Chapter 57: Al's Memory Fragments

Chapter 57: Fragments of El’s Memory

Approaching the city wall, Li Wei realized the edge of this dream was marked by the ramparts of Hansha City.

Beyond the wall stretched an endless sea of mist.

Everyone was trapped within the dream—caged beasts, prey to nightmares.

Li Wei could step beyond the dream, but outside lay even greater danger.

Unless necessary, he had no desire to venture deep into the fog of dreams.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

El directed serpents of flame to devour the orcs emerging around him.

He didn’t understand how he’d suddenly been thrust into such peril.

But one thing was certain—he wanted to survive.

Gurgle! Gurgle!

Gray mist churned atop the wall. A thick surge of vapor poured into the dream, coalescing into a monstrous orc with a bloated belly and a boar’s head, over three meters tall.

Li Wei’s gaze sharpened; his expression turned grave.

“A second-tier nightmare?”

The boar-man leapt from the wall, charging at El.

A massive chain hammer crashed down toward El’s skull.

Too slow to dodge, El was flung backward, his magical shield flickering wildly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With heavy, thundering steps, the boar-man advanced on the fallen mage.

El scrambled up, waving his staff.

“Mud Swamp!”

“Vine Bind!”

Two zero-tier spells, cast in under five seconds.

Splurch!

The ground beneath the boar-man melted into a quagmire. One misstep and it sank in, trapped.

Just as it strained to break free, the earth cracked around it—four thick vines burst forth, wrapping its body and pinning it fast within the mire.

Riiip!

The beast thrashed violently, slowly snapping the vines, dragging itself out of the swamp.

Zero-tier magic could not hold a second-tier nightmare for long.

But El had achieved his goal.

“Chain Fireball!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

El unleashed the second-tier spell. Five fireballs shot from his staff in rapid succession.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fireballs struck the boar-man nightmare. Explosions ripped through its form, tearing it apart into fragments.

Boom!

Smoke and dust swallowed the battlefield’s heart.

A breeze swept through—then silence. The smoke cleared.

The boar-man lay obliterated.

Yet El did not see—the nightmare’s core still pulsed faintly, quietly absorbing gray mist, already beginning to reform.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

More nightmares emerged, swarming El. Forced to retreat, he fled elsewhere, drawing the horde away.

Li Wei seized the moment, stepping beside the exposed nightmare core.

A faint smile touched his lips.

“What luck. A second-tier nightmare core, mine for the taking.”

“Fireball!”

Whoosh!

The spell struck true, obliterating the core completely.

Crack!

A streak of light shot into Li Wei’s body.

Fragments of memory—shattered, stolen by the nightmare—flashed through his mind.

Long ago, in his youth, the mage El had been hunted by a boar-man, nearly killed. That terror had birthed this nightmare’s form.

Yet El had long since conquered that fear. The boar-man no longer terrified him.

Li Wei glanced at the ground. Bloodstains there twisted into visible characters:

[Greater Dreamwalking Technique (Zero-tier)] 875/10,000

A single second-tier nightmare had granted five hundred experience points.

But such opportunity was rare. Only because he’d chanced upon El destroying the nightmare’s avatar—exposing its core—had Li Wei found his opening.

With his current strength, he could never defeat a second-tier nightmare in direct combat.

Once exposed, the core would regenerate within minutes. The window for plunder was brief—fleeting, unrepeatable.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several nightmares caught sight of Li Wei, rushing toward him.

He responded with Chain Minor Fireballs.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Fireballs scattered in all directions, striking nearby nightmares, reducing them to ash.

A second volley followed—targeting the newly exposed cores, annihilating them utterly.

Ziiip! Ziiip! Ziiip!

Streams of light flew into his body.

Activating his invisibility cloak, Li Wei vanished into thin air.

He turned, gazing back at the vast silhouette of Hansha City behind him.

“It seems the dreams ahead will be anything but quiet.”

The army of Maple City had replaced Hansha’s original garrison, and Li Wei would remain here for some time.

Li Wei wandered through the city, occasionally striking down orcs born from nightmares.

He noticed not everyone who slept fell into nightmares.

Guzer, Luota, George—they were all asleep, yet their forms appeared nowhere within this dream of terror.

"So sleeping doesn't necessarily mean one dreams of horror," he murmured.

Boom! A violent explosion echoed nearby. Li Wei turned toward the sound—flames leapt into the sky like dancing serpents.

He knew instantly: El had encountered another second-stage nightmare.

But this battle was fiercer than any before.

Li Wei edged closer to the battlefield.

Five or six second-stage nightmares surrounded a small group of fighters.

Besides El, three other second-tier supernatural beings were trapped in the nightmare.

A warrior swung his greatsword in wild arcs, clashing fiercely with an orcish nightmare, each strike carving gashes in the earth with bursts of combat aura.

A knight raised his shield before El, shielding him as three nightmares rained blows upon him.

Seizing the moment, El cast his spell—*Fire Serpent*.

The blazing serpent coiled through the air, engulfing the three nightmares assaulting the knight, searing them badly.

The knight lunged forward with his lance, piercing one nightmare’s chest. His combat aura shattered its body from within.

From the shadows, a figure flickered—silent, elusive—striking nightmares from behind.

Warrior. Knight. Assassin.

El shouted, “These orcs… something’s wrong! Their regeneration is too strong!”

His mana had long been drained by relentless combat, sustained only by vials of restorative elixir.

Mana could be replenished with potions—but combat aura could not.

Under the nightmares’ relentless assault, the warrior fell first.

His strength waned as his aura vanished. The nightmares attacking El and the knight abandoned them, turning instead toward the exhausted warrior.

Riiip!

The warrior’s form tore apart. The nightmares devoured the burst of nightmare energy released from his death.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One nightmare suddenly surged in power—its presence climbing to the peak of the second stage.

Now overwhelmed by stronger foes, El and the knight faltered. The assassin saw the tide turn and fled without hesitation.

The peak-second-stage nightmare ripped through the knight’s armor, killing him, then lunged at El.

With a roar, El raised his staff. Magic light blazed across its surface, blinding and terrible.

BOOM!

A devastating explosion erupted, hurling every nightmare backward.

The peak-second-stage nightmare’s body tore apart, grievously wounded.

El had self-destructed—sacrificing himself to wound them all.

Yet for nightmares, even "grievous wounds" meant little.

Within minutes, they would return to full strength.

A figure emerged from the smoke at the heart of the blast.

Li Wei reached down, picking up the fading memory fragment of El.

Out of the corner of his eye, a glint—a knight’s memory shard, too.

Both fragments were nearly gone.

Had Li Wei arrived any later, they would have vanished entirely.

Pocketing the shards, he flicked a tiny fireball at the most wounded nightmare—the peak-second-stage one.

Boom!

The fireball exploded. A chunk of the nightmare’s body disintegrated—only to regenerate completely in under two seconds.

Li Wei didn’t hesitate. He turned and fled.

Even a crippled peak-second-stage nightmare was beyond his strength.

“Raaar!”

Seeing the thief stealing spoils, the nightmares roared in fury, charging after him.

Li Wei shot upward, soaring into the sky.

The nightmares hesitated—then followed, revealing their true forms as they ascended.

Upper bodies still orc-like, lower halves dissolving into trailing gray mist.

Boom!

Li Wei crashed back into the room, kicking the door shut behind him.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The nightmares slammed into the door, their forms scattering on impact—yet the door stood unshaken.

(End of Chapter)