul at worst.

He gently turned her curled body over, carefully pulling her trembling hands from her chest and laying them at her sides. Her heaving breasts rose and fell, drenched in sweat, clearly having seen something terrifying in the nightmare.

"Karida? Karida?" Old Wang called softly a few times, but there was no response on Karida’s face, knowing she had been dragged deep into the nightmare.

In such a situation, the best course of action was to directly eliminate the entity casting the spell.

Old Wang took a deep breath, his soul power surged and suddenly spread out in all directions outside the tent. Even after dispersing his soul power to its utmost limit, covering a radius of a kilometer, he still found nothing.

There was no one within a kilometer; the opponent was clearly controlling from an extremely long distance, and their soul power level far exceeded his own. Damn it, they were at least a ghost-level entity, possibly even a peak ghost. If he really found them, he would only be inviting death, let alone trying to eliminate the source.

Unable to eliminate the source, there was only one last, clumsy method left.

Enter the dream!

Old Wang didn’t hesitate; he bit his finger and lightly touched the skull mark on Karida’s forehead.

A shimmering rune array appeared, and a similarly red skull mark materialized on Old Wang’s forehead. His body went limp, his limbs collapsed, and he fell directly onto Karida.

A question flashed through Old Wang’s mind as he entered the dream: What is Karida most afraid of?

………………

It was in a bustling city, with bright lights everywhere. The shops on the streets were all open, glowing with colorful lights, yet completely empty.

A little girl, about seven or eight years old, holding a wooden sword, rushed out from a street corner. Her face was delicate and her expression cold, moving forward at great speed, occasionally looking back over her shoulder.

Rustling...

Just as she had run about eighteen meters from the street corner, a massive wave of writhing creatures suddenly pursued her.

They were countless revolting worms, red, green, blue, and black, densely packed together, crawling over each other, forming a towering mass about seven or eight meters high. Like a surging tide, they rolled toward the little girl.

The little girl's face turned even paler, and she sped up her run, almost reaching the other end of the street when she heard a rustling sound. The little girl suddenly stopped, even retreating a few steps, staring at the street corner with fear and tension.

Rustle...

A wave of wriggling sounds came from that direction, as a large swarm of worms surged out like a tide, filling the street and rapidly advancing towards her position in layers. The worms on both sides surged towards her, covering every possible passage, leaving no way to escape either up or down.

The little girl bit her lip tightly, her face turning completely white, devoid of any blood. She gripped the wooden sword in her hand, her fingers turning pale from the force of her grip.

"Don't crowd, don't crowd! Damn, you stepped on my head!" Old Wang felt like crying; he had also become part of the worm army...

There was nothing he could do; he was just a dreamer, unable to control the dream, so he could only choose a carrier within it. But the problem was that this carrier was too disgusting—it was a worm, and not just any worm, but one among thousands!

Above and below... sorry, there were no feet now, just above and below, everywhere was densely packed with slimy worms. Old Wang could clearly feel the other worms wriggling and rubbing against him through the slippery mucus, even on his face and mouth... Ugh!

The fat worm couldn't help but vomit, but it only added more lubrication to the surroundings.

Fortunately, he was at the very front of the worm army, able to see the little girl trembling with fear. Indeed, she bore a faint resemblance to Karida.

The nightmare is constructed from the caster's inner fears; the spell merely amplifies the deepest, most helpless and terrified parts of your heart.

Death is not terrifying for many warriors, but fear certainly exists. If someone had no fear at all, they wouldn't be human. The power of the nightmare is to continuously layer fear, and once this fear exceeds a certain threshold, the soul will perish. To save her, the only method is to help her overcome her fear, which is precisely what makes this technique so terrifying.

If it were easy to overcome, it wouldn't be a true weakness or fear.

"Brother Da! Brother Da!" Old Wang shouted, but the sound, coming through the worm's body, turned into a strange 'yinyin' noise.

The surrounding worms also began to 'yinyin' in unison, moving their slimy bodies forward. Old Wang could sense the excitement of the worm swarm, which seemed to grow larger, depending on Karida. The more fearful Karida became, the more numerous and powerful they grew.

With both sides blocked off, little Karida had nowhere to run. Her trembling wooden sword pointed in all directions at the worms, trying to resist. But how could she resist in a world of worms, countless in number? She could already imagine her wooden sword slicing down, only to splash more disgusting bodily fluids and mucus...

The speed of the worms seemed to slow down, the closer they got to Karida, the slower they moved. But the slower they moved, the more terrified Karida felt. This kind of terror was clearly more devastating than a direct rush to the face.