Reality is cruel.
It seemed like every path led to a dead end.
This feeling could drive most people with weak willpower crazy.
"Damn it!" Karg couldn't help but curse, slamming his fist into the black rock beside him. The hard rock surface cracked slightly, a testament to his anger and helplessness.
J
"So what do we do now? Which way do we go? This godforsaken place outside the city, we've walked for so long, and all we see are rocks!" Karg's tone carried a hint of undisguised pessimism.
"What should I do?" Saruman's gaze returned to the desolate R'lyeh City, which exuded an ominous aura. His eyes were filled with struggle and determination.
"We're going into town."
He practically gritted his teeth as he said those words.
"What?! Enter the city?!" Karg's eyes widened, as if he had heard something unbelievable. "Didn't you just say it was more dangerous inside? And that Legend— "
"There's no other choice!" Saruman interrupted him, his tone resolute. "Outside the city lies a slow death, the despair of watching ourselves and Lina turn into monsters! But inside the city—though dangerous, at least that Legend was active there just now! Since he could fight inside, perhaps there's a way out we don't know about!"
"Trust the Legend's judgment; this is our only and last chance! We cannot sit idly by and wait to die!" Saruman understood this perfectly.
If even the Legend struggled to break through, it was clear they couldn't escape on their own. Realizing this, Saruman was actually quite panicked.
He took a deep breath, Hard Work to calm himself down. "I know this is risky, but we have to take the gamble. Be careful, try to avoid the combat zone, look for the Legend's trail, follow him from a distance—it's dangerous, but it's the only way, or—anywhere that looks like an exit."
For Ian.
Saruman, who was unaware of the situation, knew very well that Saruman would not be a kind person.
but.
What other options do they have?
Karg looked at the unwavering resolve in Saruman's eyes, then at Lina, whose breath was growing weaker and weaker, and finally nodded heavily. As a warrior, he would rather die a glorious death in battle than slowly turn into a monster in this silent erosion.
"Okay! Whatever you say! Let's go into town!"
Karg's voice, carrying the resoluteness of a warrior, sounded exceptionally firm in this desolate wasteland. He no longer looked at the heartbreaking changes on Lina's body, nor thought about the writhing lines on his arm, suppressing all his worries and fears, leaving only his focus on carrying out the mission.
However, just as Karg carried Lina on his back and prepared to step into the ominous city, Saruman raised his hand to stop him.
"Wait, Karg." Saruman's voice was unusually calm, his silver eyes flashing with rationality, the previous urgency seemingly replaced by a deeper caution.
"We can't just barge in unprepared. This city is too strange; its spatial structure is probably more chaotic than we imagine. If we wander in blindly, we might get lost forever or step directly into an even more dangerous area." He turned his gaze back to the broken stone tablet.
His eyes were like the sharpest scalpel.
"This stone tablet—since it records R'lyeh's name and those warnings, perhaps—it also hides other information, such as—a map of the city."
Saruman has indeed discovered this, which is why he said that.
"A map?" Karg paused, looking at the stone tablet covered in distorted symbols that didn't look like a map at all. "There's a map on this?"
"It's not necessarily the kind of flat map we usually see," Saruman explained, walking closer to the stone tablet and gesturing with his finger to the intricate lines and symbols.
"Look at these patterns, their direction, the way they connect to each other—although they are full of twists, carefully perceive the trajectory of their energy flow."
"It might outline the structure of some kind of spatial pattern." Especially after mentioning " the Sleeping God resides in the city" and "the positions of the stars are the keys," I suspect that these patterns might conceal the location information of the city's core area or certain key nodes!
Saruman spoke with absolute certainty.
This discovery gave Karg a jolt of excitement. Even the most abstract map would be a hundred times better than wandering around in complete darkness!
"How long will it take?" Karg asked, worried about Lina's condition and also concerned that staying too long would exacerbate his own alienation.
"Soon! Give me some time!" Saruman said no more and immediately took action. He did not try to copy the maddening patterns with his naked eyes, but instead sat cross-legged in front of the stone tablet, closed his eyes, and slowly extended his Mental Power like the finest spider silk.
Carefully touching the surface of the stone tablet.
This is an extremely mentally taxing technique called " Mental Imprinting." It requires one to use their Mental Power to perceive and record the faint energy imprints and spatial information contained in each engraving on the stone tablet, while also having to resist the mental pollution inherent in those symbols. Ordinary Wizard simply cannot withstand it.
certainly.
As a member of the top tier below the Legend level, Saruman certainly has no problems.
It's just a bit difficult.
For a moment, the veins on Saruman's forehead bulged slightly, and fine beads of sweat seeped out. His Mental Power traversed those twisted patterns as if exploring a labyrinth.
The lines sometimes wriggled like living things, trying to lead his consciousness astray; at other times they exuded a cold malice, assaulting his mental defenses.
"It's all up to you, my friend." Karg stood guard anxiously by his side, sensing the violent fluctuations in Saruman's Magic Power Fluctuation, knowing this would be no easy task.
He could only grip the hilt of his sword tightly, watching his surroundings more vigilantly, especially the silent city, for fear that anything might disturb Saruman at this moment.
Time passed second by second.
Saruman's body would occasionally tremble slightly, as his mind resisted the intense impact of the contamination. But he always clenched his teeth to maintain a steady output of Mental Power.
finally.
After a long while.
In short, he didn't know how much time had passed. He suddenly opened his eyes, a trace of fatigue flashing in his silver eyes, but more so a sharp glint of success.
Then, Saruman quickly took out a specially made item from his storage bag: a Parchment that had been magically treated and a quill pen that shimmered with arcane light.
He didn't look at the stone tablet, but instead guided his Mental Power directly to the tip of the pen.
