Jill Young glanced at Dream Monroe next to her, who looked completely relaxed and cheerful, as if the spatial turbulence had no effect on her at all. Jill immediately protested, "Why are you totally fine while I'm the only one getting hammered by this? Do you have some secret trick or something?"
Dream Monroe didn't answer. Susan Morrow and Jonathan Black hadn't even noticed her presence, nor did they hear Jill's complaints. Dream was almost completely merged into the Fatespring itself, to the point where even the spatial turbulence was ignoring her.
Jill huffed in annoyance and stopped complaining, focusing all her energy on pushing forward.
Honestly, the spatial turbulence was a pain, but if they took their time, the four of them could still reach their destination. Fast or slow was all relative—Jill's speed through the dimensions wasn't actually slow, she just needed a little more time than usual.
But right now, time was exactly what they didn't have.
Suddenly, the Beacon of the Unknown flared up, its beam piercing through the spatial confines and shining directly onto the four of them.
"Found you." The Overlord Golem's magical pathways began to overload, crackling with exaggerated flashes of light as its core magic circuits slowly but unstoppably started to burn out.
But that massive expenditure brought massive results.
As the Overlord Golem cackled wildly, a terrifying Spatial Tempest swept up everything, surging toward the four of them. Bathed in the Beacon of the Unknown's light, all those intertwining, interfering, cooperating, resisting, devouring, and endlessly splitting spatial waves became completely visible to Jill. The all-encompassing Spatial Tempest looked like a massive tsunami crashing over the heavens, rolling in to swallow everything in its path.
A giant who couldn't control himself was nothing but a drowning man tossed about in the storm; aside from the glaring white boundary marks still shielding him, he was totally helpless. Meanwhile, the Overlord Golem just grabbed Patrick Zade and followed leisurely behind the tempest, clearly not interested in playing surfer today.
It had no idea where this tempest would blow, but wherever it went, it was sure it could eliminate the biggest variable.
That strange woman with platinum blonde hair.
"Holy crap—!" Faced with a space tempest that could flatten everything, Jill's eyes went wide and she yelled at the other three, "Run! Now!"
"What are you trying to do?" Their minds were still linked, and Susan Morrow's face changed dramatically. She pushed her authority to the limit, stabilizing Jill's dimensional position. "Don't do anything reckless!"
"There's no other way." Jill shot a hateful glare at the Overlord Golem, who was hiding way at the back—this guy's style was pure coward, never giving her a chance for close combat. So, only one option left—smack! Jill slapped Jonathan Black's belly with meaning in her eyes: "I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry," Jonathan nodded seriously. "I'll protect Auntie."
"Good." In a split second, Jill relayed her battle plan to her mom mentally, and then the raging spatial tempest was right in front of them.
Boom—the indescribable crash hit their dimensional positions, sweeping away everything it could. Golden light blazed fiercely. Jill gave Dream Monroe a deep look, then shoved her mom and cousin forward: "If you win, we win everything—go!"
Rumble rumble rumble—the strongest crest of the spatial tempest surged in, and in a blink, Jill was swept away completely. Susan Morrow threw up a white shield, and Jonathan Black looked out from behind it, seeing infinite layers flash by in an instant, with endless information flooding his brain to the point of bursting.
He quickly shut his eyes, not daring to look anymore, but in that split-second flash, he seemed to see the giant being used by Jill as a shield in front of her, resisting the terrifying force of the spatial tempest. And that giant—it looked like he activated some kind of device, pulling out a secret move.
The Spatial Tempest came fast—and left just as quickly.
When Jonathan Black opened his eyes again, the rampaging space had returned to normal. The Beacon of the Unknown flickered in and out, and the group was drifting farther and farther from Earth's dimension.
Feet firmly planted, Jonathan felt like he was standing on solid ground.
He looked down quickly and saw he was standing on a road laid out in the void itself. It was like someone had sliced a piece of the night sky and paved it as a path, with dazzling starlight twinkling in the surface. The road was less than three meters wide, winding and twisting through the dark void, ending at a glowing gate emitting a soft light.
"Where is this...?"
"Infinity Dock," Susan Morrow said solemnly. "But this is just the outer edge—the real core is inside that light."
Jonathan hadn't even replied when another voice crackled in, like a busted old radio: "So that's the key to controlling hyperspace—I've finally found the last core."
Jonathan spun around in shock and saw the Overlord Golem standing on the starry ancient road too. The golem looked up at the end of the road, then down at Susan Morrow. "Ma'am, this isn't personal, but I have to kill you."
"Not happening!" Jonathan roared, clenching his fist and about to charge.
But Susan Morrow stopped him. "Ignore him—the distance on this road isn't what you're used to. What looks like a few steps is actually separated by thick dimensional walls. What you see is just a folded-space projection; he can't touch us from there."
"No wonder you're my biggest obstacle to getting hyperspace access—figured it out that fast, huh? Doesn't matter, I'll catch up to you soon enough." The Overlord Golem was brimming with confidence, strolling forward as if nothing could faze it. Sure enough, it was making steady progress along the starry ancient road, looking like it would catch up any minute now.
With no helpers around and facing the terrifying Overlord Golem as a mere mortal, Jonathan Black was starting to panic: "Let's get moving, too!"
"We will, but not the way you think." Alone and up against a powerful enemy, Susan Morrow only grew calmer, showing rare commanding presence. She closed her eyes, face solemn, and fully opened herself to the memories flooding in from the void.
It was all clear now—the source of the memories was inside the Light Gate at the end of the ancient road. The closer they got, the sharper the memories, the stronger the emotions, and the more intense the resonance between the three spirits and the memories.
Susan didn't move her feet, yet she kept advancing—the starry road had become a conveyor belt, carrying her and Jonathan Black forward. At the same time, endless memories surged like waves, drowning the minds of all three.
This batch of memories was especially intense.
[I was so clueless...]
A voice echoed in their minds.
[I was so clueless...]
It was full of pain, regret, self-blame, hatred, and resolve.
[I should've noticed it—he started acting weird from that very day...]