Chapter 374: 149. Scarlet
In Erwind’s extremely astonished gaze, as a ray of light comparable to mythical rank shone from Fisher’s hand, a darkness deeper than night spread and grew at the speed of light, completely swallowing all of Erwind’s sight in an instant.
Immediately following, amidst the intense and complex echoes of the world, a dark red lightning, shaped like a spider web, was born in the darkness with an unstoppable force, transforming into a weapon in the hands of the divine amidst thick clouds.
“Zizizizizi!”
The violent lightning bolts were thrown by Fisher, who was almost at the same distance from Erwind, piercing through Erwind’s body with an unmatched impact, nailing him to the ground like a spear thrown by the Mother, indescribably immense force instantly penetrating Erwind’s body, lifting his blood and flesh into the air.
“Boom!”
Waves of destruction and lightning spread outward, the sound of dreams shattering mixed with the explosive sound of thunder engulfing the sight of everyone present as if their eyes could not see anything, while the fierce breath of destruction continued to resonate in their ears.
The thunderous spear passed through the layers of overlapping illusions, until it pierced a great hole in the illusion formed by some unknown power, and Erwind’s figure was completely submerged in the light of destruction, disappearing without a trace, making Fisher feel no trace of his aura, leaving the entire area silent except for Fisher’s constant gasping.
“Ha.”
Fisher curled up on the ground, covering his face that was bleeding from all seven orifices; the magic released from him, which drained the last bit of his soul power, left him in extreme weakness, with his head pounding as if it would explode, and the side effects of the Soul Supplement Handbook began to incessantly echo in his mind.
“Such an empty soul to consume.”
“Consume.”
Fisher struggled to look at his own hands; due to the extreme emptiness of his magic power, his soul began to experience a sense of devouring and hunger reminiscent of when he was in Miya.
He remembered that last time in Miya, when he punched Erwind’s creation, he could actually consume a part of his soul. Now, in the crevice, this situation began to resurface, making him wish to bite into another’s soul and feast.
“Fisher, where are you?!”
“Ka ka ka!”
The dream above was pierced by the dual-ring spell that Fisher used, revealing a crevice covered in scarlet light in the starry sky outside.
From a distance, Valentina’s anxious voice called out. Upon hearing it, Fisher quickly covered his abdomen and sat up. He adjusted himself several times and turned to look at the church school from his childhood as it gradually disintegrated, along with the nun who held his small hand disappearing bit by bit.
As the church school slowly faded away, Fisher felt an indescribable emotion in his heart but remained silent for a long time without speaking.
However, now that Erwind had been dealt with, he needed to find a way to get Valentina out of the dream and sever her connection to the base; otherwise, that eerie existence from the spirit realm would descend.
Fisher slowly stood up, covering his abdomen, preparing to call out Valentina.
“Valenti—”
But just as Fisher’s words were about to be completed, an ice-cold hand suddenly gripped his neck from behind, accompanied by a strong smell of blood and a chilling sensation surging into his heart.
Fisher’s pupils constricted slightly, and when he turned to look, he saw Erwind’s figure had reappeared behind him, though his soul was now riddled with wounds, clearly in a precarious state after being struck by the Hunter Dragon spear.
He felt a frail fragmentation throughout his body, yet the terrifying beak-like mask still shone with a cold light. He fixed his gaze on Fisher and whispered,
“Did you think you could get rid of me, Fisher?!”
Erwind suddenly wrapped his weakened form around Fisher from behind. His flickering body pressed tightly against Fisher’s back, seemingly anticipating the merging of their souls and becoming entangled with Fisher’s abnormal soul.
In an instant, with Erwind merging into his soul, Fisher’s senses were overwhelmed by a fragrance of rice he had never encountered before. He looked up in panic and hazily saw an endless golden field of wheat, where a little girl with red hair was running ahead, occasionally looking back at him.
“Torga!”
This was Erwind’s memory!
He was merging with Erwind’s soul because of the transformation brought about by the Soul Supplement Handbook!
“Wielding the Completion Handbook, do you think you can escape the impending end? You’ve unconsciously stepped onto the path of seeking truth, human. Are you still human? If you insist on opposing me, that’s fine; I don’t care whether I see the so-called truth or not, but I must pass on my beliefs, even if it means you reach the end with no consequence.”
Erwind sneered, and the hands pressing against Fisher’s chest seemed to sink as if trapped in quicksand, quickly sinking deeper. But that wasn’t enough; he suddenly lifted the beak mask from his face, and in that moment, the lifeless mask seemed to truly become Erwind’s face, opening a ravenous maw of blood towards Fisher, biting down hard on his neck.
As the sharp pain shot through the bitten area, the frenzied whispers surged uncontrollably into Fisher’s mind. This time, it wasn’t just the Soul Supplement Handbook; there were other voices he couldn’t clearly hear, yet they were maddening enough to cause his eyes to turn red as he knelt to the ground, witnessing blood and decay rise to his knees, then golden fields with the aroma, and then Elizabeth’s calling.
