CHAPTER 872: THE “LUST” DREAM

Facing such a "desperate situation," Princess Vera showed no trace of fear or surprise. Instead, she waved her hand, sending out countless tendrils of black fog that spread and enveloped this independent space that seemed detached from reality.

At the same time, the appearance of Wilson, the earl’s eldest son beside her, suddenly changed, revealing the form of Ebner.

Dressed in a black trench coat and a half-top hat, he slightly bowed toward Mr. Owen and smiled. "Thank you for appreciating my ’camera,’ but I don’t want you using it for such filthy things."

As he spoke, a massive red moon rose above his head, faintly revealing the figure of a beautiful woman dressed in strange clothing.

Immediately after, the phantom of a "Devil" appeared, standing in front of Ebner.

Seeing this, "Lust" Owen instead felt truly relieved. He smiled. "A herded ’Devil,’ a demigod of the ’Moon’ pathway, and a detective who’s not even a demigod... This is your preparation, Your Highness?

"How disappointing."

Shaking his head in disdain, he then smiled at "Greed," "Sloth," and the "Black Knight" Seyrow. "Please, the three of you, block the helpers that the detective brought!

"Once we take down Princess Vera, we’ll help you get rid of them as well..."

After personally "seeing" the three demigods clash with Vera’s "reinforcements," he didn’t hesitate any longer. He directly used his "Mind Deprivation" ability, attempting to invade Princess Vera’s subconscious island. At the same time, he ordered the "Saintess of White" to release a plague to weaken her body.

As for "Pride," he seemed to have completely forgotten about him...

Very quickly, in Owen’s perception, thanks to the "Saintess of White’s" assistance, Vera’s condition worsened. Her stamina gradually ran out, and he successfully invaded her mind island, temporarily "hypnotizing" her, then began "controlling" her actions.

Meanwhile, "Greed," "Sloth," and the "Black Knight" Seyrow had already gained absolute advantage over the "Devil" and the blood clan demigod, severely injuring them.

Seeing this, "Lust" Owen’s mind turned dark. He secretly contacted his elder brother, the "Black Knight" Seyrow, planning for him to betray at the key moment. Then, under the guise of bringing reinforcements, Owen approached "Greed" and "Sloth" with the "Saintess of White" and the temporarily controlled Vera—only to suddenly attack and capture the two women who had originally been his allies.

...

Meanwhile, in the projection hall, all the demigods except "Lust," "Pride," and the "Saintess of White" had gathered, watching the "dream" of "Lust" play out on the big screen.

"That ’Pride’ gentleman can hypnotize a demigod without them realizing it, trapping them in the ’Dream Labyrinth’ without their knowledge... Perhaps we should call him ’He’? Though He only displayed power at Sequence 3 level..." Ebner glanced at Princess Vera in her evening dress beside him and thought to himself, Her outfit now is far more conservative than the one she wore when she came to see me that day...

"You should be able to guess who He is." Vera smiled faintly, not answering directly but confirming Ebner’s suspicion.

There weren’t many "Spectator" angels, and the one replacing "Pride" was most likely the revived "Dragon of Imagination," wasn’t it?

Had He truly allied with the Tamara family? If Vera was indeed from the Tamara family...

Also, the fog enveloping the theater was unusual... Could it be the "Fog of Uncertainty"? In the original work, the Tamara family had a mysterious connection with that...

While Ebner pondered, "Sloth" Miss Closfia, though astonished at "Pride’s" strength, still asked puzzled, "We have absolute advantage. Killing him wouldn’t be hard. Is there really a need to go through all this trouble?"

The "Greed" lady—the countess—also looked over. She didn’t speak, but her gaze showed agreement with "Sloth’s" words.

As for "Black Knight" Seyrow, he said nothing, simply waiting for Ebner’s command.

The ’Greed’ lady really is starting to take the ’shape’ of Miss Sloth... This subtle mental suggestion, in my view, is far more dangerous than ’Lust’s’ overbearing domination!

After some inner complaints, Ebner considered and replied, "There are three reasons...

"First, to create traces of Owen’s actions, so the Loen royal family won’t notice anything unusual... Oh, and later I’ll need to edit his dream experiences... selecting certain parts to intentionally leak, so that certain people will ’happen’ to get them.

"Second, you and ’Greed’ must have signed a contract with him preventing mutual attacks. While I’m sure you both have ways to bypass that, now that he has attacked you first in the Dream Labyrinth, breaking that agreement will be easier."

