bantayden Chapter 473, Section 482: The Closed Loop of Fate
Chapter 473, Section 482: The Closed Loop of Fate
Chapter 473, Section 482: The Closed Loop of Fate (Part 1)
The scene inside the city is quite different from that outside.
The ground beneath their feet was no longer charred black rock, but had transformed into massive stones with a dark green glow and a rough, cold surface.
The city's architecture is right before your eyes, and its distorted, non-Euclidean geometric structure is even more mentally confusing.
The towers tilt at an angle that defies gravity, the arches twist into visceral shapes, and the streets are not straight but spiral and fold in a dizzying way, as if the entire spatial structure of the city is in a state of chaos.
of course.
Compared to this environment.
Even more shocking are the traces left by Ian's battle.
Huge craters are everywhere, with smooth edges as if they were instantly melted by high temperatures, or covered with irregular cracks, as if they were torn apart by a huge force.
Many of the twisted buildings bear clear signs of corrosion, and some areas are covered with a grayish-white substance that looks like ashes.
In some places, there are even remnants of a viscous substance, a black liquid that emits a foul odor.
Of course—the most indispensable thing is the corpse.
All I saw was...
In the city.
Everywhere you look, you see all sorts of corpses that defy accurate description.
Some were as if all the moisture had been drained away, turning into shriveled scabbards covered in scales, twisted and curled up in a corner, their shapes vaguely resembling those of deep-diving beings or even more bizarre hybrids.
Some were crushed by an invisible force, turning into a sludge-like mass of flesh mixed with green slime and broken bone armor, emitting a nauseating stench. Others seemed to have been detonated from within by some internal force, exploding into countless fragments that emitted a faint phosphorescent glow, resembling decaying jellyfish—
They do not belong to humans.
These corpses came in all sorts of bizarre shapes, but without exception, they all exuded the same ancient and insane aura that was shared with the city of R'lyeh itself.
They were clearly not any known creatures on Earth, nor even any beings recorded in any known atlas of magical creatures—they were the enemies of that legendary wizard.
They are "residents" or "derivatives" of this crazy city.
"What a terrible place."
Saruman and Kag held their breath.
They moved cautiously among the strange corpses and architectural ruins.
"I feel like throwing up, it's disgusting." Kag gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his palms sweating profusely. He had never seen such a bizarre and unsettling scene of death.
"These monsters are powerful, but their enemies are even stronger."
While remaining vigilant about potential dangers, Saruman quickly analyzed the energy traces remaining on the corpses, attempting to reconstruct the events of the battle.
"Most of them were instantly killed by that pure death magic," Saruman whispered to Kag, pointing to a relatively well-preserved, dried corpse that resembled a hybrid of a giant starfish and an octopus.
"Look, there was no sign of struggle; life was taken away in an instant."
He then pointed to another area, pitted and corroded, "This place—it looks like it was annihilated by some kind of strong acid or even more terrifying energy—"
They slowly advanced deeper into the city, following the direction in which the battle traces were most concentrated. The deeper they went, the more astonishing the extent of the destruction became, and the larger and more bizarre the corpses they encountered grew. They even saw a wreckage the size of a small mountain, covered in thick armor and countless tentacles.
Its head—if it could even be called a head—was shattered by a terrifying force, leaving green blood and brain matter congealed on the ground.
The scene was utterly astonishing. However, despite the devastation of battle and the bizarre corpses, they still couldn't find the legendary wizard.
There was no blood.
There were no pieces of torn clothing.
No trace of humankind was left behind. It was as if the being who unleashed earth-shattering magic and battled countless terrifying beings had vanished into thin air after the battle ended.
"Where are the others?"
Kag couldn't help but ask in a low voice, his words ringing out clearly in the deathly silence of the street, "Could it be—he was at the very end of the battle—?"
He didn't finish his sentence, but the implication was clear: had that legendary figure perished together with the enemy?
Saruman shook his head, his brow furrowed.
