Translator: SumTLMan
“Please choose a destination.”
This was the third time Gloria heard this sentence since boarding the peculiar Cat Bus. The first two times, she hadn’t figured out the situation, so she chose to remain silent.
This time, Gloria finally spoke up and gave an address: “Witch Town.”
“The Cat Bus is about to depart, hold tight! Destination: Witch Town!”
As the words fell, the Cat Bus began to speed crazily, traversing mountains and rivers. The most amazing thing was that the fluffy cushions of the Cat Bus did not produce any bounce, making the ride very smooth.
The cool night breeze continuously poured into the compartment, causing hair and clothes to flutter in the wind. Gloria sat on the soft orange fur seat, calmly watching the changing scenery outside the window.
She raised her head and looked at a circular map on the right wall of the Cat Bus, which marked the names of several platforms. Gloria guessed that these addresses were the destinations that the so-called “Cat Bus” would reach. The “Witch Town” she had mentioned earlier was one of them.
Gloria chose Witch Town because, among all the platforms on the map, only Witch Town seemed to have a connection with “wizards.”
Others, such as “Bathhouse,” “Tree Nest,” “Mermaid Sea,” “Sky Island,” “Monument Valley,” etc., seemed quite ordinary just by their names.
Therefore, Gloria almost immediately locked onto Witch Town.
“Using a Cat Bus as a bridge to connect various regions? Strange setup, but quite interesting,” Gloria stretched lazily, enjoying the night breeze: “I just happened to overcome a difficulty in the Birth Spell, so it’s a good opportunity to relax and have some fun.”
Gloria closed her eyes, leisurely feeling the speed of the Cat Bus.
Suddenly, the Cat Bus came to an abrupt stop. Gloria opened her eyes and saw a strange signpost standing abruptly by the unusually smooth road. There was a lantern hanging on the signpost, and under the lantern stood a raccoon wearing a human bathrobe and holding an umbrella.
Gloria raised her eyebrows; Angel seemed to enjoy playing, even creating a few passengers along the way. This passenger, with the appearance of a wild beast but wearing human clothes, was quite interesting.
The orange cat’s fat face slowly turned to the signpost, and its two huge cat eyes shone like “headlights,” emitting a bright white light: “Cat Bus at your service.”
The raccoon, seemingly not noticing Gloria, asked the cat head: “Is this bus going to the Soup House?”
The orange cat turned its head, and its three-striped tail wagged: “This destination is Witch Town.”
“Witch Town? Alright then, I’ll wait for the next bus.”
As the words of the raccoon fell, the orange cat set off again. Gloria turned her head and saw the peculiar raccoon standing alone under the light, silently watching the Cat Bus leave with an umbrella in its hand.
“In this illusion, not only is there a Cat Bus, but there are other intelligent beings as well?” Gloria speculated with an entertained and relaxed attitude, laughing: “So that raccoon was actually going to the Bathhouse. If I had chosen to go to the Bathhouse earlier, wouldn’t the raccoon have gotten on the bus too?”
“If the raccoon got on the bus, would there be any follow-up stories?”
Gloria did not forget that in the illusion of the feather earring, even a scratch on a wall could be imagined into a grand play. Perhaps the raccoon itself had a storyline?
Gloria excitedly guessed, not feeling at all like she was being led by the nose. Instead, she felt like she was playing a third-party character with a storyline, experiencing another kind of life through this character.
The Cat Bus ran on the smooth path for a while, then stopped at a corner. Gloria thought they had encountered another passenger, but there was no one outside the window.
It was a sharp turn of more than 90 degrees, with a slope on one side and a cliff on the other. Below the cliff was a roaring sea.
Gloria saw an iron signpost at the corner.
The signpost had an arrow pointing forward and a line of words: “Witch Town Entrance.”
Following the signpost, Gloria looked ahead to see nothing but the cliff, the pitch-black sky, and the distant cliffside ocean shimmering white under the moonlight.
As Gloria wondered, the Cat Bus suddenly crouched down, pushed off with its hind legs, and leaped high into the air.
Before Gloria could react, they passed through a strange gate in the sky and entered another world.
Dense fog obscured Gloria’s vision.
However, Gloria didn’t mind the fog and was excited. Although the fog was heavy, she felt an equally dense nightmare aura in it.
The fog was moving, but Gloria felt as if she saw stagnant time.
Everything would fade away, leaving only this timeless scroll, quietly waiting for you in the depths of loneliness.
This eerie feeling lingered in Gloria’s heart.
Gloria was completely immersed in it, both trembling with fear and unable to resist the desire and pursuit.
