Chapter 598: The Nightmare Ruins

His soul consciousness floated above the car accident scene, observing the seemingly illusory people and objects below. Donald’s will, pulled free from the illusion, regained clarity.
It was still the will of a true god—even if only a portion of his avatar’s will was present here—so that kind of illusion couldn’t completely overwhelm him.
Of course, the illusions here were extremely sophisticated and peculiar; they managed to confuse both of his avatars, who had already reached the peak of lower gods, in an instant. If not for the Truth Book and the Fate Book projecting their power at the critical moment, although these illusions couldn’t trap them completely, it would be uncertain how long it would take for them to wake up!
Fortunately, with the power of two high-tier divine artifacts within his avatars, when he was hit, the slight disturbance caused by the illusions triggered a reaction from the Truth Book and the Fate Book’s projections. In that thousandth of a second, Donald realized the difference in time between the illusion and reality, and immediately understood that it was all just a dream, not reality!
Earth, his hometown—though looking exactly as he remembered—was all fake.
After realizing this, in the blink of an eye, where were the car accident scene and the streets and pedestrians of his hometown? He was still in the core area of the divine tomb ruins.
The Natural Guardian Avatar glanced back at the Punishment Avatar, and both of Donald’s avatars shared the same expression.
Even though it was fake, he still felt reluctance and nostalgia for such a hometown, longing to return despite everything having changed, even at the risk of being trapped in spatial chaos!
This thought made him consider diving back into the illusion, but Donald quickly thought of his wife, children, relatives, and friends in this world, which lightened his mind. The Natural Guardian Avatar immediately released the projection of the Fate Book, enveloping both avatars in colorless divine light.
With the protection of high-tier divine artifact power, those all-pervasive illusion forces were powerless to affect his mind anymore.
Having regained his normal thinking and action abilities, Donald first scanned the core area of the divine tomb ruins and found that it was completely covered by an illusion domain. Anyone who entered would unknowingly fall into it.

What’s even more terrifying is that within this realm of illusions, there are numerous different smaller illusions, just like countless tiny bubbles inside a large one. Even if an outsider manages to escape from one illusion, they are likely to fall into another without realizing it—a situation that is extremely frightening.
If one’s will wavers even slightly, they will be trapped forever, with their soul and thoughts turning into part of the illusions, thereby strengthening them.
Donald, who had managed to escape, could easily see that these illusions were created by powerful, twisted wills scattered in all directions within the core area. The true nature of these wills was unknown, but they resembled the great god Brahma from ancient foreign legends, where myths described the entire universe as merely Brahma’s dream. Though this sounded somewhat exaggerated, the principles described in the myths were not entirely impossible.
If one controls the realm of dreams and illusions and gains sufficient power, they can even invisibly influence other beings while asleep, drawing them into their own dreams. With enough power, it’s not even impossible to influence true gods!
Of course, influencing the entire universe, as that myth claimed, is unlikely. But it’s entirely possible for a supreme god skilled in the realm of dreams to create a world within their own dream realm!
After discovering the truth here, Donald formed a hypothesis: this sacred tomb was the ruins of the fallen God of Nightmares—or perhaps the ruins of multiple such gods!
Based on the presence of those wills, the highest-ranking true gods who died here were only at the newly ascended godly level; a single one would likely not be enough to create such a massive tomb complex.
As for why he guessed this to be the fallen land of the God of Nightmares, it was because Donald sensed more than one powerful, twisted will here. Though similar, they were distinct—these wills were what created the various illusions or dreams. Clearly, this could only happen if true gods of the same race died here and their wills accumulated together!
At this thought, Donald once again marveled at his good luck.
He had come here for the Annihilation Crystal, not only achieving his main goal but also accidentally obtaining the last treasure of the Gnome Technological Empire. After leaving, he stumbled upon such a massive tomb complex, which he was quite certain was the ruins of the God of Nightmares.
With his two avatars working together, protected by the projection of the Book of Fate, they approached the nearest source of that powerful, twisted will.

It was a raised mound of earth, just like an ordinary hill, with no human-made structures or objects. Clearly, the deceased being did not wish its body to be exposed, so it buried itself.

“I’m sorry!”

Donald apologized before using Natural Fury to lift the grave mound in front of him.