“Erwind!”
Fisher forced a shout, gritting his teeth as he pushed against Erwind’s descending body, trying to forcibly shove him away, but his soul completely defied his will, uncontrollably generating an incredibly strong suction that sought to entirely consume Erwind behind him.
“Fisher! Are you okay?!”
In the distance, Valentina flew over, her pupils narrowing slightly as she looked at the bizarre standoff between the injured Fisher and Erwind. Instinctively, she began to rush towards them, but Fisher had already seen her beforehand and immediately shouted,
“Don’t come over!”
Valentina froze in place, suddenly seeing the ravenous mouths opening from Fisher’s body that were now biting into Erwind’s form. For a moment, she couldn’t understand the current situation and had to follow Fisher’s words, afraid to act rashly.
Feeling Fisher’s mouth tearing into his soul, Erwind sneered, biting into Fisher’s neck, the blood that represented fragments of his soul seemed to writhe with life, crawling towards Erwind’s mask. He appeared to feel no pain as he sneered,
“Fisher, look at your soul. You always knew you were moving further from humanity. What difference is there between you and me? Yet despite this, your mind remains clear. I cannot grasp the full secret of the Magic Lord, but the Fate Lord, that incompetent liar, chose you this time. Fine, then I’ll hand over everything I obtained from the Life Completion Manual to you and see how far you can go!”
“You madman.”
Fisher gritted his teeth, wanting to push Erwind away, but the suction from his own soul completely countered his will, preventing him from pushing Erwind away. He also didn’t dare let Valentina come over, for he could sense his soul’s hunger for Valentina’s soul; it also wanted to consume her.
“Ka ka ka!”
Just then, as the aftermath of their battle gradually spread, the layers of the dream began to collapse and shatter. The deep red energy outside retreated like a tide, seeming to completely disappear, but as that deep red energy faded, the surrounding dream’s fragmentation became increasingly rapid.
The continuously resonating sound of glass shattering accompanied the scenes familiar to Fisher and Erwind as they gradually disappeared, and even the time and space of the real world, which had been stalled by that energy, began to flow once more.
Valentina’s blood on the ground flowed little by little towards the incomplete base; as those drops of phoenix blood completely flowed into the base, the shadow of the giant tree, which served as the base, became more solid, meaning it had become whole again.
The pollution of the spirit realm was about to descend.
“Kononinnihamugasmujin s, mu shuj smu hisashi mono s gaarimasu.”
In the next moment, a terrifying aura capable of disintegrating any living being, intelligence, or consciousness instantly locked onto the gradually complete base from the depths of the world. Fisher heard a series of whispers he had never encountered before, their meanings unknown, but just hearing that simple murmur made everyone’s magical circuits suddenly light up, their forms shaking as a result.
“Ka ka ka!”
Then, outside the dream, the spiritual realm shackles representing the “door” inevitably began to shatter little by little, and the rules created by Dalasgon crumbled insignificantly in the face of that horrifying existence.
Endless scarlet mist howled out from the crevice of that door, seemingly without any strength, yet effortlessly pushed the shattered spirit realm door open wider, quickly revealing something colossal and undeterminable that shimmered with scarlet light, larger than galaxies.
That vast being was enveloped in thick scarlet mist, obscuring its true visage. Just as that eerie scarlet mist was about to enter the crevice, its form suddenly stopped, as if another entity in the depths of the spirit realm was preventing it from entering the crevice.
However, the base forged from the Phoenix Race was already complete; the power behind it and the rules of the crevice were evidently unable to resist its might, and it continued to inch closer to that base.
Its form did not fully enter the crevice, but the boundless scarlet mist surrounding it had already seeped into the crevice, gradually corroding and damaging the space within. Even though it was a considerable distance from the shattered door, Fisher suddenly caught a whiff of an extremely strange aroma, as if it were the most fragrant scent in the world, causing his hair to stand on end.
At that moment, behind him, another voice echoed intermittently,
“Close your eyes.”
Though the pronunciation of Nali was somewhat strange, Fisher instantly recognized that familiar voice as belonging to the large-eyed entity he had spoken to once in the Southern Continent.
Dalasgon!
The terrifying fluctuations outside did not interrupt his standoff with Erwind, but this sudden incident allowed Erwind to halt his process of merging with Fisher’s body, giving Fisher a significant breath as he promptly followed the direction and did as instructed, while also turning to urge Valentina beside him,
“Valentina, close your eyes! Don’t look above!”
“Ware s sunawati hi sninsshuj s.”
The whispers of despair continued. In this vast crevice, the boundless layers of dreams where Fisher stood began to crumble; yet this originally magnificent magic appeared trivial in the face of the dreadful pollution from a distance.
But within this dream, the standoff between him and Erwind behind him seemed to be infinitely magnified.
They were caught in a tug-of-war standoff.
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(End of Chapter)
