Chapter 2661 Maya’s Pressure <TOC> Chapter 2663 Younus
Translator: SumTLMan
After Angel opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the red mark floating not far away.
It quietly emanated a crimson glow. This dark, bloodlike light had long been associated with misfortune, malice, and strangeness in various creations.
Yet this red light before him imparted not the slightest hint of ill intent. Instead, it radiated an intense sense of security.
The red glow still enveloped him, the rune scrolls had not been triggered, and there were no signs of damage in the illusion. Only then did Angel relax and exhale a long breath.
Normally, Angel would only enter the Wilderness of Dreams in an absolutely safe environment or when powerful protection was by his side. For example, back at the platform where the Box of Cecia was located, Angel dared to enter the Wilderness of Dreams with confidence because the Black Count and Daus were nearby.
This time, though, his entry into the Wilderness of Dreams had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. The surroundings were a void, and there were indeed void-dwelling monstrous creatures being kept here. Hence, even though he had prepared safeguards, Angel still felt uneasy.
Fortunately, Cecia did not deceive him. As long as the mark remained at his side, he had no worries about danger.
Just as Cecia had said in Pat Manor before, the monstrous creatures dwelling in the void would not attack beings who remained within the confines of the mark. In their simple minds, those who stood upon the stairs were their masters, while those who fell from the stairs were merely food offered by their masters.
Such simplistic thinking on the part of the monstrous creatures had forged the unique ecosystem of this alternate dimension space.
Angel put away his various protective items and withdrew the illusion. At once, the scene ahead changed from a pale gray haze to a pitch-black void. Meanwhile, the crimson mark began to float slowly forward, and as it advanced, the previously illusory steps ahead gradually turned real…
So Angel resumed his climb.
…
The mental connection was as lively as ever. In particular, Daus, having discovered the exit right after the Black Count, was now the second person to do so. Imitating the Black Count, he sat upon the steps before the exit, sharing with everyone his leisurely situation, while pitying those still trudging up the stairs.
This feeling of building one’s happiness upon others’ suffering made Daus indescribably cheerful, even though he himself had climbed that same stairs for quite a long time.
“The Black Count saw the exit first, and I’m the second to see it. Is it ranked according to strength? If so, Angel should be the third to see it, right?” With nothing else to do, Daus began speculating. And such speculation, of course, was a way to flaunt his own strength by comparison…a typical old habit for Daus.
“You’re just boasting. I don’t believe for a second that you can beat Lord Super Dimensional!” The one who dared to retort Daus and stood firmly on Angel’s side was, without a doubt, Vai, Angel’s number one fan.
“What do you know, you timid apprentice who doesn’t dare to advance? Come back to judge me after you become a formal wizard.” Daus immediately lashed back.
Unwilling to show any weakness, Vai began to list Angel’s options: Eremy, Speedling, alchemy items, alchemy potions, illusions, magic formations…
“Have you forgotten who your true best friend is? Are you now Angel’s mouthpiece? Angel himself hasn’t said a word, yet you’re enthusiastically enumerating his abilities and followers,” Daus sneered, then continued: “The Panic World Demon, plus Speedling, those don’t count as Angel’s own power. What I’m measuring is individual strength.”
Vai: “Then how do you judge summoners? Are their summoned creatures discarded as well?”
Daus: “That’s completely different. A summoned creature depends on the summoner’s energy to survive. Without the summoner’s protection, forcing it to remain in the Wizarding World would lead to annihilation by the Great Will. So it counts as part of one’s individual strength. But that Panic World Demon of Angel’s doesn’t need any energy from him; it can withstand the Great Will’s erosion on its own and even independently convert its own energy. How can that be counted as personal strength? It’s just a helper.”
Daus did have a certain point, though that was solely a single-dimensional measure of individual power. If comprehensive strength were considered, the evaluation would surely involve multiple dimensions.
