Chapter26-The Harvest of the Sealing Artifact Altar

"That's only natural."

Henry nodded, understanding that high-level awakeners entering a low-level dungeon would be suppressed. 

Similarly, low-level awakeners entering a high-level dungeon would also face rejection from the dungeon's space.

This was one of the reasons why awakener teams were generally composed of members with similar levels.

The two made their way into the cellar, where Fatima conjured a mysterious magic array in her hand and thrust it towards the cabinet storing wine.

The bottles of red wine, stored for many years, shattered one by one, spilling their crimson contents as the cabinet cracked open.

"The bottle of wine you brought earlier hardly compensates for my loss, remember to bring me a few more bottles next time," Henry coughed and said.

Fatima glanced at him in surprise, then nodded, "Alright."

The space around them began to twist, a deep, sinister red aura gushing forth, constantly altering the scene before their eyes.

As a bridge connecting the realm of the dark god to the real world, the altar of the dark god emerged before them, carrying an overwhelming and powerful aura.

Henry looked up at the sharp pieces of space in the air, the segmented cubes leaving him slightly dazed.

"That's space torn into chunks. Remember not to let it touch you, it might very well tear your body apart," Fatima warned.

Suddenly, a strange and bizarre roar emanated from the chunked space.

Following that, a massive creature, resembling a whale from the sea, emerged from it, except its densely packed rows of eyes on its head were somewhat unbearable to look at directly.

Seeing the otherworldly creature lunging towards them, Fatima remained calm and pulled out a short blade.

With a flick of her finger, she thrust the blade towards the creature.

Seconds later, the blade pierced through the body of the otherworldly creature. 

Amidst its painful moans, the creature collapsed to the ground.

A dense, cloud-like foam enveloped both Henry and Fatima.

Henry immediately felt a wave of drowsiness, his eyelids drooping uncontrollably.

"This is bad, I'm falling asleep."

The intense sleepiness gave Henry no chance to catch his breath, forcing his eyes to close tightly.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a village he had never seen before, with General White Tiger Fatima still by his side.

"Where are we?"

Fatima spoke calmly, "In a dream."

"That otherworldly creature wandering in the spatial interlayer must be related to dreams. It probably devoured various scenarios that truly exist, turning them into its own dreamscape. What we're seeing now is likely one of the real scenes it once consumed."

Henry, astounded by such an unbelievable ability, typical of a creature from the dark god's realm, asked, "So, what should we do now?"

Fatima replied nonchalantly, "Wait. There shouldn't be any danger. Let's just see how the plot unfolds."

The two hid in a secluded spot, waiting for the protagonist of this dream to appear.

Soon, a hunched old woman crawled out from a house. 

Blood covered her head, her eyes filled with terror, screaming for help.

"Please open the door, let me in to hide."

The old woman continuously knocked on her neighbor's door, but it remained firmly closed, showing no mercy to her.

She moved on to the second, then the third door, but the final answer was still disappointing.

"You are all accomplices to murder, stupid and indifferent! I curse you to meet a terrible end, eventually killed by your own kin!"

The old woman's hysterical cries echoed as she rolled on the ground.

But her screams did not last long. 

Soon, a burly man emerged from the house she had just left.

"Son, have you forgotten who raised you? Who sheltered you when you were bullied? Who provided you with enough food to grow strong?"

"It was me, your mother."

The old woman sobbed to the man, but his expression remained stern, uttering no words.

He picked her up with his strong arms, carried her back into his yard, and shut the door.

Moments later, a painful scream came from the small house, shrill and piercing, reverberating through the skies.

A few minutes later, the man emerged from the house, his body covered in blood.

In his arms, he held an iron basin filled with fresh flesh and blood.

Facing east, he knelt down, his eyes filled with fanaticism.

"Great deity, mother of all Sealing Artifacts, supreme ruler of the dream realm."

"I offer my own mother as a sacrifice to you, praying for true immortality, an eternal life like the never-fading dream."

Disgusting.

Henry shuddered.

This man, like Eric who sacrificed his own son, chose to offer his blood kin mother. 

Such a depraved method of sacrifice seemed to be something only a dark god could concoct.

Witnessing this scene, Henry felt an urge to stab the man to death. 

But since Fatima had not made a move, he restrained himself, not acting rashly.

Just as the man expressed his dreams to the dark god, the otherworldly creature, resembling a whale, suddenly appeared in the village and swallowed it whole.

So, this was the origin of the creature's dream. 

In a twisted way, the dark god did fulfill the middle-aged man's dream. 

He achieved immortality within the dream.

Henry pondered, only to find the dream beginning to rewind, taking them back to when they first arrived at the village.

The old woman struggled out of her house again.

Were they to relive this again?

"We should disrupt the original sequence of this dream and see what changes," Fatima said indifferently.

She smashed the old woman's house into dust with a single palm strike, crushing the ungrateful son beneath it.

The dream shifted again, and everything returned to the beginning.

Henry and Fatima tried various methods to rescue the old woman, attempting to change the original plot. 

But the outcome always returned to the same starting point.

"What's happening? Is this dream unsolvable? Can we even get out?" Henry asked, furrowing his brows.

Fatima pondered for a moment, then, as if struck by a sudden thought, drew a short knife and plunged it into the heart of the old woman crawling out of the door.

Suddenly, the dream shattered.

The two found themselves back at the dark god's altar, but this time, something new had appeared.

A mutilated corpse, with a short blade sticking out of its head, stood up from the ground. Its eyes, like ghostly flames, fixed intently on Fatima.

"I see you."

"You killed me!" the old woman roared, crawling towards them, just as she had crawled out of her house initially.

Fatima frowned, delivering a punch that split the corpse into pieces.

This time, the old woman didn't resurrect; her body dissipated successfully.

From the vanishing forehead of the old woman, a burst of light shone, and a radiant fragment appeared before Henry and Fatima.

"This must be the imprint of that dark god, my target for this mission," Fatima said, eyeing the fragment.

Henry nodded, casually found a spot to sit down in the altar, and took out some unfinished ice bear jerky from his pocket, left over from their last visit to the Snowland dungeon.

"What are you doing?"

Fatima, seeing Henry's nonchalant expression, was momentarily stunned.

"Just following your advice, protecting myself and not engaging in battle," Henry replied calmly, "You should know I'm just a support, leaving the fighting to General White Tiger like you is better."

"You…"

A rare flash of anger crossed Fatima's face, but she ultimately just sighed helplessly.

After all, Henry was speaking the truth.

Why would one expect a support with special functions to fight in a group?

That would be unreasonable.

Suddenly, the fragment emitted a flash of light, and a voice echoed from the altar:

"How interesting, you too are beings from that world. It seems I have new sacrifices to use!"