Fantasy Hell

Yaxiu's first reaction upon landing was to look around. Finding the surroundings completely empty and seeing that he was all alone, he collapsed onto the grass, clutching his head with a pained grimace. Having had all his attention captured by those two bastards, Igola and Harvey, Yaxiu had focused entirely on acting cool in their final moments together, completely forgetting that he wasn't alone! He hadn't pulled Dead Frenzy into the teleportation portal! At the thought that Dead Frenzy was still in Blackfall Hell—which was already completely submerged—panic gripped Yaxiu. Glancing down at the back of his hand, which bore only a single tribulation mark, he grew as frantic as a Lalafell in a hot skillet. Suddenly, he slammed a heavy palm right between his eyebrows and toppled backward onto the grass. "Are you trying to smack the water out of your brain?" Yaxiu opened his eyes and looked up, seeing a pair of straight legs clad in darksteel boots. Beneath her swordsman's skirt were leggings, her snow-white thighs visibly brimming with power. Dead Frenzy slowly crouched down, blowing a smoke ring into his face. "I'd suggest slapping yourself instead. It should be much more effective at correcting your IQ." Yaxiu immediately sat up and stared at her blankly. "How are you here, too? Didn't I fail to pull you into the portal?" "Sorry to disappoint you." Dead Frenzy tilted her head and smiled. "Though I don't recall ever asking you to pull me through the portal, did I? As long as you possess Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook, I will always remain by your side. Wherever you go, I will follow." Yaxiu let out a sigh of relief and stood up. "I thought you were left behind in Blackfall..." "If a mere Hell were enough to let you get away, how would we ever replace you?" Dead Frenzy stood up lazily. Yaxiu suddenly reached out to embrace her, but Dead Frenzy instinctively took a step back, causing him to phase straight through her phantom image. "What are you doing?" Dead Frenzy asked with a wary look. "Trying to ambush me? Looking for another beating?" "Did you see that? I found them!" Yaxiu paced back and forth in excitement, saying elatedly, "They aren't dead! I still have a chance to save them from Hell! Here I was, constantly worrying about those two bastards, but not only are they not missing any arms or legs, they actually seem to be doing pretty well... Wait, could they be doing even better than me? I refuse to accept that!" "Still, after not seeing them for months, they're the same goofy fools with zero improvement, honestly..." The cult leader stomped his foot hard. His breathing was rapid and light, as though a heavy weight had been lifted off him, and he chuckled softly, "It's so wonderful." Yaxiu turned back to Dead Frenzy. Spreading his arms, he approached step by step and pulled her into a grateful embrace. This time, Dead Frenzy didn't dodge; she simply turned her head away with an expression of pure distaste, like someone reluctantly going through the motions of customer service. "Thank you," Yaxiu said with heartfelt sincerity, releasing her after a brief hug. "It's not like I helped you find them," Dead Frenzy snorted coldly. "Besides, they're only alive for now—what's there to be happy about? Who knows, maybe the Forgotten Ones will slaughter them all in a few days." This person is really so prickly, spitting venom even when I'm thanking her... Yaxiu wasn't angry. Although they hadn't spent much time together, he had already figured out Dead Frenzy's temperament. Perhaps because he had plenty of experience dealing with Sonia and Niya, Yaxiu keenly noticed that Dead Frenzy shared the same behavioral pattern: a stress response to kindness. If Sonia was a kitten whose reaction to kindness was acting coquettish and being possessive, and Niya was a little hedgehog who felt unworthy of kindness and thus responded with quills, then Dead Frenzy was on another level—she was an outright porcupine. Regardless of whether it was goodwill or malice, she would pierce you full of holes first! Though Dead Frenzy was the most aggressive, she was probably the most simple-minded—it sounded incredible, but made complete sense upon closer thought. Both Sonia and Niya would conceal their true feelings out of various concerns. Dead Frenzy, however, had lived for an eternity. She had witnessed too many downfalls and endured too much despair. There was nothing left in this world she needed to care about. She could tear into anyone she pleased, without needing to show even the Prime Angel any deference. Naturally, her mind had far fewer twists and turns, replaced instead by a lazy straightforwardness. In situations like this, Yaxiu simply changed the subject. Turning to look at the magnificent nightscape in the distance, he asked, "Is this the Fourth Hell?" Beneath the pitch-black sky curtain, fireshowers and silver blossoms blanketing the mountains and valleys illuminated the entire land. The burning night was reflected across the slow-flowing surface of a river, creating a dazzling, mesmerizing spectacle. "Three thousand li of fireshowers and silver blossoms, eight hundred layers of wandering night curtains," Dead Frenzy said. "This is the territory of Nevernight, one of Fantasy Hell's mid-tier factions. Not that it matters much to you—fireshowers and silver blossoms are fire resources, while the wandering night curtain is a dark-arts resource, neither of which you need... Besides, Nevernight is currently still in the hands of demigods. If you want to scavenge it, you'll have to wait until the next exploration, when the Forgotten Ones have slaughtered them all and you can bury this layer of Hell." Yaxiu looked up at the sky. "Even the night curtain was created by demigods?" "More precisely, all of Nevernight—every blade of grass, every tree, the sky, and the earth—is a phantasm creation of Nevernight's demigods," Dead Frenzy explained. "The defining feature of Fantasy Hell is that it allows demigods to 'define the world.'" "Define the world?" "We are currently in Nevernight's territory, which is why you see Nevernight—because the demigods have already fixed it into the 'Nevernight of Fireshowers and Silver Blossoms,'" Dead Frenzy said. "But if you were in an unfixed public area, you might see a sunlit grassland, a tranquil forest, or blooming paddy fields in spring... Your will defines the image of Hell. The world mirrors your heart's finest fantasy of an environment, which is why this place is called 'Fantasy Hell.'" Yaxiu paused, but quickly caught a flaw in the logic. "Wouldn't public areas also be defined by other demigods?" "Yes. So in the exact same place, what looks like a hot spring to you might be molten lava to a fire demigod. Or a light-arts demigod might see a treasure radiating brilliant light, whereas to you, it's just an ordinary stone," Dead Frenzy said. "That is why the Fourth Hell is also known as 'Fatuity Hell.' The vast majority of demigods can only see what they want to see, forever unable to perceive the true world. "'Fatuity Hell' has the richest, most concentrated sorcery resources of all six layers of Hell, and it also sees the highest intensity of demigod warfare. The reason is that resources here exist in two forms: 'phantasms' and 'real objects.' "'Phantasms' are resources that all demigods can see. However, the same phantasm appears as different resources to different demigods, and specifically the crucial resource they lack and need most. Because of this, demigods often wage war to fight over phantasms. "'Real objects' are similar to ordinary resources, with one small difference: you can only discover a real object when the world you envision is highly compatible with it. For example, a water-arts real object can only ever be discovered by a water-arts demigod, because the fantasy world of a water-arts demigod has high compatibility with water-arts real objects, whereas a fire-arts demigod could almost never discover one." Yaxiu summarized, "In other words, demigods here have two paths to grow stronger: collecting real objects is safe but rare, while fighting over phantasms is dangerous but offers more opportunities?" "Pretty much, though collecting real objects isn't particularly safe either," Dead Frenzy smiled. "If you major in a relatively common sorcery faction, obtaining real objects won't be any easier than fighting for phantasms." Yaxiu understood. The more common a demigod's chosen sorcery faction was, the more competitors there would be for its real objects. For instance, real objects of the space faction were undoubtedly on the same difficulty level of contention as phantasms; after all, every demigod had graduated from the Distant Sky Realm, making the space faction a mandatory course for them all.