In the vast dream world, the ambient light was distorted, a myriad of colors splattered in the air, drifting and swirling at will, making the place appear bizarre and ethereal.
In this dream world, the spiritual realm of intelligent beings,
Every empty space was filled with a cluster of bubbles.
In a certain area.
A gigantic white mist snake, obscuring the sky and the sun, coiled itself so vast that its boundaries were invisible.
The white mist snake's body emanated from the surrounding area, while the snake itself coiled itself, seemingly asleep.
At this moment, a small mirrored portal appeared next to the snake. Compared to its size, the mirrored portal was almost invisible.
Arka teleported through the portal.
Looking at the white mist snake before him.
He teleported right next to the head of the white mist serpent.
The massive head, resembling a meteorite falling from the sky, slowly turned and faced Alka.
"Alka?"
Hearing the unique communication method of this dream creature, Alka nodded.
Looking at the giant snake before him.
Lying here, it was repairing the limited-time spatial rift corresponding to this area through dreams.
Not every spliced rift was as massive as the World Scar, connecting to the Abyss.
The rift in the World Scar was the origin of the world's destruction.
The pain came from the various scars on the body.
The rift leading from the World Scar to the Abyss was the most dramatic, even crawling with rotting flesh and blood-sucking monsters.
The rest were smaller cracks.
The mist-like creatures and the kings in the dream were mostly repairing these cracks.
"You seem to have something to ask me?"
The White Mist Serpent's voice reached Alka's mind.
Alka nodded. His reason for coming here was, naturally, to find the White Mist Serpent.
"I have some questions I need your answers to," Alka said.
After hearing Alka's words, the White Mist Serpent simply stared at him.
Alka, who was relatively familiar with these mist-like creatures, spoke directly, "I wonder if the world has some control over the divinity within those gods?"
If they didn't have this control, then the gods who betrayed the world wouldn't be so eager to completely destroy it.
Because they feared the feeling that this divinity didn't belong to them.
Inquiring with the White Mist Serpent was the best solution.
Because he was the very first life at the creation of the world, even older than the natural gods.
It was these spiritual worlds that first gave rise to life, giving the world the idea of creating its own life.
"Indeed." The voice of the White Mist Serpent echoed in Arka's mind.
"But this control can be countered."
Hearing this explanation, Arka nodded. He still knew some of this, but simply wanted a definitive answer.
He could find out from the Great Library and his historical records.
The world witnessed the gods' rebellion.
She simply did nothing out of love for her child.
The information leaked from the past secrets was the final step in achieving complete control of these treasures. It was to destroy the world, completely losing its control over its divinity, and allowing it to completely belong to the natural gods.
But before that, the divinity within them still had a master.
Although they had somehow stolen these divine powers, making it difficult for the world to reclaim them unless it forcibly withdrew them, the world was unwilling to do so.
This was the ultimate frustration faced by the gods who protected the world at the time.
After all, whether they were the gods who protected the world or those who rebelled against it, they were all considered children of the world.
Alka speculated that forcibly reclaiming them would cause extremely serious harm, perhaps even the utter death of these natural gods.
The voice of the White Mist Serpent echoed in his mind once again.
"With the destruction of the world and its subsequent reassembly, our control over these divine powers is diminishing. At most, we can influence their function through control, but it's unlikely we can forcibly reclaim them."
Although the White Mist Serpent didn't know what Alka was up to, asking such a question was clearly no small matter, so he deliberately warned him.
He didn't want this peculiar compatriot to run into trouble like this.
Hearing this, Alka nodded.
But he had already gotten the answer he wanted. As long as this control could slightly influence these gods, it would be enough.
All he needed was a trigger.
Then, looking at the White Mist Serpent before him, he suddenly said, "If—I mean, if I wanted to borrow this control from the world, would she be willing to lend it to me?"
Hearing Alka's words, the White Mist Serpent looked at him strangely.
But he continued, "If you have the ability to steal this control, I believe she would definitely be willing to lend it to you. Especially in this situation."
Alka nodded in understanding.
Of course he had the ability to borrow it.
He was just worried that the world might be reluctant to give it to him when he borrowed it. That would be bad. After all, he couldn't really be considered a child of the world.
Adopted, perhaps.
Alka thought silently.
