On the wilderness, dragon-beast ice sculptures maintaining charging postures stood one after another, extending all the way from the base of the city wall into the distance. Not a single one had managed to get close to the wall.
Further away, there were more dragon-beasts wandering about. However, after sensing the might of the Frost Element Lord, they chose to retreat. One by one, they turned around and disappeared from sight.
Amidst the cheers of the soldiers, Inanna recalled Little Ice, returned to her residence, and followed her connection to find Number Four.
"Strange, Little Four," she walked over and bent down to look at the round fungal body curled up in the sunlight. "It's rare for dragon-beasts to attack, yet you actually didn't go up the city wall. What's wrong?"
Saying this, Inanna picked up Number Four, and then immediately noticed that Number Four in her arms was vibrating at a high frequency with extremely small amplitudes, vibrating so much that her palms felt a bit numb.
"What's wrong with this?" She lifted Number Four to her eyes and scrutinized it carefully. "Are you... sick?"
Number Four's thoughts came over intermittently, as if interfered with by something, popping out word by word: "No... it's just... the Fungal Lord seems... a little excited..."
"The Fungal Lord? Excited?" Inanna tilted her head in confusion.
At the exact same time, Twelve who was preaching, Ten who was immersed in exploring the essence of magic, Nine who was crying to Fifteen about the blood pool, and Seventy-Three who was helping Little Black grind his teeth—all the members of the Mushroom Race—simultaneously felt that vibration coming from the root of their souls in the same instant.
The thing Lin Jun was most worried about had happened.
Someone broke through the defense methods he had set up and invaded his mental space!
The soul was the foundation of everything. Lin Jun's massive soul indeed provided him with many conveniences, but the fact that anyone could come into contact with his soul through any random Puchi was similarly a huge hidden danger.
The severing and self-destruction program he designed was to prevent anyone from secretly tampering with his soul.
And now, the defense methods had still been broken through!
When he saw clearly that the incomer was that hateful Slime Demon King, he became extremely fearful, almost wanting to sever his soul again and throw it out.
However, Lin Jun ultimately did not do so.
The Demon King had already seen him and even locked onto him. If he could break in once, he could naturally break in a second time.
And with this understanding, the situation he would have to face next time would only be more severe.
The more he retreated, the more he would lose!
"Die! Slime!"
Lin Jun's will transformed into a sharp explosion, detonating in this boundless mental space.
The clear sky darkened, dark clouds surged in from all directions, and the calm sea water began to churn. At first it was only fine ripples, but in the blink of an eye, it turned into monstrous giant waves. One wave higher than the last, they crashed down toward that tiny figure like boundless city walls.
The Demon King was suspended in midair. Countless grains of soul sand spun at high speed beside him, forming a thick tornado that tightly enveloped him in the center.
The howling of the wind pillar was deafening. The gravel at the edge cut through the air, emitting shrill whistles with immense momentum, like a spear piercing into the sky.
However, in the face of this boundless ocean, that spear was as tiny as a withered branch that could be swallowed by a wave at any moment.
Just this single incoming tsunami far exceeded ten times the total amount of soul sand he currently controlled.
Facing the walls of the tsunami attacking from all directions, the Demon King had absolutely no room to dodge.
He gathered the soul sand, turning it into countless fine, thin blades, splitting the wave in front of him in two and rushing out.
However, this was only the beginning.
He cut open one wave, and there were ten more behind it; he cut open ten, and there were a hundred more behind them.
The seawater he had cleaved apart didn't dissipate, but closed up again behind him, trapping him in an increasingly smaller space.
Lin Jun didn't use any techniques; he merely gathered the power of his soul and desperately squeezed it toward the figure dashing left and right above the sea.
The Demon King's consciousness constantly shifted, dodged, and counterattacked amidst this violent tide. His mental energy was like an indestructible longsword; every slash could tear open a gap, and every thrust could pierce through several layers of wave walls.
But aside from stalling for time, this was meaningless.
