NOVEL WEB Ch. 86
Chapter 86
The Girl and the Tentacles
As Lucy let out an almost exhausted roar, that grayish-white index finger buried deep in the mountain of flesh was forcibly gouged out.
The mountain of flesh, having lost its core, instantly collapsed. Countless lumps of meat and viscera caved in from top to bottom as if imploding.
Branny’s broken body slid out from the disintegrating mound, her face frozen in a tranquil expression of release.
A tremendous vortex struck, and the world once again twisted into a blur.
When the three of them regained their sight, they discovered they had already returned to that enormous chamber within the primordial tree root.
Talia slumped to the ground, her voice trembling as she said, "Is... is it over?"
Although the time spent in the dream had not been long, the delay in each step had been enough to bury them in nightmares.
A violent tremor erupted without warning, and all the crying-faced tree roots convulsed fiercely at once.
The grayish-white index finger of the Lord of Nightmares suddenly began to shimmer with golden radiance, the glow fleeing rapidly along the gaps between the roots.
[Subdivine vessel detected] [Immediate purification recommended] [Lord of Nightmares divine contamination value: 8.5%...8.6%]
"The Lord of Nightmares’ remains have been activated by the formation." Lucy drew the dissection tool from her waist. "It’s trying to escape back into the Nightmare Plane."
"You’re going to dissect it here?!" Talia cried out in shock.
Lucy gave a sly smile.
"Why not?"
When the No. 3 scalpel sliced open the grayish-white skin of the evil god, divine patterns far more exquisite and complex than the 'Saint Radiance of the Scales' began to surface.
[Curse of the Lord of Nightmares detected (You have defiled the corpse of a god. Golden divine blood will forever stain you. The weak among dream creatures will fear you, while the strong will regard you as an enemy)]
[Lord of Nightmares divine contamination value: 9.9%, 10.9%, 12.3%, 15.2...]
Blue sigils kept sweeping past her eyes, but Lucy’s pupils contracted slightly from excitement.
Unlike the Saint Radiance, this was a true body of an evil god, even if it was only a single finger.
Lucy could feel that the divine patterns she was peeling away were not mere energy but a power born from a higher plane of life itself—they struggled and writhed beneath her blade, as if alive, attempting to recombine.
And all Lucy needed to do was to separate them, record them, and understand them…
"These roots are withering!" Talia suddenly shouted.
Standing guard nearby, Olivia frowned.
The roots that had been writhing moments ago were shriveling and turning ashen at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if all their vitality had been drained.
The Ghostface Trees survived by feeding on the divine power emitted by the evil god’s remains.
Now that the Lord of Nightmares’ remains had begun to return to the Nightmare Plane, the entire Ghostface Forest’s ecosystem was collapsing.
The human faces embedded among the roots all turned toward Talia in unison. Their twisted expressions took on a look of pleading, and countless roots slowly reached out toward her.
Olivia instinctively moved to shield her, her gaze sweeping over the roots like a cold blade.
"What’s happening?"
Talia’s voice trembled. "They… they’re begging for help?"
Olivia’s expression shifted slightly. "Don’t go near them! These trees are the spawn of the Lord of Nightmares. Their will could contaminate you!"
Hearing this, Talia recoiled in fear.
But the next moment, her face changed.
"They said they’re willing to submit to me, as long as I take them away… I want to try."
Olivia turned her head.
Talia’s expression was astonishingly calm.
After a brief silence, she slowly stepped aside.
"Be very careful. If anything feels wrong, activate your badge and leave immediately."
Talia nodded solemnly, then her right arm transformed into a vine.
In an instant, a mass of Ghostface Tree roots surged forward and wrapped around the vine.
Although a single Ghostface Tree was incredibly weak, so feeble it could not even move,
there were over a million Ghostface Trees across the entirety of Godfall Gorge, and among them, not a few crying-faced trees.
Within each of them, an extremely faint trace of golden divine power was contained.
"Talia!"
Olivia called out in alarm.
"I… I’m all right…" Talia’s face was as pale as paper, and a strange dark green light glimmered in the depths of her pupils—this was the collective consciousness of a million Ghostface Trees.
