Chapter 614

After traveling for what felt like forever, the cleaners have finally arrived deep within the Soulfall Black Abyss. In the distance, where the pitch-black river meets the ink-colored skies, they can already see a towering, majestic city that stretches from heaven to earth – the ultimate destination of their journey.

However, what makes their scalps tingle is that the only road leading to the red and white colossal city is piled high with countless sinister nightmares… Yes, piled. Only this word can describe the enormity and density of the nightmare formation ahead.

How could there be so many nightmares?!

Looking into the distance, where nightmares sprawl from the Nightmare River all the way up to the sky, blocking the entire river in a dark mass, the cleaners are instantly shocked.

Even though individually, the strength of each nightmare is utterly negligible, not even as formidable as a human farmer wielding a grass fork, even a Level 3 Cleaner, with appropriate abilities and suitable terrain, could easily grind down a hundred or eighty of them.

But the sheer number of nightmares here is overwhelming! These nightmares, divided on both sides in an apparent standoff, probably number close to a million! Even though these nightmares aren’t confined just to the river surface but instead layer upon layer extend all the way to the sky, squeezing together abnormally tightly, the terrifying formation still stretches endlessly to the horizon, leaving the cleaners unable to even spot the tail of the army.

Under such extreme numerical superiority, ordinary individual abilities become meaningless. No matter how powerful the force or how resolute the heart, facing millions of nightmares’ psychic assaults will lead only to a collapse of will and mental destruction.

“Divine Lady!”

Seeing the path to the testing site completely blocked, the plan to raid Moshin Ice City has turned into a farce. Alabaster Maiden couldn’t help but clench her teeth and step forward, shouting towards the multicolored glowing conch above: “What’s going on ahead? Why are there so many nightmares gathered here?”

You ask me? I’d like to know too!

The originally smooth plan suddenly hit a snag, causing the Goddess of Illusion to grip her fists in anger inside the conch, furiously waving several times before reluctantly starting to placate:

“No need to worry, it’s also part of the test.”

Part of the test?

Hearing the words of the Goddess of Illusion, the cleaners immediately exchange glances.

419 cleaners vs. exactly 1,000,000 nightmares? What kind of test is this? Testing how fast everyone dies?

“Relax, the Clearing Bureau won’t let you die for no reason.”

Facing possibly the one and only chance in her life to regain her divine position, the Goddess of Illusion was unwilling to give up. But she also knew it was impossible to deceive the cleaners into dying needlessly. Thus, through the conch, she stiffly said coldly: “These nightmares won’t stay here forever. Just look at their formations; something big will happen soon. And when that time comes, it’ll be your chance to slip through amidst the chaos.”

Something big will happen soon? Since there was a shell of the conch between them and the Goddess of Illusions, the cleaners couldn’t see her frantic jumping around. Plus, since the decision to charge or retreat lay in their own hands, they didn’t immediately retreat but stayed hidden where they wouldn’t be discovered. They placed anomalous items for monitoring the situation in advance and waited dubiously.

…

And indeed, as the Goddess of Illusions said, the two-army-like standoff of the nightmares did not last long. Not long after, among the side with fewer nightmares, a nightmare with an indistinct face stepped out and shouted loudly to the opposite side:

“The Snow Maiden commands that recently, no one should leave their posts without permission. What do you intend by gathering here?”

“What do we intend?”

From the side being addressed, a nightmare resembling a scarecrow wobbled out, sneering in response: “Of course, to set things right! We want to destroy that cursed city! And execute you traitors who betrayed Lord Nightmare King!”

“You… All seven Nightmare Ambassadors chosen by Lord Nightmare King are on our side! You’re the ones who…”

“Tsk! What nonsense ambassadors!”

The defense of the nightmare with an indistinct face seemed to backfire. A huge shark nightmare emerged from the Nightmare River, its mouth full of sharp teeth glaring murderously as it roared: “Even Lord Nightmare King was killed by the Clearing Bureau, yet they all survived? In my opinion, they were the ones who betrayed Lord Nightmare King!”

