The Eldritch Files

Han Su was unwilling to recite the Spell in such a dangerous situation unless he had no other choice.

Normal Spiritual Penetration, or even using the power of his left hand, wouldn’t cause the dizziness Zhang Chiguo had mentioned. But his experience in the Ancient Castle had taught him that reciting this Spell would also have the side effect of massive Spiritual Power consumption.

But with a single thought, the Spell was already on his lips.

It was a very ordinary phrase. At least in the eyes of those who pursued Mysterious Power, the Spell was so simple it seemed commonplace.

But in his rapid recitation, others would have found it difficult to hear. Even Han Su himself didn’t realize he had added two vague syllables.

I. Am.

But the instant that simple Spell left his lips, Han Su felt his Spiritual Power surge violently. It rushed madly to his right eye and, with a frenzy of its own, erupted forth.

Blood instantly streamed from his right eye.

And in the vision of his right eye, the air suddenly became chaotic and dense. A strange power descended upon reality, saturating the space around him.

The high-pitched, ethereal sound of a horn rushed into everyone’s ears.

In this cramped, narrow space, it was as if some colossal figure was forcing its way in from another dimension. Within the illusions born from the spiritual tremor, every being with Activity and perception seemed to see a Pale Giant.

It sat high upon a throne, gazing down upon the scurrying ants below.

HSSSS...

The clusters of blurry shadows swimming through the air all vanished like smoke under that gaze.

It was as if an invisible hand in the air, with absolute and decisive will, had utterly erased them from existence.

Compared to the power pouring from Han Su’s right eye, these blurry shadows were like snowflakes falling upon the ocean.

Han Su himself didn’t understand why.

Theoretically, this was the first time he had used this Spell in this timeline, but it felt somewhat different than before.

At this moment, he felt his Spiritual Power pour from his right eye like a tidal wave. It was then twisted by some kind of Divine Power there, gaining an indescribable new property.

The three properties of Tier One Mysterious Power:

Activity!

Penetration!

Transformation!

’So my Spiritual Power has undergone Transformation through the Mysterious Power in my right eye, granting it some kind of advanced might?’

’Just how great is this power?’

The Crystal Plague’s properties were already terrifying enough for ordinary people; it could instantly twist a person’s will and thoughts. Even an electric baton could only knock the manifestations away, but it couldn’t seem to make them disappear.

Yet now, the power of his right eye dissolved them with ease.

There was no struggle, no resistance—only a domineering force that crushed everything in its path.

This overwhelming sense of power was so strong that it made Han Su feel like a lofty Giant himself, crushing everything in sight with arrogance and contempt.

’Is this Spell just that powerful, or does the Pale Giant’s power inherently possess this kind of hierarchical dominance over the supernatural phenomena of reality?’

As the Spiritual Power continued to pour madly from his right eye, Han Su saw—within his right eye’s vision—that not only had all the Spiritual Plague dissolved, but even the corpse lying on the ground was affected by this power.

The distorted halo emanating from the body’s surface dissipated in an instant.

THUD. The corpse was slammed by an invisible force, sliding backward until it crashed against the wall.

Even the flesh on its body began to melt away, layer by layer, revealing bones that glowed with a crystalline light beneath the rot.

A moment ago, it had looked like a grotesque corpse, but now as the flesh melted away, the bones within revealed a magnificent beauty, like a work of art. A full two-thirds of the skeleton had taken on a crystalline texture.

The skull, in particular, was translucent and radiant, shimmering with an iridescent glow.

’This corpse was infected by a Plague Crystal!’

Han Su understood. According to the information Miss Ai had given him, this corpse was clearly an infected individual who had spent a long time with the Crystal Skull unearthed from the ruins. Their entire body had been grotesquely transformed by the exposure.

It had been too close to the Crystal Skull for too long, becoming infected to this degree. After death, it became a secondary source of contamination, able to infect the people on the street through this very door.

’But who in the world put this goddamned thing here?’

With no time to dwell on it, Han Su focused his attention on the corpse. The Mysterious Power in his right eye descended with his gaze, instantly suppressing the brilliant colors emanating from the body.

Even the crystalline texture on the surface of the bones began to dissolve under his gaze, turning dim and gray.

HSSSSS...

