Chapter 327 Watcher of the Nightmare Domain <TOC> Chapter 329 Journey into Darkness
Translator: SumTLMan
In the women’s bathhouse, at the top of the Nest.
Angel had set up the Opulent Nightmare Domain. His understanding of Nightmare Domains was still quite superficial, so he followed Sanders’ instructions step by step. Fortunately, everything went smoothly, and the Nightmare Domain gradually began to cover the passage, visibly closing.
At first, Angel tried hard to maintain the Nightmare Domain to actively repair the passage. Later, after he threw in a Nightmare Stone the size of a baby’s fist, the passage began to repair itself.
With the self-repair, Angel was much more relaxed and even had time to play with the surrounding dragonflies.
Around him circled Five-colored Dragonflies, as well as nearly a hundred Colorful Dragonflies. As they flapped their wings and flew in circles, it looked like colorful clouds were slowly flowing, giving off a dreamy aura.
As Angel closed the passage, the Colorful Dragonflies didn’t question anything. They continued to praise the moonlight, the Queen, and Shava in their emotions.
In addition to the dragonflies, the Teacup Band and the Red Wooden Toy Soldiers all bounced out from the corners of the Opulent Nightmare Domain, dancing and singing with the glow.
Compared to the perilous situation on Sanders’ side, Angel’s side was like a fairy tale musical. The atmosphere was lively and warm, relaxed and comfortable.
About three minutes later, the spatial passage was about to close completely, leaving only a small opening the height of a person.
“Angel, is everything alright on your side?” At that moment, Sanders’ voice came through.
Angel quickly gestured a “silence” sign to the Teacup Band and then replied, “No problem. There’s just a little bit of the passage left, and it should close soon.”
After a while, a strange whisper came from the other side: “I wish I had met you earlier, my disciple Angel, hehehe.”
Angel was puzzled. Was Sanders the one speaking?
“Mentor? What’s wrong?”
On the other side, there was suddenly heavy breathing: “I’m fine, it’s just… I’ve encountered an old friend I haven’t seen for a long time. It was him talking just now.”
As Angel was about to speak, a deep and playful voice came from the other side: “I wish I could study your soul earlier. Would you be willing to die for me, my disciple Angel?”
Sanders: “Ignore him. Tell me about your situation.”
Angel hesitated for a moment. Why would the master’s old friend call him “my disciple”? After pondering for a while, Angel decided to ignore the strange voice. Although, he felt that the voice sounded very similar to the younger version of Sanders. — Angel had once encountered a young version of Sanders in the Nightmare Plane, and he still remembered the voice. However, it wasn’t as frivolous and rascal-like as this one.
“I haven’t encountered any accidents on my end. When closing the passage, the dragonflies didn’t obstruct me. They’re still beside me, praising the Queen and praising Shava,” said Angel.
“That’s good. Pay attention, we have at most one minute left. The passage on my end is about to close. We must close the passages simultaneously, with no more than a five-second margin of error. Can you control it?” asked Sanders. “If you can’t control it, I’ll coordinate with you.”
Angel was well aware that the situation on Sanders’ side must be more dangerous than his own, as he could hear various intense explosions during their conversation. After a quick calculation, he nodded: “I can do it on my end. I can control the timing.”
“Alright, get ready, and proceed to the final stage!”
Angel watched the entrance shrink and couldn’t help but feel anxious.
“10,” “9,” “8,” “7”… Angel silently counted down as the human-sized opening visibly closed at a rapid pace, with several decimeters covered every second.
“3,” “2”…
At this moment, Angel’s heart was at its peak, completely unaware that a blurry shadow slowly materialized behind him.
Just as the entrance had one second remaining, Angel thought the situation was about to end.
Suddenly!
A violent gust of wind struck him from behind!
Before Angel could react, he instinctively let out a miserable scream and was pushed into the remaining half-human-high passage by the powerful whirlwind.
“Angel, what’s going on over there…?” Angel’s scream immediately caught Sanders’ attention, but before he could finish speaking, Angel saw the passage controlled by the Nightmare Stone completely closed.
Once the passage closed, Sanders’ location disappeared, and the voice in his ear naturally ceased.
Angel’s heart thumped wildly, reaching out with all five fingers as if trying to grasp something, but the passage had already closed, and all efforts were futile.
Angel’s eyes were filled with despair, his expression helpless.
Why, why did this happen? They had made it to the final moment, but an accident occurred?
At that moment, a strong sense of regret arose in Angel’s heart, regretting coming alone and being overconfident. If only someone had been with him, he wouldn’t have been parasitized. If he had mentioned this situation earlier, they wouldn’t have let him go alone.
His regret only lasted for an instant.
