Ark Chess Player

This is his spiritual realm.

To be precise, it is a spirit realm that has been eroded.

When W smeared the strange blood on Lin Lu's Ark Driver, Lin Lu, who was maintaining mental synchronization, felt a tearing pain in his soul. The mental pain instantly caused him to collapse, his rationality evaporated, and even his Rider form disintegrated on the spot.

It felt as if countless hands were gripping his brain, with protruding knuckles, trying to tear him to pieces.

The hallucinations, like a rising tide, clouded Lin Lu's senses, rendering him unable to think. The lake of his spirit was boiling; he had never experienced such agonizing torment. Those few seconds felt like being slowly slashed by a heavy, blunt knife, drawing blood and making him acutely aware of his weakness. At that moment, he heard ancient, mysterious murmurs—a language he had never heard before, one he wasn't even sure he should call a language. They echoed directly within the depths of his soul, allowing him to understand their grandeur.

"Fools, drown."

"The wise bow their heads."

"Followers, eternal life."

If Kal'tsit hadn't given him the emergency sanity solution in time, Lin Lu's remaining thoughts would have collapsed.

The entity within Lin Lu's body transformed his spiritual realm into its own dwelling place within just three days. This, in turn, allowed Lin Lu to better understand why the people of Rhodes Island, despite having no hostility towards him, still couldn't put down their weapons.

Perhaps, before he was placed in his coffin... there was another being residing in this body.

"Aren't you going to see me?"

Lin Lu called out softly towards the deserted spiritual realm, his tone gentle, like a heartbroken man calling out to his ex-girlfriend.

Or... are you scared?

Lin Lu chuckled lightly, but didn't think much of it.

How could such a childish attempt at provocation possibly succeed...?

The next moment, countless white tentacles surged out from the depths of the ruins, causing even the stars in the sky to shine.

Lin Lu stared at the overwhelming, writhing tentacles sweeping in, and images flashed through his memory at breakneck speed, like a million needles piercing his brain at once, sending waves of maddening pain through him.

“Ibitas”.

Lin Lu whispered, and an inextinguishable flame instantly rose in his cobalt blue left eye, burning the memories to ashes.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Clearly, this is a lie.

"I hope you won't forget one thing."

Lin Lu slowly rose from the throne, showing no fear in the face of danger and no dread of the attack.

“I am the master here, and you are just a defeated thief.”

Lin Lu raised his left hand, the burning mark on the back of his hand glowing orange-red, and clenched it into a fist as if he wanted to crush something.

Countless jet-black chains surged forth from the Black Iron Throne, blocking and strangling the white tentacles one by one, splattering copious amounts of blood and crushing them into pieces of flesh. But the opponent refused to yield; the jet-black chains emitted large amounts of black mist, which was corroded and rusted by the deep red blood, turning white at a visible speed.

The two sides went from a stalemate to a constantly changing battle, with the white tentacles moving so flexibly that each one seemed like an independent living entity with its own thoughts.

In contrast, the black chains were operated by Lin Lu one-on-one, increasing his mental burden while facing tentacles attacking from various tricky angles. Simply strangling would only increase the infection rate, so Lin Lu changed the form of the chains, sometimes as a sword, sometimes as a spear, sometimes as a knife, and sometimes as a shield.

The marks of blades left the ancient ruins scarred, and the impact of their collisions sent crystals flying. The supporting columns were covered in a hazy layer of dust, and the constant, resounding noises caused fine cracks to quietly appear in the walls.

The battle between Lin Lü and Ibitas intensified, evolving from initial probing to a relentless, all-out assault.

Even the cobalt blue flames burning in Lin Lu's left eye were almost turning black; he was going to risk his life.

"Stop! Stop it! Don't fight anymore!"

A clear, slightly silly voice came from deep within the ruins, and the white tentacles' attack suddenly faltered, seemingly affected by the words.

Lin Lu naturally wouldn't let this opportunity slip by. His dark chains unleashed their full power, surging towards the deepest part of the ruins. Strike while the iron is hot!

By blocking the enemy's tactile feedback to Lin Lu's hands, he pressed down again, launching a fierce attack. His hands were now covered in blood, countless wounds tearing at the flesh, trembling uncontrollably. After all, fighting an enemy of this caliber was impossible without paying a price.

Lin Lu sat back on the throne, sighed deeply, and raised his hand to beckon towards the end of the ruins.

The pitch-black chains slowly dragged the enormous, spherical object over, carving a furrow in the ground.

