Chapter 1622: The End of the Dreamer
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The battle within the Lair of Nightmares had proceeded to the second phase before the ruckus it caused attracted the guards outside.
It was not that the guards were lax in their duties, rather, the collapse of the crystal pillars had totally annihilated all security and monitoring facilities. The demolition of the crystal pillars not only created a massive shock to the geological structure of the planet, but it also unleashed a mini-doomsday weapon in the form of an energy storm created by the crystals. The energy traveled along the crystal pillar and planet’s crust through various tunnels, spreading all across the land. At once, it immolated the energy network around Amantir’s equator rift as well as one-third of the planet’s southern continent. It directly impacted the corrupted ones that were monitoring the planet’s operations.
All of the corrupted ones had no idea where the catastrophic shock came from for a good twenty or so minutes. By the time they realized that the crystal pillar layer had collapsed, they did not sense any changes in the Lair of Nightmares as everything was in flux.
It was only when the dreamer slowly roused itself from the nightmare and started to actively resist that the guards discovered the assault on the lair.
By then, the barrier around the brain monster was down to the last few wavering screens.
Lily’s Doggoblast was extremely powerful, but it was could not be used continuously, and after the final two light beams, she had exhausted her reserve of divine power. The mega husky bore her fangs menacingly for a good while letting out a whimper. She then fell to the ground and started huffing and puffing heavily as she used her eyes to signal to Hao Ren that she could no longer fight for a while.
Hao Ren did not understand what the werehusky was trying to tell him with the eye signals but he had figured that Lily’s energy reserves had been depleted, and thus quickly ordered his automated cannon platforms to follow up with the attack. He took a glance at the brain monster that was writhing violently, as if it was about to fully awake from its slumber and yelled, “Hit it hard! That bloody thing can’t last much longer! Smash it!”
At the same time, a blurry black shadow darted silently along the rock pillars and crystal prisms like the wind, and the black shadow circled the entire lair before dashing towards Hao Ren, and any mutants along the way were eviscerated by the shadow, falling apart in bloody pieces.
The black shadow stopped before Hao Ren and only then did Rollie’s face appeared. The catgirl’s claws and face were stained with blood, but her eyes were unusually bright. She swiftly circled around Hao Ren as she rambled anxiously. “Big Boss Cat! Big Boss Cat! There are cracks over there! Monsters are coming in!”
“The guards outside are moving,” Hao Ren looked at Vivian, “They are trying to breakthrough the lair’s outer walls.”
“That brain monster won’t last long enough to welcome reinforcements,” Vivian said as she floated in the air, a pair of bat wings expanded behind her like a cape and beneath the wings were many skittering bat swarms, and the coils of electricity within the swarm made her look like a walking goddess of thunder, “I can feel… its fear. This creator of nightmares, it can actually feel fear.”
Hao Ren smiled as he held the rambling Godslayer in his hands, “Normal. Who won’t be afraid when they get nagged upon like this?”
Vivian almost fell from the sky when she heard that, “…I didn’t mean that.”
“Time to end this.” a thunderous roar came from the size, Y’zaks, in his infernal demon form was covered in terrifying heat as green fel runes floated around him. He looked at the black sword in Hao Ren’s grip and said grimly. “Let’s end this before that thing drives us nuts.”
“I think that’s rude. I’m just trying to advise you on how to be a good person, while I’m just a…”
This bugger would have been asked to shut up by Hao Ren normally when he was about three words in, but to counter the dark god’s murmurings, it finally had the chance to ramble on, and by the looks of it, it had lost all vestige of self-control.
But Hao Ren did not have the time to argue with a sword, as the battle against the brain monster had reached the final stage.
While the brain monster did not join in the fray personally from the get-go, the minions of nightmares and the mutants with the lair that it had summoned was as good as itself, so this was still a battle between Hao Ren, his crew and the brain.
The multi-layer barrier protecting the brain monster was down to the last two layers. The cells and tissues in charge of creating the barrier were overloaded by the relentless bombardment and were badly damaged. Tainted blood and pus flowed freely from the surface of the platform, and the entire area recoiled in a fit of spasm.
*Ba-tum, ba-tum*
Noises sounding like a heartbeat echoed across the lair, and it was getting slower and dimmer. It all pointed to one thing. The nightmarish monster was approaching the end of its life.
