That's why it only seems to be going smoothly.
After all, those who know, know.
In situations like these, some unexpected problems usually arise.
"I am Lina! I shouldn't be here!" Lina's eyes slowly struggled as she tried to raise her hand to look at her arm covered with pearl scales and tiny tentacles.
His eyes were filled with disbelief and horror.
This situation is observed.
Ian's lips curled up.
It worked!
The other person's ego is being forcibly pulled back!
"As expected of me!"
However, just as Ian was preparing to strike while the iron was hot, further consolidate the awakening effect, and directly imprint the " Raven's" mark on her revived self-awareness.
A sudden change has occurred!
It was as if even Destiny was trying to stop the Dragon King from smiling crookedly.
certainly.
It's also possible that the Dragon King's crooked smile only works in the city and can't scare Cthulhu in dreams and fantasy worlds. In any case, unsurprisingly, an accident occurred.
"Ahhh~"
A silent roar, indescribable in any language, filled with ancient rage, agitated by disturbance, and boundless madness, suddenly erupted from the deepest part of the temple, from the darkness from which endless streams of data flowed forth! It was not a sound, but a cry that directly impacted the "rules" of this dream world!
It is the most primal vibration of will!
It was an unbearable weight for the dream world, so the entire solid dream world, like glass struck by a heavy hammer, was instantly covered with visible, twisted cracks!
"Aaaaaah!"
"The Lord is angry!"
The tentacle-shaped nebula in the sky spun and expanded wildly, shattering the light it cast!
The mutated "residents" on the Street let out a series of shrill, inhuman howls, their bodies melting and Transfiguration like wax figures, turning into even more indescribable twisted lumps of flesh!
The temple shook violently, the gems on the walls shattered, and the dark purple power no longer flowed docilely, but writhed wildly like a swarm of enraged venomous snakes.
It was expanding, converging, radiating a destructive aura! Then, an indescribably vast, soul-chilling will, filled with primordial chaos and malice, like a primordial beast awakening, slowly and irresistibly... "descended"!! Through the link with the Dream Realm! It wasn't Cthulhu's complete consciousness; such an existence couldn't be so easily disturbed. It was more like a small "turbulent current" in the vast ocean of will unconsciously emanating from its slumber, attracted and enraged by Ian's awakening and the "alien" stimulation of the " Raven's " power! It was an instinctive, furious "turning over" when the Dream Realm's master was disturbed!
But this "small turbulent current" is a catastrophe for this world built on fragments of the dream world, for Ian and Lina who has just shown signs of awakening!
"Damn Cthulhu! You ruined my medical skills!" For the first time, a solemn expression appeared in Ian's cold eyes. He hadn't expected the awakening process to directly trigger such a strong "environmental backlash." At this depth, it was unwise to confront this will head-on, and it would completely destroy Lina's fragile soul structure.
This thought came to mind.
His gaze swept quickly across the collapsing dream world, over the torrent of malevolent will surging from the darkness, seemingly threatening to devour everything, and finally settled on Lina on the high platform, who was clutching her head, groaning in pain, her consciousness violently struggling between her "id" and "divine messenger." "We can't stay here!" Ian made the decision instantly.
He flashed like a ghost, passing through the collapsing temple space and appearing on the high platform, grabbing Lina's wrist, which was covered in scales but was unusually cold and trembling.
"What are you up to!"
Lina instinctively tried to struggle.
"If you don't want to go completely insane or melt away here, come with me!" Ian's voice remained calm, yet carried an unquestionable tone of command.
His thoughts entered directly into Lina's chaotic consciousness.
"What madman? Meltdown?"
Lina's head was throbbing with pain. Countless fragments of memories—adventures, teammates, the horrors of R'lyeh, the whispers of the deep sea, the glory of the divine messenger—swirled and collided in her mind like shattered Mirror.
Perhaps it was a subconscious urge to save herself; Ian's cold yet powerful hand, and the strange power contained in his words, seemed like a lifeline. Thus, the instinct for survival overcame the chaos, and she subconsciously gripped Ian's hand tightly, nodding vigorously, her eyes filled with pain and a plea for help.
"Help me."
Lina was murmuring.
"Hold on tight!" Ian shouted, his other hand rapidly drawing a complex symbol in the air, shimmering with the phantom of dark silver Raven wings! He wasn't going to attack, but rather... "float up!"
