Translator: SumTLMan
However, the risk of flying upward was not small either. The unknown “monster,” a vast darkness, could potentially swat him away even without getting close.
Therefore, for safety’s sake, Angel had already wrapped his entire body with Gravity Lines while ascending. In case of danger, he could escape immediately.
Angel cautiously ascended slowly.
But just as he reached a hundred meters, a bizarre gust of wind roared by, and before he could grasp the situation, he was swatted down once again.
After spinning in midair several times, he barely managed to stabilize his form with the help of his Gravity Lines.
Ignoring the discomfort caused by the energy turbulence within his body, Angel raised his head to look at the thick fog above.
Just now, he had once again seen that dark shadow. However, just like before, he hadn’t even gotten close when he was swatted down by the hurricane created by the enormous “body.”
Could it be some kind of external wind-based defense spell?
Angel tried a few more times, but every time was the same, as if the other party was trying to prevent him from flying upward.
No matter which direction he tried, as soon as he reached a hundred meters, he would be swatted down by a gust of wind. He had fallen from the sky several times but still hadn’t made any progress. In this stalemate, he eventually returned to the ground helplessly.
Meanwhile, Sanders, who was rapidly moving through the fog, suddenly paused.
He felt like he had forgotten to tell Angel something. What was it? Sanders’ mind raced, and in no time, his eyes lit up as he looked up at the sky hidden by the fog.
He remembered; he seemed to have only told Angel that the Nightmare Plane’s area was a thousand miles wide but hadn’t mentioned that the height was only a hundred meters…
“Should be fine, right? If trying once doesn’t work, Angel should learn his lesson and not try again,” Sanders firmly stated, considering it an outdoor lesson for Angel on “learning from one’s mistakes!”
However, in reality, Angel was now covered in injuries, and the energy in his soul was in turmoil, as if it were about to fall apart.
If he hadn’t encountered that strange cabin, he might have indeed stopped trying after the first attempt, as Sanders had predicted.
But man proposes, and God disposes; his luck was too good, and the first building he encountered upon entering the Nightmare Plane was this looping cabin.
Since the path in the sky was impassable, he could only return to the ground once more. Angel helplessly walked into the fog, and after a while, seeing the cabin reappear before him, he felt a chill run down his spine.
This cabin, like a persistent nightmare, stood in the depths of malice.
Angel hesitated for a moment; his heart desperately wanted to turn and flee, but reason told him that to leave this looping world, he had to face the cabin.
Taking a deep breath.
Angel straightened his back, adjusted his slightly wrinkled gentleman’s suit, pressed down his black top hat, and calmly walked towards the cabin. It seemed that for Angel, this noble demeanor ingrained in his bones was like a sacred ritual that could dispel the uneasiness in his heart.
He knocked on the door with a crooked finger, and a crisp sound rang out. However, no one answered.
Then he pushed the door open, and the scene inside was the same as before. Angel didn’t bother to check and went straight to stand in front of the painting.
As he thought, the perspective in the painting had moved forward. It was as if someone in the painting was walking step by step towards the castle bathed in the moonlight as Angel watched.
Turning around and leaving, Angel stepped back into the mist.
This time, he didn’t plan to retreat again. He wanted to see what the painting ultimately wanted to convey, or rather, how the painting’s ending would be.
Angel was convinced that the painting must have an ending, and when the ending came, perhaps that was when it would reveal its fangs.
He entered and exited time and time again.
Angel couldn’t even determine if he was entering the same cabin or a different one because the traces he left inside would disappear the next time he entered the house.
When Angel entered the cabin for the twenty-ninth time, the scene in the painting finally arrived at the castle’s entrance.
At this point, Angel realized that the castle looked prosperous from afar, but up close, it was a picture of decay and decline. The wooden door, with its rivets already fallen off and the corners full of cobwebs, even the fluttering flags and window curtains were tattered and worn.
However, this dilapidation was not the result of irresistible devastation caused by war but…
A naturally decaying castle corroded by the power of time.
“So, when I see you next time, will your fangs be ready to show?” Angel whispered to himself.
With all preparations made, Angel pushed open the door of the cabin for the thirtieth time.
There was still no change inside, and Angel looked at the painting with a mix of confusion and vigilance.
The perspective in the painting did not move closer but showed a change in angle!
The door that Angel thought would open remained closed. The change in perspective was not an extension towards the door but “he” lifted his head, and the angle rose slightly.
