Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 535 An Advanced Version of the Foolish God Plan
"What's inside isn't just death brought on by time."

The reason is that if it were purely a matter of time, it would be absolutely impossible to harm Milo, who is already in the Shadow Sequence. He can already fight Imnar in the void, so why would he be afraid of this little bit of power of the Time Order?

But the fact is, his left hand is gone.

Although Milo is currently just a summoned phantom, similar to an avatar, upon closer reflection, this should be considered the most serious "injury" he has suffered in the past two years.

If the so-called "price" exchanged for the eternity of this kingdom can even wound the shadows, then it seems that it cannot be called a price.

"This thing should be called a gift, right?"

Milo stared at the thin, dark shadow of the crystalling figure in the corner.

You must understand that in the Dreamland, in a world with gods and ancient settlements, these crystallized beings are a rare and precious force.

That's a nuclear weapon.

……

...

Looking at his empty half-wrist, Milo fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

If he can't even handle these death crystals, wouldn't he be breaking his promise to the cats?
Milo glanced back at the scene of the fierce battle taking place in the distant harbor.

By this time, the streaks of light had gradually replaced the dark red clouds in the sky, and under the blinding rays of light, the port, completely surrounded by the Os-Nargai garrison, could be clearly seen.

The cats have no way out.

But if Milo doesn't handle these death crystals properly...

After they have fought their way onto the Golden Law Temple's ship and left this harbor area, they will become a ship full of old, dying, or already dead cats...

"That won't work."

Milo shook his head.

Breaking faith with people is a minor issue, but breaking faith with a cat is downright beastly.

...

However, the power of the curse was too domineering. Even Milo could not get close at will. He could not go any further when he was still a few meters away from the Crystal Man. Otherwise, he would have to end this summoning journey prematurely before leaving the territory of Os-Nargai.

How can we destroy these death crystals?

"Could it be a gun...?"

Milo instinctively reached for his waist, only to find it empty, as his hands and the pistol were nowhere to be found.

"Um--"

"Then we'll have to try this."

Milo opened his right palm, and some viscous, ink-like substance emerged from it.

Since the Crystal Man is a moving and wandering thing, let's just treat it as a living being. If we can't deal with the Death Crystal, then let's deal with the Crystal Man.

Milo's method of dealing with living things naturally returned to his old ways, a variant of the first trick he learned from Glaqi—Fearful Dreams.

After mastering the Nash Chronicles, Milo's control over the source of fear in living beings became more precise. The more unguarded a soul was, the easier it was for him to access its source of fear.

Once Milo has grasped this deepest fear, he has countless options: he can devour it, manipulate the soul, or even kill it.

Redemption or slaughter, it's all in a single thought.

……

And it turns out that crystallized humans are also a type of life form.

Although they have lost most of their external form and transformed into a kind of dark creature, even the radiant light of the sky cannot reflect any light off them.

But Milo still managed to pinpoint the deepest fears within these thin, hunched creatures, even though they had lost most of their memories and even their ability to think; the fear was etched into their very souls.

Milo quickly detected the source of the fear.

That is the terrifying thing that once captivated the Crystal People the most.

……

"This is……"

Milo initially assumed that the source of the Crystal People's fear would be the Death Crystal.

After all, these crystals look like they were grafted or carved onto them, not something they were born with.

But this is not the case.

The moment Milo touched the source of fear deep within the Crystal Man's soul.

He felt a chill.

A chill ran through me, a chill that carried a strange sense of familiarity.

Immediately afterward, a series of illusory, decaying, and grotesque images flashed through his mind, including—arthropods dwelling in human eye sockets, skeletons burning on a snowy plateau, and the bloodshot, writhing eyeballs of beast-like humans…

These things have all appeared in the conscious real world.

But before that, another place where they appeared in large numbers was the abyss.

This is a series of flashbacks triggered in Milo's mind by the source of the Crystal Man's inner fears.

While surprising Milo, it also answered his previous question about the Death Crystal—why could the power of the cursed death harm the Great Old Ones?

The answer is obvious. The source of the Crystallizers' fear is none other than the Abyss.

The component of the cursed power that harmed Milo was not the price of the temporal order, but rather the abyssal chaos mixed within it...

But why would traces of the abyss appear in the Eternal Kingdom?

