Chapter 633: Tentacles
It took an enormous amount of time, and hundreds of alchemists working together, to finally crack the nearly impregnable Dimensional Corridor constructed by that Creator.
And then, they discovered the corpse of that Orc Sword Saint.
Later, the warden of the prison-plane revealed that when the prison was being built, this Creator was the main participant in constructing the Dimensional Corridor.
As an orc, the Sword Saint was almost clueless when it came to alchemy—practically an idiot. Naturally, he had no idea how to break the Dimensional Corridor. Nor was he strong enough to destroy, in one go, the corridor that the Creator had spent so much time building, one as secure as a planar death cell. So he ended up trapped inside, dying a slow, unnoticed death. No one found his corpse until much later.
Because the Dimensional Corridor had once trapped a Sword Saint, when Leon saw it in that desolate library at the end of the world, he naturally paid close attention. Every rune, every mark—he remembered them all. He even made special note of how to crack it.
The one constructed in this cabin was different from a standalone Dimensional Corridor, but its properties were the same.
It wasn’t like the Infinite Dimensions, where one could wander endlessly through countless planes. Nor was it like the lethal Dimensional Killing Array, where stepping in meant certain death.
Given all the conditions, it could only be a Dimensional Corridor!
Leon remembered every tiny detail of the Dimensional Corridor. So just by seeing its general outline, he could infer all the details he hadn’t seen yet!
He even knew exactly how certain places changed when combined with the alchemical array above.
Once it was cracked, it really was a Dimensional Corridor!
If it had been a different alchemical array, Leon might not have managed such a near-miraculous crack. But with a Dimensional Corridor...
Heh. Back then, even with all the answers, changes, and detailed explanations laid out in the books, he still spent a full month on this array. Was that time wasted?
"Alright, it’s done. Let’s go…" After finishing everything, Leon finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The Dimensional Corridor was finally cracked open…
"Let’s go, let’s go…" Anderson was just as impatient.
No, not just Anderson—everyone here was equally desperate to leave. This place was just too cursed; nobody wanted to stay even a moment longer…
Yet, just as the Dimensional Corridor was completely cracked, something suddenly changed below.
The crystal pen, controlled by magic, vanished in an instant. All connection was lost, and a massive surge of death energy erupted like madness.
Below, the slowly swirling black mist suddenly began to boil. What was once just drifting darkness erupted, surging upward as if conjured from thin air.
Countless streams of black mist burst from the small hole like a fountain.
As soon as these black threads appeared, they rapidly condensed in midair, transforming into writhing, black mist tentacles.
Leon, already drained of magic and mental strength, didn’t even have time to react before three black tentacles wrapped around him!
The moment those mist-shrouded tentacles touched him, Leon’s face went pale.
His mana drained away like water, a massive amount devoured by the black tentacles.
In just a few seconds, more than half the mana in his Alchemical Vortex was gone!
"Haha..."
"After all this time, fresh prey has finally come to me again."
A hoarse, evil voice—like rusted metal scraping together—echoed up from below.
More black tentacles condensed and shot toward Reina the Frost Dragon, Hubert the Dragonblood Orc, and even the Alchemical Golems—nothing was spared!
"You all get out of here, now!"
Leon shouted, forcing his mana under control. A Blastfire spell, trailing a blue tail, shot toward him.
These black tentacles were truly bizarre—not only could they drain vitality at a terrifying speed, but they also had a mana-binding effect. Leon could barely muster a tenth of his power; unleashing this Blastfire spell took everything he had.
Luckily, casting Blastfire at close range triggered a double explosion...
On the second explosion, he finally blasted several tentacles apart.
Using that brief moment of slack, Leon finally broke free from the tentacles...
But there was no time to celebrate—Leon seized the fleeting chance, quickly pulling out two Soul Mana Crystals and, with a swift gesture, summoned the Arcane Wheel...
Anderson, terrified, leapt out of the Arcane Wheel, watching Leon from afar, clueless about what he was planning.
"Merlin, be careful..."
Originally, Anderson wanted to say, 'Please don’t wreck the Arcane Wheel. If you break it, I’ll never find another True Spirit Artifact to inhabit—I’m doomed.'
