On the vast grassland, pure white beams of light swept across, like a forest of blades, trying to encircle and kill a tiny bug, but they couldn't hit it.
Every time the laser was about to harm Simon, he would teleport forward.
Fighting in someone else's Dream World truly offered no home-field advantage. Fortunately, the Dream World had its own internal operating rules, preventing completely idealistic combat methods.
The comparison of strength depended, firstly, on essence, and secondly, on willpower.
If a mortal was tenacious enough, there might not be no possibility of slaying a god.
Simon approached the Crystal Peak, a creation like a god's throne, lofty and unapproachable.
The closer he got to the mountain, the more he felt its vastness.
The mountain was an upright land.
Climbing a mountain was no simpler than traversing a vast desert.
Simon's foot stepped onto the crystal, and in the next second, crystal spikes shot out.
He was nearly impaled through the top of his foot.
Simon floated in the air. The strong light from the sky fell on the mountain, permeating the inside of the crystals and activating them. The crystals grew wildly. In an instant, crystal trees, crystal flowers, majestic buildings, and tall, robust golems sprouted on the barren hillside. They were wild and unrestrained, extending their bodies towards the sky, and intense lasers shot from every end of their limbs.
A wall of light descended from the sky, locking down the mountain peak. Simon had no retreat.
Dream speech appeared.
"Surrender! Obey! And you can reclaim your destiny!"
Simon remained silent, dodging the lasers and repelling the golems that jumped up to attack him.
He shattered the crystals, and crystal shards and dust fell like frost and snow.
Fine crystal powder lingered on his body, like his innate scales.
The power of the crystal was constantly increasing.
Simon felt his movements being hindered by the layer of crystal powder on his body. He unleashed Soul Energy, transforming it into a strong current to clear his body, but the crystal particles blown into the air absorbed the energy and, instead, grew, forming a circle of sharp spikes that lunged at Simon.
Everything related to light, crystals, and energy would be exploited.
And without the aid of his mask, Simon's control over Soul Energy became rough and unrestrained, and the power of the crystals began to seep into his soul.
From the foot of the mountain, to the mountainside, all the way to the summit.
The frenzied assault came to an end.
Simon was panting, utterly exhausted. The full-body fatigue made him want to sleep forever.
But he still stood, gripping his loyal Nail.
The planet-like eyes lowered their pupils, meeting the gaze of the tiny bug standing at the peak.
All of this seemed so unreal—even in a dream, it was the most bizarre fantasy.
Dream speech displayed.
"Without the aid of darkness, cast yourself into the light!"
"The power to harmonize the void is within you!"
Simon asked, "You want to use my power to dispel the mist on this planet, right?" He smiled, and crystal spikes extended from his back, bringing a tingling pain. "I'm not against dispelling the darkness, because I want my friends to see the starry sky too, but I also don't want the power of you gods to grow. Bugs need a free world, not the shackles of so-called deities."
He scratched the spikes on his back; they were getting itchier. "Still the same words: Defeat me!"
Lie Guang flickered slightly, and Simon concentrated his energy.
The wall of light enclosing the mountain peak moved inward, drastically shrinking Simon's range of movement.
Within this combat arena, long, narrow crystal spikes were scattered indiscriminately, their trajectories chaotic, their speeds varied. When the crystal spikes collided, they triggered crystal explosions, sending fragments flying. The crystal spikes that landed on the summit piled up in clusters, occasionally shooting lasers.
There was no place to rest.
Simon repeatedly teleported, swinging his Nail and round shield left and right, just to gain a little height.
His physical strength rapidly depleted. In this extreme exertion, he felt the gradual approach of death.
This death was not a subjective conjecture, not a desperate cry, but a real, tangible sensation, like the stinging pain of a scythe already cutting into his jugular vein.
Simon knew he no longer had extra time to slowly attempt a breakthrough.
Victory or defeat rested on his final struggle.
Pure white, sharp light condensed within the bug's body. The crystals on his back glittered, finally unable to withstand the energy impact and exploding. Light dust, like ribbons, trailed behind Simon as he moved at high speed, a stream of meteors shooting into the sky.
Shattering the crystals, unstoppable.
The eye in the sky expanded and contracted, and a pulse of light covering the entire field shot from its pupil.
Golden light annihilated everything, carving a straight vertical shaft into the Crystal Peak.
Thunder, tearing, and explosion sounds shook the earth.
Simon's single flash of sword light.
It was submerged instantly, like a stone sinking into the sea, without a ripple.
After a long while, the pulse ceased.
Lie Guang's eyeball body had completely dimmed.
In reality, the Crystal Peak vibrated violently. A large amount of clean, transparent crystal developed impurities, gradually degenerating into ordinary rocks.
The Crystal Peak was no longer the Crystal Peak.
The reanimated bodies fell in large numbers, turning back into corpses.
The bugs that fed on crystals fell into weakness.
Myla, who was mining, stopped her work and stared blankly, "The valuable smell... it's gone!" She scratched her head, and then saw the crystals she had dug out slowly turn into stones.
"Ah ah ah ah! My crystals! Ah ah ah!"
...
Lie Guang's dream.
A heavy crystal snow fell.
Within the circle of light, all was silent.
Simon, of course, no longer existed.
But the glimmer of light that Lie Guang wanted to see, fused with darkness, was also nowhere to be found.
The eyeball moved, scanning, but simply could not find Simon's lingering dream.
At some unknown moment, the melodious sound of an accordion began.
The sound gradually increased, the melody growing more cheerful.
Carefree.
Carefree.
In the music, weary souls found rest, violence was stopped, and true friends would protect their friendship from harm.
Carefree Melody, this overloaded Charm, did not harm Simon, but it truly did its utmost.
It shattered.
The joyful music stopped.
A single flash of sword light pierced through the shimmering, dream-like crystal dust, entering that arrogant eye.
Bang!
The loud noise was like a rest note.
The brilliant golden pupil on the pure white eyeball rapidly constricted, forming a vortex.
Dream Essence surged out from the vortex.
...
Simon transformed into light.
He was light.
He felt the immense power of the sun, moon, and stars, but it was blocked by darkness.
All beauty, philosophy, morality, and civilization belonged to the starry sky.
The black tide, buried under the heavy burden of rock, should not have appeared.
The mistakes of past civilizations should be remedied as much as possible by those who follow, not to gloss over right and wrong, but for the scenery ahead.
On the Root of the Void, a pure white fruit suddenly bloomed.
A sun appeared, illuminating the black earth and the bottomless abyss.
A massive amount of Dream Essence surged into the dream, the Black Egg vibrated, and sub-consciousnesses merged into the Root of the Void like raindrops.
Light descended, darkness ascended, combining at the boundary of the earth.
The power of a god surged.
...
On this day, the bugs of Hallownest felt the pulse of the world.
They poured out of their dark nests and came to the surface.
At the top of the world's highest mountain, they saw, with profound shock, a star slowly rising.
It was light.
Ascending into the sky.
A silent air current pushed aside the dense clouds.
Half of the darkness was dispelled, as if a viewing skylight had opened.
Pure, natural sunlight spilled across the land. In the blue sky, flowing clouds drifted, revealing stunning beauty.
This long-lost light, almost vanished from the memories of their ancestors.
All the bugs were in tears.
Through their tear-filled eyes, Nati and Paya vaguely saw a familiar figure.
He waved his hand, ascending into the boundless cosmos.
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