But it still needed one final blow.
Hao Ren grabbed on to the two shards of the universe as he calculated the rate which the barriers were reduced. He then took bold steps towards the platform.
The brain monster had also sensed that impending doom was approaching it, and the red glow on its skin shone more and more menacingly. Even the main body itself started convulsing violently as visible contortions started appearing on its hideous skin while countless semi-transparent shadows waved within the twisted air, as though trying to scare off the approaching Hao Ren. It was either that or it was attempting to beg for mercy.
Hao Ren went forward anyway, and his vision started to blur as his hearing faded. He seemed to hear countless of awful cries within his mind; even the Godslayer’s incessant nagging seemed to have been pushed aside, but…
“This is much weaker than Lockmarton’s.”
Hao Ren mumbled to himself and all the visions disappeared.
Hao Ren leaped up high as he raised his sword to strike the floating brain monster. Even when Hao Ren was just like a fly before the monstrous brain, it shuddered like a beast facing a massive flood.
The dreamer had been totally roused from its slumber, and like all freshly awakened beings, it was still sluggish and dazed by the lingering nightmare. That made everything happening in reality unclear to it. Yet, unclear as it may be, it could sense from the falling twin black blades that it had a power that even demi-gods, no… even real gods would cower.
That power was designed to take on a powerful entity like a god and was meant to wipe out any supernatural beings that have to do with the Mad Lord.
The brain monster radiated the energies within the air as it let out a soul-piercing howl, and everything before Hao Ren shattered in an instant.
The entire Lair of Nightmares had disappeared, and in that instant, he found himself standing on a vast plain, with verdant greens and flying birds. The skies were bright and the clouds clear. A warm sun shone brightly in the azure sky, and a herd of cattle was grazing on the plains as the loud call of the herder came from afar.
Raven 12345 suddenly appeared before him. Majestically and sternly, she spoke. “There’s been a change in the situation. Cease operations and return…”
Hao Ren slashed without a second thought.
The serene scenery shattered right away, and before him was the hideous, puke-inducing wrinkled skin of the brain monster. The Godslayer had destroyed the last of the barrier, and the black blade bit deep into the writhing flesh. A jet of black smog and semi-transparent shadows burst out from the wound as a violent wail rang in Hao Ren’s mind.
“Impossible! That was the inviolable will! You could not have disobeyed it!”
“I’m actually surprised you can recreate her image without actually knowing who she really is. But let me tell you two things,” Hao Ren replied using his mind, “First, if that was my boss, neither her expression nor her tone would be like that. She would be complaining to me about her year-end bonus and evaluation before kicking me out of the door!”
The long blades sunk in even deeper, and yet there was still no blood gushing out of the wound. This was because its physical structure was disintegrating, and all its flesh were quickly turning into mist.
“Secondly, what the hell was that ‘inviolable will’ crap? You don’t even know her so don’t try to fill in the blanks of our work culture yourself. Our unit takes pride in badmouthing behind her or even arguing with her face to face just for laughs! Get it? That reminded me more of my primary school teacher than anything!”
“Impossible! It should not be like this! There’s no….”
Hao Ren had by then focused all his powers into the two shards of the universe. A layer of radiant light coated the black blades that combined into a forty-meter-long blade and quartered the brain monster. “Well, that’s how we roll!!”
The dreamer then disintegrated, and the illusions across the Lair of Nightmares disappeared. The last of the monster’s will rang within the minds of everyone present. “You don’t know the extent of the power of chaos… you don’t know where the power of nightmares is from… you have broken the gate, and the dream is over. She will wake… It will also wake…”
The core of the Lair of Nightmares faded away, and the supernaturally supported dimension could no longer maintain its form. A series of violent shaking meant that the entire area was falling into the crystal pillar layer, and as the quaking went on, Hao Ren’s sight was set above.
After the brain monster was slain, the flesh and blood vessels connected to the brain and the dome above started to break away as corrosive energies spread from the neural cords, accelerating the collapse of the dimension. Just as the topmost part of the cord broke, Hao Ren saw a massive gaping wound opening on the dome above the lair, as debris of all sizes started falling.
Among them was a powerful gigantic crystal.
A few automated drones flew towards the crystal and covered the entire object with a barrier before disappearing into thin air.
“Cargo aboard. Withdraw!”
