Chapter 359: Monster
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Heretic! Get ready to face the power of the goddess! The messenger of the goddess has come!"
The cult leader was waving his long staff, his face full of zeal as if he was suffering from great pain, or immersing himself in extreme ecstasy. Hao Ren could sense a terrifying smell behind him and he could not help looking back. The dark red mist above the altar had turned into a whirlpool, condensing and solidifying in just a few seconds. At the same time, a sharp, soul-piercing whizz resonated throughout the stone chamber. Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue almost passed out!
The rest of the believers fell into an extreme state of ecstasy. They began to mutilate themselves, allowing their blood to turn into mist to resonate with the bloody monster on the altar. Then, those who were badly injured began to heal themselves!
The MDT whistled. "Break it!"
Taking out the gun from his Dimensional Pocket, Hao Ren aimed it at the altar and pulled the trigger.
However, the dark red creature hovering above the altar dodged before Hao Ren pulled the trigger, as if it knew what was coming. In a burst of flame, the altar was shattered into thin slices of crystal while the bloody, mist creature rose into the air and completed its final stage of condensation: the mist cracked open and at the centre was a dark slit resembling an eye. The surrounding mist then grew into several pairs of limbs, which looked like tentacles with sharpened ends. In its final shape, the creature looked like a gigantic brain floating in the air—it was as horrific as it could get!
The cult leader was enraged to see the altar destroyed. He shouted, "Heretic! You'll pay for this!"
Hao Ren glanced at the gigantic brain creature in the air and said, "That's the aesthetic perception of your goddess? Is this how her messenger looks like?"
The gigantic brain was offended. Its black eye was fixed upon Hao Ren in a deadly stare before it wielded its tentacles against him.
Hao Ren instinctively raised his gun as he felt an overwhelming pressure from the strange creature. He refused to take it lightly, not even in the slightest. But, just as he was about to pull the trigger, a strong sense of dizziness struck him and he almost lost his grip on the gun.
He felt the world shaking before him, like he was looking out of a water curtain and this made him giddy. Amid his distorted senses, he saw a sharp tentacle reaching towards him. However, he managed to dodge it in a split second.
The end of the tentacle, which was as sharp as a razor pierced through the air silently. In the corner of his eye, Hao Ren could see the razor-sharp tentacle literally slicing an opening in the air—a spatial crack, which stayed for a moment before it closed.
"Holy moly..." Cold sweat trickled down his forehead. It was the first time Hao Ren had witnessed a monster with space-piercing abilities. Its ability was definitely several notches higher than that of the clumsy rock monsters and the cult.
Just that, because of the gigantic brain's appearance, his perspective of the world had taken yet another blow...
After some time, Hao Ren finally freed himself from the strange sense of dizziness. He was ready to launch another attack, but the gigantic brain did not pursue its prey. Instead it spoke in a series of peculiar murmurs and watched Hao Ren quietly in the air.
Then, a strange shriek came from within the gigantic brain. Again, Hao Ren felt the same sense of dizziness flowing up from the depths of his soul, enveloping his mind. Despite anticipating the fact that the gigantic brain may possess some kind of mind attacking ability, he could not escape the mental assault. He lifted his arm with great difficulty, banking on his Steel Membrane Shield to resist its space-piercing attack.
He could feel a great force on his arm. Even though the gigantic brain only gave him a light hit with its tentacle, he immediately flew back in way that defied normal physical law. He was thrown against the wall at the end of the chamber and he began to see stars.
Nonetheless, Hao Ren bit his lip and got to his feet, thinking to himself rather optimistically: It looks like the Steel Membrane Shield can stand the impact of its space-piercing attack, but not the kinetic force.
Seeing that Hao Ren was being bogged down by the messenger of the goddess, the cult followers shifted their attention to the snake that was guarding the child in the corner. They would not allow even one heretic to live. They wanted to offer the snake to the goddess.
Nangong Wuyue had wanted to help Hao Ren when she saw him on the defensive. But, she quickly realised that she was no better than him considering how the believers, who wielded various weapons were coming after her. Meanwhile, the cult leader was raising his long staff in front.
