With the memories of every pope from the last 10,000 years and all the wisdom that came with it, the war to strike back, which had been in the works for thousands of years was no impulse of the pope.
He had investigated and acquired all the information there was to be had, and understood Lockmarton more than any mortal could hope to be. He was also very familiar with the Forgotten Abyss.
In this respect, only the Warden’s Army could hope to compete.
The old Pope knew described everything he knew in detail to Hao Ren. “Its body is at the Spiral Hill, hundreds of kilometers from here. On the other side of Spiral Hill is the Sea of Turmoil, a place full of ancient power and nightmare phantoms. It is an endless stretch of mist. I said ‘endless’ in the most literal sense. To an observer outside, the Sea of Turmoil is only tens of kilometers across, but once you enter the Sea, the mist reaches on and on. You can never hope to cross the thick mist, and you can only return to where you first entered with help from a holy device. Hence, our fight with Lockmarton must be away from the Sea of Turmoil…”
The Lord of the Mountains nodded in agreement. “That is Lockmarton’s thought expanse. When its thoughts are exposed, it will form a region like this. Only the mind equivalent of a demigod can hope to wander the place freely. Mortals will be stuck forever in the boundless mist — that’s because the mind of a mortal is much more inferior compared to Lockmarton. No matter how much they try, they will never be able to reach Lockmarton’s state of thought. If the Sea of Turmoil is there, it means that Lockmarton’s thought processes are fully restored. It is already free, at least in the mental sense.”
“So it looks I can walk around the place just fine.” Hao Ren nodded. “However, it’s best if we do this further away. Never try to win a crazy in a mind game.”
The old Pope took a glance at Hao Ren and continued, “Secondly, Lockmarton did not have any weaknesses; or rather, it did not have any single fatal weakness. Its body exists between the material and the virtual planes as a combined mass of pure energy and physical matter. Every part of its body flickers intermittently between physical and virtual existence. The body itself does not have any vulnerable spots. There are no obvious clues of as to where the organs are, what each body part does, or whether any of the body parts could regenerate. One possible strategy is to inflict a highly destructive attack on its entire body in one go; the second is to direct a continuous and powerful attack on its body. This latter strategy will force it to expend energy continuously on body regeneration and gradually exhaust itself, and we had chosen to do this in the beginning.”
“You will fail,” Geddon exclaimed without beating around the bush. “I suspect that the first few rounds of the attack were effective against it, but it is impossible for you to sustain your attacks. It can quickly take you in. Looking at it, attacking it, or even the mere mention of its name within the range of its consciousness can slowly deteriorate your minds. This is fatal for mortals. In a war against Lockmarton, the biggest obstacle will be steady mental deterioration caused by your minds. This is far more terrifying than the claws and fangs or your actual enemy.”
“I can think of something to deal with that.” Hao Ren said and looked at the Pope. “What else? How big is Lockmarton’s body? Can normal physical attacks do anything to it?”
“I can answer that.” The Lord of the Mountains replied. “The part of its body visible to the naked eye is about two-thirds the size of Fidelinopolis. On the other hand, the endless ‘misty area’ that is not observable by the naked eye is technically part of its existence as well, seeing that it is an extension of its mind. The Sea of Turmoil is a part of this, of course. The misty area can be as large an entire planet, but since Lockmarton has not gained freedom entirely, the area should be confined between the Spiral Hill and Sea of Turmoil. In its mind expanse, strange things will happen. The boundary between real and imaginary is blurred. Things that belonged only in the mind will become reality, while things that are real can be destroyed because of a single nightmare…”
Another Warden nodded in agreement. “I can give two examples — a mentally weak person who enters Lockmarton’s mind expanse might suddenly have some terrifying thoughts, and these thoughts will materialize in the real world, exactly as the person imagined; on the contrary, if that person begins to question their own existence, they will gradually whittle away and disappear, just like a dream.”
Lockmarton’s power is mysterious and terrifying — this was even after it was suppressed for ten thousand years, lost its physical flesh, and sealed under whatever was left of the Sanctum’s powers!
The elderly Pope was not blind when it came to his odds against Lockmarton, but he remained steadfast as he spoke, “We are ready to make whatever sacrifices necessary. We will weaken it sufficiently before we are thoroughly defeated.”
“There is one last thing, then.” The Lord of the Mountains took a sweeping gaze at everyone present and slowly said, “This is important if we want to destroy Lockmarton forever — we must ensure that it cannot resurrect itself.
