Yuan Tong
Chapter 913 Hao Ren's Hidden Trump Card
The words on the door filled Hao Ren's mind with countless thoughts in an instant, a sense of déjà vu that he couldn't quite explain welling up within him. He reached out and touched the deep carvings, noticing that the characters weren't perfectly aligned.
They didn't seem to be a "formal inscription" left by the builders of the door as decoration or a warning for future generations, but rather something hurriedly scratched by someone who had passed by. Considering that the Catastrophe Corridor was built by the Ancients thousands of years ago to seal the Shadow of Chaos, there shouldn't have been any unrelated people wandering in here. So whoever left these words must have been one of the participants back then, casually writing them down before leaving.
"Kassandra..." Vivian thoughtfully looked at the signature. "I have a vague impression, but I can't remember. We might have worked together back then."
"This door gives me a very bad feeling," Hasson frowned, his gaze at the heavy stone door exceptionally serious. "Even on the battlefield of the ancient gods, I didn't feel such heavy pressure. It's as if a mindless, pure malice is lurking on the other side of the door."
"We haven't encountered any of those shadows along the way," Vivian also looked at the door. "Maybe they're all squatting on the other side, waiting for us."
Hao Ren took a deep breath and, together with Izhaks, placed his hands on the heavy stone door. "Everyone be on guard. We're going to open the door!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he and Izhaks exerted their strength at the same time, doing their best to push the door open.
Although the door looked exceptionally heavy (and it really was), Hao Ren ultimately possessed superhuman physical qualities. Moreover, the door itself had no other mystical seals besides its weight. With a mighty push, the door slowly opened with a groan.
"Kaka Lala," the ancient stone door emitted a grinding sound that grated on the ears as it opened. The hollow sound echoed in the enormous space, seemingly concealing the wails, screams, roars, and jeers of countless beings. The thin mist in the space stirred violently the moment the door opened. Although there was no wind, the mist at the doorway scattered in all directions as if struck by something. And as the door opened completely, a terrifying aura that made one dizzy swept out from behind it like a hurricane!
In that instant, it was as if millions of funeral bells were tolling, and as if hundreds of millions of souls were screaming. A huge vortex of chaos was frantically churning in the tunnel behind the door, but upon closer inspection, there was only pure darkness there. The chaos and screams were merely illusions caused by the senses of mortals exceeding their working limits. The moment this indescribable negative aura rushed towards him, Hao Ren felt as if the entire Shadow Maze was about to collapse on him. Caught off guard, he staggered twice before finally steadying himself and instinctively grabbing the giant stone door next to him—although nothing visible was impacting him, he still made this move subconsciously, as if trying to grab a mast in a storm.
"Holy crap..." Hao Ren managed to speak under the circumstances. "What the hell is this thing?!"
Hasson and Izhaks were also affected by the shock. The old demon hunter's magical effects were all passively activated. Faint light flickered beneath his trench coat, and the Leyta Rune cards in his hand automatically ignited, forming a protective ring of runes that revolved around him. Hasson bent over under the assault of the aura, his teeth chattering. "Concentrate! Don't be overwhelmed by fear!"
Izhaks suffered a slightly lighter impact, perhaps because he came from another world, or simply because of his strength. He was still able to stand straight in the face of this aura, but his face was very ugly. "I feel... a rage, an animosity towards everything without discrimination. I'm afraid we shouldn't have opened this door."
All three of them felt this destructive power, but Vivian still stood at the doorway with a blank expression, just like when she had first entered the Catastrophe Corridor, looking at Hao Ren and the others with a bit of confusion. "Did something... really come out? I still can't see anything."
She still couldn't feel any aura coming over.
"Truly worthy of being made of special materials," Hao Ren still had the mind to tease the bat spirit under these circumstances. "Old Wang, try and see if you can move forward."
