Chapter 13: Dream and Awakening

Lynn admitted that he had underestimated the high Sequence abilities of the Spectator pathway.

It wasn't that he forgot the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, became a sealed artifact at the end of the Second Epoch, but in his pursuit of 0-08, Lynn had to think about 0-08 in this timeline.

To avoid detection by the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, and the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, Lynn had deliberately avoided directly thinking of their names, using 0-08 as a substitute.

However, Lynn didn't expect that even under such circumstances, the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, would still find him.

"It must have been when I first transmigrated here and hadn't realized I was in the Second Epoch. My thoughts about the Quill of Alzuhod were detected."

Lynn reflected on his recent actions and realized that Alzuhod's ability to sense him likely stemmed from those early moments after his transmigration, when he wasn't cautious enough.

—After all, under normal circumstances, even if Adam or Hermes sensed someone mentioning their names, as long as there was no malice, they wouldn't trouble that person, at most, they'd mark them for special attention.

The Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, was a special case.

Though many thoughts ran through his mind, in reality, only a moment had passed. Lynn still had time to make a calm judgment: "But if the real Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, had come, Medici and I would already be dead..."

The Spectator pathway's unique incarnations were different from those of the Maurader pathway; before activation, they could essentially be seen as independent entities.

It was clear that the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, had come alone after sensing Lynn.

Alzuhod certainly had the capability. The gap between Sequence 1 and Sequence 2 was significant, and both Lynn and Medici were newborn mythical creatures. Their potion digestion progress was negligible, essentially zero, and even if they fought together, it would be hard to defeat the seasoned Sequence 1, Alzuhod.

The path before Lynn was undoubtedly binary: fight or flee.

"But before making a decision, there's one more thing to figure out..." Lynn scanned his surroundings with a scrutinizing gaze.

Since it was the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, was this still reality?

Had he already been pulled into a nightmare?

Or had the nightmare silently engulfed this part of reality?

As he considered this, Lynn suddenly noticed Medici was gone, replaced by a grotesque, gigantic tumor.

The environment around him also seemed to change in an instant; the sky grew dim, and everywhere Lynn looked, there were disgusting tumors and bizarre plants.

"Wow!" Lynn raised an eyebrow, making a dispassionate remark, having made his judgment.

A dream within a dream.

His opponent was drawing him deeper into successive layers of dream.

...

How many layers deep was this dream?

Medici didn't know.

He didn't know when he had been pulled into the nightmare by the unknown enemy. By the time Medici realized he was in a dream, he had already fought many exhausting battles.

Each awakening was merely the start of the next nightmare.

Despite his efforts to save himself, he only sank deeper.

Medici understood that the enemy did not want to kill him immediately but seemed to enjoy toying with him.

"Ha, is this all?" Having slain another attacking monster, Medici, weak and leaning on a sword made of flames, sneered.

Even though it was just a few simple words, his tone and expression were fully taunting.

However, the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, as a high-ranking Spectator, had excellent self-control and did not react to Medici's provocation.

This made Medici purse his lips and continue his taunting while ceaselessly thinking of a way to break free.

Just as Medici's insults continued for about three minutes, the ground under him suddenly shook. Initially wary of another high-fall scenario, he noticed the sky splitting open.

And the nightmare... was it collapsing?

How could that be?

Medici was both astonished and cautious, suspecting another trap, yet he peered towards the collapsing part of the nightmare.

...

"Why not continue? I thought you wanted to delve into the deepest part of my dream."

In another dream, compared to Medici's disarray, Lynn appeared composed. His indifferent eyes gazed at the void where nightmare creatures had once been, now replaced by emptiness.

Everything was vanishing except for Lynn and the enormous dragon in front of him.

"My intuition tells me that continuing deeper into your dream will lead to dreadful consequences." Alzuhod spoke calmly, his voice devoid of madness.

In fact, Alzuhod felt quite frustrated. Crushing two Sequence 2s was challenging, but these were just mythical creature infants. Actually killing them shouldn't have been difficult.

Yet, one of these creatures proved exceedingly resilient, taunting Alzuhod with infuriating remarks. The other initially seemed normal, but as Alzuhod drew him into a deeper, near-mental island dream, everything changed.

The mythical infant took on a new persona, seizing half the control of the dream in an instant. Horrified, Alzuhod became even more determined to eliminate this foe.

"That I can't quite understand..." Lynn chuckled. He recognized his current state was unusual, perhaps due to prolonged use of his Smurf Account or other reasons, but he wasn't particularly concerned.

Lynn had only one thought now: to kill the reptile before him. The dragon would make a fine writing instrument.

As he entertained this thought, countless pieces of knowledge about the Dragon of Nightmares, Alzuhod, flashed in Lynn's eyes.

And the source of this information—well, wasn't it obvious at a glance?

Lynn chuckled again, finding no issue with it.

The world, after all, was just as clearly defined as data.

(End of Chapter)