Chapter 1248: Monster of Dreams and Reality

A series of loud bangs came from all directions as the black fog collapsed like an avalanche, and the illusion disappeared like a puff of smoke. Lily shook her head, trying to regain her balance. When her vision stabilized, she found herself back in the Shadowy Forest.

Lily blinked, there was a hint of confusion in her eyes. The false perception and the reality clashed for a while before her memory finally broke free from the ice. She had regained her consciousness and now remembered how she had come to this place, that the army of beasts she led, and Mr. Landlord who had been separated from for many days.

Recalling the bowl of braised pork ribs that she did not manage to eat in the illusion, her lips flattened.

She then saw the monster on the ground struggling to escape, surrounded by smoke and dark fog.

“Where are you going to run to?” Lily cried and raised her hand immediately, but only to find that the slab she used in the illusion did not exist here. Though the conflict between reality and illusion was a bit confusing, she managed to recover and summoned her Frostmourne and Flamejoy and pointed them at the distorted lump of meatball. “I will pierce a hole in your brain if you run again! I can poke five holes with just one paw!”

By now, the noise had alerted the others. The humans had woken up with Calaxus and two other high-ranking templars grabbing their weapons and lunging out of their tents. Two demonic wolves on their night-watch shift at the edge of the campsite came with the old demonic ape, Gruglu. The monster shrouded in smoke and dust might be a terrifying spiritual power in the illusion, but it seemed to be much weaker in reality—of course, it could be the result of Lily smashing it with a concrete slab, traumatized and paralyzed. Before the monster could even make it three meters out, everyone had surrounded it.

Two demonic wolves came up to Lily, respectfully touched her shoes with the tip of their noses. The old demonic ape, seeing the smoky thing on the ground, appeared in fear. “Alpha, I was on the lookout just now. This strange thing is—”

“I know, it’s not your fault.” Lily pointed to the two imps on the ground. “They brought it in.”

The leader of the imps came before the alpha. Learning what his two men had done, it shrilled in shock and wanted to punish them. But Lily stopped him. “Hey, easy. It’s not their fault too—if I’m not mistaken, the monster of Chaos had parasitized them.”

The imp leader and the old demon ape looked at each other, seemingly konjac face each other, apparently at a loss.

Calaxus stepped forward. “Alpha, what happened?”

“This thing hid in the shadows of these two imps.” Lily pointed at the smoke monster on the ground. “When I saw the imps got up and moved toward your tent, I knew something was amiss. I stopped them immediately, but before I knew it, it attacked me.”

Explaining the incident, for a dog that had graduated from Peking University four times and been working as a writer, was as easy as ABC. She had also expounded her view on the event. It was a result of following Hao Ren for three years, seeing enough—if not learning—things the various strange things could no longer surprise her. She figured that this smoke monster might be something born out of the victim’s mind, or even become a parasite in the spiritual world of the host.

Calaxus was shocked upon hearing Lily’s analysis. As a church scholar for so many years, he had never heard of any parasites in the spiritual world. He had read many ancient books about a chaotic monster that was capable of mental attacks. But one that could come from a nightmare and get into the real world was a bit hard to believe.

He stared at the alpha, wondering how the mysterious and powerful alpha came to this conclusion, and where she got this incredible knowledge.

“It’s not a wild guess.” Lily knew what Galaxus was thinking. “First, when the two imps came back, you were all there and had not seen the thing came in. Second, I saw it with my own eyes that the monster came out from their shadows. Finally, we fought.”

Lily’s lips flattened again when she remembered her bowl of spare ribs. Shaking her head, she said, “It created an illusion in my mind, then I knocked it down with a brick in the illusion. When I woke up, the thing already on the ground in the real world. The brick might be imaginary but this thing…”

As she spoke, she flipped the smoke monster with her foot. Sure enough, from the part where many tentacles had fallen off, an unknown black fluid was oozing out, forming a puddle of mud-like substance on the ground. This smoke monster was wounded.