Since this is a deep dream realm formed after Lina was corrupted, let's move upwards and return to the relatively shallow, less solid, and more dangerous dream realm.
Then, back to reality. The dark silver symbol shone brightly, enveloping Ian and Lina. The surrounding scenery began to fade, distort, and stretch rapidly, like a movie playing in reverse! The collapsing temple, the roaring power, the descending terrifying will... everything became blurry and distant, as if separated by a thick curtain of water.
The power of the Raven.
It can fly anywhere.
It can fly even where there is no sky.
Therefore, they are being forcibly pulled out of this deep dream!
However, would the enraged torrent of Cthulhu's will easily let go of the "insects" that disturbed its slumber? A thicker, heavier force, like countless tentacles, chased after them from the depths of the collapsing dream, coiling around the dark silver light and attempting to drag them back! Although Ian used his Raven's conceptual-level flight, the dark silver light darted like a flying fish swimming upstream, struggling to traverse the "passage" filled with madness and collapsing scenes. However, the viscous, malicious "tentacles" relentlessly pursued them from behind, emanating a chilling aura that froze the soul. "Where am I?" Lina felt as if she were in a nightmare of endless falling, only to be forcibly pulled back up, surrounded by countless chaotic roars and whispers.
The light and shadow before my eyes shattered.
The body was sometimes pulled and sometimes squeezed.
The only reliable coordinates in her chaotic world were the sensation from her wrist, the cold yet steady hand, and the dark silver light that enveloped her with a strange sense of order.
"Up! Don't look back!"
Ian's concise command echoed in her mind once more.
"Okay!" Lina gritted her teeth, concentrated all her remaining willpower, and followed the pulling force, "struggling" towards the direction "above" where there seemed to be a faint light.
I don't know how much time passed; perhaps it was just a moment, or perhaps a long century.
"Pop!"
A soft sound, as if breaking through a film of water, rang out. The frantically chasing tentacles of will and the scene of collapse vanished abruptly. In their place came a relatively "calm" chaos.
"Success!"
Yes.
They returned to the relatively shallower layer of Lina's dream—the same layer Ian had initially entered, a torrent of information filled with fragmented colors, incomprehensible scenes, frantic whispers, and pieces of knowledge. It was still dangerous and polluted, but at least it lacked the solidified nightmare world with its complete social structure and "divine messenger" identity, and the terrifying torrent of will that descended directly upon them.
The dark silver light dimmed slightly, Ian released his grip on Lina's wrist, but still maintained his protective stance.
Lina staggered, regained her balance, and gasped for breath.
"I..."
She looked down at her hands and found that the gorgeous pearl scales and tiny tentacles had disappeared, restoring the appearance of human skin, except for some dim, strange patterns that resembled birthmarks. The strange robe the Girl wore had also transformed into the adventurer's attire she remembered wearing when she entered R'lyeh.
Although battered and broken, it was also a tangible representation of regaining consciousness—she touched her face, feeling the warmth of her skin, not the cold scales or smooth mucous membranes.
"I... I'm back?" she murmured, her voice still hoarse but much clearer, filled with the disorientation of surviving a catastrophe. The memories and understanding belonging to the "Divine Messenger" in her mind receded like a tide, leaving behind cold remnants and nauseating aftertastes, but the memories belonging to " Lina Windwhisper"—her adventures with Saruman and Karg, her thirst for knowledge, the terror of accidentally entering the ruins, and the pain of being corrupted—were rapidly regaining dominance.
"We went to a place we shouldn't have gone, and then I fell into depravity." Lina's memories returned, and she looked up at the broken space around her, which, although still bizarre and surreal, no longer possessed a sense of "reality" and "sociality." She then looked at the boy beside her, dressed in a black robe, with a cold and handsome face, who had saved her.
" Saruman... Karg..."
She thought of her teammates, her face filled with anxiety. "Where are they? Are we... are we still in R'lyeh? I... I think I just had a very long, terrible dream..."
Lina's consciousness was mostly clear. Although the scars of pollution and fragments of the dream still lingered deep within her soul, she had at least regained self-awareness. "Relax a little," Ian observed her condition and nodded slightly. The awakening was basically successful; her soul core was stable, and the pollution had been temporarily suppressed and isolated, allowing for the next step of "transformation." However, the immediate priority was to completely escape this still unstable, shallow dream and return to reality to avoid any further accidents.
