"I... damn!" Cang Nong felt his scalp go numb, his brain as if pierced by countless needles. He couldn't help groaning in pain. He hurriedly activated [Mermaid's Tear], and a layer of clear water enveloped him, barely shielding him from the pervasive mental contamination.
"Ah, what a... grand welcome." Carlos chuckled lightly, seemingly unaffected. A playing card of his own design, with an unusual back, had already flown from his hand—not toward the tiny princess fantasy creature, but toward the ceiling!
The card burst open in midair, transforming into countless glittering streamers and sequins, like a miniature indoor celebration. The seemingly random, useless bits fluttered down, instantly disrupting the gaze of the Archive Eyes and temporarily blocking their mental pressure.
"Now!" Carlos shouted.
At that very moment, the floating princess fantasy creature let out an even more ear-piercing shriek! Its body suddenly swelled and warped, as if being inflated!
The crayon lines broke apart and reassembled, the colors mixing and twisting. In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into the horrifying forms depicted on the fourth and fifth pages of the picture book.
A nameless monster nearly reaching the archive room ceiling, composed of gray-white rocks like cavern walls, twisted limbs, scraps of a princess dress, and countless writhing black strands of hair!
Its "face" still wore that empty smile and bore those huge, pupil-less black eyes. It "looked down" at them from above, its enormous body nearly filling the center of the archive room. The places where its arms had been were now twisted, plaster-like tentacles, which lashed toward the three of them!
"...Constriction!" Cang Nong forced down his discomfort and slammed both hands against the floor.
The water covering the archive room floor surged instantly, turning into raging currents that coiled around the monster's incoming plaster