Chapter 230: Chapter 228: Dragon Transformation
The Monster Dragon flew up to the horizontal line.
The line had already been broken in two during the previous destruction and was extremely fragile.
The Monster Dragon looked at the line, its face a mask of rage.
Before, it had paid no mind to this unremarkable text.
Compared to the other characters, "dream" was somewhat special.
Whenever Little Fish had come here in the past, all sorts of strange, stitched-together characters would begin to fall from the horizontal line.
These stitched characters were like a jumble of various strokes, utterly abstract.
After appearing out of thin air from the line, the stitched characters would fall toward the Little Fish below. But they wouldn’t cause Little Fish any harm; they would only send it on a brief adventure.
Afterward, these stitched characters would abruptly shatter and vanish without a trace.
The Monster Dragon looked at the line, reached out and grabbed it, and the break actually began to slowly heal.
Soon, a complete line appeared before it.
From within the fully repaired line, all sorts of stitched characters began to fall once more.
These stitched characters were fantastical, their combinations unexpected.
As the Monster Dragon watched these stitched characters, a trace of nostalgia appeared in its eyes, as if it had returned to its childhood.
But this momentary nostalgia was quickly devoured by desire.
It reached out and tore apart the stitched characters that fell slowly like bubbles, then charged upward toward the line.
The falling stitched characters were also shattered by the Monster Dragon without hesitation.
’What is it trying to do?’
Mo Ling didn’t understand the Monster Dragon’s actions.
’Why would it repair the dream?’
Mo Ling couldn’t guess what would happen next.
However, the moment the Monster Dragon passed through the line, Mo Ling understood.
The Monster Dragon was no longer bound to the runic lines on the ground. Instead, it had leaped over the dragon gate and jumped into the air.
It broke free from the cage that had trapped it within the text and flew.
The excess strokes on the Monster Dragon’s body were sliced away by the line, falling back to the ground.
The Monster Dragon, having shed those errors, leaped into another dimension in an incredibly minimalist form.
It was no longer a creature of the runes, but a being free of them, high above. It was no longer trapped by the cage, no longer limited by the fragile characters.
’It used the dream to leap over the dragon gate?’
Mo Ling could no longer suppress his inner shock.
The Monster Dragon was also ecstatic. After sensing the change in itself, it floated in the air and turned its head back.
But when it saw the world it had left behind, it froze.
The Monster Dragon stared blankly at the runes below, in disbelief.
Complex emotions swirled in its eyes: confusion and bewilderment, surprise and shock, as well as a trace of helplessness and terror.
These feelings even overwhelmed the joy of its escape. Fear began to spread.
In that moment, the mighty dragon was like a helpless child.
Mo Ling had never seen the Monster Dragon so frightened. This bone-deep terror even made it tremble.
’The ruler of this world... can be this afraid?’
Just as Mo Ling was wondering, a faint but utterly despairing whisper reached the Block.
’My world... is a string of text?’
It was a sound of absolute despair. When Mo Ling heard it, it felt as if the world itself was shattering.
The Monster Dragon’s gaze swept over the fragmented world.
That was the place it had once lived, now a scene of utter devastation wrought by its own hand.
A lightless sun, a dried-up sea, land turned to dust...
Its own settlement, however, was resplendent, built from treasures and power plundered from other characters, all piled high as mountains.
The brilliant walls, made of beautiful stones, radiated a dazzling, seven-colored light, and exquisite, gem-encrusted dragon carvings shone brilliantly.
An imposing throne radiated a cold aura—it was an eternal glacier stolen from other characters.
It was extravagant and dreamlike.
That was its Dragon Palace.
But now, the Dragon Palace was also just a character.
A slightly prettier character.
’How can this be? How can this be?’
The Monster Dragon was reeling from the massive shock, muttering over and over.
’Then what am I?’
It looked at itself. There was no mighty dragon body.
Just a simple stick figure.
Plus a ball.
A wooden ball.
’I’m a ball?’
The Monster Dragon quickly realized that this wooden ball was the source of what made it different.
Its so-called powerful body and infinite strength were nothing more than ordinary characters.
Its gaze began to dart about, and it couldn’t even bring itself to look at its own body anymore.
Its initial majesty vanished. The Monster Dragon trembled all over. Without another glance at its former world, it turned and flew headlong toward the sky, its hurried flight resembling that of the innocent creatures it once chased.
Right now, it was a deserter, driven by fear to flee ever farther away.
Fleeing its own world.
Fleeing everything.
’Farther... farther...’
’Freedom...’
However, as it looked higher, it froze once again.
It was a slowly moving Block...
...like the sun of its old world, floating in the sky.
But this metallic Block-sun had no light or warmth. It was like a stone, just watching it in silence.
The Monster Dragon went rigid.
It stopped fleeing and instead faced the Block in the sky.
The Monster Dragon tried to display its mighty abilities, but it just shuddered, and nothing happened. Its four claws, weak and powerless, swiped feebly at the air, stirring only a faint breeze.
All of its powers were based on its ability to interfere with the text.
But now, there was no text for it to influence.
The Monster Dragon’s stiff body began to tremble uncontrollably. It had never felt so weak.
As the fear spread, its body actually began to slowly turn black.
It could no longer control its own body. Despair erupted once more as it screamed hoarsely at the Block in the sky:
"Creator, why would you do this to me!"
’Huh?’
Before the utterly bewildered Mo Ling could even react, the Monster Dragon let out a wail of sorrow and plunged into the abyss.
It fell helplessly, smashing through one horizontal line after another in the void.
Finally, after falling through the last line, it returned to the original runic plane, crashing heavily to the ground.
It lay limply on the ground, unable to move.
The linear dragon gate still floated quietly in the air, as if mocking the Monster Dragon. A stitched character drifted down slowly like a bubble and landed on its body.
The fantastical bubble shattered, and its dream came once again.
This time, it had no strength left to tear the stitched characters apart.
...
Little Fish had a dream of becoming a dragon.
When the dreamscape dissipated, the dragon’s body shattered along with the dream.
Little Fish started swimming again, returning to its original position and remaining there quietly.
Once again, it became a lifeless character.
...
Li Luo slowly raised his hand and turned to look at Jeff.
"Is that all it takes?"
"That’s it."
"That was pretty simple."
"Of course. Nothing complex about it."
"..."
