Inside a mysterious space.
Before he could finish speaking...
The whispers of Cthulhu in the surrounding space suddenly intensified, transforming into countless sharp, alluring, and despairing mental spikes that shot towards the force field from all directions.
"The will of Cthulhu is ignoring us and trying to crush us."
Saruman narrowed his eyes slightly.
Because their target was aimed directly at his and Karg's souls!
certainly.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
At least for Saruman, who had prepared for so many years, it was not frightening. He simply made a gesture with his right hand in front of him, and a pale blue light screen, flowing like mercury and shimmering with starlight, instantly unfolded.
" Starlight Silence Veil!"
He uttered a low murmur.
This light screen seemed to absorb, disperse, and even "dilute" the insane thoughts contained in those Mental Attack, turning them into harmless, chaotic background noise.
Above the light screen, starlight flowed, as if simulating some pure and distant cosmic scene, completely out of place with the dreamlike atmosphere of Cthulhu, filled with the deep sea and blasphemy.
This creates a natural "pollution buffer zone".
"Roar roar roar!"
However, Cthulhu's will seemed to be provoked to a stronger reaction by these successive "trickery" tactics. The "malice concentration" in the entire crevice space surged once again!
The colored blocks began to multiply and merge wildly, transforming into an even larger and more indescribable shadow, which pressed down on the small force field where they were like a tsunami!
The air, or rather, the space, became as viscous as glue, and even the dark silver force field began to creak under the strain, with fine cracks appearing on its surface!
"Trouble."
Saruman frowned.
Although he had already taken the top spot, the power he borrowed was not yet complete, and being in the opponent's home turf, he still struggled to withstand this level of malicious enhancement.
He took a deep breath, clasped his hands together in front of his chest, and began to chant an extremely ancient, tongue-twisting incantation that seemed to carry the scent of rust and dust.
As he chanted, the Magic Power Fluctuation around him became obscure and profound, spreading out a sense of "sedimentation" and "solidification" that seemed to originate from the depths of the earth and the beginning of time.
" Gigantic Ancient Stone Skin... Time Moss..."
The obscure syllables flowed out, and Saruman slowly pushed his hands outwards.
A layer of seemingly thin, yet rock-like gray-white Magic Power armor covered the original force field. This armor not only provided physical protection, but also exuded an aura of "ancient," "constant," and "unchanging" rules, greatly slowing down and weakening the rate at which the surrounding frenzied energy and malice eroded the force field.
At the same time, tiny, pale green "moss" phantoms, seemingly composed of dust from time, began to spread across the gray-white armor. They appeared to be slowly "absorbing" and "neutralizing" the most active and aggressive madness elements within the will of Cthulhu.
" Space Anchoring: Raven's Roost!"
That wasn't all. Saruman's eyes flashed with silver light, and he slammed his hands down!
A more refined, dark silver light, with clearly Raven raven feather patterns, flowed from his palm into his feet, as if planting an invisible anchor.
This is clearly magic created from knowledge unearthed from the Raven Ruins.
The results were truly outstanding.
The chaotic spatial structure surrounding them, constantly trying to distort and compress them, was temporarily "solidified" and "stabilized" in a small area! Although the area was extremely small, limited to a few meters around the force field, it gave them a precious, relatively stable foothold! "Very good."
A series of exquisite and highly targeted combination spells were unleashed, and the surging tsunami of malevolent shadows was actually temporarily blocked by this layered and diverse defensive system! Although the force field and armor were still flashing violently and under tremendous pressure, at least they did not collapse immediately!
"Wow! That's incredible! You're amazing! Legend truly is Wizard standing in the heavens!" Karg watched from the side, almost dumbfounded, and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
Is this... is this still the Saruman he knows?
That dear friend, who, despite his exceptional talent and vast knowledge, has a fighting style more akin to a traditional Wizard, specializing in elemental, summoning, and Protective Magic? It's not just about power level.
There's also the spellcasting style.
The magic that Saruman used was all bizarre, unorthodox, and even carried a hint of "evil" aura, yet it was surprisingly effective in suppressing the terrifying environment of this area!
