A Psychiatrist's Bizarre Game Journey / Dream of the Mist

Sward, however, reacted quickly, slapping the scabbard at his waist. The rapier flew out and instantly severed the bottom of the magic circle, where the thorns and vines were connected.

Fiore was both shocked and furious. His body jolted violently, shattering the thorns binding him. He glared and roared, "Are you plotting a rebellion?! How dare you!"

The messenger slowly emerged from the shadows, his eyes completely black, and a faint, ethereal black mist seemed to appear behind his head. He spoke in an eerie voice, as if two voices had overlapped, saying, "You're the one who rebelled! Fiore! Do you think you're the king?! The crown is still on my head!"

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611.Advent

Huh? This guy can actually descend from a distance? Zhou Ke'er instantly sensed the strong, eerie aura emanating from him.

Is it possible to do something like this through supernatural means? I'll try it next time...

Fiore, however, was not frightened by the sudden appearance of this man. On the contrary, he seemed to be used to it, and coldly regarded him, saying angrily, "If it weren't for the intricate relationship between your royal family and nobles, where one move could affect the whole situation, I would have killed you long ago. Do you really think I'm afraid of you? I'm only afraid of causing unrest and harming the people. But if you insist on withdrawing from the coalition, then even if it means causing chaos, I will personally kill you in the palace!"

Wow, this guy is really brave. No wonder he's a hero... Threatening someone with the threat of regicide right to their face is incredibly assertive.

Hearing this, Swold, standing to the side, showed no particular expression, remaining indifferent—after all, he knew that Zhou Ke'er was a regicide who had killed their country's king, and he hadn't done anything to her, so naturally he didn't think there was anything wrong with Fiore's actions.

Perhaps the way heroes think is very different from that of the ordinary kingdom's high-ranking officials.

But upon hearing Fiore's words, the divinely descended king suddenly scoffed and inexplicably began to speak of something completely unrelated: "Fiore, have you ever heard this legend—that the ancestors of our kingdom were descendants of those who fled from the Elf Forest, and together with humans, created this nation? In other words, our subjects all possess, to varying degrees, a trace of elven blood..."

Fiore frowned, wondering what the king was trying to do by suddenly saying such things, so he didn't interrupt.

The king paused, intending to wait for Fiore to respond with a question, but the man completely ignored him. After a while, he had no choice but to continue himself: "Moreover, you should know from the time you can remember that—in the very center of the palace grows a towering ancient tree of unknown age. That is the Tree of Life, capable of opening a passage to the Elf Forest! And those lowly commoners can serve as fuel for opening the passage. Isn't that making the best use of resources?"

Fiore finally understood what the king meant by bringing up those inexplicable things earlier. His eyes widened in disbelief, and he suddenly reached out and grabbed the other man's throat tightly, his voice growling as if squeezed out from between his teeth: "Are you insane! You want to use your own people as fuel?"

"I'm not crazy, I'm perfectly fine. You're the one who's too stubborn—as long as we can connect to the Elf Forest, we won't need to rely on any human alliance anymore. We will create the most powerful kingdom in the Central Continent!"

Being gripped by Fiore's throat did not stop him from speaking; on the contrary, it made him even more excited, and his face showed an increasingly crazed expression.

This week, Ke'er was unsure whether this guy was a monster that had changed its skin and taken over a human body, or just an ordinary person whose mind had been invaded by a monster.

So Zhou Ke'er couldn't help but say, "Then to the elves of the Elf Forest, aren't you just lowly people wandering outside? Maybe they also have something similar to your Tree of Life, just waiting to drag your whole country over there to be sacrificed as nutrients and seasonings. Anyway, you're just lowly people."

The king's maniacal laughter abruptly stopped.

Sward, standing to the side, remained expressionless, with an air of "just stating the facts, no exaggeration or bias," and silently nodded: "That's true."

Fiore's fair face had turned as black as coal. He slammed the man to the ground, then drew his rapier without hesitation and pressed it against the man's neck: "How arrogant, how foolish... It's a once-in-a-millennium disaster for the kingdom to have a leader like you! Rather than let the kingdom perish in your hands, I'd rather you perish in mine!"

But even under these circumstances, the man still laughed loudly: "Fiore, you're really confused. This body isn't mine. Even if you kill it, what harm can it do to me? I've already closed the teleportation array back to the kingdom. You pose no threat to me whatsoever! Even if you rush here to me without rest from now on, you won't make it in time—the sacrifice was already completed long before you arrived!"

Just then, Zhou Ke'er blinked, revealing a very innocent expression, and stepped forward without making a sound. She squatted down and snapped her fingers at the king: "That's not necessarily true. If we want to keep you here, we can still manage."

The king's arrogant voice faltered, and he stared blankly at Zhou Ke'er—this girl wasn't in his script! His script clearly only had him and Fiore as the two main characters, so why was this inexplicable supporting character suddenly appearing to add scenes for him?!

But the next second, he was horrified to discover that most of the evil spirits used for the divine invocation had lost control, as if they had been frozen in place, making it impossible for him to end the divine invocation!

In other words... his consciousness can't go back now!

