“Why… how could this be…”
Coming to his senses, Man En was already kneeling weakly on the ground. The dagger in his hand was plunged into the mirror, and blood gushed out, soaking his clothes as it flowed down his arm.
Right beneath the mirror, a space as deep as an abyss gradually appeared, and countless tentacles emerged from it.
These tentacles passed straight through the broken mirror, slowly absorbing it.
The next moment, they gently wrapped around Man En’s body.
Instantly, Man En felt as if something was assimilating his consciousness, but he no longer had the strength to resist.
It seemed that in the original novel, they hadn’t failed the summoning; rather, this thing had successfully merged with the Holy Son.
“Lai La… she was the Holy Son of the original timeline…”
But realizing this now was meaningless.
“What will happen to me? Will my consciousness be overwritten?”
“…Is this… the end?”
Countless tentacles formed a cage-like space, trapping Man En inside. Before long, he lost consciousness.
—
“Young Master Man En!…”
“Lord Man En!”
Not long after, Sophien and Mei finally arrived, only to find Man En trapped inside a fruit formed from countless tentacles.
The tentacles writhed incessantly, as if sending something into the fruit.
The surrounding atmosphere grew increasingly eerie.
Sophien tentatively attacked the junction between the tentacles and the fruit, but the mana light bullets dissipated into nothing before even touching the target.
“No good. These things can interfere with mana circulation.”
“So that means mana attacks are completely useless against them?”
Mei looked at Man En unconscious inside the fruit, tears nearly spilling from her eyes.
At this point, no one knew what the consequences would be if they let things continue.
“Sir Commander…”
“Could you grant me a request?”
Mei’s gaze grew increasingly resolute.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Since it interferes with mana, use mana to propel me forward. I’ll cut that thing down myself!”
“What? Have you lost your mind?”
Sophien stared at Mei in shock, surprised that the usually quiet maid would say something like this.
“Not to mention whether your body can withstand the impact of mana, even if it could, if those tentacles attack you, how will you dodge?”
“In other words, you’re going to your death!”
“I know… but that’s not a reason for me to back down!”
“Young Master Man En once risked his own life to save me. This time, it’s my turn to save him.”
Sophien gazed blankly at the girl before her, looking into her eyes.
There was no fear of death in those eyes… She was serious!
“I understand…”
“But I still have to warn you. Even if I can send you over, the mana will suddenly dissipate when you get close to the tentacles. And if you can’t cut open the fruit, you might face a counterattack from countless tentacles… That means rescue will fail.”
“Do you understand?”
Mei didn’t speak. She only recalled the moments she had spent with Man En, her resolve to save him growing firmer.
She nodded heavily. “Let’s begin!”
Sophien moved behind Mei and generated a magic array large enough to cover Mei’s body.
A massive amount of mana gathered in her hand, accompanied by the occasional humming sound of overload.
“Ready!”
Mei’s eyes immediately turned crimson. She aimed at the junction between the fruit and the tentacles, poised to strike.
‘Young Master Man En, hold on! Mei is coming to save you!’
“Go!”
With a eruption of sea-like mana, Mei felt as if her entire body was being torn apart. Even adjusting her body position required considerable effort.
She flew rapidly toward the target, the mana behind her gradually dissipating.
“Go for it, Miss Maid! Cut that fruit down!”
Accompanied by Sophien’s encouragement, a roar echoed throughout the cave.
Gripping the dagger, Mei channeled all her strength into her arm and slashed fiercely at the connecting point.
Even as her arm went numb from the impact and her tiger’s mouth cracked open, seeping blood, she kept applying force.
Before long, the connecting point was finally cut into by her dagger, the cut growing deeper and deeper.
That was when the tentacles began to resist, countless tendrils rushing toward Mei at incredible speed.
Sophien reacted quickly and started attacking the tentacles, but unfortunately, her mana was mostly weakened, and the strikes barely tickled the tentacles.
“Damn it… Miss Maid! Dodge!”
Mei immediately stepped on the tentacles, dodging the attack while using the momentum to vault higher.
At that moment, several tentacles shot toward her again.
“Now!”
With a sharp gleam in her eyes, she changed her posture midair. Stepping on the tentacles, she used their force to dive rapidly toward the fruit below.
She rotated her body, accelerating continuously. Seizing the right moment, she launched a clean attack, slashing fiercely at the freshly cut opening.
With a crisp sound, the eerie fruit fell straight down.
“It… it actually worked?! This is nothing short of a miracle!”
Sophien couldn’t help but exclaim, but reality gave her little time to be astonished.
As the fruit kept falling, its outer shell rapidly dissolved, soon revealing the unconscious Man En inside.
Mei fell even faster than Man En, her dagger already lost from her hand. She had lost consciousness.
‘Damn it. If this continues, they’ll die from the fall before the tentacles even get to them!’
“Mana Form Transformation: Wind!”
Sophien acted quickly, generating a gale of mana beneath the two, which significantly slowed their descent.
At the same time, the tentacles that had lost the fruit went berserk again. Countless pale blue lights surged into the abyss, and the ominous premonition grew stronger than ever.
“Something’s not right… Anyway, let’s get them out of here first.”
Sophien made up her mind, hoisted both of them, and fled at top speed.
A long time later, Man En gradually regained consciousness.
The jolting of his body and the nonstop booming in his ears made him extremely irritable.
“I… where am I? You are… Sophien… Sir Commander? Why are you carrying me?”
“You think I want to? If you’re awake, get down and walk yourself!”
Sophien had been chased all the way, so naturally she snapped at Man En.
“…What happened? Where’s Mei? Where is she?”
“Honestly… can’t you show some concern for me? Carrying both of you while running… it’s really exhausting!”
Catching sight of Mei tucked under her arm, and realizing Sophien was carrying him on her back, Man En couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed.
After all, she was an imperial princess. This wasn’t really appropriate.
“Uh, Sir Commander, please break the mana seal inside me. I can help.”
Feeling a powerful surge of mana entering his body, the weakness in Man En’s body immediately vanished.
“Jump!”
With a strange fluctuation of mana, the three of them instantly disappeared from their spot.
Outside the mansion, Sophien sat on the ground, gasping for breath. The Communication Artifact beside her kept ringing.
She set down the still-unconscious Mei, and an anxious shout followed:
“Imperial Princess! An emergency has occurred at the temporary camp! Those bearing the mark of the Heretic God Sect and the captured puppets have suddenly burst into blue flames for some unknown reason, and the flames can’t be extinguished…”
“What? Hello! Repeat! Please repeat!”
But the Communication Artifact seemed to have been cut off from something, and there was no more sound.
Looking up, the Matthews mansion before them was rapidly collapsing, with deafening crashes constantly erupting.
Countless tentacles extended through the building, even piercing the Holy Light Array. They grew at an incredible speed, then quickly coalesced.
A bone-chilling cold immediately gripped everyone. They stared at the passage formed by countless tentacles.
Until the last trace of eerie blue light surged in, the ominous fluctuation grew even stronger, as if something was being delivered up through those tentacles.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and dark purple lightning struck down from time to time.
A pitch-black spherical object surged out of the tentacle tube, and the tentacles withered and died, turning to ash.
Before long, the black sphere’s shell cracked open, revealing the extremely hideous thing inside.
It was a demon’s head with its eyes tightly shut.