Super Righteous Player
Chapter 232 - 230 Nightmare: Reflection_1

Chapter 232: Chapter 230 Nightmare: Reflection_1

After sending the skeletal noble off, Annan leaned against the pillow and turned to look at the moon outside the window, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Although the skeletal noble had not refused his call and had indeed answered his questions... the "secrets" he mentioned had very deliberately avoided those critical issues—especially those that could touch upon himself.

For example, what kind of organization the Dead Alliance really is, how he knows the Pale Princess, what they plan to do, and why they are currently scattered...

He directly played dumb about questions that might involve himself, including those precursory ones that could lead to such inquiries, not mentioning a single word about them.

But when he spoke of the information about the Pale Princess and the Half-Dead Maidens, he was very detailed—especially with information on "how to identify a Half-Dead Maiden" and "the Pale Princess’s personal habits and preferences." It was as if he intentionally wanted to distance himself and the Dead Alliance, steering Annan’s attention towards the Pale Princess.

"Well, never mind..."

Annan shook his head lightly, deciding to let it slide for now.

He had grown somewhat accustomed to the skulduggery of this bone noble.

If he had directly implicated himself this time, Annan would have suspected that he might have been up to something.

However, the skeletal noble did reveal some secrets about the Pale Princess to Annan...

The skull cradled in the arms of the Pale Princess was not that of a lover from her life but rather her followers.

Indeed, although all of the Pale Princess’s priests are Half-Dead Maidens, her followers are not subject to this restriction.

After all, she possesses transcendent beauty and an extraordinarily enchanting voice, attracting many followers obsessed with pursuing her, regardless of gender...

What she seeks is a truly "interesting soul," unrelated to family background, appearance, age, gender... even race.

The highest ritual a follower of the Pale Princess can perform is to sacrifice their own head to her. If the Pale Princess deems this person to have a sufficiently interesting mind, she will accept it and always carry their head with her, whispering to their soul day and night, singing to her lover, and kissing her lover.

—Until she encounters another, more interesting soul, or until she grows tired of this person’s soul.

But she does not discard these souls; instead, she extracts them and keeps them with her.

Over time, a phenomenon known as the "Pale Tide" occurs in places where the Pale Princess has been. It happens during the night, when along with strange singing, a white mist would suddenly roll across the sky like a slow-moving gale from mid-air.

There are folk legends... if one unfortunately witnesses the Pale Tide, they will fall seriously ill afterward.

The skeletal noble’s description confirmed this legend.

As long as one is exposed to the glow of these specters, their life force will be slowly drained. For ordinary people, the sudden loss of life force is enough to cause illness, but because they immediately hide when they see the Pale Tide, they are unharmed; for the Transcendents, however, the loss of life force is not significant enough to cause great harm... and can even draw out some of their Corruption.

Those Transcendents on the brink of madness would even actively seek out the traces of the Pale Princess and chase the Tide.

Yet if indulging in the pleasure of having their soul gradually purified leads one to collapse enervated on the main road... they ultimately become another corpse lying beneath the Pale Tide, fueling the continuation of this legend.

Beyond that.

Annan had received another piece of very important information—

The Pale Princess has another alias.

—The Throat of Death.

The singer who brings death.

Yes.

The influence of "The Throat of Death" on Annan originates from the Pale Princess herself.

"...That’s fine, I guess."

It wasn’t a waste to ask after all, he did manage to extract some marrow of truth...

Annan politely sent the skeletal noble on his way.

But, the Pale Princess, huh...

Annan fell into deep thought.

He wondered what kind of nightmare he would enter next.

"...Never mind, let’s sleep."

In the end, Annan simply closed his eyes and lay back.

As he quickly fell asleep, Annan felt as if his body became somewhat light and airy.

He seemed to float in the clouds, with faint, mysterious singing in his ears. But as he listened to that singing, Annan felt his limbs getting colder and colder...

As if his whole body was submerged in ice-cold water, a chilly and clear sensation, yet he could never fully wake up.

As this nightmare entangled him, causing him to drift between sleep and wakefulness, Annan’s consciousness suddenly became alert, and he saw several lines of prompts appearing before him:

["Preliminary Influence: The Residue of the Throat of Death" has resonated]

[Entering the Dream Realm]

[Dream Key not detected]

[Searching for nightmares, keyword "deceased"...]

[Nightmare located]

[Plunging into the nightmare, instance being generated...]

[Instance difficulty: Hard]

[Team’s total erosion rate is 2%, instance difficulty increased by 2%, probability of nightmare distortion increased by 2%]

[Warning: Related elements detected, nightmare has mutated—]

[This instance has no save points, each death will increase erosion rate by 12%, forced exit from the instance after one death]

[This instance offers plot introduction, with decryption rewards]

[Instance completion reward: Profession (Wizard) levels up by 3]

[Loading complete]

When Annan awoke again, he noticed his body was trembling.

It was not out of fear... but due to the damp and the cold.

Annan realized that he was curled up in a damp dungeon.

His left hand was shackled, the other end of the chain fixed to the wall, and there were some obvious wounds on his left wrist, which seemed to be inflaming... probably from trying to force the chain off not long ago.

But his right hand was intact.

This position only allowed him to sit or kneel; he couldn’t lie down at all... and it likely prevented him from falling into a deep sleep.

Annan wasn’t sure how long this body had gone without proper sleep. All he could feel was an intense fatigue.

Oddly, there were no other signs of torture on his body.

Even his health was as high as 94%.

That meant he was basically without wounds... and had not suffered from lack of food or poor treatment.

"...Huh?"

It was only while checking his injuries that Annan noticed—this should be a female body.

Based on the skin, the knuckles, and the palms, she couldn’t be older than thirty and was probably quite young. Her palms had no callouses, and the skin on the back of her right hand was rather smooth; she wasn’t a farmer.

Annan looked down and, with his right hand, struggled to examine his clothes in the extremely dim light.

Unexpectedly, her attire was quite neat and not disheveled in the least. It didn’t resemble a prisoner’s uniform... but the fabric wasn’t of the high quality that nobles would use.

She could be someone who worked with paperwork or in the entertainment industry. Or perhaps she hadn’t worked at all?

Whoever had shackled her here, preventing her from resting, had not tortured her. What, then, was their purpose?

Just then, Annan felt a wave of familiar, slight dizziness, and new text appeared before his eyes:

[Evelyn Miller should have been a born dancer. She had a naturally flexible and strong body, exceptional beauty, and a heart extremely sensitive to art and music; she should have been beloved by Yawen.]

[But at the age of fourteen, a tragic accident almost took everything from her. Her path was utterly halted from then on.]

[After that, she never danced in public again.]

[Until one day, by chance, she saw the "Dancer under the Moon" and its soul-captivating dance left her enthralled.]

[She tried to speak with it, but the moment she opened her mouth, she suddenly lost consciousness.]

[When she awoke, she found herself in a damp and cold dungeon.]

[She realized she might have been abducted.]

As these traces faded, new text emerged before Annan:

[Main Quest: Homecoming]

Immediately below this line, a slew of smaller text appeared:

[Preserve bodily integrity]

[Do not converse with anyone]

[Return to reality]