At this, both "Greed" and "Sloth" nodded, confirming his point, so he continued,

"Third, you should know that the high-level item ’Lust’ possesses is strange and powerful. So it’s better to let him reveal its full details in the dream before acting."

This reverse-hunt plan was personally designed by Ebner, so naturally, he would not underestimate a demigod. He had made many preparations to capture "Lust" at the smallest possible cost.

At this point, Owen’s dream on the screen reached its "climax." After severely injuring "Sloth" and "Greed," he pulled open his collar, revealing a necklace with seven stones.

Only one stone was glowing, clearly showing the image of the "Saintess of White" Katarina.

Owen pulled "Greed" and "Sloth" to his side, impatiently removing their masks—only to be met by a haze of mist. Since he had never seen their real faces in reality, the dream could not "display" them.

His consciousness wavered, sensing something wrong, and he began to wake up.

"Pride" immediately acted according to subconscious reflex, sending the strangely dressed Helen to his side.

Seeing the beauty appear before him, Owen in the dream immediately forgot the earlier suspicion and turned the necklace toward Helen.

Outside the screen, Closfia chuckled to Helen. "That outfit really is seductive—no wonder ’Lust’ can’t control himself and completely forgets the flaw."

Helen replied irritably, "I only dressed like this because you told me to."

Hearing their exchange, "Greed" silently felt relieved—her "master" had never asked her to wear strange outfits.

As for Ebner, his focus was on the necklace:

It was clear that the previously cold "Greed" and "Sloth," as well as Helen, all became more enthusiastic after seeing it... Obviously, in Owen’s subconscious, this was the necklace’s effect.

On the screen, just as Owen’s breathing grew heavier and he prepared to "enjoy" his spoils—just as "Pride" was about to change the script to make him reveal more secrets—his body suddenly convulsed, followed by a violent cough!

This was clearly the work of the "Saintess of White" Katarina, who was holding a red gem and had chosen this moment to betray him in the dream!

The sudden pain in his body instantly tore him out of the near-real dream, allowing him to clearly realize that he had fallen into a trap and had already been influenced to some extent before.

Without hesitation, his back bent slightly as his body began to swell.

His pupils became vertical, shifting from light blue to golden. On his face, his hands, and every inch of exposed skin, gray-white scales like stone began to grow.

With a tearing sound, his white shirt, black vest, suit jacket, and trousers all ripped apart, revealing the dragon scales underneath.

In an instant, Owen Delien became an abnormally massive monster. Aside from his head, which remained human, the rest of his body had completely transformed into that of a gray-white giant dragon whose evolution was incomplete.

The dragon’s back sprouted two gray, leathery wings. Its thick limbs were covered in scales carved with countless intricate, three-dimensional mystical symbols that stretched inward into its flesh and outward into the surrounding void, forming something not of the real world. Just looking at them would drive the mind to madness, twist one’s thoughts, and taint one’s spirit with an irresistible urge to tear or destroy oneself.

This was the "Spectator" pathway’s incomplete mythical creature form!

For demigods of other pathways below the angel level, using a mythical form in battle required an extremely strong will and unwavering faith—otherwise, they would lose control and become a true monster. But the "Spectator" pathway was different: they had "Soothing" and mental healing abilities, allowing them to manage madness and loss of control. As long as the battle didn’t last too long, they could shift into or out of mythical form at will.

Owen’s subconscious boiled. All thoughts surged, identifying and expelling the implanted, modified fragments one by one, dissolving them into nothingness.

The roaring wind around the gray-white dragon seemed to come from both reality and illusion.

Just as his enormous head was about to burst from the screen into the view of the four women and "Black Knight" Seyrow surrounding Ebner, Princess Vera stood, tore open a scroll, and tossed it forward while chanting in ancient Hermes:

"Mystical Reappearance—Dragon-Slaying in a Dream."

This was clearly a spell scroll from Madam Yaroran, containing her magic.

The "dragon-slaying in a dream" allusion came from the story of Wei Zheng beheading the River Jing Dragon King in his sleep. Converted into "Mystical Reappearance," it became a spell specifically for dealing with "psychic dragons"!

In an instant, Owen’s "psychic dragon" form let out a wail, shattered, and returned to human form.

Almost at the same time, he was once again dragged by "Pride" back into the "Dream Labyrinth" to dream yet another "beautiful dream."

(End of this Chapter)