"It doesn't seem like it—if it were a mutual destruction, there should be stronger traces of energy annihilation and—remains left here. But now, there are only the corpses of those monsters. It's more like he—left."
"Left? Where did they go? Is there some kind of exit we don't know about?" Kag looked around, but he couldn't see anything except for the more twisted and unsettling buildings and the monster corpses scattered all over the ground.
Saruman was also utterly perplexed. He cast several detection spells, trying to find any remnants of spatial fluctuations or any unusual traces of magic, but to no avail.
The chaotic energy field emanating from the city of R'lyeh severely interfered with all detection spells, like searching for a specific note in a cacophony of noise.
almost impossible.
That incredibly powerful legend, who might be their only chance of survival, appeared suddenly and disappeared just as abruptly, leaving no trace.
hope.
It was as if a tiny flame had just been ignited, only to be mercilessly extinguished by the cold reality. The two stood atop a small hill piled with the remains of monsters, gazing at the deeper, darker city center ahead—a place that seemed to lead to the Earth's core or another dimension—and were plunged into a profound sense of bewilderment and powerlessness.
What's the next step?
"This place is definitely not a man-made city."
The two stood on a small hill made up of the remains of various indescribable monsters.
The thick, viscous, foul-smelling dark green and purplish-black liquid soaked through the soles of their boots. The air was thick with a nauseating stench of blood, decay, and a pungent odor akin to burning ozone. Ahead, deep within the city of R'lyeh, the scene grew even more eerie and terrifying.
"Indeed, no matter how crazy humans get, they can't create art like this." Kag deeply agreed with Saruman's assessment. The distortion of the buildings in the city far exceeded that of the outer areas. Huge green stones flowed and solidified like melting candles, forming countless illogical holes, vortices, and spikes.
Some building surfaces are covered with a thick layer of translucent material, like a biological mucus, which pulsates and emits faint fluctuations of mental pollution.
It's like bacteria on some giant creature.
The further in you go.
The streets became narrower and more intricate, sometimes spiraling upwards, sometimes plunging downwards, and some paths even disappeared directly into walls or ceilings.
It felt like stepping into another dimension.
The light became even dimmer here.
Only the ominous, dim glow emanating from the green stone itself, and the eerie phosphorescence from certain slime and corpse fragments, barely illuminated this nightmarish scene.
"Could it be that we're going to have to go in circles here too?" As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, twice shy, and that's exactly the situation Kag is in now.
What happened after passing through the Infinite Corridor.
He's incredibly sensitive right now.
of course.
Isn't Saruman the same?
He was also uneasy.
But he knew even more that he needed to force himself to think calmly.
“We have a map. Even if it might be a trap, we have no other choice.” Saruman took a deep breath of the nauseating air, forcing himself to calm down, and unfolded the parchment again. The twisted lines seemed to come alive in the dim light, writhing slightly.
He carefully compared their approximate location—according to the map, they were near a "node" in the city's central area, marked by a twisted trident-like symbol and a teardrop-shaped mark of unknown significance.
"According to the map, there are three—or rather, three possible main paths—ahead." Saruman pointed to three distinct lines extending from the "trident" node on the parchment. "One is relatively straight," he said, pointing to the largest area on the map marked with a "door," but the path passed through an area marked with dense, jagged lines, which might indicate high danger or extreme spatial instability.
He was conducting an analysis.
The second path, winding and meandering, bypasses several smaller nodes and eventually leads to the area of the door, but it is longer and passes through an area marked with a tentacle-like pattern.
Saruman's voice carried a hint of solemnity.
"The third path—" He paused, pointing to the shortest path, but one almost entirely covered by chaotic spirals, "This path leads directly to the door." It's the shortest distance, but the map shows that the spatial structure of this area is extremely chaotic, perhaps even—an overlapping structure.
Although this is almost impossible in normal logic, normal logic has long since ceased to apply here, so things like common sense are meaningless.
"Too complicated! I don't understand any of this. You know, I'm just a warrior." Kag looked at the dizzying map.
