The "King of the Black Seat," Barros Hopkins, had noticed the elven settlement beneath the Adela Sea north of Port Belen more than ten years ago.
But at first, he hadn't paid it much attention. It wasn't until five years ago, when he happened to invade the mind of an outgoing purchaser named "Taro," that he discovered a Mind Dragon hidden within the sea of collective subconscious of that concealed space.
After that, under the identity of the "hermit" Eric Derek, he resided long-term on a nearby island. Finally, on July 7 of last year, he figured out the general condition of that ancient dragon and learned that Its state was extremely poor, with a possibility of being captured.
But facing an angel, the "King of the Black Seat" naturally did not dare to be careless. Over the past year, he had actively completed many tasks for the "Twilight Hermit Order" and finally accumulated enough contributions to request from the "Lord" an item capable of "restraining" a dragon at the angel level.
Although that item could only be used once, if successful, it could "enslave" the poorly conditioned ancient dragon!
Thus, today he had gathered the strongest batch of forces under his command to "launch a surprise attack" on the elven settlement and had hidden his true body within the captain's mind.
The reason he arranged things this way was that he planned to capture all the elves who revered dragons and transport them out of that concealed space.
After all, the collective subconscious depended on intelligent life, not on a fixed location.
That concealed space, as the elves' residence, might have special properties that could interfere with his capture of the dragon. It would be better to operate in a location he had prepared.
Additionally, these cannon fodder could also test the elves' hidden trump cards—killing multiple birds with one stone.
However, after arriving at the Adela Sea, the "King of the Black Seat," Barros, began to feel uneasy. Although his spirituality gave no warning, he had a vague sense that something unexpected would occur.
Just as he was hesitating about whether to retreat first, he suddenly discovered that the "Mad Adventurer" Gehrman Sparrow had quietly infiltrated the ship and begun assassinating the pirates.
Seeing this, Barros let out a breath of relief, believing that the adventurer was the cause of his unease.
And a mere "Miracle Invoker" was clearly not enough to frighten him… Thus, Barros decided to make a move to scare that adventurer away.
But because of that slight delay, his "fate" slid into the "abyss"… for Ebner's arrangements had already been completed. Four longswords, shining with spell runes and mysterious symbols, suddenly appeared within the sea of subconscious and severed Barros's connection with reality.
Barros had originally been secretly invading Gehrman Sparrow's mind body from the depths of the collective subconscious sea, along the bottom of the mental island. But before he could free himself from the boundless gray-white mist, he sensed extreme danger.
Without hesitation, he directly transformed into a gray-white giant dragon, intending to rely on his "mythical creature form" to escape the crisis.
Only then did he finally see the source of the "danger": four longswords! Four longswords held by beautiful maidens, filled with an aura of destruction!
The four longswords were arranged in a square, surrounding him in the center, and the encirclement was gradually shrinking.
Barros quickly realized that even as a "mythical creature," he still could not ignore the might of those four swords…
He had a feeling that even a true dragon would be severely injured under the strangulation of those four swords.
"Witches… Why would the Witch Sect send four high-ranking witches to kill me? And what are those four swords?
"Damn it, the area within those four swords has already formed its own space. There's no way to escape…
"And if I attack one point, I'll be assaulted by all four swords at once!
"Unless there are four Saints each entangling one sword-wielding witch, only an Archangel could possibly break this ritual magic!"
As his thoughts raced, the eyes of the "King of the Black Seat," Barros, suddenly lit up with clear, illusory radiance.
That radiance condensed before him into pairs upon pairs of holy, dreamlike wings. Beneath the layered wings was a pure figure of light kneeling on one knee in devout prayer.
This was an angel.
At the same time, to his left appeared an ordinary-looking elderly man with completely white hair, and to his right stood a priest wearing a simple white robe, his pale golden beard covering his face.
The ancient angel Hermes! The "Visionary Angel" Adam!
Including himself, that made four in total.
This was the Beyonder ability of a "Dreamweaver," weaving nearly real figures. Once the enemy believed they were real, they would become real. The damage they inflicted might not manifest physically, but it would cause the target to unknowingly die.
The "King of the Black Seat" had already caused countless targets to "die of fright" within nightmares.
Unfortunately, among the four witches wielding the swords, the "Black Saintess" was a historical projection, the "Yellow Saintess" was a marionette, and the controllers of the other two were one "Spirit Angel" Torznina, who was hardly inferior to Adam, and the other the "Succubus Progenitor" Monica, who had lived through several epochs. All of them were long-lived, experienced "old monsters." How could they be deceived by Barros's little trick?
Thus, under the strangulation of sword qi, those "illusions" were easily shattered.
Seeing this, the eyelids of the "King of the Black Seat," Barros Hopkins, twitched slightly, and his brows furrowed deeply, because he realized that the four swords seemed capable of tracing connections and remotely pursuing avatars.
This meant that if he were killed here, the "virtual personality avatars" he had left elsewhere would likely die simultaneously!
But at that moment, he suddenly noticed that when the witch in the black evening dress tightened the encirclement with her sword, she deliberately avoided the gray mist surrounding Gehrman Sparrow's mental island…
"She's afraid of accidentally injuring Gehrman?
"No, they're afraid of that gray mist!"
As a "Dreamweaver," Barros swiftly made his judgment and immediately exploited this only flaw, diving his entire "dragon" body into the gray mist.
And just as he had predicted, the witch in the black evening dress paused for a moment.
It was precisely this pause that created a flaw in the previously flawless "sword circle," revealing a "passage" leading to another dream.
Barros immediately used his "Dream Traversal" ability, drilling through that narrow "passage."
The next moment, he appeared within a palace that seemed to be composed of coral.
Every detail of the palace was extraordinarily magnificent, and the overall structure was tall and grand. However, as it was located beneath layers upon layers of azure seawater, the sky was invisible, making it appear dim and somber.
Inside, massive coral pillars supported an exaggerated dome. The walls and ceiling were covered with murals depicting the terror of storms.
Across those murals and corals, streaks of silver-white lightning roamed like living beings, following certain trajectories before finally gathering at a nine-tiered staircase inlaid with pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires.
Atop the nine-tiered staircase stood two enormous thrones seemingly composed of pure lightning. One occupied the very center, like the sovereign of this palace and this world; the other stood to its left, less conspicuous.
On the central throne sat a tall man. He was large in stature, handsome in appearance, and possessed a natural aura of authority even without anger. Aside from slightly pointed ears, he bore few elven characteristics.
Seated beside him was a beautiful woman with glossy black hair styled into a high bun. Her ears were slightly pointed, her features exquisite, and she had deep brown eyes like the sea. In her hand, she idly toyed with a gold goblet adorned with intricate patterns.
Faced with this myth-like scene, Barros's expression became dull, and he murmured, "Where is this?"
Before his words fell, the man on the throne looked at him and solemnly declared, "Intruder, kill!"
...
Within "Howling Town," after forcing Barros into the ancient dragon's dream and secretly following behind him, Ebner nodded slightly and pondered:
"As expected, that ancient dragon's dream has defensive measures…
"But why does the image of this defense… look like 'me'?
"Shouldn't the one seated there be the 'Elf King'?"
(End of Chapter)