Donald wasn’t the kind of rigid person. Even if he hadn’t taken action, someone would eventually discover this sacred tomb site—either by falling into the illusion and perishing or by successfully breaking free from the illusion and uncovering the bones of these nightmare creatures. So, it was better for him to act now, reaping benefits while also saving many future generations from danger.

After digging open the grave, they found the remains of a horse-like creature that was far taller than ordinary creatures in the main world. The creature was entirely black, covered in smooth, shiny fur, with some bones protruding to form thyroid-like structures, especially around its head, making it appear extremely grotesque and terrifying.

At this point, the body had lost its vitality, but due to its divinity, it still retained activity, allowing it to remain immortal for so long.

A Nightmare Beast—a unique magical monster from the lower realms—was usually black, with chaotic abyssal flames burning all over its body. It could manipulate the fears of living beings and move through dreams, making it a very powerful magical beast that fed on the fears and souls of intelligent beings. Except for those with mental immunity or no sense of fear, all other creatures attacked by Nightmare Beasts would be overwhelmed by fear and too afraid to fight back.

In fact, the hearts of Nightmare Beasts were filled with a desire for revenge. Yet this unfounded desire for revenge drove them nearly mad, preventing them from finding peace even after death. They remained trapped in endless cycles of their own dreams, even dragging all living beings around them into those dreams.

Seeing these remains, Donald could be completely certain of his guess: this was indeed the sacred tomb of the fallen God of Nightmares.

“Nightmare bones—these are the remains of a god-tier Nightmare Beast, top-tier divine artifacts in the fields of spirit and illusion. In the eyes of true gods skilled in illusions and phantoms, even a small piece of them is worth as much as a medium-sized divine artifact of the same volume.”

It should be noted that although Nightmare Beasts appeared terrifying to mortals, these rarely seen abyssal creatures beyond the legendary level posed little challenge to true gods. This shows just how rare true god-level Nightmare Beasts are.

Once a nightmare reaches the demi-god level, its innate talents enable it to easily receive the favor of the laws, effortlessly gaining mastery over domains related to dreams, nightmares, and illusions. This makes every god-tier nightmare a king among others and a competitor to those powerful nightmares that can approach the realm of immortality. With only one step left to ignite their divine fire, they will not easily submit to any rival who is ahead of them, making conflict inevitable.

Faced with the task of igniting their divine fire while dealing with challenges from competitors, it is often the nightmares that have not yet ignited their fire that emerge as victors. As a result, among these powerful demons, true god-tier beings have hardly appeared over the centuries, and even if they did exist, they would mostly be lost in the process of igniting their divine fire.

Even if a few manage to achieve divinity by chance, they ultimately perish due to other factors.

There are a few true gods associated with the realm of dreams, but so far, there is no existing true god in the Pantheon who primarily wields authority over dreams. If such a god existed, the other deities would know about it immediately.

It should be noted that even demon lords, once they obtain a divine role, will have a place in the Pantheon. Of course, those demon gods and abyssal demons, due to being rejected by most deities, will hardly appear in the Pantheon even once in thousands of years!

With the power to block that distorted will of dreams, Donald unearthed the corpse of this demi-god-level nightmare beast and sealed it away. Then he headed to the next site containing remains.

Although god-tier nightmare skeletons are highly valuable, Donald does not intend to sell them in large quantities. Firstly, too many such items could lead to a decrease in their value, and secondly, he does not want to give competitors an opportunity to strengthen themselves.

Among the deities of the Pantheon, the main true gods related to dream power that Donald is aware of are Alois, the God of Love and Dreams, Benson, the God of Intrigue, and Grant, the fallen king of the abyss.

Alois, the Goddess of Love, wields powers over love, beautiful dreams, and beauty. She is a mid-tier god belonging to the faction of Chaotic Good. Chaotic Good, also known as Disorderly Good, is a faction that combines a kind heart with a spirit of freedom.

People of Disorderly Good often act according to their conscience, rarely considering what others expect of them, and act in their own way. Yet they are kind, friendly, and generous, believing in goodness and justice. However, they see laws and rules as useless and hate those who coerce and command others.

Beings of unordered kindness uphold their own moral codes, which, though benevolent, may not align with societal norms. Such beings are relatively close to the neutral pantheon gods like those followed by Donald, especially neutral and kind goddesses such as the Goddess of Love and the Goddess of Agriculture, who are closely related female deities and have always maintained a neutral stance.