Chapter 520: The Dreadlord VI
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bam!
Once again, Grimm defeated the ugly ape-like creature that was now smaller than its original size before proceeding to absorb more than 20 points of Fright Energy from its body.
And yet when his opponent regenerated itself ten or more meters away, it was stubbornly wearing that triumphant smile. It grinned at Grimm, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth which were contrasted with its scarlet-red tongue.
“Ha ha ha ha, Nightmare Hunter? I wonder if you would still have the balls to call yourself that when the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord descends. You are nothing but a helpless, trembling little sorcerer, ha ha ha ha.”
Grimm squinted his eyes in the face of such provocations. Nimbly, he leapt to a spot a dozen meters away, dodging the attack of the Fallen with ease.
“Hmph! At least I can kill you first before that happens!”
The Horrifying Creature seemed to have completely given up all forms of resistance. It allowed Grimm to strike at it repeatedly, all while laughing maniacally.
The ominous red mist that wrapped around Grimm’s body signified that its job had already been done.
“Kill me? Hahahahaha…”
The creature from the Nightmare World burst out laughing.
“The loss of Fright Energy I have incurred from your attacks is nothing to me. The great Nightmare Mist Dreadlord will compensate me with several times the amount of energy I originally had in store. I will become stronger than before, perhaps enough to become a Dreadlord Servant even. As for you, you will become the sacrificial vessel to be offered to the Dreadlord for his rebirth. You will forever be locked away in the deep dark corner in the great Nightmare Mist Dreadlord’s heart, muahahahaha!
This bastard…
Grimm was filled with rage, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Even if he continued slaying this creature until its Fright Energy was completely depleted, forcing it down to the lowest dregs of the Nightmare World creatures’ hierarchy, what was there to it?
The Horrifying Creatures’ immortal nature was the ultimate means for the Nightmare World to resist against their opponents, from the Ancient Sorcerers until the Sorcerers World of today. Grimm had no way to go around this fundamental problem!
Speaking from another perspective, if Grimm could become a Dreadlord Servant, he might just be able to suppress this abomination of a creature…
Hmm? Wait a second!
An idea lit up in Grimm’s mind.
Could it be that the reason why the Sorcerers World had allowed the Horrifying Creatures to exist, was also in order to facilitate its control over the Nightmare World’s laws? Were the Dreadlords also an essential part of the Sorcerers World’s nightmare laws?
If not for this, there would not have been any Dreadlords left alive considering that the Stigmata Sorcerers, who moved in and out of the Nightmare World so easily, already had in their grasp the weak points of all the creatures that existed in this realm.
And if it were not for the Dreadlords and their servants’ suppression methods, which subjected the bottom layer to fall under their rule, then the Tricolor Fairies’ fairytale law would not have constituted so large a threat especially to the undying Fallens who had zero Fright Energy in their reserves.
A chaotic Nightmare World with its laws that had been completely broken down was not something the Sorcerers World wanted.
“Hmph!”
Grimm kept his mouth shut as he glanced at this follower of the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord one last time. Giving up the meaningless behaviour of venting his anger, he grunted impatiently before retreating into the distance.
The Nightmare Mire Dreadlord?
Grimm’s objective now was to find a large enough city to protect himself!
A question surfaced in Grimm’s thoughts. He could not help but wonder if the Tricolor Fairies’ fairytale law would still retain its effects in the face of a powerful being such as the Nightmare World’s Dreadlord.
“Hahahaha, your escape is futile! The mighty Nightmare Mist is already on his way here. Soon, you will taste the bite of his sword when he descends upon you personally. The Dreadlord Servants have already set up layers upon layers of nets surrounding this area. Poor little Sorcerer, I’m afraid it has already fallen into our trap! Hahahaha…”
The audacity of this bastard. How dare he use the pronoun “it” for a Sorcerer!
What were Sorcerers in its eyes? Livestock to be sent to the slaughterhouse?
Perhaps in the countless worlds that had preceded the Sorcerers World’s infestation by the Nightmare World, the native beings were viewed by the Horrifying Creatures as the equivalent of the human world’s caged livestock awaiting their inevitable slaughter.
Grimm ignored the creature’s taunts and focused only on his escape. At the same time, his mind was racing to come up with a viable plan to get this red layer of Nightmare Mist off his body.
It was an undisputed fact that the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord and his followers would catch up to him by following the traces left by this mist.
“Hahahaha, so soon? It’s the Heartless King!”
Grimm craned his neck to look behind him. Appearing in his field of vision was a twenty odd meter tall red-haired ape covered in a thick layer of Nightmare Mist that was flying after him.
Heartless King?
What powers did he have?
Undoubtedly, it was the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord Servant that was hot on his tail. From what Grimm saw through his Eagle Eye, he came to understand why this Dreadlord Servant was called the Heartless King.
There was a massive see-through hole in the center of its chest after all.
“Hmph hmph, little Sorcerer who is cursed by the ancient King of Fears, becoming the great Nightmare Mist Dreadlord’s vessel of rebirth is your ultimate destiny!”
This Dreadlord Servant who could manipulate the Nightmare Mist quickly caught up to Grimm as its speed far surpassed that of his.
Ancient King of Fears’ curse?
Grimm understood that the reason why he was dragged into the Nightmare World, was not because of the parcel of Fear Energy from the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord. Instead, it was because of the contamination of Fear Energy in the Black Isotta Realm’s ancient sealed laboratory.
The Dreadlord’s contamination of Fear Energy toward a real-world creature was akin to the Fright Energy which a Fallen or a Dreadlord Servant would obtain from the Nightmare Draw.
This was precisely the reason why Grimm appeared as the same red-haired ugly ape-like creature in the eyes of the Fallen.
Grimm kept silent. He was still desperately running for his life while remaining invisible. His eyes scanned the horizon for a large city to appear. The protection provided by the Tricolor Fairies for small sized cities had now become insufficient for Grimm’s needs.
No!
Facing a Dreadlord who was thirsting for rebirth, unless Grimm proceeded into the territory of a Holy Tower and did not come under fire from the Holy Tower guardians, no city could offer the protection that Grimm so desperately sought after!
“It seems that it can only perceive the general whereabouts of my location through the Nightmare Mist’s powers, and not through destroying the invisibility cloak which the Awakening Ray and the Sorcerers World’s Principal Will constructed.”
Grimm had come to notice that while the Heartless King remained hot on his tail, there were some slight deviations as to the direction it was heading toward.
Rumble…
It was at this moment that a low rumbling of earthly tremors spread across from a distance. As Grimm peered in the direction of this noise, there appeared yet another Dreadlord Servant!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Further away, in the opposite direction, Grimm could make out the silhouettes of two Dreadlord Servants flying on a trajectory to intercept him.
After being on the run for more than a decade, Grimm had once again come into full view of the Nightmare Mist Dreadlord. In the blink of an eye, the situation had changed for the worst. The entire world seemed to be out for his blood. Perhaps, even the Dreadlord himself was on the way to meet Grimm.