Eldritch Horror Theatre

What he'd said earlier was spot on: they really were full of energy.

The ancient teaching to respect the aged and honor the wise made a lot of sense.

Returning from his Blood Crusade in the blink of an eye, Fu Qian let out a heartfelt sigh.

The recent sequence of events had been incredibly simple. First, he had activated Lucid Dream, plunging everyone into it.

Although the three Night Watchers were completely oblivious to the dream, their hyper-vigilance—like a bird startled by the twang of a bow—led them to mistakenly believe he was about to attack the Old Lady, prompting a preemptive strike.

Naturally, the attacks missed. Before they could connect, he had already slipped out of the dream.

Suddenly losing track of their target, the three Night Watchers shifted their focus to rescuing the hostage.

However, confronted with the surreal scene and subjected to repeated shocks, the wandering Old Lady underwent the exact same change he had—she broke out of the dream and returned to reality.

As a result, the hostage rescue operation also ended in failure.

In fact, she had taken it a step further than he had. After her attempt at misdirection failed, she opted for a much more direct approach and launched an attack on him.

It was illusory and crude, seemingly swirling with massive chunks of ash.

Yet it was unmistakably a ferocious, massive claw that flashed momentarily over the Old Lady's arm.

The target he had been chasing all this time had finally revealed its Transcendent side.

And that wasn't even the most bizarre part—the Old Lady had broken free from the Lucid Dream, but she hadn't actually woken up.

After throwing that eerie strike, her eyes were now completely unfocused, lacking all their previous sharpness.

...

Strictly speaking, it looked a bit like she was sleepwalking.

Fu Qian made this assessment almost instantly.

Even though her actions were highly purposeful, the Old Lady was clearly not conscious.

In fact, looking into those eyes, he could almost feel a distinct, inhuman gaze staring back at him.

It wasn't that the Old Lady was revealing hidden strength. Rather, something was using the dream realm as a medium to channel its power through her.

This didn't contradict his previous judgment—the Old Lady herself was indeed an ordinary person.

There was also one piece of good news: this level of contact hadn't caused him any contamination.

It seemed Rick was the only one who possessed such an absurd level of corrupting influence.

"Hi! What should I call you?"

While sharply analyzing the changes in front of him, Fu Qian didn't forget to offer a polite greeting.

"Lord of Sin? Plague Dragon?"

The reasoning behind the latter title was simple. Based on its structure and proportions, the massive claw from earlier clearly leaned toward a reptile.

Roar—

Unfortunately, even such polite and refined phrasing failed to move the mysterious entity controlling the dream.

His greeting was met with a violent roar as a spectral, ferocious head materialized, snapping its jaws shut right where he had just been standing.

Fortunately, Fu Qian had a wealth of experience in being treated rudely and had dodged at the first sign of movement.

This completely unprovoked sneak attack ended in failure once again.

...

'It really does look a bit like a giant dragon.'

Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, Fu Qian's sharp eyes were enough to capture a wealth of information.

A massive maw, razor-sharp teeth, and eyes that looked like empty voids in the darkness—it all closely resembled the pounce of a mindless behemoth.

He didn't think it could actually tear his flesh, but given the nature of this mission, Fu Qian had absolutely no interest in taking a bite just to test its effects.

It didn't matter, though. As the saying went, heaven helps those who help themselves.

"What's so special about Rick Weasley to you?"

Maintaining his boundless curiosity, Fu Qian snapped his fingers the very next moment, bringing the Lucid Dream to an end.

A short distance away, the frozen bodies of the three Night Watchers shuddered in unison as their trapped consciousnesses flooded back to reality.

Seeing the two people who had just vanished suddenly reappear right in front of them was hard to comprehend, but the trio still demonstrated excellent teamwork.

The Thunder Fist Dagger struck at Fu Qian once more, while the remaining operative leaped to the side of the lost Old Lady, attempting to pull her out of harm's way.

As for the Old Lady, having failed to strike Fu Qian twice, her reaction in this moment was equally decisive.

Without uttering a sound, she raised her right hand. The pitch-black, spectral claw rose in perfect synchronization, aiming dead at her would-be rescuer.

At that exact moment, Fu Qian could feel the entity "look" at him.

"What the... there's something wrong with this one too!"

The hostage, who had just seemed as fragile as paper, had suddenly revealed a ferocious side. The sheer shock of it was massive.

However, even amidst his profound shock, the Night Watcher did his duty, immediately roaring out a warning to his teammates.

This...

Meanwhile, the other two operatives, whose attacks had missed yet again, stared at the massive claw and then at Fu Qian standing off to the side. Their expressions became incredibly complicated. For a moment, they had no idea which one to prioritize.

Of course, no one actually cared about their choice.

"You know why I'm here?"

After walking a short distance, Fu Qian stopped and stood still. He gazed at the massive claw that was delaying its strike and asked casually.

"And you also know how you'll end up, right?"

Along with his chilling question, an even more freezing aura swept out from his body.

Almost instantly, the three Night Watchers felt their thoughts turn sluggish.

Yet even so, they couldn't help but fixate on the crystal-clear brilliance enveloping his body, completely mesmerized by the dazzling sight.

...

Fu Qian did not receive an answer.

To be precise, the sleepwalking Old Lady didn't even spare him a single glance.

He sighed softly at this rude display, though it wasn't like he couldn't understand it.

The entity was indeed waiting for his reaction, just not in the form of a verbal reply.

That hovering, hesitant giant claw wasn't holding back out of any sense of compassion for the Night Watcher who had twice tried to rescue her.

Rather, upon realizing that it was completely powerless to harm Fu Qian, the entity was hoping he would show compassion.

It wanted him to reveal an exploitable opening in a rush to save the Night Watcher from an imminent strike.

Unfortunately for the entity, that latter wish was probably far harder to fulfill than the former.

Even though his posture had already made this glaringly obvious, the entity was still unwilling to rule out the possibility that he was just making an empty show of strength.

The proof came a moment later when the ferocious giant claw slammed straight down. It bypassed the safe distance the locked-on target had tried to maintain and slashed right across the operative's chest.

It had chosen to take a gamble after all, and it had lost.

Fu Qian, who had remained standing in place this entire time, reacted only by carefully observing and recording every change in the attacked operative.

As he had noted earlier, his need to complete the mission meant he couldn't use his own body to test the effects of the attack.

However, where there is a will, there is a way. As long as you maintained a sense of curiosity, your opponents would naturally hand you the answers.

It was indeed a non-physical attack. Although the operative who took the hit went instantly rigid, there was clearly no splatter of flesh and blood.

He quickly reached a silent conclusion.

It was a much more elegant, conceptual form of damage.

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