FYN 070. Do you think I would abandon you and run away alone?
070. Do you think I would abandon you and run away alone?
"hateful……"
After observing carefully for a while, Xinlai finally discovered the pattern.
The patterns cycle every seven seconds, with an extremely brief pause of only a fraction of a second every seven seconds.
During this period, the flow of magic in the patterns will temporarily stop, and the entire magic circle will fall into a momentary "vacuum" state.
0.3 seconds.
For ordinary people, this happens in the blink of an eye.
But for Sinlai, that was enough.
He adjusted his breathing and silently timed things in his mind.
Then...
Xin Lai's figure shot out like an arrow, her feet landing precisely on the gaps in the patterns on the stone slab with each step.
At that moment, almost all the patterns went out.
His speed was so fast that he almost left a trail of afterimages, each step covering a distance of nearly three meters.
When he landed the fourth step, he was already standing in front of the altar.
The 0.3-second window period ended just in time, the seal patterns lit up again, and the pulse resumed behind him.
Sinley didn’t even have time to catch her breath before turning her gaze to the Bernice manuscript.
Upon closer inspection, the manuscript of the water god Bernis is even more breathtaking.
The dark blue cover shimmered with a liquid-like sheen, and Xinlai finally realized that what she had mistaken for decorative patterns from a distance were actually some kind of living ancient script.
They floated slowly on the cover like jellyfish tentacles, occasionally gathering together and then dispersing, as if engaging in some kind of silent dialogue.
Without hesitation, Xinlai reached out and grasped the spine of the manuscript.
It felt icy cold to the touch, like holding a piece of ice that had been soaking in the deep sea for thousands of years.
But the instant his fingertips touched the cover, a massive, suffocating torrent of magic surged from the manuscript, rushing down his arm and into his mind.
It was a fleeting illusion.
He saw an old man in a dark blue robe, holding a staff, standing in the exact same spot as the palace before him.
Before the old man stood the equally enormous Tide King, but it was not bound by chains; instead, it was wildly waving its tentacles, and the entire underground palace trembled in its rage.
The old man raised his staff, his lips moved, and he chanted some ancient incantation that transcended the boundaries of language.
The sky and earth changed color, and the rock layer above the palace dome suddenly cracked open, with thousands of feet of seawater pouring down, turning into countless azure ribbons of light that wrapped around every tentacle and every inch of the Tide King's body.
Chains materialized from the void, runes bloomed on the metal surface, and finally sealed the arrogant monster away.
The illusion dissipated.
When Xinlai came to her senses, she found that her back was soaked with cold sweat.
What's going on...? Why did I suddenly get distracted?!
Xinlai realized something was wrong, but it was too late.
Countless murky, dark red eyeballs slowly opened and focused on him.
Xinlai slowly raised her head, her pupils suddenly contracting.
Every eye on the Tide King opened at the same moment.
All those red eyes of varying sizes turned toward Xinlai, their pupils contracting sharply through their cloudy lenses, focusing on the manuscript in his hand, then shifting to the altar at his feet.
Those countless gazes held no emotion of any intelligent being, only pure, primal, instinctive rage.
"roar!!!!!!!"
A roar that seemed completely unlike anything a living being could make erupted from the Tide King's body. The sound was so deep that it was almost inaudible, yet it shook the entire underground palace.
The rubble fell from the dome, spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the stone slabs on the ground, and even the thick chains creaked under the weight of the roar.
Xinlai grabbed the manuscript and turned to flee at top speed.
But the Tide King was much faster than he had anticipated.
Three thick tentacles burst forth from the edge of the platform, crashing down upon Xinlai with tremendous force.
Each tentacle was as thick as a bucket, its dark green skin covered with suckers and barbs, making a sharp whooshing sound as it swung through the air.
Xin Lai pushed off the ground with both feet and rolled to the left.
The first tentacle grazed his shoulder and slammed into the altar, smashing the thousand-year-old azure crystal altar into pieces.
Fragments of the crystal flew everywhere, one of the sharp pieces slicing across Xinlai's forearm, leaving a deep, bone-revealing gash.
The second tentacle swept in immediately afterward, and Xinlai had no time to dodge, so she could only cross her arms to block.
"Bang!"
An overwhelming force sent him flying. Xin Lai tumbled twice in the air before his back slammed heavily against a stone pillar.
Intense pain spread from his spine to his limbs, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, his ears ringing.
[HP: 4872/6400]
With just one strike, he lost nearly 1,500 health points.
Xinlai gritted her teeth, slid down from the stone pillar, and knelt on one knee.
"Heh...heh, heh..."
He looked down at his arms; the skin on his forearms had been torn open by the barbs on the tentacles, leaving a bloody mess and the bones underneath faintly visible.
"Sin Lai!"
Eve's exclamation came from afar.
She ignored Xinlai's instructions to retreat and instead ran towards him, a pale blue magical glow already emanating from her hand.
"Don't come any closer!" Xinlai yelled, but Eve ignored him and instead sped up.
The third tentacle slammed down on Xinlai's head. Despite the excruciating pain in her arms, Xinlai rolled to the side to avoid it.
The tentacle slammed down on the spot where he had just been kneeling, creating a half-meter-deep crater in the stone slab, sending rubble and dust flying everywhere.
As Xinlai rolled, her magic transformed into a sword, and blazing flames instantly ignited on the blade.
【Blazing Slash Lv.1】
He flipped to his feet, his longsword slashing upwards, striking the nearest tentacle with a scorching arc of light.
The moment the flames touched the dark green surface, they hissed shrilly, and acrid smoke billowed out.
A deep wound was slashed open on the tentacle, and dark red fluid gushed out, splashing onto Xinlai's face and chest.
The bodily fluids were as cold as the deep waters of the Arctic Ocean; the stinging sensation lasted only a moment before numbness set in.
The Tide King let out an even more piercing roar, and the wounded tentacle twitched and retracted violently, but the other two tentacles coiled towards Xinlai at an even faster speed.
This time, Sinlai was unable to completely avoid it.
The end of a tentacle swept across his left leg, flipping him to the ground.
He could clearly hear the crisp cracking sound of his left leg breaking, and the excruciating pain instantly overwhelmed him.
"Damn it..." Xin Lai gritted her teeth, trying to stand up by supporting herself with her sword, but her left leg was too weak.
Just as the second tentacle was about to coil around his body, a giant python shot out from the side, striking the base of the tentacle precisely.
"Click!"
The chill spread rapidly across the tentacles, and a thin layer of ice covered about a third of their surface, causing its movements to slow down noticeably.
Eve finally reached Sinlai's side. She crouched down, took Sinlai's arm with one hand, and raised the other hand, releasing an ice-blue magic shield at the approaching tentacles.
"Didn't I tell you to leave!" Xin Lai's tone was filled with suppressed anger.
Do you think I would abandon you and run away alone?
Eve's voice trembled, but her eyes were unusually firm.