It's obvious.
Saruman truly lived up to his reputation as a brilliant Wizard of his time. With the help of some mystical knowledge, he successfully deciphered the stone gate.
As Magic Power was injected, the previously dim symbols lit up one by one, emitting a faint blue light.
The entire stone gate began to tremble slightly, and the twisted reliefs on it seemed to come alive, slowly wriggling. In the center of the stone gate, where the space had been perfectly sealed, the space began to twist and fold, and a dim light appeared, which then rapidly expanded, eventually forming a stable rotating portal that seemed to be made of darkness itself!
The interior was utterly deep, devoid of any sight, only pure nothingness. The swirling darkness seemed to absorb all light and sound, even threatening to pull one's thoughts in and annihilate them. It was less like a door and more like a gaping maw waiting to devour.
An abyss leading to an unknown end.
It worked!
Saruman and Karg exchanged a glance, both seeing barely suppressed excitement and a hint of trepidation in each other's eyes.
They really found a way to open the stone door!
"I knew it! You really are the best!" Karg carried Lina on his back, standing at the edge of the dark vortex. He believed that Saruman was right after all.
certainly.
The deep, dark portal sometimes made Karg hesitate. His powerful warrior physique allowed him to steady himself, but his pupils still involuntarily contracted in the face of this incomprehensible sight. The aura emanating from the void was more chilling than any previous battle or temptation.
It is not a physical threat, but a sense of denial of existence itself.
life.
It will naturally make one feel uneasy about it.
"Hiss, wait a minute, something seems off." After a brief moment of surprise Karg felt a chill run down his spine. He turned his head to look at Saruman beside him.
The young Wizard was pale. The continuous high-intensity research, the depletion of his Magic Power power, and the contact with Forbidden Knowledge had left him exhausted. However, his silver eyes shone brightly as he stared intently at the dark portal, as if trying to dissect all the rules and risks it contained.
" Saruman," Karg's voice was low, with a barely perceptible dryness, "Are you sure—that's a way out? And not—another, worse prison, or outright—destruction?"
He wasn't a coward. As a battle-hardened warrior, Karg had never feared visible swords and magic. But what lay before him was beyond his comprehension. It was an instinctive wariness of the unknown.
Saruman did not answer immediately. His gaze shifted from the portal to Lina, who lay unconscious on Karg's back. "Girl"—perhaps that title was no longer accurate— Lina's condition was appalling.
Scales covered most of her face, distorting her originally delicate features with inhuman characteristics. Her breathing was weak and rapid, accompanied by unsettling wet, rattling sounds.
Occasionally, her body would twitch involuntarily, and she would utter indistinct, painful syllables that seemed to come from the deep sea.
The blackness was alluring, the writhing, polluted lines spreading across her exposed skin like a living curse.
" Lina ----" Saruman looked at Lina, her bright smile, her nimble figure, and the memories of their adventures together flashing through his mind.
Those images overlapped with the desolate scene before him, creating a sharp, piercing pain that stabbed deep into his heart. It was he who had led them into this damned ruin.
It was him who failed to protect her.
Then, his gaze turned to Karg.
The faces of his comrades were etched with exhaustion, and their resolute brows were furrowed with worry and heaviness.
"The decision is yours, Saruman."
The black lines on Karg's arms and neck, deepened from resisting contamination and sharing the damage, bound him like shackles. Saruman knew that Karg was bearing not only the physical burden, but also the mental torment of watching his beloved gradually descend into a non-human form, powerless to stop it.
"I'm not sure, Karg," Saruman finally spoke, his voice carrying a calm born of extreme exhaustion, yet containing an undeniable resolve. "The only thing I'm certain of is that with our current power and methods, we absolutely cannot reverse the corruption in Lina's body, or even free her from her pain. Staying here will only lead to one outcome—we will all be slowly drained, devoured by madness in this endless corridor, ultimately becoming part of this place, just like those things we encountered before."
