The three of them cautiously looked over.
That thing... was hard to describe. It had no fixed form, more like a twisted mass made manifest from countless frenzied desires for knowledge and fragments of knowledge itself. Just looking at it was enough to make one lose a good deal of San.
Its main body was made up of shifting, recombining afterimages of books, streams of light formed by mathematical equations, and unrecognizable characters and symbols. At its core flickered a tiny, bloodshot gleam of deeply obsessive "reason."
Distorted human faces kept surfacing across the thing's surface. Their mouths hung open in silent screams, their eyes filled with an overwhelming yearning to "understand" and the eternal torment of never finding an answer.
Its appearance made the incessant muttering grow clearer. Yu Xing's mind stirred, and he keenly picked out a voice he knew all too well.
"...Coordinates for the fifth dimension... No... A variable is missing..."
"...The flesh is weak... Only ascension... The ritual... We need more..."
"...He is watching... He has always been there... The answer lies among the stars..."
"...Why... Why can't I understand... Knowledge... Give me more knowledge!"
Fragments of thoughts slammed into them, carrying an intense thirst for knowledge and the madness and despair that came with it. This wasn't the Edgar they were looking for—it was Riel, the astronomer!
It seemed to have collected the fluctuations of Riel's thoughts from before he went mad, mingled among layer upon layer of whispers.
Then had Edgar also left traces of his mental fluctuations here?
As Yu Xing wondered, the newly formed monster sprang into action.
It seemed to have "sensed" the three intruders' vibrant minds, brimming with power and knowledge, and instantly "locked on" to them!
The monster charged at them.
It moved like viscous liquid, yet with