At Dazzle Star Lake during the night, under the full moon sky, the eight-limbed, eight-eyed Gothsmore was rapidly flying over the lake surface, speeding towards the nearly paralyzed Mirror Moon Golem in the distance. Although she was covered in blood at this time, most of her wounds had already recovered. With the help of syringe supplements, the series of injuries previously transferred to her by Dorothy had almost completely healed.
With a cold gaze, Gothsmore sped forward close to the lake surface. The wind generated by her high-speed flight affected the water below, causing a series of ripples. After Francesco fell, it seemed no one could stop Gothsmore now, so she was going to the temple to put an end to everything tonight.
Standing somewhere on the collapsed Golem, Aldrich gazed at Gothsmore rapidly approaching from a distance. He, who was already frowning, couldn't help but sigh, then slowly spoke.
"I had originally decided to stop here, but I'll still help you a little more."
Saying this, Aldrich once again controlled the Mirror Moon Golem, launching an interception against the approaching Gothsmore. Since Aldrich's Spirituality had almost reached the safety threshold he set for himself, using any more would tap into the emergency Spirituality he reserved for dealing with personal crises. Therefore, he didn't waste excessive Spirituality making the Golem restart and stand up again, but merely activated the Golem's wind manipulation ability, creating invisible wind blades all over the sky to slash towards Gothsmore.
Immediately, countless sharp wind blades assailed Gothsmore like raindrops. Facing the incoming wind blade attack, Gothsmore immediately began to maneuver and dodge in the air, avoiding one wind blade after another, while countless sharp whistling wind sounds passed by her ears. Gothsmore used the blood thorns in her hand to shatter some wind blades, but fortunately, this type of non-continuously controlled, detached skill like wind blades does not transmit pain. The Mirror Moon Golem would not be affected by taking damage from the skill, just like when it controlled the tornado before.
Compared to Francesco's fireballs, the wind blades released by the Golem were numerous and fast. Even Gothsmore had to spend more energy and movements to dodge, occasionally getting slightly scratched or grazed by the wind blades, but only to that extent. The wind blades did not possess the powerful force like fireballs that could shoot Gothsmore down.
While dodging the wind blades, Gothsmore continued to fly towards the Golem. Although her speed was somewhat hindered, it was still not slow, and she would soon reach the statue.
"Boom!"
Just at this moment, a sudden explosion abruptly erupted on Gothsmore. Amidst the fiery blast, one side of Gothsmore's body was blown apart, and one arm was blown off. Gothsmore herself instantly lost balance and fell towards the lake surface, a look of clear astonishment appearing on her blood-covered face.
"Ugh!"
The sudden explosion left Gothsmore somewhat bewildered. She didn't know how the explosion had suddenly happened on her. She hadn't seen any object similar to a fireball flying towards her, and the Golem's wind blades shouldn't explode in theory.
Although she suffered such a sudden explosive sneak attack, Gothsmore didn't dwell on it. After searching around for the attacker but finding nothing, Gothsmore grabbed her blown-off arm and reattached it to her body. After quickly recovering most of her injuries, she continued dodging the wind blades and flying towards the Golem. Not long after she resumed flying, another explosion inexplicably occurred on her body, directly shattering most of her lower abdomen. Gothsmore herself was almost blown down again.
"What… is this!?"
Facing these two successive explosive attacks, Gothsmore's widened eyes showed not only immense fury but also extreme confusion. She didn't understand where these explosions suddenly appearing on her body were coming from. She hadn't sensed any trajectories approaching her other than the wind blades!
These were actually effects produced by Dorothy using the Full Moon Water Demon and magnetic bombs. Dorothy, inside the temple, controlled the Corpse Puppets on the shore to create magnetic bombs using iron pieces and explosives, and then manipulated the bombs to fly towards Gothsmore. Dorothy's magnetic flying objects were actually not very fast, and Gothsmore could quickly dodge them with her speed, but combined with the effect of the Full Moon Water Demon, it was different.
When Aldrich controlled the Golem to fire a large number of wind blades at Gothsmore, Gothsmore temporarily focused her energy on dealing with the wind blades. Faced with the vast number of wind blades, she subconsciously assumed that the only flying projectiles she needed to deal with were the wind blades. At this moment, Dorothy had the Corpse Puppets release magnetic bombs into the air, and then had the Full Moon Water Demon lurking in the lake activate its ability, causing Gothsmore to hallucinate and ignore the existence of flying objects other than the wind blades. This allowed the magnetic bombs to successfully get close and detonate near Gothsmore. Under Aldrich's massive wind blade offensive, Gothsmore's movements were restricted, allowing Dorothy to barely target her.
The two successful sneak attacks left Gothsmore in a very sorry state for a moment. However, she wasn't a complete fool. After being ambushed twice, some thoughts formed in her mind.
'This… is a hallucination! It's that kind of hallucination from before! That monster is behind this!'
After recovering her body once again, Gothsmore created several blood needles. She didn't use these blood needles to attack the Golem, but instead stabbed them into her own body.
