Overnight, all the Dream Conch stopped.
They no longer create beautiful stories, no longer invent novel characters, no longer perpetuate any Legend. They simply float silently on the sea, their tentacles drooping limply, dark purple patterns appearing on their shells. Their brains still function, but they no longer dream of colorful fantasies, but of the same nightmare—
A Hydra nightmare.
In this nightmare, Hydra is devouring the entire Fantasy Dimension, and the Dream Conch are its taste receptors. Every devoured plane, every digested story, every annihilated fantasy generates a strong "taste feedback" in the Dream Conch ' consciousness. They are forced to taste the Destruction of countless worlds, forced to feel the despair of countless beings, and forced to witness the Termination of countless Legend.
This is a torment more cruel than death.
The Dream Conch are unable to resist, escape, or even commit suicide, because their consciousness has been firmly controlled by the Nightmare Hydra, becoming its "sensory organs" for perceiving the Fantasy Dimension.
The Fifth Ring Domain: The Eternal Night Theater Plane.
This is a plane where drama is the highest art form. At the heart of this plane is a massive circular theater, capable of staging tens of thousands of plays simultaneously. Each play is an independent fantasy story, performed by professional "dream actors." These dream actors are not merely performers, but also creators and bearers of dreams, and each of their performances creates a realistic dream experience in the consciousness of the audience.
The way the Nightmares Mist erodes the Eternal Night Theater is by rewriting the endings of all the plays into the same one—tragedy.
It's not just an ordinary tragedy, but the kind of suffocating, despairing tragedy that makes Dharma Form anything beautiful anymore. Champion are betrayed at the last moment, love is destroyed at its most beautiful moment, and hope is extinguished when it's within reach. The ending of each story is rewritten in the cruelest, darkest, and most heartbreaking way.
The audience began to cry.
First came soft sobs, then loud weeping, and finally, silent despair. Their tears were not ordinary tears, but dark purple crystals formed by the distorted power of dreams, each crystal containing a destroyed hope.
The actors of the Dream Theater tried to rebel, to continue performing according to the original script, but the Nightmares Mist had already seeped into the very essence of the theater, forcibly twisting any performance into a tragedy. They could only watch helplessly as the drama to which they had poured their hearts and souls turned into a nightmare, as the audience members collapsed one by one, and as the Eternal Night Theater degenerated into an ocean of despair.
The Seventh Ring Region: Starry Sky Gallery Plane.
This is a plane where painting is the highest art form. There is no land in this plane, only countless floating canvases, each depicting a unique Fantasy World. Painters use their brushes to create reality on the canvases; the mountains they paint become real mountains, the rivers they paint become real rivers, and the creatures they paint become real creatures.
The Nightmares Mist erodes the Starry Sky Gallery in the most brutal way—it brings the worlds on the canvas to life, and then kills them.
On a canvas depicting a peaceful kingdom, Nightmares Mist seeps into the paint, plunging the kingdom into civil war. The figures in the painting begin to kill each other, the cities in the painting begin to burn, and the peace depicted in the painting becomes a purgatory of blood and fire. The painter can only watch helplessly as the world he created Destruction before his eyes, unable to do anything, because once the canvas is tainted, it can never be restored to its original state.
On a canvas depicting Champion slaying a dragon, Nightmares Mist grants the dragon consciousness, causing it to devour the Champion. The Champion in the painting is torn apart by the dragon, his blood splattering across the canvas. Then, those blood droplets transform into more dragons, which begin attacking the surrounding canvases.
On a canvas depicting a love Legend, Nightmares Mist transforms the two protagonists into enemies who distrust and harm each other. Their love turns to hatred, their embrace to battle, and their sweet words to vicious curses.
One by one, the painters broke down.
Some tore up their canvases, only to see even more distorted nightmares in the fragments; some tried to fight the Nightmares with new paintings, only to find that the new paintings were contaminated the moment they were completed; some chose to merge with the canvas, using their own lives to Purification the contamination on the canvas, only to futilely prolong their lives for a few more hours.
The Starry Sky Gallery Plane completely fell on the seventh day after the Nightmares Mist descended.
