The two Takin youths, now fully restored, finally recovered from their shock.
The terrifying Element Lord threatening their village had been neutralized!
Naturally, the two were beyond excited. This could mean the end of the struggle between those two massive Element Lords!
If that were the case, why would they ever need to leave the land where their ancestors had lived for generations?
Exchanging a quick look, both felt this matter was of grave importance and that they should return to the village immediately to inform the elders.
Maji took a step forward and made a respectful request. “Lord Lance! Since the crisis has been averted and half of our talismans have been used, why don’t we head back to the village to rest and resupply?”
“That’s right, that’s right! After all, we’ve already eliminated one Dream Eater’s Split Soul! We can go back now!” Zaen chimed in from the side.
Lance hummed in thought for a moment before turning his head toward Astrid.
Astrid blinked her eyes and said nothing, her hands still occupied with teasing the smug, snow-white bird.
‘Is she letting me decide?’
After considering it, although the Dream Eater’s Split Soul wasn’t incredibly strong, it had indeed consumed half of the team’s Purification Talismans.
It would be better to return and restock.
Lance nodded and agreed to the request of the two Takin youths.
The group exited the cave and began retracing their steps toward the village.
Because they had spent quite a bit of time on various delays, Lance and his party had been out for over a day, yet they had only covered a distance of about 30 or 40 miles.
Since they now had a clear objective for their return, everyone had plenty of energy.
Given their significant strength, it took less than half a day of rapid travel to reach the vicinity of the village.
‘Something happened.’
Just as the group was about to arrive, Falia’s warning voice suddenly rang out in Lance’s mind.
Lance, who had been chatting with Astrid, froze.
“What is it?” Astrid asked, sounding puzzled.
Lance didn’t know what was happening either. He quickly regained his composure and feigned normalcy. “It’s nothing. I just thought of something.”
At the same time, he asked anxiously in his mind, ‘Master, what happened?’
The Witch Falia looked concerned. In her amber eyes, she could see a faint purple mist swirling over the Takin Village.
She actually couldn’t see through this mist! She couldn’t even analyze it!
There was only one possibility for such a situation. This was a mist reinforced by a Law!
Furthermore, it was a Law she had not yet mastered.
But what other Law could be on this floor?
Taking a deep breath, Falia said, ‘Takin Village has been enveloped by a Law. It should be the Dream Law.’
‘The Dream Law? The Dream Eater?!’
‘Didn’t the Takin Elders say they could deal with the Dream Eater? And we even repaired their Holy Lantern!’
After a moment’s thought, Falia shook her head and made her judgment.
‘Either the information they held was incorrect, or the Dream Eater underwent some unknown change during the time it escaped its restrictions. But there is no point in agonizing over that now. Hold onto the elf next to you and prepare for Dream Entry.’
Upon hearing this, Lance instinctively looked at the tall Elf girl beside him.
This caused the Elf girl to panic inwardly, and she quickly turned her head away, thinking Lance had noticed her peeking at him.
Lance, however, didn’t notice the Elf’s strange behavior at all.
He asked urgently, ‘Dream Entry? Has that dream already expanded this far?’
The Witch nodded and gave a firm confirmation. Based on her observations, she said, ‘The dream is expanding with Takin Village as the center. Its speed is very fast. You won’t be able to outrun it…’
Before she could finish, the Witch’s spirit tensed because the encroaching dream suddenly accelerated, racing toward Lance’s group.
Without waiting for Lance to react, she directly utilized the terms of the Master-Disciple Contract to forcibly take control of Lance’s body.
A hand covered in steel armor suddenly reached out, grabbed the Elf’s shoulder, and pulled hard.
The unexpected move caused the defenseless Elf to lose her balance. She fell straight against Lance’s chest, letting out a soft “Ugh.”
Astrid’s emerald eyes widened instantly as she fell into a panic. “L-L-Lance… what are you doing?!”
In that moment of alarm, a faint purple glow suddenly swept over Maji and Zaen.
Their eyes rolled back as they lost consciousness. They stumbled forward a couple of steps before falling flat on the ground.
Seeing this, Falia didn’t care about anything else. She leaned down and prepared to press her forehead against the Elf’s.
Only by doing this could she ensure that the soul connection between Lance and the Elf was stable enough.
Seeing how panicked the Elf looked, Falia even provided some kindhearted comfort. “Don’t be nervous. Just relax…”
Astrid’s emerald eyes became clouded as she watched the face wearing the Knight’s helmet approach her.
Everything happened so fast that Astrid was naturally flustered. Her final thought before entering the dream was actually, ‘Doesn’t he need to take off his helmet?’
With two soft thuds, after the silver-armored Knight pressed his head against the Elf’s forehead, their vision went dark simultaneously.
They collapsed onto the grass outside the village.
…….
A short while ago, in Takin Village.
The Takin Elders had convened another meeting, primarily to discuss the application of the Holy Lantern.
The Fourth Elder looked agitated. He hadn’t expected anyone to oppose using the Holy Lantern to take the initiative against the Dream Eater.
To him, this was completely incomprehensible.
Standing across from him was another equally agitated Elder, who was explaining his views with “reason and evidence.”
“How many Dream Eater’s Soul Fragments are there? Are they that easy to eliminate? What if the Dream Eater isn’t destroyed and the Holy Power runs out? What then? Do you plan to hand the Holy Lantern over to that outsider to use?!”
“I’m telling you! The Holy Lantern is a Holy Relic of the village! It is not your private property!”
“Whether you even have the qualifications to wield this Holy Relic is another matter entirely!”
Hearing these words, the Fourth Elder’s brow twitched. He felt indignant, thinking that the Third Elder was being impossibly stupid.
Looking up at the Holy Lantern placed high on the altar, the Fourth Elder felt a mix of emotions.
For the past dozen or so years, he had been the one in charge of the broken Holy Lantern. No one had ever had an objection back then; they all treated it as a burdensome chore.
Now that the Holy Lantern had been repaired by the “outsider,” everyone was suddenly jumping out to say, “This is a clan relic! It’s not your private property! How can you misuse it?!”
Previously, the Holy Lantern was broken and expendable, but now it was whole and vital.
It was predictable that in the future, the status of the person wielding this Holy Relic would rise significantly.
The Fourth Elder understood perfectly well that they were fighting him for control of the Holy Lantern.
He was furious, but he couldn’t say anything to defend himself, or he would prove their point about him viewing it as private property.
While the two bulls were staring each other down in a standoff, the closed door of the Clan House gave an ear-piercing creak as it opened.
The Elders turned to look, only to find that the one who had pushed the door open was a Takin youth who had previously been injured during a Dream Entry.
The Third Elder immediately barked, “Who let you in! Get out of here right now!”
But the youth didn’t respond. He simply kept his head down and walked toward the people in the room.
The Grand Elder suddenly felt that something was wrong. He instinctively reached for the Soul Soothing Bell at his waist.
In that instant, the youth suddenly lunged, raising his head and pouncing toward the Elders.
Only then did the Elders see that the youth’s eyes were completely hollow, devoid of any spirit or intelligence…
“Not good! He’s being controlled by a Dream—”
A wave of faint purple light swept past. The Takin Elders who had stood up rolled their eyes and fell straight to the ground.
The Fourth Elder, who was lunging for the Holy Lantern, lost consciousness mid-air. His head slammed into the stone altar with a loud thud.
In less than a moment, all the Takin Elders had entered the dream.
A figure wrapped in an illusory mist slowly stepped out from the body of the controlled Takin youth.
The figure walked straight toward the Holy Lantern, an arrogant smirk appearing on its ethereal lips…