Chapter 880: Illusion

Ruined ruins.

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

"What's going on?"

The girl, Enisfia, opened her eyes wide in surprise and looked around. She knew clearly that she was dreaming. But Enisfia had never had such a clear dream, which even made people feel that it was not real. The palace in her memory was so dilapidated and broken, as if everything was destroyed.

"Father? Mother? Duke of Granz? Is anyone there?"

Enisfia looked around and called out, but there was no response at all. Even her voice seemed to gradually disappear in the depths of the broken corridor and fell into silence again.

"Is there anyone?"

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

What happened?

Enisfia walked through the corridor and came to the hall, but there was no one here either. At this moment, the girl began to panic. She shouted loudly, hoping to get even a little response - no matter what it was, it was better than being alone.

But there was still nothing.

"Bang!"

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

In front of her, under the steps, the originally lively and prosperous royal city also turned into a ruin. It was as if this city, this country, and this world were completely destroyed and forgotten. There was no life except her.

"Why...what happened?"

Enisfia stumbled back and sat directly on the ground, looking at the ruins in front of her anxiously.

"What happened to the Kingdom of Paletia? Why did the royal city become like this?"

At this moment, Enisfia's mind was blank. She looked at the royal city in front of her in a daze. Her usually smart head was completely clueless at this moment.

"Dong...Dong..."

However, at this moment, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded.

"Hey?"

Hearing the footsteps coming from behind her, Enisfia took a breath. The other party's steps were slow, but also very steady. Even every step would make the ground tremble slightly.

Gradually, the footsteps got closer and closer, and then stopped behind Enisfia.

"…………………"

Enisfia swallowed her saliva. Her instinct warned her not to turn around and see what was standing behind her. But for some reason, Enisfia turned her head and looked behind her.

Then, she saw a very tall man in steel armor standing behind her. His helmet was emitting a dark red glow, and he stared at the girl in front of him coldly, as if a beast was staring at its prey.

"Wait, what are you?!"

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

"Bang."

The hand armor of the steel armor suddenly disintegrated and cracked, and the part that originally wrapped the fingers fell to the ground. At the same time, the helmet of the steel warrior also split apart, and then, dozens of tentacles sprang out from it, wrapping around the girl's limbs and body like a python.

"Ah---!"

Feeling the cold touch, Enesphia screamed immediately. These tentacles were covered with slippery mucus, and they crawled on Enesphia's body. They slowly moved up along the girl's slender waist, across the mountain, through the deep ravine, and continued to move along Enisfia's neck.

"No, no, don't come over...no...ooo!"

Feeling the wet touch on her skin, Enisfia's face turned pale, she shook her head desperately, and shouted loudly to try to resist. However, at this moment, a tentacle suddenly jumped out of the black helmet and drilled directly into Enisfia's wide-open mouth, blocking Enisfia's shouting. At the same time, the biting coldness came from the air, making Enisfia tremble all over.

"Woo... Woo... Woo...!!"

The girl twisted her body desperately, trying to break free from the tentacles that bound her, but the slippery, eel-like tentacles were unmoved, and slowly slid across the surface of her fair skin like a snail, with sticky, disgusting mucus dripping from it and spreading like water droplets.

"————!"

Enesphia's body trembled suddenly, but before she could come to her senses, something even more unimaginable happened—the tentacles that were wrapped around Enesphia's body began to gradually pull back, and then under Enesphia's horrified gaze, the huge armor cracked a gap in the middle, and then slowly opened to both sides like a door, showing the girl in front of her what was hidden inside.

Nothing.

That's right, the armor in front of her gave people the feeling that it was more like a torture device that only appeared in legends. Enisfia also recalled that in her memory, she had read a similar description. In the iron barrel that looked like a coffin, there were countless sharp spikes on the inside. As long as a person was stuffed in and closed, the spikes would penetrate the body of the person being tortured...

As if to verify Enisfia's conjecture, as she got closer and closer to the armor, Enisfia gradually saw that there seemed to be something hidden in the dark shadow inside the armor.

But soon, she saw it clearly.

It was a group of tiny tentacles like fluff, which covered the inside of the entire armor, like seaweed swaying with the drifting of the sea water, floating constantly.

Then, as if sensing Enisfia's arrival, these tentacles gradually grew longer and began to stretch towards Enisfia, slowly pulling her into the inside of the armor.

"Woo---!"

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

"Woo---!"

Enesphia suddenly opened her eyes and screamed. She looked up in surprise and looked around. At the same time, a red-haired maid ran in hurriedly.

"What happened? Lady Enesphia? What's wrong with you?"

"I... I......"

Faced with the maid's question, Enesphia looked around blankly.

"I seem to have had a nightmare..."

"Nightmare? What kind of nightmare?"

"This..."

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

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

"Is that so..."

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

"I'll get you a glass of water, Lady Enesphia."

"Okay, thank you for your help..."

I don't know if it's because of the nightmare, but Enesphia felt hot and sweaty at the moment. She breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. With Enesphia's permission, the maid turned around and prepared a drink for Enesphia.

At this moment, the girl lowered her head, but was stunned.

"Hey?"

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

"What's wrong?"

"No, I just..."

Taking the cup handed by the maid, Enesphia looked at her wrist again.

There...there was nothing.

Did I see it wrong just now?

Soon, a night passed.

"Huh..."

When Duanmu Huai walked out of the room, he stretched comfortably.

"Good morning, big brother."

Looking at Duanmu Huai and Ogis coming out, Zhen Jiling also greeted them.

"How did you sleep last night?"

"Not bad, I seemed to have a good dream."

While speaking, Duanmu Huai 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 problems of its own..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai's inquiry, Zhen Jiling suddenly became serious. Then she came to Duanmu Huai and told him what she had found out about the situation inside the Kingdom of Paletia.

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

"So, you mean that the royal family and nobles of this country have signed contracts with something called magic elves and use magic?"

"Yes."

"Hmm............"

After hearing Zhen Jiling's answer, Duanmu Huai reached out and knocked on the table, thinking about it. Generally speaking, Duanmu Huai is wary of such non-real things as magic elves. Facts have proved that if a thing does not live in the real plane, it is likely to be a monster in the subspace.

The legend that the royal family of the Kingdom of Paletia signed a contract with the nobles and magic elves to use magic reminded Duanmu Huai of the records of those psychics who joined the demons of the subspace in order to seek more powerful power...

Not to mention that this is inherited by blood, so it is very likely that the royal family and nobles of the Kingdom of Paletia are descendants of psychics.

As for the appearance of the subspace creatures, Duanmu Huai didn't care at all. In fact, many planetary civilizations were like this. For example, some barbarians believed in wolf spirits, or animal spirits, or local mountain gods. According to the standards of the Inquisition, they were all subspace demons, and they were all killed.

So the magic elves might be a belief in the Kingdom of Paletia, but once Duanmu Huai found out that these magic elves were subspace demons, he would take action.

Hmm? But why couldn't Princess Enisfia sign a contract with the magic elves to use elf magic?

Is she an untouchable? But when he met her before, Duanmu Huai didn't feel the feeling of being an untouchable from her. She actually has magic power... It seems that there is no problem for her to learn the human magic system?

Or is there another mystery?

"No matter how you look at it, it seems that there are many problems in this country now."

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

In short, it seems that we can only take one step at a time.

As for the specific situation——Analyze and solve it specifically.