All the canvases were covered in dark purple, all fantasies were replaced by nightmares, and all the painters became the brushes of the Nightmare Hydra, depicting Eternity terror in the Endless Void.
Fantasy Hall.
The Lord of No Void stood at the highest point of the hall, looking down at the countless shimmering planes of light in the Endless Void.
He had been standing there for three days and three nights.
Three days ago, the first warning signal—the seven-colored pillar of light from the Emerald Dream Plane —crashed into the gates of the Fantasy Hall. This was followed by the sword marks from the Thousand Swords Plane, then the mournful cries of the Dream Conch from the Glazed Sea Plane, then the desperate weeping from the Eternal Night Theater, and the fragments of the canvas from the Starry Sky Gallery...
One distress signal after another, like raindrops in a storm, pounded against the outer walls of the Fantasy Hall.
The civilian staff of the Fantasy Hall responsible for receiving the signals initially remained calm, recording each signal according to standard procedures, marking the coordinates of the plane, and assessing the severity of the crisis. However, they soon discovered that the standard procedures had completely failed—the density of the signals far exceeded any historical record, with each signal representing the fall of a plane, and these signals were increasing at a rate of hundreds per quarter hour.
"Your Majesty!"
Dusk Star Elariel once again traversed space to arrive beside the Lord of No Void, this time with a distinct urgency in her voice. This Supreme God- level Explorer, who had carried out tens of thousands of missions, showed a rare expression of tension on her face.
"The number of signals has exceeded 13,000, covering the entire area from the Third Ring Domain to the Ninth Ring Domain. According to preliminary analysis, all signals originate from the same force— the Nightmares Origin." She paused, then added, "Moreover, the spread of the Nightmares Mist is accelerating, showing no signs of slowing down."
The Lord of No Void did not turn back.
His eyes—those two deep Starry Sky —were now reflecting the entirety of the Fantasy Dimension. Countless planes flickered in his eyes, some as bright as stars, others as dim as embers. He could see those planes being eroded by the Nightmares Mist, their origins twisted, corrupted, and perishing, like wounds being corroded by acid.
"Nightmare Hydra." The Lord of No Void's voice was eerily calm. "A life form of the Eternity Realm, it feeds on the power of the Dream Dimension. Born from the Fantasy World, it has always coveted the primordial power of the Fantasy Dimension. From a very long time ago, it has been waiting for the day when the Fantasy Dimension would grow 'delicious' enough. The turmoil in the other two great dimensions of the Astral Realm gave it its opportunity, finally causing Nightmare Hydra to lose its composure and begin its ambitious actions."
Dusk Star frowned. "How did He bypass our perception? The boundaries of the Fantasy Dimension are protected by tens of thousands of layers of guard barriers; it's impossible for any external intruder to go undetected."
"Because He did not invade."
The Lord of No Void finally turned around to face Dusk Star. His face was now fixed on a face whose age was indiscernible, neither old nor young, but a kind of "Eternity" that transcended the concept of age. His Starry Sky- like eyes reflected a solemnity that Dusk Star had never seen before.
"The Nightmares Mist originates from within the Fantasy Dimension," said the Lord of No Void. "The Nightmare Hydra planted the seeds of its power within the very essence of the Fantasy Dimension countless years ago. Those seeds have slumbered, awaiting its awakening. It doesn't need to cross the boundaries, for its tentacles have already reached deep into our being."
Dusk Star gasped.
This means that Nightmare Hydra's schemes are far more profound, more covert, and more terrifying than they imagined. It is not attacking the Fantasy Dimension Fantasy Dimension, but rather "awakening" the Nightmares Seeds that already exist within it. These seeds may have been infiltrated through spoils brought back by Fantasy Travelers, through natural interplanetary communication, or even were hidden plans laid by Nightmare Hydra in ancient times—whatever the reason, the outcome is the same.
The Fantasy Dimension is rotting from within.
"Summon all Fantasy Travelers currently on missions and order them to return to the Fantasy Hall immediately." The Lord of No Void's voice carried an undeniable air of authority. "Simultaneously, activate all reserve forces and prepare for a large-scale deployment. We cannot wait any longer; we must eliminate the source of the contamination before the Nightmares Mist spreads beyond repair."