The Demon King's voice rang out in the storm, carrying a nearly marveling tone that even he himself hadn't realized:
"The 'Sea' refers to you! You are the Fungal Lord they speak of! So that's how it is, no wonder those Puchis can operate like this, no wonder the fungal mat could spread across the continent in such a short time!"
The Demon King tore open the giant wave lunging at his face. Amidst the splashing water, his gaze was firmly locked onto that deep blue expanse.
"This is truly too miraculous! Such a massive soul, seemingly one entity, yet acting like the convergence of countless ones. You are absolutely not a creation of the gods; they do not have this ability! Compared to those incompetent fools, you are much more worthy of the title of 'God'!"
Another giant wave smashed down. He dodged sideways, and the soul sand condensed into a thin shield beside him, barely blocking the splashing aftermath.
"Tell me, what exactly are you?"
Before his words even fell, the sea surface beneath him bulged up. A water dragon shot out, its wide-open giant mouth swallowing the Demon King whole, pushing him straight up into the churning dark clouds overhead.
Lightning exploded in the clouds, and the booming sound made even the sea surface tremble.
The Demon King's figure tumbled down from the clouds, barely managing to steady himself.
He ignored the soul sand that had already been depleted by more than half, and instead raised his head to look into the distance.
There, a mushroom man slowly floated up from beneath the sea surface.
It parted the giant waves and came walking on the sea. Lightning shuttled through the dark clouds, striking down one after another, illuminating its figure in flickering flashes.
"What am I?" Lin Jun stopped a short distance away from the Demon King and raised an arm composed of countless fungal threads. "I am your grandpa!"
The next moment, the black clouds pressed down, and the sea surface rose up. The final gap between heaven and earth slowly closed at Lin Jun's fingertips.
"Since you like talking so much, how about staying behind and having a good chat?"
Looking at the squeezing heaven and earth, the Demon King revealed a trace of a bitter smile: "This is truly too exaggerated, but... it's about time."
Outside, in the center of the ritual, the Demon King's physical body lit up with radiance.
In the mental space, a door of light leading directly back to his main body opened in front of him.
"Want to leave?" Lin Jun, who had anticipated this, reacted before the door of light fully opened.
Lightning crashed down from above, and water dragons rushed out from below. Even before they arrived, the door of light already looked like it was tottering and on the verge of collapse.
The Demon King wasn't in a hurry to rush in, but suddenly said: "This escape route is indestructible."
On the status panel, [Honesty] lit up.
The originally tottering door of light suddenly stabilized, holding on until the lightning and water dragons struck. Then, under the nearly infinite mental impact, it persisted for a few seconds before shattering into specks of white light.
Demon King: "..."
The Demon King had no choice but to speak again: "I shall vanish without a trace."
The next moment, heaven and earth closed together. The lightning struck into the sea, imprinting the Demon King's figure.
Wrapped in the sea of spirit, the Demon King had no further power to resist and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.
However, Lin Jun discovered that on the Demon King's status panel, only [Envy] was displayed.
"A portion? Then what about the rest..."
In the distance, in a spot with absolutely nothing, the door of light opened again, and then closed itself before the lightning struck down.
"Still able to shed your skin and escape?"
At the same time, in the outside world.
There were hardly any Blood Guards left who served as sacrifices. As if a massacre had occurred, fresh blood splattered all over the ritual site.
Mofrei shrank to the edge, her heart beating unbelievably fast.
Although she didn't know exactly what the Demon King had encountered, the fact that things had turned out like this in just a few minutes clearly meant the situation was not wonderful.
She couldn't help but think that if the Demon King just couldn't come back like this...
Right at this moment, the Demon King's body flickered twice in continuous, extremely short intervals. Subsequently, facial features emerged on his originally round face.
"Lord Demon King!" Seeing the Demon King return, Mofrei was overjoyed and was about to step forward.
However, a small half of the Demon King's body suddenly collapsed with a splash. The mucus, having lost its vitality, fell beneath him and scattered over a large area.
Subsequently, the remaining portion of the Demon King squirmed and filled out, restoring his humanoid form once more.
The Demon King didn't speak. He turned around and walked toward the castle in a somewhat stiff posture.
(End of Chapter)
Comments