The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 411: Nightmare: Wolf Kiss

[The Dream Elixir has reverberated.]

[You’re now entering the dream world.]

[Dream key detected.]

[Detected the existence of Dream Key: Annan·Austere-Winter.]

[Searching for nightmares. No keywords available…]

[Nightmare found.]

[You’re falling into a nightmare. A dungeon instance is being generated…]

[Detected that the current dungeon instance has a unique property: Phantasm]

[When a different person enters this dungeon instance, varying changes will occur.]

[This dungeon instance will have different changes upon every new entry.]

[The total soul erosion rate of the team is 2%. In addition, the dungeon instance difficulty increases by 2%, and the nightmare’s mutation probability increases by 2%.]

[Dungeon instance difficulty is labeled “Distorted”.]

[Warning: Relevant elements are detected. The nightmare has been mutated—]

[This dungeon instance has “3” save points. Death does not increase the erosion rate, and the challenger will be kicked out of the dungeon after 3 deaths.]

[This dungeon instance provides a storyline with decryption rewards.]

[Dungeon instance clearance reward: Increases the starting profession by 3 levels]

[Dungeon instance decryption reward: Element (Brilliance) awakening depth increases by 20%]

[Loading completed.]

After Annan consumed the elixir, he quickly fell asleep on the bed.

When he slowly woke up and opened his eyes because of the familiar feeling of falling, the data stream in front of him began to dissipate gradually.

“Yes, I will fall into the abyss one day.” Annan heard a familiar yet unfamiliar cold voice ringing in his ear.

He reacted immediately—it was his own voice.

Or rather, it was Annan’s voice.

“My body is burned to the ground, my teeth have rotted, and my flesh has decomposed.

“But until then, I will walk with the light.”

Hmm, it seems like an Austere-Winter poet wrote this poem.

Such thoughts flashed inside Annan’s mind.

But the nightmare was already loaded before Annan could think further about it.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself curled up in the corner at the end of the alley. The freezing air put him in a lethargic state, occupied with soreness all over his body.

His starting health was at 90%.

En?

Annan, who had just entered the nightmare, was stupefied for a moment.

Is this my nightmare? Is it me?

No way, right?

“…Eh.” Annan sighed.

He suddenly reacted.

Although this was his nightmare and the body’s age was similar to his, it was not his body.

When Annan was about to stand up, he suddenly realized that the shape of his spine was different from ordinary people’s.

This was more like a canine spine than a human.

Annan looked down, only to find that his skin was also covered with a thick layer of gray-white hair. Both arms and legs were wolf-shaped. Only the fingers were more human-like than wolves.

He even had a big fluffy, gray-white tail.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a female body.

Am I a wolf?

No way, am I a Frost Beast? It doesn’t seem right either.

Annan thought about it.

He felt his spine and flesh transform. The tightened muscles in his arms and legs slowly relaxed, the fur on his hands and face faded, and his fingers became white and slender, becoming more human-like. His figure gradually resembled the shape of a human.

However, his feet were noticeably non-human, and his fluffy tail and ears had not disappeared.

Annan stood up this time and felt around the tattered and flimsy clothes on his body.

Through the touch, he realized that this body was full of bruises and abrasions left after being beaten. However, his bones and internal organs were not seriously injured.

“Isn’t this too thin?” Annan murmured, “What is this, a werewolf?”

Why does something like this appear in my nightmare?

It was an outfit befitting for spring and autumn. Strangely enough, Annan did not feel very cold.

Maybe it was because of the hair that had covered his body.

But just then, Annan heard footsteps.

It was the footsteps of an adult male.

His pupils shrank instantly, and his body subconsciously curled up, crouched down, and looked up.

It was completely different from human vision.

The moment Annan sensed the danger, the whole world in front of him instantly turned into a pure yellow vision.

Time seemed to flow twice as slow, and colors became blurred and unclear.

The outline of what was still moving in front of him became bright.

An old-fashioned-looking old man approached Annan.

He wore a turtleneck tan windbreaker, a dark brown top hat with beaver fur, a cane in his hand, and heavy plush boots.

At the moment their eyes met, Annan saw the introduction mission of this dungeon instance.

“1496, December 30.

“Your name is Bella. You’re a werewolf with no parents and no last name.

“As we all know, the Frost Beast is a monster that looks like a wolf and is born by devouring spiritual powers such as hope, love, loyalty, happiness, and so on. The werewolves were the aboriginals before the Old Grandmother came to this land.

“There is no blood relationship between the ‘Werewolves’ and the ‘Frost Beasts’. The only similarity is that they both look like wolves.

“But that doesn’t stop the people of Austere-Winter, who suffered from the Frost Beasts, from hating and discriminating against werewolves.

“Mortals are unable to resist the plague of the Frost Beasts. So in the Austere-Winter Dukedom, the existence of transcenders must be made public. They have the responsibility of fending off Frost Beasts’ assault.

“If you want a higher social standing, you must either become a transcender or a ritualist. Bella, who is still a young girl, is always bullied by the villagers. She made up her mind to ‘become a transcender or a ritualist’, ‘become a big shot’, and ‘get ahead of other’. She recklessly left from St. Alexius Province to Frostwhisper Province during the winter year.

“This nightmare can be interpreted as Bella’s dream or her delusion. She doesn’t know swordsmanship, she doesn’t know how to hunt, she doesn’t know how to read, she isn’t physically outstanding, and she doesn’t have a witty mind. At the same time, she has a thin body and a mediocre temperament. Only her appearance can be regarded as “performing”.

“With her talent, identity, and ability, it is impossible for her to embark on the path of transcendence through her strength. No ritualist is willing to recruit a stupid apprentice. At most, she can only become a private pet for those with a special hobby — a rare person interested in a werewolf girl.

“However, Bella is not willing to accept such a fate.

“There was only one thought in her not-so-smart head: She wanted to be a person of high social standing.

“She is willing to pay any price for this.

“She is willing to endure all suffering.”

After these words dissipated, a line of words appeared in front of Annan’s eyes again.

[Main mission: Become a transcender.]

Immediately, words of smaller font appeared under the main headline.

[Join Winter’s Hand.]

[Complete the “Wolf Kiss” training.]

[Have a face-to-face conversation with Annan·Austere-Winter.]