Eight Head and the others felt the tremors. White smoke spread out, enveloping tens of thousands of undead in an instant, greatly reducing the pressure on them.
"W-What is that?!" Sixth Head muttered, staring at the thick wall of white smoke.
"This...?!" Fourth Head widened his eyes.
"If I'm not wrong, this is the boundary of dreams..." Third Head said in shock.
"Are you telling me that Seventh Head brought a dream to reality?!"
"I can't think of anything else."
Everyone was shocked by the fact that the Seventh Head had the power of dreams. Even
among the high-level experts from the Holy Lands, only a few people possess the power of dreams.
The white smoke covered most of the undead, leaving only a few thousand for them to deal with. Even so, among these few thousand undead, there were hundreds of Second and Third Shackles. There were also dozens of Fourth Shackle undead.
It wouldn't be easy for them.
In the Dreamscape...
Souta landed on the ground, facing tens of thousands of undead without a hint of fear in his eyes.
He opened his palm, sensing the power coursing through the air.
"Manifesting my Dreamscape into reality is quite taxing. This won't last long. My [Douion] will not be able to hold it together."
Souta turned his attention back to the army of undead. He took a step forward, and those below the level of the late Fourth Stage were pressed to the ground as [Serpent Dominance] spread out. Even though his strength was far above any Fourth Stage, he was still at the late Fourth Stage in the end.
Darkness and light burst from the ground, obliterating the undead. Their flesh and bones were reduced to nothing.
Souta attempted to absorb their souls, but he realized they were resisting, fighting back against the absorption.
"This...?!"
Even their souls were corrupted beyond recovery. Their flesh and souls were no longer theirs; they now belonged to the strange energy that corrupts all things. It could even resist the absorption power of universal-grade artifacts.
This strange energy corruption clearly had a deep, sinister origin.
"If that's the case..."
Souta narrowed his eyes. With a swing of his hand, blood-colored lightning rained down upon the field, obliterating their souls.
Boom!!
He jumped into the air and raised his sword, locking his gaze on Fhe.
Fhe roared and charged at him, but before he could even reach Souta, he suddenly found himself trapped in a place full of spider webs.
"This is my Dreamscape, and I'm the master here. There's nothing you can do against me."
Souta's voice echoed as countless strings of webs moved, slicing Fhe's body into tiny fragments. Then, blood-colored lightning descended, obliterating those fragments and leaving nothing behind.
Boom!!
Souta floated in the sky, observing everything. He noticed that Fhe had begun to regenerate from nothing once again.
"That's one of the worst things about these guys-they regenerate from nothingness. Boost your Archetype using your power. I'm sure you can do that since you can bring your Dreamscape into reality," Saya's voice echoed in his mind.
"Well, the truth is, I'm not sure if I can do that. I just recently trained [Douion], so I'm still getting a grasp of its uses. Also, I'm not sure if I can do it while maintaining the Dreamscape in reality," Souta replied.
'What?!' Saya was surprised.
"Err... Actually, a lot of things happened after you fell asleep. I haven't had time to explain it to you," Souta said awkwardly.
He hadn't been able to train before, as his inner consciousness was damaged. He only managed to train his [Douion] after the events of Walpurgis Night.
At that moment, Fhe charged at him, but was immediately stopped by seemingly endless strings of crimson webs. No matter what he tried, Fhe couldn't get close to Souta.
Souta's power in this Dreamscape was too great. After all, he was the master here.
With a wave of his hand, a powerful force pushed Fhe to the ground. A never-ending swirl of darkness and light engulfed his body.
"You won't be able to do a thing."
Souta's cold voice echoed.
In this Dreamscape, he was the rule.
...
In the long passage of the ancient ruin...
Eilish stood before the transparent barrier, sensing the ominous fluctuations of energy on the other side. She stepped forward and passed through it.
The strange energy brushed across her fair face, causing her to shudder. Something was wrong, and her instincts screamed at her.
"I wanted to train my elemental power, but it seems I'll have to postpone that. Something bad is happening."
Eilish continued down the passage until she arrived at a cliff, where an abandoned small house lay at the bottom. But what truly caught her attention was the looming darkness
spreading from the horizon.
"W-What is that?"
She narrowed her eyes and realized that countless undead were marching toward her position. Tens of thousands of skeletons moved across the ground, and there were also numerous
flying undead.
"I have to warn the others... This is bad."
Eilish immediately turned around and went back. She reported what she had seen to the
others, and they began preparing to fight the undead army.
It was a serious situation, and they needed to be ready.
Soon, Eilish returned to the cliff, watching the undead army draw closer. Her heart pounded as
she sensed the heavy atmosphere in the air.
She had reached the Fourth Shackle, but she knew it wasn't enough to take on all the undead she could see. She might be able to handle thousands of them, but among the army were many strong undead that could pose a serious threat to her.
Another issue was that she had just broken through to the Fourth Shackle and hadn't
stabilized her energy yet.
After a few seconds, she felt a stinging sensation, as though something was trying to
forcefully enter her mind.
"W-What is this...?"
Intense pain surged through her body. She looked ahead, her eyes full of concern. If this was
happening to her, then what about Souta and the rest of the Nine Heads who were out there? She had no idea what had happened to them.
She immediately headed back. When she arrived, she noticed something terrible.
"It's..."
The members of the Dragon Council had started killing each other in the narrow passage. Their blood and flesh painted the walls and floor, and their energy levels were rising sharply.
"Sister!!"
Eilish turned her head and saw Eilan, her brother, defending himself against one of the
members of Dragon Council.
Her figure instantly disappeared and reappeared in front of the person attacking her brother. With a wave of her hand, her mana erupted, pressuring everyone in the area.
The attacker was forced to the ground. He looked up at Eilish and started laughing like a madman. "Hahaha! Accept us! Join us! Salvation is here!"
Eilish frowned at his words. She raised her foot and stomped on the man, knocking him out.
Something was wrong. A strange energy was possessing the members of the Dragon Council, causing them to fight. Only a few people seemed able to resist the possession. "Eilan, tie him up," Eilish said to her brother before rushing toward the others who were
possessed.
Eilan nodded at his sister. He immediately followed her instructions and started tying up the people she had knocked out. He was a little terrified, as everyone had suddenly started
battling.
After some time, Eilish had knocked out all the possessed individuals.
The energy could affect her, so what about Souta and the others who had ventured deeper into that land? She couldn't imagine what they might be experiencing at that moment. "Everyone, prepare yourselves. There's an army of undead marching toward us. We have no
choice but to fight."
Eilish informed them about what she had discovered beyond the passage-the army of undead and the looming darkness approaching. If either of these reached the surface, it would cause chaos and affect countless people.
Eilish went outside the passage again to check the situation. She saw that the army of undead
was close to reaching the abandoned town below the cliff.
The army would arrive in less than five minutes. Eilish took a deep breath, her eyes filled with concern.
"I can hold these undead off for less than a minute..."
She understood that even though she had reached the Fourth Shackle, she wouldn't be able to
fight this army effectively.
"If I had more time, I could improve my elemental power to the Integration Stage and
stabilize my current realm," she muttered.
Unfortunately, she didn't have time, so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and prepare for
battle.
Eilish's figure shot into the air as her mana erupted. She pulled the staff from her waist and
raised it above her head.
Ohm!
A magic circle appeared beneath her feet, accompanied by droplets of water. In an instant, the
droplets transformed into dragons.
"Go!!"
At her command, dozens of water dragons rushed toward the incoming undead.
This was her first battle as a Fourth Shackle, and she was already facing an army.