No one was jealous of Lina's misfortune.
"A blessing in disguise!"
Karg was genuinely happy for his companion. Although the power sounded strange, it was clearly very practical, especially in this eerie environment. Saruman leaned against the stone wall, looking at Lina, a hint of relief flashing in his eyes. Was this the power that great one had bestowed upon Lina? Premonition perception, slight spatial interference... It seemed His Majesty's transformation had been very successful, granting her truly potential abilities that matched that great one's essence. This was far better than he had originally expected—merely clearing away the pollution and saving her life. Indeed, as Karg had said, it was a blessing in disguise.
That adult.
If it really was him who started it, Saruman kept thinking about it. At this moment, Lina walked to Saruman's side, squatted down, and asked with concern.
" Saruman, how are you? You weren't hurt, were you?"
She spoke.
Saruman shook his head, forcing a weak smile, "It's alright, thanks to your timely intervention."
He paused, glancing at the still dark and dangerous scene outside the crevice. "However, the commotion here might attract other things. My Protective Barrier... can't hold for the time being."
His soul and body are currently in a very unstable and weak state. Forcing him to cast a spell will only worsen his injuries and may even cause the fusion to collapse. Upon hearing this, Lina looked at Saruman's pale face, then looked outside, and a determined look appeared on her small face.
"Let me try," she said.
"You?" Karg with some concern, "You've only just gained your power, and you must have expended a lot of energy just now?"
"Give it a try." Lina didn't say much. She walked to the entrance of the crevice, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, Hard Work to calm herself, and then once again sank her consciousness into the Raven imprint deep within her soul.
This time, she no longer sought to attack or interfere, but instead tried to "understand" and "guide" the potential implications of "protection" or "isolation" within this new power.
After all, as beings that roam the edge of time and space, shouldn't the Raven's prophecy not only include foreseeing danger, but also the ability to avoid it and seek safe havens for itself and its companions?
She recalled the feeling of Saruman erecting the force field, and the protective light Ian gave her in her dream. She combined her strong desire to "protect this small area" with the cold, orderly power in the Raven Mark that seemed to isolate her from chaos.
"It seems like it can work." Then, she stretched out her hands, palms facing outwards, and slowly, somewhat awkwardly, began to trace the opening of the crevice.
There were no complicated Magic Runes, nor standard incantations.
Only her focused intention and the dark silver light flowing from her palm, more solid than before, remained. This light, like living ink, slowly drew and connected in the air with her will, gradually forming a constantly rotating pattern with a simple structure yet a strange beauty.
The pattern vaguely resembled the silhouette of a Raven resting with its wings folded and its head buried under its wings, or a simplified, constantly repeating clock. As the pattern took shape, a faint but definitely present "field" began to spread out from the center of the pattern.
This "field" is not powerful, far less solid than Saruman's previous force field, and cannot completely isolate physical attacks or powerful energy shocks. However, the unique "order," "tranquility," and "sense of the passage of time" it exudes are completely out of place with R'lyeh's omnipresent "madness," "chaos," and "sense of time freezing"!
This creates a subtle balance and repulsion.
It's like dropping a tiny drop of clear, cold oil—a completely different substance—into a pool of murky, churning water. While it can't purify the entire pool, it can temporarily "drain" the filth that gets close to it.
"It seems pretty good!"
Lina could sense that this simple " Raven Protection Magic Circle " was continuously consuming her already limited new power and was struggling to maintain it.
But she gritted her teeth and persevered.
Gradually, the omnipresent and unsettling whispers at the entrance of the crevice seemed to lessen slightly; the polluted energy flow in the air also deflected slightly as it approached the magic circle; most importantly, the feeling of being "stared at" and "squeezed" by the omnipresent malice was noticeably reduced!
While far from safe, it at least provided a relatively "quiet" breathing space, greatly relieving the ongoing mental stress on Saruman and Karg.