Her facial expression changed and she produced a loud wail, trying to ward off her enemies with a sonic wave—one of the few techniques she knew. But, it did not work. The bodies of the cult followers had gone through a certain mutation after the evil ritual. Hence, the sonic wave could do no harm to them even if it could turn a human's internal organ into liquid.
Nangong Wuyue coiled her tail nervously. She resisted the urge to curl herself up into a ball this time. "Stay away from me! Don't force me to attack! You'll regret—"
"Purify this heretic!" The cult leader raised his staff in the air and formed a ball of dark red light. "Sacrifice the heretic's flesh and blood to the goddess!"
Nangong Wuyue bit her lip and lunged forward.
In the meantime, Hao Ren was having a mental fight with the gigantic brain on the other side. He managed to calm himself down amid the chaos.
The gigantic brain creature truly had a lot of terrible abilities; it was capable of mental assault, ripping the very fabric of space and time, speedy movements that defied the laws of Physics and gravity as well as kinetic energy manipulation, which Hao Ren had experienced during their encounter—it was able to send him flying for dozens of metres with just a touch. That was not normal at all.
Despite these horrific abilities, it was still not enough to kill a crackpot fighter with an energy shield like Hao Ren. It appeared that the thing was afraid of his gun. Every time Hao Ren tried to shoot, it would suppress him with even more mental assault. This suggested that the gigantic brain was highly intelligent. It knew that the gun was lethal and it did not want to come into contact with the gun.
Is there any way to overcome this mental assault?
Hao Ren's mind was a little wobbly after being repeatedly attacked by the gigantic brain. AAt first, he thought that evading the gigantic brain's "eye" would enable him to dodge the mental attack, but that did not work. The creature's brain power was very potent. No matter how hard its prey struggled to escape, it continued to latch on. "MDT, do you know what species it is?"
"Nope, I'm still analysing. But, its physical structure is a mess. Based on known biological data, it shouldn't even exist." The MDT and Hao Ren continued to dodge the gigantic brain's attacks. "I suspect what we see here isn't the actual creature, but a replica created from the religious ritual. It'll probably collapse on its own soon."
"I'm not going to wait for it to crumble. Who knows how long we have to wait?" Hao Ren muttered in a whisper. As waves of dizziness struck, he struggled to keep his balance. The level of energy in his Steel Membrane Shield was getting dangerously low and he could not dissipate the force of impact, which had apparently injured him internally. He dared not fight head-to-head with the gigantic brain, avoiding it as best as he could.
Then, the gigantic brain thrusted its tentacle at Hao Ren again. He dodged it, but unwittingly touched the tentacle with his hand.
Suddenly, something flashed across his mind.
Hao Ren fell into a moment of trance and the MDT called out to him, trying to wake him up. "Quick! It stopped... What are you doing?"
Hao Ren got a kick in his mind and looked at the gigantic brain, which had pulled away from him. "Did you say it stopped?"
The MDT replied with a positive response.
He recalled the strange moment he just had and all of a sudden, he had an idea on how he was going to deal with the strange monster.
"I need your help," Hao Ren spoke to the MDT telepathically. "As soon as it freezes, wake me up. Then, I'll put a bullet in its brain. That'll do it!"
Surprised, the MDT asked, "That easy? Why are you so confident?"
"You won't know, if you won't try." Hao Ren looked down at his Steel Membrane Shield, which was almost depleted of energy. "If you see that I'm about to lose it, just cut me and Wuyue off from The Plane of Dreams."
While they were laying out their plan, the gigantic brain recovered from its stupor. It let out an angry wail and charged at them with its tentacles.
This was it!
In a swift motion, Hao Ren locked his eyes on the tentacle that he had touched before and lunged forward to grab it. The tentacle was easily distinguishable, because it was the only tentacle that did not look like it could tear the fabric of space and time apart. This particular tentacle was obviously not a weapon.
To prove his theory, Hao Ren switched off the shield on his arms for a better "connection".
Shortly after, an illusion began to wash over his brain.