Chapter 183 - The Technology of the Eternal Sleepers (1/2)

Walking up the stairs of the basement and leaving the north tower, Gawain and Amber finally saw the changes that happened to this castle.

Just as Gawain speculated, the entire castle had been enveloped in a long-term illusion, and its appearance was created by Lilith Kant’s dream realm. But at the same time, it wasn’t purely a dream as the boundary of reality and illusion was particularly vague in this place. They were mutually overlapping and influencing one another. Things that happened in reality could interfere with the dream realm, while things in the dream could also reflect in reality.

After the dream realm faded completely, they were able to see the ancient castle’s dilapidated and corroded appearance.

The area with the worst corrosion of the dream realm was the towering north tower as half of the tower was already missing. It was severed in the middle, and the top half had already collapsed many years ago. The remaining giant stone structures were like ruptured bones that were all jagged and pointing at the sky. The morning glimmer made it look very sinister, and around the vacant tower, there were places with broken tiles and bricks that were buried in soil and in vines. On the opposite side of the north tower, the main building of the castle was preserved in a good condition. That place’s reality was superior to the illusion because the servants living in the main part of the castle were actually maintaining the ancient castle. It didn’t have many signs of crumbling, but one could still see worrying cracks, while moss and vines were growing willfully on the exterior walls. As the dream realm’s power faded, those vines and moss had actually reached to the top of the tall main building.

When walking towards the main building of the castle, Gawain and Amber encountered Sir Philip who was rushing over.

The young knight didn’t experience any combat, but destroying the powerful magic core alone was enough to make him exhausted. Philip looked very tired as his eyes were glimmering with a deeper mental exhaustion. After seeing Gawain, Philip was immediately invigorated and stood straight. “Your Excellency! I am glad to see that you are safe!”

Gawain looked at Philip and nodded lightly. “It seems like you have seen something that put immense mental pressure on you.”

“Yes, it is as you expected.” Philip sighed and said, “The place that Butler Carter vanished was the dream realm’s ‘interior border’. That place has a… ritual site that is filled with evil and blasphemy. I am truly unable to describe that scene.”

Gawain nodded. “Bring me over to have a look. You didn’t tear down that entire place, right?”

“Of course not. They are the evidence of the heretics’ crimes.” Philip nodded and said, “But those victims… probably can’t be saved.”

“…I expected that.” Gawain sighed and said, “Bring me there to take a look at the situation. That’s right! Amber, you make a trip to the castle first. I can guess that the people there should have awakened and are probably panicking. Go and look for the castle’s advisor, treasurer, chief knight, and that cleric. Ask them to stabilize the people and to gather all the supervisors and Knights of the territory. As soon as possible, I will go to the main hall and take charge.”

Amber blinked her eyes. “Are you sure those people will listen to me?”

“You are now considered as a personal guard of the Duke. Do you think that servants of an ordinary noble clan will have any authority to talk back?” Gawain looked at Amber before saying, “Furthermore, the dream realm has ended, and the happenings of this castle over thirty years will be acknowledged by everyone’s mind. This unimaginable notion would cause everyone to sink into a great panic. Under such a situation, people are very easily influenced.”

Gawain’s latter half of his statement didn’t even make it into the brain of the half-elf. When Amber heard the first half of the statement, she had already started to drift as her mind was rapidly revolving with at least 60 ways to get rich and 80 ways to swindle. Basically, everything was revolving around her using this fake authority, but it was a pity that she merely drifted for a few seconds before she was already seen through by Gawain. Gawain immediately glared at her and said, “If you dare to make use of my name to swindle and cheat, I will smack you onto the wall!”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Can’t you change your method of threatening me?”

“Then I will smack you into the ground.” Gawain shook his hand and turned around while saying, “In short, if you dare to swindle anyone, I will smack you onto the wall. If you dare to steal something, I will smack you into the ground—”

However, the frank Sir Philip quickly followed Gawain before asking with concern, “What if she deceives you saying that she didn’t steal anything after she finished stealing the things?”

Gawain stopped and looked at Philip quietly before saying “…Have you considered perming your hair?”[1]

“Ah?”

Gawain sighed in his heart: As expected, the worst part of being stranded in another world is the inability to communicate with natives using my usual language even when the opposition is just a side character.

The duo arrived at the hall that Sir Philip discovered.

The magical energy that lingered in the hall had already scattered, while the oppressive and maniacal aura had also vanished. However, it was still a sinister and horrific place. In Gawain’s vision, the platforms that were arranged around the stone pillars were like dissection tables emitting the stench of blood. On the dissection tables, the “lambs” that were waiting to be slaughtered were still alive.

Gawain noticed that the heads of the victims were connected to the stone pillars through some kind of biological-tissue tubes. They were growing with blood vessels and nerves that, obviously, didn’t develop from the human brain and were actually mutated. One end of the tube was connected to the foundation part of the stone pillars, and there was a layer of swelling and distorted flesh structure. It seemed just like an independent organism that was sticking close to the runes on the stone pillars. The other end of the tube was connected to the human body, and it should be an outcome due to a certain kind of parasite (or surgery).

As Sir Philip had destroyed the runes on the stone pillars, those “biological tissues” that were attached to the stone pillars were showing signs of weakening and were at the point of demise. They were starting to wither and split, while pale red liquid flowed out from the cracks. The victims that were connected together were mostly dead.

Those that had yet to perish were obviously beyond rescue. They had been connected to those “nerve cords” for too long, and their individual consciousness was already extinguished. The brain tissues had suffered irreversible damage and their remaining brain nerve cells were simply providing calculative ability to the massive “human-brain array calculator”. Once the magic dissipated, they would perish soon after.

The only thing that was worth rejoicing was that they didn’t have to experience any more suffering in this process.