Izhaks flashed with dark green demonic runes all over his body, forcibly enduring the destructive pressure that was driving people mad, and took a few steps inside. But as soon as he went less than ten meters into the door, his expression changed, and he quickly retreated. "Can't go in! There's a very powerful mind corruption inside. I almost lost myself just now!"
Hasson hadn't even reacted yet, but Hao Ren's expression changed. Izhaks, as a demon king, could only last less than ten meters in the face of this aura?
What exactly was behind this door!
Regardless of what was behind the door, things seemed to be getting worse and worse. As time passed, everyone's condition was deteriorating except for Vivian!
Hao Ren had completely activated his shield, but the rigid shield that was usually very useful had no effect under these circumstances. The aura wasn't any kind of tangible attack, so the rigid shield didn't react at all. Now, all that could help him resist mental intrusion was the bit of divinity he possessed.
But after all, that was just a bit of divine aura shared by Raven 12345. It was okay as an amulet, but it seemed a little insufficient at this time.
Hasson's face grew increasingly pale. Compared to Izhaks and Hao Ren, who had some special protection, his situation of having to rely on magic power and physical strength to resist was really bad. "What do we do now? At this rate, we won't be able to reach the location of the sun disc at all—we can't even last ten minutes in front of this door!"
Hao Ren looked at Vivian. The only person on the scene who was unaffected was right here, but he finally gave up on the idea of letting Vivian investigate the situation on her own. The situation inside was unknown, and it was too dangerous. Vivian was only immune to the aura in the maze, but what if there were other threats around the sun disc?
"Think of a way, think of a way..." Hao Ren gritted his teeth and quickly ran through a series of thoughts in his mind, wondering what protective treasures he still had on him. But the chaotic power pouring out of the door made it impossible for him to concentrate. As time passed, he found that his ability to think was rapidly weakening.
He unconsciously looked towards the other direction of the corridor and saw something resembling a doorway wriggling and emerging from the originally smooth and complete black stone wall. This startled him. His rational mind was declining, and the hidden forks and traps in the Catastrophe Corridor that lay beneath common sense had begun to take effect on him.
Hao Ren subconsciously took out his inspector's gun and several high-powered graviton bombs from his dimensional pocket. He began to consider whether he should completely destroy this passage, whether blasting everything would have some effect. But before he could put this dangerous idea into practice, a chill suddenly came from beside him, temporarily refreshing his mind and gradually dispelling the mania in his heart.
Vivian grabbed his wrist. "Hao Ren, something's wrong. Let's retreat first and figure out a solution back in the corridor."
"No, the aura is spreading outwards," Izhaks said. "I'm afraid the entire Catastrophe Corridor has been contaminated. Now the entrance and exit are closed, and retreating outwards is tantamount to gradually driving ourselves into a dead end."
At this moment, Hao Ren felt something vibrate on his chest. He immediately took out the data terminal. "Stop playing dead. Show a little of the usefulness an assistant should have."
"As a logical machine, the only effective solution that this unit can think of at this time is to guide a ship-based artillery strike, but this would attack the real world at the same time, and South America would suffer severe damage."
"Tsk, dropping the ball at a critical moment." Hao Ren casually threw the data terminal aside, but at this moment, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.
Strictly speaking, it was after seeing the data terminal that he suddenly remembered his identity, a genuine identity that he always inadvertently ignored.
"I have an idea!" Hao Ren clapped his hands, startling Vivian. "What idea?"
"I'm somewhat of a pope!" Hao Ren puffed out his chest and said, then looked pained. "Although I really don't want to use this trick..."
Vivian and Izhaks said in unison, "Which trick?"
Hao Ren placed his hand on his chest, took a deep breath, and said slowly, "Divine Art—I'm going to borrow the power of Raven 12345's name."
This was the best solution he could think of at the moment, apart from having the data terminal open the door and forcibly evacuate. Considering that a forced evacuation was tantamount to mission failure, this was the only option.
He was going to use himself as a medium to guide a portion of the true god's power to deal with that destructive aura.