The next second.

Along with that single dragon roar, a towering, mountain-like phantom figure suddenly leapt out from Olivia's body, spreading its arms to firmly shield her unconscious form against its chest.

Amid a blaze of brilliant golden-cyan divine radiance.

Vaguely, one could make out that six-meter-tall form, shaped like both dragon and deer, with golden eyes and sharp fangs, a corona of light like a blazing sun upon its head. Lightning, storm winds, and rain surged endlessly around it, while the phantoms of countless living beings knelt and bowed in unison at its side:

"From the One, ten-thousand are born—God of All Things Fertile!"

Though it was not a physical body, that overwhelmingly terrifying aura still pressed down on everyone's heart as heavy as a mountain.

Especially the twelve Deceitful Dream Bishops who had already gathered closely around the gray-white tentacles; they now felt as powerless as weak mortals, not daring to move even a finger.

However, in a confrontation that had already risen to the level of Gods, whatever they thought at this moment no longer mattered in the slightest. Hmph, mere ants.

When the countless tentacles originally lunging toward Olivia fell upon the phantom, a blinding platinum ring of lightning suddenly detonated.

BOOOOM——!!!

[Divine Skill: Divine Punishment Urgent Thunder]

A terrifying blast of energy equal to Aiven's full-strength strike in person shrieked out with an ear-piercing scream, and in the blink of an eye pierced straight through this [Dream Beast Cage].

Not only did it turn the innumerable tentacles attacking Olivia into charred carbon, it also casually ground the group of Tier 3 Deceitful Dream Sect Bishops hiding behind them into dust.

Because its speed was simply too fast, that group of Ancient Divine Clerics whose mood had just gone through a violent roller coaster didn't even have time to let out a single scream before they were reduced to ash and vanished.

In truth.

Now that Aiven simultaneously possessed the dual identities of [Truth Embodiment] and [God of All Things Fertile], being able to grant blessings to others couldn't be more normal.

All the more so when the target was Olivia, who was intimate with him from soul to flesh?

Just like when the two of them got engaged back then, the Ancient Land Turtle, the King of Sea Monsters, Kraken, had also bestowed them with its blessing.

It was just that such a powerful blessing, quite apart from harsh limits on the number of times it could be used and stringent activation conditions, would also lower the caster's power cap to some extent; the idea of spreading it on a large scale was absolutely impossible.

Bang!

After that one strike, the holy phantom shattered with the [Dream Beast Cage] in a thunderous explosion.

At the same time, that Divine Power which was cold as a blade to outsiders yet gentle as water within surged majestically through Olivia's body, washing away every trace of the earlier hypnosis.

From inside out, with the [Eye of Profound Wisdom], Aiven probably understood Olivia's body even better than she did herself.

When Olivia regained consciousness and opened her eyes again.

What she saw outside the shattered [Beast Cage] was a gigantic gray-white octopus so large its head and tail could not be seen at a glance, a terrifying fusion of countless tentacles and countless eyes.

It made one's hair stand on end, SAN value plummeting.

"That's... the 'Source of Nightmare,' Hypnos?! An Ancient God personally came to grab us?!"

Just as Olivia was feeling it absurd that behind the attackers there was even an Ancient God hiding, yet another massive tentacle split into tens of thousands, wrapping toward her.

She seemingly had no strength left to resist.

But at that moment, the real reinforcements finally arrived.

Crack——!

A bolt of lightning suddenly exploded beside her, and Aiven strode out in a crisp, well-pressed military uniform; clearly, after his promotion to Tier 5, his Spirit and flesh were no longer separate in any way.

Even without any authority over the [Dream Realm] itself, he no longer needed to rely on [Dream Cruise] and could still freely traverse Dream Realm and Spirit Realm, and his speed was only faster than before.

Seeing that Olivia was safe, Aiven had just barely breathed a sigh of relief when the terrifying monster at arm's length imprinted itself in his gaze.

"Source of Nightmare," "Dream Eater," "Mist Octopus" Hypnos, its appearance that of a gigantic gray-white octopus with a thousand tentacles and a thousand eyes.

It roamed perpetually through Dream Realm and Spirit Realm; before it appeared, there would always be a flute sound that lulled people to sleep. Even if one was already within a dream, they would still drift into slumber and sink into an even deeper layer of dreams.

