Chapter 113: The Chorus
The phantoms from all directions neither roared nor charged.
They were all soldiers who had died in the rifts or beneath the bastion city walls. Wearing tattered combat uniforms, bearing charred wounds and broken weapons, each of them maintained their final posture before death. They stood densely packed, filling the remaining space of the karst cave. They stared silently at the five members of the squad, and a cold, heavy sense of despair seeped through the air into their Seas of Consciousness.
This was the most insidious method of the illusion web.
It was not a sharp, violent psychic shock, but a silent infection. It kneaded together the silence, reluctance, and fear of countless dead souls, slowly pressing them down upon the consciousness of the living, wearing thin the Sea of Consciousness barrier bit by bit. Compared to attacks that directly tore at the consciousness, this slow erosion was much harder to resist. You couldn't see a clear target to attack, leaving you with no way to fight back.
Chen Ye breathed heavily. The shielding device had long been pushed to its limit; its outer shell was terrifyingly hot. Su Wan had to lower the power to barely maintain the minimum level of isolation. The young man's gaze involuntarily swept across those phantoms. He saw several familiar faces—companions who had trained with him and laughed together previously.
"Don't look at their faces," Lin Yan warned in a low voice. Holding his short blade in front of him, he let the internal energy of his ancient martial arts flow slowly to stabilize the foundation of his own Sea of Consciousness. "The illusion web is tempting us to empathize. Once you feel pity or guilt, a gap will appear in your Sea of Consciousness."
His wisp of consciousness still clung to the veins of the fungal carpet, clearly capturing the two priests' signals slowly closing in.
The dual priests, originally stationed in two separate side caves, began to chant in unison.
It was not a language humans could understand. It was a low, rasping screech, as if rubbing against the rock walls. The two sounds rose and fell in an alternating rhythm, echoing each other to form a bizarre chorus. Every time the chorus sounded, the purple resonance patterns on the fungal carpet grew brighter, and all the phantoms in the cave took a synchronized step forward.
"It's a resonant chorus! They are synchronizing their psychic frequencies!" Su Wan stared at her detector's screen, which was jumping to its maximum value. Her voice was tight. "Once the frequencies completely overlap, the strength of the illusion web in the entire area will double, and all our Sea of Consciousness barriers will be forcibly suppressed!"
Old Guo pulled the pin on an oscillator grenade. With a flex of his arm, he hurled it toward the densest cluster of phantoms.
White light exploded with a boom, and a wave of Sea of Consciousness oscillation swept across. Over a dozen nearby phantoms twisted and dissipated under the impact of the ripples. But mere seconds later, the fungal carpet continuously supplied energy, and the dissipated phantoms slowly re-condensed, showing almost no sign of depletion.
"It's useless. The phantoms are just projections; they can't be killed," Lu Heng quickly scanned the surrounding terrain. "There are no other forks in the cave. The rock above and below is solid bedrock; digging through is impossible in time. We are trapped in the middle. Ahead are the priests in chorus, our retreat is blocked by scaled beasts, and that unknown behemoth is hiding beneath us."
The pulse rifles continued to fire. Scaled beasts that charged up were continuously knocked down, but the ones behind them trampled over their companions' corpses, pushing forward relentlessly. The clicking sound of their carapaces colliding rang out as the encirclement tightened.
Lin Yan closed his eyes, shutting out the mental oppression brought by the surrounding phantoms, and immersed himself entirely in the signal flow of the fungal carpet.
The consciousness of the two priests intertwined like two coiled venomous snakes. Their thoughts were highly synchronized; their ideas, tactics, and psychic output rhythms were almost identical. This was the terrifying aspect of "dual priests." They shared a set of illusion web permissions; one was responsible for outputting illusions, while the other was in charge of deploying the scaled beasts, and they could swap roles at any time.
Beneath them, that dormant, vast consciousness remained quiet. It did not join the chorus, nor did it launch any attacks. It was like an observer, indifferently watching the Sea of Consciousness fluctuations of everyone in the squad, recording every flaw in their defenses.
It was waiting.
Waiting for them to be exhausted to the limit by the dual priests, waiting for the Sea of Consciousness barriers to shatter, before making its move to reap the harvest.