This is a dream world.

Could it be that the abyss has already infiltrated right under the noses of the gods?

So, Milo's plan to shift the blame had already been orchestrated beforehand...?

...

The Crystallizer's fear of the abyss is incredibly profound, deep within his soul.

It has even forgotten everything about its past, including its race, its name, its origin, and even the independent personality it once possessed, yet it still remembers the endless fear of the abyss.

But even Milo had no way of knowing what the Crystallizers had gone through.

From the perspective of its soul and consciousness, it was already a fragmented being. What sustained its wandering and drifting among these lighthouses was a vague biological instinct, which was also something imposed upon it later in life. Its current state of being was somewhat similar to that of Windrunner Wendigo, whom Milo had just encountered in the Abyss.

Furthermore, Milo could not find any memory of the Crystal Man's contact with the Abyss in its soul; all that remained was its fear.

……

Crystallizers like these are everywhere on isolated islands, lighthouses, and reefs in the surrounding waters. Now that he has connected with this fear, Milo can "see" the line of crystallizers surrounding the entire Os-Nargai within his spiritual vision.

Forbidden Zone, Eternal Kingdom, Crystallizer, Death Crystal, Abyss.

There seems to be some kind of subtle relationship hidden among these elements that cannot be explored for the time being.

Who would have thought that in Os-Nargai, an eternal kingdom established under the watchful eyes of the gods, traces of the abyss would be everywhere?

Did the gods of dreams know about this?

If they don't know, then it proves that someone has put Imnar's "Fooling the Gods Plan" into practice, and it's an even more advanced version. He directly constructed an abyssal chess game in the Dream Realm, right under the noses of the gods.

What a terrifyingly ruthless person it must be to do something like this.

……

However, if it's the second scenario—meaning the gods of the dream realm are aware of the traces of this abyss, or even some of the gods are aware—then the problem becomes even more terrifying and serious…

The conspiracy here will span countless years and time periods...

This might also be related to the disappearance of the native god "Nath Horus".

...

Milo felt he might have inadvertently uncovered a shocking secret.

He was still unsure of the gods' exact attitude toward the Abyss, but it was conceivable that those in positions of power above the existing order would regard something called "chaos," capable of arbitrarily altering the order without limit, as something taboo, like a raging flood or a ferocious beast.

Unfortunately, Milo could not find any memory of their contact with the Abyss within the souls of the Crystallings.

"What a pity……"

But if you think about it from another perspective...

Time is one of the orders established by the gods.

The eternal city of Os-Narge is essentially outside the temporal order of the gods. The essence of this phenomenon is undoubtedly a distortion of the order. However, the Death Crystal provides a relatively reasonable explanation, and the crystal was also bestowed by various temples and cults, just as if Os-Narge were a "land of pardon" allowed to exist by the gods.

But let's not forget that the distortion of the existing order is a characteristic inherent in the chaos of the abyss itself.

For example, the rift now inflicted on Wendigo's belly now has an additional one—abandoned faith will corrupt the order of the worms.

……

"It seems there are colleagues involved."

Milo didn't dwell on it any longer.

Whether this conspiracy belongs to the gods or some unknown entity, there is no doubt that after today, the other party will hate Milo to the core.

……

"Crack!"

Milo crushed the Crystal Man's soul through a nightmare of fear.

At the same time, the souls of all the crystallized beings in the surrounding area were also affected and suffered fractures and shattering.

The moment their life connection with the Death Crystal was severed, the turbid time cost and the dark abyssal chaos stored within the crystal crumbled in an instant.

...

The moment the link was severed, the order of this kingdom began to fall into chaos. The death return at the cost of time was temporarily canceled. Without the blessing and control of the crystal, the forces that should have returned to the host's body to cause a series of aging, decay, and disease became headless flies with nowhere to go.

This presents a golden opportunity for the permanent inhabitants of the Os-Nargai kingdom to escape their confinement before a new crystal order is established, allowing them to leave this imprisoned land safely without the risk of death.

However, apart from the cats and a very small number of people in the city, the rest of the permanent residents are unaware of this.

They were still afraid, terrified of the shadow that had descended upon the sea.

Unbeknownst to them, the shadowy figure had just unlocked their chains of freedom.

(End of this chapter)