That profound understanding of the nature of Cthulhu's power, that effortless and highly targeted method of deciphering it—it's almost as if he's a scholar who specializes in studying how to combat this being...?
Or rather, a hunter?
"You... you really Saruman?"
Karg couldn't help but ask again, his voice filled with disbelief.
Upon hearing this, Saruman, maintaining multiple layers of protection, though his face was slightly pale, still responded. He slowly nodded, his gaze returning to Karg, the complex emotions in his eyes almost overflowing, but he forcibly suppressed them, simply saying in a deep voice, "It's me. Some things... will happen after we leave here."
"If you still want to know, I'll tell you." His gaze then passed over Karg and landed on Ian, who was still in the fusion pose not far away, seemingly oblivious to the earth-shattering changes around him.
The incident that led to Karg's death, a result of the suppression of Cthulhu's will, was successful, but Saruman's heart was still in turmoil. Looking at Ian's focused and calm profile, the elderly Saruman sighed.
Based on his fused memories, his repeated deductions of that hazy past a thousand years later, and the scattered revelations he gained from the power of the " Raven "... if he remembered correctly, following the original "trajectory," this mysterious Ian Prince, while performing deep soul healing on Lina, would have accidentally touched upon a hidden and more dangerous "fragment of consciousness" or "dream trap" because he delved too deeply into Lina's Cthulhu Pollution soul dreamscape.
That wasn't a defense actively set up by Cthulhu, but rather an instinctive reaction that naturally arose within his vast dream, targeting "In-Depth Explorers," and the result wasn't pleasant.
Parts of Ian and Lina's consciousness will be temporarily trapped in that more bizarre and dangerous fragment of the deeper dream, although Ian will surely be able to escape in the end with his strength.
But it will take time.
But this delayed "time" was fatal in the original history.
The pressure from the external Cthulhu will continue to intensify, and at that time, being young and without memories of the future, he simply couldn't withstand it for long, and Karg would soon reach his limit.
Ultimately, before Ian and Lina can escape, the defenses will collapse. Ian and Karg will be the first to be consumed or crushed by the madness, and Lina's soul surgery will fail due to the drastic deterioration of the external environment and the loss of a stable anchor point, potentially even triggering a worse backlash...
It was a complete and utter failure. It was also the beginning of Karg and Lina's ultimate demise, and my own near-death experience of barely escaping. "This time... it's different."
The elderly Saruman clenched his fists, a resolute glint in his eyes. Now, he possessed Legend power sent from antiquity, and targeted knowledge. He could hold out longer!
He needed to buy Ian enough time! Enough for this mysterious "Your Majesty" to successfully treat Lina, and then... take them away from this perilous place!
He stared intently at the point where Ian and Lina were joined, silently chanting, "Faster... Your Majesty... please go faster..."
He could sense that the strange fluctuations emanating from Ian, belonging to the " Raven," were becoming increasingly intense and profound. The surgery seemed to have reached its most critical moment.
But at the same time, he also vaguely sensed that something unusual was beginning to emerge in the depths of Lina's soul, in the area that Ian's consciousness had explored.
A darker and more dangerous ripple.
Ian's consciousness, like the most precise probe, burrowed deeper and into the core of Lina's soul, following the "channels" eroded by Cthulhu Pollution. He wanted to find the "node" where Lina's self-awareness was most deeply entangled with Cthulhu Pollution, and there he would imprint the mark of the " Raven Prophet," completing the coverage and transformation of cognition.
The deeper you go, the denser and more "organized" the mad fragments and blasphemous knowledge from the Cthulhu dream become. If the surface is a chaotic torrent of information explosion, then here, this information begins to spontaneously organize and coalesce, forming a dream world that, while still bizarre and absurd, is gradually acquiring a certain internal "logic".
Ian felt as if his "perspective" had passed through a viscous membrane made up of countless whispers and illusions. The scene before him suddenly changed! It was no longer fragmented blocks of color and incomprehensible flashbacks.
He "stood" on a Street.
A Street that is... extremely bizarre.
The surface beneath my feet was not stone slabs or mud, but a warm, dark green substance with fine, scaly textures, resembling the skin of some giant creature.
It has a strange elasticity when you step on it.
"A world constructed in a dream, because it's connected to the will of Cthulhu?"