"Split up to break the chorus," Lin Yan suddenly opened his eyes and said quickly. "They are currently over forty meters away from us, each hidden behind a rock platform on the left and right, relying on the fungal carpet to conduct their resonance. As long as we disrupt the psychic frequencies of both simultaneously, the chorus will break, and the strength of the illusion web will plummet. Merely distracting one is useless; the other will immediately fill in the frequency."
Lu Heng quickly weighed the pros and cons. "The risk is extremely high. Once someone approaches the rock platform alone and faces the psychic shock of the priest head-on, it's very easy to have their Sea of Consciousness locked by the illusion web."
"There is no other choice." Lin Yan glanced sideways at the approaching swarm of scaled beasts. "If we let them continue the chorus, in another three minutes, all our Sea of Consciousness barriers will be crushed."
"Assign roles." Lu Heng hesitated no longer and quickly allocated tasks. "Old Guo and I will go left to distract the left priest. Su Wan, take Chen Ye to the right. You are responsible for detection and interference, and Chen Ye will cover you. Lin Yan, you will roam in the middle. Watch that unknown signal beneath the ground. The moment it shows any movement, report it immediately, and support both sides. Remember, the goal is to disrupt the resonance, not to kill the priests. Do not push too far!"
"Received!"
The group immediately split up. Using the pile of white bones and protruding rocks in the cave as cover, they divided into two groups and advanced toward the rock platforms on the left and right.
The illusion web reacted instantly.
On the left, the phantoms of the fallen soldiers turned and intercepted Lu Heng and Old Guo. On the right, the illusion switched again. Su Wan saw her sacrificed teammates, and the phantom of Chen Ye's deceased classmate reappeared before him, repeatedly calling for him to stop.
"Don't stop!" Su Wan gritted her teeth and forcibly aimed the interference module of her detector toward the rock platform, releasing reverse psychic waves in an attempt to disrupt the priests' resonance frequency.
Behind the left rock platform, a sharp screech rang out, and a thick psychic shock slammed straight into Lu Heng. Lu Heng fully deployed his Sea of Consciousness barrier. The white curtain of light trembled violently. He let out a muffled groan, staggered, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Old Guo raised his gun and fired. The pulse beam grazed the edge of the rock platform and struck the fungal carpet. The purple patterns instantly dimmed in a small area, briefly disrupting the priest's output rhythm.
At the same time, the priest on the right sensed the interference and immediately increased the deployment of illusions. The phantom of Chen Ye's classmate lunged forward, reaching out to grab his arm. The young man subconsciously wanted to retreat, and his footing faltered.
"Don't touch it!" Su Wan grabbed the back of his collar and forcibly pressed him behind the rock. "It's bait! Stabilize your Sea of Consciousness!"
The chorus of the two priests showed a momentary fracture. The purple light on the fungal carpet flickered a few times, and its brightness dropped.
It was this exact gap!
Lin Yan seized the opportunity. His figure darted rapidly across the slippery fungal carpet. He didn't use large-scale Sea of Consciousness power to expose himself, relying solely on his ancient martial arts footwork to maneuver. His wisp of consciousness was firmly nailed to that dormant behemoth deep within the rock strata.
Just as the chorus was about to be completely broken...
Beneath the underground rock strata, that silent consciousness moved.
There was no earth-shattering psychic shockwave, nor were there any flashy illusions created.
A deep, murky will, carrying the气息 (aura) of ten-thousand-year-old permafrost, spread out synchronously across the entire fungal carpet network, instantly enveloping the entire cave.
Everyone's head buzzed simultaneously.
It wasn't a sharp pain. It was a sluggish, heavy feeling of consciousness being pressed down and dragged. The Sea of Consciousness power originally used to resist the illusions and the priests' resonance was like sinking into a thick mud pit, its operating speed halving abruptly.
"No! It made its move!" Lin Yan roared. "It's suppressing the vitality of all our Seas of Consciousness!"
On the rock platforms on the left and right, the dual priests' chorus, which had been disrupted and on the verge of breaking, instantly reconnected taking advantage of this opportunity, becoming even more stable than before.
The purple patterns blazed with brilliant light, and the sound of the chorus echoed throughout the cave.
Countless phantoms raised their heads simultaneously. Their pitch-black, empty eye sockets stared uniformly at the scattered members of the squad.
The swarm of scaled beasts accelerated their charge, and a foul-smelling wind rushed toward them.
Lu Heng's face turned pale. He could clearly feel his Sea of Consciousness barrier thinning at a visible speed.
"Regroup! Everyone, move to the center immediately!"
