Man-made nightmare?
Annan saw something that interested him from the panel showcasing the Old Goose.
The only person Annan knew who could create nightmares was Benjamin.
Moreover, Benjamin’s starting goal was mastering the relevant knowledge of nightmare science. His initial wish was to save Evelyn from the infinite loop of nightmares. Therefore, he had been studying nightmares since becoming a wizard.
Benjamin undoubtedly had a solid foundation in nightmare science.
He was even proficient in the four schools of Soul Snatch, Alteration, Shaping, and Idol at the same time. For this reason, he dropped all other schools in exchange for specialization.
At the same time, the four magic schools he had mastered were the only four related to nightmare science.
Therefore, Annan was not surprised that Benjamin could artificially create nightmares.
But what made Ike Searing-Fang create nightmares?
He had no relevant skills and was not even a wizard.
“…Interesting.” Annan pondered for a long time.
He took Doreen to a nearby hotel, got a room, and ordered lunch in advance. Then, he proceeded to watch the nightmare in Delicious Wind Goose’s adventure.
In the players’ team composition, each team would have at least one player who was good at conquering nightmares. It would prevent the team from getting stuck when they encountered nightmares. After all, they could not call for backup then.
Natta County was crucial because it involved the high-value specialty — “Demon Blood”. To ensure the smooth establishment of the teleportation waypoint in Natta County, Delicious Wind Goose’s primary role was to tackle the nightmare since he was the foremost explorer of “Nightmare: Gallery”.
This was also why Delicious Wind Goose, the most potent combat force, could not stay watch for the night and must enter the nightmare.
If the goal was to clear the nightmare and sort out information, Delicious Wind Goose was even more valuable than a priest.
As the Silver Sire’s priest, Yokai Sensei’s skill in solving nightmares could only be regarded as above average. It could be said that it was close to the nightmare decryption level of an NPC. It was definitely not his turn to be the pioneer of the game. After researching at least one nightmare clearance route, it would be more beneficial to let him come in and use his life to test other routes.
At present, among all the players, the most efficient in clearing the nightmare were the two professional puzzle solvers, Suuankou and Longjing Tea. They were specially recruited in the second phase. Then, the ranking proceeded to Delicious Wind Goose.
Although Delicious Wind Goose’s size looked quite intimidating, he was a serious card game streamer. In terms of brains, he was much brighter than Wandering Child, Jiu Er, and Lin Yiyi.
Seeing that Delicious Wind Goose would engage in a co-op nightmare and turn on the in-game live broadcast after a long absence, the players from other places would enter Old Goose’s live stream channel whenever they were free. Most of them had activated the full immersion feature in their viewing experience. This immersion was a new content recently updated, allowing the spectator to observe nightmares from the first-person perspective with detailed senses.
“—I’m the first!”
“—I’m at the front row to the Old Goose’s live stream.”
“—You guys came here so fast. Don’t you even have to go to work?”
“—Obviously, those who can watch the live broadcast don’t have to go to work.”
“—I heard Old Goose turned on a live stream, and I just went online. The biggest advantage of this game is that I don’t have to miss anything because I have to sleep.”
After Delicious Wind Goose gradually woke up, he opened his eyes and found a lot of bullet text flying in front of him. The players were chatting happily, and the chats had even blocked his view on the mission list.
Immediately, he turned off the bullet text feature indifferently and calmly.
I’m just asking you to watch it. Why did you all come here to chat?
After closing off the bullet text panel, Delicious Wind Goose finally saw the nightmare prompts in front of him:
[This dungeon instance difficulty is hard.]
[This dungeon instance does not provide plot introductions and no decryption rewards.]
[Dungeon instance loading has been completed.]
No rewards for solving the mystery in this nightmare?
Delicious Wind Goose was slightly taken aback.
He looked around and quickly realized where he was.
He was in a narrow room, sitting on a heavy metal chair.
Judging from the roughness and dullness of the skin on his hands, “he” seemed to be a middle-aged man in his forties. At the same time, he was not a noble nor a wizard. Instead, he was likely a farmer or fisherman and not a transcender.
The environment around Delicious Wind Goose was dim. There was only one window hung high in the room. This place looked like a prison cell.
His hands and feet were chained to the chair, rendering him unable to move.
In front of him was a complex but medium-sized bronze machine. This machine was about the size of an induction cooker. There was a round tray in the middle, decorated with thick and long white candles full of scales.
On the side close to the Delicious Wind Goose, 13 long-handled buttons stick out.
The keys looked a bit like the white keys of a piano. The numbers “1” to “12” were written on one side, while a simple, circular rune was drawn on the other side. There was also a single button on the far left that said “Spell”.
With the assistance of the dim light, Delicious Wind Goose noticed a big [3] painted on the left side with blood-like red paint on the wall in front of him.
A piece of paper with the word “Lurker” was pinned on his right. The words were written in large fonts.
What is this?
It doesn’t look like an escape room game, and isn’t this a co-op nightmare? Where’s my teammate?
Is this the Werewolf game [3]?
When Delicious Wind Goose thought of this, a glimmering panel suddenly flashed in front of him:
[Main mission: Win the “game”.]
Immediately afterward, three additional conditions appeared below:
[At least one person in the team survives to the end.]
[The victory conditions of the whole team cannot conflict.]
[Don’t let the “Idol Wizard” win.]
Before Delicious Wind Goose could finish reading the prompts, a familiar voice came beside him.
It was the voice of “Ike Searing-Fang”!
“Everyone. It’s our game time again!”
His voice seemed to be coming out of a loudspeaker. It sounded in the room repeatedly, producing a slight echo.
“Your identities have been randomly assigned, so let’s cut to the chase. This time, there are ‘newcomers’ participating in the game. According to the old rules, I will explain the specific rules of ‘Ritual: Unification War’ to newcomers!”
Ike himself has participated?
Is that why he invited the four of us into the nightmare?
Delicious Wind Goose put on a solemn face, and he focused again.
Soon, under Ike’s explanation, Delicious Wind Goose understood the rules of this so-called “game”.
It was not complicated.
This was an elimination game involving twelve people participating ritual.
None of these twelve could cast a spell, and they were imprisoned in these twelve rooms.
But under the rules, eight of them could imitate the wizards of the eight schools and had one unique skill to “imitate the wizard’s spell-casting”.
The identities of the other four were Swordsman, Lurker, Hunter, and Priest. What made the game unfair was that only the wizard had the skill. The remaining four belong to the “villagers” faction.
The ritual would last four days and three nights.
As for the rest of the rules…