Chapter 2118: Chapter 2119: A Familiar Light

Angel turned to look at Tree Spirit as he returned to the study.

Tree Spirit’s expression seemed calm, but a hidden flame of excitement was visible deep in his eyes.

For Tree Spirit, his greatest pleasures besides gossip are adventure and exploration. Unfortunately, his main body is restricted in the Mirror World, making it difficult to go out and explore. This time, following Angel to the hidden room is a rare opportunity for exploration, so he’s naturally thrilled.

Seeing Angel begin preparing Defense Spell, Tree Spirit said, "If there’s real danger, don’t worry about me. I’m just a split spirit, and even if I die, it won’t have much impact."

Angel nodded.

"You don’t need to worry too much either. If there is a truly irresistible danger, I will have someone come to rescue you immediately."

Tree Spirit spoke these words, but his tone carried a hint of excitement, as if he were greatly anticipating this scene. After all, how can exploration be called adventure without danger?

After making sure his defenses were ready, Angel immediately began setting up the Barrier in the study.

He was considering not only his own safety; if danger emerged from the ruins, it could potentially harm others inside the ruins as well, so it was necessary to set up the Barrier in advance for defense.

Once the Barrier was prepared, Angel called Baruba over, instructing him to constantly monitor the Barrier’s condition and immediately notify the Mushroom Witch in the underground third floor if the Barrier’s color began to darken, and then take Babaya and Kudodo out of the ruins.

With this done, Angel finally turned his gaze to the knight armor.

As he placed his hand above the Magic Pattern, preparing to activate it, Angel and Tree Spirit’s eyes began to align. They were both wary, yet also filled with anticipation and excitement.

Ever since he came to this ruin and suspected the hidden room, he had been looking forward to this moment.

What secrets are hidden in the hidden room deliberately concealed by the ruin’s owner?

Could it simply be just a bedroom?

As energy poured in, the Magical Energy Array on the knight armor—newly repaired—began to emit a faint glow. The pattern on the armor escaped, finally falling to the ground, encompassing both Angel and Tree Spirit within the Magical Energy Array.

Instantly, Angel felt his vision darken, and for a moment, there was a slight feeling of weightlessness underfoot, but it quickly returned to normal.

Upon opening their eyes, they found themselves no longer in the bright as daylight study, but instead in a dim corridor.

Tree Spirit was beside Angel, currently looking back at what lay behind.

Angel also glanced back, seeing a wall behind them, notably engraved with the same Magic Pattern as the knight armor, dissipating light.

"Looks like we won’t need to worry about how to get back later," Angel muttered under his breath, refocusing on the path ahead.

The corridor appeared deep but not completely dark. Fluorite lamps mounted on the walls emitted a bluish cold light, not strong but barely sufficient for illumination.

"Let me probe it," Tree Spirit said, pointing ahead as a leaf glowing green emerged from the air, drifting towards the end of the corridor amidst a breeze.

A few seconds later, Tree Spirit turned and said, "The leaf encountered no danger, reaching the end smoothly. Not far from the end, there’s a closed door. Perhaps that’s the ruin owner’s bedroom?"

The holographic map of the ruin’s main door clearly marked the hidden room as a bedroom. Since there was only one door ahead, it was evident that the room beyond the door was the bedroom.

Despite Tree Spirit’s assurance of no danger in the corridor, Angel remained cautious, slowly proceeding deeper into the hallway.

After roughly a hundred steps, Angel caught sight of the leaf Tree Spirit had sent earlier, hovering in front of a familiar door.

This door had the same material as the ruin’s main door, with similar patterns engraved on it, clearly built by the same person.

Angel extended his palm, and a pure white Phantom Limb emerged, gently pushing against the door.

The door was not locked, swinging open quietly under the Phantom Limb’s force.

At the moment the door opened, Angel and Tree Spirit simultaneously looked at what lay beyond.

It was pitch black, and nothing was visible.

Angel was about to activate night vision ability, but before he could make a move, an unexplainable fear suddenly welled up from within.