Karg stared in amazement at the swirling dark silver pattern, then sensed the change in the surrounding atmosphere. He gave Lina a thumbs up. "Amazing! Lina, your new ability is so useful!"
"Yes!"
Saruman leaned against the stone wall and clearly felt the faint but real "isolation" effect of the magic circle.
This cannot replace Protective Barrier.
However, it greatly reduced the burden on him of constantly needing to be on high alert to resist environmental erosion, allowing him to devote more of his remaining energy to stabilizing his chaotic soul state.
He looked at Lina's focused and determined profile, his eyes filled with emotion.
Not only did they survive, they also gained new power, enabling them to protect their companions in dire straits... This time, history truly took a completely different and hopeful turn.
"Thank you, Lina," Saruman said softly, a genuine, much-relieved smile spreading across his tired face. "This new ability has been a great help."
Hearing Saruman's affirmation, Lina felt relieved, and the fatigue from maintaining the magic circle seemed to lessen somewhat.
"Rest assured and relax. Do you need any treatment?"
She turned around and gave Saruman and Karg a weak but hopeful smile.
The three of them were in this small crevice protected by the newly generated power of the " Raven ".
They have gained a precious respite.
"It's nothing... I just need to rest..."
Saruman waved his hand, but his gaze involuntarily drifted back to Lina.
This time, he looked even more carefully.
He used not his eyes, but his perception accumulated over a thousand years, and that newly established, still extremely faint resonance related to the power of the " Raven ".
He clearly "saw" the " Raven Prophet " mark, solid and radiating a dark silver and time-like aura, at the core of Lina's soul. It was like the most intricate talisman, protecting her soul from external madness and guiding her towards a new path full of possibilities.
"If he really is the incarnation of Raven, then everything can be saved."
Saruman thought to himself.
The pollution on Lina... has truly been completely eradicated. It wasn't suppressed or sealed; it was fundamentally "transformed" and "replaced"!
This was something he couldn't have accomplished using any of the methods he remembered!
Even at his peak a thousand years later, he could only achieve deep sealing and slow purification at most; it was absolutely impossible for him to do it so cleanly and efficiently, and even bestow new power upon it!
Only the Raven, a symbol of miracles, possesses such abilities.
"A miracle... this really is a miracle..." Saruman murmured to himself, his heart churning with turbulent emotions. A thousand years of obsession, a desperate plan to defy the tide, countless days and nights of researching and praying for the power of the " Raven "... at this moment, it all seemed to have received the richest reward! He had changed!
He truly changed that tragic period of history!
Through the Raven's incarnation walking among humans—that is true— Saruman no longer suspected Ian was Merlin; he had realized that Ian was a being greater than Merlin.
Raven!
That bird of the Underworld that exists in history!
"I thought we were all doomed! Luckily we met that Legend!" Karg didn't share Saruman's complicated feelings; he was more concerned about Lina's physical condition.
He looked Lina up and down, even gently touching her previously scaly arm; the skin was warm and smooth, like human skin. "Really... completely healed?" Karg's voice was filled with incredulous surprise. "Not even a trace left? That Legend... how did he do it?"
Lina looked down at her hands, feeling the faint but clear new life force within her, and the subtle connection she had formed with Ian deep within her soul. She recalled the battle with the Giant of light in her dream, the stripping away of darkness, the icy bestowal...
Everything still felt like a bizarre dream, but the real changes within her body told her it was all true.
"He... he's amazing." That was all Lina could say in the end, her voice filled with awe. "He used a method... that I can't understand at all."
at this time.
Lina also realized that these friends weren't familiar with Ian.
It might just be a chance encounter in the ruins.
Just then, Saruman, who had been closing his eyes to regulate his breathing and Hard Work stabilize his soul fusion state, suddenly opened his eyes!
It wasn't because he sensed a new danger.
Rather, it was because he "saw" that the " Raven Prophet " mark on Lina's body seemed to resonate with the distant battlefield in the rear—a very faint, yet undeniably present, vibration?
