Chapter 126: Chapter 125: Thousand-Eyed Soul Stealing
"Gak! A very bad feeling, ten times worse than before... No, a hundred times!"
Before Gaga’s telepathic message had even finished, the fungal carpet beneath the four of them suddenly collapsed.
The entire ground contracted inward and split open like a living creature, revealing a bottomless darkness below.
An irresistible Suction surged up from beneath them.
At the same time, a Spiritual Shock so sharp it could almost tear the Soul apart slammed into their consciousness like an invisible sledgehammer!
"Hmph!" The gray-black Death Qi on Hector’s body churned violently. The ghostly fire in the eye sockets of the skull atop his Bone Staff flared, barely withstanding the shock.
Legolas let out a muffled grunt. His emerald Natural Shield flickered erratically, and a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
"Urgh!" Xi grunted, his pale blue skin instantly turning pallid, the gill-like structures behind his ears flaring and contracting violently.
Ian’s vision went black. Countless sharp screeches rang in his ears, as if millions of needles were piercing his consciousness.
Even his liquefied Spiritual Power vibrated violently.
Within his Sea of Spirit, a familiar, cooling sensation came from his panel as the [Spirit Devourer] trait activated in response to the threat.
It formed an extremely faint, dark red filter over the surface of his consciousness, devouring, converting, and weakening the terrifying Spiritual Shock.
The Shield automatically activated by the [Ring of Overlapping Peaks] had limited effect against a Spiritual Attack.
And in the instant the four were dazed, countless translucent Tentacles shot out from the walls of the chasm.
These Tentacles were not physical entities, but were condensed from pure Spiritual Energy.
Dark purple, corrupting Runes flowed across their surfaces, and they moved so fast that only blurry afterimages were visible.
SWISH SWISH SWISH...!
The Tentacles wrapped precisely around the four’s ankles, wrists, and waists.
They were cold and slick, carrying a strong sense of spiritual Erosion as they tried to burrow into their skin like venomous snakes.
"Get off!" Hector roared. His Death Energy erupted, sending out a ripple of gray-black energy that corroded and snapped the Tentacles.
But the broken Tentacles regenerated instantly, and even more of them surged from the walls.
Legolas drew his longbow, firing a rapid volley of emerald arrows. Each one struck the base of a Tentacle with pinpoint accuracy, exploding in a halo of Purification.
Xi’s twin blades danced, creating a light-blue Light Curtain that severed any Tentacles that came near.
Ian pushed his [Spirit Devourer] trait to its limit. The Tentacles coiling around his body were instantly drained of their Energy the moment they touched the invisible vortex surrounding him, shriveling up and dissipating rapidly.
But there were too many Tentacles, and they regenerated too quickly.
Worse, the Suction was growing stronger, as if something at the bottom of the pit was frantically Devouring everything.
"It’s no use... I can’t hold on!"
Xi gritted his teeth. His Water Element Affinity was severely suppressed here, and he had no foothold.
Legolas looked at Ian. "Let’s break through these Tentacles together!"
Ian nodded, just about to cast [Frost Ash Beam] to clear the area.
RUMBLE...!
The entire collapsed area expanded again. The fungal carpet and Rock at the edges crumbled away completely, and the ground beneath the four of them vanished.
"Dammit!" Hector cursed as his body began to fall uncontrollably.
The same was true for Legolas and Xi.
Ian tried to fly, but the spiritual Tentacles clung to him tightly. Coupled with the terrifying Suction from the bottom of the pit, he found himself unable to break free.
Like stones falling into the Abyss, the four of them were dragged by countless Tentacles straight down into the depths of the darkness.
The fall seemed to stretch on forever.
The whistling of the wind in their ears was mixed with the slick, squirming sounds of the Tentacles.
As well as the sensation of countless tiny, venomous stares coming from the chasm walls.
They didn’t know how long they had been falling. Maybe it was only for a dozen breaths, or maybe it was several minutes; their sense of Time had become blurred here.
