Eldritch Horror Theatre

Not expecting a Miracle didn't mean they couldn't create one themselves.

The meaning behind their unspoken "acceleration" earlier was actually quite simple.

On one hand, they were certain Esther wouldn't find anything and had no intention of waiting any longer. On the other, they weren't going to waste the opportunity by simply walking away.

Since they suspected the Fallen Stars were likely watching her, ready to react at the first sign of trouble, they might as well give them something to notice.

The specific method was exactly what the Witch had just done: letting their monitor, Glenn, spot an anomaly that Esther herself hadn't noticed—an anomaly perfectly shaped like a door.

Such a move would undoubtedly use their focal point, Esther, to rapidly stir up the situation in Inner Laerdin.

Even if it failed to trigger a special reaction and the arriving Fallen Stars showed no anomalies, they could still hold them back for a little chat to acquire information as efficiently as possible.

And thanks to this active push, an unexpected boon occurred—the Fallen Stars never even made it to the scene.

They had taken a wrong turn during their Descent, deviating straight into another Nightmare.

As for why the door had to be opened behind Esther?

Placing it in front of her wouldn't have changed anything. One could only say the Pope had shown the poor girl a little pity.

The goal was achieved without giving her an unnecessary fright.

...

They were falling.

Accompanied by a distortion that felt remarkably like a scene transition, a distinct sense of weightlessness washed over them.

This Nightmare might have hidden itself well before, but once it was exposed, the Witch clearly handled it with ease.

The two of them had barely taken a few steps after stepping out of the carriage, yet they had already successfully entered a new area of the Nightmare Aggregate.

However, their immediate impression was a bit peculiar.

The fall seemed endless, and their vision was filled with bizarre, shifting colors. It felt exactly like glitching out of bounds in a video game, as if the world might crash and kick them out at any moment.

He wondered if the Fallen Star who took a wrong turn had experienced something similar.

Amidst this bizarre experience, Fu Qian's thoughts were on that earlier victim.

Although that person had already helped them locate the hidden map, the best-case scenario would be chatting with them later to glean a bit more information.

"What a chaotic place."

Even as he pondered this, the feeling of solid ground beneath his feet materialized without any transition.

Gazing at the surroundings that seemed to have loaded in an instant, the Witch beside him offered a casual remark.

She truly lived up to the phrase "handled with ease." Not only had she successfully pinpointed the new Nightmare, but they had completely avoided the common accident of their party being separated.

As for her comment... Fu Qian surveyed their surroundings.

At first glance, her assessment seemed slightly off. After all, there were plenty of artificial traces around them, and even a ceiling overhead.

But the sight was indeed a bit unusual. Was this... a graveyard for tombstones?

Though the lighting was dim, the area where he and the Witch had materialized was quite spacious, and the floor was uniformly paved with stone bricks.

However, from beneath their feet all the way to the stairs in the corner, the space was blanketed with nearly identically shaped tombstones carved from the exact same stone.

There were no names on the tombstones. Instead, they were covered top to bottom in water-like ripple decorations.

If that were all, this place could simply be written off as an abandoned masonry factory.

But the eerie part was that the fallen tombstones all pointed in the exact same direction—toward the stairs. Even the way many of them were piled on top of each other looked faintly anthropomorphic.

Indeed, at a glance, it looked as if they were all struggling and surging toward the staircase.

Though they lacked the shape of humans, they captured the essence perfectly. They did not convey the peace of the dead, but rather a desperate thirst for life.

"Grasping the dreamscape here suffers from a very peculiar interference, and the pathways leading outside are highly abstract. However, I think I know why that Descent went wrong just now."

Clearly having noticed the scene as well, the Witch let her gaze fall upon the tombstones and continued her assessment.

"Let me guess—the distance crossed by the Descent was too vast?"

Despite his current lack of perception, Fu Qian remained unfazed and attempted to draw his own conclusion.

...

"Spot on. How did you figure that out?"

Not only was the Witch generous with material rewards, but she was also unstinting with her verbal praise for the Knight, quickly confirming his guess with a beaming smile.

As she followed the direction of the tombstones, she remained curious about Fu Qian's deductive process.

"I've heard of something similar before. Back in the previous world, someone told me that spatial traversal is extremely dangerous and highly likely to result in unpredictable consequences."

Fu Qian held nothing back.

"Although the specifics differ greatly, I figured it could still serve as a reference."

The "someone" he mentioned was, naturally, Chief Yuan of Shangjing.

The latter had solemnly warned him about this once when they were traveling together to the dazzling luxury and debauchery of the Sacred Night Capital.

Although he had been vague about the exact reasons, Fu Qian suspected it was largely tied to the underlying chaos of the Transcendent Tier.

And in that regard, the world the Witch was currently in would only be worse, not better.

Originally, due to the nature of dreams, the interior of Inner Laerdin might have been relatively stable, allowing the Fallen Stars to undergo Descent without any errors.

But against the backdrop of the great convergence of Nightmares, many things had changed.

As for why he specifically guessed that the vast distance of the Descent was to blame, the Witch had clearly reached the same conclusion.

The Nightmares had been merged for some time now. It was hard to believe the highly reactive Fallen Stars hadn't used this technique before, so why had a mishap occurred this time in particular?

Though they didn't know the exact details, the most obvious variable was the vast distance covered during this Descent.

The greater the distance crossed, the higher the risk. It was perfectly sound logic.

After all, he had pointed out from the very beginning that the West District Church was quite a distance from here.

In short, this "risk" was exactly how this Nightmare connected to Inner Laerdin. It was a Well that one would only fall into when a spatial jump went awry.

Spurred by their "acceleration," the Fallen Stars had reacted too hastily and ultimately became miserable victims.

Still, one had to look on the bright side. Regardless of the process, the goal had been achieved, and they had genuinely found another passageway into the Nightmare.

Although the victims themselves might not see it that way. They were clearly under immense pressure right now.

A moment later, upon reaching the next floor up, Fu Qian and the Witch stopped in their tracks, their eyes fixed on two figures not far away.

Living creatures, and they were actually moving.

The one in front was so absurdly burly that it was hard to even classify him as human.

With his thick arms pinned behind his back, he was hunched over, carrying a massive tombstone that was almost as tall as he was.

The figure behind him was much more petite by comparison. He immediately recognized her as Xia, the long-lost Fallen Star.

Unfortunately, she was lugging the exact same cargo. A tombstone nearly twice her height was pressing down mercilessly upon her back.

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