As the fear spread, he instinctively stepped back, narrowly avoiding a strike of sword light descending from above.

With a clatter, the sword light collided with the ground, creating a large pit and sending rocks and dust flying.

Only now did Angel see a knight’s long slashing sword emerge from the darkness behind the door.

As the long sword appeared, a tall figure slowly revealed itself amidst the swirling darkness.

A person? Angel’s eyes reflected surprise and doubt. Could it be that his previous assumption was correct—that the ruin’s owner had never left and remained in the hidden room?

Just as Angel adopted a wary expression, the figure in the darkness stepped through the door.

It wasn’t quite as he imagined; what appeared before him was a person clad in knight armor.

The armor’s design was similar to the outside, appearing ordinary, but the knight’s long slashing sword stood out, radiating a fierce black light.

Angel didn’t know whether the knight before him was human or merely an empty suit of armor, but through the gaps, he vaguely saw a hint of red light.

Why does this color of red light look somewhat familiar?

As Angel pondered the red light, the knight’s long slashing sword once again swung high, slashing towards Angel.

The knight’s slashing speed was unimaginably fast, wielding dozens of dark sword lights almost instantly, blocking all routes around Angel. Angel attempted to touch the sword light with his Phantom Limb. Although he could defend against the sword light to some extent, the Phantom Limb would be severed.

This level of attack had already reached the Energy Level of an Official Wizard!

Within a mere second, several of Angel’s Phantom Limbs were cut.

Though Phantom Limbs can regenerate, they still consume Nightmare Realm aura. The current supply of Nightmare Realm aura could keep up for now, but if severed again in a short time, swiftly restoring Phantom Limbs would become difficult.

It seems a quick battle is necessary. Angel contemplated.

The Knight’s current weakest point is definitely its armor. Angel is too familiar with this armor; it’s made of common materials, and with just a gentle touch, it can break apart.

Thinking of this, Angel prepared to start attacking the Knight’s main body.

However, before Angel could make a move, a force suddenly came from behind. As Angel instinctively tried to resist, he realized that the force was gentle and familiar—it was the force of the Tree Spirit.

Following this force, Angel was dragged back several dozen meters, away from the door, returning to the middle of the corridor.

Fortunately, the Knight did not pursue.

Angel turned around, looking puzzled at the Tree Spirit standing behind him, not understanding why he was suddenly pulled away.

The Tree Spirit’s expression was slightly strange: "I just saw several places on the ground suddenly collapse, revealing bottomless dark abysses. At the same time, some pitch-black tendrils extended out as thorny whips from the abyss, whipping at me."

"Their power was immense, almost reaching True Knowledge level attacks, able to shatter my body with one whip."

"Luckily, the leaf I left at the door earlier could transform into a substitute and block that whip." As the Tree Spirit spoke, his expression grew even stranger: "However, as soon as my leaf substitute was killed, I noticed that the surrounding abysses disappeared. Then, I saw you wildly waving your phantom limb at the air."

When Angel first heard the Tree Spirit describe his personal experience, it felt very strange—a bottomless abyss? Pitch-black tendrils and thorny whips? He hadn’t seen any of that. If it were really there, such a commotion couldn’t have gone unnoticed.

Angel even suspected that the Tree Spirit might be lying.

But then the Tree Spirit said he saw Angel waving his phantom limb at the air? Wasn’t he blocking the sword light? How could he be waving at the air?

The Tree Spirit also noticed the doubt in Angel’s eyes. He slowly said, "You were indeed waving your phantom limb at the air, but there seemed to be something strange hidden in the air in front of you, and your phantom limb was continuously being chopped off. However, I couldn’t see or even sense any danger."

"Although I couldn’t see what danger you were facing, I found something strange. Your phantom limb, as long as it was within the red light, would be cut off; those extending beyond the red light were normal."

"You happened to be within the red light. I guessed that these red lights might have problems, so I pulled you out."

