Chapter 1 The Core and Holy Land

In Coro, the Holy See was undoubtedly the heart and holy land of the Creator Goddess faith. Almost everything on this land served religious belief – the cathedral was the religious, cultural, and administrative center of all cities, the church was the source of all education, the clergy bore the responsibility of managing the entire Holy See, and religious buildings were the most magnificent and complex facilities of the theocratic nation.

The basement of the Luan Cathedral was not just a basement, but a super-large facility that could be called a crypt.

Led by the priest, the group arrived at the entrance of the crypt behind the assembly hall, and then went down a wide stone ramp. After a few minutes, they arrived at the underground part of the cathedral. Hao Ren saw straight and wide corridors extending out before him, with many forks and room entrances on both sides. Although the underground world was devoid of sunlight, milky white crystals emitting a faint light were embedded in the walls at intervals, so that the place would not fall into darkness – it was even brighter than the ground part of the cathedral.

Survivors in unimaginable numbers were almost all concentrated in the crypt. Everywhere in the underground corridors, one could see refugees wrapped in clothes and blankets, huddled together with their families, with terrified and uneasy expressions on their faces. Small piles of luggage were piled up beside them. Most people had only a few personal packages and small boxes, and some even had nothing beside them. Obviously, they had all evacuated here in a hurry.

Seeing someone coming down from the surface entrance, many refugees immediately raised their heads. They curiously looked at Hao Ren and his party, many eyes filled with doubt and nervousness, even those of the ignorant children.

"What on earth happened here..." Kalayos couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"The protection of Asuman has disappeared, and darkness has taken advantage of the void to enter. Nightmares have quickly devoured everyone who fell asleep," the middle-aged priest leading the way said in a low voice. "Overnight, more than half of the people became breeding grounds for nightmares. By the time we reacted, we were almost powerless. What happened was very strange. High Bishop, Lord Holtzmann, will explain it to you clearly."

Following the crypt corridor all the way to the end, the group finally arrived at the end. Deep in this underground facility, there was even a small chapel. The sacred radiance of this chapel had not been extinguished. Soft holy light diffused from the windows of the chapel, faintly sheltering the entire crypt.

Inside the chapel, an old bishop with white hair and beard was leading several assistant priests in completing a sacred ritual. After the ritual was completed, he turned his head and looked at Hao Ren and Kalayus standing in front of him.

"Archbishop Kalayus," Bishop Holtzmann paid his respects to Kalayus. Although he was older in age, in terms of rank within the church, he, a regional bishop only responsible for a city and surrounding villages, had to pay his respects to Archbishop Kalayus, who held an important position in the Holy Image Palace. "I know you and your investigation team. I was also at the Holy Image Palace to greet you when you set off."

"Bishop Holtzmann," Kalayus nodded in return. "I know you. Your diligence and piety have been praised in the Holy Image Palace."

Then he briefly introduced Hao Ren, Lily, and An by his side. He did not explain their identities in detail, but only guaranteed in the name of God that these three were absolutely trustworthy allies. After completing the introduction, he went straight to the point and asked: "Bishop, what exactly happened here? Why has the Holy See fallen to this point in just one month?"

"Everything deteriorated rapidly in a few days," the old bishop shook his head, his face slightly pale. Just as Father Bernstein had said before, this old bishop seemed to have suffered a mental impact and was now a little listless. "In the nearly one month after you set off, although the situation in the Holy See was constantly deteriorating, it had not yet reached the point where it could not be sustained, until seven days ago, when things suddenly became uncontrollable."

Hao Ren's expression was serious: "What exactly happened?"

"The Light of Asuman suddenly decreased sharply, and countless large holes appeared in the protective barrier above the Holy See. The power of Chaos poured in directly, causing huge casualties, cough cough..." The old bishop said, coughing violently a few times before gradually regaining his breath. "The first wave of attacks was blocked, and the Holy Guard paid a great price to eliminate the chaotic monsters that had invaded the barrier, and barely managed to restore the operation of the barrier above the main cities. However, that very night, we encountered another wave of irresistible surprise attacks – the surprise attacks were launched in dreams."

Dreams. Hao Ren instantly caught this crucial word. He remembered the outposts destroyed by nightmares in the forests west of Taros, and the Nightmare Shadow caught by Lily: "Someone was mentally invaded in their sleep, and then went insane and committed suicide?"

