Cursed Immortality

Chapter 1209: Primary Nightmare: The Chosen Anomaly

Just as Jacob confirmed the intent came from the center, where lies the antagonist, his awareness sharpened to its peak as that intent wrapped around him alone, isolating him from the other Zodiac Beasts surrounding him.

“…!”

Jacob confirmed there was no malice or killing intent in that intent, but it was more like a summoning; the first thought that came to mind was simple and cold.

‘This is not good!’

This wasn’t a fragmented nightmare where deviation could be ignored. This was a Primary Nightmare, a preserved event. Every role here had a place, a path, and an end, and Jacob wasn’t supposed to still be here at all.

He had already stepped off the intended path once. Survived when he shouldn’t have, and moved where he shouldn’t have. Nonetheless, since his existence was still insignificant, nothing happened, but now, all of a sudden, he was being called by the supposed antagonist.

He thought gravely, ‘I’m walking on thin glass already. If I entangle myself any further with the antagonist no less… this could turn from opportunity into a trap real fast.’

However, he didn’t hesitate or couldn’t because retreat was no longer an option, and, carefully, suppressing his presence to the extreme, Jacob moved, neither too fast nor too slow, but just enough to remain what he was supposed to be.

Insignificant!

As he approached the inner region once more, the void grew denser, heavier, saturated with concentrated Void Energy as he felt before, and at the center, the massive Zodiac Beast had already returned.

It was absorbing Void Energy again, its enormous form pulsing rhythmically as currents of power flowed into it.

However, something was different from before; it had felt distant, detached, almost asleep, but now it felt awake. Despite not moving or reacting outwardly, it was now completely aware and watching as if waiting for ‘Jacob’.

The moment Jacob crossed into its territory, that presence locked onto him, and he felt a heavy, suffocating intent pressed down on him, but he didn’t resist or react; he simply stood there.

Right at that moment, the antagonist’s intent shifted, and Jacob instantly interpreted it as a command, and he was astounded because this command was simple…

“Stay!”

A flicker of genuine surprise passed through him as, out of all possibilities, this was the last one he expected.

This creature, which had previously guarded its territory obsessively, not even allowing its strongest subordinates to approach, was now allowing him, the weakest among the horde, to remain?

Jacob remained perfectly still, but his thoughts moved rapidly, ‘Could it be because of earlier? If I hadn’t warned it, more of its minions would’ve been silently hunted by Whiteness. Not only that, I had shown something none of the others possessed awareness, or intent, something closer to intelligence…’

Jacob’s thoughts sharpened, ‘So you’ve noticed…this could also mean that to a creature like this, surrounded by mindless entities, even the smallest deviation toward intelligence might stand out like a flame in darkness.

‘However, even if I showed traces of intelligence, I’m still not a threat to it, but something useful or perhaps interesting!’

Jacob instantly decided to stay silently by its side and observe.

Time passed, or perhaps it didn’t, as in the Dreamscape, such distinctions were meaningless, not to mention it was hard to tell the passage of time within the void, which always remained still.

The structure of the special Zodiac Beast remained in place, absorbing energy without moving, its presence still vast and oppressive.

All this time, Jacob didn’t move or interfere and simply waited for Whiteness or for the next shift in the nightmare. But as the silence stretched on, a faint doubt crept into his thoughts.

‘Was I wrong?’

‘Is this even the real core of the event?’

‘Or just a layer within something bigger…?’

Just as such thoughts started to form in his mind and he even thought about escaping, it finally happened!

With a silent yet sharp and lethal ripple in the far edge of the special Zodiac Beast’s heard, Jacob’s entire being reacted instantly…

‘Whiteness!’

Even before the disturbance spread, even before the others reacted, Jacob had already sensed it, not through his ‘role’ but through himself, his real identity.

At that moment, far away, at the edges of the structure, two Unique Rank Zodiac Beasts suddenly vanished without any struggle or sound as they were simply gone.

Only then did the surrounding beasts begin to stir, confusion and chaos spreading as instinct reacted too late. But the disturbance was far from the antagonist’s immediate range.

Just like before, it didn’t react or couldn’t sense from that distance, not to mention that Whiteness seemed very careful.

Jacob’s eyes flickered coldly as he instantly saw through Whiteness’s strategy, and without hesitation, he moved, but not outward; instead, inward toward the center, toward the special Zodiac Beast…again.

The moment he projected intent, the massive Zodiac Beast reacted.

At first, it showed annoyance like a flicker of irritation, like before, but then, it seemed to finally awaken in recognition as it seemed to remember, and the next moment, its entire presence shifted, and violence erupted!

A surge of pure, furious intent exploded outward as the Zodiac Beast moved fast, far faster than before, as it tore through the void, dragging waves of dense Void Energy behind it.

Its massive form was distorting space itself as it rushed toward the outer region toward the disturbance. For this time, it seemed to finally sense what was going on and locked on a target!

Far in the outer zone, Whiteness moved again with silent yet precise, efficient movement and targeted another Unique Rank beast, and the latter instantly fell.

But this time, Whiteness didn’t escape unnoticed as a massive shadow descended, and the void itself seemed to collapse inward as the antagonist arrived.

For the first time, Whiteness seemed to stop in its tracks; even Jacob, who was secretly observing, felt it clearly, and he knew that the hunter had been found!