“Yes! If they were innocent, Lord Nightmare King would never have died!”

“Kill all these traitors! Destroy Moshin Ice City!”

“You love me, I love you, honey… aaaah! Execute them!”

“You… You’re totally unreasonable!”

Faced with increasingly frenzied enemies, the nightmare with an indistinct face shook with anger and shouted angrily: “The orders from the Nightmare Ambassadors are equivalent to those from Lord Nightmare King! It’s you who are defying him!”

“Ho ho, if the order truly came from Lord Nightmare King, we naturally wouldn’t defy it.”

Upon hearing this, the Scarecrow Nightmare smirked coldly, his voice raspy as he questioned:

Ah?? Hearing the scarecrow nightmare’s question, Leon, who was standing behind the group of cleaners watching a Level 3 cleaner from Scorpio Division’s “live broadcast,” suddenly became utterly confused.

Not… why is there something about me in here?”

“That…”

Seeing all the cleaners turn their heads toward him after hearing his name, Leon couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh.

“I’ve been on field duty with Scorpio Division for over a month and have never come to the Dream Realm before. This… might be a case of mistaken identity?”

“…”

Amidst the doubtful gazes of the cleaners, the argument in the “live broadcast” grew more intense.

“Last time we entered that singing city, I already felt something was off.”

Lifting his massive shark arm and pointing toward the faintly visible Moshin Ice City in the distance, the shark nightmare growled with malice: “You keep saying you remain loyal to Lord Nightmare King, but why doesn’t the cursed city behind you have any relics of Lord Nightmare King? Instead, it’s filled with statues of the destroyer Leon?”

“This, of course, has a reason!”

The nightmare with the indistinct face angrily retorted:

“The stronger the fear in the Soulfall Black Abyss grows, the faster Lord Nightmare King will awaken! Who in the entire Dream Realm isn’t afraid of the destroyer now? We built so many statues of the destroyer Leon to collect the whole Dream Realm’s fear of him, allowing Lord Nightmare King to resurrect sooner!”

“But this is the deepest part of the Soulfall Black Abyss, the source of the Nightmare River!”

The scarecrow nightmare swayed his emaciated body and yelled furiously: “Lord Nightmare King sleeps within the Nightmare River, and will resurrect from here in the future. Yet you dared to build statues of his killer directly at the source of the Nightmare River – that’s blatant desecration!”

“This… Although it may lack some respect, it’s only by doing this that Lord Nightmare King can resurrect sooner!”

“Bah, you’re nothing but traitors, and those destroyer statues are the strongest evidence!”

Seemingly tired of the other side’s excuses, the scarecrow nightmare chuckled coldly, then raised his dry arm and swung it forcefully toward the hundreds of thousands of nightmares ready to fight behind him.

“Act now! Let me see the deepest fears in the hearts of you traitors!”

“Fine.”

Realizing reasoning was futile, the nightmare with the indistinct face abandoned persuasion, retreated into the ranks with a grim expression, and then followed suit by raising his arm.

“Since you’re so stubborn, we’ll use the way of nightmares to decide right from wrong for the Soulfall Black Abyss!”

As negotiations completely broke down, the million nightmares aligned in opposition simultaneously roared, nearly releasing their resistance against the Soulfall Black Abyss all at once. The deepest fears in their hearts erupted into rolling black smoke that surged into the sky.

Then, under the extremely bewildered expressions of the cleaners, two familiar colossal figures quietly coalesced, bearing the mad aura of wanting to destroy everything. With arms crossed, they stood facing each other, eyes filled with murderous intent.

“Hmph, merely this much.”

The “giant Leon” on the left looked disdainfully upward, speaking alongside the scarecrow beneath his feet:

“Is this the extent of your fears?”

“Hmph! You just have more numbers!”

The slightly smaller but more solid-looking “giant Leon” on the right snorted angrily and then arrogantly raised his head.

“When it comes to fear of the destroyer, we surpass you by far!!!”