It was as if the "source" of that brand was carrying out some intense action behind the scenes, something that affected the " Raven's " very power... Then, an even more obvious change occurred!
Lina's body, her body that had just returned to normal, on the surface of her skin where the traces of mutation had completely disappeared, there was an extremely faint, dark silver light that flickered for a very short time, like the pattern of Raven feathers! Although it was so fleeting that even Karg didn't notice it, it was clearly captured by Saruman, who had been closely watching her!
This is not a recurrence of pollution! This is... a passive resonance and brief manifestation of the " Raven Prophet's " power caused by the intense actions of an external source! What does this mean?
This means that Ian Prince, the "Your Majesty," not only successfully healed Lina, but is also currently, in some way, intensely utilizing the power associated with the " Raven "!
He's fighting! He's fighting that terrifying being! And the level of the battle has reached a profound level, involving the application of the mysterious concept of " Raven "!
"He... is still fighting for us..." Saruman's voice choked with emotion, a mixture of gratitude, guilt, and heartfelt admiration for the responsibility of a strong person.
He knew that Ian could have simply left; with his strength, escaping that dream and leaving R'lyeh might not have been difficult. But he chose to stay, to confront the terrifying source that even Saruman's future self found incredibly troublesome. "That's truly a great spirit! We should be grateful to have encountered a merciful god."
Lina knew Ian's status better than anyone else.
at this time.
Karg and Lina followed Saruman's gaze and looked again at the area behind them, shrouded in distorted buildings and chaotic energy, from which increasingly terrifying fluctuations emanated.
Although they couldn't see the specifics, the oppressive feeling, as if the world were about to collapse, made them realize that a battle far beyond their imagination was unfolding there. They could only wait, pray, and believe—believe that the legendary young Legend had created a miracle could bring another miracle.
Time slowly slipped by in the anxious wait. Every minute and every second seemed exceptionally long.
Sudden
"Look! Lina!" Karg exclaimed in suppressed surprise, pointing at Lina's arm.
On Lina's arm, the stubborn, almost invisible pale gray marks left by the black lines representing pollution were visibly fading and disappearing rapidly! It wasn't the feeling of being peeled off, but rather as if they were being completely "erased" from the level of "existence"!
At the same time, Lina's previously pale face quickly regained its color, and the newly born " Raven Prophet " power deep within her soul seemed to receive some kind of powerful "nourishment" and "stabilization," beginning to flow and grow automatically and gently, making her feel a comfortable warm current flowing through her whole body, and the feeling of weakness quickly subsided!
"This is...?!" Lina herself was shocked as she looked at the changes in her body.
Saruman abruptly stood up, staring intently at Lina's changes, while also sensing that the violent dark aura emanating from the battlefield behind them seemed to have reached its peak.
Then... it began to decay and become chaotic? An unbelievable, yet seemingly the only reasonable, deduction flashed through his mind like lightning. Could it be... His Majesty... was not only fighting, but also, through some means, "purifying" or "stealing" Cthulhu's power in reverse, and... this "processed" power was feeding back into Lina, the " Raven Prophet," accelerating her recovery and growth?! This idea was too shocking, but Lina's rapid recovery and the changes in the atmosphere of the battlefield behind them seemed to confirm it! "He succeeded... He might really..." Saruman's voice trembled with excitement, and a hint of tears even welled up in his eyes. It wasn't sadness, but an indescribable excitement and relief from witnessing his best friend's Destiny rewritten and despair dispelled by hope across a thousand years! Although Karg didn't understand the deeper reasons, seeing Lina recover her health at an astonishing speed, even stronger than before, filled him with ecstasy!
"That Legend is really that powerful!" Karg couldn't help but roar, forcefully swinging his fist as if to release all the pent-up frustration and despair he had felt earlier.
Lina felt the surge of power within her and the complete sense of "purification." She looked up behind her, her eyes filled with boundless gratitude and an almost religious reverence.
Belief.
It's usually around these times that things begin to be born.