Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 41 A Dream Woven with Evil Magic
Heaven and Hell, in this Western fantasy world, belong to a realm that is both ethereal and real.

While it's not true that magic doesn't exist, both divine and evil magic do exist. Experienced believers can indeed use specific rituals to send prayers to the Holy Spirit or the devil and receive corresponding extraordinary responses.

But if we're talking about their existence, we've never actually seen the Holy Spirit or the devil appear.

Of course, if we set aside those metaphysical concepts, the empire as a whole used the Church of the Holy Spirit as a tool, visiting it when needed and discarding it when not.

For heretics who worship the devil, it's all about KPIs. Every time the higher-ups are assessing them, they arrest and kill a bunch of them, turning cold, hard human lives into warm, impressive political figures.

Therefore, Rennes is now facing a slightly troublesome problem.

He knew the military judge was under a heretic's spell, but he couldn't reveal the truth.

Because only those who understand sorcery can distinguish what it is.

Conversely, if you are certain it is sorcery, then you must have studied similar fields, and the Empire's definition of heretics is so broad, depending entirely on actual political achievements... In short, you can't leave any evidence against them.

“It must be a dream curse,” Raine said, standing up.

“The mages before you all said the same thing,” the legion commander said hoarsely. “But identification is one thing, dispelling it is another.”

Bersalia and Ellina also recognized traces of hellish sorcery from the symptoms exhibited by the military judge.

“I can handle this,” Renn asked bluntly, “but the strength of the curse is directly proportional to the number of people it infects, so I need to know exactly how many people inside and outside your legion’s castle have fallen into this abnormal state?”

The legion commander and the tribunal remained silent.

"Can't you tell me?" Renn turned to leave. "Then I can't help you. Goodbye."

"Wait a moment." The legion commander quickly reached out to stop him. "I can tell you, but if you do, you cannot leave here until the curse is lifted."

"You don't want the news to get out, right?" Renn sneered contemptuously. "Fine, go ahead and say it."

"Those here, and those who went out to deliver the message, total about fifty people." The legion commander paused for a moment, "are the only ones who can still stay conscious."

“There were originally even more,” the tribune interjected, “but we discovered that as soon as they succumbed to sleep, they would not wake up and would fall into a prolonged coma, just like the others.”

"So you guys managed to stay awake for two days and one night?" Bersalia asked with a smug look on her face.

Everyone stared at her with bloodshot eyes.

“If the legion is estimated at 20,000, there are probably…” Renn began to calculate.

“More than six thousand people,” the tribal officer reminded them.

“Twenty-six thousand people, that falls into the category of a large-scale curse,” Renn said calmly. “Generally speaking, a large-scale curse requires finding and destroying the corresponding ritual site in order to completely stop the curse itself.”

“However,” the legion’s tribunal said, “we have never found any suspicious locations resembling the site of such a ceremony.”

“Because these locations are often quite hidden,” Ryan said. “It would require a lot of manpower and time to conduct a thorough search, which you obviously don’t have the capability for.”

“Another way is to send me into their dreams and break the curse from within.”

Before he finished speaking, everyone present immediately stood in awe.

Because "sending me into a dream" is tantamount to "letting me experience this curse as well," and the risks involved are self-evident.

"Lord Renn!" Knight leader Maxie cried out hastily, "You can't..."

“It’s alright.” Renn indicated that he didn’t need to persuade him anymore. “The risk is manageable.”

"Absolutely not!" Mather placed his hand on his weapon, seemingly intending to stage a military coup.

The Nightmare Legion soldiers exchanged glances for a moment, then suddenly drew their longswords, attempting to force the family knights out of the castle hall.

Swords were pointed at each other, and battle and bloodshed were imminent. However, Rein, positioned at the center of the conflict, ignored the tense standoff and simply gave instructions to Elrina and Bersalia:
"Protect me while I enter my dream world, and do not let anyone threaten my safety."

This statement is not only an instruction, but also an order that the caged birds cannot disobey.

Then, Raine lay down on the cold stone bricks, closed his eyes, and gently touched his forehead with his index finger.

The Curse of Coma.

His arms went limp instantly, and his head tilted to the side and remained motionless.

