Chapter 878 Phantom

 Dilapidated ruins.

The former splendor and majesty are gone, the broken corridors, the collapsed fortresses, the dead courtyards, everything, it is as if even the air has become dead.

"How is this going?"

Girl - Agnesphia opened her eyes wide in surprise and looked around. She knew clearly that she was dreaming. But Anisphia has never had such a clear dream, which even makes people feel real and not like a dream. The palace in his memory was so dilapidated and dilapidated, as if everything had been destroyed.

"Father? Mother? Duke of Grants? Is anyone here?"

Anisphia looked around and called, but there was no response. Even her voice seemed to gradually disappear into the depths of the broken corridor, falling into silence again.

"anyone there?"

At this moment, Anisphia became panicked. She ran forward with all her strength, but even her footsteps disappeared into the dark shadows. The garden outside the corridor was also dry. Agnesphia had never seen a palace like this before. It was as if not only the palace, but the entire world had been destroyed.

 What happened?

Agnesphia walked through the corridor and came to the main hall, but there was also no one here. At this moment, the girl gradually began to panic. She shouted loudly, eager to get even a little response - no matter what it was, It's better than being alone.

 But still nothing.

"boom---!"

The girl pushed open the main hall, rushed out of the palace, and looked outside. Then, she stood there blankly.

 In front of her, under the steps, she saw that the originally lively and prosperous royal city had also turned into ruins at this moment. It was as if this city, this country, this world had been completely destroyed and forgotten, and no life existed except for her.

 “Why…what happened?”

Anisphia stumbled back and slumped directly on the ground, looking uneasily at the ruins in front of her.

 “What happened to the Kingdom of Paretia? Why did the royal city become like this?”

At this time, Anisphia's mind went blank. She looked at the royal city in front of her in bewilderment. She usually had a clever mind, but she didn't have any ideas at this moment.

 “Dong…dong…”

However, at this moment, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded.

"Why?"

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind her, Anisphia took a breath of air. The other party's steps were slow but steady, and even every step made the ground tremble slightly.

 Gradually, the footsteps got closer and closer - and then stopped behind Agnesphia.

　　　…………”

Anisphia swallowed, her instinct warning her not to turn around and see what was standing behind her. But somehow, Anisphia still turned her head and looked behind her.

Then, she saw an extremely tall man in steel armor standing behind her, its helmet exuding a dark red light, staring coldly at the girl in front of her, as if a beast was staring. Catching his prey.

 “Wait, what are you?!”

At this moment, Anisphia jumped up in horror, trying to distance herself from the terrifying existence in front of her. However, at this moment, an even more unimaginable scene happened.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 institutions.

I saw the steel armor's gauntlets suddenly decomposed and cracked, and the part that originally wrapped the fingers fell to the ground. At the same time, the steel warrior's helmet also split, and then I saw dozens of tentacles emerging from it, like pythons. It generally entangled the girl's limbs and body.

 “Hey————!”

Feeling the cold touch, Anisphia immediately screamed. These tentacles were covered with slippery mucus, and they were squirming on Anisphia's body. I saw them slowly moving up the girl's slender waist, crossing the mountain peaks, passing through deep ravines, and continuing along Agnesphia's neck.

 “No, no, don’t come over...don’t...woo!”

Feeling the wet and greasy touch on her skin, Anisphia turned pale, shook her head desperately, shouted loudly and tried to resist. However, at this moment, a tentacle suddenly emerged from the dark helmet and penetrated directly into Anisfia's open mouth, blocking Anisfia's scream. At the same time, a biting chill hit from the air, making Anisphia tremble all over.

 “Woo…Woo…!”

The girl twisted her body desperately, trying to break away from the tentacles that restrained her. However, those slippery, eel-like tentacles did not move at all, but slowly moved across the surface of the white skin like a snail, sticking to it. Thick, disgusting mucus dripped from it and spread like water droplets.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　————!

Anisfia's body trembled suddenly, but before she could come to her senses, something even more unimaginable happened - the tentacles wrapped around Anisfia's body began to gradually pull back, and then moved around Anisfia's body. Under Sofia's horrified gaze, the huge armor cracked a gap in the middle, and then slowly opened to both sides like a door, revealing its hidden interior to the girl in front of her.

  Nothing.

That's right, the armor in front of you feels more like some kind of torture instrument that only appears in legends. Agnesphia also immediately recalled that in her memory, she had read similar descriptions. Ordinary iron barrels have countless sharp thorns on the inside. As long as a person is stuffed into it and closed tightly, those sharp thorns will penetrate the body of the victim...