End of Chapter.
They were all soldiers who had died in the rifts or beneath the bastion city walls. Wearing tattered combat uniforms, bearing charred wounds and broken weapons, each of them maintained their final posture before death. They stood densely packed, filling the remaining space of the karst cave. They stared silently at the five members of the squad, and a cold, heavy sense of despair seeped through the air into their Seas of Consciousness.
This was the most insidious method of the illusion web.
It was not a sharp, violent psychic shock, but a silent infection. It kneaded together the silence, reluctance, and fear of countless dead souls, slowly pressing them down upon the consciousness of the living, wearing thin the Sea of Consciousness barrier bit by bit. Compared to attacks that directly tore at the consciousness, this slow erosion was much harder to resist. You couldn't see a clear target to attack, leaving you with no way to fight back.
Chen Ye breathed heavily. The shielding device had long been pushed to its limit; its outer shell was terrifyingly hot. Su Wan had to lower the power to barely maintain the minimum level of isolation. The young man's gaze involuntarily swept across those phantoms. He saw several familiar faces—companions who had trained with him and laughed together previously.
"Don't look at their faces," Lin Yan warned in a low voice. Holding his short blade in front of him, he let the internal energy of his ancient martial arts flow slowly to stabilize the foundation of his own Sea of Consciousness. "The illusion web is tempting us to empathize. Once you feel pity or guilt, a gap will appear in your Sea of Consciousness."
His wisp of consciousness still clung to the veins of the fungal carpet, clearly capturing the two priests' signals slowly closing in.
The dual priests, originally stationed in two separate side caves, began to chant in unison.
It was not a language humans could understand. It was a low, rasping screech, as if rubbing against the rock walls. The two sounds rose and fell in an alternating rhythm, echoing each other to form a bizarre chorus. Every time the chorus sounded, the purple resonance patterns on the fungal carpet grew brighter, and all the phantoms in the cave took a synchronized step forward.
"It's a resonant chorus! They are synchronizing their psychic frequencies!" Su Wan stared at her detector's screen, which was jumping to its maximum value. Her voice was tight. "Once the frequencies completely overlap, the strength of the illusion web in the entire area will double, and all our Sea of Consciousness barriers will be forcibly suppressed!"
Old Guo pulled the pin on an oscillator grenade. With a flex of his arm, he hurled it toward the densest cluster of phantoms.
White light exploded with a boom, and a wave of Sea of Consciousness oscillation swept across. Over a dozen nearby phantoms twisted and dissipated under the impact of the ripples. But mere seconds later, the fungal carpet continuously supplied energy, and the dissipated phantoms slowly re-condensed, showing almost no sign of depletion.
"It's useless. The phantoms are just projections; they can't be killed," Lu Heng quickly scanned the surrounding terrain. "There are no other forks in the cave. The rock above and below is solid bedrock; digging through is impossible in time. We are trapped in the middle. Ahead are the priests in chorus, our retreat is blocked by scaled beasts, and that unknown behemoth is hiding beneath us."
The pulse rifles continued to fire. Scaled beasts that charged up were continuously knocked down, but the ones behind them trampled over their companions' corpses, pushing forward relentlessly. The clicking sound of their carapaces colliding rang out as the encirclement tightened.
Lin Yan closed his eyes, shutting out the mental oppression brought by the surrounding phantoms, and immersed himself entirely in the signal flow of the fungal carpet.
The consciousness of the two priests intertwined like two coiled venomous snakes. Their thoughts were highly synchronized; their ideas, tactics, and psychic output rhythms were almost identical. This was the terrifying aspect of "dual priests." They shared a set of illusion web permissions; one was responsible for outputting illusions, while the other was in charge of deploying the scaled beasts, and they could swap roles at any time.
Beneath them, that dormant, vast consciousness remained quiet. It did not join the chorus, nor did it launch any attacks. It was like an observer, indifferently watching the Sea of Consciousness fluctuations of everyone in the squad, recording every flaw in their defenses.
It was waiting.
Waiting for them to be exhausted to the limit by the dual priests, waiting for the Sea of Consciousness barriers to shatter, before making its move to reap the harvest.
"Split up to break the chorus," Lin Yan suddenly opened his eyes and said quickly. "They are currently over forty meters away from us, each hidden behind a rock platform on the left and right, relying on the fungal carpet to conduct their resonance. As long as we disrupt the psychic frequencies of both simultaneously, the chorus will break, and the strength of the illusion web will plummet. Merely distracting one is useless; the other will immediately fill in the frequency."