The quill pen seemed to come alive, dancing rapidly across the Parchment. Wherever the tip passed, it left behind complex, twisted lines filled with irregular angles and spiral structures. These lines intertwined and entangled, forming a spatial structure that defied all logic.
Unlike any known map, it has no clear cardinal directions, no standard scale; it's more like a projection of a multi-dimensional space, or an abstract painting from a mad dream. It's marked with equally distorted symbols that Saruman Hard Work only painstakingly decipher.
It could be a key location such as a "gate," "well," "tower," or " Court of Sleep," but its specific meaning and location remain obscure.
The drawing process lasted nearly half an hour.
When the quill finally stopped, Saruman let out a long sigh of relief, his face pale, his Mental Power greatly depleted—but he did indeed have a "map" from the R'lyeh Stele in his hand.
"Is it finished?" Karg leaned closer to take a look, and just one glance made him dizzy. The lines on it seemed to be writhing, as if trying to suck him in.
"This... this is the map?" he asked, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Yes," Saruman's voice was weak, but certain, "Although extremely abstract, combined with the energy channels I sensed, this should be some kind of schematic diagram of the internal spatial structure of the R'lyeh City."
Look here,
He pointed to an eye-like symbol on the map, surrounded by multiple spiral lines.
"The energy reaction at this point is the most concentrated and ancient; it's very likely the core area where the Sleeping God ' mentioned on the stone tablet resides. We must absolutely avoid it!"
He then pointed to several relatively "straight" lines connecting the city's edge and several internal nodes. "These are likely relatively stable paths, or main arteries for energy flow. We can try moving along these paths; perhaps this will reduce the probability of encountering spatial traps or directly entering dangerous areas."
We obtained a lot of useful information.
However, Saruman's face showed little joy, but rather a deeper caution. He carefully put away the parchment map, looked at Karg, and solemnly warned, "But Karg, we must remember, this map can only be used as a reference, and must never be completely trusted!"
"Why?" Karg asked, puzzled. "Didn't you decipher this from the stone tablet?"
"It is precisely because it comes from a stone tablet that I am even more suspicious."
Saruman said in a deep voice, "We don't know who erected this stone tablet, or when it was erected. What was the purpose of the person who erected it? Was it to warn those who came after, or... to lure them?"
His words sent a chill down Karg.
"What if the person who erected the monument is themselves a resident of this city," or one of those polluters who have been completely assimilated and lost their sense of self?
Saruman continued his analysis, his eyes sharp, "Then, this stone tablet and the map on it could be an elaborate trap!"
"It might be deliberately marking the wrong safe path, leading intruders to a dead end! Or it might be hiding psychological cues in the map, driving us mad; or even, it might be a locator beacon itself, and our use of it will alert certain beings within the city!" The previous encounter had forced Saruman to be extremely vigilant.
after all.
The wisdom of life in this place is far too cunning and sinister.
"Hiss, if that's the case." Karg gasped, suddenly feeling the parchment map burning hot. "Then—then what do we need it for?"
The soldiers were also very frightened.
"Because it remains the only guide we might have at the moment," Saruman said calmly. "In the absence of other information, we have no choice but to use it, but at the same time maintain the highest level of vigilance. We must trust our eyes and senses, and constantly verify whether the information on the map matches the actual situation."
"If you find any contradictions or anything amiss, stop immediately and reassess!" He paused, then concluded, "Remember, in this city, don't easily trust anything except each other—including this stone, this map, and even—our own eyes and memories."
Saruman's caution and rationality were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the glimmer of optimism that Karg had just felt after obtaining the map. He nodded heavily.
He kept Saruman's warning firmly in mind.
With everything prepared, the two did a final check on their equipment and condition. Saruman reinforced his senses once more, Karg adjusted the straps carrying Lina on his back.
Make sure it doesn't affect the battle.
Then.
Saruman also cast several more support spells on Karg to enhance his physical strength, sharpen his senses, and increase his basic Magic Resistance, while he himself channeled his Magic Power to its fullest extent.
He set up layer upon layer of protective and Concealment Barrier around himself.
Let's go.
Saruman took a deep breath, glanced at the parchment map in his hand that contained both danger and hope, and then looked ahead at the desolate R'lyeh City, which lay like a colossal beast.
He took the first step.
"OK."
Although he had already checked once, upon hearing this, Karg tightened Lina's belt around his back again to ensure she wouldn't fall off under any circumstances.
The position of the greatsword was also adjusted so that it could be drawn for battle at any time.
This time, they didn't barge in blindly. Instead, they entered this terrifying land, where even Legend had fought fiercely, carrying a forbidden map that could be a guide or an invitation to death.
R'lyeh.
An unknown ancient city.
"Please remember my words."
Saruman was extremely tense and suppressed, his inner tension almost palpable. However, as the squad leader, he could only force himself to remain calm and remind his only remaining teammate.
Lina.
They can clearly no longer be considered human.
"Of course, I didn't omit a single word."
Karg knew this situation was no joke; it was extremely dangerous.
They cautiously, as if stepping into a minefield, crossed the stone tablet that recorded the horrific truth, and officially entered the territory of R'lyeh City.
Stepping inside, the feeling is completely different.
The smell of sulfur and dust in the air had faded considerably, replaced by a stronger and more complex mixture of scents—a damp and salty sea breeze was evident, even though there was no sea or lake in sight.
It's a strange place.
It's normal if the explanation doesn't make sense.
This sea breeze was different from normal sea breezes; it smelled like the musty smell of an ancient tomb being opened, and also had an indescribable odor, as if it were the breath of some enormous creature in its slumber.
It carries an aura of spiritual pollution.
Yes, the omnipresent whispers became clear again, like countless tiny insects crawling on my eardrums, trying to burrow into my mind.