Chapter 172: Dead Universe

The moment Luo En met the gaze of that huge "eye," an invisible force surged into his consciousness like a tide, instantly filling his spiritual world.

Countless strange and complex pieces of information surged into his consciousness like a tide, each carrying a weight sufficient to destroy the sanity of an ordinary person.

The first whisper of the universe's birth, the folding laws between dimensions, the essential cause of time flow, the metamorphic process of galaxy sublimation...

These concepts were by no means something human thinking could bear, yet at this moment, they were forcibly poured into Luo En's spiritual world.

Each concept carried a weight like a mountain, pressing down on his spiritual structure.

"True knowledge is a heavy burden"; only now did he truly understand the meaning of this sentence.

Luo En felt a violent headache, as if someone were drilling a hole in his skull.

The effect of the "Mental Shield" potion was triggered, and a silver-blue energy barrier unfolded around his consciousness, blocking part of the information impact.

The barrier only lasted for an instant, but it was enough to slow down the initial impact, winning valuable reaction time for Luo En.

"Too much, must stabilize the spiritual field."

Luo En tried his best to maintain the integrity of his thinking, but that torrent of knowledge was too surging, like a breached flood, collapsing the consciousness defense line he had carefully constructed.

Just at the critical point where his spirit was about to collapse, his consciousness was abruptly pulled away.

That feeling was like being grabbed by an unimaginable giant hand, traversing the dark tunnels intersecting in the endless void, and finally being discarded at will in a strange starry sky.

The starry sky here was completely different from what he saw in his daily meditation.

There were no living stars flickering with the light of life, no subtle order and beauty, only a deep, dark background that almost swallowed everything.

The few points of light that occasionally flickered were like the last weak heartbeats of a dying person.

This starry sky gave one the feeling that it was about to die...

Luo En tried to perceive the surrounding environment, only to find that his spiritual power seemed to be trapped in some viscous substance, and every extension was abnormally difficult.

"Where on earth is this?"

Just as the question arose in his heart, he heard a strange vibration sound coming from above:

It was a sound that did not belong to any known creature, like countless metal plates rubbing against each other, harsh and terrifying.

He looked up alertly, and a bone-chilling coldness instantly swept through his whole body.

A tentacle, so huge that it occupied the entire field of vision, twitched slightly.

The surface of the tentacle was covered with countless tiny suction cups and scales, each flickering with an ominous dark purple light.

Its volume was so large that it was hard to imagine what kind of existence its main body was.

The tentacle trembled gently, as if shaking off an extra hair, and threw down an object.

The object it threw down constantly changed and twisted during the fall, like an hourglass constantly reversing.

Finally, it landed not far in front of Luo En, turning into a sea urchin-like monster covered in thorns.

This creature was about three meters tall, pitch black, and full of thorns flashing with ghostly blue light.

It was surrounded by dozens of muscular tentacles, constantly dancing, making an uncomfortable wet sound.

It had no obvious facial structure, but Luo En could feel a sense of oppression from being watched, as if an invisible eye was hidden on every inch of the monster's surface.

This was by no means an ordinary product of mental pollution...

Common mental pollution usually manifests as hallucinations or nightmares, but the aura exuded by this monster carried a substantial threat.

Luo En's heart sank, and he immediately realized the severity of the situation before him.

This was not a simple hallucination or conventional mental pollution, but a real trial triggered by the "Empowerment" trait.

"It seems this is the 'inspiration is a curse' that Lady Ailan warned about."

Luo En analyzed calmly, his brows furrowed:

"Every outbreak of inspiration is accompanied by both opportunity and risk."

His instinct warned him: if he could not defeat this monster, he might be trapped in this consciousness space forever.

The monster seemed to be able to perceive his thoughts, emitting a strange sound between a howl and a whisper.

That sound was not transmitted through the air, but rang directly in Luo En's mind, carrying a kind of indescribable decay.

The next moment, the monster's dozens of tentacles attacked him simultaneously, moving so fast that they almost left afterimages, clearly not intending to give him any time to think.

Luo En's combat instinct was triggered immediately.

He was not flustered, and his expression did not even change much.

At this life-and-death moment, he instead entered a state of near-transcendent rationality.

The construction of the spell model was already about to merge into his instinct, and spiritual power was injected into every node as precisely as flowing water.

The model took shape rapidly, nearly half as fast as before; this was the result of long-term high-intensity training.

"Ring of Radiance!"

A brilliant golden-red ring of light erupted, like a miniature sun, forcing the attacking tentacles back several steps.

The heat exuded by the ring of light caused the air to twist slightly, and the surfaces of the tentacles directly illuminated by the light even showed slight scorch marks.