Lu Heng quickly weighed the pros and cons. "The risk is extremely high. Once someone approaches the rock platform alone and faces the psychic shock of the priest head-on, it's very easy to have their Sea of Consciousness locked by the illusion web."
"There is no other choice." Lin Yan glanced sideways at the approaching swarm of scaled beasts. "If we let them continue the chorus, in another three minutes, all our Sea of Consciousness barriers will be crushed."
"Assign roles." Lu Heng hesitated no longer and quickly allocated tasks. "Old Guo and I will go left to distract the left priest. Su Wan, take Chen Ye to the right. You are responsible for detection and interference, and Chen Ye will cover you. Lin Yan, you will roam in the middle. Watch that unknown signal beneath the ground. The moment it shows any movement, report it immediately, and support both sides. Remember, the goal is to disrupt the resonance, not to kill the priests. Do not push too far!"
"Received!"
The group immediately split up. Using the pile of white bones and protruding rocks in the cave as cover, they divided into two groups and advanced toward the rock platforms on the left and right.
The illusion web reacted instantly.
On the left, the phantoms of the fallen soldiers turned and intercepted Lu Heng and Old Guo. On the right, the illusion switched again. Su Wan saw her sacrificed teammates, and the phantom of Chen Ye's deceased classmate reappeared before him, repeatedly calling for him to stop.
"Don't stop!" Su Wan gritted her teeth and forcibly aimed the interference module of her detector toward the rock platform, releasing reverse psychic waves in an attempt to disrupt the priests' resonance frequency.
Behind the left rock platform, a sharp screech rang out, and a thick psychic shock slammed straight into Lu Heng. Lu Heng fully deployed his Sea of Consciousness barrier. The white curtain of light trembled violently. He let out a muffled groan, staggered, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Old Guo raised his gun and fired. The pulse beam grazed the edge of the rock platform and struck the fungal carpet. The purple patterns instantly dimmed in a small area, briefly disrupting the priest's output rhythm.
At the same time, the priest on the right sensed the interference and immediately increased the deployment of illusions. The phantom of Chen Ye's classmate lunged forward, reaching out to grab his arm. The young man subconsciously wanted to retreat, and his footing faltered.
"Don't touch it!" Su Wan grabbed the back of his collar and forcibly pressed him behind the rock. "It's bait! Stabilize your Sea of Consciousness!"
The chorus of the two priests showed a momentary fracture. The purple light on the fungal carpet flickered a few times, and its brightness dropped.
It was this exact gap!
Lin Yan seized the opportunity. His figure darted rapidly across the slippery fungal carpet. He didn't use large-scale Sea of Consciousness power to expose himself, relying solely on his ancient martial arts footwork to maneuver. His wisp of consciousness was firmly nailed to that dormant behemoth deep within the rock strata.
Just as the chorus was about to be completely broken...
Beneath the underground rock strata, that silent consciousness moved.
There was no earth-shattering psychic shockwave, nor were there any flashy illusions created.
A deep, murky will, carrying the气息 (aura) of ten-thousand-year-old permafrost, spread out synchronously across the entire fungal carpet network, instantly enveloping the entire cave.
Everyone's head buzzed simultaneously.
It wasn't a sharp pain. It was a sluggish, heavy feeling of consciousness being pressed down and dragged. The Sea of Consciousness power originally used to resist the illusions and the priests' resonance was like sinking into a thick mud pit, its operating speed halving abruptly.
"No! It made its move!" Lin Yan roared. "It's suppressing the vitality of all our Seas of Consciousness!"
On the rock platforms on the left and right, the dual priests' chorus, which had been disrupted and on the verge of breaking, instantly reconnected taking advantage of this opportunity, becoming even more stable than before.
The purple patterns blazed with brilliant light, and the sound of the chorus echoed throughout the cave.
Countless phantoms raised their heads simultaneously. Their pitch-black, empty eye sockets stared uniformly at the scattered members of the squad.
The swarm of scaled beasts accelerated their charge, and a foul-smelling wind rushed toward them.
Lu Heng's face turned pale. He could clearly feel his Sea of Consciousness barrier thinning at a visible speed.
"Regroup! Everyone, move to the center immediately!"
End of Chapter.