Throb.
Lazarus felt his head throb.
He could feel something trying to seep deeply into his mind. Trying its best to control it.
At first, his expression was grave, but gradually he relaxed.
A [Mind] type monster…?
Had it been any other type of monster, he’d be worried. But a [Mind] type?
‘That’s the last thing I fear.’
His gaze slowly turned towards a certain direction. It was the same direction where the two lords had gone, and his eyes narrowed.
He felt the main source of the control coming from there.
It was hidden deep somewhere, silently controlling everything that the corals latched onto. It was sort of like a hive mind. In other words, it had one singular mind while acting in multiple bodies and entities.
Throb.
Lazarus’s face tightened.
The throbbing grew more powerful, his head feeling as though it was being smashed.
Lazarus also started to understand the meaning behind An’as’s indications.
‘It’s just like he suggested. If we do go out of the water, the corals will stop having an effect.’
But it wasn’t because the corals couldn’t survive above the water. No, it was because the hive monster could only operate within a certain range. The further from the ‘mind’, the weaker the effect.
The only issue would be getting out of its range.
In spite of the statues not attacking them, Lazarus could still keenly feel that the mind was paying close attention to their actions and movements.
If either one of them tried to defy its control and tried to run, it would activate the statues once again, making sure they wouldn’t be able to get far. This was how most of its victims fell. Not only that, but it was also slowly petrifying their bodies.
That made running away even harder.
Lazarus lowered his head to stare at his hand, which was starting to stiffen. It wasn’t just his hand, he could feel his joints also experience something similar.
‘The moment I can’t move my body is the moment that I die.’
This was, without a doubt, a troublesome monster.
However, he wasn’t totally helpless.
Gradually closing his eyes, he sank into the darkness of his mind.
He stood like that until he felt something within his mind, and his head throbbed again. He latched onto the pain, focusing directly on it.
And then—
He reached out for it.
His mind blanked shortly after.
By the time his mind recovered, he found himself in an entirely different place.
*
‘Where is this?’
I looked around me.
The world felt dark, but within the darkness, I could feel thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of different red dots. They were sprawled all around me. Like some sort of stars.
All of which seemed to be connected to something.
‘No, more importantly…’
I looked down at my hands and massaged my face. Something was interfering with my mind.
I couldn’t focus.
So much that I felt my persona suddenly fade away from my mind.
At this very moment, I was me again.
I tried to become Lazarus again, but the moment I tried, a certain throb pierced my mind, preventing me from doing so.
‘That’s annoying.’
The more I immersed myself in the character known as ‘Lazarus,’ the more I felt I was closer to reaching something. I could feel that very foundations of my emotive magic starting to shake, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before I reached the key to finally upgrading my emotive magic to the fifth level.
…I was extremely close.
I just had to immerse myself deeper into the character.
This sudden immersion-breaking situation wasn’t very ideal for me.
‘The best course of action is to try to figure out how the reason for why I suddenly snapped out of my immersion and get back to it as soon as possible.’
Thankfully, it wasn’t as though I didn’t have an idea.
I had a very clear idea as to why the situation had occurred as I looked around me. Towards the numerous red dots around, and the faint red lines that connected towards the very distance where a deep red orb appeared.
I could see a line connecting from my neck towards the massive ball of red in the distance.
‘The hive mind?’
The more I looked at the ball, the more I was convinced of this.
And soon, a certain voice echoed next to me.
‘You’re correct, human.’
I turned my head to see Pebble standing next to me. However, I was surprised to see Pebble in a different form than I was used to. Pebble was much bigger, its form about five times the size of me, as its entire body radiated with pressure as its thick gray scales shimmered under the multiple red lights in the distance.
‘….What’s wrong?’
As if sensing my sudden shift, Pebble looked at me.
I could only force a smile while shaking my head.
‘Nothing. It’s… nothing.’
I couldn’t exactly tell Pebble that I felt just slightly intimidated by its real presence. For the love of Oracleus, I couldn’t.
Pebble’s ego would simply inflate too much.
‘Hehe.’
Chuckling, Pebble looked around, its muse raising.
‘…There’s only me now. With that stupid Owl gone, I’m the only one you can rely on in these situations.’
See?
Its ego was already too inflated.
‘Yes, you’re right.’
