I! Anomaly Cleansing Agent!

In the brief moment of direct contact with the real Leon, Nightmare Leon, who was just 1/8th away from fully ascending to godhood, immediately understood that he had only one path ahead: run for his life!

The origin of Nightmare Leon stemmed from the entire Dream Realm’s fear of “Destroyer Leon,” a collective creation by all living beings in the Dream Realm based on their perception and imagination of “Destroyer Leon.”

In other words, Nightmare Leon didn’t possess the memories or abilities of the real Leon; it was merely a false image conjured up by the creatures of the Dream Realm.

This wasn’t unusual, since most nightmares are born out of imagination. The Snow Maiden, for instance, was born from legends circulating among the common folk of the Northland Kingdom. As long as enough people “knew” of her existence and were dreaming about her, even being born from imagination wouldn’t hinder her role as a Nightmare Messenger.

But the biggest problem was that unlike the Snow Maiden, who was entirely imagined, the nightmare of “Destroyer Leon” had an original basis. When the true Destroyer Leon appeared, the fabricated “falsehood” would inevitably align closer to the “truth.”

In that single glance at its counterpart, Nightmare Leon instantly sensed changes within itself, realizing that the more “intersections” it created with the real thing, the more “errors” in its own existence would be corrected.

What was worse, there was no need for close interaction. Simply existing as a replica, knowing what the real Leon should be like, caused its very existence and thoughts to begin involuntarily aligning with him—or rather…

It would, in another sense, be completely “consumed” by the real deal! “Stop right there!”

Only an idiot would stop! Faced with the shouts from behind, Nightmare Leon increased its speed instead, wishing nothing more than to leap out of Soulfall Black Abyss and flee the Dream Realm forever.

But at that moment, an indescribable wave of immense fear, coupled with the shouting from behind, suddenly gripped its heart, instantly disrupting its control over its body and causing it to tumble head over heels.

…

Phew… Thankfully, the “Nightmare of Nightmares” still affected it.

Looking at the distant Nightmare Leon who had fallen flat after being startled by a single shout, Leon, who had been leading the chase, couldn’t help but let out a deep breath.

The fear effect of “Nightmare of Nightmares” only worked on dream realm creatures below True God level. Though this fake version had transcended human limitations and even obtained the specialized weapon of a Nightmare Lord, it still lacked that final 1/8th to claim full “Nightmare” power. It had crossed over but not completely, leaving one heel still in the “human” realm, thus remaining within the scope of those below True God status, making it susceptible… Shit! Under Leon’s bewildered gaze, the distant Nightmare Leon spread its gray robe, ejecting a terrified version of Leon before quickly getting up and continuing its frantic escape.

“This must be the effect of that gray robe.”

Unbeknownst to them, Big Sister Stool had arrived behind Leon, hand-in-hand with the Twin Fish Director, softly reminding him:

“The gray robe of the Nightmare King can turn any situation unfavorable to itself into nightmares and expel them… In short, without overwhelming strength or targeted anomalous items, it cannot be captured or controlled.”

“Senior Armin…”

Hearing this, Leon furrowed his brows, asking while continuing the pursuit:

“What do we do then?”

“We just need to keep up with him and prevent him from escaping completely.”

Big Sister Stool responded calmly: “A cleaner from the Fish Division mentioned earlier that they have an anomalous item called the ‘Soul Wheel’ which can roughly monitor several non-material realms.

If we maintain our pursuit and don’t let this new Nightmare Lord escape, she will surely detect the anomaly. Once she reports it to the General Bureau and reinforcements arrive, this nightmare will have nowhere to hide.”

Can it be done this way? After scrutinizing Senior Armin for a moment, Leon silently nodded, approving her plan, and swiftly informed all cleaners to abandon ineffective lethal anomalous weapons, switching instead to纠缠and depletion tactics, forcing Nightmare Leon to continuously use the gray robe to dispel abnormal conditions.

After several rounds, the desperately fleeing Nightmare Leon noticed the shift in the cleaners’ tactics and guessed from their efforts to conserve energy that Leon and his group might be waiting for “backup.” His expression immediately turned restless.

“Don’t chase me anymore!”

“…”

“You’d better not push me!”

“…”

“If you keep chasing, don’t blame me for getting rough!”

“…”

Faced with Nightmare Leon’s repeated warnings, Leon, who had memorized the “Emma Scriptures” thoroughly, naturally ignored such meaningless exchanges. With him not responding, none of the cleaners spoke either, and all four hundred-plus members mimicked Leon, shutting their mouths and charging forward silently.

Not a single mistake in content found at 69 Book Bar!

Under this oppressive silence-filled chase, Nightmare Leon, whose “call requests” went unanswered, gritted his teeth and decisively abandoned any lingering hope, turning around and charging back.

“Spread out!”

Seeing Nightmare Leon seemingly ready to make a desperate move, Alabaster Maiden quickly warned everyone, preparing to purify the nightmare.

However, to everyone’s shock, the returning Nightmare Leon did not attack the cleaners. Instead, its form suddenly grew dozens of times larger, grabbing trembling nightmares nearby and shoving them into its mouth.

???

Ah Zhe… Truly worthy of being a counterfeit of Leon, even retaining the habit of eating allies? “No good! Stop him quickly!”

Having no time to care about the strange looks from the cleaners, upon noticing Nightmare Leon’s actions, Leon immediately realized that this was likely a unique special ability belonging to Nightmare Leon, akin to how the Snow Maiden summoned snowstorms.

Though unsure of the changes that would occur after devouring numerous nightmares, even fools knew at this point that whatever the enemy most wanted to do was something that absolutely needed to be stopped immediately.

Now you want to stop me? Too late! Noticing the movements of Leon and his group, Nightmare Leon let out a mocking laugh, slightly lifting the hem of its gray robe.

To everyone’s astonishment, countless black-gold beetles poured out from beneath its gray robe, spreading out like a massive living two-tone insect carpet across the surface of the Nightmare River!

(End of Chapter)