I've Become the King of Villains in the Game-Chapter 782 - 481 Contaminated

’Is this... Clarence’s Mythical Creature Form?!’

Chen Lun looked up at the colossal deep blue creature, his face filled with horror beneath his mask.

When Peek Life was used on it, all he got was the name "The Ungoverned God of the Mural World," with everything else being an unknown. His Spiritual Intuition warnings skyrocketed to their peak, and a strong feeling of unease cloaked Chen Lun’s heart.

’Impossible to defeat... Instant death... I should run... Run fast...’

In Chen Lun’s mind, countless thoughts uncontrollably popped up, as emotions like fear, awe, and panic surged, urging him to flee the area.

But his body froze in place beyond his control. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move an inch. It was as if he had encountered an Upper Rank being on a fundamental level of Life, and every cell instinctively felt fear, longing to break free from his command and disintegrate in submission.

As the enormous irregular head and the crystalline mask drew closer, the chanting poems from numerous mouths grew louder. They penetrated Chen Lun’s mind like a cursed melody... His Sanity was plummeting rapidly, accompanied by headaches, chills, and a strong sense of nausea. His vision twisted into more grotesque shapes, and he could even hear his own body creaking pitifully under the strain.

Fortuitously, the Maggie Statue began replenishing his Sanity automatically, allowing Chen Lun to feel somewhat better as his thoughts were gradually pulled back.

’Stay calm! Stay calm!!’

He shouted in his mind.

His strong Willpower helped him regain slight control over his body, as he slowly and mechanically gripped the handle of the Silver Sword.

’This is just a replication of Clarence! Even if He is a Sub-God-level Angel, this being’s power is not even one thousandth of His. If I can’t even muster the courage to face Him, how can I talk about challenging Destiny, or seeking the future?! This is the Immortal Realm! I am the ruler here!’

Chen Lun forced himself to realize that, even though he could not defeat this adversary, he could leave at any time using his authority.

Suddenly, he found a bit of safety in the boundless fear.

Hundreds of azure statues stood silently in a circle, trapping him tightly, while Clarence in his Mythical Creature Form loomed overhead, looking down with an indescribable gaze.

Chen Lun remained frozen with his head lifted, his gaze locked onto the giant crystalline mask, staring back at the two massive black holes. It was as if through the mask, he saw something deep and incomprehensible...

It was like boundless knowledge, or convoluted arcane magic. But if asked to describe it, Chen Lun might absurdly have said that everything he saw was just the other party’s inadvertent metabolism.

Just like the air breathed out.

Neither something to be concerned with nor worth mentioning.

But to the ants, this might well become a terrifying storm.

Chen Lun suddenly zoned out.

He realized that at some point, his eyes had lost normal vision. All he could see were the ever-changing iridescent lights, like glass, mesmerizing.

But deep inside, his Sanity told him that these were illusions.

Five Senses Perception unfolded in an instant; Chen Lun saw his current state—

Both his eyes, having witnessed what lay beneath the mask of Clarence, had already turned into blue crystalline polyhedra, emitting eerie lights as if they were sapphires embedded in their sockets.

Chen Lun realized that he had been polluted...

Even though the Maggie Statue was transmitting Sanity at all times, such a Mythical-level pollution was hard to defend against, penetrating his Mysterious Resistance, arriving on his person.

’In less than two minutes, my body will be fully crystallized... The source of the Crystal Mountain Range’s pollution is Clarence after losing control, and those dazzling crystal formations are likely the products of His power’s Diffusion spreading...’

Facing a desperate situation, Chen Lun found himself without tension or fear at this moment, only a clear and indifferent state of mind.

He suddenly remembered Mr. Bales, and the words He had said to him before dying—

"Love is the most precious anchor. It cannot defeat Death, but it can anchor the soul. It allows the departed souls not to drift and the living souls to find their way home..."

Clarence has gone mad, that is a fact.

But as Chen Lun looked at the multitude of blue statues before him, with facial features identical to theirs, an idea once again surfaced in his heart:

’If the God of the Mural World’s love for Ms. Fleurette were not deep, how could He have created so many statues identical to Himself after losing control? Ms. Fleurette, she is Clarence’s most important anchor...’

With trembling hands, Chen Lun managed to take out a wrinkled piece of paper from the Blood Poem Ring...

It was the love letter that he had found in the cigarette case gifted by Ms. Fleurette... the love letter Clarence had personally written to Fleurette.

He had casually placed it in the corner of his ring’s space until this moment, when Chen Lun suddenly realized that it might be the best tool for self-rescue right now.

"Your backward glance captivated my heart. Like honey bottled, like fireflies in flight. No regret in Death’s time, buried together in the same grave mound. Regret in Death’s time, for you I would carry out..."

The exquisite handwriting was vividly preserved on the paper.

As if through the change of years, it remained steadfast.

