NOVEL WEB Chapter 1076: Great Horror
Don't look…
Don't look…
Don't look…
Adam kept repeating the same sentence inside his mind. No matter how much he wanted to take a look at his loving mother. No matter how much he wanted to take a look at his doting sister… he knew he couldn't.
He grew more and more certain that the entity residing inside the abandoned temple was incapable of causing physical harm. Its expertise lay in the domain of the mind, and perhaps even the soul.
Opening his eyes meant doom. So Adam was unwilling to do that until and unless he grew certain of the entity's motive and how it operated. Based on that, he could formulate a plan. But for that, he needed to be absolutely certain.
The creature viciously squeezed the life out of Adam. The youth's face turned pale, and he struggled to breathe. Despite it all, he refused to open his eyes.
"LOOK AT ME!" The creature leaned forward and roared.
But no matter what it tried, Adam just wouldn't open his eyes. He truly wanted to, though.
Oh, what he would have given to relive the fond memories he had spent with his dear mother. But he couldn't allow himself to. He couldn't.
After an eternity passed, or perhaps just an instant, the entity slowly released its grip around Adam's neck. Its face returned to normal, once again displaying the doting expression of the youth's mother.
She caressed Adam's raven hair and said gently, "Oh, you'll come around, son. Your father will be home soon. Once he arrives, we shall have supper together like one big, happy family."
With that said, she leaned over and planted a warm kiss on Adam's forehead. Then, she rose to her feet and left. The sound of her footsteps soon disappeared into the edge of oblivion.
Adam silently wept. It all felt so familiar to him. He was transported back to the simple life he once led with his family—back when he didn't practice magic. He recalled the days he spent with his mother under the shade of the oak tree.
His mind was a mess. His heart was churning with emotions.
He gritted his teeth and spat with boundless fury, "How dare you…"
Adam was utterly furious. To use the memory of his loved ones against him was utterly unforgivable. It took a long time for him to calm down the raging emotions in his heart.
And once he did, his mind turned cold, brimming with cruel intentions.
Oh, the things he was going to do to the creature…
He inhaled deeply, then took hold of his Sphere of Resonance.
Good, I can still access it, he thought.
He extended his enhanced observation ability and sensed his surroundings. As expected, it was the small cottage that he grew up in—the one in Behal Town.
It was just as he remembered it to be. The hut was empty, except for him who was currently lying on the bed. He extended his Sphere of Resonance further outward.
And the results stunned him.
This… what is this place?!
Outside the cottage was a vast expanse of white nothingness. The tiny hut seemed to be floating in an ocean of blank space.
This… this is way too potent to be an illusion! Could it really be a dream?! If so… then, how strong is this creature for it to be able to weave dreams?
The discovery made him shudder. This was, by far, one of the most powerful entities he had ever encountered! The only small mercy was that it seemed to be incapable of inflicting physical harm. Its weapon was the mind, wielded through potent mental magic.
By fate… or perhaps, design… the creature had stumbled upon its bane. Adam, after all, possessed an uncommon resistance, if not outright immunity, to most forms of mental magic.
Fueled by anger and hatred, the raven-haired youth gritted his teeth and expanded his perception even further. He willed the Sphere of Resonance to break through the realm of blankness that surrounded the cottage.
His spirit sea trembled from the pressure, but the white lotus immediately stabilized it. His eyes turned red, and blood started to stream from his nostrils. He was facing resistance from the blank space, which meant that it could be broken through.
After what felt like an eternity, and just when Adam began to fear that he would be unable to break through the barrier…
Crash!
It all came crumbling down. Like a mirror shattering into countless fragments, the white void splintered around him, and in the next moment, he found himself within the temple's walls.
The triumph of breaking through that illusion—dreamscape, or whatever it had been—was short-lived, swiftly drowned beneath the weight of the sight that now lay before him.
Needless to say, it gripped his heart with cold dread.
Adam lay on the cold stone floors of the temple's main chamber. A gaping wound in the roof above offered a glimpse of the breathtaking vista of the alien skies of the spirit world.
But the rest of the ceiling…
Hundreds of corpses dangled from rusted metal hooks. Most were the twisted remains of four-arm monstrosities like the one Adam had fought earlier, while others were unrecognizable horrors of the spirit world. Each corpse was more grotesque than the last.
On the dilapidated walls of the temple were murals depicting the ancient past, but Adam had no interest in studying them at the moment.
No, something far more terrifying was present in the chamber.
A few meters away from him lay Felix's unconscious body. It would appear that the cultist had indeed followed him into the temple, unwilling to let go of his only way out of this twisted hell. He was still breathing, albeit barely.
And in front of Felix stood—or rather, floated—the great horror that dwelled within the walls of the temple!
When Adam observed this entity, a chill crawled down his spine.
It was a shifting, formless mass of gray fog, countless eyes of varying sizes scattered across its surface. The pressure it exuded was suffocating and alien. Its very presence gnawed at the edges of his mind.
And the energy it radiated… without a doubt, it surpassed the might of even a Mana Core Magus!
It took a long time for Adam to formulate his thoughts, but he grew certain.
If I can gaze upon it through my Sphere of Resonance, then…
His thoughts ground to a halt as the formless fog began creeping towards Felix's unconscious body. Tendrils of gray mist slithered around its limbs and torso, hoisting him into the air like a puppet.
Then, under Adam's thunderstruck gaze, the fog surged forward, pouring into Felix's body, through his eyes, nose, and mouth.
Felix's body convulsed in agony, thrashing helplessly as the unknown entity's power crushed his will. He desperately tried to break free, but against this great horror of the spirit world, his resistance was meaningless.
Several long, dreadful seconds passed…
Then, his body fell still.
Felix, a mighty Mana Core Magus of the Cult of Bones, had perished… just like that.
After the formless fog was done with the cultist, a single, misty tendril snaked forward, coiling around his corpse. Then, it lifted Felix's lifeless body toward the ceiling and impaled it on a rusted metal hook.
The cultist had become yet another trophy among the countless victims suspended from the ceiling of this temple...
This temple of a long-forgotten god.
Once the formless fog was finished with him, it shifted.
It's countless eyes turned towards Adam, then a familiar voice echoed within his mind:
"Adam, supper's ready."