Dreams are a collection of emotions and consciousness.

Mages who study soul magic have long pointed out that dreams have two layers: shallow and deep. The shallow layer is constructed from fragments of the dreamer's own consciousness, while the deep layer is the endless ocean of the collective unconscious.
This is not a baseless hypothesis, but is supported by actual evidence: many people dream of bizarre and fantastical scenes, many of which are things they have never seen before.

Imagine a deep well. If a river several kilometers away floods, the water level in the well will also rise, indicating that the underground water veins deep at the bottom of the well are actually connected to the distant river.

Renn walks in a dream.

As a necromancer capable of dragging souls from the River Styx, his expertise in the realm of souls far surpasses that of ordinary mages.

Even without physical support, he can easily cast spells using only his mental consciousness.

Calmness technique.

Wisdom and inspiration.

Dream travel technique.

With countless magical buffs cast upon him, his consciousness became as colorful as rainbow beans, radiating an extremely intimidating aura.

Like brightly colored mushrooms, they look incredibly poisonous.

Monsters that can operate in the ocean of the subconscious, such as dream demons and nightmares, will know that a powerful archmage has entered when they see this colorful figure passing by. They will subconsciously keep their distance to avoid being captured, refined, and forcibly enslaved.

Raine found a vast dream constructed of sorcery, which resembled an island in the ocean, its outlines visible from afar.

Enter the dream world.

The dream was pure black and white, without any color, only dark gray and light gray to distinguish the color blocks, but Renn recognized it at a glance as High Rock City, ruled by the Malorne family.

Gaoyan City, as its name suggests, is a "towering stone city." It was built on a natural stone mountain on the south bank of the Changshui River. The mountain itself is perpendicular to the river surface, and city walls, arrow towers, and watchtowers were built on it. Its overall height was almost enough to make the attacking side completely despair.

During the founding of the Second Human Empire, the Eighth "Nightmare" Legion made its name by crossing the Changshui River at night and marching more than seventy miles before dawn, bypassing the entire naval defense line of the River Bend Province, and forcibly capturing Gaoyan City from the southeast. Afterwards, the emperor bestowed upon them the Nightmare Legion banner and honorary titles.

The grand dreamscape here today is a replica of the Battle of High Rock.

Raine watched expressionlessly as the Nightmare Legion felled trees on the spot, built battering rams and siege towers, and then pushed them to storm the High Rock Gate from the east.

Unfortunately, the path from the legion's position to the city gate was a long uphill slope with a vertical drop of nearly six meters...

Whether it was the siege towers or the battering rams, they were quickly smashed to pieces by the falling logs and rocks.

To the southeast of Highrock City, hidden deep within the mountains and forests, lies the mountain legion of the Riverbe people. They use the forest to conceal their presence, like venomous snakes lurking among the leaves, ready to launch a deadly sneak attack on the engineering positions at any moment when the Nightmare Legion lowers its guard.

The Nightshade Legion suffered heavy casualties.

The body lay in the night and soon disappeared.

A moment later, reinforcements from the rear arrived, and it seemed that the soldiers who had died in battle had returned to the battlefield as new recruits.

Raine cast a spell called Spirit Vision on himself and began to observe the flow of magic within the dream.

The anger, fear, and despair in the hearts of the Nightshade Legion soldiers who died in battle are collected by the invisible circuits in the dream and flow to High Rock City in the dream.

Emotions are magic.

If your emotions are drained too much, your soul will begin to weaken. Dying too many times isn't really a big deal, but if your emotions fluctuate too much, your soul will be completely captured by the evil magic here.

After pondering for a moment, Raine suddenly stepped out of the woods and appeared before the Nightmare Legion.

The latter, as if facing a formidable enemy, aimed their swords, shields, and bows at him.

"Soldiers of the Nightshade Legion! Cease fire!" Raine cast a loud voice spell on himself. "You won't be able to take High Rock City like this!"

The soldiers exchanged bewildered glances. After a moment, one of them stepped forward and asked:

"What is your purpose, mage?"

Upon closer inspection, Ryan realized, coincidentally, that it was the military judge who had been unconscious outside.

(End of this chapter)