Chapter 671 Beginning
Upon hearing Bunia"s words, Rhea was so surprised that she forgot her anger.
It wasn"t the first time she had encountered such a situation. She was shocked that a man who had left a good impression on her would show such an expression and say such words.
And this was when they weren"t even friends!
At that moment, Rhea wondered if she was still half-asleep. She also questioned whether Bunia had suffered a mental illness or succ.u.mbed to hysteria as the Dream Festival drew near.
Amidst Rhea"s bewilderment, Bunia"s smile intensified.
He extended his hands across the kitchen counter and attempted to grab Rhea"s chest.
Instinctively, Rhea leaned back, attempting to dodge.
After failing to touch her, Bunia retracted his hands, propped himself up on the kitchen counter, and leaped up. Amidst the clinking of coffee cups and gla.s.s jars, he lunged at Rhea, who was leaning back.
This reaction, this choice, and this display of power caught Rhea off guard. She didn"t have time to remove the bow and arrow from her back. Her waist bent backward, and her right foot kicked up like the other end of a seesaw, sending the transformed Bunia café owner flying.
Simultaneously, a thought flashed through Rhea"s mind.
Has he truly lost his mind?
Crash. Bunia crashed to the side of the kitchen counter.
Rhea exerted strength in her back and stood up straight again. Then, she took off her hunting bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at Bunia, who had just stood up.
A look of fear crossed Bunia"s face. He froze for a moment before pleading, "Don"t—don"t kill me!
"I suddenly lost control just now!"
Looking at Bunia"s pleading and fearful face, Rhea found him both familiar and unfamiliar. The arrow on the bowstring was drawn back, but she didn"t release it.
…
Entering the streets of Tizamo Town from the primitive forest, Lumian observed the illuminated houses on both sides and scoffed.
"Is this supposed to be terrifying and bizarre?"
This wasn"t the first time he had encountered such a scene. In Fourth Epoch Trier, he had witnessed a similar occurrence. Not only had the dark town regained its lights, but the entire Fourth Epoch Trier had transitioned from silence to noisiness, returning to life.
Faced with this abnormality, Lumian was undoubtedly surprised and highly vigilant. However, he wasn"t overwhelmed by intense emotions. On the surface, he observed his surroundings leisurely.
He realized that Reaza and Maslow had vanished. The two patrol team members who should have been following him were gone.
Since it can silently make two Beyonders disappear right under my nose, it can definitely make me vanish just like that… In other words, I must have been affected. There"s a high chance that the trance was an external manifestation…
From a mysticism perspective, the town, which had already fallen into a deep slumber, relighting without any significant turn of events, signifies that I"m in another scene, one that is originally related but different…
Could it be that I"ve been forced into a dream?
Has the Dream Festival officially begun?
I didn"t sleep in Hisoka"s house. Why am I still awake?
Combined with the ongoing investigation, Lumian quickly deduced the current situation.
At that moment, he spotted a figure emerging from a gla.s.s window diagonally ahead, surrounded by wooden planks and weeds.
It was a local man in his early forties, with dark brown skin, brown eyes, black hair, and thick lips.
Lumian had seen him before. He was a hunting guide, responsible for leading gentlemen and ladies from Port Pylos and other places into the forest for hunting.
Lumian"s impression of him was that he always wore a fawning smile. No matter what others said, he would respond with a string of affirmatives. He never showed anger, even when punished by the gentlemen and ladies he guided.
Upon seeing Lumian, the hunting guide"s lips curled into a cruel smile.
He pushed open the window and raised his other hand, revealing a double-barreled shotgun.
"Die, you Northern Continent dog!"
As the hunting guide cursed, he aimed his double-barreled shotgun at Lumian and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
A ma.s.sive amount of lead spread out in a cone, enveloping the corresponding area.
As the hunting guide took aim, Lumian sidestepped and rolled to the other side of the street.
What greeted his eyes were the previously quiet cows, sheep, and horses.
At that moment, the eyes of these animals seemed to turn bloodshot.
Supporting himself with one hand, Lumian leaped up. Amidst the high-pitched mooing and the hunting guide"s aim, he leaped to the middle of the stairs leading to the second floor.
"Ah!" A scream suddenly pierced the air, then stopped abruptly.
The door on the second floor swung open, and Lumian was confronted by a young man drenched in bright red blood. He held a ma.s.sive axe dripping with the crimson liquid, and behind him lay the mangled corpse of an old man in his fifties, the wound carved deep into his chest.
Lumian, who had been wandering Tizamo Town for days, was no stranger to these two individuals.
