Pov: Vik
The spell worked, and soon I found myself in a desolate landscape. The sky was red, and the ground was black. This place looked like a post-apocalyptic land. I was confused because the soul sea usually didn’t look like this. Even though Lina was mortal, her soul sea should mostly contain things that reflect her personality or creations. The foundation I created in my dantian was also present in my soul sea. Seeing this landscape in Lina’s soul sea made me understand how serious the situation was. I soon discovered that this place was a pseudo-spiritual plane created in Lina’s mind.
You could say it was her dream, but it was fundamentally different from a typical dream. I didn’t focus on the details and started searching for Lina or anything related to her. Soon, I found her.
There she was, standing on the desolate plain, staring at the red sky. Without wasting any time, I moved toward her. I quickly realized my powers were useless in this place; I tried to teleport near her, but it didn’t work. The spiritual energy around me and inside my body had vanished. Realizing this, I walked toward her. After a minute, I reached her. Now that I saw her up close, I noticed she had a blank expression while looking at the sky. I tried to wake her or talk to her, but she didn’t respond.
I looked in the direction of her gaze. There was nothing but the red sky. I knew something must have trapped Lina in this limbo-like state. For further information, I asked the system for help, and soon it replied.
System: “Host, look at the reflection of the sky in Lina’s eye.”
Hearing the system’s advice, I looked into Lina’s vacant eyes. I saw the reflection of the red sky, but it wasn’t empty. In her eyes, I saw a monster with long legs reaching the ground. It was made of dark smoke and viscous liquid.
It had four legs, almost 80% of its body, and its main body was high in the sky. It resembled a spider-like monster. Looking at it, I immediately asked the system, “Is that a Mind Flayer from Stranger Things?”
System: “It’s basically different, but yes, someone created this monster to resemble one from that show in your old world.”
I cursed silently. Now I was sure that whoever killed Lina’s family was someone from my old world. But I didn’t have time to dwell on that. I looked again at the empty sky; besides the reflection in Lina’s eye, the monster was not visible to me. I couldn’t see it normally. I didn’t know how, but this place itself seemed to be a domain under the monster’s control, and I felt helpless against it. All of this made me angry, and I tend to do stupid things when I’m angry.
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To keep from acting rashly, I asked the system for ways to stop the monster. “Tell me how to kill that invisible bastard, or I might just brute force my way through and destroy everything.”
System: “You cannot do that. This place contains Lina’s memories. You could say this monster currently has Lina hostage. If you try to kill it or gather spiritual powers through sheer force, not only will it die, but Lina might fall into a comatose state, losing all her identity and mind.”
With the system’s explanation, my worst fears came true. I had to find a way to make the monster release Lina; otherwise, things would turn bad. This monster had Lina trapped in its domain while I could only watch.
Suddenly, an idea struck me, and to confirm it, I asked the system, “As far as I can see, this monster is only targeting Lina. Maybe that is the order it received from its creator. Can you make it target me?”
System: “It’s possible to make this monster target you. To do so, you only need to look at the red sky and relax your mind. This will make it easier for the monster to target you. I will limit your mind to make you a more obvious target for it. But what do you have in mind?”
Just do it, I thought. Once it chose me as prey, it would also become mine. I would be able to enter its mind as well.
With that in mind, I relaxed and stared blankly at the red sky. The system did its part, and I felt weak—very weak. Slowly, my mind faltered. I felt tentacles coil around my body, and one reached my head, stopping my thoughts.
I now had the same vacant look in my eyes, but I slowly smiled. Finally, this monster had shown itself to me, and I could see it clearly. It tried to invade my mind, but I gradually regained my strength. With careful planning, I prepared an attack, and soon a shadow of a large white snake appeared in this domain. This domain crumbled in its presence. The snake, a product of my imagination, opened its mouth and swallowed the monster.
As the domain fell apart, I opened my eyes to find myself back in the living room of the manor, while Lina was finally calm and sleeping in front of me. Sighing, I looked out the window and saw night had fallen. Today had been hectic. I noticed Lu Xiaoran approaching through the gate of the manor after escorting those villagers back to the Azure Mountain villages.
I thought I should rest now, as I had already accomplished a lot today.
Pov: Third person
Meanwhile, in a distant forest, a giant behemoth walked. This behemoth had four legs and was as large as a mountain. Atop it was a giant castle.
Currently, a boy with black hair and red eyes stood on the balcony of the castle, looking at the forest. Suddenly, he received a notification in his mind.
“DING: YOUR CREATED MONSTER MIND FLAYER IS DEAD, KILLED BY AN UNKNOWN ENTITY.”
“DING: CONTROL OVER LINA ROSEWELL'S FATE IS SEVERED.”
“DING: MIND FLAYER CAN BE SUMMONED BACK THROUGH MONSTER STORAGE IN SYSTEM FUNCTION.”
After hearing these announcements, the boy looked frustrated and angry. He slowly turned his head in a specific direction and said, “Someone dared to save my enemies. I’ve been too kind lately. It’s time to show this world my true terror.”
As he spoke those words, many giants rose from the forest. Some were even larger than the mountain behemoth, while others were so massive that only their lower bodies were visible above the dense clouds in the sky.