Immediately, a pain several times stronger than ordinary injuries began to stimulate Gothsmore's nerves. But as a high-level member of the Eight Point Nest, Gothsmore, who was already very familiar and knowledgeable about pain, quickly endured this pain, not even making much noise.
"Ha… ha… Under the cruel gift of the Deep Web Queen… there are no illusions to speak of…"
Within the Eight-Pointed Nest, it wasn't just the captured criminals and slaves who were tortured. Due to the cruel and unique system of dominance within the Eight-Pointed Nest, torture by superiors upon subordinates among the Extraordinary was commonplace, often not for punishment but for pleasure. High-level Extraordinary tortured mid-level Extraordinary, mid-level tortured low-level, and the final pain fell upon the slaves. Every Eight-Pointed Nest Extraordinary who rose from low-level to high-level also endured layers of abuse along the way. And as a Shaman, Gothsmore would even endure extreme abuse from the Spider Queen's will during large rituals.
Therefore, the amount of pain Gothsmore was currently enduring would be enough to make others faint, but for her, it was completely bearable. She could even rely on this extreme, continuous pain to stimulate her mind and use it to resist hallucinations.
As expected, after applying the blood needles to herself, Gothsmore could see the bombs being guided by magnetism and flying towards her. Then, after a grin at the corner of her mouth, she gritted her teeth and continued flying towards the Golem against the wind blades. Although the effect of self-inflicted pain caused Gothsmore's mental state to become chaotic, her evasion ability decreased, and the number of times she was hit by wind blades sharply increased, none of these wind blades could kill her.
Using the method of stimulating her mind with pain, Gothsmore neutralized Dorothy's interception and continued to approach the Golem. However, this series of entanglements had already caused Gothsmore to waste a considerable amount of time. Although Gothsmore's self-inflicted mental stimulation could temporarily free her from the trouble of hallucinations, it also greatly interfered with Gothsmore's mobility. Her speed towards the Golem noticeably slowed down, which gave Dorothy more time to prepare.
Inside the Mirror Moon Golem, in the balance chamber where the ritual was originally held, Dorothy was currently sitting cross-legged in silence, seated before the statue that was extremely similar to her own face. She closed her eyes, silently undergoing enlightenment.
Currently, Dorothy was undertaking an attempt, a bold attempt. She wanted to use the ability of a Weird Author to materialize a certain legend, a legend that once circulated throughout Prit.
"Once upon a time, Arthur and his friends slew evil spirits by the shore of Mirror Lake. When the head of the evil creature fell to the ground, ripples appeared in Mirror Lake, and a fairy rose from within. The Lake Fairy saw Arthur and the others were brave and fearless and personally offered rewards. The Lake Fairy took out three gifts for the warriors to choose from…"
"Once upon a time, there was a foolish farmer who fell in love with the Princess living secluded in the castle. He heard the Princess was extremely beautiful, but due to strict guards, he had never met her. The farmer, longing to see the Princess's appearance, got inspiration while looking in the mirror and went to the lake the Princess often visited at night, intending to find the Princess's reflection that had appeared in the lake and catch a glimpse of her beauty…"
"Once upon a time, there was a powerful and arrogant Tiger King in the forest. It dominated the forest and ruled the beasts, thinking itself invincible in the world, until a fox told the Tiger King that it had seen a beast in the lake just as powerful as it…"
Dorothy silently chanted numerous ancient and modern Prit folk tales. These tales had unique characteristics and themes: some praised kings, some sang of love, some were absurdly humorous, some punished villains, and some served as warnings to the world...
These Prit tales from different eras were recited at high speed by Dorothy. Some of these stories were ones Dorothy had heard as a child, some she had heard before, and some she had seen in Duke Barret's research materials. Although their contents varied, they all shared a common feature: the appearance of the same character.
The girl in the lake... or rather, the Lake Fairy. This is an important character who appears in this series of Prit folk tales. In countless fairy tales and legends, she helps kings achieve their thrones, helps lovesick people find love, teases the arrogant, punishes the greedy and despicable, and warns those whose eyes are blinded...
The image of the Lake Fairy has appeared with high frequency in various legends throughout Prit, from ancient times to the present. Although the Shining Light Church intentionally suppressed and modified the spread of these legends during their missionary work, deliberately removing the influence of the Lake Fairy, the legend of the Lake Fairy is almost rooted in the culture of the Prit people. Even after hundreds of years of modification, many remnants still exist. In present-day Prit, although the legend of the Lake Fairy has almost disappeared in large cities, her legend is still circulating in the vast areas of small towns and villages. Dorothy often heard about her when she was a child.
For ordinary people, the story of the Lake Fairy is just a story. However, some people who have studied the hidden history of Prit know that the prototype of the Lake Fairy comes from the main deity of the mainstream faith on this land, the Mirror Moon Goddess. Since the beginning of the Fourth Era, the Shining Light Church has been dedicated to erasing the myth of the Mirror Moon on this land.