Vai: “By your logic, only what’s personally yours counts as individual strength. Then you shouldn’t use your sword in battle, because you didn’t craft it. Meanwhile, the lord can use alchemy weapons, he made those himself, so that counts as part of his individual strength. Also, you can’t drink potions, but the lord can…”
Vai was clearly resorting to sophistry by this point, making it all too easy for Daus to retort.
Yet Daus ultimately said nothing in return, because Vai’s final comment shattered Daus’ defenses:
“The lord could literally bury you under a mountain of magic crystals!”
This remark conjured a vivid image in Daus’ mind: on the left stood himself, poor, running a shabby tavern, living in constant dejection. On the right stood Angel, wealthy, highly skilled, well-connected.
If a battle ensued, left-side Daus would unleash all sorts of flashy moves and formidable powers, while right-side Angel would calmly pull out a stack of rune scrolls, using them one by one, again and again…
In the end, no matter how stylish and powerful Daus’ moves might appear, they would be buried under the snow-like flurry of rune scrolls.
Of course, this was merely Daus’ imagination.
Real battles were nothing like turn-based games. Even if Angel wanted to bombard Daus with massive amounts of rune scrolls, Daus would have to stand still for it… And even if Angel did fling them, there was no guarantee they would all hit Daus.
After all, the acknowledged strength of the bloodline branch meant no dead angles for the physical body. Speed, power, and combat control were all far beyond Angel’s own capabilities.
But even though Daus understood this inversion of reality, he still felt deflated.
He recalled the events in Princess Town, when he had learned that the Guman Kingdom was on the verge of a great upheaval and wanted to risk his life to grab some benefits. Angel, on the other hand, had barely cared and left at once, not even bothering with such minor spoils.
In that comparison, Daus felt his perspective was painfully narrow. What he had fought so hard to pursue appeared to be a mere pittance to Angel, something barely worth a second thought.
That was why Daus suddenly went silent.
Reflecting upon himself, he felt utterly miserable, sorrow flooding his heart unbidden.
Nevertheless, Daus’ gloom came and went swiftly, as he was quite adept at self-consolation. He and Angel had different pursuits; there was no need for comparisons. He possessed a “freedom” Angel could never comprehend, and that was enough.
Freedom forever!
“I can’t be bothered to argue with you anymore. We’ll know soon enough. If Angel is the next one to arrive, then my guess is correct.” Daus decided to let cold, hard facts speak for themselves, finding debate meaningless.
The moment Daus spoke with full confidence, Vai’s triumphant scoff echoed: “I can already see the exit now. In just two more steps, I’ll be through. Still think your guess is right?”
At that, Daus had nothing left to say. He fell quiet, wondering in private whether Angel had already arrived and was simply not announcing it.
Vai, meanwhile, sat proudly on the stairs before the exit, just like the Black Count and Daus, continuing to tease Daus through the mental connection.
Why were they all still sitting on the suspended steps instead of leaving? The reason was simple: once someone left, the exit would close at once, severing the mental connection. They wouldn’t have any idea what happened to everyone else. So they decided to wait there until everyone saw their respective exits, then leave together.
A few more minutes passed. Kael’s voice rang out: “I see the exit too.”
Now, only Angel was left.
Daus broke the silence: “Something might have happened to Angel, right? I’ve noticed he hasn’t spoken in a while.”
Daus’ words instantly put everyone on edge. Indeed, the Black Count had spoken later, but Angel had gone silent ever since parting ways with Vai.
Could he really have encountered danger?
Vai grew anxious and was about to ask his ancestor if Angel’s mental connection had broken. If it hadn’t, at least that meant Angel hadn’t met with a catastrophic threat.
However, before Vai could speak, a familiar voice echoed through the connection: “Don’t worry, I haven’t run into any problems. Maybe I’m just unlucky and ended up with a much longer set of steps than you did. It’s really tiring to climb.”
It was Angel’s voice, carrying a note of helplessness.
Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief upon hearing him speak again. If Angel really had been in danger, their entire expedition would have ended prematurely. Only Angel knew the exact destination, and only he possessed the “key” to open it.
