Chapter 226

She turned around, her eyes, "repaired" in the dream, gazing into another darkness.

A glimmer of light appeared from the endless shadows... The collapsed dream world was reconstructed thanks to the Dream Thief's blessing... Two figures emerged from the darkness.

The young man on the left is naturally Chen Ce.

The woman on the right... I don't know her. She looks very beautiful, but she seems to be filled with fear and her posture is awkward.

The two of them were very close. Chen Ce seemed to be comforting the woman; he almost hugged her waist.

Lissandra raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

"I originally thought there was only one dream, but I never expected that your two dreams would be connected."

"To be honest, I was quite surprised too." Chen Ce shrugged. "I originally thought you could just go into Sona's dream to protect her, but I didn't expect... Oh well, it saves trouble."

"Sona? Her?" Lissandra looked at the somewhat timid-looking girl.

"I am..." In this fantastical dream, not only could Lissandra see, but Sona could also speak.

The voice was just as gentle and pleasant as the one Chen Ce had heard in his mind before.

"Hmm." Lissandra nodded, then turned her gaze back to Chen Ce. "What if your dreams aren't connected? Aren't you afraid that this demon will harm you?"

"I'm not really afraid," Chen Ce smiled.

With the "demon elder" Raum around, the "demon junior" Nocturne really doesn't need to be afraid—at least not in terms of mental attacks.

Sona just had a nightmare, but he's fine— Raum's demonic power has been resisting Nocturne's corruption, and he only needs a moment of distraction to come back to his senses—just like how he first spaced out and then turned around and took Sona away.

"Fine, whatever you want." Hearing this, Lissandra didn't bother to ask any more questions—that would make her seem overly concerned about the other person.

Anyway, she knew that Chen Ce... had a bunch of strange and unusual cards up his sleeve.

It's normal to have some means of self-protection.

"Let's look at the demon in the distance instead." Chen Ce silently took Sona's restless little hand and slowly shifted his gaze to the demon True Ice.

To be honest, it has to be Lissandra.

This ancient witch, who has lived for tens of thousands of years, is virtually invincible in Runeterra, except against Aspects, demigods, and some Darkin. She is not afraid of even demons.

Not to mention that the current Nocturne is not the "real Nocturne".

The Nocturne before us is just one of the countless dreams it has entered.

It's hard to say whether a fully-formed Nocturne could defeat Lissandra in the real world, but if it's just a mere clone in the dream world... then the latter would have truly wasted all those years of Lissandra life.

Lissandra is older than Nocturne.

"This guy is pretty weak." Lissandra flicked her fingers, and several more ice spikes pierced through Nocturne's struggling body.

Even though Nocturne was as ethereal as a wisp of black mist, he was completely immobilized under this extreme cold magic.

Whether it's a gas or a liquid, it's all frozen solid.

"You came to me for such a trivial matter?"

"This is just one of its countless 'clones'," Chen Ce laughed. "Besides, this is just a dream; in reality, it's only stronger, not weaker."

"That doesn't look like a very strong monster."

"If you're comparing it to what exists beneath the abyss... then it really is nothing."

"Boring." Lissandra glanced one last time at Chen Ce's hand—the one clasped with another girl's—and said disdainfully, "I'm glad you ask me for help when you're in trouble; but if you're only doing this to show me this, the Lissandra is very unhappy."

After saying that, she waved her hand, and powerful freezing magic instantly filled the entire dream world.

In an instant, the desolate dreamscape, corrupted, distorted, and tainted by the Nocturne, transformed into a frozen wasteland, and the nauseating discomfort turned into mere frost that made one feel a little cold.

The desolate dreamscape took on the appearance of Freljord.

The Lissandra's castle was right in front of us.

"I'm going back now. Come find me if you encounter any problems later... I hope next time will be more interesting."

Chen Ce woke up from his sleep.

The morning sunlight streamed through the window and fell on his face, causing him to squint his newly opened eyes again.

He felt his body was a little heavy... not because of fatigue or weakness.

Instead, something felt like it was pressing down on me.

He looked down.

Hmm... it really is something...

Two large, white, malevolent masses pressed down on his chest... no wonder he felt suffocated.

Sona's long blue hair drifted onto her face, tickling her a little... She hugged herself tightly, as if afraid of something... Clearly, although last night's nightmare had been resolved, the first part had still frightened her quite a bit.

Her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her arms and legs clung to her body like an octopus. Her thin nightgown was soaked with sweat, and her alluring curves were faintly visible underneath... It was hard to tell whether this was cold sweat from fright or from the heat of hugging herself so tightly.

"Miss Sona... Miss Sona..." Chen Ce tried to call out to the girl softly.

No response.

So he reached out and poked the other person.

This time there was a response—she suddenly rolled over.

So the hand that was poking her shoulder accidentally touched those two... soft mounds.

Hmm, it feels really good.

Almost the entire finger was sunk in.

This size... When I did the same thing to Ahri, almost half a finger was still sticking out.

The difference between people...

Just as Chen Ce was secretly sighing, the girl lying on top of him finally showed signs of waking up—her long eyelashes trembled slightly.

Then she opened her beautiful, deep blue eyes.

Their eyes met, and there was a warm feeling, like that of a newlywed couple waking up after sex.

Before Chen Ce could do anything more affectionate to improve his chances, the cold voice of the Mageseekers suddenly rang out from outside the door:

"Another body was found last night, come out quickly."