Finally, a faint light appeared below, along with a malice so thick it felt tangible.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
The four of them slammed heavily onto the hard, cold ground, the light of their Shields flickering violently.
The moment they landed, the Tentacles binding them receded into the darkness like a tide, as if their mission was complete.
Looking up, they saw the entrance above had been completely sealed off by countless massive, wildly growing, and intertwining roots, so thick that not a single sliver of light could get through.
The cavern was not completely dark.
The walls were densely studded with countless small, tumor-like eyeballs, each about the size of a fingernail.
Their pupils glowed with a ghostly green, dark red, or deathly white light, "staring" intently at the intruders.
The feeling of being watched by thousands upon thousands of eyes at once was horrifying.
"Just putting on a show," Hector spat, striking the ground with his Bone Staff.
A ripple of gray-black energy spread out, causing the nearest eyeballs to burst and ooze a foul-smelling pus. But eyes from further away immediately took their place, their gazes even more venomous.
Legolas’s face was pale, not just from his injuries, but because the intense concentration of death and resentment in this place clashed violently with his innate Natural Affinity.
"We have to leave as soon as possible... or destroy the source."
Xi knelt on one knee, pressing his hands to the ground. Pale blue ripples of water spread out with great effort, but his expression quickly changed.
"Underground... it’s all this stuff! We’re... inside its ’body’!"
Ian remained silent. The effectiveness of his [Eye of Vigilance] was greatly reduced in such a dense, negative Energy Field.
However, his powerful Perception and the sensitivity to Energy flow from his [Spirit Devourer] trait had already detected the massive, terrifying presence lurking in the darkness ahead.
The four had no choice but to move forward.
The passage sloped downward, and the eyeballs on the walls turned to follow their movement, silently "seeing them off."
After descending for nearly another hundred meters, the terrain suddenly opened up.
A massive underground cavern appeared before them.
In the center of the cavern crouched an indescribable, monstrous behemoth.
It resembled a mountain of flesh composed of countless eyeballs of varying sizes, all constantly opening, closing, and swiveling.
The eyeballs were all different colors: some were blood-red, some were a ghostly green like will-o’-the-wisps, some were murky like pus, and others glinted with the cold luster of Metal.
Countless thick, translucent Tentacles extended from the base of the flesh-mountain, burrowing deep into the ground and cavern walls, squirming slowly.
A nauseating, putrid stench filled the entire space.
Even more terrifying were the twisted, chaotic Spiritual Fluctuations it constantly emitted, making it seem as if countless lost souls were screaming, whispering, and crying in their ears.
"The Thousand-Eyed Soul-Stealing Demon..."
Hector’s voice was incredibly hoarse, laced with a tremor that even he himself hadn’t noticed.
"A true Abyssal Demon, not a converted thrall... How can something like this still exist? After the ancient war, all the Abyss Passages were supposed to have been sealed or put under surveillance..."
"You know of it?"
Legolas gripped his longbow tightly, his knuckles white from the force.
"It was mentioned in the forbidden lore of the Withered Council," Hector said, staring intently at the mountain of flesh.
"During the ancient invasion from the Abyss, this type of Demon was one of the vanguards of the Abyss’s Will.
They live by Devouring Souls and parasitizing worlds. Each eyeball represents a devoured Soul; the more eyes it has, the stronger it is."
He paused, his voice dry. "A Thousand-Eyed Soul-Stealing Demon at its peak... is a Tier Three Peak existence, one that can even touch the threshold of Tier Four."
As if to prove Hector’s words.
In the center of the Thousand-Eyed Soul-Stealing Demon, dozens of the largest eyeballs turned toward the four of them at once, their horrified figures reflected in its pupils.
There was no roar, no show of aggression.
The next moment, all of its eyes lit up simultaneously.
It was not a single-colored light, but a kaleidoscopic torrent of spiritual energy mixed with madness, pain, hatred, greed, and despair that swept toward them like a tsunami!
At the same time, more translucent Tentacles shot out from the ground, the walls, and even the air itself, coordinating with the spiritual torrent to launch an all-out, crushing assault!
