They all call me an Outer God.

Chapter 360 Spider God
Regardless of gender, when discussing their beliefs, they all wore unnatural smiles. If one had to describe it, it would be that they harbored an abnormal kind of love for the spider god, whose true form was covered in black hair and had a human face.

Ria couldn't quite understand who started this phenomenon.

If they had actually seen the true form of the Bridge of Nightmares, they wouldn't have acted like this...

Many people say they love those beings, but more often than not their faith is not sincere. Once the beings they believe in actually descend upon the earth, these people will be the ones who run away the fastest.

For example, right now, most of the people inside have been tricked into joining the church and are still innocently unaware that they have been betrayed by their fellow church members and will all be sacrificed to the Bridge of Nightmares tonight.

It's possible that once they fall asleep tonight, they will never wake up again.

It's one thing to say you're willing to die for a god, but many people can't actually do it.

"Perhaps the brainwashing wasn't successful enough..."

As Ria sat in his wheelchair, he listened to the believers introduce him to the Nightmare Church and even held a serious exorcism ceremony. Although it was useless, he couldn't bear to refuse their good intentions.

"Praise the nightmare."

He and the others recited His name together toward a spider image on the wall. Then someone gave Ria a small gift, a spider doll, only the size of a palm.

It is said that each person who attends the gathering receives a different gift. Before that, it was fruit, and before that, it was scorched eggs. The organizers go to great lengths to get people to participate in the church's team building activities.

“We believe that dreams are the best manifestation of wishes, and that the lady will devour all nightmares and fulfill our dreams and wishes.”

"In dreams, He appears in the most beautiful form a person can remember. The form is not fixed, but each time He appears, He is a very charming woman, and He also prefers female believers..."

Ria interrupted them: "There are quite a few men among you."

"What are you saying? Gentlemen are always attracted to beautiful women. When I joined the church, they said that Lady Nightmare is an irresistible presence for any man. I would die happy if I could just see her."

Now Ria probably understood that the image of many gods does not need to be very specific; more often than not, they are like symbols, and their image and deeds are left to believers to compile themselves.

Of course, it could also be related to the story written by Falmanf, after all, his book mentions that there is a god in the place connecting dreams and reality, and now that I think about it, this god is the Nightmare Bridge.

“I see.” Ria pondered for a moment. Then, he witnessed the believers’ daily team building activity. A large group of people formed a circle and danced around the statue, chanting the name of the nightmare as they danced.

Ria is currently unable to walk properly, and even if he could, he wouldn't join those people in dancing. Who knew that these people would try to surround him and circle him around under the pretext of exorcism.

To be honest, this was the first time he had felt so restrained. That group of people were so boisterous. If he didn't know they were from an underground church, he would have thought it was an event organized by some company boss.

"These are probably the only activities they can come up with."

Before Liya transmigrated, when he was still an employee, he was too lazy to participate in the company's team building activities. Those things deprived him of his already limited vacation time, so the first thing he did after being promoted was to find a way to get his former superior imprisoned.

From then on, the company never held team building activities on holidays.

The current atmosphere reminded him of the old days when everyone could get together and carefree and complain about the boss...

Ria's thoughts wandered. He shook his head and looked around at the people. In a flash, he saw all those people disappear, replaced by enormous, half-human, half-spider supernatural creatures.

But the next second, the hallucination disappeared, and those people were still normal.

"Something seems wrong. I shouldn't be hallucinating—"

Lia suddenly became alert, and the cheers of the people around her seemed like an unbearable curse.

"Is it a side effect of overusing supernatural abilities, or is there some other reason?"

He can't recover his body for the time being, but that doesn't mean Ria has lost his ability to protect himself. If he wants, Swarth can still destroy this place in an instant.

Whether it's a hallucination or not, we'll probably only find out the truth tonight.

Ria took a deep breath, feeling her flesh and blood slowly beginning to regenerate.

"Praise the nightmare."

……

Night comes quickly.

The believers were more excited than if they had been injected with chicken blood. They lay down on the ground in all sorts of crooked positions, on which a huge spider-shaped sacrificial circle was drawn.

“Here, we can get up close to Him, let alone dream about it.”

"I have a feeling I'll dream of Him tonight."

"Come on, you've said this every day. If you still won't agree today, I'll shove a piece of bread up your nose."

"Aren't you disgusting? It's time to sleep, stop talking."

Then everyone quieted down.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes passed...

They still couldn't fall asleep.

"..."

"What's wrong with me? Why can't I sleep?!"

Someone sat up in surprise and looked around at the people around them, who also quickly sat up and looked around in disbelief.

The only person truly asleep present was Ria, who was sitting in the corner, his head bowed, his hat resting on his lap, fast asleep.

There was a reason why everyone couldn't sleep: while they were dancing, Ria paid them for their dance in exchange for staying awake.

In other words, it will be impossible for anyone to fall asleep tonight, and once tonight is over, the offering will not take effect.

Of course, as the one who enters the dream in place of the other, Ria will see the Bridge of Nightmares and become His sacrifice.

While everyone was still puzzled, their gazes toward the statues and altars inside the church grew increasingly strange.

"Trade is paramount, we have to leave here. I suddenly feel that worshipping spiders is a bit strange."

With that, they fled the place.

After these people left, countless tentacles emerged from the corners and sealed the place off from the inside, preventing anyone from suddenly disturbing Ria's slumber.

……

A crimson moon hangs high in the sky.

Countless residents of all shapes and sizes come and go in their towns, and suddenly some unsettlingly bright colors appear on the ground, only to vanish as quickly as smoke.

Inside a building, a group of people held hands and kept turning in circles. These people had sickly pale skin, loose skin, and were not wearing any clothes.

