novelraw Chapter 420: Their Power
Chapter 420: Their Power
Lu Li was helping them.
But they were already beyond help.
Lu Li was trying to prevent their deaths.
But they were already dead.
Lu Li was saving them.
And they found their salvation.
The Face-worms surrounded Lu Li. They seemed to understand what was happening. Their hatred for the living faded, replaced by a strange focus on Lu Li, who lay unconscious in their midst.
Like a school of fish, they swarmed around him, drawn to the First Pistol clutched tightly in his hand.
Even knowing it was futile, Lu Li had continued his efforts.
Like a little boy trying to save every fish washed ashore.He didn't expect gratitude, but the fish repaid him: when the boy fell into the sea, they surrounded him, keeping him from drowning, and pushed him to the surface.
Dozens of hands supported Lu Li, preventing him from falling. When there was no more room on his back, new hands reached for his arms, his legs, the nape of his neck.
They carried him, just as he had once carried them, extending a hand to help.
On the edge of an abyss darker than darkness itself, a tiny black point was slowly ascending.
Every minute, new spectral hands appeared behind Lu Li. When space ran out, they merged with others or dissolved, flowing into him.
On the First Pistol, a second rosebud was beginning to bloom.
The power pouring into Lu Li stabilized his fading life. But he couldn't awaken, surrounded by the multitude of Face-worms. Each creature was an echo of a past life, and all of them yearned for salvation and release.
As Lu Li rose from the abyss, everything around him began to change.
Two Face-worms, resembling a married couple, gazed at a small, childlike hand behind Lu Li's back. A flicker of something akin to human emotion crossed their faces. They touched, then swam toward the spirit pistol.
Unlike the other Face-worms, they didn't rush to collide with the pistol in search of release. They circled near Lu Li's hand, then suddenly slammed into his fingers.
The impact caused Lu Li's fingers to loosen slightly. In their final moment before vanishing, the Face-worms looked at the child's hand behind Lu Li's back with an inexpressible human sorrow, and then dissolved into nothingness.
The other Face-worms noticed. Some continued to stream toward the spirit pistol, seeking salvation, but the majority now aimed for Lu Li's fingers.
Lu Li's grip gradually weakened. At some point, the spirit pistol slipped from his hand and floated beside him, ascending along with him.
In that same instant, Lu Li opened his eyes.
He felt an unfamiliar power within him. He felt the hands supporting his back. He felt the multitude of Face-worms all around.
The moment the spirit pistol left Lu Li's hand, the Face-worms, no longer holding back, surged toward it, seeking their release.
Their power fed the rose on the pistol. On the elegant, silver-plated frame, a second flower bloomed, and its power flowed toward the final bud.
Lu Li suddenly shifted his gaze to the shimmering light above his head.
Somewhere in the depths, an indescribable, sinister aura was stirring.
The Face-worms, the source of this power, were rapidly disappearing, and the Old Mother of the Swamp must have noticed.
A dark red mist rose from the abyss, enveloping the surface and forming a gigantic... female face.
Had the New Mother of the Swamp already been consumed?
Lu Li calmly regarded the face, identical to the human form of the Mother of the Swamp.
"Vile thief, stop!" a furious voice roared, and the viscous depths trembled.
The Old Mother of the Swamp was frightened, alarmed.
She didn't understand how Lu Li, fused with her shell, could steal her power.
She didn't understand how the traitress, sealed within, could resist.
She could feel her power draining away at an alarming rate.
Lu Li tilted his head slightly. The Face-worms, the embodiment of the Mother of the Swamp's power, paid no mind to their mistress's appearance. Stirring up dark waves, they rushed toward the spirit pistol that promised them freedom.
They had waited far too long.
"Stop! Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
The face of the Old Mother of the Swamp twisted with rage, but she could do nothing but watch as the thief stole her power and rose to the surface.
Suddenly, her face grew calm, and a low, raspy voice echoed through the viscous depths.
"You are stealing the Mother's power."
"Who are you?" Lu Li asked, looking at the gigantic face.
"We are the Mother's children... We... are saving people," the followers of the Old Mother of the Swamp whispered.
"Saving people?"
There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in Lu Li's calm voice, but the followers understood what he meant.
"The Night Calamity is coming. Weak humans will become nothing more than food. We need power to survive. Sacrifices are inevitable..."
"A new darkness is approaching. They are not alone. Even above the Mother, above her incomprehensible greatness, there are countless enemies, as numerous as the stars. The mere mention of their names drives one mad and brings death. And that is just one of the enemies we must face."
"The horror that befell the port of Zenster was merely the shadow of a being from the In-Between, one that couldn't resist temptation. There, in the In-Between, it is as small and insignificant as we humans are."
The followers were revealing a terrifying truth.
"Our world is just a small boat in a boundless ocean. We must learn to survive in this ocean to live and protect others."
Lu Li's composure prompted the followers to try and win him over. Perhaps they had planned this from the very beginning.
"You are special. We cannot see your past, cannot see where you came from... As a human, you possess the will of the stars. You cannot imagine how strong you are. Join us... Protect humanity. Isn't that what you want?.."
The voice faded. The Old Mother of the Swamp and her followers awaited Lu Li's answer.
"Perhaps your choice is the right one," Lu Li said slowly, gazing at the gigantic face, "but only for yourselves."
"I have a better idea."
An expression of attentiveness appeared on the face of the Old Mother of the Swamp.
Lu Li reached out, took the First Pistol floating beside him, and aimed it at the colossal face.
Sensing what was about to happen, the Face-worms erupted into a frenzy. They swirled around Lu Li in a vortex, protecting him. They poured into him, filling his body with their dark power.
At the center of the vortex, from the bottomless black of his eyes, Lu Li looked at the Old Mother of the Swamp and squeezed the trigger.
A merciless whisper sounded, accompanied by a crash like a dragon's roar.
"Die."