Pain, this was extreme pain Dorothy had never experienced before. This pain did not originate from the physical body but from the depths of consciousness. At this moment, Dorothy felt as if countless long needles were piercing and stirring her brain. The extreme stimulation made her feel her mind splitting apart.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
Inside the Mirror Moon Golem, above the promotion ritual site in the Equilibrium Hall, Dorothy, whose consciousness was deeply immersed in the Inner World and completely in a daze, couldn't help but cover her head and scream silently at this moment. Her entire body painfully collapsed onto the ground. Meanwhile, within the World of Consciousness deep in the Inner World, Dorothy's consciousness body, floating above the Sea of Information, immediately displayed a posture of extreme pain after witnessing the vast, decayed corpse, emitting silent screams in this strange world.
Visibly, the information symbols that constituted Dorothy's information body were being dyed with strange colors at this moment. Ancient and bizarre symbols spread across her body. Dorothy's information body began to flicker and distort strangely, like the image on a television with a bad signal, seemingly showing signs of collapse at any moment.
It seemed that because she had come into contact with the gigantic decayed corpse on the information level, Dorothy's information consciousness body was directly on the verge of collapse without any defense. At the ritual site in the Real World, Dorothy's entire body was weakly sprawled on the magic circle, her eyes vacant, and her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably. The situation appeared extremely critical.
Just at this moment, within this ritual site, in front of the magic circle, an unusual situation suddenly appeared on the statue that still stood steadily and had been slightly modified by Dorothy.
Silver light, a soft silvery-white glow, gradually emerged on the statue's body, lingering above the ritual site. Then, this stream of light, like threads of silk, slowly descended and covered the area above the ritual site, enveloping Dorothy's dazed and trembling figure, like a layer of shimmering Light gauze covering Dorothy's body.
Under the surrounding cover of this silver Light, Dorothy's uncontrollable trembling gradually stopped, and the disordered breathing in her nostrils slowly returned to normal.
Above the Sea of Information in the World of Consciousness, Dorothy's information body, on the verge of collapse, was still flickering and stuttering. In the space behind her, a halo appeared, and strings of mysterious silver runes suddenly extended from within the halo, encircling and wrapping around Dorothy's information body. The decayed runes that were originally attached to Dorothy's consciousness body gradually faded away upon contact with the silver characters. Dorothy's consciousness body began to stop its abnormal flickering and stabilized. At the same time, those silver character strings also began to pull Dorothy's information body, drawing it back into the halo.
Pulled by those silver character strings, Dorothy's consciousness body was successfully dragged out of the World of Consciousness and rapidly ascended within the gaps of the Inner World, finally returning to her body in the Real World. When Dorothy's consciousness finally returned, the silver Light that enveloped her also quickly dissipated, as if it had never appeared.
Afterward, an invisible wind blew through, sweeping away the thick incense at the ritual site. The six divine artifacts suspended around the edges of the magic circle also gradually lost their faint glow and slowly fell to the ground.
Then, the ritual site returned to Silence. This Silence did not last for a moment before the violent explosions outside woke Dorothy from her slumber.
"Hiss... what was that just now..."
Opening her eyes, Dorothy sat up straight in the center of the magic circle. Feeling a bit lost in her mind, she gently covered her forehead and murmured. She wanted to recall the experience of her consciousness just now but felt a complete blur. Just as she was about to ponder further, another loud explosion from outside pulled her back to reality.
"Right... now isn't the time to care about other things. The key is the ritual... the ritual..."
Saying this, Dorothy began to observe the situation around the ritual site. After seeing the divine artifacts that had returned to their original state, she knew that the ritual should have ended. So, what was the effect of this final ritual?
With this thought flashing through her mind, Dorothy immediately sat up straight again, closed her eyes, and began to examine her own state. After a while, her eyes slowly opened again, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
...
On the shore of Dazzle Star Lake, under the night sky, a knight radiating fierce flames hovered above the water surface, gazing solemnly at the scene below. Looking at the opponent whose body had undergone astonishing changes, a grave expression lingered in Francesco's heart.
"Ha! Why aren't you continuing your little flame tricks? Aren't you going to purify me, old Fanatics? Can you do it with such weak firepower?"
Standing on the lakeshore, Gothsmore, in her eight-eyed, six-armed form, pointed the blood blade in her hand towards the sky and said mockingly in a loud voice. Hearing Gothsmore's words, Francesco's originally somewhat dim flames suddenly blazed fiercely again. He drove his flaming body and swung his burning longsword again, pointing it at Gothsmore below.