This entity possessed a life essence nearly exceeding Demigod Level. Even without attacking, mere observation would cause misfortune to befall those who encountered it.

Aiven had seen many Deceitful Dream Cultists, but this "Natural Phenomenon in Dreams" had always eluded him.

Just when he thought Olivia had simply been unlucky enough to bump into this mindless monster while traversing dreams, he heard his wife's anxious cry:

"Quick, Aiven, we've been ambushed, Mom was taken by It!"

The instant Aiven appeared, the "Source of Nightmare," having already achieved its basic objective, immediately retracted that tentacle.

Like a squid suddenly sensing danger, it spewed out countless multicolored dream bubbles as cover, then whipped its tentacles and turned to flee without hesitation.

Aiven had no time to ponder why a universally acknowledged, utterly mindless, sluggish "natural phenomenon" would suddenly launch a deliberate ambush and kidnapping. He just bellowed:

"You're not getting away!"

As he pulled Olivia into his arms to protect her, he rapidly unfolded his own [Wizard Secret Realm: Central Courtyard].

Within a surge of mighty golden-cyan divine radiance.

Shhh shhh shhh shhh....

Countless iron-colored branches as thick as buildings shot out from the void around him, like a horde of ancient Titan pythons, coiling toward the fleeing Hypnos.

They were about to transform this section of the Dream Realm into an entire forest-tree world.

At the same time, on each branch a bud slowly bloomed; only, what was ultimately born was not fruit, but one Six-Barreled Cannon: Godslayer after another!

Rat-tat-tat... rat-tat-tat... rat-tat-tat....

As he launched a pursuit of the "Source of Nightmare," he first poured down countless incandescent chains of fire onto Its body.

This already fully embodied Life Tree Branch, just like Aiven, could wield every Magic-like Ability from the School. Midorra's Magic-like Technique: Differentiation/Assimilation was naturally no exception.

The transformations continued, as turrets of shocking caliber, Electromagnetic Cannons, laser emitters, Missile Launching Wells... were about to unleash endless firepower upon the "Source of Nightmare."

Bwooo——!

With absolutely no intention of tangling with Aiven, the massive octopus let out another flute-like cry from its mouth.

BOOM!

Indeed worthy of its title as a "natural phenomenon," in the next instant the distance between it and them stretched to infinity.

The entire Dream Realm suddenly inverted, turning into a constantly churning, multicolored vortex.

It ruthlessly swept Aiven and Olivia, along with the [Tree World] that was now no smaller than Hypnos itself, and hurled them into the deepest reaches of the dream It controlled.

Hypnos itself then suddenly accelerated and vanished.

...

In the deepest region of the Mist Sea where daylight never shone, a colossal sailing ship, as if pieced together from vessels of various eras, floated quietly on the surface.

Layer upon layer of ghostly images hovered over this Ghost Ship that had finally left the dreams of living beings to manifest in the Material World.

A brightly lit circus, a childlike fantasy castle, a treasure vault stuffed with gold and silver, an ancient battlefield strewn with corpses....

They shifted one after another like a spinning lantern, cycling through different mirage-scenes; those were the layered Ghost Worlds within the Deceitful Dream's interior.

On the dilapidated main deck, Loygor, Master of the Mist Sea, with a top hat on his head and eight tentacles sprouting from his face, looked at the Nymph before him whose eyes were slightly glazed yet utterly obedient, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Those useless trash almost ruined everything. Even though I had to step in personally now to capture the target, they've completely exposed the 'Source of Nightmare' to the gaze of the Sea Monarchy's side.

We must make this quick!

As long as I reclaim my power before They follow the trail to my Door, then even if I can't ascend once more to the seat of a True God, when that final plan is complete, it should still be enough to protect myself.

If I hadn't searched for so many years only to find this one Caster who perfectly meets the conditions, I really wouldn't want to randomly provoke that freak who managed to seal his godhood in just a bit over twenty years at such a critical time.

But no matter how much of a so-called genius he is, once the final plan is complete, he'll be nothing more than a stepping stone for us! Behind the Door... the Möbius Ring! The origin of everything, and the end of everything!"

Thinking of that beautiful future where the five-hundred-thousand-year limit would no longer exist, even abandoning this world and its countless living beings altogether would be nothing at all.

"Initiate the ritual!"