Chapter 385

When Nari dissolved the protective vesicle, Luo En immediately felt the encroachment of the seawater.

That familiar fishy, salty smell and sense of pressure made him frown, but what concerned him more at this moment was the strange sensation coming from his body.

"Baby, are you okay? You don't look quite right..."

Nari’s voice carried undisguised worry.

Hundreds of eyes of varying sizes focused on him simultaneously like spotlights.

This feeling of being surrounded by countless gazes might have been oppressive in other circumstances, but at this moment, it brought Luo En a certain sense of security.

Her tentacles hovered around him, wanting to get close but not daring to touch, fearing they might cause him secondary injury.

"I..."

Luo En tried to stand up, but the weakness in his legs made him nearly fall:

"Need to take this thing off."

He pointed to the bio-active armor still clinging tightly to his body.

Those connecting tentacles that had burrowed deep into his skin were sending out all sorts of signals:

Some were numbing sensations of comfort, intoxicating like inhaling a hallucinogenic drug;

Others were lingering emotional fluctuations, like a lover about to part, trying to hold him back;

Still others were warning of the intense pain that separation might bring.

Even more bizarrely, he could feel that these tentacles seemed to possess some kind of primitive consciousness, trying to persuade him not to separate.

"Something's wrong..." Cold sweat began to bead on Luo En’s forehead:

"My inspiration is sounding a warning; if I don't take it off in time..."

He didn't finish, but Nari already understood the implication.

As an Ancient of the Abyss, she had seen too many tragedies caused by excessive fusion with foreign objects.

"Mommy will help you."

Nari’s voice suddenly became firm, and all hesitation vanished.

When it came to her "child's" safety, she could always make a swift decision:

"Don't be afraid, Mommy will make the process as easy as possible."

She began to release gentle chaotic energy, forming a stable force field environment around Luo En.

These energies slowly permeated like a mist, interfering with the neural connection between the puppet and him.

But even with Nari’s help, the pain of the detachment process still exceeded Luo En’s expectations.

When he tried to remove the first piece of chest armor, those connecting tentacles deep in his skin began to protest violently.

Needle-like pain flashed through his nervous system, making him unable to suppress a muffled groan.

"Hiss..."

Even more troubling was that the moment the pain reached its peak, those tentacles released intense signals of pleasure.

Like the highest-grade neurotoxin, it transformed the sharp pain back into a numbing sense of comfort.

This contrast was so intense that it gave him the urge to stop the detachment.

"Damn it!"

Luo En gritted his teeth, forcing himself to continue: "It really doesn't want to leave me..."

Seeing his pained expression, Nari’s tentacles began to tremble violently.

"Hold on, my baby, Mommy is here with you..."

Her voice was somewhat choked, and several smaller eyes even began to secrete crystalline liquid.

With the assistance of Nari’s chaotic power, the detachment process became slightly more manageable.

But every piece of armor removed required immense willpower.

When the arm armor separated, Luo En felt as if someone were peeling his skin alive;

When the leg armor fell off, his muscles sent waves of tearing pain;

When the final helmet was removed, his spirit was almost on the verge of collapse.

"Hoo... hoo..."

After completely breaking away from the fusion state, Luo En slumped on the experimental table, gasping for air.

Sweat dripped from his forehead like rain, splashing into tiny droplets on the floor.

His skin was left with countless tiny pinpricks, covering his entire body like a circuit board.

Luo En looked down at his arm, feeling as if his trypophobia was about to flare up.

Although these wounds were slowly healing under his powerful constitution, the process was accompanied by a persistent stinging sensation.

On the other hand, the mental burden was equally severe.

It felt as if he had stayed up all night for a week and then completed an extreme sport like a marathon.

Every cell was protesting to him, and every nerve was transmitting signals of exhaustion.

"My child..."

Nari’s voice became unusually gentle, and she stroked his back with her softest tentacle, her movements as light as a feather brushing past:

"It’s all Mommy’s fault for being too weak. If Mommy were stronger, you wouldn't have to endure this pain..."

Hearing this, Luo En raised his head to look at this massive, ancient existence before him.

Under the vision of "Transcendental Identification," he keenly perceived that Nari’s state was also far from as relaxed as it appeared on the surface.