"Even your evil god cannot protect you! Heretic!"
Saying this, Francesco condensed fireballs one after another and hurled them towards Gothsmore on the ground. Seeing this, Gothsmore immediately dodged as she had before. Francesco's fireballs hit the ground, erupting in violent roars one after another.
Consecutive explosions occurred on the lakeshore, and Scarlet lotuses bloomed on the ground. Francesco continuously bombarded Gothsmore with fireballs, wanting to use continuous area attacks like before to restrict Gothsmore's movements and then defeat her in one strike.
But this time, the situation was somewhat different. Gothsmore's speed at this moment exceeded Francesco's expectations. Although the explosion shockwaves generated by the fireballs spread widely, she rapidly dodged them before they could injure her. Amidst the flowers of fierce flames, Gothsmore's figure turned into a residual image that was invisible to the naked eye, dodging Francesco's attacks at absolute high speed.
After transforming, Gothsmore's speed was further enhanced, exceeding the level of a Tier 4 """Shadow""" and surpassing the observation ability of ordinary human eyes. Although Francesco could barely lock onto Gothsmore's figure through his powerful """Lamp""" vision, the flight speed of the fireballs he released and the speed at which the fireball explosion shockwaves spread could not keep up with Gothsmore. Therefore, his series of attacks could not hit Gothsmore and cause her harm.
Even if he could target the enemy, if the speed of the attack methods couldn't keep up, there was nothing he could do.
"Haha! You can't hit me now, can you?!"
Leaving a series of explosions behind, Gothsmore, moving at high speed, let out a loud laugh and then soared into the air, turning from defense to offense and charging directly towards Francesco. Seeing this, Francesco immediately sprayed out a large area of flames, forming a wave of fire that covered the sky and earth, attacking Gothsmore.
Although this wave of fire had a large range, its relative power was far less than that of fireballs. Because Gothsmore chose to take it head-on, after paying the price of large areas of her skin being burned black, Gothsmore directly passed through the incoming fire wave. Afterward, while rapidly healing the burns on her skin, she directly stabbed at Francesco. Seeing this, Francesco expanded the flames that constituted himself, transforming into a giant of fire to meet the attack. He raised his massive flaming sword and swung it oppressively towards Gothsmore.
Facing the flaming sword attacking her, Gothsmore easily dodged it. Then, she swung the various blood weapons held in her six arms, assembling them into a giant blood axe, and slashed at the arm of the fire giant. When the blood blade sliced through the flaming body, it was partially evaporated, and the fire giant let out a painful wail.
Amidst this wail, the fire giant rapidly shrank, finally retreating to the size of an ordinary human form, and its flames became extremely dim. In the midst of piercing, unforgettable pain that he had never experienced before, Francesco couldn't help but fall downwards. During this process, he was even forced to dispel his elemental form, returning to the appearance of a regular plate-armored knight.
With a dull thud, Francesco fell onto the ground. After stirring up a large cloud of dust, he struggled to stand up slowly, propping himself up with his sword. And clearly, Gothsmore would not let him off so easily. She gripped the blood blade in her hand, preparing to pursue and deliver a combo attack.
Just at this moment, a storm suddenly arose around Gothsmore. The fiercely swirling, wide-ranging strong winds enveloped Gothsmore within them, also sweeping up the surrounding flames that had not yet dissipated, wrapping Gothsmore inside. Facing Gothsmore, who was about to pursue, Aldrich made his move. He once again conjured a fire Dragon roll that completely swallowed Gothsmore.
Facing the storm of fierce flames that was burning her again, Gothsmore did not cry out in pain as she had before. Ignoring her skin sizzling from the intense heat, she murmured within the fierce flames.
"An Extraordinary phenomenon that requires Extraordinary to continuously inject Spirituality, relying on the extension of will to maintain and constantly adjust control. In a sense, it is an extension of the Extraordinary's own limbs, and since it is a limb... it will feel pain..."
Saying this, Gothsmore tightened her grip on the blood blade in her hand and spun around within the fire Dragon roll, performing a spinning slash dance, cutting at the tornado, an Extraordinary skill that required continuous control and maintenance. After the cut, the pain was transmitted through the Extraordinary connection to the Mirror Moon Golem.
Amidst a hum, the huge Mirror Moon Golem felt a sensation it should not have felt. The sudden pain caused the gigantic golem to stumble two steps, almost falling, and the tornado that had trapped Gothsmore also immediately dissipated. Seeing this situation, Gothsmore decided to completely deal with this troublesome big guy. She condensed a blood spear and threw it towards the Mirror Moon Golem.
