Chapter 106 - 98: Dream Cage and Gate of Hell

Chapter 106: Chapter 98: Dream Cage and Gate of Hell

The Dream Cage consisted of 360 dream curses. Each one was a perfect dream, tailor-made for the Spirit of the Forest, Solaya, presenting her most unattainable desires one by one to keep her lost within them, unable to escape.

Lian’s consciousness was dragged into a corridor of dreams. His legs felt as if they were stuck in a mire, or submerged in seawater. A suffocating sensation washed over him, causing his fear to mount.

Lian rubbed his thumb against his forefinger, and the special runes on them began to glow.

These were the benefits of his Evil Divine Status: one from the Power of Faith of the Bone Forest, and the other from the Evil God, the Eye of Misfortune.

The leaf-shaped rune emitted a faint green light, coiling around Lian’s soul.

The one-eyed rune exuded a potent malice that swirled around his fingertips.

The suffocating sensation receded like the tide, and he successfully entered the first dream of the Spirit of the Forest.

Dawn was just breaking. The clouds on the horizon, like a sheer veil, glowed with an orange-yellow halo.

A gentle breeze swept across the surface of the sea, creating delicate ripples, like the night’s last, tender caress.

In the tranquility, schools of fish swam freely beneath the surface. As the sunlight refracted through the water, their forms created a dappled play of light and shadow.

The sun gradually rose, spilling golden light across the sea. It was as if countless shimmering pieces of gold were dancing on the waves, radiating brilliance.

Waves gently lapped against the shore, creating a pleasant harmony—the ocean’s purest symphony.

This was the first dream of the Spirit of the Forest.

This was truly a beautiful dream.

After all, in this world, every ocean was filled with danger.

Aside from the dreaded Forbidden Sea, even the relatively safe oceans that humans had explored—the Dawn Sea and the Snow Sea—were fraught with peril.

Therefore, a sight this beautiful could likely only exist in a dream.

What was strange, however, was that Lian couldn’t see his loyal servant, Solaya, the Spirit of the Forest, anywhere in the dream.

Moreover, ever since he had entered the dream, the wisp of Spirit that led him into this cage had faded completely, no longer offering any guidance.

He felt like a player who had just gained access to a new game’s closed beta, completely baffled as he searched for clues by the sea.

Fortunately, he wasn’t completely clueless about this "game." As long as he gathered all of Solaya’s Spirit, he could clear the level.

Of this, he was absolutely certain.

So, his current task was to find the parts of Solaya’s Spirit that had scattered throughout the Dream World.

’Perhaps Solaya had been confined in the Bone Forest for so long that she naturally yearned for the sea and freedom.’

’So, maybe she’d become a fisherman, or a captain, or even an island.’

Using the incredible speed of a Five-star Light and Shadow Knight, Lian raced along the coastline, leaving a trail of afterimages on the sand.

He searched the endless beach for a long time but still found no sign of any human figures.

There was no concept of time here, yet to Lian, it felt like an eternity.

He found nothing. Forget fishing boats—the sea held nothing but sunlight and water.

The schools of fish swimming merrily in the sea were the only signs of life.

’Wait, have I been thinking about this all wrong?’ he suddenly realized. ’Why would the Spirit of the Forest have to be a person in a dream?’

His gaze fell upon the swimming fish.

Sure enough, one by one, the fish began to flicker with a faint green light that resonated with the aura around him.

They were the fragments of Solaya’s Spirit, scattered throughout the first Dream World.

’This definitely represents Solaya’s yearning for the ocean and freedom.’

It also gave Lian a massive headache.

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them!

’How am I supposed to collect all of them?’

’I don’t even have a fishing net.’

’Do I have to become a fisherman now?’

"Solaya, why couldn’t you have just become a mermaid? Why turn into a school of fish? You really know how to make things difficult for your master."

As Lian grumbled about Solaya, he suddenly remembered their master-servant pact.

’Could I use the effect of my [Master of Forest Spirits] title to draw the fish over?’

Lian decided to test his theory. Facing the sea, he commanded,

"Solayas, I command you! Swim to your master’s side at once!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the calm sea began to churn with a tide of fish.

Lian had a sinking feeling.

Then, the school of fish stirred up a massive wave that surged toward Lian.

’The good news: [Master of Forest Spirits] definitely worked.’

’The bad news: the tsunami kicked up by the fish was large enough to smash him to a pulp on the beach.’

Before Lian’s very eyes, the tranquil, beautiful sunrise over the sea had suddenly transformed into a disastrous, world-ending tsunami.

It caught him completely off guard. His heart hammered in his chest, and terror surged through him.

Before the awesome power of nature, even a Five-star Light and Shadow Knight was no more than an ant.

Lian immediately changed his command. Just before the tsunami crashed down, he yelled,

"School of Solaya! Transform into Solaya and protect your master!"

Then, Lian watched as countless green-glowing fish leaped from the water, forming a colossal, illusory image of Solaya. The illusion blocked the tsunami, which was now just inches away.

The illusion pushed the tsunami back out to sea before dissolving into countless specks of fluorescent light that filled the sky.

The points of light surged toward Lian, and were all absorbed into the green leaf totem on his left thumb.

Lian was completely taken aback; he’d never imagined that the pattern on his finger could also serve as a vessel for absorbing Solaya’s Spirit.