The monster let out a harsh hiss, and the tentacles instinctively retracted a bit, but quickly returned to an offensive posture.

"The effect is not obvious."

Luo En observed the monster's reaction sharply, quickly calculating various possibilities in his heart:

"It has a certain fear of light-heat spells, but it is not completely restrained."

The monster seemed to be evaluating Luo En's strength; the tentacles kept their distance for the time being, but then changed their attack method.

Suddenly, dozens of tiny holes on its body sprayed out thick dark green liquid simultaneously, forming a deadly mist of rain that enveloped Luo En.

This large-scale acid rain falling on his head left him nowhere to dodge, and in desperation, he could only activate his bloodline power.

The blood in his body boiled instantly, and the power of the Red Blood Flying Dragon surged under his skin.

Soon, a layer of fine scales emerged, covering his surface skin.

At the same time, Luo En mobilized his spiritual power to condense the "Ring of Radiance" into a tighter protective net, forming a double defense.

This was the effect brought by the additional trait "Light-Flame Transformation," making the "Ring of Radiance" effect more malleable.

The acid liquid fell like rain, and the moment the first batch touched the Ring of Radiance, it made a harsh hissing sound, turning into wisps of green steam and dissipating in the air.

But the amount of liquid was too large, and some acid still broke through the ring's barrier, dripping onto Luo En's scale defense.

"Hiss—" Luo En gasped, feeling the stinging pain of the scales being corroded.

The corrosiveness of the acid was far beyond his expectations; even with dragon scales protecting his body, he could still feel a burning pain.

"This thing is more dangerous than I imagined." A trace of solemnity flashed in Luo En's eyes.

After the initial probing, he had already roughly figured out the opponent's abilities:

Powerful physical attacks, plus corrosive acid, and other attack methods that didn't seem to have been shown yet—this combination made one's blood run cold.

Moreover, the monster's aura was far more powerful than the Manticore's, colder, older, and more... not belonging to this world.

"Pure defense is not a long-term solution." Luo En quickly adjusted his strategy and decided to take the initiative.

He took a deep breath, concentrated, and activated the 【Boiling Blood】 trait.

Instantly, a more violent heat flow surged in his body, as if a volcano had erupted in his blood vessels.

Luo En felt the power surging in his body, and his eyes gradually presented the vertical pupil state unique to dragon species.

Touching his waist, those familiar pieces of equipment were all on him, and he also had the feeling of being covered by the "Thousand-Change Phantom."

That makes things easier...

He drew his ironwood sword and used the trait of "Light-Flame Transformation" to wrap the "Ring of Radiance" into a layer of golden-red light flames on the blade, heading straight for the monster's flank.

This strike combined physical attack and the triple power of light and fire, bearing a few rudiments of a "Magic Swordsman"; wherever the sword light passed, the void twisted for it.

—Slash!

With a light sound, the blade cut through the air, carrying a scorching heat wave, and slashed fiercely at the monster's tentacles.

Several thick tentacles broke in response, and dark green viscous liquid emerged from the broken ends, twisting a few times in the void, and then turned into dark particles and dissipated.

"Effective!" Luo En's eyes lit up, and he felt slightly relieved in his heart.

At least it was confirmed that this thing was not completely invulnerable.

Taking advantage of the victory, he shuttled flexibly between the monster's tentacles.

The blade was like streaks of golden-red lightning, each strike landing precisely on the monster's weak points.

In just a few dozen seconds, he had already severed nearly half of the monster's tentacles.

The monster let out a howl between a wail and anger, trembling violently.

But just as Luo En was preparing to continue his attack, a sudden change occurred...

At the broken ends of those severed tentacles, new tissue grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, quickly forming new tentacles that were thicker than the original ones!

"High-speed regeneration and adaptation ability?" Luo En frowned slightly, a trace of worry rising in his heart.

The situation was trickier than he imagined.

Those newly grown tentacles not only returned to their original state but even became stronger.

The thorns covering the surface were also denser, clearly adapting to his attack pattern.

The monster's entire body began to expand violently, all thorns stood up together, exuding ghostly blue light.

Immediately after, like a rain of arrows, hundreds of sharp thorns shot out in all directions, sealing off all of Luo En's retreat paths.

At the same time, the remaining tentacles and the newly grown tentacles formed a giant net attacking from another direction, forming a perfect pincer attack.

Luo En furrowed his brows, quickly calculating possible breakthrough points.

His spiritual power was concentrated to an unprecedented degree, and the spiritual fluctuation beam took shape instantly.

"Mental Interference!"

An invisible ripple was released by him, precisely hitting the tentacle monster that had basically not moved much.

The effect was immediate.