I felt completely overwhelmed.
"You decide, Saruman. You're better at this than I am. Which one do you choose?" In the end, Kag decided to use Saruman, his external brain.
In their small team.
Normally, only Lina and Saruman are responsible for thinking, while Kag only needs to be their tool. Now, he has lost Lina, the brains.
Kag knew he could only rely on Saruman's intellect.
"I've always had bad luck. When I was a kid, I never picked the sweetest fruit," Kag said in a muffled voice, using his past experiences as evidence that he didn't need to use his brain.
Well, how should I put it?
People with bad luck are indeed not suited to make decisions.
That makes a lot of sense.
"We can't choose randomly, it's too dangerous." Saruman pondered for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the three options. The first path was clearly dangerous, but it might be the fastest; the second was relatively safe, but the journey was long and unpredictable; the third was a complete gamble, a path that could lead to either heaven or hell.
Be aware of these things.
Saruman was also caught in a dilemma.
He pondered there for a long time.
"We can't waste time going around in circles." He finally pointed to the first option. "Lina and your situation is dire; we must find a way out as soon as possible. Choose the first option, go straight through the danger zone, and check the location of that door. Remain highly vigilant and be prepared for any attack."
Having made their decision, the two lingered. Saruman put away the map, and a steady white light shone from the tip of his staff, like a lighthouse in the darkness, dispelling the unsettling eerie green glow around them and calming their tense nerves to some extent. Kag gripped his greatsword tightly, carrying Lina on his back.
Like the most loyal shadow.
Followed by.
They embarked on the path marked "dangerous" on the map.
This so-called "relatively straight" path is actually full of mentally confusing twists and turns, and the pollution is everywhere in the city.
Therefore.
Saruman had to use more magic.
Maintain your rationality.
Then, through the dark magic that connects her and Kag, she transmits this rationality to Kag.
This is not an easy task.
This was true for both Saruman and Kag.
They couldn't help but wonder if the so-called "straightness" was just a delusion for despairing people to comfort themselves—in every sense of the word, in this desolate land forgotten on the edge of the world, even straight lines had become part of the distortion of reality.
They took one step forward.
The ground beneath their feet seemed to be silently mocking their obsession.
"Damn it! This road looks perfectly normal!"
Sometimes the two had to climb smooth, sloping boulders, their surfaces gleaming with an eerie sheen, like the skin of some living creature, writhing slightly in the moonlight; other times they had to squeeze sideways through narrow crevices, just wide enough for one person to pass through, the gaps crisscrossing like the ribs of a giant beast.
Cold, damp, and reeking of a mixture of decay and sulfur. Each step felt like being slowly swallowed by some ancient being, suffocating you.
The surrounding buildings have long surpassed the geometric laws of human understanding. They are not made of bricks and stones, but rather seem to be nightmare remnants growing from the depths of the earth—towering spires intersecting each other at impossible angles, and the walls covered with spiral reliefs, the patterns of which seem to slowly flow after being gazed at for a long time.
It outlines indescribable faces and limbs.
Even the shadows cast by these reliefs are not static, but rather wriggle and extend like living things, forming ever-changing totems on the rock face.
It was as if it were whispering a forbidden incantation that had long been lost.
Deep within those holes and vortexes, so dark that not even light could escape, one always felt as if countless invisible eyes were peering at them from the void—eyes devoid of emotion, yet filled with hunger, as if waiting only for their will to falter slightly before dragging their souls into an eternal abyss of chaos.
The mental pollution in the air is becoming increasingly severe.
At first, it was just a faint whisper in my ear, like the wind passing through the cracks in withered bones.
Now, however, it has evolved into clearly identifiable malicious syllables, intermittent yet precisely piercing the most vulnerable corners of consciousness.
"Give up—thinking is the root of suffering—sinking is the only destination—"
Those voices did not come from the outside world, but echoed directly in the depths of their brains, carrying a sweet yet rotten allure, trying to erode their last shred of grasp on reality.
"What exactly are we approaching?!"