Were the final fangs not behind the door but “above”?
Angel’s face was full of doubt as he left the cabin again. The thirty-first time, the thirty-second time… When Angel stood in front of the painting for the thirty-fourth time.
His pupils suddenly shrank.
The message the scene wanted to express finally showed a clue!
The perspective in the painting, after looking up, did not look at the sky, but at the window on the second floor of the castle. There was a tattered red curtain in the window, fluttering in the wind.
The perspective slowly approached, approached… Finally, the inside of the window was visible.
Inside the window was an ordinary girl’s room, but the perspective was fixed here, and the fixed object was a painting on the wall of the room.
Another painting appeared.
When Angel saw the perspective fixed on this painting, he thought it would be a repeating nightmare, like the story Jon told when he was a child: “A temple on the mountain, and in the temple was a monk telling a story, the story was about a temple on the mountain…”
Endlessly repeating the perspective in the painting, never-ending.
But he guessed wrong.
The thirty-fourth time he saw this painting, he faintly saw the content of the painting within the painting.
It was a typical noble portrait, and in the painting was a blonde girl with a blossoming smile.
“Is this the clue of this painting? But what does it want to express?” Angel pondered for a moment and left the cabin again.
The thirty-fifth time he stood in front of the oil painting, Angel found that the painting within the painting had changed again, from the blonde girl to a middle-aged lady, holding a floating crystal ball in her hand.
The middle-aged lady, in terms of hair color and facial features, was extremely similar to the blonde girl.
It was as if they were the same person at different stages of life.
The floating crystal ball indicated the identity of the middle-aged lady, she must be a witch… At this point, Angel was suddenly struck by a thought.
The town shrouded in fog, in reality, was called Witch Town.
Sanders did not explain why it was called Witch Town, but according to Angel’s guess, maybe a witch once appeared in this town. And the middle-aged lady who appeared in the painting was a witch.
Could it be that the woman in the painting was the origin of Witch Town?
But why hadn’t Sanders mentioned her, or even mentioned this strange cabin?
With doubts, Angel stood in front of the painting for the thirty-sixth time.
This time, when Angel stood in front of the painting, the scene finally showed a discordant place.
The original middle-aged lady turned into a terrifying, loose-skinned, bizarre old woman with wrinkles like withered gullies. Her hair was dry and abnormal, with a faint hint of gold.
She wore a wrinkled dark blue cloak and stared at Angel, the person outside the painting, with terrifying eyes.
Angel backed away a few steps, startled by her gaze.
At this moment, an unexpected change occurred!
In the painting, the eerie old witch suddenly came to life, crawled out of the painting, and stood in the young girl’s boudoir. She then turned and gave a cold smile to Angel.
She slowly stirred up a green light in her hand, and a green space door appeared in the girl’s boudoir. At the same time, a green space door appeared in front of the painting where Angel was. Angel could see that the old witch was standing behind the space door!
The old witch’s aura was not visible when she was in the painting, but when the space door appeared, her aura was as deep as the sea, like a terrifying wave. The strong pressure came out of the space door and covered Angel.
Angel could feel the intense malice. She was going to kill him! The aura coming out of the space door was comparable to the pressure Isabella had once given Angel!
This was still with the space door blocking most of the aura, and it was hard to imagine how terrifying it would be when she emerged from the space door! It would at least be at Sanders’ level!
As the old witch began to make a move, Angel had already prepared himself, turning around and running out. As he was currently in a soul state and had the help of Gravity Lines, he could temporarily resist the old witch’s terrifying pressure; but if she came out of the space door, it would be difficult to say.
All Angel could do now was run. “You… can’t escape, this is… my domain,” a hoarse and unpleasant voice entered Angel’s ears. Angel ignored it and continued to flee.
As Angel ran away with his back to the space door, he suddenly heard a puzzled “huh” sound. Angel guessed it was the old witch trying to confuse him, so he didn’t look back and rushed out of the cabin like a phantom, diving into the fog.
In the cabin, however, there was no movement for a long time. The space door on the painting did not disappear, but the old witch in the girl’s boudoir did not come out either. Instead, she frowned and showed a reluctant expression on her face.
She had sealed herself in the memories of the past for who knows how long, sinking forever in the boundless cliff. It was not easy to wait for a Nightmare Watcher. But why had he already been marked?
On the back of that Nightmare Watcher, she saw a green rune that was growing and thriving.