Eldritch Horror Theatre

It was not just the Lookout Platform, but even the watcher itself.

Although revisiting an old haunt often brought different feelings, this was a bit too different.

There wasn't an extra person on the platform; rather, the platform itself had turned into a head.

The earlier theory about the undead whale received its most direct confirmation at this moment.

First, he could see that a considerable portion of the small area had already crystallized.

And combined with the trail that spread all the way up to it, the cause of this change was clear—

Along with the structure that had appeared out of thin air below, it was unmistakably the skeletal head of a whale.

As for the original location of the Prism on the platform, it now sat within one of the eye sockets.

Tilted slightly, the entire structure still carried an imposing aura of gazing out into the distance.

As he observed, Fu Qian stepped back onto the platform, mentally sketching out the whale's complete outline based on what he had seen along the way.

It wasn't even a case of one tail and two heads, but rather a single body with a head on each end, giving it the distinct feel of a high-speed train.

Setting aside the physics for now, the posture of the "tail" being raised so high finally had a logical explanation.

It wasn't born of arrogance; rather, even reduced to bare bones, it never forgot to eagerly gaze forward.

Meanwhile, the relatively more intact head seemed to have forcefully taken the brunt of the Transcendent Terminus's sin force.

Just picturing it allowed him to feel the tragedy of that moment.

What was a pity, however, was that the Lighthouse still didn't seem to light up.

Standing once more on the eye-socket Prism, Fu Qian found that he still couldn't see Moore in the distance, nor could he spot that ray of light whose nature—good or ill—was hard to determine.

However, it wasn't a completely fruitless endeavor.

Although the distance remained dark, a patch of glittering light had appeared in The Lake beneath his feet.

Its size could not be mentioned in the same breath as the whale, but it was still a fairly large lump quietly curled up down there.

That was right, it was a creature.

A creature of very high Rank.

And its body was adorned with crystals.

This creature even looked a bit familiar. Its name was... Rom?

Yes, Fu Qian recalled having seen that ancient god before, back in a place called Dunis.

...

It truly was a small world for gods. To think it was this great entity behind the Origin Council?

It was right there in The Lake beneath him, but due to the angle, it wouldn't have been easy to spot without stepping forward.

Its body closely resembled a bloated spider, though it possessed far too many legs that were disproportionately small.

In stark contrast, its head was barely any smaller than its body. Its shape was quite twisted, looking as if the skull had been softened and violently kneaded, ultimately forming a pitted, cratered mess.

And the glittering light mentioned earlier largely came from those craters.

Crystals of various sizes, vaguely resembling the shape of eyeballs, were embedded inside them, covering nearly the entire head.

"An honor to meet you."

Even though the other party appeared to be in a deep slumber and hadn't noticed its audience's arrival at all, Fu Qian still didn't forget his jianghu etiquette, taking the initiative to greet it.

In theory, Excellency Rom had never actually revealed its true form.

Fu Qian's sense of familiarity mainly stemmed from the numerous manuscripts scribbled by that group of occult enthusiasts back in Dunis. Looking at it now, they actually bore quite a resemblance.

As the undisputed mastermind and technical support of the Origin Council, as well as a veteran of the transcendent realm... this entity had always acted with caution, never making a move without absolute certainty.

Even when it did act, it always stuck to the routine of cultivating cannon fodder to lead the charge.

Unfortunately, despite exhausting all clever schemes, its luck was ultimately lacking, repeatedly running into treacherous individuals who thwarted its plans.

Even a plan like possessing the Lord of Clamor back in Dunis—a scheme that directly negated all possibilities of failure and seemed impossible to lose—ultimately ended up falling short by a single basket of earth.

It was exactly from that moment on that it found itself hampered at every turn. Its room to maneuver was continuously compressed, eventually forcing it to take a desperate risk and target the Solitary King and the Offspring of the Goddess of Sins.

And the outcome was even more lamentable. This time, not one but two treacherous individuals showed up. Its painstakingly crafted plot blew up like a firework on the spot, causing even the Origin Council to begin falling apart...

So it seemed this entity was quite tenacious. To think it still managed to pull off some micromanagement under the subsequent encirclement of the Night Watchers?

Fu Qian could only say that he leaned toward this possibility.

The things within the Etched Intellect certainly weren't that trustworthy, but over the past few days, he had also witnessed plenty of the survival instincts of Ancient Higher Beings.

There was even an additional reason: Lady Nepheli had once mentioned that her understanding of the essence of the Blood of Thorns came from Rom's inspiration.

Combined with the series of prior arguments, one could reasonably conclude that Rom had also dabbled in crystals.

Therefore, Fu Qian wasn't entirely surprised to find the latter in this place.

In comparison, he was much more curious about how its degree of crystallization didn't seem quite sufficient.

Indeed, despite glittering all over, apart from the eyes on its head and a few localized parts of its body, this entity actually retained a significant amount of flesh. As a result, it looked even more bizarre than the whale beside it.

It was as if it had merely dabbled, using the crystals just for repairs, unwilling to fundamentally change its own nature.

...

One could only say it was truly fitting for the ever-cautious Excellency Rom. Was this its final life-saving measure?

Even after consecutive failures in possessing bodies, it still had a way to mend its mangled remains, preventing a total collapse.

Emitting a somewhat unapproachable aura, Fu Qian's casual greeting received no response for a while.

But even such a cold shoulder didn't stop him from highly praising Excellency Rom's methods.

Though they had never officially met face-to-face, considering their frequent interactions along the way, it wasn't hard to deduce this entity's current predicament.

To begin with, it was definitely not in a good state, which had forced it to attempt possessions everywhere. After the recent Solitary King incident, Nepheli had even indirectly confirmed that it was no longer responding.

Under such circumstances, even if it hadn't completely perished at the hands of the Night Watchers, whatever countermeasures it could muster were bound to be the next best option at most.

Otherwise, why would it have gone through all that previous trouble? It could have simply used crystals for repairs just like it was doing now.

From this point alone, one could also see that Rom's past sharing of the Blood of Thorns with Nepheli had been heavily sugar-coated.

In reality, deep down, it likely knew very well that the crystals were nothing good.

It was just a pity that, having been driven into a corner, it could only drink poison to quench its thirst.

And the side effects did seem quite obvious. For example, while it still felt alive, its spirit was severely lacking.

"Ah..."

Perhaps the string of negative reviews had finally taken effect; at a certain moment, Excellency Rom finally reacted, proving it was still alive with a long, drawn-out sigh.

However, its reaction was still extremely sluggish, with only a few of its legs capable of movement.

As it voiced its sigh, its body struggled to stretch out. Only then did it finally prop itself up slightly and "gaze" over in this direction.

"Ah... Tyrant..."

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