He pointed to the dark portal. "And what lies behind this—a path to survival, a deeper abyss, or utter destruction—is a variable. It's our only chance to break this hopeless cycle. It might lead to hell, but at least we won't be sitting idly by waiting to die."
Karg listened in silence, Saruman's words striking at his inner hesitation like a heavy hammer.
You're right.
He knew perfectly well that staying here was just a slow death. He simply felt an instinctive resistance to the unknown beyond that door. He looked down at Lina on his back again, feeling her faint breaths and the cold touch of her scales. A surge of emotion, a mixture of heartache, resentment, and the last glimmer of hope, welled up inside him.
He remembered Lina running freely in the sunlight, her clear eyes, and the trust she placed in him when she resolutely chose to follow them on this perilous journey. He couldn't let her end up twisted into an unrecognizable monster in this dark, sunless corridor.
Then they perish Silencio in agony.
"I'll say it again, Saruman, I trust you. The decision is yours." Karg's voice, no longer hesitant, became firm and resolute, even carrying a desperate, resolute edge. "Staying here will only cause Lina more pain. We—have no way out."
He adjusted his posture while carrying Lina, allowing her to lean more securely against his broad back, as if to transfer all his strength and faith to her.
"No matter what lies ahead," Saruman's gaze, sharp as a tempered blade, was cast into the deep darkness, "Whether it's a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, a divine palace, or eternal nothingness, we must go! For Lina, and for ourselves. Even if it ends in destruction, the three of us will face it together!"
"Yes, whatever lies behind that door, we have no choice."
Karg took a deep breath and said. Saruman looked at the renewed determination in his comrade's eyes and felt a complex mix of emotions—gratitude, guilt, and the deep bond forged through years of fighting side by side. He nodded heavily, reached out, and patted Karg's strong shoulder firmly.
Karg nodded heavily, picked up the unconscious Lina again, adjusted her position to make sure she wouldn't be jostled. "Let's go, Saruman. Whether we live or die, we'll face it together."
Okay! Let's face it together!
Saruman took a deep breath, summoning the last remaining Magic Power within him to create a faint protective aura around his body. He didn't know if it would be effective against this unknown teleportation, but it was at least a psychological preparation. "Stay close to me, Karg. Once inside, no matter what happens, don't let go of Lina, and don't stray too far from me."
Karg tightened his grip on Lina's arm and said in a deep voice, "Understood."
They exchanged one last look, both seeing an unwavering resolve in each other's eyes.
They took one last look at the Infinite Corridor, then resolutely stepped side by side into the spinning, dark portal.
Immediately afterwards.
Saruman, Karg, and Lina, who was lying unconscious on the warrior's back, were completely swallowed up by the rotating portal made of pure darkness.
Just as the last piece of clothing disappeared, the pale blue symbol maintaining the portal flickered a few times, then quickly dimmed and went out like a candle flame that had burned out.
The dark vortex in the center of the stone gate twisted and contracted violently, and finally, from who-knows-who, a soft, sigh-like sound rippled through the space.
All three people and the voice vanished without a trace. The massive stone gate returned to its original state, cold, lifeless, and perfectly sealed, as if it had never moved since time immemorial. The twisted and blasphemous reliefs on the gate seemed to have become even more profound and ominous after the last glimmer of magical light disappeared.
It silently mocked the intruder's futile efforts.
The empty stone chamber was once again enveloped in a deathly silence that was even deeper and more absolute than before.
The maddening whispers and buzzes of the Infinite Corridor had eerily vanished, leaving only a vacuum-like silence that pressed down on non-existent eardrums. The lingering arcane energy in the air mixed with the icy aura of the stone gate itself, creating a suffocating atmosphere.
When Saruman and the others disappeared.
That lasted for an unknown period of time.
The fragile hope built by Saruman's wisdom and Karg's resilience, like a candle flickering in the wind, was finally extinguished, leaving only the Embers of despair slowly cooling in this enclosed space.