Though Angel’s voice had sounded rather resigned a moment ago, that gloom quickly vanished in the next instant because
“I see the exit!”
Angel did indeed see the exit right before him, not too far away. Yet his excitement was partly feigned.
After making a quick calculation, subtracting the time spent in the Wilderness of Dreams, he really was the third person to find the exit, if one followed Daus’ so-called “individual strength” principle.
In other words, Daus’ speculation just might be correct. The rules of this alternate dimension space had likely been defined by its creator, and in the Wizarding World: “stronger individuals first” was often the default. Thus, it was probable the creator had arranged the stairs’ length in accordance with personal strength.
Personal strength was a single-dimensional comparison, just gauging a person’s aura or energy fluctuations would suffice. That made the Black Count first, Daus second, Angel third, perfectly fair. Of course, if it came down to an actual fight, comprehensive strength was a multi-dimensional comparison, and not even the Black Count could necessarily overcome Angel’s myriad external aids in an all-out scenario.
Angel had no wish for everyone to recall Daus’ prior hypothesis. Otherwise, he’d have to explain where his “lost time” had gone.
Hence, the helpless self-mockery followed by an exuberant cry at seeing the exit were all…a performance.
Whether his acting was crude or not hardly mattered. They couldn’t see his actual facial expression in the mental connection, and feigning emotions there was child’s play for Angel, who possessed the ability to sense emotions.
…
Two minutes later, everyone emerged from their respective exits.
It’s worth noting that although each person’s departure from the alternate dimension space had appeared to come through five separate exits, in reality, there was only one visible door in the actual setting.
Onlookers would have seen them filing out from a single doorway, while in truth they had exited from different coordinates in the alternate dimension.
When they had all left, the crimson mark drifted back and returned to that lone door, shining faintly for a few seconds before gradually disappearing.
The one open door now shut slowly, and a series of strange markings spread across its surface.
Those markings glowed for several seconds; then the sole door vanished into the wall.
At this point, when they reached out to touch it, they touched nothing more than an icy cold wall.
“Is this a teleport station? If we wanted to return to that alternate dimension space, what should we do?” Vai asked curiously.
Daus: “Go back? Why would you go back? Are you planning to feed yourself to those monstrous void creatures?”
Vai: “If there’s no route out of here to the outside world, the only option I can think of is to retrace our steps. Or do you plan to use a planar passage? Do you have the resources for that?”
The poor Daus instantly deflated, though he tried to make a feeble comeback: “We only need to open a planar passage once. Everyone can pitch in, right?”
Vai: “Even if we do pitch in, you still have to put in your share. Or were you planning on mooching for free?”
Daus, stung by Vai’s remark, said nothing. He really had considered freeloading.
Seeing Daus stumped by Vai’s taunts, Angel couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. This love of bickering in Daus’ personality guaranteed that he’d often be refuted. Previously, when he lost arguments, Daus could rely on his superior strength to roll over most people, but Vai was an old friend and was also under the Black Count’s umbrella, so Daus dared not do anything to him. He had no choice but to swallow his grievances.
“Ahem. The door is still here; it’s just concealed by some sort of stealth magic formation,” Angel explained at last, after enjoying the show: “It should have a trigger mechanism that can reopen it, and you can search for that mechanism by following the direction of the runes. It’s not too hard.”
Everyone inwardly thought: Maybe it’s not too hard for you, but for us…
“However, there’s no need for us to open the door again. It’s unlikely we’ll go back the way we came; we still have to find another exit or use a planar passage.” Angel continued: “Before that, let’s focus on the task at hand.”
While Angel advised the group not to dwell on it, he silently took note: There was actually a door here all along. Perhaps if he went to the Nightmare Plane’s Nightfall City again in the future, he could revisit this place?
After everyone spent a while feeling along the wall and found no sign of the door reappearing, they finally let it be and shifted their attention to the nearby fountain.
Just as Angel had described earlier, a statue of a small child stood in the fountain, urinating water. The statue’s appearance was the same as the child figure they had seen in the residential area.