Sword of Dawnbreaker - Chapter 183 - The Technology of the Eternal Sleepers
Walking up the stairs of the basement and leaving the north tower, Gawain and Amber finally saw the changes that happened to this castle.
Just as Gawain speculated, the entire castle had been enveloped in a long-term illusion, and its appearance was created by Lilith Kant’s dream realm. But at the same time, it wasn’t purely a dream as the boundary of reality and illusion was particularly vague in this place. They were mutually overlapping and influencing one another. Things that happened in reality could interfere with the dream realm, while things in the dream could also reflect in reality.
After the dream realm faded completely, they were able to see the ancient castle’s dilapidated and corroded appearance.
The area with the worst corrosion of the dream realm was the towering north tower as half of the tower was already missing. It was severed in the middle, and the top half had already collapsed many years ago. The remaining giant stone structures were like ruptured bones that were all jagged and pointing at the sky. The morning glimmer made it look very sinister, and around the vacant tower, there were places with broken tiles and bricks that were buried in soil and in vines. On the opposite side of the north tower, the main building of the castle was preserved in a good condition. That place’s reality was superior to the illusion because the servants living in the main part of the castle were actually maintaining the ancient castle. It didn’t have many signs of crumbling, but one could still see worrying cracks, while moss and vines were growing willfully on the exterior walls. As the dream realm’s power faded, those vines and moss had actually reached to the top of the tall main building.
When walking towards the main building of the castle, Gawain and Amber encountered Sir Philip who was rushing over.
The young knight didn’t experience any combat, but destroying the powerful magic core alone was enough to make him exhausted. Philip looked very tired as his eyes were glimmering with a deeper mental exhaustion. After seeing Gawain, Philip was immediately invigorated and stood straight. “Your Excellency! I am glad to see that you are safe!”
Gawain looked at Philip and nodded lightly. “It seems like you have seen something that put immense mental pressure on you.”
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“Yes, it is as you expected.” Philip sighed and said, “The place that Butler Carter vanished was the dream realm’s ‘interior border’. That place has a… ritual site that is filled with evil and blasphemy. I am truly unable to describe that scene.”
Gawain nodded. “Bring me over to have a look. You didn’t tear down that entire place, right?”
“Of course not. They are the evidence of the heretics’ crimes.” Philip nodded and said, “But those victims… probably can’t be saved.”
“…I expected that.” Gawain sighed and said, “Bring me there to take a look at the situation. That’s right! Amber, you make a trip to the castle first. I can guess that the people there should have awakened and are probably panicking. Go and look for the castle’s advisor, treasurer, chief knight, and that cleric. Ask them to stabilize the people and to gather all the supervisors and Knights of the territory. As soon as possible, I will go to the main hall and take charge.”
Amber blinked her eyes. “Are you sure those people will listen to me?”
“You are now considered as a personal guard of the Duke. Do you think that servants of an ordinary noble clan will have any authority to talk back?” Gawain looked at Amber before saying, “Furthermore, the dream realm has ended, and the happenings of this castle over thirty years will be acknowledged by everyone’s mind. This unimaginable notion would cause everyone to sink into a great panic. Under such a situation, people are very easily influenced.”
Gawain’s latter half of his statement didn’t even make it into the brain of the half-elf. When Amber heard the first half of the statement, she had already started to drift as her mind was rapidly revolving with at least 60 ways to get rich and 80 ways to swindle. Basically, everything was revolving around her using this fake authority, but it was a pity that she merely drifted for a few seconds before she was already seen through by Gawain. Gawain immediately glared at her and said, “If you dare to make use of my name to swindle and cheat, I will smack you onto the wall!”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Can’t you change your method of threatening me?”
“Then I will smack you into the ground.” Gawain shook his hand and turned around while saying, “In short, if you dare to swindle anyone, I will smack you onto the wall. If you dare to steal something, I will smack you into the ground—”
However, the frank Sir Philip quickly followed Gawain before asking with concern, “What if she deceives you saying that she didn’t steal anything after she finished stealing the things?”
Gawain stopped and looked at Philip quietly before saying “…Have you considered perming your hair?”[1]
“Ah?”
Gawain sighed in his heart: As expected, the worst part of being stranded in another world is the inability to communicate with natives using my usual language even when the opposition is just a side character.
The duo arrived at the hall that Sir Philip discovered.
The magical energy that lingered in the hall had already scattered, while the oppressive and maniacal aura had also vanished. However, it was still a sinister and horrific place. In Gawain’s vision, the platforms that were arranged around the stone pillars were like dissection tables emitting the stench of blood. On the dissection tables, the “lambs” that were waiting to be slaughtered were still alive.
Gawain noticed that the heads of the victims were connected to the stone pillars through some kind of biological-tissue tubes. They were growing with blood vessels and nerves that, obviously, didn’t develop from the human brain and were actually mutated. One end of the tube was connected to the foundation part of the stone pillars, and there was a layer of swelling and distorted flesh structure. It seemed just like an independent organism that was sticking close to the runes on the stone pillars. The other end of the tube was connected to the human body, and it should be an outcome due to a certain kind of parasite (or surgery).
As Sir Philip had destroyed the runes on the stone pillars, those “biological tissues” that were attached to the stone pillars were showing signs of weakening and were at the point of demise. They were starting to wither and split, while pale red liquid flowed out from the cracks. The victims that were connected together were mostly dead.