Lin Lu raised his left hand, and a crystal-like halo of light flowed across the marks on the back of his hand, a burning sensation spreading from his scarred hand. A thick, black fog enveloped the surroundings, condensing into mud and gradually solidifying into sharp, black spears.

The spear is incredibly sharp on both sides, and its minimalist design delivers maximum penetrating power.

Lin Lu originally intended to simply unleash the dark cloud formed by the spear, piercing the enemy into countless wounds before checking if they were truly dead, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Anemone..."

Lin Lu clenched his fists tightly. He, who was always calm and composed, could only lose his composure in front of this woman.

"How did you end up in here?!"

Through the dense chains binding him, Lin Lu saw the "SOS" distress signal from the AI ​​Anemone, which claimed to be an artificial intelligence but was actually a silly and stupid creature.

The moment Lin Lu opened his mouth, he was so angry he almost choked and died on the spot. Although he didn't want to admit it, he was genuinely shocked by what Anemone had done.

It was like throwing a Poké Ball at the opponent's Pokémon, and damn it, it actually caught it!

Upon closer inspection, isn't that my Eevee?!

Could it be that you've really betrayed us?

Ibrahimovic!!

"Oops--"

A chilling aura descended from above, and amidst the twinkling stars, a silvery meteor plummeted straight down.

Just as Lin Lu launched a fierce attack when the opponent's offensive faltered, Ibitas, as a great being, would naturally not let this opportunity pass.

Lin Lu gritted his teeth, raised his left hand, and forcefully pulled the spear high, attacking the Silverwing's ominous star. But he was still a step too late. Not only was his momentum disrupted, but the jet-black iron chains that consumed a lot of his mental energy were still binding the Silver Lotus.

To avoid crushing the anemones, he also had to keep an eye on the chains.

Ibitas moved much faster than he had imagined; the stars shone only because of Him, and even the trajectory of time was erased.

This is not a metaphor, but a fact that the other party truly possesses the power to control time.

The countless black spears flying through the air came to a standstill in mid-air, as if time had frozen at that moment.

However, Ibitas was not the only one who controlled the power of time.

"Clock Up!"

Lin Lu, who was still able to move during the time stop, subconsciously patted his side, but he found nothing; the Ark Driver was not on his waist.

Gan.

"boom--!!"

The silver streak struck Lin Lu squarely in the chest, nearly shoving his lungs out.

The black iron throne crumbled in less than three seconds, collapsing into fragments and leaving behind only dust.

In an instant, countless bizarre thoughts burst forth in Lin Lu's mind. After all, he was not a physical being in the Spirit Realm, but rather a being similar to a soul.

The sealed memory shackles showed a slight crack.

The flame burning above Lin Lu's left eye quietly went out, and a strange scene appeared in his mind.

In a place with a design style strikingly similar to ancient ruins, a black-haired man in a hooded robe leans against a white, fogged door. In his left hand, he holds a black box with a mechanical sheen, while his right hand holds a lit cigarette. Sparks lick the tobacco; in this dim place, the burning cigarette is the only light.

The man took a deep drag on his cigarette, tilted his head back, and exhaled a thick cloud of smoke, the wisps of white smoke obscuring his expression.

As the thick fog dissipated, his blood-stained face remained as hard as if carved from stone as he ground the half-smoked cigarette butt deep into the stone wall adorned with strange paintings. This action would have been enough to elicit a scream of up to two hundred decibels from an archaeologist, but his expression was as indifferent as if he were burning an insect with a cigarette butt.

The man held the black box against his waist, and the driver's belt automatically extended from the chassis, wrapped around his waist, and fastened it tightly.

"Ibitas, Strategy Plan, 01."

With a muttered word to himself, he raised his hand to brace against the fog gate, and his figure disappeared into the hazy white mist.

……

"Ibitas, Strategy Plan, 02."

……

"Ibitas, Strategy Plan, 993."

……

"Ibitas... the conquest plan... what was it again?"

……

"Ha, ha... Damn it, damn it, damn it."

……

“Ibitas, I’m here to negotiate.”

……

"Epicas-chan~ Asobo-yo~!"

……

"...Nyan-ne-ga?"

In the end, the numbers lost their meaning.

It's unclear when it started, but the man had exhausted even the strength to keep track of the number of repetitions, and was just numbly repeating the same action over and over again.

Started the mission. Mission failed.

Mission started. Mission failed.

Over and over again, even the power of thinking is almost dissipating.

The images flashing through Lin Lu's mind suddenly accelerated until finally, he witnessed the man go mad.

This led to a new change.

"To slaughter the prey."

—This is clearly a lie.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Miss Ibitas Wants to Make Me Happy

Lin Lu slowly opened his eyes.