However, this deathly silence did not last long. Outside the stone gate, in the previously empty and eerily extending corridor, the air began to ripple like water. Blurry figures, accompanied by low, inhuman chuckles, gradually coalesced and appeared from the void.
"Gaga gaga~"
The first to appear was the faceless Wizard whose "eyeballs" had been shattered by Saruman's Magic Power disintegration ray. He was still draped in a robe covered in dust and time, his face smooth as jade, but at this moment, an indescribable, twisted smile seemed to appear on his once empty face.
The broken scepter in his hand had somehow been restored to its original state, and the shattered amber at the top was now intact, with what appeared to be a dark liquid slowly flowing within it.
It was as if he had never died.
"Giggle giggle~"
Next came the Tide Singer, whose body had been vaporized by the Disintegration Spell. He sat cross-legged in the void, not beneath a pool of water, but beneath a constantly churning and invisible shadow.
The long robe, made of seaweed and coral, dripped wetly with black water droplets.
The book made of scales floated in front of him, turning its pages silently, revealing mind-bending codes flowing between them.
"He's in! He's in! Hehehe~"
His swirling, eyeless eye sockets stared intently at the tightly closed stone door, emitting a muffled laugh that sounded like an underwater bubble bursting.
"The Lord will be set free! We will be with the Lord forever!"
The dream weaver's figure is as unpredictable as smoke and mist, weaving a fragmented yet dazzling nightmare scene, only to vanish into nothingness in the next second, leaving behind only a string of silvery, yet chillingly cold, laughter.
"Hehehehe, you're right." The outline of the Abyss Fire Demon scorched in the air, exuding the scent of sulfur and lava, its low roar carrying the smug satisfaction of a successful scheme.
The Time-Space Weavers and the Lightless Walkers—ancient beings that Saruman and Karg had once struggled to defeat or skillfully evaded—now appeared in the corridor outside the stone gate in near-perfect condition. They were not physical entities, but rather projections of some kind of intention, echoes of some ancient existence.
It was as if Saruman had never truly killed them.
This is actually normal.
For these people...
These people can no longer be described using ordinary life forms. After being assimilated by this place, they have become another kind of life. Their life is actually closely linked to the ruins themselves.
The ruins were not destroyed.
How could these people truly die? In fact, it's like the life-sharing magic Saruman cast on Karg; Karg naturally wouldn't die before Saruman died.
One by one, figures that Saruman had defeated appeared, including some who had regained consciousness before dying and then thanked Saruman and Karg.
It's obvious.
That lucidity was all Acting Skill, just like death itself, a performance. Now, with Saruman gone, these figures have reappeared in this world. They are all different in form, yet they all exude the same aura—ancient, mad, and an undisguised pleasure at witnessing prey finally step into the final trap.
Hehehehe~
Haha~
They did not speak, nor did they greet each other. They simply hovered or stood silently in the corridor, casting their inhuman gazes toward the stone door that separated the two worlds.
It must be said that the laughter became somewhat strange after the change in life form. At first, these creatures' laughter was low and sporadic, like the hooting of an owl.
Gradually, the laughter began to converge and intertwine, forming a chaotic and blasphemous chorus. This chorus did not travel through the air, but reverberated directly in the depths of consciousness.
It was filled with endless malice and mockery.
Fortunately, there are no other normal living beings in this place. If ordinary people came here, they would probably be severely contaminated by the laughter.
Everyone felt like their scheme had succeeded.
perhaps.
Their wicked scheme has indeed succeeded. All the previous performances were to create the current situation.
The faceless Wizard raised his scepter and pointed it at the stone door, his smooth face rippling with emotion, as if to say: Look, they've gone in.
"Hehehehe~" The Tide Singer flipped through the scale book in her hands even faster, her underwater bubble-like laughter carrying a sense of "just as I thought." Perhaps all the obstacles, all the temptations, all the battles, were not meant to completely kill these two tiny intruders.
The endless corridors, the ever-present guards, the illusions that pierce the heart—all of this seems more like a meticulously designed selection process.
A long and brutal performance.