“Even if we managed to reach the Spiral Hill, overcome the army of corrupted enemies, and destroy Lockmarton’s body, it might not just disappear so easily. This is a sly and resourceful b*stard. It had resided in here long enough to cultivate a deep connection with this dimension. The Forgotten Abyss is its prison, but also its home and haven. Perhaps it had modified the Spiral Hill to make it conducive for its own protection. We will be fighting in its territory, so it is difficult to prevent it from masking its own survival and faking its death.”
Y’zaks himself a monster king, one who was often challenged and had to fake his own death before arranging his own comeback. This was the perfect time for him to look back at his own experience and figure out effective countermeasures against their antagonist. “If only we can isolate it from its base… or track its soul…”
Everyone had their own role to play. Some provided information about Lockmarton; some showed the location of the corrupted armies around the Spiral Hill; some tried to devise strategies for the war. Hao Ren, however, was quiet amidst the lively discussion. He stroked his chin in deep thought.
Vivian noticed it first. She nudged him gently in the elbow. “What are you thinking?”
“I have a plan.” He said.
He did not say it loudly, but everyone around him was seasoned enough to never miss a thing. They quieted down to let him speak.
“First, I’d like to confirm that the Forgotten Abyss and the real world are in fact two sides of the same dimension that is Collow, and also the bridge between the new world and the old. Hence, they are in fact the same in terms of dimensional structure, right?”
“That is correct.”
“So, even though this world here is technically a prison, as long as we can map the coordinates between here and in outer space, we can go to outer space from here directly and bypass the real world Collow, right?”
Geddon hesitated for a moment before replying frankly, “That is the case. The new world is in fact created for the survivors of the catastrophe back then and as a carrier of this prison system. It does not by itself have any means of sealing the prison — the Forgotten Abyss has a magic screen that does this.”
“Can you tell us how to decrypt this magic screen?”
“You want the prison seal’s decryption?!” Geddon was shocked and rejected the idea instinctively. “That is classified information of the highest —”
“The best way to destroy Lockmarton is to lure it away from its own territory.” Hao Ren interrupted him. “Be it the Forgotten Abyss or real-world Collow, Lockmarton’s power has been flowing through them for years. There are too many cracks for nightmare material to seep through, so I need to transport it to another battlefield… one it had never seen before.”
“It’s too dangerous.” The giant shook his head. “Nightmare’s influence is weaker in space, but Lockmarton will also be able to escape wherever it wants to. Outer space is so vast, and with our meager resources…”
“Who said these are the only people we have?” Hao Ren smiled and poked the IDT. “Show them our work in progress.”
“Can’t you just ask something from me without poking…”
The IDT mumbled as it activated its holographic projection mechanism. The giant and the soldiers all gasped in surprise as they studied the projection suspended in the air.
It was outer space.
There were numerous cannon turrets, defensive strongholds, and weapons stations!
The audience marveled at the magnificence of all the outer space installations. The battle strongholds and rails cannons were linked to each other via lasers and alloy rails in a seemingly messy way, but there was an order to things in the grander scale. Countless oddly-shaped aircraft (drones) shuttled along the space structures, arranging more and more rail cannons and stronghold cannons into their allocated positions…
Zooming out further, there seemed to be more than one of these cluster structures!
Finally, the audience could see the massive architecture in its entirety.
Thousands of firearms were arranged to form spheres that were made up of layers and layers of defenses. At the center of all of these spheres, in the deepest and darkest corner of outer space they could see, was a huge and silver ring of metal. Inside the ring was a rainbow of rippling colors, like the reflection from another world.
The pope multiform and Calaxus were stunned speechless. They were already clueless when Hao Ren and Geddon spoke of “outer space”, but this was something beyond their wildest dreams. Geddon was shocked precisely because he knew about the starry world and could appreciate what these space installations could do. In fact, even Hao Ren himself was surprised, because…
… because he never imagined that the two workaholics, both the IDT and Nolan, would come up with this crazy formation! This was even crazier than when he saw it last time!
The IDT explained through his mental connection, “You did say last time, partner, that if we don’t have enough power, we can always appropriate the stronghold cannon from Crapple Research Station. I thought you had a good point, so I asked for all the stronghold cannons from nearby Drone Nests and half of the air-to-ground satellites from Io as well… Your attack timing is a bit early. Give me another half a month, and I can add two Planet Destroyer to the mix…”
Hao Ren listened without a word.