The current situation didn’t afford him the luxury of regret.
He felt his body continuously sinking, plummeting as if being submerged in a swamp, unable to halt the descent no matter how much he struggled.
Angel remembered that Sanders had mentioned that the nature of this passage was actually a planar squeeze, but compared to a temporary planar squeeze, this passage was much more stable.
In such an urgent situation, Angel rummaged through his mind for information on “planar squeezes.”
A planar squeeze is an endless space with no day or night, no direction, and no end. If he continued to fall, he might descend to the edge of time, falling until his body turned to bones.
To escape from a planar squeeze, one needs a spatial marker.
But where could he find such a marker?
Moreover, the vast majority of those who can traverse planar squeezes are wizards, as they can fly using their own power. Angel currently had no ability to fly and could only keep falling, eternally plummeting.
Angel felt panicked. Was he going to die like this?
To die falling in an eternally dark planar squeeze with no sense of direction?
Just as Angel was at a loss, he was surprised to find that he had stopped falling and was gradually floating upward?!
In absolute darkness, Angel not only lost his sense of direction but also his sense of touch. He didn’t immediately realize why he had started to float.
After a while, he faintly felt that his collar was being pulled, as if someone was grabbing it and flying upward.
“Who is it?” Angel spoke, noticing his voice sounded strange, and much softer.
At the same time, Angel realized that breathing was somewhat difficult, but still tolerable.
If there was thin oxygen here, did it imply that a passage connected to the outside world was nearby? Even if there was, Angel didn’t know how to find it. Was he to rely on luck?
“Chirp chirp.”
“Toby?” Angel reached out and touched his collar, feeling a pair of claws.
Could Toby’s strength pull him up while flying? Angel was puzzled. He remembered Toby having strong burst power, but his sustained power was only average.
However, why could Toby carry him and fly at this moment?
Had Toby’s strength increased? Or was his current weight very light?
Angel didn’t have time to focus on these insignificant details. He quickly asked Toby, “Is it difficult for you to carry me while flying? If it’s difficult, chirp twice; if not, chirp once.”
In the darkness, Angel was unable to communicate with Toby through gestures and had to resort to a clumsy method.
“Chirp.”
The sound indicated that Toby grasping and flying with him was not too difficult.
Although Angel initially felt desperate when he fell into the spatial passage, he wasn’t one to sit idly by. Even if there was only a glimmer of hope, he wouldn’t give up. Moreover, Toby was also involved, so even if not for himself, he wouldn’t give up for Toby, his mentor Jon on Old Land, and his brother Leon.
With Toby’s help, the problem of movement was solved for now. The most pressing issue was how to leave the spatial passage.
Angel had no way to solve this problem. He had no spatial marker, and as Sanders had said, he couldn’t even reverse course and go to the Nightmare Plane.
But he couldn’t let Toby fly blindly either. Flying aimlessly in the dark, without direction, would likely result in going in circles. Angel still remembered a story from the —Amazing Brain Encyclopedia— that Jon had told him when he was young, which said that it’s difficult to walk in a straight line blindfolded. Without visual input, the brain has to construct a straight line, but without external information to verify, the limited information causes imbalances in the vestibular organs, muscles, and joints, resulting in minor deviations.
Such deviations create a balancing curve, causing people to walk in circles when moving blindly in the dark, which is the prototype for many ancient feudal superstitions about “ghosts hitting walls.”
If he kept walking in circles in the dark, it would be even less likely for him to leave the spatial passage.
So, he needed to come up with a method.
Angel recalled Jon’s explanation of how to avoid “ghosts hitting walls”…
“Reference point!” Angel remembered that having a reference point could largely prevent circular movement.
But were there any reference points in the dark spatial passage?
Angel fell silent again. In a spatial passage with no direction, no day or night, and nothing at all, what could be used as a reference point?
Angel considered using himself as a reference point. But in the void, any reference point he created would keep falling, unable to remain relatively still. How could he determine the direction?
Angel remained silent for a long time, then suddenly remembered sensing the Nightmare Plane’s aura before falling into the passage.
The passage contained the aura of the Nightmare Plane, so… could he use that as a reference point and follow it?
Angel decided to act immediately. He closed his eyes and carefully extended his mental tentacles outside his body. Fortunately, this part of the spatial passage was stable.
When Angel opened his eyes, there was joy in them, and even his tone sounded more delighted: “I don’t know if we can leave this way, but I’ve sensed the aura of the Nightmare Plane. It’s gradually fading from dense to thin. Let’s head towards the area with the densest aura!”
“Toby, follow the direction I tell you!”
Chapter 327 Watcher of the Nightmare Domain <TOC> Chapter 329 Journey into Darkness