"But Your Majesty," Dusk Star hesitated, "We don't even know where the Nightmare Hydra's true form is. The existence of the Primogenitor Mountain is completely beyond our comprehension."
"There's no need to find His true form."
The Lord of No Void raised his right hand, and a ball of seven-colored light appeared at his fingertips. It was the primordial power of the Fantasy Dimension, the crystallization of countless dreams, fantasies, and Legend, and the supreme authority bestowed upon the Lord of No Void by the Astral Realm to protect this dimension.
"To devour the Fantasy Dimension, He must project more and more power into it. With each unit of power projected, His Nightmares Mist will condense. When the Mist reaches a sufficient concentration, His true form's hiding place will naturally be exposed." The Lord of No Void clenched his fist, the seven-colored sphere shattering into countless points of light in his palm, scattering in all directions. "Until then, what we must do is—save as many planes as possible, weaken His power as much as possible, and buy as much time as possible."
"Time..." Dusk Star murmured, repeating the word, then raised her head, her eyes rekindling with fighting spirit. "Understood. I'll go gather the travelers now."
She turned and left, her black gauze dress drawing an elegant arc in the Void.
The Lord of No Void gazed once more at the countless dimensional points of light that were dimming, a complex light flashing in his Starry Sky- like eyes.
He has been guarding the Fantasy Dimension for countless years.
He has witnessed the birth, prosperity, and demise of countless planes. He has seen the most brilliant fantasies and the darkest nightmares. He thought he had seen everything that could happen and was prepared to face anything.
But at this moment, when He saw those planes that once shone with beautiful light dimming one by one, when He heard the desperate cries coming from those planes that were once full of laughter, when He felt those once creative fantasies being swallowed by nightmares—He found that He could still be angry.
It wasn't sadness, it wasn't fear, it was anger.
Pure, intense, and fiery anger.
"Nightmare Hydra." The Lord of No Void murmured the name, his voice carrying a power that shook the entire Fantasy Hall. "You've chosen the wrong prey. I will never allow the Fantasy Dimension to become the next Elemental Dimension."
Inside the main hall of the Fantasy Hall, vortexes of Space-Time unfolded one after another.
A crisscrossing expanse of white light, like giant hands, pulled the Fantasy Travelers scattered throughout the Fantasy Dimension back to the palace. Some of these travelers were traveling with Champion in another plane, some were fighting villains in another world, and some were communicating with unknown creatures in another dimension—but the moment they received the summons, they all unhesitatingly put down everything they were doing, passed through the vortex of Space-Time, and returned to the Fantasy Hall.
More and more people filled the main hall.
Some travelers were covered in blood, clearly having just emerged from a fierce battle; others still held local specialties in their hands, their expressions still showing the surprise they felt before being summoned; some travelers looked solemn, having obviously learned about the spread of the Nightmares Mist through their own channels; and some travelers looked completely bewildered, unaware of what had happened.
Dusk Star Elariel stood on the high platform of the hall, overlooking the ever-growing number of travelers below. Beside her stood several other Supreme God- level Explorer of the Fantasy Hall: Shadow Demon Balhevy, a mysterious being shrouded in a gray cloak, skilled in stealth and infiltration; Ironwall Gelong, a three-meter-tall rock giant whose defense was arguably the strongest in the Fantasy Hall; and Star Speakers Elena, a female elf who could communicate with the stars, skilled in divination and prophecy.
"The entire group has arrived." Shadow Demon Pahlavi's voice came from beneath his cloak, hoarse and deep. "Most of the travelers who were on missions abroad have returned, and the few who went missing... are probably doomed."
Dusk Star nodded, stepped forward, and her voice echoed in the hall.
"Gentlemen, you are all Fantasy Travelers personally chosen by the Lord of No Void, having carried out countless missions and experienced countless adventures. You should have already sensed it— the Fantasy Dimension is experiencing an unprecedented crisis."
The hall fell silent, and all eyes were focused on Dusk Star.