Ian looked around.
Buildings stand on both sides of the Street, but they defy all known architectural principles. They are made of twisted, molten, and forcibly solidified green stone, their structures riddled with paradoxes of non-Euclidean geometry—some walls are recessed inward at impossible angles, and some windows are placed where they shouldn't exist at all.
The tower leans so high it seems it might collapse at any moment, yet it has stood for ages.
The building's surface was covered with a slippery, slightly pulsating, translucent membrane, upon which strange creatures resembling corals or giant anemones clung, slowly opening and closing, emitting a dim phosphorescence.
The sky was a perpetually oppressive, dusky yellow.
There was no sun, only a huge, slowly rotating, luminous nebula that seemed to be made up of countless tiny tentacles, casting down cold and blasphemous light.
The air was thick with the salty, fishy smell of the sea, the musty odor, and an indescribable, cloying sweetness, like the breath of a giant sleeping creature.
Even more bizarre are the "people" walking on the street.
They largely retained human features, wearing rough clothing that appeared to be made from some kind of seaweed or fish leather. But upon closer inspection, almost everyone possessed some degree of inhuman characteristics: some had small gill slits on their cheeks that opened and closed slightly when they breathed; others had translucent webbed fingers.
Some had eyes that were the pale white of fish or compound eyes; others had sparse, differently colored scales covering their necks or arms... They seemed accustomed to this, conversing with each other in a bubbly, obscure language, engaging in seemingly normal buying, selling, working, and walking. The entire city was shrouded in a dull, oppressive, yet eerily harmonious atmosphere. Madness and blasphemy seemed to have become daily occurrences and "normal" here.
"An interesting deep dream structure..." Ian calmly observed everything, his heart unmoved, even slightly tempted to take out Little Notebook to record the data. "I've processed the received 'Cthulhu ' information to a certain extent, making it more 'logical' and 'realistic,' forming a dream model of a 'world under Cthulhu's influence.'"
"This goes beyond the realm of ordinary pollution; it's more like a simulation based on pollution information. Cthulhu is using a relatively stable 'subconscious world' to calculate how he can pollute the entire world." Yes, Ian quickly made the judgment, which meant that Lina's "prophetic" talent was indeed useful to Cthulhu.
Unconsciously, Lina not only received the information, but also, deep within her soul, used it as a blueprint to "build" a miniature, distorted " Cthulhu world model."
A portion of her self-awareness may have sunk to a core position within this model, playing a certain role, and gradually perceiving this distorted world as "real."
"If the world were truly corrupted by Cthulhu, this would probably be the end of it."
Ian wanders through this eerie city like an invisible ghost.
He saw the "goods" being traded in the market—strange fish emitting phosphorescence, wriggling, amorphous chunks of flesh, and bizarre minerals engraved with blasphemous symbols;
He overheard the residents' hushed conversations, a mix of vague prayers to the " Sleeping God," veiled expectations for the " Stars Align," and strange discussions about their own "evolution."
"How absurd!"
Ian even witnessed a small-scale conflict where the "weapons" used by the two sides were living biological organs that sprayed acid or emitted mental screams!
This clearly cannot be called human.
Everything was bizarre and fantastical, yet it operated "autonomously" within the logic of the dream world. Of course, Ian's goal was clear—to find the "center" of this dream world.
Find the core of Lina's consciousness that has fallen into this state.
"It's not difficult. After all, all the deductions are based on Lina's prophetic talent. Her presence will be very conspicuous." Ian followed the densest and purest aura of "pollution" and "connection" in the city towards the tallest, most twisted thing in the city center, which seemed to be made up of countless huge cavities.
We walked towards the temple-like building that emitted a dark green glow.
"There?"
The closer to the center.
The more Ian discovers...
The alienated features of the "residents" on the Street became more and more obvious, and the whispers in the air became clearer and more fanatical. Their gazes toward the temple were filled with a mixture of fear and apprehension.
There is also worship and longing.
For some reason, Ian walked effortlessly into the enormous temple, its entrance resembling the gaping maw of some colossal beast. "This is somewhat beyond my expectations."
Ian was somewhat wary of this.
but.
That's all.
Just be cautious.