57: Cthulhu's remains! A certain death trap?!

“Roar————————!!!!!!!”

A mental roar, indescribable in human language, composed purely of violence, resentment, madness, and chaos,

like billions of soul bombs,

exploded directly from the depths of the earth's core, from the heart of the magma!

That wasn't a sound!

It was the will of destruction!

It was the instinct to devour!

Like billions of red-hot, foul-stained steel needles, it ruthlessly pierced through Su Chen and Aria's souls and consciousness!

“Ugh—!!!”

Su Chen's massive body shook violently, his crimson single eye instantly bloodshot, his consciousness like a small boat in a raging storm!

Aria also let out a painful groan, her eerie purple pupils momentarily unfocused!

“This is bad, we need to leave quickly!!!”

Su Chen's tentacles suddenly retracted, using the force from earlier when they had plunged into the rock wall,

he shot upwards towards the volcanic crater like a cannonball!

The light of the exit was within reach!

However, at this moment...Buzz——!!!

A viscous, heavy energy barrier, emanating an ancient, ominous aura, appeared without warning,

sealing off the entire volcanic crater!

Bang————————!!!!!!!”

Su Chen's broken body, weighing tens of thousands of tons, crashed as if into a neutron star!

A terrifying recoil swept through his entire body!

His bones groaned under the unbearable pressure!

He felt the world spin, golden stars danced before his eyes, and his massive head buzzed from the impact!

Dizzy, he finally saw clearly below,

that source of terror, surrounded by shattered rock layers and boiling, incandescent magma!

At the center of the magma lake!

Countless dark golden chains, unimaginably thick and engraved with non-human runes, coiled and bound like dying pythons... a single leg!!!

A leg so massive it obscured half of the magma lake... a leg!!!!

The leg's form was grotesque and blasphemous, covered in scaly skin interwoven with dark green and murky gray, like rotting seaweed, with incomprehensible living runes writhing on its surface!

On its colossal foot, three hook-like claws, resembling mountain peaks, radiated a sharpness capable of tearing space, even while sealed!

Merely gazing upon it was enough to shatter one's sanity!

“A single leg?!”

Su Chen's thoughts instantly froze, his massive single eye filled only with incredulous horror!

“The thing sealed below... is a goddamn... leg?! What... what in the world is this thing?!!!”

The mere presence of one leg commanded the might of a deity descending!

If it were its full, peak body... what kind of world-ending sight would that be?!

Aria hovered slightly lower in the air, looking at the blasphemous giant below,

her eerie purple beautiful eyes filled with extreme shock,

However, in just a moment,

the shock was quickly replaced by despair, finally turning into the ashen resignation of fate.

She let out a bitter laugh, her voice carrying the weariness of a settled matter:

“Cthulhu's remains...”

“I never thought... in such a barren, low-level plane... we would encounter the remnants of the Old Ones, Cthulhu...”

“Heh... I don't know if it's 'lucky'... or... unlucky...”

“Hey! Spider Spirit!”

Su Chen suppressed the stinging pain and dissolving erosion of the magma's heat, roaring at Aria,

“It looks like you know something! Think of a way! How do we get out! As long as we can get out, I'll keep my word about our past grievances, they'll be written off! We'll stay out of each other's way! How about it?!”

Hearing Lu Chen's words,

Aria subtly raised her eyes,

glancing at the barrier above, which emitted an ominous dark green light,

then looking at the boiling, incandescent magma below, infused with the power of Cthulhu's remains,

she lazily shook her head, her voice carrying a hint of mockery:

“Get out? Heh... this place has been instinctively sealed by the Old Ones' remains... with a 'Divine Domain Barrier,'”

“Even though only His remains are left, even though He is sealed...”

“But... even with one-billionth of His power... you and I... can't budge it an inch.”

She paused, looking at Su Chen's giant eye, which grew more anxious with incomprehension,

and rephrased it:

“In terms your plane can understand... God.”

“We... are trapped in a barrier set by a god. There's no escaping.”

Hearing Aria's words,

Su Chen, who was continuously pounding the barrier with his tentacles, was instantly dumbfounded,

“What the————fuck————!!!”

Su Chen's roar echoed through the volcanic chamber, filled with absurdity and despair!

“What did you say?! God?! That big leg... is a god's leg?!!!”

Damn it,

isn't it?

I've only been reborn for less than 6 days!

And I'm already trapped with a god's leg?!

Isn't this script skipping too many levels?!

However,

despite the turmoil in his heart, Su Chen forced himself to try and comfort himself,

“Heh... hehehe... encountering a god's remains... isn't necessarily a bad thing!”

“In novels... isn't this the kind of fortuitous encounter... only protagonists have?!”

As he spoke,

Su Chen's massive single eye swept over Aria's face, which was still breathtakingly beautiful even covered in spider patterns,

he let out a dry laugh:

“Even if we can't get out, at worst, we'll just live in this volcano, and we can avoid attacks from the Shadow Scale Clan outside.”

Aria gave him a sidelong glance, her gaze like one looking at an incurable idiot:

“Although I don't know what ‘novel’ is... I can confirm... the two of us... are about to be eaten as a snack by your so-called ‘fortuitous encounter.’”

As if to confirm her words—

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn...”

An incomprehensible, sanity-blaspheming, viscous and low, terrifying whisper,

like billions of slippery tentacles, drilled directly into Su Chen and Aria's minds!

Not through their ears, but directly branded deep into their consciousness!

Buzz—!!!

Su Chen felt his head being crushed by a ten-thousand-ton hydraulic press!

Agonizing pain tore at his soul!

What terrified him even more was that he clearly “saw” his incredibly tough tentacles,

in this terrifying whisper,

their skin and muscles softening and dissolving at a visible rate!

Like wax dripping onto a hot iron plate!

Dark purple tissue fluid mixed with blood flowed down like pus!

“Spider Spirit! Explain it to me! What the hell is going on?!!!”

Su Chen let out a roar like a dying beast,

frantically pounding the barrier above, but only receiving stronger recoil and faster dissolution!

Unlike Su Chen's agitation,

Aria seemed to have cast off all burdens.

She gracefully landed on a relatively “calm” surface of the magma “lake” below, which was bubbling with incandescent foam.

The high temperature, enough to melt battleship armor, only caused her armored spider legs to turn slightly red.

She even adjusted into a relatively comfortable posture,

lazily lying on the destructive molten rock, allowing her fair skin and dark purple carapace to slowly dissolve in Cthulhu's whispers.

Hearing Su Chen's roar, she slightly tilted her head, her voice carrying a sense of liberated calm:

“Oh, Cthulhu's remains... sealed for billions of years... He desires... revival...”

“Revival... requires... energy...”

“And here... the only two sources of life energy...”

She raised a slender hand, pointed at Su Chen, then at herself.

“...are the two of us.”

“Now... do you understand?”

“We... probably have... five minutes left?”

“You... can try to grill your octopus feet... with this magma... I hear... it tastes good...”

After speaking,

Aria closed her eerie purple beautiful eyes that once outshone the starry sky,

her voice as light as a breeze:

“It's fine to die like this...”

“This day was bound to come sooner or later...”

“Rather than turning into that terrifying monster, it's better to leave peacefully like this now.”