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Brand New Life Online: Rise Of The Goddess Of Harvest-Chapter 1541: Entering The Nightmare Cloud
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"That was amazing, Elisa!"
After learning Lily's real age, Rita was slightly surprised, even more because she looked so much younger now.
"Yeah, the Magic Circle, and the Physique development have greatly de-aged my body, I feel like I'm on my last twenties or early thirties…!" Lily nodded. "It's really nice, right? To have such abilities. You won't get older either, Rita."
"Oh yeah, I know, it's pretty amazing," Rita nodded. "I wish I could share some with my hubby, but I don't want to get him involved into all these dangerous things…"
"Hmm…" Lily nodded. "Oh well, we're almost there… Look around."
"Yep, lots of darkness everywhere," Rita nodded.
At the same time, Gabriel and Katherine looked into the skies, which darkened rapidly as they got inside the Nightmare Cloud.
"I-Is this entire thing just black clouds? I can't even see where I'm going…" Gabriel said, feeling confused to the point his little eyes were spinning around. "Uwah, my head is spinning…"
"Yeah, it's all black clouds," nodded Katherine. "We're finally inside one of them, a Nightmare Cloud. One of the most dangerous, unstable places in this Realm, and where we should never enter… But here we are."
"Yes, here we are everyone, we're inside the Nightmare Cloud… It's surprisingly quiet in here, mostly Nightmare Thunder, which we can easily tank with the vessel…" Morpheus said. "The Dream Fae and Nightmare Undead are also on standby to detect anything weird and unusual…"
"Good, then let's navigate to the closest route out of here and into the Forest of Fairy dreams or whatever it called," Elayne nodded.
"Alright!" Morpheus said.
The giant vessel began maneuvering, evading the incoming thunderbolts within the dark, turbulent clouds, slowly moving and then evading more attacks, giant masses of black cumulus, and more.
"This place seems rather peaceful…" Rita said.
"Yeah, but where did the Nightmareborns come from?" Lily asked.
"Ah, from what I've researched and learned, Nightmareborns are usually created on the spot, meaning that they were made as many as they needed… or something," Elayne said. "I am not so sure myself what's up…"
"M-Maybe the cloud is mostly harmless once the Nightmareborns inside are defeated?" Gabriel suggested. "T-That could be it, big sis!"
"I wouldn't be so sure myself, better stay alert as we move through," Morpheus said. "Moving through here is already quite troublesome, so let's be careful."
"Y-Yeah…" Elayne nodded.
The group slowly moved through the clouds, evading thunderous shockwaves and explosive thunderbolts as best as they could, but there didn't seem to be any living beings for quite a while.
The Nightmare Cloud was gigantic and labyrinthian in a way, and they had to take several turns everywhere because of several "Nightmare Holes" they found, which were literal holes carved into space where Nightmare Miasma constantly poured from, which was very dangerous, capable of eating away a person's mind and soul with just a few seconds of direct touch.
Aside from the Nightmare Holes, there were also Nightmare Thunder Tornadoes, which were quite literally, giant tornadoes made of black clouds and thunder, all made of Nightmare Essence, which upon contact would end up dealing a lot of damage to the vessel, so the moment they saw one, they quickly avoided it from a safe distance.
And lastly, there were strange Nightmare Soot, resembling little black dots floating everywhere, seemingly harmless, upon touching they could infect living beings and normal Dream Inhabitants into Nightmareborns, even though Nightmare Soot weren't living beings.
All of these were dangerous natural phenomena of this Realm, three of many more that they had yet to see. Elayne knew that Realms could be as vast as an entire planet, or sometimes even bigger due to not being restricted to things such as needing to have land, an atmosphere, and so on.
Unlike the Physical Plane that worked through the Laws of Physics, Realms didn't, and they could expand beyond proper measurements and comprehension, easily ignoring most laws of physics entirely.
"We've been here for like an hour! When are we getting through this?" Rita complained. "I am getting hungry already…"
"Come on Rita don't complain, you didn't have to come, you know?" Elayne sighed, crossing her arms. "You insisted, so please just behave."
"Eeeh? Ugh, fine…" Rita groaned, looking elsewhere into the vast black clouds. "Hm?"
Morpheus sighed, he had been putting a lot of time and effort into this, and if it wasn't for Elayne's Mana, he would have already fallen asleep due to exhaustion.
"We must be already getting there… Almost," said Morpheus. "This has sure been a perilous journey… But I couldn't have expected anything less anyway, it is indeed a very dangerous place."
"Well, if we're getting there then I believe we already went through the hardest part, right?" Mark wondered. "I hope things are smoother from now on, we still have the whole Realm of Avalon to navigate next."
"Yes, I hope the same," Elayne nodded. "Morpheus, are you tired? Here, have this."
Elayne took out something from her inventory, a crystallization of spiritual dream energy, which she called Dream Spirit Stones.
These couldn't be found naturally outside, and although they might be found in this vast Realm, they weren't here to gather resources.
"Ah, a Spirit Stone?"
He quickly touched the pink colored crystal, which turned into pure energy he absorbed, making him feel less tired and with a bit more energy, but perhaps not enough.
"I can make these on my own, but it takes some time…" Elayne said. "Hmm, oh! How about these instead?"
Elayne quickly grabbed one of the giant black orbs lying around, a core of the Nightmareborns.
"Can you consume these?"
"Ah, yes, it shouldn't be a problem."
Morpheus touched the sphere, as he began to absorb it, gaining a great deal of energy.
"Oooh! Much better! T-This is really quite refreshing! Could I consume more? I need a lot to Rank Up as well…!"
"Oh right, sure, eat away then!"
He began to quickly absorb black spheres constantly, his Aura growing larger and stronger over time.
"Ooh, this power, I can feel it growing!" Morpheus said. "With a few more I could perhaps even evol-"
RUMBLE!
However, a tremor interrumpted everyone, as giant black clouds began to swirl and gather around the entire vessel, as if alive.
And then, something emerged from within, a giant, black hand with a crimson eye within its palm.
BAAAM!
Crack, crack…!
With a single blow, the barrier began to shatter.
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