Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 957 11. Nightmare Time

Dreams and reality are two completely different worlds.

Most of the time, the boundaries of their existence are as clear and distinct as ice and fire.

Except for some beings who are mentally abnormal or have secret arts, few people confuse dreams with the present world.

But this is not absolute.

Just as everything has special conditions, when certain conditions are met, dreams and reality will begin to blend.

The two worlds will start to merge, and some figurations that only exist in dreams will be released into reality, the perception of life will be distorted, and the world in their eyes will be greatly changed.

More colorful, more psychedelic, and more dangerous.

There are not only beautiful things in the dream, but also dangerous and indescribable monsters.

It was the product of a nightmare.

"what!"

In a small icy and snowy village in Niflheim, a shrill howl broke the tranquility of the night.

The roar was full of fear, as if someone had seen the scariest creature in the world.

Frankly speaking, in the kingdom derived from the World Tree, Niflheim is not a suitable place to live.

The temperature here is around minus 30 degrees all year round, just like Jotunheim, it is a world shrouded in ice and snow.

Its environment is slightly better than Jotunheim, but apart from the barbarians and mountain people in the Nine Kingdoms, few people would choose to live here.

"boom"

Grease torches were lit, illuminating the village in the dark night.

Under the guard of a dozen wilderness hunters with weapons and horned helmets on their backs, the elders of this mountain village kicked open a closed door with an ugly expression.

Soon, strong and frightened villagers rushed into the house and dragged the screaming woman out.

"She's crazy..."

Beside the village chief, a priest wearing a hood and with runes painted on his face took a closer look at the woman who was pressed to the ground by several people.

Her face was distorted, and she could be seen with the naked eye. She had already fallen into some kind of terrifying shadow.

But what is strange is that even if he has been frightened to the extreme, he can't even maintain normal thinking and will.

But the woman kept her eyes tightly closed while she roared.

She seemed to be still asleep, and she couldn't be awakened from being immersed in a nightmare.

"Snapped"

Wearing a fur coat and all kinds of bone decorations on his body, the village chief with a big bald head waved his hand and slapped the roaring madman on the cheek.

This slap was so heavy that the crazy woman's cheeks were swollen.

But it still failed to wake her up.

"She encountered terrible things in her dream, and she has fallen into a nightmare."

In the flickering light of the torch in the cold night around, the young rune wizard whispered to the dignified village chief:

"This is the 11th..."

The village head glanced at the mad woman, he waved his hand, and soon someone bound the woman's mouth with a rope, preventing her from making that creepy scream again.

She was dragged towards the edge of the village by several people.

In the barn there, dreamers who were as mad as she were imprisoned.

"What the hell is going on here? Wizard."

The village chief said to the wizard who was hired by him with a lot of money:

"Is this some kind of disease? Plague, or some kind of evil magic?"

"The plague of dreams has spread."

The young rune wizard pretended to say something.

He touched his waist pocket. After seeing what happened in this small mountain village with his own eyes, he felt that the reward this time was a bit hot.

In the border area of ​​the World Tree, few rune wizards would pay attention to this place.

The truly powerful spellcasters enjoy life in other, better worlds.

Only a second-rate spellcaster like him, who can't get along in a big city, would rush to this poor country for a little reward.

But even so, this young wizard, who can only be regarded as a juggler in the eyes of a real rune wizard, is already an out-and-out "master" in Niflheim, a place of alienation.

People living in this cold world are barbaric and ignorant.

Their minds are ruled by superstition, and they are foolish and easy to deceive.

But after seeing the 2 people in this mountain village who went crazy within two days, the confident young wizard realized that what he had to deal with this time was not a small problem like eating herbs by mistake.

Although he was flustered, as a liar, he had to act confidently.

Once these mountain people found out the truth, it would be difficult for him to get out of this lonely mountain.

"cough cough"

The young wizard coughed a few times, turned his head, and said to the village chief in a solemn voice:

"Counting this poor lady, those 11 people, where have they been these few days?"

The wizard emphasized his tone, and he asked:

"I mean, what they have in common before they go crazy...their symptoms are consistent, and I suspect that they are exposed to some mysterious power that they should not be exposed to."

The wizard gave a very vague explanation.

But it's better than the guesswork of a bunch of terrified fools.

The village chief, who was also flustered in his heart, finally had a direction to look for, and he yelled at the other people around him in the local dialect.

The best hunters in the village whispered to each other, and after a few minutes, the most eloquent among them told the village chief everything they knew.

The village chief turned his head and said to the worried young wizard beside him:

"Master, I've asked, these 11 people have all been to the forest before they got sick..."

"Some people go hunting, others go raspberry picking, or just hang out."

"Linzi?"

The wizard turned his head in surprise and looked at a forest in the distance.

That is the cold forest, the iconic "landscape" of Niflheim.

The icy frost covers the towering birch forests, outlining a quiet mountain forest.

The wizard knew that these mountain people depended on the resources in these forests to live. This icy forest was rich enough to provide enough living materials for dozens of large villages in Niflheim.

Despite the ignorant legends of the mountain folk, great and terrible creatures live in these forests.

But in fact, as an educated rune wizard, the young man knew that there were no dangerous mythical creatures in this mountain forest.

On the edge of Niflheim is the entrance to the underworld, and even the most insane mythical creatures will not live in this ghost place.

The most dangerous things in this mountain forest are just those beasts like werewolves or chimeras hiding in hiding. They don't dare to attack the strong mountain people alone, let alone things related to mysterious power... .