Lying on the ground, his eyes wide open, was the leathersmith of Tizamo Town. He would purchase the hides of wild beasts brought back by gentlemen, ladies, and town hunters who didn"t want to handle them themselves, processing them and selling the finished products.
The axe-wielding figure was his eldest son, who had studied nitrification, tanning, and other leather production techniques from him. He was known as an obedient young man, and his father wasn"t an old-fashioned leathersmith who resorted to physical or verbal violence.
This was a characteristic of the people of Tizamo. They were docile, calm, and devoid of intense emotions.
And now, it appeared that the leathersmith"s eldest son had just cleaved his father to death.
Upon seeing Lumian, the lad"s eyes overflowed with a bloodthirsty smile.
With a shout, he swung his axe at Lumian. On the other side, the hunting guide began reloading his double-barreled shotgun with new lead rounds.
Lumian"s body suddenly turned ethereal, merging with his shadow and vanishing into the darkness beside the steps.
Shadow Transformation!
After using this ability to sneak towards the police headquarters for a few seconds, Lumian suddenly heard someone pleading for mercy in fear.
He left the shadows and transformed back into a human. He saw Rhea aiming an arrow at the café owner, Bunia, but she didn"t release it.
At that moment, a colossal anaconda, as thick as a barrel, emerged from the multi-layered hay at the top of the opposite house, hanging upside down.
It widened its cold eyes and foul-smelling mouth, the patterns on its scales seeming to expand and writhe.
This time, Lumian didn"t dodge.
Facing the colossal boa attempting to devour him, his eyes darkened as he swung his fist upward.
In an instant, blazing white flames ignited from his fist, enveloping his entire forearm.
Bang!
Lumian"s fist smashed into the colossal boa"s gaping maw, tearing through the blood-colored flesh and delivering a devastating uppercut to its upper jaw.
Before it could devour its human prey, the colossal boa"s cold eyes lost their l.u.s.ter. Its ma.s.sive body plummeted due to inertia, but Lumian easily sidestepped the falling serpent and retracted his fist.
Clang!
The colossal boa crashed to the ground, its slippery scaled body engulfed in blazing white flames.
Weakness Investigation!
Lumian approached Rhea, noticing that the patrol team member was also regarding him with a vigilant and puzzled expression. He didn"t attack immediately.
She… Lumian"s heart stirred as a smile played across his lips.
"Looks like you"re still lucid."
Wary of Bunia, Rhea observed Louis Berry for a moment, hesitating before speaking.
"Lucid, you say?"
"Yes." Lumian pointed at Bunia, who was glaring at him with undisguised hatred. "Did he attempt to attack you or even rape you?"
"Yes." Rhea didn"t ask how he knew. Instead, she inquired, "What"s going on?"
Lumian chuckled in response, stating, "Perhaps we"ve entered the dream once more, but this time, we"re not alone."
He made a preliminary judgment based on Rhea"s apparent lucidity.
Perhaps the reason for maintaining his own clarity of mind was falling asleep in Hisoka"s house and entering the special dream recently!
He needed to find Camus for further confirmation.
Upon hearing Louis Berry"s response, a term suddenly flashed through Rhea"s mind.
Before she could voice her thoughts, the sound of three chimes suddenly rang out.
The bell"s resonant tones reverberated through the streets of Tizamo, as if summoning the town"s inhabitants.
Rhea listened intently, her expression shifting slightly.
"It"s the cathedral"s bell!"
Cathedral, the Saint-Sien Cathedral? Lumian"s thoughts immediately turned to the unsettling Padre Cali. He glanced at Rhea.
"Let"s go and investigate."
"Alright," Rhea replied without hesitation.
She lowered her bow, no longer aiming the arrow at the café owner, Bunia, and followed Lumian towards the Saint-Sien Cathedral, which was separated from their current location only by the police headquarters.
Bunia"s expression fluctuated between longing and hatred, but he didn"t dare to pursue them, held back by fear.
Lumian and Rhea sprinted at a breakneck pace. In mere seconds, they traversed the distance past the police headquarters and arrived at the small square in front of the cathedral.
Padre Cali was already standing at the cathedral"s entrance.
However, he was no longer clad in the Eternal Blazing Sun Church clergyman"s robe with its white and golden threads. Instead, he had donned a dark and intricately designed robe.
The padre, with his dark-brown skin, sunken eyes, and stiff facial features, gazed out at the empty square before his eyes settled on the newly arrived Lumian and Rhea. He held the Bible aloft and shouted with a frenzied expression, "I hereby declare the official commencement of the Dream Festival!
"During the Dream Festival, there are no taboos or restrictions. You are free to do as you wish, including harming and killing.
"Revel in it and unleash all your emotions and desires, everyone!"