The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 103: Dawn’s Arrival

“Yes, I totally figured it out,” murmured Annan.

It was conclusive that the paint capable of imprisoning souls was made from Elle’s body.

This meant that Elle might have died after the first ritual. It was just that her body was still operating, and she didn’t realize her death.

So the question was, how did a corpse get pregnant?

The umbilical cord could only be available after the birth or death of the baby. Amos was able to swallow the umbilical cord, indicating that the baby was already dead at that time. Why did Amos soak the baby’s body in wine instead of throwing it away or destroying it?

Does Amos not want to or dare not?

The colorful burning ball of flesh exuded a terrifying momentum. Annan was confident that he couldn’t defeat the ball no matter the ball’s gender.

In the real history, many people died in subduing the flesh ball despite involving multiple “industry insiders” and the official Transcended.

How did a stillborn child, who had been dead for six months and had not yet been born, become so strong?

There was an explanation for all of this.

The father was not Amos at all.

—But the Venerated Skeleton.

The newspaper stated that Elle Morrison’s sudden disappearance was at the end of January 1458.

The stillbirth was conceived in the abdomen for almost six months.

The dungeon instance that Wandering Child was currently working on was on 12th June 1457, which was Elle’s birthday.

The birthday probably had a special meaning in the ritual.

Even if Wandering Child did not pretend to be sick, Amos should have planned to let “Elle” go to the basement to hold this ritual. In the dungeon instance that Annan cleared, maybe he would be taken to the basement after eating the birthday cake.

In short, Amos would get Elle’s left eye in this ritual.

Elle laid on the bone bed and suddenly lost consciousness completely.

Did she get pregnant with the Venerated Skeleton’s child by this instance?

The critical problem was that every nightmare was born out of the curse remained after Transcended’s death.

The main point of view of the nightmare was painter Amos’s perspective. Then, the nightmare’s owner should have a direct relationship with him.

The nightmare difficulty was twisted.

In other words, the highest-level battle in this nightmare required a Gold Rank to complete. It should be born from at least one Gold Rank Transcended, who died full of resentment, and no one collected the dead body.

So, who was that dead Transcended?

Is it Amos? Is it Elle?

Is it the sheriff? Is it a police officer?

Most likely, none of the above.

The owner of this nightmare is most likely the baby who Elle had conceived.

It was the Venerated Skeleton’s child conceived in a dream via a mortal!

Annan came into a sudden realization, “This helps explain the first sentence after entering the nightmare.”

In the first nightmare that Annan entered, although he played the role of the guard – John, the nightmare owner was Don Juan Geraint.

The reason was that John was not Transcended at all. The phrase that Annan heard, “All betrayers must die,” might not be John’s wish but Don Juan’s obsession. It was just that Don Juan subconsciously put his obsession to John the guard, hoping that John could save him.

But in any case, both of them had the same stance.

In Nightmare: Gallery, the whisper heard when entering the dungeon instance was an old and weak voice.

“Don’t look back. Never look back.”

The voice said so.

But the question was since the nightmare owner was the stillborn child, why was his obsession not to look back?

If Amos dismembers Elle into pieces or sacrifices her, why does he have the courage to call Elle at Level -1? Why does he think Elle can protect him?

Why does the Venerated Skeleton curse this land?

There was only one answer.

Although Annan couldn’t peer into the nightmares on the later floors now, he had a rough idea.

Amos should realize the whole picture at the end of the last level. Although it didn’t make any sense to look back with Elle dead, and he had taken many lives, he still regretted it.

At the last moment, Amos hesitated on having Venerated Skeleton’s son(the dead baby) born. He gave up on becoming Elle, thus repenting his sin.

So on the third level, Amos coughed out Elle’s eyes, which corresponded to the memory he regretted eating Elle’s eyes.

With this inference, he should cough up different parts at each next nightmare layer, each corresponding to the parts that Elle lost.

The obsession of the dead baby was to let Amos “don’t look back” and firmly complete the final ritual, let Amos die and “rebirth” Elle.

Then, stuff the baby back in and let it rebirth.

In other words, the strategy that Priest Louis and Annan had was unexpectedly correct: “Don’t look at the painting” and “Don’t look back,” respectively.

The dungeon’s will was to continue on firmly.

Stopping in front of each painting to commemorate was equivalent to the remaining half of the conscience in Amos’s heart, preventing him from completing the ritual.

If Amos finished the ritual without regrets and never looked back, then the dead baby would be reborn. Hence, the son of the Venerated Skeleton would be born successfully.

As for what would happen next, Annan wouldn’t know.

Amos seemed hesitant in the end.

Was it because of his conscience or out of hatred for the Venerated Skeleton’s son that he deliberately ruined the ritual and sealed the false deity’s son? It could also be Amos taunting the Venerated Skeleton through his artwork. Annan didn’t know the reason.

The reason was most likely hidden in the nightmare on the latter three levels.

Annan was dumbfounded.

Louis’s strategy was right.

Annan knew that Priest Louis had absolutely no idea about the nightmare’s mechanism. But instead, Priest Louis pondered upon the correct way to clear the dungeon instance accidentally.

However, this strategy was only limited to the standard ending (SE).

In this nightmare, the standard ending was a bad end.

Annan believed that if he went through Level -1 at basement level, the result he got could be even higher.

But no matter what. One thing could be certain.

If the challenger doesn’t look at a single painting and walks to the end while enduring the fear, he would directly clear the dungeon.

However, it must be dangerous.

Though, the danger was the least important.

Thinking of this, Annan looked at the time.

It was almost dawn at 5:53 a.m. Wandering Child should not be able to finish the dungeon.

Looking at the flooding bullet texts, Wandering Child knew he couldn’t pass the level normally. So it became a better option for him to fight with Amos directly. There could be a surprise reward.

Annan quietly mingled among the crowd and sent several bullet texts in succession:

“The mechanism of this dungeon instance looks a bit complicated.”

“Wandering Child, why don’t you ask Don Juan? Maybe there is a hint.”

“Yes, you should ask. Since the young master told us that this dungeon instance would make us lose memory, it means that he knows this dungeon instance well.”

“I think this dungeon instance is already involved with the main mission. So it may be meaningless to ask.”

“But Wandering Child has the highest affection rate. Him asking bears the highest possibility to success.”

Annan posted these bullet texts.

Thankfully, the bullet text system was anonymous. There was no blocking function either.

Otherwise, it would be funny if someone blocked the message and the screen became empty.

“That seems to make sense.” Wandering Child nodded thoughtfully after seeing the texts.

“What makes sense?”

Amos asked curiously.

Wandering Child squinted at Amos, too lazy to bother explaining. He didn’t plan to continue the act any further.

He was just waiting for the end of the dungeon instance.

At the dawn’s arrival, the dazzling golden light coming from nowhere shredded the entire world Wandering Child was in, including himself.

His consciousness was immersed in the warm sunlight. He felt the coldness in his body, especially in his abdomen, gradually dissipated as if he was asleep.

When Wandering Child opened his eyes again, he found himself still lying on the bed.

Outside the window, the sun with three luxurious golden runes orbiting had risen.