The air filled with a sound like countless plastic bags being torn to shreds as more of the Crystal Plague dissolved. Outside on the street, the plague-infected individuals who had surrounded Miss Crow and the others suddenly froze in place.

The blurry shadows on their faces seemed to be affected by some invisible force. They began to dissipate, revealing the people’s original features.

Freed from the will that had controlled them, they stood there, vacant and still, no longer rushing madly toward Miss Crow to their deaths.

”What is this...?”

The Doctor and the others all sensed something was amiss. Their eyes sharpened as they simultaneously looked toward the ”door.”

...

...

”Mechanical Fragment...”

”Mechanical Fragment...”

Inside the ”door,” Han Su found himself immersed in an endless flow of spirit. However, this spiritual current, released by the Crystal Skull, had been forcibly dissolved by the Giant’s Eye and no longer possessed its contaminating properties.

During this process, Han Su even felt the term echoing endlessly in his mind.

It seemed to be information carried within the Crystal Plague. As the plague was dissipated by the power of his right eye, this information scattered into the air and was perceived by his spirit.

But why would the Crystal Plague contain this information?

Han Su had no clue. But about three seconds after reciting the Spell, he was overcome with dizziness. The world spun, and his mind felt like a sponge squeezed dry of water—empty and feeble.

Just as in the Ancient Castle, his Spiritual Power could barely withstand the Spell’s consumption.

It felt as if his mind had been emptied in just three seconds.

But he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to stay conscious, and immediately turned his wary gaze to the mysterious corpse.

He saw that the corpse he had suppressed with his right eye now had little flesh left. Most of its bones had turned a grayish-brown, but the Crystal Skull alone still emanated a strange, crystalline beauty.

This beauty flowed nimbly across its bones, as if it were alive.

’This thing is still ’alive’...’

The thought flashed through Han Su’s mind. Ignoring the emptiness in his head, he snatched up the electric baton, ready to smash it down on the Crystal Skull.

But in that fleeting instant, the crystal-like skull, as if in fear, erupted in an endless, mesmerizing radiance. From within that dizzying light, Han Su heard a voice:

”Hm?”

”Qinggang... how can there be the power of a Pale Superior here?”

”...”

The instant the voice sounded, Han Su felt his spirit being pulled into the dazzling radiance of the Crystal Skull. It was as if he was suddenly looking into an extremely distant and profound space.

He saw countless similar Crystal Skulls existing within this space.

Skull after skull, row after row, layer after layer.

Each skull in this space was clearly visible, but surrounded by endless afterimages, which seemed to represent their circumstances in the real world.

The phantasmal objects around some looked like shrines. Others still had translucent bodies attached below. From this, he could tell that some were enshrined in temples, some were growing on people’s bodies, and some were locked away in safes.

The endless Crystal Skulls were arranged in the shape of a massive pyramid.

The higher up the pyramid, the fewer the skulls became, but the larger their size and the more intense their psychedelic, crystalline colors.

At the very top rested a single, enormous Crystal Skull.

Its radiance surpassed all the others, like the source of everything, possessing a sacred quality.

The one Han Su was now in contact with was merely a single skull at the bottom corner of this vast pyramid.

The power of his right eye had dissolved the power of this Crystal Skull, but in doing so, it had also disturbed some mysterious connection, allowing him to glimpse a corner of that Mysterious World.

’Are all the Crystal Skulls a single entity?’

Having glimpsed this Mysterious World, Han Su suddenly understood the connection.

Recalling the information from Miss Ai, he understood. The contamination of the Crystal Skulls was passed on from one level to the next. A single Crystal Skull would infect living people around it, causing them to crystallize and become Crystal Skulls themselves.

’Most importantly, through some kind of connection, all the Crystal Skulls are actually one entity? They can all perceive each other?’

”The uninitiated must not gaze upon the domain of a god!”

In a flash, Han Su heard a cold, arrogant voice and felt its owner’s gaze suddenly fall upon him.

It came from a skull at the base of the pyramid, two rows higher than the one before him. Through a phantasmal shadow, Han Su could vaguely make out a slender woman standing next to that Crystal Skull.

It was as if she had used the connection between the Crystal Skulls to perceive what was happening on his end.

The woman coldly raised a hand, pressing it onto the Crystal Skull beside her. Immediately, the Crystal Skull in front of Han Su erupted with a strange and dazzling light.