Chapter 69 – The Inferno of Cognition (6)
Oh no!
I’ve been caught!!
This was the instant thought that flashed through my mind.
In the moment I realized the female swordsman had suddenly vanished, my heart pounded twice in my chest. My nerves tightened, and instinctively, I took two steps back, squinting my eyes and quickly scanning the surroundings.
No one on the left.
Nothing unusual on the right.
Through the doorway, I couldn’t see any new developments in the city. Those knights had long disappeared; there was no sign of the Sword Phantom anywhere.
But she couldn’t have escaped silently under my nose without me noticing anything.
She doesn’t have that kind of ability.
So I really was caught.
When!?
Just now.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble beneath my feet!
Bang!
Before I could think about what was happening, I stepped into my Moon Step, leaping into the air amidst the splashing mud and muffled sounds. In an astonishing speed, I darted up nearly a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, then suddenly looked down with the howling wind. I spotted the highest point on the watchtower standing on the city wall, twisted my body mid-air, and shot out a spray of frost mist from my right palm, using the instant thrust to start falling.
Damn it.
It must be because I hadn’t been caught before that I thought I could somehow resist the illusion’s power.
I didn’t even notice when I fell into the illusion.
I was too careless.
But this wasn’t something that could be easily avoided just by being careful. I started to realize that since I set foot in the castle, I had already entered a perilous situation for myself.
After landing steadily on the rooftop with a thud, stepping on the weathered rubble, I straightened my waist, no longer hiding or pretending. Standing in the wind, I combed through my messy hair and slowly lifted my head.
I don’t care what you are.
Whether you’re a living entity or the remnants of a dead god’s body, or an abomination born from the church’s insane experiments, it doesn’t matter.
Since you’ve noticed me,
Will you show yourself?
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
The violent tremors continued. In my vision, the once grand scenes inside the castle reappeared. Although not as magnificent as the candlelight, it was elegant and ancient, like a grand and noble city steeped in history. Now, it was bathed in blood red, as if drenched by a torrential dark blood rain.
No knights, no wild horses, no signs of any moving objects.
What met my eyes were countless indistinguishable red flesh tendrils spreading throughout the narrow alleys of the high towers. They seemed to cover the entire fortress, with tens of thousands of greedy worms licking and absorbing the blood of the castle and the land, leading it toward extinction, soon to turn into dust of history.
The terrifying scene flashed by, like a nightmare. I immediately raised my head fully, taking a deep breath, and fixed my gaze on the darkly surging sky.
Deep red clouds rolled like raging waves. The wind seemed to roar at that moment. My hood was blown away, my black, silky hair danced wildly behind me, and the hem of my robe flapped high, as if desperately trying to pull me backward. The chaotic airflow forced me to bow and bend my knees to maintain balance, then I raised my hand to shield my eyes.
Is it coming?
For some reason, after the initial shock and astonishment, at this moment, facing the sudden surge of bloody winds and waves, I felt a faint excitement in my heart.
Hah.
Perfect.
Let me see what you are.
If you are strong enough—
I’ll also take this opportunity to see the limits of my current strength.
But such a mood only lasted for a few seconds before it was interrupted by mild, recurring headaches.
Singing.
I gazed up at the sky amidst the fierce wind, having adapted to the powerful gusts, and rubbed my temples lightly with my free hand, squinting my eyes even more.
Here we go again.
Is it because my mind has been affected?
Faintly, as the headache intensified, I heard the wind mixed with eerie whispers, like those of countless demons. The whispers were dense and obscure, sometimes far, sometimes near, making people restless, but before the emotions could rise to my head, I saw the withered ‘roots’ climbing and spreading like veins within the castle and buildings.
Sure, here is the translated text:
—
Yes, it started to revive on a large scale.
Is it the power of sin gradually reviving?
No.
I didn’t feel it was sin.
It’s fake.
This is still an illusion.
While making quick judgments in my heart, below my field of vision, countless terrifying roots moved faster than my thoughts, almost at a speed that was hard to catch with the naked eye, twisting and surging towards the sky from the ground. They wove into a vast web of millions of blood-red lines above the castle, completely blocking out the sunlight.
In the next moment, that web surged toward me like a wave.
This is definitely an illusion.
Although I was firmly convinced in my heart, my body still subconsciously prepared to dodge. However, those roots, which were rapidly transforming into fleshy tentacles, came at an unimaginable speed. Before I could even lift my foot, the web had locked me in from all sides, instantly surrounding and then swallowing me.
How fishy.
The first thing I smelled when my vision plunged into darkness was that intense stench of rotten blood.
Then, the slimy sensation and the oppressive force of being strangled by countless tentacles came, along with that nearly suffocating stench.
Ah…
My clothes.
At this moment, even I found it strange. The first thought that popped into my head was worrying about my clothes.
But this is truly disgusting.
Are they trying to make me sick to death?
Heh.
Making such a terrifying commotion, but the methods are rather weak.
Crack crack crack crack—
In the next instant, the frost power burst forth from within me, as if it could freeze everything.
Whether it’s an illusion or anything else,
Get far away from me.
Boom boom boom boom!
That was a terrible sound like a landslide.
If viewed from high above, amidst the tentacles surging toward the city wall like a raging blood tide, engulfing the tiny figure standing on the rooftop in endless red waves.
It was as if a gigantic wave was crashing onto a tiny ant, and without waiting for suffocation, just that instantaneous powerful current could tear it into powder.
All of this happened in a blink of an eye, too fast for the eyes to follow. But no matter what, the ant was doomed. If someone could see this shocking scene, they would immediately judge that it was certain death without even thinking.
But in the next moment—almost simultaneously as the vast blood web descended from all directions, engulfing the ant and rapidly contracting and pressing down—the giant writhing flesh mass formed by the compressed blood web began to contract internally before suddenly expanding.
Stunning blue light shot out from between the gaps of the expanding flesh mass, blindingly shining at the center where the tentacles enveloped. It was a dazzling light like an icy blue sun.
Accompanied by the grating sound of breaking ice, a surging white mist spread at a rate that even the tentacles couldn’t keep up with, bursting out from within the flesh mass. Countless writhing pieces of flesh froze entirely, and a massive explosion erupted from the top of the city tower. The extreme cold wind, centered on the light, tore through the air like unstoppable blades, shredding the tentacles in a brutal manner, scattering them everywhere.
Boom boom boom boom—
The sturdy city tower had no defense against the intense explosion. It crumbled like a piece of paper under an invisible yet powerful hand, collapsing along with the lower wall. In just two seconds, the astonishingly cold wind spread to the entire southern wall of the castle, and with a carpet-like shockwave, nearby buildings also collapsed.
Countless frozen fragments of tentacles were instantly flung hundreds of meters high. At the same time, a torrent of dust rose from the southern side of the castle, as if a sandstorm had erupted. Those bits of flesh and blood fell like raindrops into the rising dust, creating a sound like pouring hell.
Not long after, the tiny figure who had flipped the wave stood on ice, suspended in mid-air, gradually emerging from the dust.
She seemed to have done something trivial, lightly flicking her robe.
—
