Light Fortress
Chapter 778 - 19: My King (Vote for monthly tickets!)

Chapter 778: Chapter 19: My King (Vote for monthly tickets!)

The surging snow tide fell from the mountain peak.

Twelve Transcendents stood at the end of the maze, shrouded in enormous shadows...

The only light in the world at that moment

was the "golden pupils" of the Big Snake.

Compared to it, humans were insignificant and lowly creatures.

Immense despair rose like a tide; after the team captain, Yuan Yuan, was killed, the squad launched a final, frenzied counterattack... Zhu Xiao from the East Continent, roared as he drew his military saber, surrounded by flames; he stepped on rocks, furiously trying to leap up.

With a "boom"!

But this time,

the Big Snake didn’t even give him a chance to rise.

A shadow, too fast to see, flashed by... The tip of the long snake tail swept past like swatting a buzzing mosquito, and the man ablaze with rage was directly smashed into a bloody froth!

The next moment-

In the bitter frost and snow, a dense and heavy gunfire resounded!

The North Continent’s characteristic Strong Logic Bullets shattered the sky, the strongest personal weapon that military technology could develop; all bullets hit the snake scales, yet, to utter despair, the bullets couldn’t break the scales, merely sparking blinding golden light!

This level of attack couldn’t even suppress...

The two Transcendents in the back of the team holding guns were unmercifully "gazed" at by the Snake Eyes the next moment!

"Buzzing~~~"

The golden light that burst forth from those snake eyes engulfed them instantaneously!

Along with... the very ground they stood on, obliterated!

"No..."

Li Chen, blind in both eyes, could still sense the faint breaths around him... Life forces were rapidly fading, which meant members of his team, his comrades, were dying swiftly.

The gunfire ceased.

The surging spiritual power of the domain vanished too.

Finally, a powerful locking force pinned itself onto him.

Li Chen looked up, empty and void eyes meeting the golden gleam of the Big Snake’s gaze; his face pale, his body overtaken by fear... At this moment, he had the pitiful urge to run, but his limbs wouldn’t obey, making it extremely difficult to move even a step.

He was like a stake, nailed to the spot.

"Hiss..."

The cold sound of a tongue flicking.

The snowy wind brought chilliness as it descended in front of him, and although he could see nothing... he could imagine the nightmare before him.

The Big Snake lowered its head to the same height as him, coldly "scrutinizing" him.

It had countless ways to destroy him and his people; it just chose the most amusing one at the moment.

Playing slowly.

Toying to the death.

Despair, when magnified to the extreme, became rage.

Li Chen clenched his fists silently, feeling as if some strength had returned to his body... Even if just a hint, but at least this trace of strength gave him the margin to resist.

Above his head, the "silver pupil", bleeding, began to slowly rotate again.

He roared with all his might.

And then he punched, striking the cold kiss of the snake!

It was a punch of humanity... and also one born from utter desperation.

And yet, it was weak, powerless.

"Plop."

A crisp sound, and nothing happened.

A Spiritual Extraordinary who lacked offensive capability, his punch didn’t even injure the scales... the recoil just made his punch’s skin crack, bleeding.

Li Chen’s body trembled unceasingly, the immense gap in power making the despair hundreds of times greater at this moment; he wanted to open his bleeding eyes, to force himself to glare at his opponent with dignity at the brink of death, but he couldn’t manage it... All he could do was suppress the fear in his body, to not tremble so much.

Seeing this scene... the Big Snake’s lips curled up, revealing a smile.

The next moment.

Its pupils, once again, ignited in gold.

Then there was a "boom"!

The bursting punch, cutting through the cold air, roared in front of Li Chen, flapping dozens of swathes of frost and snow, a tall black silhouette appeared before Li Chen at this moment; the teammate Su He burnt all the Extraordinary Essence in his body, throwing an unprecedented peak punch that struck the unguarded head of the Big Snake, the furious blast shattering rocks around the canyon.

And after the punch passed...

Nothing changed.

The Big Snake’s head merely tilted slightly, an angle that looked more like an adjustment it made itself.

"Hiss hiss..."

Su He shielded Li Chen behind him, calmly eyeing the snake eyes in the dust.

"Boom!"

The golden light burst forth, breaking the snow mist, the blood burned to nothing.

All fear, all anger, all despair, were extinguished by the golden light that surged from within the snake eyes.

The entire valley fell into a prolonged silence.

Winds blew hard, dispersing the bloody snow.

Only one person remained.

Standing alone.

...

...

From the moment the battle began, Gu Shen had been rooted to the spot.

He didn’t join Yuan Yuan in drawing his sword, nor did he retreat to the back to shoot... After putting on the Ghost Veil, the long-repressed spiritual power was released, his Spirit Sea entering a state of absolute calm.

Then, at Gu Shen’s brow, a wisp of Chi Huo ignited.

