NOVEL WEB Chapter 1090: Hahahaha
The moment Adam's fingers brushed against the cool surface of the Faceless Mask, something strange happened.
No, it would be wrong to call it simply strange. It was pure, unfilitered, and utterly diabolical!
The Facelss Mask, which had been in slumber for countless millennia, finally hummed to life. For all these epochs, no one had been able to descend down the staircase, let alone step through the circle of soul flames.
But now, someone worthy had finally overcome the trial of the soul flames. So when Adam came in contact with the dark silver mask, it immediately dissolved into shifting liquid, snaking up his arm before wrapping around his face.
Everything had happened far too quickly for Adam to even react. One moment, the soul flames were being suppressed inside his spirit sea, and the next… the Faceless Mask had already transformed into dark silver liquid and had already slithered towards his face.
Adam's blood turned cold, his heart gripped by panic and fear. This was a divine artifact forged by a God, after all. That too, a very treacherous and cunning God. So, of course, he was apprehensive of the artifact.
But in the end… he had still underestimated it.
The youth's hand shot up in an attempt to remove the mask from his face. He clawed at it in fear, desperate to tear it off. However, that proved to be quite the grueling task.
The dark silver, viscous liquid clung like a living thing, refusing to yield. Silver tendrils seeped into his nostrils, his mouth, his ears, and even burrowed into his eyes!
Then came the worst of it. The liquid turned into countless hair-thin needles, stabbing straight through every pore, binding itself to his face.
Adam's body convulsed violently. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony amid the soul flames. Once again, the searing fire invaded his spirit sea, and once again, it was suppressed by the white lotus.
The pain was so torturous that he couldn't even form a single coherent thought.
Pain… that was all he felt.
Pain, pain, pain.
And there was something else as well…
As the faceless mask melded into his face, he heard something… something faint… something distant. Initially, all he could think about was the pain. Now that he had started to grow numb to it, his mind focused on something else.
It began as a faint whisper, too soft for Adam to discern. But as the sound grew clearer, he finally realized what it was…
HAHAHAHA!
The sound of laughter was so absurd, so mockingly comical, and yet so agonizing, that for a moment Adam thought the torment of hearing it overweighed the searing pain of the mask fusing with his face.
He instinctively covered his ears. But of course, such an action was futile. The loud, ridiculous laughter echoed directly inside his spirit sea.
For a moment, Adam couldn't decide what was worse, the agony of the Faceless Mask melding into his face, or the maddening laughter echoing inside his mind.
He found this absurdity too funny.
And so…
He laughed.
"HAHAHAHA!"
The Faceless Mask continued to viciously fuse into his face, and the laughter inside his mind grew louder and louder with each passing moment. Of course, the pain he felt from both also increased rapidly.
Adam felt helpless. Adam felt hopeless. Adam felt afraid. Adam didn't know what to do. And so… Adam laughed.
He laughed and laughed and laughed.
The sound of his laughter echoed through the small underground chamber, then pierced through the darkness and reverberated in the temple of the long-forgotten god.
Oh, and what was the name of this god?
But of course, it was the Laughing God!
"HAHAHAHA!"
The Faceless Mask hadn't even been fully settled into Adam's face, yet its insidious flaw had already begun to take hold.
It was the whisper of the Laughing God.
And that laughter was the distant echo of his eternal joke.
The laughter assaulted him. The whispers assaulted him. The pain assaulted him. This pain was unlike any other he had felt before. He felt every inch of his face burn from agonizing pain. Despite tears streaming down his face, he laughed.
He laughed and laughed and laughed.
And after what felt like forever, the Faceless Mask had finished burrowing inside his face. Adam's face was now fully visible. It was still his, of course. Except… it was covered in blood and some more blood.
The physical pain gradually subsided, and he found himself lying inside the circle of flames, gasping for air. Yet, the laughter and the ravings continued to assault inside his mind.
Adam found the entire situation a bit too hilarious.
He knew that the Faceless Mask was forged and once worn by the Laughing God. He knew that the Laughing God was also the Breaker of Oaths and the Weaver of Lies. Adam knew he was treacherous, cunning, and insidious.
Yet, why was he so surprised when the mask acted the way it did when he touched it?
Why was he so surprised when he heard the sound of laughter and the mad ravings inside his mind?
He took a deep breath and then… laughed.
"HAHAHAHA!" He laughed so loud that more tears trickled down his face. "Stupid, stupid, I'm so damn stupid!"
He laughed and laughed and laughed.
Then, something both comical and deeply disturbing happened. Adam's left cheek twitched, and then a mouth appeared. His right cheek followed, sprouting yet another mouth. One by one, several mouths emerged all over his body.
And then…
They all laughed.
HAHAHAHA!
Once again, laughter echoed through the ancient walls of the Laughing God's temple.
And then, Adam's dark eyes gleamed with a ruthless light. He willed it in his mind, and the next moment, the white lotus emerged from the depths of his spirit sea. As it surfaced, the lotus bloomed, its divine aura spreading to the furthest corners of this ethereal space.
An invisible wave of holy energy rippled outward, with the lotus at the center. Gradually, the laughter and the ravings inside Adam's mind died down. It took several minutes for the flaw of the Faceless Mask to be countered.
Yet, even then… the flaw wasn't completely gone. Only greatly diminished. Though Adam no longer heard the laughter or ravings, faint whispers lingered.
Not even the Eternal Soul Lotus could fully overcome the flaw of the Laughing God's relic!
Or perhaps… Adam himself was too weak to harness the lotus's full power.
Regardless, with the Faceless Mask's flaw almost suppressed, the raven-haired youth was finally able to think properly. Realizing what had just transpired, his heart turned cold.
In that moment, he felt extremely fortunate for the Eternal Soul Lotus. If not for that artifact… Adam didn't dare to even think about it.
The youth sat upright, gasping for air. His heart beat wildly inside his chest, and the fear of what had just transpired lingered in the depths of his eyes.
He reached out with a hand to remove the mask, but he suddenly froze.
There was a mouth… on his palm, smiling up at him. There were a few of them across his arm as well, some pursing their lips, others licking them, some grinned, while others curved downward.
Adam subconsciously gulped. He instinctively sent a mental command to the Faceless Mask, and the next moment, the mouths all over his body merged back into his skin.
He took a deep breath, then once again reached out to remove the mask.
And that's when he realized, much to his horror…
That the Faceless Mask wouldn't come off.