Chapter 1 The Disappearance

The old bishop's words exceeded everyone's wildest imagination, so much so that no one spoke for a full half minute after he finished speaking. Finally, Hao Ren was the first to break the silence: "You mean, the entire Holy City of Arsun has disappeared?"

"Ninety percent of the city has disappeared. Only the ring-shaped area closest to Mount Asu'man—the Divine Intent—retains a small portion, including the Sacred Statue Palace and several ancillary palaces. Due to the obstruction of chaotic forces, our reconnaissance team was unable to approach for a close-range investigation, but even from external observation, it can be determined that the holy light of the Sacred Statue Palace has been extinguished, and the entire building shows no signs of life."

Kara-shus couldn't help but gasp. "Goddess!"

The high-ranking bishop's hands involuntarily clenched and then convulsively released, obviously overwhelmed by the shocking news to the point of feeling lost.

In this situation, only Hao Ren, who maintained a third-party perspective, could ask as usual: "Have you sent anyone out to explore afterward? Are there any remaining city areas around the Holy City of Arsun? Are there any survivors in the wilderness outside? Perhaps these can tell us what happened."

The old bishop shook his head weakly. "We naturally thought of what you said, but the repeated attacks by the Nightmare forces have exhausted the surviving clerics in Luan City. It is already a miracle that we are holding onto this cathedral. How can we have the strength to send out a second team? In fact, the first team suffered heavy casualties. At that time, we organized the reconnaissance team with the idea of ​​breaking through to seek help from the Holy City, but now that the entire Holy City of Arsun has disappeared without a trace, it is impossible to have a new reconnaissance team set off."

Hao Ren glanced at Kara-shus beside him. The latter was still in shock and grief, but the high-ranking bishop still calmed down with his extraordinary willpower. He took a long breath: "We must go to Mount Asu'man immediately... Mr. Hao Ren, do you have a plan?"

Even now, Kara-shus had not forgotten the edict he heard from the Pope when he set off. He firmly believed that Hao Ren, this "miracle" from the Kasu'an Holy Temple, was the hope of saving Mount Asu'man. Even if the situation deteriorated further, he still firmly believed so—because this had almost become the only reason supporting him to continue. With the Holy City of Arsun's bizarre disappearance, he desperately needed a pillar of faith to support his actions.

However, Hao Ren did not answer immediately. He just thought carefully for a moment and suddenly asked: "Bishop Holzman, the Holy City of Arsun cut off contact with the outside world before the chaos completely enveloped the land, right?"

He heard a suspicious detail from the old bishop's description just now, so he couldn't help but ask.

The old bishop nodded.

"At that time, the Holy City of Arsun had not 'disappeared'?"

The old bishop continued to nod: "That should be the case. At that time, the light from the Holy City could still be observed, and the existence of the Holy City could also be confirmed through divine divination, but all communication channels were cut off."

"In other words, at least before the first Nightmare began, the Holy City of Arsun was safe and sound, but it was completely sealed off at that time. Afterward, it disappeared bizarrely, and no one knows what happened in the process."

Kara-shus looked at Hao Ren in confusion: "What are you thinking of?"

Hao Ren said lightly: "I suspect that someone took the initiative to cut off the connection between the Holy City of Arsun and the outside world. This person can only be the ruler of the city."

"His Holiness the Pope? That's impossible," Kara-shus said immediately, "Why would he do that?"

"There are many reasons. Perhaps he was controlled, perhaps to protect the Holy City, or perhaps to protect other cities. Maybe he wanted to prevent some kind of evil force from spreading through the divine connections between the cities?" Hao Ren raised his eyelids. "I didn't say anything else."

Saying that, he looked at An, who was standing in the corner, silent: "An, do you have anything to say?"

This woman had said before that she had an important mission and had to go to the Holy Domain, but now that she had really arrived in the Holy Domain, she was as silent as a puppet, as if this place had nothing to do with her. Hao Ren was curious and wanted to hear her opinion.

An seemed to be in a daze until Hao Ren called her again and she suddenly woke up. Her hood moved, and a hoarse voice came from it: "Before going to Mount Asu'man, I want to see what those who have fallen into the Nightmare are like."

Hao Ren and Kara-shus's gazes fell on Bishop Holzman. The old man nodded readily: "Of course."

Although the surviving clerics of Luan City are currently trapped in the cathedral, they have never given up on finding a way out of their predicament. Therefore, research on the Nightmare phenomenon has been ongoing. They found people in the city who had fallen into the Nightmare and brought them to an ancillary building behind the cathedral, trying to find a way to heal the Nightmare and reverse the erosion, but so far they have made no progress.