"Impossible... How is this possible! Who are you?!"

The king stared in disbelief at Zhou Ke'er's smiling face, the unexpected turn of events sending a chill down his spine.

Fiore, confused, asked Zhou Ke'er, "What happened? Miss, what did you do to him?"

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes, looking completely matter-of-fact: "It's very simple. Didn't he just say... because this isn't his body, his consciousness can return at any time, so killing this body wouldn't make a difference? Then just leave his consciousness intact so he can't go back, right? Coincidentally, I know a little about this kind of situation."

As she spoke, Zhou Ke'er controlled the evil spirit to condense a strange black shadow behind her, turned her head, and stared straight at the guy with a kind smile on her face.

—It wasn't directly formed into a physical form using evil energy, so normal people can't see the evil energy behind Zhou Ke'er, but... that king can.

Zhou Ke'er used this method to intimidate the other party one-on-one.

Sure enough, the king must have some knowledge of the supernatural—of course, he could even use the supernatural, how could he not know about it? Upon seeing the phantom behind Zhou Ke'er, he couldn't help but show a look of fear: "How...how is this possible!"

Fiore squinted in disgust. The ugly appearance made him want to vomit. It was a misfortune for the entire kingdom that such a person could become the ruler of a country. He waved his hand and decided to ignore it: "Tie him up and lock him up."

After all, Zhou Ke'er only solidified the evil spirit, preventing it from returning automatically. However, if the physical body is killed, the evil spirit will still return, so she can only imprison it here for now.

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612. A crisis suddenly struck.

However, after saying this, Fiore realized that he had previously sent away the guards who were supposed to be stationed there, meaning that he no longer had any subordinates who could take orders from him.

The situation became somewhat awkward. Although Fiore only said it subconsciously and didn't mean it that way, it looked as if he was ordering Sward and the others around.

No one made a move for a moment.

Just then, the king suddenly burst into laughter. "Fiore, your insight is really not sharp enough—do you think I'm the one who orchestrated this plan? After staying in the capital for so long, haven't you realized that I'm just a puppet being manipulated on the stage?"

To actually call oneself a puppet, well, either one is very self-aware, or one has some kind of mental problem.

Fiore frowned upon hearing this. He had indeed paid no attention to matters within the palace, and even now that the king had said this, he couldn't immediately recall any clues. However, he quickly grasped the key point: "You mean... even if you are trapped here, that absurd plan will still proceed as planned?"

Without warning, Sward looked up at the sky, his gaze seemingly piercing through the tent, and muttered to himself, "The world is about to change."

At the same time, Zhou Ke'er felt a sudden palpitation for no reason, and the pupil of her right eye involuntarily developed a double pupil. Although she did not consciously adjust it, in an instant, Zhou Ke'er's vision turned into a gray-black color that could only distinguish the eerie.

He saw countless beams of black light, imbued with an intense and sinister aura, soar into the sky, traversing a certain arc in the air before converging above the dome, radiating a terrifying, pitch-black hue.

The sphere of light converging above the dome trembled violently, seemingly extremely unstable, as if it might explode at any moment. However, it was clear that the energy was still gathering, and at least it shouldn't explode during the gathering process... To be quite obvious, if those towering black pillars of light disappeared, it would mean that the sphere of light was indeed about to explode.

Just looking at that ball of light made Zhou Ke'er feel an overwhelming sense of unease—the word "danger" seemed to be dancing on her face.

If that massive amount of evil energy were to gather together and explode, scattering across the entire continent...

Why had Zhou Ke'er never heard of such a thing happening?

No, now is not the time to worry about that. We need to protect our valuable base before this sphere of light explodes.

However, most of the soldiers in the allied forces had to be abandoned—of course, only in Zhou Ke'er's plan—firstly, these heroes were all top-tier friendly forces, and it was best to save as many as possible, then there were Red Crane and Dio, Loyer and some high-ranking demons.

If there's still time, it would be best to try returning to the capital of Wright and reuniting with Long Aotian and the others—the evil there has been completely eradicated, making it the most suitable place to serve as a base. But if time is running out, all they can do is hope that Long Aotian can weather this disaster on his own.

These thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant. Without hesitation, Zhou Ke'er looked at Swold, not caring about avoiding Fiore and the others, and grabbed his hand anxiously, asking, "Hero, is there any way to quickly send a group of people back to the capital in a short time?"

Sward's expression remained indifferent, though he frowned slightly. "Yes. But that's a backup plan for us to retreat and preserve our strength should the allied forces be wiped out."

"Then it's done now!"

Without hesitation, Zhou Ke'er reached out and grabbed Honghe, who had been silently watching the show, completely ignoring Fiore's situation. She pushed open the curtain and pointed at the ball of light in the sky, "Look at that ball of light... it's on the verge of exploding. If it really explodes, the consequences will be unimaginable! We have to go back quickly!"

Sward walked out of the tent unhurriedly, glanced in the direction Zhou Ke'er was pointing, and then shook his head: "I didn't see any orbs of light. The sky is still the same as usual."

After a pause, Sward added, "However, I did have a strong intuition just now that a powerful danger was suddenly erupting from all over the world."