The wound had confirmed her speculation.

She hurt the monster in the illusion, and the monster carried the same wound into reality—this thing came from the spiritual world.

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What a plausible and convincing theory.

Calaxus’ brows were knitted together. He instinctively felt that the alpha’s theory had a problem, but he could not pinpoint what was wrong. So he did not ask further. But one thing was sure:

The ability of this smoke monster was inseparable from the relationship between the spiritual and the real world. It had an unheard of way of attack, which was a considerable threat to unprepared ordinary folks.

And it was not afraid of the Light of Order.

The smoke monster twitched and struggled on the ground as the Light of Order from Lily shone on it. It might have a feeling of pain. But even under the Light of Order, it could still move as usual and even attack. This level of resistance to the Light of Order was not only surpassed that of the servant of Chaos but also higher than those of the Festered.

“This is a minion of the Chaos, but a form that I have never seen before.” The high-ranking monk bent down and applied a few protective magic to himself before touching the body of the monster. Under cover of smoke and dark mist, he felt a cold, soft, ever-changing, and disgusting body. He felt like throwing up. “It is disgusting, just like a cold-blooded mollusk.”

Lily tried to lift a translucent tentacle of the monster with her claws of Flamjoy. Surprisingly, her claws penetrated the jellyfish-like tentacle. “And these tentacles are no in physical form. You see, just like CGI.”

The high-ranking monk had no idea what CGI was, but he understood what Lily was trying to say. These non-physical tentacles seemed to have confirmed the alpha’s theory: it was a nightmare monster between reality and illusion.

“Alpha, I hope you can lend me the prey,” Calaxus said, bowing his head to Lily. “I want to study it. I am a scholar; it is my job to study this monster.”

“As per your wish,” Lily said. “It is not like I can eat it anyway. You can have it. But don’t kill it. When I find Mr. Landlord, maybe he can figure out what this thing is.”

The alpha always behaved a little eccentrically, and often mentioned a person called Mr. Landlord, who seemed to be the person she had been looking for. It did not surprise Calaxus anymore, so he did not ask any question, but just nodded as a sign of gratitude. He then ordered the Templars behind him, “Go and take the Jailer’s Stone.”

Two Templars had been watching the monsters on the ground since the beginning. They froze for a second when Calaxus ordered them. Calaxus was displeased. “What makes you nervous? We are here to investigate the Chaos, and now let’s start working. Go now! Don’t ever think that you are refugees simply because the aircraft has crashed. People from the sanctum would never be discouraged!”

The two Templars quickly woke up from their stupor and ran into the tent. Almost immediately, they ran back out with the Jailer’s Stone and a set of runic chains.

The Jailer’s Stone was a piece of black stone, the size of a fist, with a metallic luster, and a faint red light on the surface. This stone was embedded in a shield-like metal plate, which was densely packed with the original text of the covenant given to the mortal by the goddess of creation. Attaching with it were four chains with a light blue luminescence.

This device was specially designed to capture the monsters of Chaos. It had two functions: One was to bind the monsters, prevent them from falling back into the Sea of Carnos, and second was to block the Light of Order to prevent the captured mysterious creature from dying under the bright world.

It was this perfect procedure for capturing and studying the chaotic monsters that gave the Theocracy in the sanctum the ability to understand their enemy, and then create the corresponding divine objects to safeguard the Order and Collow’s border.

Sensing the presence of the Jailer’s Stone, the smoke monster twitched violently. It lifted half of its body and stared dead into Lily’s eyes with multi pairs of blood-red eyes. Flowing out from the eyes was an endless hatred.

The monster finally shouted with a loud voice, “You damned, stupid, ignorant, and short-sighted mortal! You don’t even know what you are facing.”

With her arms akimbo, Lily shouted back, “If you are as powerful as you claim, give me back my bowl of spare ribs!”

The monster screamed and then quieted down.

Lily shrugged. “I knew it wasn’t real. Who are you trying to trick?”