Hao Ren and his party saw the sleeping citizens of Luan, a total of more than a dozen people, neatly lying on both sides of a long room. Several low-level assistant clerics were taking care of these "living corpses." The scene in the entire room was as eerie as a morgue.

This building was originally the infirmary attached to the cathedral.

People who have been eroded by the Chaos Nightmare look no different from ordinary people. They are just lying quietly, breathing extremely slowly, but their vital signs such as heartbeat are normal, as if they have simply fallen into a dream. Some tubes of unknown purpose extended from their bedding and connected to metal devices next to the beds. The devices floated with milky white halos and runes. These seemed to be medical equipment used by the church, based on divine power.

Because the old bishop had to stay in the underground palace to preside over the overall situation, Father Bernstein, who had received everyone before, once again served as the guide and explainer. He explained the situation of the sleeping citizens: "People who have fallen into the Nightmare are like this, they look no different from ordinary living people, but their souls are wandering in the gap between reality and illusion. Their bodies are lying here, and the shadows born from their spiritual world are wandering in the city outside. It is very similar to astral projection, but ordinary soul summoning magic or tranquilizing techniques cannot produce any effect."

An slowly walked among these "living corpses", occasionally carefully checking the condition of one or two of them, without saying a word.

Hao Ren couldn't help but ask her: "Did you find anything?"

"Their souls have fallen into 'the other side'," An said in a low voice, "The ones wandering in the city outside are not their souls, but just phantoms refracted again from 'the other side'. They are more illusory than souls and weaker than dreams. However, those illusory shadows have a huge threat, because they carry the aura of 'the other side'. This is the prelude to the imprisoned one breaking free from the shackles and passing through the barrier. The more those shadows move in the real world, the weaker the barrier becomes, and the more aura leaks out. This will greatly accelerate the collapse of the prison."

Hao Ren didn't expect that An could say so much when she opened her mouth. He was immediately confused by the other party's mysterious and vague words. He stared and said, "Can you translate it into common language? What is 'the other side'?"

An's hood lifted slightly: "The other part of Coro that has been folded up, the cage of eternal exile, the Forgotten Abyss that imprisons Lockmarton."

Father Bernstein, standing behind Hao Ren, gasped.

"You're saying that these people who have fallen into the Nightmare are actually sucked into Lockmarton's prison?!" Hao Ren stared at An, "And then their actions in prison are projected into the real world, turning into the shadows wandering in the city?"

"That's right."

Lili couldn't help but poke An's cloak: "Hey, how do you know so much?"

"When we get to Mount Asu'man, I will confess everything, but now is not the time."

Lili rolled her eyes: "Tch, say it or not."

Hao Ren looked at the sleeping citizens and gently touched Lili's arm: "I wonder if this kind of sleep phenomenon has anything to do with the Nightmare monster you caught."

"Why don't we bring it over and ask?" Lili's ears twitched. "It was able to communicate normally last time. But most of the time it can only speak on its own initiative. It seems like it doesn't respond much to outside inquiries."

Father Bernstein keenly heard the word "monster" and immediately asked: "Nightmare monster? Have you caught the culprit that caused the Nightmare?"

"We caught it on the Continent of Ansu. The attack encountered on the border of the Kingdom of Taros was related to that kind of monster," Hao Ren explained simply, "When we came here, we weren't sure about the situation in the city, so we arranged for someone to imprison the monster in the small woods outside the city. We can bring it over at any time."

The priest became nervous as soon as he heard it: "Outside the city? Guarded by people? Will there be any accidents?"

Now that the dark magic of the Holy Domain is rampant, although the chaotic forces have been temporarily forced outside the barrier, the claws of chaos have penetrated everywhere. Even the city is not safe, let alone the wilderness outside the city, far away from the protection of the various temples. Therefore, the priest was greatly surprised.

Hao Ren smiled slightly: "There won't be any problems. They all have artifacts with them."

Are they artifacts? A pinch of dog hair for each person.

But it may be that Hao Ren's luck was bad today. As soon as he finished speaking, his communicator suddenly lit up.

After connecting the communication, a panicked scream rang out: "Aow, aowu, aowuwuwu..."

Hao Ren was wondering when Lili snatched the communicator: "Send someone who can speak human language!"

There was a commotion on the other side of the communicator, and then a church knight spoke hastily: "Head Wolf, that monster is having problems!"

Hao Ren really wanted to slap himself in the face: This is such a slap in the face! He just said there wouldn't be any problems.

"What's wrong?"

"It's... evaporating!"