Zhou Ke'er looked at Swarth: "So what's your decision?"

Sward calmly replied, "A full retreat is impossible; this is not something I can decide alone. However, I still have a scroll that can activate a small teleportation array, which can accommodate up to five people to return to the capital."

"Five people..."

Zhou Ke'er quickly went through her thoughts, filtering out those she couldn't bring, thinking, "Five people... me, Red Crane, Dio... plus Loyer, the last spot can only be reserved for Sward..."

But Sward seemed to read Zhou Ke'er's mind and shook his head: "I can't go back. No matter what has happened, as long as our army hasn't retreated, I can't abandon them and leave here."

Zhou Ke'er gritted her teeth. It seemed the hero couldn't be taken away. She hoped they could survive on their own. If four could go, so be it. There was no time to waste. "Alright... Red Crane, you go with the hero to get the teleportation scroll. I have two more people to take with me. Let's split up and be quick!"

Honghe didn't say anything unnecessary, but simply nodded silently in agreement.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Ke'er quickly ran towards the location where Luo Ye'er's troops were stationed. Fortunately, it wasn't far, and Zhou Ke'er arrived there soon.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Zhou Ke'er glanced at the pillar of light and, seeing that it hadn't dissipated, breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Loyal did not enter the tent to rest, but stood on the outer perimeter of the army's tent, gazing into the distance. Dio and Oz happened to be with her.

So she immediately spotted Zhou Ke'er rushing over and was taken aback—what could have made Zhou Ke'er so flustered? Could it be...?

Thinking this, she quickly went to meet her.

Before she could say anything, Zhou Ke'er grabbed Luo Ye'er's wrist. "There's no time to explain. The situation is urgent... Come with me!"

As he spoke, he glanced at Dio behind him: "Dio, you come too! If you don't want to die!"

Dior had wanted to retort, but upon hearing the severity of the consequences, he immediately fell silent and quickly followed.

Seeing this, Oz was unwilling to let Loyer run away with Zhou Ke'er and immediately wanted to speak up to stop him, but Loyer replied without hesitation, "I believe you. Wherever you want to take me, I will follow you."

In less than a minute, Zhou Ke'er abducted Loyal and Dio, leaving behind an entire demon army, and returned to Swold's camp.

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613. Revisit the Royal Capital

A faint light flashed, and a small magic circle appeared somewhere in the royal palace of the Wright Kingdom.

After a dizzying moment, Zhou Ke'er and her companions appeared here.

The patrolling guards were surprised to see Zhou Ke'er and her group suddenly appear. They almost called for help, but fortunately, most of the guards in the palace had seen Zhou Ke'er's appearance a few days after the "usurpation of the throne." So, the guards were stunned for a moment before recognizing Zhou Ke'er.

So, under Zhou Ke'er's instructions, he hurriedly led Zhou Ke'er and the others to where Long Aotian was.

They hurriedly arrived at the foot of the tallest building in the entire palace, where they saw Long Aotian sitting at the highest point of the building, looking up at the sky. After hearing someone calling him, he transformed into a bat and flew down, reforming into human form in front of Zhou Ke'er and the others.

Seeing this, the guard wisely excused himself and left.

Honghe squinted and leaned closer to Zhou Ke'er, whispering, "How did you end up with this guy? What's this? Did you become friends after a fight? Did hatred turn into love?"

Her impression of Long Aotian was still based on the Ghost City event module, where Long Aotian tricked them and caused them to die in battle.

"Come on, you're saying love can turn from hate? If anyone's going to love someone, it's you, he doesn't even count."

Zhou Ke'er pursed her lips, then smiled and whispered back.

But in the end, with the four of them standing so close, whispering wouldn't really help; what was meant to be heard would still be heard—except for Long Aotian, who was still walking this way.

Loyer's crimson pupils were fixed on the flamingo, a raging storm brewing within her. Dio, standing to the side, dared not speak. Loyer, whose strength was clearly inferior to hers, was giving her an extremely dangerous feeling. Why couldn't Zhou Ke'er sense this and keep courting death?

"Why are you back so soon? I thought you were going to the Demon Realm to form an alliance, and I figured it would take at least ten days."

As Long Aotian walked towards them, he casually asked a question, but his eyes kept glancing worriedly at the sky.

"I'll tell you about these details later. In any case, go and gather the most powerful people in the capital... gather as many as you can. We'll meet at the royal council hall later."

Zhou Ke'er waved her hand and pointed to the sky: "You can see that huge ball of light in the sky, right? We don't have much time left. Let's save as many as we can. We can't waste any more time."

Long Aotian was taken aback upon hearing this, but then showed a relieved expression. He immediately nodded in agreement and turned to gather the others.

Zhou Ke'er then led Honghe and the others to the royal council hall, constantly observing the sphere of light in the sky along the way.

On the way, Loyer couldn't help but ask, "Memorid, who was that person just now? Could he be the leader of this kingdom?"

Zhou Ke'er blinked, shrugged, and said openly, "If you really want to put it that way, he should be considered one now—he was my accomplice in killing the king of this country a few days ago and plotting to usurp the throne."