The old bishop immediately turned his head: "How do you know?"

"Similar things happened on other continents..." Hao Ren briefly described the Nightmare disaster on the border of Taros, "But I didn't expect the Holy See to be like this too."

"The nightmare attacks we encountered are somewhat similar to what you said, but not exactly the same," the old bishop shook his head after listening. "Evil spirits did invade the dream world, but did not cause a large number of casualties in the first place. Instead, they created countless soulless puppets, and even gradually overflowed into the real world. I think you have seen those… things wandering in the square outside."

Lily blinked her eyes: "Those walking corpses?"

"Walking corpses? No, those are not walking corpses," the old bishop glanced at Lily. "Those are not things from the real world at all. They are nightmares, the nightmares made by the residents of Luan who have fallen into the nightmare world."

Lily felt a little dizzy: "Nightmares? What do you mean? Were those outside just illusions?"

"Things similar to illusions, but walking in the real world, and gradually affecting the real world, constantly blurring the boundary between reality and dreams," the old bishop said, "The first wave of nightmare attacks occurred in the middle of the night, and it was the first night after we desperately repelled the chaotic monsters. Exhaustion made almost everyone fall asleep, and you can imagine how terrible the consequences were – most people were devoured by nightmares almost without resistance, and only less than one-tenth of the people who barely woke up on their own with their strong strength and those who did not fall asleep for various reasons. After we broke free from the dream, we found that many people around us were sleeping, and there was no way to wake them up by any means. Then, wandering shadows began to appear on the streets outside. Those shadows were the nightmares released by the sleeping people. They were similar to the main body, but had no reason. They could only wander blindly. Anyone who came into contact with them would suffer a mental shock and gradually turn into a new breeding ground for nightmares. More than 80% of the city was instantly controlled by these nightmares. We gathered all the survivors and hid in the cathedral – only here, the power of nightmares cannot be touched temporarily, and we can still fall asleep peacefully."

At this point, the old bishop took several deep breaths heavily. He was already weak, and he had barely completed a blessing ceremony just now. At this time, speaking too much in a row made him feel a little out of breath.

Kalayus had to continue to ask: "Are all the survivors in this church? Are there no other living people in the city?"

"I can't guarantee that everyone is here, but at least 90% of the survivors are gathered here," the old bishop nodded. "We send some people out every day to collect food and other resources in the city, and we will also look for other survivors. In the first few days, survivors would occasionally be brought back, but as time went by, there were fewer and fewer survivors – people cannot never sleep, and those who can survive until today probably no longer exist."

Hao Ren opened his mouth: "When we came all the way, we saw some pedestrians in a hurry who didn't look like nightmares, and there were still people responding in many residential buildings. Aren't those survivors?"

The old bishop seemed to have known that someone would ask this, and he immediately shook his head: "That's another nightmare... the nightmare of this city."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Luan is an ancient city with thousands of years of history. We have lived here for generations, buried here, life and death cycle, generation after generation. The old city is like a soul container, carrying the thoughts and memories passed down by millions of people for generations. They have settled down, and the ancient buildings and streets have spirituality. This city still remembers what it looked like in the days of light, and when the nightmare came, it also fell into these shadows, so the past memories were distorted into nightmares."

Hao Ren recalled what he had seen and heard along the way, those tightly closed residential houses, those pedestrians in a hurry and full of fear, those voices full of hostility and rejection, unwilling to communicate with people. They were so real, but he didn't expect them to be just a dream.

A dream that takes place in the real world.

The boundary between nightmares and reality is about to be erased. If this trend continues, I am afraid that before long, the entire Holy See in the real world will be replaced by nightmares.

Kalayus's face was gloomy: "The situation is so bad, doesn't the City of God's Grace have any movement?"

The old bishop glanced at him: "This is what I want to tell you – horrifying things happened in the City of God's Grace. As early as when the first wave of attacks arrived, the City of God's Grace abnormally unilaterally cut off the divine connection with all subordinate churches. At that time, Chaos had not yet poured into the barrier, but the holy crystals of Luan could no longer receive signals from the Holy Image Palace. Then we risked a lot to send a reconnaissance team to check the situation of the City of God's Grace, but found that it had disappeared out of thin air, leaving only a large area of ​​sulfur scorched earth and countless giant pits!"