"They… they kept their promise," she murmured. "They are willing to ‘sacrifice’ their power to me, as long as I take them away from here…"
The ground shook again. As the Ghostface Tree roots withered in large numbers, the entire Godfall Gorge was collapsing.
Olivia immediately raised the Time Shield to block the massive chamber that was on the verge of breaking apart.
…
Central formation.
As the divine power dissipated, the wizards of the assault squad, who had been attacking one another, finally regained clarity.
Out of the thirteen-person assault squad, only six survived.
Huge stones and sand fell from the ceiling with a thunderous roar.
"Lucy and the others haven’t come out yet!"
"There’s no time to worry about them—we must leave now."
The six immediately activated their badges, their figures vanishing into the blue teleportation formation.
The divine power on the ‘golden index finger of the Lord of Nightmares’ was rapidly fading, while Lucy’s blade precisely sliced through the divine patterns.
One by one, the delicate, secret divine markings were stripped away.
As if sensing Lucy’s presence, a terrifying will pierced through the planar barrier like a searchlight and locked onto her.
But Lucy only gave it a brief glance before refocusing her attention on the dissection.
At this moment, she was fighting the Lord of Nightmares for dominion, and she could not afford the slightest distraction.
As the golden index finger faded faster and faster, Lucy’s dissection also neared its end.
It was as if the will across the planes had realized something.
That will let out a silent roar of fury, delivering a final threat.
But…
Until the last cut fell and the golden index finger completely turned into drifting ash, this fragment that could have influenced the Lord of Nightmares’ resurrection finally returned to the Nightmare Plane.
Only, one of the many dominions belonging to the Lord of Nightmares remained forever in the wizard world.
"System!"
[Name: Lucy Felicia]
[Rank: Apprentice (Mental Strength: 17.1)]
[Meditation Method: Bramble Loop Meditation II]
[Witchcraft: omitted]
[Skills: Devouring Contamination Potion (Advanced), Silverleaf Awakening Potion (Intermediate), Gaze into Darkness Drops (Intermediate), High Elvish (Beginner), Judgment of Truth and Falsehood, Key to the Abyss of Nightmares (Unique)]
[Equipment: Gear Staff (+2° magical energy), No. 3 Alchemical Scalpel of the Midnight Dissector, Impact Staff (+3° magical energy), Bark Garment of Divine Contamination Resistance]
[Contamination Value: 36%]
[Divine Contamination of the Lord of Golden Worship: 18%, Divine Contamination of the Lord of Nightmares: 21% (Nightmare Curse)]
[Academic Points: 36]
"Key to the Abyss of Nightmares?"
Lucy looked at the new term that had appeared in the [Skills] list, momentarily unsure what to make of it.
Unlike the magical veins and the Saint Radiance, this time the divine patterns dissected from the Lord of Nightmares’ index finger had actually been converted directly into a skill by the system.
This left Lucy feeling rather troubled, since she had planned to share her findings with Mentor Fernando later.
"Lucy!"
Olivia’s shout snapped her back to reality.
She also realized that the circular chamber was steadily collapsing.
"What is Talia doing?!"
Olivia replied, "She wants to carry away the consciousness of all the Ghostface Trees in the gorge."
"What?!" Lucy was stunned for a moment.
Several more massive stones fell, and Olivia’s Time Shield finally shattered completely.
Broken chunks of rock came crashing down toward the three of them.
Lucy wrapped an arm around Talia’s waist and drew her scalpel.
"No!" Talia cried out in alarm. "There are still hundreds of thousands of consciousnesses that haven’t come in!"
"There’s no time… Livy, activate the badge."
As she spoke, Lucy did not hesitate to slash through the connection between Talia and the Ghostface Tree roots.
Just as the circular chamber completely collapsed, the three of them vanished from the gorge in the final second.
Immediately afterward, a deafening roar rose across all of Godfall Gorge, as the towering peaks on both sides of the canyon toppled down.
Flocks of Frostwing Demon Owls were startled into flight across the sky.
When all the dust finally settled, the ground across the entire Godfall Gorge had sunk more than ten meters…