She didn’t even notice that the Cat Bus was moving slower and slower until it finally stopped in front of a wooden pillar with a lantern hanging on it.
“Witch Town has arrived. Welcome aboard the Cat Bus.”
As the orange cat turned its huge head, Gloria slowly came back to her senses.
“Is this Witch Town? Why is it so foggy?” Gloria asked, looking at the thick fog outside the car, puzzled.
However, the Cat Bus didn’t answer, instead giving Gloria a look to indicate that she should leave.
“Right, if the characters in the illusion had intelligence, there would be more layers involved, which Angel couldn’t handle at the moment,” Gloria thought and stopped trying to engage the Cat Bus in conversation, getting out of the car.
As soon as she got out, the Cat Bus immediately shook its three tails and climbed up a wooden pole.
At the top of the wooden pole was a thin thread, leading to an unknown destination. The Cat Bus, unshaken, stepped onto the thread and moved swiftly along it, running deep into the fog and quickly disappearing from sight.
Gloria brushed her hair behind her ear and looked at the place where the Cat Bus had left her.
There was nothing around, except for a decrepit archway at a fork in the road. Between cobwebs and tattered cloth, she could faintly see a line of words written in dirty blood: “Witch Town.”
Below “Witch Town,” there was another line of tiny words. When Gloria leaned in to see, she realized it was a suggestive message: “Welcome to Witch Town, where you will find… a playground of nightmares.”
A playground of nightmares? Gloria smiled faintly. The mere presence of the thick nightmare energy was already a nightmare for her.
“Using fog to create a terrifying atmosphere? Is this a horror town?” Gloria laughed fearlessly. As a witch, she rarely felt fear. However, here, she could clearly feel her emotions being controlled by Angel’s illusion. Even though she didn’t think it was very scary, the intense heartbeat and heavy atmosphere made her unconsciously enter a focused state.
Then, without hesitation, Gloria walked into the fog.
…
Meanwhile, Angel was drawing up plans, intending to craft a temporary dwelling for Freud.
At first, Angel thought about simply crafting something haphazardly. But upon further consideration, this would be his second alchemical creation since having his own emblem, so he decided to take it a bit more seriously.
Besides, even after crafting it, Freud would only be staying temporarily, and in the end, the object would still belong to Angel, so he didn’t have to worry about his resources being wasted on others.
However, no matter how seriously he crafted it, it would still only be a temporary soul dwelling. Therefore, Angel focused more on the design of its exterior. In Angel’s mind, when his unique alchemical emblem spread out, it should at least meet or exceed the standards for his “art and taste.”
Angel had already decided on the main magical material, which was to use the “Skull of the Departed” as the main body for soul containment. So, his exterior design had to consider the fragility of the bone material.
Soon, a church made of piled bones appeared on paper.
“Pure white bones, even with openwork carvings, are still somewhat monotonous,” Angel touched his chin and decided to gild the bones with a layer of secret gold.
When Angel crafted the finished product, they discovered that the pale bones and the dazzling gold had fused together in a peculiar manner. Although the formation had some flaws, it could basically be considered an art piece.
“It doesn’t look too bad, I’ll call it… the Cathedral of the Dead,” Angel casually named it. They initially wanted to call it the Bone Cathedral, but later thought that it was too direct and decided to be more subtle.
Angel was quite satisfied with the appearance, and the effect of the Cathedral of the Dead was acceptable as well.
The Cathedral of the Dead was actually composed of two parts: a house and a base. The house was a semi-finished product, and Angel originally planned to engrave an expanding rune within it to allow the Cathedral to contain more souls. However, they had not yet learned that particular rune, so they decided to leave it for the time being.
On the base of the Cathedral of the Dead, Angel engraved their emblem and a Deathly Silence Spell.
The Deathly Silence Spell could release a large amount of cold, lifeless energy, and it was often used by wizards to engrave preservation jars to prevent the decay of lifeless but still functional organs and limbs. However, since it released a lot of death energy, it could also be used to cultivate dead souls.
The “Skull of the Departed” itself could serve as a dwelling place for dead souls for a long time, and with the addition of the Deathly Silence Spell, the Cathedral of the Dead truly became a sanctuary for the departed.
At least, until the magic crystals were exhausted, the Cathedral of the Dead could continue to exist without worrying about wilting like the Living Soul Garden.
With the Cathedral of the Dead completed, it was time to examine its effects.
Angel took the Living Soul Garden from their bracelet and placed Freud, along with the illusions inside the Living Soul Garden, into the Cathedral of the Dead.