After hearing this, Angel found it even stranger: "Red light? Where’s the red light?"

"The red light reflected from inside the door." Seeing Angel’s face still full of doubt, the Tree Spirit led him to approach the door again.

This time, they did not get close to the door but stopped more than twenty meters away, looking at the door at the end of the corridor from a distance.

As Angel looked over now, his pupils suddenly constricted.

The door was indeed pushed open, but the darkness that he previously saw surging behind the door had disappeared. What presented itself now was a door glowing with red light.

The red light reflected from inside the door even spread to the surrounding walls, making it look like a blood-dyed corridor.

No Knight, no abyss, no pitch-black tendrils... Even the ground and walls previously damaged by the sword swing of the Knight were intact.

Yet, Angel sensed the consumption of his phantom limb and Nightmare Realm aura, confirming that his phantom limb was definitely chopped off earlier. The Tree Spirit’s words also confirmed this.

Could it be a True Illusion Technique?

Did a true illusionary realm appear, allowing one to experience falsehood and bear real damage?

But soon, Angel denied the possibility of a True Illusion. Although he didn’t know many True Illusion Techniques, he wasn’t unfamiliar with them. Simply put, True Illusions are still illusions, and all illusions have the unique rhythm of illusions, which Angel hadn’t sensed before. There were no fluctuations from any illusions; it was absolutely not caused by an illusion.

If it’s not an illusion, then what could it be?

Angel looked at the faint red light behind the distant door and recalled the fleeting red light under the Knight’s mask earlier; it seemed to be the same red light, equally... familiar.

Suddenly, a scene flashed in Angel’s mind: in the distant sky, there was a huge royal city like a mirage, shrouded in faint red light.

This scene was something Angel saw at the top of Rainbow Mountain while surveying the ruins beneath the Star Pond.

At that time, the Devious Gentleman beside him told Angel that the royal city was where Minister Nuka temporarily resided, and the pervasive red light was a peculiar light known as "Nightmare Light."

At this moment, the red light shrouding the royal city in Angel’s mind overlapped with the red light reflected from the distant door.

Their colors were exactly the same.

"Could this be... Nightmare Light?" Angel looked at the distant door, murmuring in a somewhat dazed manner.

"Nightmare Light?" The Tree Spirit heard this, stroked his chin, and thought: "If that’s the case, it really might be possible. I remember you mentioned that the Nightmare Light is red, like the red light Reeves encountered when he first entered the ruins."

"Back then, when Reeves entered the ruins, he encountered the red light, and the Nightmare Realm creatures hadn’t even entered the ruins at that time."

"Since the ruins beneath the Star Pond originally had red light, and this ruin shares the same origin with the Star Pond ruins, it seems reasonable for there to be red light here too."

The more the Tree Spirit spoke, the more he felt this speculation was correct. Reeves is currently still at the Star Pond ruins, guarded by Nis. During these days, Reeves had detailed every event that occurred to him in the ruins.

Reeves clearly stated that those who entered the ruins with him all encountered the red light. Under its illumination, walls were no longer walls but transformed into surging lava; doors were no longer doors but became gateways to the Abyss of the Undead; even ordinary paintings and statues underwent changes, with creatures emerging from the paintings and statues opening scarlet eyes...

Even the ground they walked on inexplicably emitted smoke, which would drag people into unknown worlds.

This matched the situation earlier perfectly.

When the Tree Spirit was bathed in the red light, the ground appeared with the abyss, and pitch-black tendrils emerged to attack the Tree Spirit.

When Angel was bathed in the red light, darkness surged inside the door, and the Knight wielded his sword.

Although they were together at that moment, they each encountered entirely different incidents. This was exactly the same as Reeves described.

"It must be Nightmare Light," said the Tree Spirit confidently.

Angel also thought of Reeves’ situation, roughly deducing that the distant red light might just be the Nightmare Light that the creatures of the Nightmare Realm desired.

However, the problem now lay before them.

Now that they knew about the Nightmare Light, how were they supposed to deal with it?

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