"But I must warn you: no matter how you borrow, you will inevitably face the vast ocean of pain consciousness of the World Mother."
The White Mist Serpent knew clearly how dangerous that vast ocean of pain consciousness was to those in the real world.
Faced with this situation, Alka was relatively understanding.
She couldn't help but ask, "How long do you think I can hold out in my current state?"
"You are a king of dreams, a divine being within dreams. Based on our example, you should be able to persevere completely, undefeated by this ocean of pain.
But at the same time, you are a living being in the real world, possessing a perfect connection between body, soul, and flesh. While it's unstable and somewhat broken, it's still connected.
Although your example was deliberately fabricated by us, it's still a unique case, simply a guide of fate. Without other scenarios to answer our questions, we don't know."
Alka nodded.
After standing there for a moment, he pondered, then said, "I'm beginning to touch the world's ocean of sorrow right here. When I'm about to drown and sink, can you rescue me?"
"No problem," the White Mist Serpent said without hesitation.
After all, for such incredibly powerful dream beings as theirs, the ocean of sorrow was nothing. They were already incredibly powerful beings of the spiritual world.
Their resistance to all forms of spiritual damage was nearly maxed out.
They could even traverse that ocean of pain, and initially even help share the world's suffering, until the pain accumulated.
After hearing the White Mist Serpent's answer, Alka finally felt relieved.
Finally, he slowly closed his eyes, channeling his consciousness deeper into the dream world and beginning to flow into that world's ocean of sorrow.
He'd simulated this before, and if he wanted to steal the world's control over divinity, he would have to touch his consciousness with this ocean of sorrow.
How long he could endure was the time limit for his ability to steal control, so he had to know his own limits.
This question was the main concern that had led him to the White Mist Serpent.
His consciousness slowly immersed itself in the world's ocean of sorrow.
The moment he entered, Alka's appearance changed slightly.
Illusory antlers appeared above his head, and several psychic images appeared on his body.
These were symbols of his dreamlike lifeform.
They effectively helped him resist the erosion of the world's ocean of sorrow.
As he immersed himself in it, sorrow and pain, like a vast sea of smoke, flooded his mind.
This time, he wouldn't be affected and overwhelmed as quickly as before.
Alka could sense it, but he wasn't directly affected by it either.
Outside, the White Mist Serpent watched this scene, quietly waiting.
Time slowly passed.
After only about ten minutes, Alka began to sink.
Then he was pulled out.
Then Alka opened his eyes.
"How could you fail so soon after entering? Could such a short time allow you to seize the world's power?" the White Mist Snake's questioning voice entered Alka's mind.
Hadn't he lasted ten minutes?
Suddenly, Alka thought: for these spiritual beings with near-eternal lifespans, what difference was there between ten minutes and a single moment?
He nodded helplessly.
"That's enough for me."
"Really? That's good. But your spiritual strength is too low."
"Aren't you expecting too much from the baby?"
The White Mist Snake fell silent.
Thinking carefully, it was indeed true.
It seemed like only yesterday that Alka had achieved the status of Dream King. To them, Alka was merely a newly born, powerful dream creature.
"You're right. It seems I'm too old."
...
In front of the new magic-proof wall.
The overwhelming demons continued their assault.
The humans atop the wall could only barely hold out. Each demonic attack left a massive corpse. Besides the demons, there were naturally quite a few humans as well.
It was precisely through this extreme numerical attrition that the humans were steadily defeated.
The chaotic situation created by the interplay of sun and moon in the sky was a perfect opportunity for the demons of the World's Scars.
"Has our plan been exposed?" a small, emaciated demon asked.
His body was like a layer of red skin clinging to a skeleton.
Furthermore, his stature was tall, making him resemble a bamboo pole, but his body was covered in numerous sharp barbs.
At his words, standing next to him was Devourer.
Both demons cast their gazes towards the city wall, the area Alka often defended.
"I don't think so. Perhaps he's just been busy with other things lately.
After all, beings like him can't always be at the forefront, right?"
Hearing Devourer's words, the barbed demon nodded and said nothing more.
The two were naturally referring to Alka, whom they hadn't seen in a long time.
Since the bait plan began to be prepared, they began to make some detailed adjustments and arrangements.