Suddenly, they reached out and tore their skin apart, and countless spiders crawled out from behind the skin, swarming out of the building.

They communicate with each other in their own unique way, making a "hissing" sound.

He has come.

He awoke here.

Who will keep Him in check and prevent Him from coming into contact with the Spider God?

It seems we're a step too late...

[Why do I smell the scent of rampant chaos...]

[Are you crazy to mention Him here—there are too many of His followers here; we absolutely cannot let them come into contact with Him!]

These spiders climbed everywhere, warning the residents to immediately report any suspicious persons.

However, as a spider crawled into a building to see if anyone was inside, it suddenly heard someone coming down the stairs.

It looked up in disbelief, and the figure of that person was reflected in its eight dark eyes.

It saw a young man with a cane standing on a high place looking down at it, and then walked down the steps step by step.

The young man's movements were unhurried and even polite, but with each movement he made, the spider's body trembled slightly.

Fortunately, the person did not go towards it, but instead went to a table on the side after going down the stairs and picked up an open magazine from above.

"The inscription on this is not from Endeles, but the architecture is exactly the same as in Endeles."

Ria realized just now that the place he was in was practically a carbon copy of Burgess Town. If it weren't for the abnormally large number of supernatural beings outside the window, he would have thought he was still in the original town.

Not long ago, he fell into a dream, and through the sacrifice of his followers, he successfully saw the existence that his followers called the "Bridge of Nightmares".

However, the place where the Nightmare Bridge appears is still in Ria's own dream.

In the city shrouded in mist, the tall, beautiful woman, in human form, continued to weave something with her hands.

She was a full two meters tall, and her expression softened noticeably when she saw the red moon overhead.

"You don't need to be so nervous. I've always lived on the boundary between reality and dreams. Here, I am real. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it already."

The Bridge of Nightmares observed Ria's dream and frowned slightly, but soon she looked at Ria again: "Since you want to enter the Dream Realm, I will give you this opportunity. I hope you will make good use of it and not disappoint the expectations of the Old Gods."

“Child, you are far more important than you realize. We have all placed the heavy responsibility of preventing natural disasters on you.”

"You may be our only hope."

As she spoke, she closed her eyes, and Ria's dream instantly changed.

Everyone disappeared, and the surroundings became pitch black. A spiral staircase appeared on the ground, leading to an unknown destination. It stretched almost infinitely downwards, making it hard not to wonder if it had any end.

[Start from here and go down, don't look back, keep going down, and you will see what you want to see.]

Ria heard that the voice behind her had changed, and she also felt a chill run down her spine. Perhaps during this time, the Nightmare Bridge had reverted to its original mythical creature form.

Remember, don't look back.

Don't place too much trust in what you see inside.

[If necessary, seek help from the cold spiders; only spiders can be trusted.]

He whispered.

I grant you special privileges; if needed, recite my true name in the ancient language, and I will know all that you say.

[Call My Name - Atlak Nakyr]

As He spoke, He watched as Ria descended the steps. Along the way, he would experience countless illusions and calls that would prevent him from going any further, but Ria never looked back once, no matter what sounds he heard.

He also met the two gatekeepers who guarded the entrance to the Dreamland. The two men were very friendly and let him pass without any sense of coercion.

Now, Atlas, who had witnessed everything, retreated into the darkness. No one knew what was on his mind beneath his long black hair, but just as his figure was about to disappear, the void was filled with the spider's eerie yet strangely pleasant laughter.

The offerings this time... really exceeded my expectations.

[A living divine consciousness; it has truly awakened, and it can even move.]

This is so interesting!

This is so interesting!

……

That's how things were before, and now what Ria needs to do is find out how this place is different from the outside world.

But in fact, this place is almost identical to the original world, except for the different inhabitants.

Humans also exist here; they are all people who have mistakenly entered this dream world, and they seem to be living very comfortably here.

This sent a chill down Lia's spine for a moment. He seemed to have suddenly discovered something, but he dared not think about it any further.

The spider on the ground stared warily at Ria. As it watched, it suddenly felt as if a shadow was looming over it from behind.

So it turned around and saw a black, feathered creature that was enormous to it, staring at it with two golden eyes.

"Goo."

Little Swarth swallowed the spider whole, then jumped onto the table to show Ria what he had caught not long ago.

It expelled a jelly-like substance that possessed its own intelligence, exhibited a bizarre life form that was not entirely matter, and whose color did not belong to any of the colors it was familiar with.

Judging from the fact that this thing was still crawling after being thrown onto the table, it should be some kind of juvenile creature, but as it crawled, it seemed that only a phosphorescent color could be seen moving.

"How did you manage to capture this supernatural creature?"

Ria watched as the thing on the table continued to crawl, its colored tips probing its surroundings like tentacles, before suddenly standing up.

It became alert, not because of Ria and Swarth, but because someone suddenly grabbed a glass and covered it, trapping it inside.

"I've been looking for you for so long, now you can't escape!"

The man pressed his hand firmly against the glass, laughed a few times, and then suddenly realized that the two living beings beside him were watching him.

He stared at Ria for a long time, then asked in confusion, "Are you... a human?"

Ria: "If you think I am, then I should be."

"Are you someone who just arrived in the Dreamland? I haven't seen you in so long. Let me introduce myself, I am..."

"Falmanf Scarborough".

The man was immediately startled: "How did you know?"

"I can guess just by looking at that distinctive head, and you probably wouldn't guess that I came here specifically to find you."

"What are you looking for me for?"

"Push for more updates."

"What! You guys are even urging me to update in the Dreamland?!"

"Yes, I am a loyal reader of yours. I have read every book of yours carefully, even repeatedly. The thought that someone like you no longer creates makes me feel like I have lost the meaning of my life."

(End of this chapter)