Those that had yet to perish were obviously beyond rescue. They had been connected to those “nerve cords” for too long, and their individual consciousness was already extinguished. The brain tissues had suffered irreversible damage and their remaining brain nerve cells were simply providing calculative ability to the massive “human-brain array calculator”. Once the magic dissipated, they would perish soon after.
The only thing that was worth rejoicing was that they didn’t have to experience any more suffering in this process.
“I cannot identify what this thing is.” Sir Philip endured his disgust as he crouched down together with Gawain at one of the stone pillar foundations. He used his sword sheath to point at the squirming and contracting biological tissue at the front. “Even in the records of those ancient books that contained the most insane black magic and the crazy talk of those heretics, I have never heard of the existence of such… life forms. The Eternal Sleepers are not Druids. They don’t have the ability to reform species or to summon life. They must have found these biological tissues from some place and reproduced it, using it to extract the soul. But… where did they find these things?”
“Perhaps these things were bred by the Oblivion Association on behalf of the Eternal Sleepers.”
Gawain frowned and said, “They are associated after all.”
Sir Philip was astonished. “Do those evil cults have such a close relationship?”
“If the reason for their corruption is what I am thinking, their relationship might be far closer than what most people imagine.” Gawain sighed and said, “As compared to that, I am more concerned about the ‘technology’ that the Eternal Sleepers are using.”
Philip was just a soldier and was rather slow-witted in this aspect. “Technology?”
“Viscount Victor mentioned it in the letters he left behind. This is a ‘calculation node’ constructed by the Eternal Sleepers.” Gawain pointed at the nerve cords that were connected to the victims and said, “It seems like they are attempting to replace the real world with a ‘true dream realm’, and using the power of the dream realm to materialize something. It requires a terrifying amount of calculation ability. You can simply understand it as the brain’s capacity. It is a feat that no mage’s brain could accomplish. Therefore, they thought up this insane idea to connect the brains and create a ‘human-brain array calculator’. Do you understand what this means?”
“Does this mean they will kill more people?”
“That is just the surface. The deeper significance is that this group of heretics aren’t just crazy, they are also in possession of crazy technology!” Gawain spoke sternly. “They are rejected by mainstream society and have been hiding in seclusion but are still constantly developing. They have developed a new technology that is far beyond the current era’s standard of magic. The heretics that have insane ideas aren’t terrifying. The terrifying thing is that the heretics actually have the ability to research, and they are very good at it!”
While speaking, Gawain stood up and looked at the entire underground hall.
“The most frightening thing is that if this crazy technology that they created is used in the right place, their technological advancement will be faster and more terrifying…”
After collecting the stone rubbing of the runes and the samples of the remains, Gawain and Sir Philip left this place.
After the dream realm’s power faded, the castle’s main hall was transformed into one of the smallest areas. Apart from the exterior walls, support pillars, and the ceiling that suddenly exposed the signs of 30 years of aging, this place was still brightly illuminated, clean, and fresh. The servants that lived in the castle were actually cleaning the place on a daily basis, but the overlapping trait of the dream realm and reality had ensured that the effects of their cleaning weren’t just restricted to the dream realm.
In fact, due to the ending of the dream realm’s effect, the indistinct and gloomy aura that constantly lingered in this place had also vanished. The castle’s main hall was now much warmer and more peaceful than before.
However, the warm and peaceful atmosphere couldn’t relieve the anxiety of the people gathered in the main hall.
Fear had enveloped everyone’s hearts, including the chief Knight who had guarded this place with loyalty and devotion for 30 years.
When the dream realm ended, everyone in the castle suddenly awakened. Their consciousness and the memories that were obscured had all started to resolve themselves. The moment they obtained the free will to think, everything they experienced for 30 years had turned into a grotesque and variegated nightmare. They had been dream-walking in an ancient castle that didn’t stop aging and had been taking care of an illusion that had been dead for decades. Their ghost-like mistress had been pacing back and forth from the ruined north tower. Everything was so chilling that their blood ran cold.
As for those senior servants, Knights, advisors, and supervisors, things were even more horrific. They clearly remembered when their master and young master’s skeletons were secretly transported back to the castle. They had also clearly remembered that 30 years ago, their mistress turned crazy and used magic to control all of their minds. Everything that happened after the incident, every single transformation that happened to the castle had surged into their minds.
As for the supervisors that lived in the vicinity of the castle that were called back were now immersed in fear. Those people who frequently entered and exited this castle would be affected by the dream realm, but compared to the servants and Knights who never left the castle for 30 years, their fear was slightly lesser.
No matter what, after realizing what they had experienced, no one was able to maintain their composure.
Amber was now standing at the tall platform at the end of the main hall and feeling very anxious.
This place was where the feudal lord would stand normally, but no one raised any objection to the “young lady” that stood atop it. Everyone knew that she was the personal guard of the Duke, and she was speaking on behalf of the Duke in this emergency. Therefore, no one doubted her and were looking at her with eyes filled with expectation.
However, Amber wished for a chance to immediately go back into the shadows. It turned out that the feeling of becoming someone important wasn’t as nice as she imagined!
“Everyone, don’t panic, don’t… don’t panic! The Duke is cleansing the last hideout, and he will be here shortly. Don’t panic. He is on his way here!”
Amber stood on the platform and pacified everyone with futile gestures. Just as she felt that she couldn’t maintain the situation for even a second longer, Gawain and Sir Philip appeared together.
[1] It is a saying to say you have nothing better to do.