The subtle tremors at the tips of some tentacles, the occasional flash of weary light in some eyes, and that slightly dim life aura.

These details were telling him that the battle with Magnus’s avatar was by no means without cost.

That was, after all, the First Throne of the Supreme Apostles; even just an avatar possessed terrifying, awe-inspiring strength.

To be able to defeat it so quickly, the price Nari paid was certainly not light.

"Mommy..." Luo En’s voice was a bit hoarse: "You are also very tired, aren't you?"

"No! Mommy isn't tired at all!"

Nari’s reaction was somewhat over-the-top; all her eyes struggled to open as wide as possible as she bluffed:

"Mommy is just... just a little excited! After all, I just gave that annoying old spider a good lesson!"

Saying this, her main tentacle even made a crushing gesture, trying to appear relaxed and happy.

But that effort to hide her exhaustion only made Luo En more worried.

"Then... I'll go rest for a while."

He didn't continue to press, knowing that arguing at a time like this would only make Nari more anxious:

"When I recover some strength, I'll come back to talk to Mommy."

Hearing this suggestion, Nari’s eyes immediately showed obvious joy.

"Mommy has prepared a special recovery pod for you!"

Her voice became excited again, clearly happy to be able to take care of him:

"Mommy researched this for a long time; it’s more effective than any magic potion!"

She used her tentacles to quickly weave an exquisite "bed," the surface covered with a biological membrane as soft as silk.

But that wasn't enough; immediately after, the surrounding seabed began to undergo marvelous changes.

Coral reefs automatically rearranged themselves to form a private resting space;

Glowing plankton gathered around to provide soft illumination;

Even the temperature of the seawater was quietly adjusted to become more comfortable and pleasant.

The internal structure of the massage pod was breathtakingly intricate.

Countless hair-thin tentacles were arranged in an orderly fashion on the inner walls, each capable of releasing bio-electric currents at specific frequencies.

When Luo En lay inside, these tentacles immediately began to work, gentle currents stimulating his acupoints to promote blood circulation and energy recovery.

Even more magically, the massage pod was filled with a specially formulated nutrient solution.

These liquids appeared faintly golden and exuded the fragrance of life, capable of being absorbed directly through the skin to replenish vast amounts of consumed life essence.

"Sleep, my baby..."

Nari’s soft voice sounded in his ear like a lullaby.

Some tentacles were still swaying gently, creating a rhythmic sensation similar to a cradle:

"Mommy will watch over you and absolutely not let anyone disturb your rest..."

In such a comfortable environment, Luo En quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Exhaustion slowly dissipated like a receding tide, and his vitality began to recover steadily.

And while he rested, Nari quietly turned to another important task.

That mass of black energy crystal obtained from Magnus was still squirming restlessly in her tentacles.

Even though Magnus’s consciousness had dissipated, the essence of its power still maintained a strong sense of repulsion.

Every touch triggered tiny distortions in space, as if reality itself were protesting the existence of this power.

"The binding properties of Void threads..."

Nari’s several eyes stared at the crystal simultaneously, a focused light in them.

As a natural Chaos entity, her understanding of various powers far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people:

"If I can integrate this ability into my tentacle network, the child will be even safer..."

She began an extremely cautious absorption process.

This was energy reconstruction precise to the extreme.

Nari needed to fuse Magnus’s Void traits with her own chaotic essence.

Once it went out of control, two diametrically opposed powers could trigger a catastrophic explosion.

But as a natural Chaos entity, Nari possessed a unique advantage.

The inclusivity of chaotic power allowed her to digest and transform almost any form of energy.

This was also the fundamental reason she dared to attempt this dangerous fusion.

As the absorption progressed, Nari’s body began to undergo subtle and profound changes.

The originally relatively simple tentacle forms began to differentiate, and some tentacle tips developed thread-like branch structures.

These newborn "thread tentacles" flickered with a dark light, inheriting part of the characteristics of Magnus’s Void binding.

Although the power was far inferior to the original version, it already possessed basic conceptual binding capabilities.

More importantly, there was the advantage of quantity.

Magnus could control at most tens of thousands of threads simultaneously, while the number of Nari’s tentacles was, if she wished, almost infinite.

"This feeling..."

Nari stroked the newborn thread tentacles, a satisfied light in her eyes.