As if Anisfia's suspicion was verified, as she got closer to the armor, Anisfia gradually saw that there seemed to be something hidden in the dark shadows on the inside of the armor.

But soon, she saw it clearly.

It is a group of tentacles that are as small as fluff. They cover the entire inside of the armor, and they are constantly fluttering like seaweed swaying with the waves of the sea.

Then, as if sensing Agnesfia's arrival, these tentacles gradually lengthened and began to stretch towards Agnesfia, slowly pulling her into the interior of the armor.

 “Woo————!”

The girl didn't even have time to scream. The next moment, the dark steel armor closed heavily and swallowed her completely.

 “Ugh————!”

Anisphia suddenly opened her eyes and screamed. She raised her head in surprise and looked around. At the same time, a red-haired maid hurried in.

"What happened? Lady Anisphia? What's wrong with you?" "I...I..."

Facing the maid's question, Agnesphia looked around blankly.

 “I seem to have had a nightmare...”

 “Nightmare? What kind of nightmare?”

"this………"

 Anisphia frowned, thought carefully, and then shook her head.

"I can't remember, ugh...I can't even remember what kind of dream it was..."

 “That’s it…”

Hearing Anisfia's answer, the red-haired maid breathed a sigh of relief, then she glanced at Anisfia and stood up.

 “Let me get you a glass of water, Lady Anisphia.”

 “Well, okay, sorry for the trouble...”

I don’t know if it was because of the nightmare. At this moment, Anisphia also felt that her whole body was hot and sweaty. She took a long breath and nodded. With Agnesfia's permission, the maid hurriedly turned around and prepared a drink for Agnesfia.

 At this moment, the girl lowered her head, but couldn't help but be stunned.

"Why?"

Under the candlelight, the girl saw a strange mark on her wrist, as if it was entangled with something. This made her scream involuntarily, and at this moment, the red-haired maid holding a cup came to Agnesphia again.

"What's wrong?"

 “No, I just...”

 Taking the cup from the maid, Agnesphia looked at her wrist again.

　There is nothing there.

 Did you see it wrong just now?

 Soon, the night passed.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

When Duanmuhuai walked out of the room, he stretched out comfortably.

 “Good morning, big brother.”

Looking at Duanmu Huai and Ojisi walking out, Zhenji Ling also said hello to them.

 “How did you sleep last night?”

 “Not bad, I seemed to have had a good dream.”

As he spoke, Duanmuhuai moved his body and neck.

“By the way, how is the situation over there?”

“Ah, I did investigate some things. Just like what you said, big brother, this country also has some internal problems of its own…”

Hearing Duanmuhuai's inquiry, Zhen Jiling suddenly became serious. Then she came to Duanmuhuai and told Duanmuhuai what she had learned about the internal situation of the Kingdom of Paretia.

 After listening to Zhen Jiling's narration, Duanmu Huai's expression became much more solemn.

“So, you are saying that the royal family and nobles of this country all make contracts with something called magic elves and use magic?”

"Yes."

"Um………"

Hearing Zhen Ji Ling's answer, Duanmu Huai stretched out his hand and knocked on the table and started thinking. Generally speaking, Duanmu Huai is wary of non-realistic things like magic elves. Facts have proved that if a thing does not live in the real plane, then it is probably a monster in the subspace.

And the legend that the royal family of the Kingdom of Paretia signed a contract with the nobles and magic elves to use magic reminded Duanmuhuai of the records of those psykers who associated with subspace demons in order to seek more powerful power...

Not to mention that it is inherited by blood, so there is a high possibility that the royal family and nobles of the Kingdom of Paretia are descendants of psykers.

As for the appearance of subspace creatures, Duanmuhuai doesn't care at all. In fact, many planetary civilizations are like this. For example, some barbarians believe in wolf souls, animal spirits, or local mountain gods. According to the Inquisition, The standards are all subspace demons, kill them all and be done with them.

So magic elves may be a belief in the Kingdom of Paretia, but once Duanmuhuai discovers that these magic elves are subspace demons, he will take action.

Um? But why can't Princess Anisfia sign a contract with the magical elves to use elven magic?

 Is she untouchable? But when they came into contact before, Duanmuhuai didn't feel the feeling of being untouchable from her. She actually has magic power... Logically speaking, it seems that there is no problem in learning the human magic system?

 Or is there another mystery behind it?

“No matter how you look at it, it seems that there are quite a lot of internal problems in this country.”

Thinking of this, Duanmu Huai shook his head and sighed.

 All in all, it seems that we can only take one step at a time.

 As for the specific situation - let’s analyze it concretely and solve it concretely.

 (End of this chapter)