Under the effect of mental interference, the tentacles immediately lost coordination and began to twitch irregularly, creating a possible breakthrough path for him.

At the same time, Luo En's body twisted at an almost impossible angle, trying to avoid most of the incoming thorns.

The Ring of Radiance was also expanded to its maximum range by him, forming a flickering light-flame barrier, trying to intercept some of the incoming thorns.

However, the number of thorns was too large, and the speed was astonishingly fast.

Even with scale protection and ring defense, several thorns still broke through the defense line and stabbed fiercely into his shoulders, arms, and thighs.

"Hiss—" Intense pain came instantly, and Luo En felt a wave of dizziness, as if poison was spreading in his body.

Not good; a thought flashed through his mind: these thorns likely carried toxins that paralyzed or weakened spiritual power.

"Must pull them out quickly."

Luo En endured the pain and quickly guided the bloodline power in his body to the wound.

At the same time, his muscles exerted force, and the thorns on his body were quickly squeezed out; every time one was squeezed out, he felt a tearing pain.

The 【Boiling Blood】 trait accelerated blood circulation, but at this time, it had the opposite effect, and the toxin's effect was exerted faster.

Although this was a battle in the consciousness space, and the damage was mainly reflected on the spiritual level, the pain and weakness were real.

Although he was forcibly supporting himself with willpower, Luo En still felt a wave of powerlessness.

The operation of spiritual power became sluggish, and the construction of spell models was not as smooth as before.

The monster seemed to perceive his weakness, emitting a hiss that was almost triumphant.

Immediately after, the center of its originally tightly closed body suddenly split open, revealing a giant mouth full of sharp teeth.

There was no tongue in that giant mouth, but a mass of constantly wriggling black substance, looking like some kind of liquid shadow.

The giant mouth opened and closed a few times, then emitted an inexplicable low whisper.

That was not human language, not even the language of any creature, yet it inexplicably could produce meaning in Luo En's mind:

"Zikruniag. Luo Tipu."

This whisper invaded Luo En's consciousness like a substance, every syllable carrying a strong mental impact, directly interfering with his thinking process.

The originally orderly thoughts suddenly became chaotic, and the spell model disintegrated in his spiritual space, unable to maintain a complete structure.

"This is also a kind of mental interference ability!"

Luo En identified this attack method, and a strong sense of fear rose in his heart.

This attack method was somewhat similar to the "Mental Shock" taught by Suo Lun, but more primitive, deeper, and—more twisted.

It not only interfered with the operation of spiritual power but also triggered strong fear and despair.

Luo En felt his willpower being eroded bit by bit.

Just like waves constantly washing the beach, over and over again, until the last grain of sand was rolled into the sea.

"Must... stabilize."

He gritted his teeth, trying his best to mobilize his remaining clear consciousness to build a mental barrier.

However, at the critical moment when he was trying to stabilize his spirit, the monster's tentacles attacked again.

The thorns stabbed deeply into his scale defense, triggering waves of tearing pain.

Luo En faced that giant mouth full of sharp teeth, close enough to feel the sour smell exuding from it.

The giant mouth opened, and a mass of viscous acid sprayed out, heading straight for his face.

Luo En instinctively strengthened the protection of the Ring of Radiance, and a golden-red light film formed a thin wall in front of him.

The acid hit the light film, making a harsh hissing sound, and most of it was evaporated into green mist.

But a small amount still penetrated the defense, landing on his skin, bringing a violent burning sensation.

"The situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable." Luo En felt an unprecedented anxiety.

Every one of his attacks was offset by the opponent's regeneration ability, and the long battle consumed a large amount of spiritual power;

The opponent's acid and thorns caused him heavy injuries, limiting his actions;

And the most troublesome thing was the whisper, which continuously interfered with his spiritual field, making it difficult for him to concentrate on casting spells.

This was far trickier than the Manticore he faced earlier.

At least the Manticore had obvious weaknesses and fatigue periods, while this monster seemed to never know fatigue, and its attack methods were more diverse.

"Must break this situation!" Luo En pondered in pain.

His gaze swept over every detail of the monster, his brain running at high speed, looking for possible breakthrough points.

"This thing's regeneration ability is abnormally strong, physical attack effect is limited, acid spray range is wide, difficult to dodge completely, and that whisper..."

Just then, an inspiration flashed.

—That whisper, it seemed to be the core of the monster's power.

Whenever it emitted a whisper, its regeneration ability would become more vigorous, and the power of the tentacles would also increase, as if those sounds themselves were carriers of some kind of power.

Recalling the "Thousand-Change Phantom" he had just advanced, a bold idea suddenly flashed in Luo En's heart.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 173 =====