I shifted my attention towards the distant ball of red and squinted my eyes. I needed to figure out a way to handle that thing in the distance.
But how exactly could I do that?
I needed to figure out the solution quickly, considering that I was still underwater and that I couldn’t hold my breath for long.
Furthermore, there was also—
[You are a very strange human.]
“….!?”
Breaking me out of my thoughts was a gentle whisper, filtering through my mind as I felt my body tingle.
I hastily looked around, my eyes narrowing as I eventually settled my gaze on Pebble, who looked at me in confusion.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘No, nothing…’
The voice was different than Pebble’s. It was softer, less overbearing, a lot quieter…
[Were you not looking for me? I am… right before you.]
The red orb in the distance pulsed and throbbed, the world shimmering in red as my head flicked in its direction.
Wait…
[You’re a strange human. Your mind is a lot stronger than anyone I’ve ever encountered before. And not only that, but you’ve somehow managed to tame a dragon…]
‘Tamed? Who’s tamed?’
Pebble furiously looked in the direction of the orb, its eyes glaring at it.
But it wasn’t like the orb was wrong…
[What do you see in the human, dragon?]
Completely disregarding Pebble’s words, the orb pulsed again, its light slowly fading to display a weird-looking brain. The sight made my chest grow heavier.
[…Why would someone from a race so prideful follow a human? What do you see in him?]
The hive monster’s voice continued to whisper across the surroundings, the multitude of red dots shimmering with each question it asked.
I could only stand in silence, calmly listening to the brain’s words.
‘While I already knew this in advance, this monster appears to be at around the Terror to Destroyer Rank.’
Only creatures of such a level had enough conscience to speak.
Of course, not all Terror Ranks were capable of developing a consciousness. However, quite a few did, and this monster present was capable of communicating.
This made things a little bit more complicated…
Mainly because the smarter a creature was, the harder it was to beat.
I would’ve much rather have fought against a physically stronger creature than a weaker one with intelligence.
[Is it possible that the human is holding you hostage and forcing you to work for it? That could be possible, but I don’t sense any restrictions in you…]
‘Who is forcing whom!?’
Pebble glared at the mind in the distance.
‘I’m here willingly. The human is merely helping me find a new body. Once I do, I’ll be free.’
[So he’s helping you?]
‘Yes.’
[But how can you trust a human?]
The creature appeared to be asking strangely specific questions. What was it trying to achieve?
‘…I’ve been with the human long enough to know. And I’m also not the only one who did. There was another stupid guy before. That Owl… it used to be a spirit too, but now it’s back into its own body after reaching the Destroyer Rank that the human helped it achieve.’
[Oh…? The human helped it achieve such a thing?]
I could now feel the keen interest from the creature as the red dots around shimmered with curiosity, almost as if thousands upon thousands of eyes were looking at me at once.
It made my body shiver.
‘Yes, the human did it. I was able to witness everything.’
[Really, now?]
I suddenly started to have a bad feeling as I hastily turned my head in Pebble’s direction, but by the time I did, it was already too late as the red dots around me shone with a brilliant red light and thousands upon thousands of red lines connected with Pebble.
It all happened so fast that by the time I reacted, it was already over as Pebble’s entire body froze on the spot.
‘Shit!’
I cursed while moving towards Pebble.
However, right as I moved, the dots connecting to Pebble faded, as though nothing had happened.
[I see… How interesting. The dragon doesn’t seem to be lying.]
‘Eh?’
I slowly turned my head to look at the mind as I felt it pulse slightly, almost as though it was smiling at me.
[To be able to do something like that and earn the trust of two wild creatures like that, perhaps… it might be possible to ask you.]
‘Ask me? Ask me for what?’
[Help, of course.]
I stopped, blinking my eyes.
‘You want my help?’
[Yes, I would like your help.]
My thoughts paused there. This request caught me off guard. I had originally been prepared to do whatever it took to fight the monster and gain control of it, but this…?
Things took a completely different direction than I had originally expected.
But at the same time, this was a welcome change.
I had originally been worried about how to deal with the two lords. Although I was strong, I was nowhere near strong enough to deal with them.
Things, however, were different if I had the help of this weird mind like monster.
If I somehow worked with it, then…
‘Tell me exactly what you need help with. If it’s something that I can do, I’ll try my best to help.’