Chen Ce paused for a moment, and his restless hand immediately moved away from Sona.

Really...

Defeating only one of Nocturne's clones in a dream is nothing.

Chapter 86 Preparing for Frozen Hands

Lord Fossbarrow's original plan was to gather everyone in the square to discuss how to deal with the "monster," but the sudden deaths disrupted the plan.

A middle-aged man living alone was found dead in his home by his neighbors.

His death was exactly the same as the previous victims—his limbs were curled up, his body was arched backward, and his face was filled with terror, as if he had been scared to death.

The fatal wound was on his forehead—it looked like a blunt force injury, but the dents and bloodstains on the wall proved he died from banging his head against it—perhaps someone grabbed his head and slammed it against the wall, but it's also possible... he killed himself.

And it wasn't a one-hit kill.

It was many blows... against the wall, repeatedly pounding... thud thud thud... one after another, until blood and flesh were mangled and brains splattered.

This sounds unbelievable, even fantastical, but for the devil lurking in the darkness...

Absolutely possible.

It invades the human brain, plunging people into a state of extreme fear and madness, and then, after smashing their own foreheads, they lie on the ground in an extremely bizarre posture, waiting to die—experiencing extreme pain and dying from excessive blood loss.

It was a cruel and perverse method.

A large crowd gathered in the small house where the deceased was, and all sorts of fearful speculations and discussions filled the air. Even the city lord's voucher could not completely suppress the unease spreading among the crowd.

Some townspeople with weaker mental fortitude even vomited the moment they saw the corpse, muttering things like "We're all doomed" and "Everyone will die."

Chen Ce, disguised as Mageseekers, squeezed through the crowd and arrived at the deceased's side. Along the way, he saw that everyone was listless and exhausted, clearly haunted by the nightmares of the previous night.

Once again...

Many years ago, Nocturne had already made a move against Fossbarrow.

"Do you have any clues?" a Mageseekers asked, rubbing his eyes. He still harbored ill intentions, but he too had been plagued by nightmares the night before and was now just as exhausted.

Chen Ce shook his head and only gave the body a cursory examination—he knew who did it and how, so there was little point in examining it with the other Mageseekers.

The key issue now is how to find Nocturne... that guy's true form is not easy to find.

In the original timeline, Lux's confrontation with Nocturne began with an execution— Garen beheaded a town dweller possessed by a demon with his greatsword, and Nocturne emerged from the empty neck—along with his army of shadows.

This can be seen as Nocturne taking the initiative.

If it never possesses a mortal, or if it lingers in another's body after the mortal dies, then almost no one can catch it.

In such a passive situation, finding it is quite difficult.

The only hope now is...

"Raum, can you find it?" Chen Ce asked another demon in his heart.

[It will take a little time...] the demon Raum replied, [It can't escape my watchful eye... but finding it won't be easy...]

How long will it take you? Approximately?

[A day and a night... I've been searching for it ever since you arrived here... From now on, it only takes one day...]

"So you'll find it before tonight?"

[If nothing unexpected happens...]

"That's good." With a fairly definite answer, Chen Ce secretly breathed a sigh of relief—he could afford to wait just one day.

In other words... tonight, we will face Nocturne's true form.

"Does anyone have any ideas...?"

Just as Chen Ce was pondering what preparations he should make for tonight's battle, the bearded and haggard-looking city lord approached several Mageseekers.

"Fossbarrow can't take this anymore... before, and now... this monster isn't going to let us go..."

"Don't worry, Mr. Ross." A Mageseekers patted his chest and flashed his gleaming gold Mageseekers badge at the city lord. "This is just Black Mage's silly trick; we'll find him soon enough."

"We will execute him in the square, and use his bleeding head to pay tribute to the dead," another Mageseekers said with equal certainty.

Even though they actually had no clue.

Even though they were terrified by a bizarre nightmare last night.

They have no real skills, but they excel at certain useless things—such as eating, drinking and having fun, bullying others, or using the name of the Mageseekers to eat and drink extravagantly in various places without doing anything.

For example, right now, maybe they have no intention of finding any Black Mage at all—by tomorrow—or at the latest the day after, if there is no progress, they will leave here under the pretext that "the Black Mage is too cunning," and then go back to Great City to give a perfunctory report.

Not to mention that their very presence in Fossbarrow was "impure in purpose."

Chen Ce shook his head, not joining the group. He silently watched as they took out Petricite from their pockets one by one, then continued to solemnly promise everyone:

"Today we'll use the Petricite to search every corner of Fossbarrow! That damned Black Mage won't get away!"

"We are Mageseekers from Great City, and we have a lot of experience in this area!"

"No Black Mage can escape our grasp!"

Long live Demacia!

The meaningless slogans elicited a listless response. The residents of Fossbarrow had no more energy to fuss over; whether they trusted him or not, they could only place their last hope in the "demon-hunting expert from Great City."

Once again, Chen Ce felt the watchful eyes of those Mageseekers —perhaps they had already planned to make their move, and were seizing this opportunity.

"Chen Ce, take this Petricite. We'll do a thorough search of Fossbarrow later." The leader of the Mageseekers handed over a palm-sized Petricite.

But Chen Ce didn't take it; instead, he took out the piece that Squad Leader Jonathan had given him earlier from his bag. "No need, I have one."

"Oh, is that so?" The Mageseekers smiled. "That's fine then."

"Then I'll go and get started."

"Sure, you go ahead."