As the note flew from Chen Lun’s hand, every statue in front of him turned its head without exception, staring intently at it. Not until it fluttered down from midair and lay on the ground did the gazes relent.

Even the countless mouths on Clarence’s huge head ceased their chants, all closed tight, and the surroundings instantly turned dead silent.

"It’s her..."

A hoarse and aged voice rumbled from the depths of the Abyss.

"My beloved, Fleurette."

The mouth on the surface of the skull suddenly opened and uttered in a different middle-aged man’s voice:

"I cannot forget her."

Another mouth spoke:

"Yes, cannot be forgotten... What an outstanding woman she was, pursuing Lord Angela alongside me, studying and traveling through the lengthy years, fighting side by side for countless moments."

It was the voice of a young man.

But Chen Lun could tell that all these belonged to Clarence, perhaps corresponding to His states at different points in time.

Chen Lun felt his body gradually regain control, and the intense pain and discomfort began to diminish. Clarence seemed to be briefly brought back to Sanity by a love letter, not continuing to target him but instead falling into reminiscence.

"Ah... From the Augusta Mountain Range to the far northern glaciers of Byron, from the Star Realm to the Spirit World, from beyond the curtain of history to the unforseseen gaps, her insights and thoughts, her wisdom and experience, her every frown and smile, have constantly inspired my creative passion. I wish to immortalize her in the fresco of the Crystal Shine Divine Kingdom, by my side, behind my main self, at the end of the Magic Path, at the very start of all encounters, turning into eternity, never to fade..."

The aged voice slowly murmured.

"But... Lord Angela has gone after Montgomery with the ’Veil Rope’, and I, attacked in the Dream Realm, have been tainted and out of control, forever falling into the abyss... Fleurette, Fleurette, the light of my Life, the fire of my soul, my longing, my obsession, my... unattainable one."

The voice gradually grew softer.

Crack!

The colossal crystalline mask suddenly developed a crack!

Knowledge, endless knowledge, came flooding in with the contamination, overwhelming!

The Supernatural Knowledge of the Magic Path, from Sequence Nine to Sequence Four, was all comprehensively received by Chen Lun, but at this moment, there was no joy, only horror.

Because the tens of thousands of Sanity Points originally stored in the Maggie Statue were vanishing at a visible rate, used to counteract his current contamination. Yet the irreversible crystallization continued to spread from his eyes, climbing up his nose, cheeks, and neck, all the way to his limbs.

In the last moment, Chen Lun exerted all his strength, picked up a small palm-sized fragment of the fallen mask from the ground, and silently thought of returning.

Whoosh!

His figure disappeared on the spot.

All at the bottom of the Abyss seemed to drift away like blue smoke, and he found himself back in the Mural World, collapsing onto the decaying floor of the twenty-first floor of the spire.

Thump!

Chen Lun, like an aged old man with stiff joints, fell rigidly, stirring up a thick layer of dust.

His consciousness was now somewhat blurred, but a strong will to survive kept him from falling into a coma... for Chen Lun knew that once he lost consciousness, when the Sanity Points in the Maggie Statue ran out, the crystalline contamination on his body would be without restraint, engulfing his entire body including his soul.

In the end, he would turn into a crystalline statue, forever remaining within this fresco.

’I have obtained a fragment of Clarence’s mask, which contains His Strength... As long as it’s infused into that painting, it could rescue Carmen, and that would mean the completion of the Promotion Task... Only then, under the transformation of Ascension, would I have a chance to survive.’

Chen Lun struggled to lift his head, his neck creaking.

Half of his face had already crystallized, shining with an azure brilliance, and his original deep black eyes were now two sapphire stones, hollow and lifeless.

Hiss...

He slowly reached out his hand, crawling on the ground.

His whole body was like a rusted machine, making a chilling sound as it struggled to drag itself.

Time passed, indeterminable.

Chen Lun’s tenacious Willpower allowed him to crawl with his half-crystallized body back to the top-floor room, in front of the painting.

The clutched mask fragment slipped from his hand.

Clang...

A rainbow brilliance, much like fluid paint, rose from the mask fragment, drawn into the painting.

Following that, the painting came to life!

The emaciated old man huddled in the corner, like a character in a stop-motion animation, slowly rose from the ground, pressing down on the top hat with its pointed tip, and leaped out.

At the same time.

A figure in the yellow robe, against the murky yellow sky, made a sudden move.

The tombstone beneath the robe, inscribed with the name "Bankroth," slightly lit up, and a pale thread filled with endless despair and the aura of Death broke through the painting, instantly sweeping past Chen Lun’s neck.

Clang—

In the last moment of his consciousness, Chen Lun felt the world spin.

As well as the notification sound that popped up:

[Promotion Task completed: Move the Hand of Destiny!]

[Obtained Main Profession "Sequence Four - Jester (Destiny Faction)"!]