Definitely not what those guys did.

"Are there any taboos in the woods you frequent?"

asked the young wizard again.

The village chief shook his head, and he gestured with his fingers:

"We don't have strong warriors in our village, so we don't go deep into the sacred mountains."

"But just the mountain treasures produced in the surrounding forests are enough for us to use. They are gifts from the mountains and forests. We follow the guidance of our ancestors and dare not ask for them too greedily."

"And in those woods we often go to, there are not even wild boars, let alone danger."

"But now!"

The rune wizard took out several small rough stones from his pocket, and there were blue runes on the surface of those small stones.

It was a low-level runestone, and it was the best magic item he could make.

"We're going to have a look!"

The young wizard said to the village chief and the strong mountain people:

"Choose the strongest people to walk with me, these runestones will protect you... We must find out what is spreading this nightmare plague."

The young man rubbed his fingers, he was going to pretend to go for a walk in the woods, and exaggerate the facts.

To frighten this group of ignorant guys, so that he can take the opportunity to get away.

But he still has a conscience.

Before setting off, he said seriously to the village chief:

"Get your people ready to migrate."

"No matter what happens in the forest, it's not something you can deal with... Maybe this land will be shrouded in darkness, and this may be a sign."

"In short, go to those big tribes that enshrine shaman priests, and the spirits of the ancestors will protect you."

The village chief's expression changed.

The 2 people who went crazy in 11 days also terrified him.

As an elder in the village, he must consider other people in the village.

But he still has some hesitation. After all, his ancestors lived here. As a mountain dweller who worshiped and believed in his ancestors, it seems a little bit...

"what!"

Another shrill howl sounded from the village behind him.

It represents another person going crazy in the dream.

This was like a drumstick hammering hard on the soul, the village chief gritted his teeth, he didn't hesitate anymore, turned around and rushed back to the village.

The young wizard shivered. He glanced at the forest in the dark night. The cold wind was blowing against the swaying trees in the icy mist, making a rustling sound, as if some kind of monster was grinding its teeth.

This made the young liar want to piss.

He wanted to leave now.

But the gaze of the few mountain people around him made him feel like a thorn in his back.

If I had known earlier, I would not have taken this job!

That's the thing about dealing with these savage stubborn guys, they spend money and you have to do something...  

Although the mountain people are ignorant, they are very reasonable, and they are not easy to deceive.

"Let's go too!"

He gritted his teeth, clasped a rune stone bought at a high price in his hand, and led the mountain people holding torches into the forest.

They didn't get very far.

In fact, there is no need to go deep into the woods.

The wizard thought that the birthplace of the dream plague must be difficult to find, but he was wrong.

After walking less than 2 kilometers into the woods, on a hillside, he found something very strange.

Some vines.

The black ones are like vines that have been burned by fire, but with some dark red charms.

They protrude from the ground, as if they are the pioneers of some kind of existence, coveting the world beyond the mountains and forests.

And around those vines, the tall birches also seemed to be infected.

The frost on their bodies has fallen, as if they were burned by flames, and the bark is peeling off, as if some kind of tree disease is spreading.

The wizard looked at the vines on the hillside. He felt that his spirit was being attracted by the vines, and there was a faint voice in his ears.

The voice was like talking in a dream, unreal.

"wake up!"

The trickster wizard swung his staff and hit a dull-looking mountain man on the head as he walked towards the vines, forcing him to wake up.

Under the gazes of those mountain people mixed with fear and bewilderment, the wizard took a step forward.

He took the bone knife from his waist, and cut off a trace of the black vine sticking out of the ground.

He carefully packed the black vine into his leather bag, and then with a straight face, he used a tone of warning and threat.

Say to others:

"You have also seen that some power is infecting this mountain forest, go back quickly."

"Tell your elders, let him take you out of here as quickly as possible..."

"It's also the first time I've seen these evil things. I'm going back to the Rune Tower in Niflheim and ask my mentor for advice."

The liar wizard glanced back at the deeper mountains.

He had a feeling that the source of those plague-like nightmares was not here, but somewhere deeper in this forest.

But he dared not investigate.

He is very self-aware of his strength.

As long as he handed this thing over to the Rune Pagoda, his mission would be completed, and naturally a powerful rune wizard would come to deal with the trouble here.

This can be regarded as fulfilling the request of these mountain people in disguise.

The hunters ran out of the woodland as fast as they could.

Outside the forest, the entire village was gathered, and the village chief was talking about the migration to the villagers.

On the other side of the forest, a young wizard riding on a goat was running wildly along the mountain road.

He didn't want to stay here any longer.

"what"

With the cold wind blowing, the young liar wizard yawned loudly.

He felt an irresistible drowsiness coming.

The dream is calling him.

On the vines in his waist pocket, those dark red runes were also emitting light.

In that darkness, in the deepest part of the mountain forest, amidst the terrifying freezing fog, a dark red ancient tree entangled in vines took root under the cold ground.

It is like breathing, pouring its own power into the world on the edge of this side.

In the invisible night, shadows rise to envelop the world.

The nightmare creatures crawled slowly in the dark night. They smelled the smell of fearful beings emanating from their sleep, so they quickened their pace.

They need to absorb more fear before they can develop a complete will of personality.

But they've been freed from the dream dimension...

There is life here too, and they too dream...

Nightmare is about to be born...

Nothing can stop it anymore.

(End of this chapter)