But then he realized, if Leon was finished, he’d probably be done for too.
So Anderson bit his tongue and swallowed the rest of his words...
Even so, when Anderson saw a tentacle wrap around the Arcane Wheel the moment it landed in Leon’s hands, the secretive artifact spirit couldn’t help but gasp...
Worse still, Anderson’s cry drew a tentacle straight to him. With a hiss, it shot toward him like a venomous snake. Luckily, Leon reacted quickly, blasting it with a Fireburst spell—"boom!"—snapping the tentacle and saving Anderson just in time...
"Take Anderson away—don’t let him distract me!"
Leon threw out two Flame Walls with all his strength, blocking off all the tentacles and covering everyone as they rushed for the cabin exit. Only then did he focus all his attention on what lay ahead.
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More and more black mist spewed from the small hole, as if something was about to take shape in midair.
Leon’s face shifted from pale to ashen. The mana in his second Alchemical Vortex was nearly gone, draining away like a flood and leaving his body trembling uncontrollably.
Now, Leon finally understood how those twelve terrifying magical beasts had died.
Those beasts, locked below, had undoubtedly been drained of mana and life by this unknown, evil entity. If just a few tentacles were this horrifying, encountering its true body would mean there was nowhere left to run...
No doubt about it—this thing was the culprit.
It also explained why Bobby, who was supposed to be immortal and whose corpse should never decay, ended up as nothing but ashes.
Struggling was pointless. Even with terrifying control over mana, Leon couldn’t stop the loss. The tentacles not only bound his magic, but their strength was monstrous—each one nearly as strong as a Sword Saint. There was no way Leon could break free.
Every bone in his body groaned in agony from the crushing force, but Leon clung desperately to the two Soul Mana Crystals in his hands.
At the same time, he drew on the magic from the Elemental Amber within the Arcane Wheel, recklessly channeling it into the two spent Soul Mana Crystals.
The black tentacles devoured furiously, and with Leon's reckless extraction, the Elemental Amber on the Arcane Wheel dimmed visibly, its mana draining at a rate that would make Anderson howl in agony if he saw it.
By now, the mana in Leon’s second Alchemical Vortex had been completely devoured, and even the vortex within his own body was starting to drain rapidly.
The tentacles squeezed even tighter—Leon’s hands turned blackish-purple from lack of blood flow, but he still clung desperately to those two Soul Mana Crystals.
Suddenly, a ripple of energy surged from the two Soul Mana Crystals. The once dormant crystals glowed, and tangible streams of mana began to circulate within them.
Sensing the change, Leon summoned the Death Tome without hesitation, pouring a torrent of mana into it.
At last, a flash of light—
Lich Barton was summoned forth...
Even before the Lich appeared, Leon had already tossed the two Soul Mana Crystals. The moment Barton manifested, he caught the crystals, now brimming with mana, in his hands.
As the crystals began to shine, two tentacles split off from those entwined around Leon, reaching out to snatch them away.
The arrival of the Lich drew the tentacles’ attention even more. All the black mist was saturated with immense Necrotic Power.
As a level thirty-seven Lich—especially after devouring some soul fire from a level thirty-eight Death Knight last time—Barton was on the verge of advancing.
Not only was Barton high-level, but he also wielded immense Necrotic Power. And with two Soul Mana Crystals—already irresistible to the tentacles—in his hands...
At such close range, the tentacles that had been wrapped around Leon instantly released him, surging toward the Lich as if acting on pure instinct.
Freed from the tentacles’ grip, Leon’s mana surged back into motion. Without hesitation, he invoked Fire Elemental Form and blinked twice in rapid succession, appearing two hundred meters away.
By now, there were forty or fifty black, smoke-wreathed tentacles. The black mist spewing from the small hole was condensing in midair, forming a gigantic skull.
The skull seemed to be made from countless tiny, ink-black bones—every race’s skull was present, all shrunken to the size of a thumbnail. Even the human skulls were no bigger than a fingernail.
Countless bones merged to construct a massive, four- or five-meter-tall skull. It had only two eyes and a huge mouth, with gray flames burning in its sockets—flames seething with immense resentment, and within them, countless wailing figures flickered in and out of view.