The blood spear, which was thinner than a needle to the golem, continued to fly like a spear, then directly pierced the Mirror Moon Golem's leg, causing the golem to emit an even louder hum, like an elephant struggling and screaming after being bitten by a mouse.
In intense pain, the Mirror Moon Golem couldn't help but fall backward, collapsing into the shallow water area of Dazzle Star Lake with a huge crash. Aldrich, who was standing on it, stabilized himself amidst the violent shaking and said with a solemn expression.
"To be able to produce such an outstanding effect on such a massive structure, is this a corner of Pain Lady's divinity? Under the power of the Queen of Punishment and Torment, all things will taste the utmost pain..."
Aldrich sighed like this. Facing Gothsmore, who had already undergone preliminary Apostle-ization, they had almost no chance of winning. Apostle-ization meant touching upon divinity to some extent. Even a being who had undergone preliminary Apostle-ization was not something a few Scarlet-level Extraordinary could handle, unless Aldrich was in his complete Golden state.
"Worthless..."
Facing the golem that had collapsed with a crash, Gothsmore said coldly. Then, having almost fully recovered from her original injuries, she looked down and saw Francesco, who was standing propped up by his sword, still in extreme pain and not yet fully recovered. A cold Light gleamed on the blood blade in her hand.
Although Gothsmore's ultimate goal was the Mirror Moon Temple, she decided to deal with Francesco, who could cause her the most trouble, here and now. At least, she would make him completely lose his combat ability so he could not hinder her further.
"Fall here, old Fanatics..."
Saying this, Gothsmore's figure turned into a swift Shadow and charged directly towards Francesco below. Facing Gothsmore's rapid attack, Francesco used his sword to block, but this longsword, whose flames had almost extinguished, simply could not block the menacing Gothsmore.
In an instant, Gothsmore, who had rushed before Francesco, chopped off Francesco's longsword with an axe. Then, her other two hands each condensed a blood spear and stabbed them out together, piercing Francesco's shoulders. The piercing, bone-deep screams couldn't help but reveal a trace of cruel pleasure on Gothsmore's face.
Trampling the opponent who had previously suppressed her tightly and almost taken her life underfoot, the smile on Gothsmore's face was clearly more arrogant. And just as she was about to utter a couple of mocking words, something unexpected happened.
In a trance, Gothsmore saw Francesco's body in front of her, which was screaming, slowly becoming transparent, gradually turning into nothingness, and disappearing before her eyes. Witnessing all of this, Gothsmore couldn't help but widen her eyes.
"Disappeared... How is that possible? What happened!?"
Saying this in disbelief, Gothsmore covered her head with one hand. Then, she seemed to realize something and continued to speak.
"This is... an illusion... an illusion created by an Extraordinary ability involving """Shadow"""... Who is it! Who else is here opposing me!"
Shouting loudly, Gothsmore scanned the surroundings. Then, on the surface of Dazzle Star Lake in the distance, she saw a strange figure.
That was a strange creature swimming on the lake surface under the full moon. It had a long neck and a broad, thick body, covered all over with tangled water plants. Its entire body was a full six or seven meters long, with most of its body submerged underwater, only its long-necked head and back exposed above the surface.
On the back of this strange creature, the heavily armored knight who was still gasping for breath was being carried. Its head was staring at Gothsmore on the shore, and from its eyes between the water plants, a mesmerizing and hallucinatory silvery glow emanated.
"What is that...?"
Looking at the scene on the lake, Gothsmore couldn't help but murmur in confusion. And at this moment, on the fallen Mirror Moon Golem, at the position of the original chapel dome, Dorothy, dressed in a black and white Western-style dress, was standing there, silently gazing into the distance at the strange water beast that had appeared under the moonlight and saved Francesco.
"Among the citizens of Glamorgan for generations, a legend has been passed down. Every full moon night, a water monster appears on Dazzle Star Lake. It possesses the ability to mesmerize others, causing them to get lost and fall into the vast lake. At night, it seeks out those who dare to wander by the lake or on the lake, presenting them with what they wish to see in the lake, confusing the ignorant and drowning them in the lake water.
"This creature is called the 'Full Moon Water Demon' by the local people. Although legends about it have circulated in Glamorgan since ancient times, no one has ever seen its appearance, so many people believe it is just a legendary myth..."
"Whether the Full Moon Water Demon is real, no one knows, but for me, truth and falsehood are not important. Under the 'pen' of a strange writer, even a false existence can be created into a real form..."
Looking at her "work" on the lake surface in front of her, Dorothy, who was already a True Mentor, said softly.