With the memories of every pope from the last 10,000 years and all the wisdom that came with it, the war to strike back, which had been in the works for thousands of years was no impulse of the pope.
He had investigated and acquired all the information there was to be had, and understood Lockmarton more than any mortal could hope to be. He was also very familiar with the Forgotten Abyss.
In this respect, only the Warden’s Army could hope to compete.
The old Pope knew described everything he knew in detail to Hao Ren. “Its body is at the Spiral Hill, hundreds of kilometers from here. On the other side of Spiral Hill is the Sea of Turmoil, a place full of ancient power and nightmare phantoms. It is an endless stretch of mist. I said ‘endless’ in the most literal sense. To an observer outside, the Sea of Turmoil is only tens of kilometers across, but once you enter the Sea, the mist reaches on and on. You can never hope to cross the thick mist, and you can only return to where you first entered with help from a holy device. Hence, our fight with Lockmarton must be away from the Sea of Turmoil…”
The Lord of the Mountains nodded in agreement. “That is Lockmarton’s thought expanse. When its thoughts are exposed, it will form a region like this. Only the mind equivalent of a demigod can hope to wander the place freely. Mortals will be stuck forever in the boundless mist — that’s because the mind of a mortal is much more inferior compared to Lockmarton. No matter how much they try, they will never be able to reach Lockmarton’s state of thought. If the Sea of Turmoil is there, it means that Lockmarton’s thought processes are fully restored. It is already free, at least in the mental sense.”
“So it looks I can walk around the place just fine.” Hao Ren nodded. “However, it’s best if we do this further away. Never try to win a crazy in a mind game.”
The old Pope took a glance at Hao Ren and continued, “Secondly, Lockmarton did not have any weaknesses; or rather, it did not have any single fatal weakness. Its body exists between the material and the virtual planes as a combined mass of pure energy and physical matter. Every part of its body flickers intermittently between physical and virtual existence. The body itself does not have any vulnerable spots. There are no obvious clues of as to where the organs are, what each body part does, or whether any of the body parts could regenerate. One possible strategy is to inflict a highly destructive attack on its entire body in one go; the second is to direct a continuous and powerful attack on its body. This latter strategy will force it to expend energy continuously on body regeneration and gradually exhaust itself, and we had chosen to do this in the beginning.”
“You will fail,” Geddon exclaimed without beating around the bush. “I suspect that the first few rounds of the attack were effective against it, but it is impossible for you to sustain your attacks. It can quickly take you in. Looking at it, attacking it, or even the mere mention of its name within the range of its consciousness can slowly deteriorate your minds. This is fatal for mortals. In a war against Lockmarton, the biggest obstacle will be steady mental deterioration caused by your minds. This is far more terrifying than the claws and fangs or your actual enemy.”
“I can think of something to deal with that.” Hao Ren said and looked at the Pope. “What else? How big is Lockmarton’s body? Can normal physical attacks do anything to it?”
“I can answer that.” The Lord of the Mountains replied. “The part of its body visible to the naked eye is about two-thirds the size of Fidelinopolis. On the other hand, the endless ‘misty area’ that is not observable by the naked eye is technically part of its existence as well, seeing that it is an extension of its mind. The Sea of Turmoil is a part of this, of course. The misty area can be as large an entire planet, but since Lockmarton has not gained freedom entirely, the area should be confined between the Spiral Hill and Sea of Turmoil. In its mind expanse, strange things will happen. The boundary between real and imaginary is blurred. Things that belonged only in the mind will become reality, while things that are real can be destroyed because of a single nightmare…”
Another Warden nodded in agreement. “I can give two examples — a mentally weak person who enters Lockmarton’s mind expanse might suddenly have some terrifying thoughts, and these thoughts will materialize in the real world, exactly as the person imagined; on the contrary, if that person begins to question their own existence, they will gradually whittle away and disappear, just like a dream.”
Lockmarton’s power is mysterious and terrifying — this was even after it was suppressed for ten thousand years, lost its physical flesh, and sealed under whatever was left of the Sanctum’s powers!
The elderly Pope was not blind when it came to his odds against Lockmarton, but he remained steadfast as he spoke, “We are ready to make whatever sacrifices necessary. We will weaken it sufficiently before we are thoroughly defeated.”
“There is one last thing, then.” The Lord of the Mountains took a sweeping gaze at everyone present and slowly said, “This is important if we want to destroy Lockmarton forever — we must ensure that it cannot resurrect itself.