"They're still outside, and the situation... isn't too good." Ian answered the first question succinctly. "This is a dream realm formed from the corruption within your soul; we need to leave."
"Leave? How do I leave?" Lina asked anxiously.
"Keep going up." Ian pointed to a relatively sparse area of energy "above" this shattered space, "Break through the 'boundary' of this dream layer and return to real consciousness. Hold on tight to me."
Without hesitation, Lina grabbed Ian's outstretched arm again.
Having just experienced that hellish, deep dream and the terrifying pursuit of her will, she developed an instinctive trust and dependence on the mysterious boy before her.
Ian channeled his power once more, and the dark silver Raven phantom solidified, enveloping the two of them.
The dark silver light, like a precise arrow, tore through the relatively fragile "barrier" of the shallow dream realm, carrying Ian and Lina, whose consciousness was beginning to awaken, towards a more "surfaced" layer, closer to reality. Once they crossed this boundary, they could temporarily escape the dream and return to reality.
However.
That could make Saruman so worried.
Things couldn't possibly end so simply.
All I saw was...
Just as the dark silver light touched the "boundary"...
Mutation and Regeneration!
That seemingly fragile boundary was not easily breached as expected. Instead, it rippled outwards like a stone thrown into water, creating violently twisted, dark purple ripples!
A powerful and viscous resistance came from behind, as if countless invisible, cold, and slippery tentacles stretched out from behind the boundary and tightly wrapped around the dark silver light!
Its momentum was abruptly halted!
Then, an even more unsettling change occurred.
The surrounding fragmented and chaotic shallow dreamscapes that were originally just background elements.
Distorted color blocks, blasphemous fragments of knowledge, incomprehensible phantoms—they begin to "solidify," "reorganize," and "concretize" at an illogical speed!
What was originally just a patch of color quickly "grew" into a wall made of green slime and wriggling flesh.
The drifting fragments of knowledge coalesced into bands of light flashing with malicious runes, crisscrossing like laser fences to block their path; the phantoms transformed into more concrete, more ferocious monster phantoms, as if projected directly from a deep-sea nightmare, emitting silent roars as they converged from all directions! "What's going on?"
Lina was horrified.
In an instant, the entire shallow dream transformed from a relatively passive ocean of information into a hostile, seemingly self-aware... "maze"!
Or rather, a "killing formation"!
"It's locked... and the 'underlying rules' of this dream have been temporarily modified."
Ian's icy gaze swept across the rapidly changing surroundings, instantly understanding the situation. The turbulent current of Cthulhu's will that was pursuing them wasn't merely chasing after them; it was directly interfering with and manipulating the "rules of operation" of this dream realm, which belonged to Lina's soul but was deeply connected to Cthulhu! Just like in the virtual world of the Matrix, Agent Smith could modify local code and change the environment at any time to trap his target. At this moment, this Cthulhu's will was doing something similar—it was temporarily "solidifying" and "weaponizing" this dream realm, turning it into a trap specifically targeting Ian and Lina!
"The road ahead is blocked, and pursuers are behind..." Lina also felt the suffocating malice and the rapidly forming blockade. Her consciousness, which had just become somewhat clear, was once again gripped by fear, and her face turned pale.
Ian, however, remained completely calm.
The strategy of not retaliating has not changed, and has even become more resolute. Fighting against the "rules" here will only deplete strength and give that will more opportunities to manipulate and reinforce the trap.
His gaze was like the most sophisticated scanner, rapidly analyzing the quickly forming "maze" structure around him.
The weak points of those fleshy walls, the gaps between the energy nodes where the runic light bands flow, the blind spots in the movement trajectories of those monster phantoms... none of these are unanalyzable.
"This way!" Ian shouted, giving Lina no time to react. The dark silver light suddenly veered, abandoning its attempt to forcefully break through the reinforced "boundary," and instead rushed towards a newly formed, relatively unstable wall of flesh on the left, composed of countless tiny eyeballs and tentacles! As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold.
The most dangerous place is often the safest!
It's not applicable in reality!
But this is a dream!