Such a task could only be entrusted to powerful demons whose minds were less chaotic and who could at least remain calm.
As the bait, Devourer naturally had to come up with a plan himself if he wanted to succeed.
However, for unknown reasons, just as their plan was beginning to unfold, Alka began to rarely appear on the city walls.
He would only appear occasionally, his presence irregular and the intervals between appearances were equally chaotic.
This situation led many demons to believe their plan had been exposed.
They were forced to make their plan even more secretive and thorough.
The Devouring Mouth, pondering something, turned away.
"Falor, when will you give me the Abyss Core?" Without it, the Devouring Mouth would certainly not have served as bait.
"Don't worry, my friend. It's not easy to get that thing out of the abyssal rift without being noticed or exposed. We have to slowly extract it, bit by bit.
It will take some time, so don't rush. Haven't we already signed the contract? It was you who wrote it. Are you still afraid of me doing something?"
Falor said with a slightly sarcastic smile, looking at the Devourer.
After all, the Devourer's actions made the demons look like demons.
Since the two were rivals, most demons naturally liked to use this situation to mock the Devourer.
"Hmph, then you'd better hurry. Our target might escape any moment."
"Why are you so anxious? Escape is just the right thing. His departure would be the same as our killing him. I just want him to get out of here. It would save us time."
Falor said.
After all, Alka's presence had helped ease the chaos.
If Alka left, wouldn't that be the same as if they'd killed him?
The Devouring Mouth said no more, for he wanted more.
He wanted to shatter Alka's soul, even the existence within his dreams.
He wanted Alka's utter death.
…
Elsewhere, at this moment,
Sofia had just emerged from the bathroom, cleaning off the grime and black blood left over from his battle with the demon.
Her hair still damp, she approached Alka in tight clothing.
"You seem to have something to ask me?" Sofia asked, holding Alka close.
Alka nodded as he embraced her.
"Indeed, don't you think that damned Moon Goddess in heaven is incredibly annoying?"
Sofia nodded. "She's certainly annoying, but we can't do anything about her, can we?
The Holy Mother and the others can't do anything about her either. She's merely fulfilling the duties of a moon, albeit with a slight shift in time."
That's what's so disgusting about her.
After all, she's a local, well-versed in the world. Her divinity was brought from this world, and she naturally has a close affinity with it.
"I've been thinking of a way to teach her a lesson, and now I've come up with a good idea. I've got some ideas in mind."
"What is it?" Sofia asked, somewhat surprised.
If there's a way to teach this damned Moon Goddess a lesson, she'd be more than happy to participate and contribute.
Alka briefly outlined her plan and explained it.
After hearing Alka's plan, Sofia frowned slightly.
Honestly, without much research on this subject, she had no idea if this plan would actually work.
So, she looked at Alka with a puzzled expression.
Alka nodded. "Don't worry. There's a decent chance of success, but it's certainly not 100%."
"How can I help?"
" "Sofia asked.
"It's simple. Can you contact the Moon Maiden? Although she isn't the moon of this world, she is a very powerful moon, isn't she?"
"And in the tens of thousands of years without a moon, she has periodically shone her light upon this world, giving her a certain connection to it.
Even if she doesn't necessarily want to, it at least gives her the ability to influence the Moon Goddess to a certain extent, right?"
Sofia nodded.
The Moon Maiden, who allows her to use the power of moonlight here without being affected by the Moon Goddess, does have the ability to influence her here.
But the problem is that she has her own responsibilities and isn't a deity of this world. So even if she could influence the Moon Goddess, she couldn't permanently help the Boundless Sea.
But if you could help her just once or for a while, she would certainly be happy to do so, and she does have the ability.
"Can you contact her and ask her to provide some assistance?" By the way, when would attacking the Moon Goddess be most likely to impact her?
This time, the goddess must pay a price. Ideally, she must no longer be able to let her moonlight shine upon this world.
Alka also planned to ask the Moon Maiden which of her divine powers was most likely to hold the key to influencing the world.
Because Alka believed that the Moon Goddess certainly possessed more than just six.
That was only the minimum required for ascension to godhood.
For these powerful, innate gods who had survived for who knows how many millennia, their divine powers far exceeded that number.
The best approach would be to allow Alka to steal a fatal divine power in an instant, completely impacting her.