Eldritch Horror Theatre

Fu Qian knew exactly what the Witch meant by "accumulation." She obviously wasn't talking about the side effect of his arrival here—the steadily rising Nightmare Corridor index.

To the two of them, that was already old news.

Given their previous success and her current Dignity of a Superior Being, she clearly wasn't too worried about it.

The accumulation came from this Nightmare, which was also what she meant by time running out.

"What happens when time runs out?"

Having already stepped ahead to clear the way, Fu Qian casually asked.

"Blood loss."

Holding down the rear, the Pope indeed perceived everything with perfect clarity, throwing out a specific yet gruesome term without hesitation.

"And it doesn't merely refer to physical blood. Even if you were a golem of stone, certain crucial components of your self would still spray outward, eventually resulting in an irreversible transformation of your body."

"But there won't be any impact before the accumulation reaches that moment?"

Picturing that scene, Fu Qian casually verified.

"That seems to be the case for now. You can treat it as the Depth of immersion into the Nightmare. It is a fundamental property of this place, and different people sink into it at different rates."

The Witch confirmed his guess.

"Makes sense. It's just a pity I couldn't let Madam Xia admire my Dark Moon Radiance a little longer," Fu Qian lamented a moment later.

"She really couldn't hold out much longer, so it was best to send her back first. The problem now is that this place won't hold out much longer either."

As they chatted, the two of them arrived beside the tunnel they had spotted earlier. The Witch spoke while casually surveying it.

"Everyone who trespasses will be affected, but with the two of us as the targets, the burden on it is too great."

......

The reason she said time was running out wasn't out of concern that they would suffer blood loss, but rather that the Nightmare, straining under the pressure of inflicting its status conditions on the two of them, wouldn't be able to hold out.

Therefore, they needed to cherish the time before that happened and look around as much as possible.

The Witch's tone was gentle, but if one thought deeply about it, the implications of her words were tyrannical in the extreme.

For Fu Qian, however, this sort of development couldn't be more normal.

The Power of Rules was indeed highly effective, but how could establishing rules ever be that simple?

"Relax. With me here as the First Apostle, it won't collapse so easily even if it wants to."

The interior of the tunnel was fairly smooth, though the path was visibly twisting and turning. Moreover, it was filled with stone steles of varying sizes.

By normal standards, the dimensions were quite spacious. But if it were Madam Xia's former coworker, he would probably have to adjust his posture slightly when entering.

Continuing to clear the way, Fu Qian smiled coldly, absolutely refusing to disgrace the grand aura of the Dark Night Cult.

"What do you think these originally were?"

He wasn't just talking. Wearing an expression of utmost arrogance as he bypassed a cluster of stone steles, Fu Qian even offered his arm for the Witch to hold as they walked.

"I can't be sure yet. I lean toward them not being trespassing victims, but parts that originally belonged to the Nightmare, just like the one carrying the stele on its back. There are quite a few active things in this place.

"That is also why I am curious—what is it they originally desired?"

And the Witch truly cooperated, resting her hand upon it, her eyes watching the patterns on the stone steles as she passed.

"Makes sense. The fact that Xia performed a Descent onto another one and fused with the Nightmare so seamlessly proves this point to some extent."

Fu Qian clearly agreed with this guess, as well as the assertion that there were many active things here—

Walking through this winding tunnel, almost the very instant they rounded the first bend, he casually swatted away a spray of sand.

Indeed, it was exactly this sort of sneak attack that even those traversing the jianghu would despise. Furthermore, the sand was red, carrying a certain degree of visual impact.

However, Fu Qian still didn't make a fuss over it, because strictly speaking, the ambush didn't look intentional.

It was a massive, cylindrical body that seemed to have been startled by the footsteps of the two of them, suddenly whipping around to face this way.

And the red sand originated directly from its body.

It was spread evenly, much like the aftermath of a transparent worm rolling around on a sandy beach. The creature's silhouette could only be distinguished by the grains stuck to it.

Although rough, Fu Qian could still use it to determine that a massive head was already aimed this way, even slowly peeling open like flower petals.

Phfft—

This time, its malicious intent was extremely blatant.

Gathering itself for only a split second, the fully blooming head lunged straight forward, swallowing the upper half of Fu Qian's body whole.

......

A bizarre visual experience.

The fact that it could achieve such a battle result was, of course, due to Fu Qian cooperating by standing perfectly still.

And the feedback he received was the ability to observe from the inside out.

It was still phantom-like and formless, without even a physical sense of touch.

Only through that exterior layer of red sand could he tell that the other party was still viciously biting and tearing.

But this did not mean there was no effect. In Fu Qian's judgment, if Madam Xia had taken such a bite head-on, her "blood loss" would have a high probability of erupting directly.

Not only that, but the advantages of a phantom manifested at this time.

While it wouldn't truly bite you in half, interrupting it didn't seem easy either, since there was nothing to touch besides the sand—and Fu Qian had no intention of touching it anyway.

The next moment, streams of golden light explosively erupted within his rather monotonous field of vision, filling the void in the blink of an eye.

And the source of that gold was shockingly his own body.

Densely packed, these gorgeous yet ferocious weapons pierced outward from the entire surface of his swallowed body.

And it was absolutely not just a visual effect. Although the true body of the "phantom worm" remained invisible, the red sand on its surface instantly reacted.

Trembling, twisting, convulsing... From various struggles that defied imagination, one could keenly sense the devastation the true body was suffering.

It was not a simple severing, but a thorough annihilation of its essence.

After this scene lasted for a few seconds, the struggling came to a complete halt.

As if losing all support, the red sand sprinkled powerlessly through the air. Naturally, it still failed to land on the Witch in the slightest.

"A very unique fire. Is this the power of the King of the Abandoned Prison?"

Having not stepped forward a single pace the entire time, allowing Fu Qian to put on his show, the Witch finally spoke.

It was not a waste of time. The Knight had mentioned right at the beginning that they would do their best to demonstrate themselves during the exploration process.

After witnessing two consecutive strikes, she was evidently quite intrigued by this method of dealing damage.

"Yes. It represents the annihilation of will and self. The previous King of the Abandoned Prison once used it to wipe away the egos of His believers, leaving behind only devotion and fear toward Him."

Fu Qian turned his right palm upward, making the same gesture the Witch had made earlier.

This time, however, he wasn't catching anything. Instead, dozens—perhaps hundreds—of golden, arcing Spikes converged into the shape of a solid flame.

The very next moment, as the Spikes stretched and shifted, the flame truly began to "burn."

"After achieving a state even more tyrannical than the Tyrant, I completed this power, but even its appearance became a bit more hard-edged."

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