Nightmare's Call - Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Trying Out: Part 1
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The soft sound of a key unlocking something rang from the door’s lock.
Lin Sheng looked around, and in his panic, he moved the tea table from the hall to barricade the door.
*Crack!*
An unexpected odd noise rang out from the study.
Lin Sheng tensed and rushed to the study with his sword in both hands.
The window of the study was half open.
Darkness roiled outside the window, and something seemed to be seething as it rubbed against the window glass from time to time.
Lin Sheng darted over and looked out of the window.
Within the darkness, an arm-wide tentacle, which looked like a tree root, quickly slithered past the window. 1
The tentacle was translucent, and a mysterious silver slime flowed within it. 1
*Bam!!*
There was a sudden loud bang at the front door as it caved inward in a terrifying twist.
*Bam!!*
Then came the second crash.
Lin Sheng could feel the entire house shaking
He held his black sword tightly and was just about to activate the Sacred Blood to fight when…
*Wiff!* 1
A translucent root came flying in from the window behind him.
The root caught hold of his waist, and with overwhelming force, violently pulled him out of the window.
Just as Lin Sheng exited the window, Lin Sheng instinctively slashed at the root, but the black mist soon surged over and smothered him.
*Crack!*
However, the black sword appeared to have slashed through something.
Lin Sheng suddenly felt light, and he fell downward.
He could not see anything in the darkness.
The black mist engulfed him, trying to get into his nose, ears, and mouth.
Then, a faint crimson light appeared on the dazed Lin Sheng’s body.
The crimson light barely warded off the black mist’s assault, and it looked extremely thin like it could unravel at any moment.
Lin Sheng curled up and still felt the sensation of falling.
He glanced above, and he could see a house that was enveloped in red light getting farther away…
He immediately recognized the house as his own home. He had fallen out from there, and the house slowly disappeared into the black mist.
Time seemingly lost all meaning there as Lin Sheng continued to fall.
He clutched his black sword hard. It was the only thing he could rely on now.
*Wuff!!*
Out of nowhere, another translucent root shot out from afar. Some kind of silvery slime flowed within it as it rapidly retracted in a certain direction.
Without any warning, Lin Sheng was bound again by the root and dragged away.
*Wuff!*
The wind howled in his ears.
Lin Sheng had not felt anything like it before.
He was tightly restricted by the root as he was swiftly dragged through the black mist.
This time around, he did not try to cut the root. His instincts told him that if he allowed himself to simply fall downward, something bad would happen.
Lin Sheng calmed down and allowed the root to drag him on.
Time slowly passed, and slowly but surely, he felt the mist around him brightening up, turning from black into an ethereal gray.
*Duff!*
Without warning, a cotton-candy like cloud came charging toward him.
The cloud appeared to be a living, writhing gray body as parts of it contracted and expanded.
By the time Lin Sheng could react, he was already about to crash into the cloud.
Just then, the root that was tugging him suddenly increased its velocity and changed directions, pulling him away from the edge of the cloud with only inches to spare.
At the same time, he seemed to have heard cheers coming from the cloud. They were distant and unclear.
There were also voices of people speaking loudly while accompanied by an odd melody. 2
As he got away from the cloud, the voices weakened and disappeared.
Before he could even regain his bearings, another silvery-gray cloud flew by.
This time, chilling screams and cries could be heard followed by a bizarre, manic howl. 1
Lin Sheng had no time to decipher what it was all about because a third cloud closed in.
It was much smaller than the first two. It had a faint golden glow to it and was particularly eye-catching in the sea of gray clouds.
Lin Sheng was then dragged by the root beneath the cloud.
As he got close…
*Hiss…*
A massive golden face appeared on the cloud.
The face looked impassively at Lin Sheng while a pair of golden eyes traced his movements.
Lin Sheng felt the root around him suddenly shudder, and it began to loosen up.
“The f*ck?!” Lin Shen quickly grabbed onto the root.
His instincts told him that if he was left there against the golden-faced man, there would be nothing but danger for him.
Thankfully, the golden face simply looked at him and the root before it turned away and disappeared.
Lin Sheng held his black sword in one hand as he grabbed onto the root with the other. His body dangled out and would slam against the root from time to time.
Clouds of various sizes and colors sped past him.
There were furious howls, cries of sorrow, or silence from the clouds, and some would slowly disintegrate then disappear.
After flying for a while, Lin Sheng finally realized that his grip was weakening. 1
Unexpectedly, he became dazed, and his fingers let go. His entire body was thrown by inertia into the air before he fell downward again.
Amid the howling winds, Lin Sheng saw himself break through cloud after cloud.
*Duff!*
He then crashed violently into the top of a small black cloud and bounced up like a ball a few times before he rolled off its edge.
Incidentally, another translucent root flew by underneath him.
Lin Sheng adjusted his position as well as timing, and he struck down with his sword.
*Duff!*
He once again landed on the surface of the root.
This root was the size of a thick thigh, enough for him to ride. 1
The root quickly flew through one cloud after another as the gray mist around him lessened and his field of vision grew wider.
Lin Sheng lay prone on the root while he looked about.
As the clouds turned scarce, the mist got thinner as well.
A large green island appeared beneath him with a mountain range crawling across it.
On the highest peak of the sea of trees and mountains was a clear, black stone fortress. 1
The fortress was dead silent without any signs of life as vines crawled all over its outer walls.
Before Lin Sheng could even get a proper look, the root that he was on suddenly swiveled as if someone was swinging it about.
He did not manage to react in time and was thrown into the air and directly toward the mountains.
The translucent root he had ridden on earlier flew away and disappeared into the mist.