“Even if we managed to reach the Spiral Hill, overcome the army of corrupted enemies, and destroy Lockmarton’s body, it might not just disappear so easily. This is a sly and resourceful b*stard. It had resided in here long enough to cultivate a deep connection with this dimension. The Forgotten Abyss is its prison, but also its home and haven. Perhaps it had modified the Spiral Hill to make it conducive for its own protection. We will be fighting in its territory, so it is difficult to prevent it from masking its own survival and faking its death.”
Y’zaks himself a monster king, one who was often challenged and had to fake his own death before arranging his own comeback. This was the perfect time for him to look back at his own experience and figure out effective countermeasures against their antagonist. “If only we can isolate it from its base… or track its soul…”
Everyone had their own role to play. Some provided information about Lockmarton; some showed the location of the corrupted armies around the Spiral Hill; some tried to devise strategies for the war. Hao Ren, however, was quiet amidst the lively discussion. He stroked his chin in deep thought.
Vivian noticed it first. She nudged him gently in the elbow. “What are you thinking?”
“I have a plan.” He said.
He did not say it loudly, but everyone around him was seasoned enough to never miss a thing. They quieted down to let him speak.
“First, I’d like to confirm that the Forgotten Abyss and the real world are in fact two sides of the same dimension that is Collow, and also the bridge between the new world and the old. Hence, they are in fact the same in terms of dimensional structure, right?”
“That is correct.”
“So, even though this world here is technically a prison, as long as we can map the coordinates between here and in outer space, we can go to outer space from here directly and bypass the real world Collow, right?”
Geddon hesitated for a moment before replying frankly, “That is the case. The new world is in fact created for the survivors of the catastrophe back then and as a carrier of this prison system. It does not by itself have any means of sealing the prison — the Forgotten Abyss has a magic screen that does this.”
“Can you tell us how to decrypt this magic screen?”
“You want the prison seal’s decryption?!” Geddon was shocked and rejected the idea instinctively. “That is classified information of the highest —”
“The best way to destroy Lockmarton is to lure it away from its own territory.” Hao Ren interrupted him. “Be it the Forgotten Abyss or real-world Collow, Lockmarton’s power has been flowing through them for years. There are too many cracks for nightmare material to seep through, so I need to transport it to another battlefield… one it had never seen before.”
“It’s too dangerous.” The giant shook his head. “Nightmare’s influence is weaker in space, but Lockmarton will also be able to escape wherever it wants to. Outer space is so vast, and with our meager resources…”
“Who said these are the only people we have?” Hao Ren smiled and poked the IDT. “Show them our work in progress.”
“Can’t you just ask something from me without poking…”
The IDT mumbled as it activated its holographic projection mechanism. The giant and the soldiers all gasped in surprise as they studied the projection suspended in the air.
It was outer space.
There were numerous cannon turrets, defensive strongholds, and weapons stations!
The audience marveled at the magnificence of all the outer space installations. The battle strongholds and rails cannons were linked to each other via lasers and alloy rails in a seemingly messy way, but there was an order to things in the grander scale. Countless oddly-shaped aircraft (drones) shuttled along the space structures, arranging more and more rail cannons and stronghold cannons into their allocated positions…
Zooming out further, there seemed to be more than one of these cluster structures!
Finally, the audience could see the massive architecture in its entirety.
Thousands of firearms were arranged to form spheres that were made up of layers and layers of defenses. At the center of all of these spheres, in the deepest and darkest corner of outer space they could see, was a huge and silver ring of metal. Inside the ring was a rainbow of rippling colors, like the reflection from another world.
The pope multiform and Calaxus were stunned speechless. They were already clueless when Hao Ren and Geddon spoke of “outer space”, but this was something beyond their wildest dreams. Geddon was shocked precisely because he knew about the starry world and could appreciate what these space installations could do. In fact, even Hao Ren himself was surprised, because…
… because he never imagined that the two workaholics, both the IDT and Nolan, would come up with this crazy formation! This was even crazier than when he saw it last time!
The IDT explained through his mental connection, “You did say last time, partner, that if we don’t have enough power, we can always appropriate the stronghold cannon from Crapple Research Station. I thought you had a good point, so I asked for all the stronghold cannons from nearby Drone Nests and half of the air-to-ground satellites from Io as well… Your attack timing is a bit early. Give me another half a month, and I can add two Planet Destroyer to the mix…”
Hao Ren listened without a word.