Only this time, it was pitch-black fire.

He silently watched the tragic battle unfold... Blood splashed, staining the snowy ground as strikingly as ink.

In the desolate battlefield of Snow Mountain Canyon, he was the sole "spectator".

Everyone tacitly acknowledged the legitimacy of this "spectator’s" presence.

No one tried to pull him in.

Nor did anyone touch him.

In fact, someone did come into contact with him during the mad dash—it was as if merging with a shadow, passing through intermingled.

The moment he reached out and attempted to stop Li Chen, he realized something was off with this "Dream"...

After the battle had ended,

Gu Shen gazed at the towering Big Snake.

He murmured softly, "I had thought the beginning and end of this dream would be the maze’s end and the distant ’oasis’..."

This would explain what Hong Zhong said after leaving the maze.

That man indeed spoke the truth.

He had seen the oasis.

Only... it was a false oasis.

Because it was so lifelike, he believed in it himself.

"Thinking about it now, that was a basic mistake... The starting point of this dream is there." Gu Shen turned his head, looking in the direction they came; the nightmare all began the moment the return path shattered.

"Hong Zhong’s team’s corpses were buried by the blizzard just ahead."

Gu Shen said with a hint of mockery, "Since Hong Zhong saw the oasis, they must have seen it too... The team thought the return path had been completely blocked, but in reality, it was not... right?"

The Big Snake watched Gu Shen serenely.

Within its Snake Eyes, the cold indifference was gone, replaced by an unusual glimmer.

It hissed, flicking its tongue.

For Gu Shen... it was different from others.

It maintained "respect", listening quietly, without interrupting.

"That was a safe path. From beginning to end, it was free of ’black hole distortion’, and everyone could return safely as long as they had made the choice to ’turn back’ at that moment. But humans have never encountered such a being outside the Fortress, and didn’t know that ’Source Material Instruments’ could be deceived... So, they could only choose to keep moving forward, stepping into this Dream."

Gu Shen muttered, "So, the Returning Hero Hong Zhong was actually a shameful deserter... At the last moment, he chose to flee and snatched his companions’ Source Energy Cores."

"Is it because of the faith instilled by the Investigation Corps... No matter what, to return to the Fortress alive?"

Gu Shen shook his head.

No matter the reason, the title of Returning Hero now sounded like a joke.

He slowly dropped his hands.

Not just at the center of his eyebrows.

Black flames sprang to life all over Gu Shen’s body, and under the empowerment of the "Ghost Veil" and tainted with the aura of the Netherworld King, Chi Huo was released, igniting a vigorous expanse of dark Fire Domain around him.

"So everything that happened here was also a dream."

Gu Shen looked at the Big Snake and said calmly, "The spiritual power of the elite team was not enough to break this Dream... So no matter how they fought, their fate was sealed... The previous team was the same, wasn’t it?"

The Big Snake’s lips curled up once more.

It smiled again.

The layers of veils enshrouding this labyrinthine quest were now mostly lifted.

Gu Shen took a deep breath, "I’m really curious... if this were not a Dream, but the real world, do beings like you truly exist?"

He lifted his head, looking up at the descending massive serpentine skull.

Golden light surged within its Snake Eyes.

The two maintained an intense eye contact from a very close distance.

At that moment,

A strong sensation within Chi Huo... rose up once more.

Gu Shen was ready for battle,

But as he locked eyes with those golden snake eyes, what he felt was not intense murderous intent... but an unprecedented fiery resonance.

The beat of his heart seemed to slow down.

In his Spirit Sea, a sharp yet gentle voice emerged.

"...Of course."

Gu Shen’s pupils constricted—unbelievably, the Big Snake was able to transmit a voice through Spiritual Resonance!

It had responded to him?!

And what was most terrifying... that Spiritual Sound was not violent, yet the Ghost Veil trembled frantically!

The layer of dark mist enveloping Gu Shen’s face couldn’t withstand the too-powerful spiritual power and dispersed, peeling off on its own.

"I just wanted to see your face..."

The Spiritual Sound of the Big Snake echoed again.

After the Ghost Veil fell off,

Gu Shen stared blankly at the pair of sincere golden pupils.

The gigantic serpentine skull crashed to the ground, and the towering Big Snake lowered its body, showing a posture of utmost reverence and submission...

It bowed its head, losing all traces of its former pride and arrogance.

Only humility and sincerity remained.

"This place is frostbitten, devoid of life, order shattered, Source Material collapsed... Upon Your command, for twenty-one years, I dared not to leave."

The Big Snake fixated on the wisp of ghostly fire between Gu Shen’s eyebrows.

The voice that echoed long in the Spirit Sea was hoarse.

"My king... Until today, I have finally awaited Your arrival."

...

...

(PS: Last day of the month! Asking for monthly tickets!)