CHAPTER 567: CHAPTER 77 NIGHTMARE BARRIER

Everyone arrived at the edge of the Spiritual Tree, only to see that this monster didn’t have a physical form—precisely speaking, the Spiritual Tree was composed of a large mass of faint blue mist.

These mists formed the outline of the tree, as well as the shapes of the branches and vines, constantly swaying in the night breeze.

"Evolution, a thirst for spirituality, and a highly efficient capacity for pollution," the Banshee Queen remarked with interest as she looked ahead, "It’s a sophisticated configuration of the Extraordinary Law, but you can see that there are crude marks of technological adjustments inside."

"This thing must have been deployed by someone inside the Church Court, right? What fools... Instead of hoping that it would eliminate the Transcendents, it’s more like it will eventually bring catastrophe to the whole world. This thing isn’t inanimate; just let it randomly evolve for 2 or 3 generations and after the technological traces inside are phased out, no one will be able to control it."

"By then, your world, which hasn’t reached the level limit, would inevitably be dragged into the silent devastation of death. Thank Miel at least there’s still hope now."

"What exactly needs to be done?" Aske asked.

"First, we need to find its core," the Banshee Queen replied, "We’ll go about one or two kilometers further in, narrow down the search area, and then proceed."

So Aske led everyone forward. As his body submerged in the pale blue mist, the erosion that had been constantly suppressed on his body surface abruptly flared up violently.

"Can you perform that ’Speak and Follow’ again?" Feeling the intensity of the erosion, Aske couldn’t help but ask, "Say something like ’You shall not be eroded’ or something similar?"

"No," the Banshee Queen said solemnly, "Now that we are inside it, anyone who activates any ability will inevitably attract its attention."

"So before we find its core, not just me, but everyone shouldn’t act recklessly in order to avoid revealing ourselves prematurely."

"But we might not withstand the enhanced erosion," Aske frowned, "Well, I have a Law Skill called ’Ambush’. Under this state, as long as you do not activate any ability and do not attack the target, you won’t be detected by the target."

"First, give us a curse to withstand the erosion, then I will immediately activate the Ambush skill to escape the notice of the Spiritual Tree, how about that?"

"If you manage to activate your skill in time, what do you think it will do when it senses something odd but can’t find the source?" the Banshee Queen joked, "It will plow the nearby land with the most fierce firepower. Can your Ambush skill evade an indiscriminate, large-scale attack?"

"If that’s the case, we should just move to another plane, right?" Aske said, "Like after getting into an erosion-resistant state, quickly hiding in the Shadow Realm."

"That definitely won’t work," the Banshee Queen negated again, "The Shadow Realm is essentially the back side of the Main Plane. Ordinary people might not be able to do anything there, but it’s not necessarily the case for the Spiritual Tree... If it has consumed a Transcendent from the Shadow Sequence, then its branches could extend into the Shadow Realm, wouldn’t we still be affected?"

"So you’re saying, we need to move to a plane it can’t enter, right?" Aske thought although the Shadow Plane wouldn’t work, we still have Fire Island!

At that moment, Thira suddenly raised her hand and said, "I have a question."

"What’s the question?" Aske asked.

"How long does Lady Minerva’s curse last?" Thira calmly said, "Since activating abilities inside the Spiritual Tree’s body would be sensed, can’t we just apply a resistance to erosion curse outside and then enter its body, so it won’t be a problem?"

Aske: ......

Banshee Queen: ......

"Ah, you see, my squad members are so clever," Aske laughed.

"Yes, compared to some squad leaders who are somewhat incompetent, not even able to think of such a simple solution," the Banshee Queen also laughed.

"In front of a high-level demigod, senior, where am I qualified to make suggestions?" Aske said, "Seniors definitely have more experience than me."

"What senior? I’m just a dead person. Do you expect a dead person to come up with ideas?" The Banshee Queen, somehow producing a fan, covered the lower part of her face, revealing crescent-shaped curved eyes.

"Cough cough." Since the other party called herself a "dead person", Aske was helpless about her thick-skinned nature and said, "Then let’s follow Thira’s plan."

So, everyone turned around, walked a kilometer away from the Spiritual Tree, and then the Banshee Queen proceeded with the curse enhancement.

"You shall not be corrupted by mutants." The Banshee Queen closed her fan and drew a bizarre symbol in the air, "If there’s fatal damage, it will be borne by this object."

Once the symbol was drawn, she magically produced a blood-covered flesh doll and stamped the symbol onto it.

"After being imbued with my damage transfer curse, this flesh doll can bear three instances of damage for you," the Banshee Queen said, tossing it to Peggy, "Keep it safe. It’s still effective after the mutant event if not all uses are expended."

Peggy grimaced and tucked the ugly doll away.

"Are you alright?" Aske noted that after casting the spell, the Banshee Queen seemed somewhat weakened.

"It used one-third of my spirituality," the Banshee Queen waved her hand lightly, "It’s fine."

She sat back on Aske’s shoulder. The group headed toward the Spiritual Tree, and soon they reached the outskirts of the fog.

Entering the fog, indeed everyone felt that the sensation of corruption was much weaker. It almost required no effort to keep it at bay.

Due to the previous "Sensing Curse," neither the higher-dimensional beings nor the Spiritual Tree noticed their presence. The group cautiously moved through the fog, feeling their clothes almost soaking wet.

The higher-dimensional beings still flew overhead, emitting sharp, indistinguishable cries. Everyone held their breath a bit and walked towards the direction where the fog was becoming denser.

Suddenly, Nora, walking by the side, stopped.

Her expression became blank for a moment, and a bloody hole suddenly appeared in her chest!

Then the hole slowly healed, accompanied by the flesh doll hanging at Peggy’s waist, which started to develop a similar wound on its chest.

"What’s going on?" The group immediately stopped, like facing a great enemy, and looked around, but detected nothing unusual.

Nora weakly collapsed into Aske’s arms, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and after a long moment, she said:

"It’s a dream."

"I was attacked by a nightmare."

A dream? Aske looked towards Medea, who immediately reminded:

"Did you forget? Last year, when we were conquering Fire Island, we had a fierce battle with a nightmare! The Dream Sequence is the nemesis of the Mind Sequence!"

"Because the abilities of the Mind Sequence are particularly sensitive in mental perception, dream attacks cause us much more severe damage," the Banshee Queen interjected, floating down from Aske’s shoulder and reaching out to touch the empty space in front of them.

"There’s a layer of Nightmare Barrier here," she said.