However, how could such a deep-rooted faith be easily and completely washed away? The faith in the Mirror Moon Goddess did not disappear after being forcibly stripped of its religious and mythical colors. Instead, it transformed into the image of the Lake Fairy and spread throughout Prit. The people of Prit were unwilling to forget their god but did not dare to directly confront the powerful Shining Light Church. Thus, they could only transform the Mirror Moon Goddess into the image of the Lake Fairy and keep her in their hearts, silently believing. But everything cannot withstand the erosion of time. At first, the Lake Fairy was a legend that replaced mythology in the hearts of the Prit people, but later it became just a legend...
However, it is precisely because it is only a legend that Dorothy can utilize it. At this moment, Dorothy is reciting countless Lake Fairy legends collected by Barret from all over Prit, extracting the images within, and attempting to materialize them using her ability as a Bizarre Writer.
As Dorothy recited one Lake Fairy legend after another at an extremely high speed, translucent threads of nothingness appeared in the air between the balances, slowly converging and weaving together to form the image of a young girl.
Dorothy is weaving a body for the Lake Fairy using legends. The degree of circulation of a single legend is not enough, so countless different ones need to be overlapped, extracting their commonality. At this moment, Dorothy is using the remnants of all Lake Fairy legends throughout Prit as a basis to materialize an Anecdote Body of the Lake Fairy, in order to confront Gothsmore.
Of course, it is still somewhat difficult to defeat Gothsmore with just such an Anecdote Body, but Dorothy knows that it should ultimately be more than just a simple Anecdote Body.
Finally, Dorothy finished reciting the last story, and the Anecdote Body she was weaving finally took shape. It was a young girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old floating in mid-air. She wore a long white veil, had snow-white skin and long silver hair cascading down, was barefoot, and her face was blurred.
Facing the Anecdote Body that she had created with great effort, Dorothy did not rush to control it. Instead, she silently stood up, raised her head to look at the dome in the sky, and gazed at the full moon through the opening in the center of the dome.
"Night Sky Empress... I have created the greatest value of your remnants in Prit. If you are truly watching over here, you should be able to do something with this..."
Looking up at the moon in the sky, Dorothy murmured. What she was thinking about at this moment were the wisps of soft silver light she had glimpsed in a daze not long ago when she had fainted during her advancement ceremony. She thought that this silver light must have an owner.
After Dorothy finished speaking, anomalies immediately began to appear all around. The ground began to vibrate violently, and the entire Mirror Moon Golem began to tremble unnaturally.
"What..."
Aldrich, who was controlling the Mirror Moon Golem, suddenly found that he had lost control of the Mirror Moon Golem. The giant golem that had collapsed in the shallow water area actually floated up automatically under the influence of a mysterious force and began to deform again. The hands and feet that had been formed began to retract automatically, and the entire Mirror Moon Church actually began to rapidly revert back.
"Whose power is this... again?"
Looking at everything before him, Aldrich couldn't help but murmur in surprise, while Gothsmore on the other side gritted her teeth and sped up when she saw this scene.
"Don't try any more tricks!"
At an unbelievable speed, the Mirror Moon Golem reverted to its original church form. Then, it did not immediately return to the surface of the lake, but instead floated above the lake, bathed in the moonlight from the sky.
The balance space where Dorothy was instantly changed back into a chapel. Inside, she was astonished to see wisps of soft silver light descending from the opening in the dome of the church, surrounding the Anecdote Body that Dorothy had created, and then seeping into it.
Afterward, a faint silver light emanated from the Lake Fairy's Anecdote Body, and its previously blurred face rapidly became clear. It was a face almost identical to the statue in the chapel and to Dorothy herself.
After gaining a face, the Lake Fairy's Anecdote Body slowly turned around, looked at the surprised Dorothy, and spoke leisurely, emitting a cool but incredibly reassuring voice.
"In terms of divinity, the convergence of stories can only become a bond to strengthen connection, not a container for extension."
Listening to the words that seemed to soothe her soul, Dorothy couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and then she spoke.
"Then, what is the container?"
Dorothy asked the existence before her this question. Then, it just smiled slightly, and then its entire body suddenly completely disintegrated into more silver light, converging towards Dorothy.
Before Dorothy could react, she was surrounded by silver light. At this moment, her consciousness became clear and empty.
In her clear and empty consciousness, Dorothy saw her body slowly rising, entwined in silver light. Under a strange force, her original clothes were slowly concealed, her silver hair that had been tied up spread out, and her originally small body was growing rapidly, visibly aging by three or four years.
The silver light that enveloped Dorothy transformed into pieces of light gauze draped over her body, covering her naked body. Dorothy saw her skin gradually becoming as crystal clear as a mirror, and her flesh began to undergo some mysterious transformation, especially the outer layer of her skin, which was detaching from the realm of flesh and blood, turning into a mirror-like surface with countless facets.
"Boom!"
At this moment, the originally closed door of the chapel shattered with a loud bang, and an invisible swift shadow rushed into the hall, stabbing directly at the silver halo suspended in mid-air!
"Die!"
Holding a long, sharp blood thorn, Gothsmore rushed into the halo and stabbed the ice-like, mirror-like body with the blood thorn in her hand, intending to pierce it through.
However, just as Gothsmore's blood thorn was about to penetrate the enemy, an boundless darkness suddenly spread out in front of her, engulfing everything around her.