Chapter 658: Fallen-Star Serpent.

The creature outline was vaguely serpentine, but the limited illumination made it difficult to determine its exact shape.

What Thoren could see was enough to tell him that it was considerably larger than any serpent he ever encountered..

For a moment, the serpent remained perfectly still.

Then its head slowly turned toward him.

Thoren’s pupils contracted.

Its eyes were unlike anything he had ever encountered.

They were not the simple, instinct-driven eyes of ordinary beasts, nor did they possess the feral savagery he had grown accustomed to seeing in powerful monsters.

Instead, a disturbing intelligence gleamed within them, resembling the cold, calculating gaze of a human who had already decided how to kill his opponent.

The creature was watching him.

Studying him.

And judging him.

For a brief moment, Thoren felt as though he were not the hunter, but prey that had wandered directly into the territory of a far more experienced predator.

However, the creature’s eyes were not merely intelligent.

Their appearance itself was deeply unsettling.

Strange patterns moved within their irises, resembling countless tiny stars revolving around a dark central point.

The patterns shifted whenever Thoren attempted to focus on them, making it seem as though the creature’s eyes contained an entire night sky that existed beyond the boundaries of the physical world.

He had never seen anything like them.

Before he could examine them further, the creature opened its mouth.

ScreeEEEECH!

The piercing shriek tore through the cavern.

The sound struck Thoren’s ears with such intensity that the surrounding stone seemed to vibrate. His undead Greater Dune Scorpion recoiled slightly.

Then the creature moved.

Its massive body slid out from behind the stone pillar, emerging from the shadows with an unnerving grace that contradicted its size.

It crossed the boundary of the Soul Lantern’s illumination and entered the pale light, revealing its strange body to Thoren.

It did not attack.

Instead, it raised its head and stared directly into his eyes.

The moment their gazes met, the world changed.

The rocky cavern disappeared.

The scattered skeletons, jagged pillars, and surrounding darkness vanished as though they had never existed.

Even the Soul Lantern’s ghostly light was swallowed by the sudden transformation.

Thoren found himself standing beneath an endless expanse of stars.

The sight was breathtaking.

Countless stars stretched across the heavens, their brilliant light illuminating a vast, dreamlike landscape that seemed to extend beyond the limits of imagination.

Nebulae of shimmering colors drifted through the darkness, forming magnificent rivers of light that flowed between distant constellations.

The ground beneath his feet had transformed into a smooth, reflective surface, mirroring the heavens above until he could no longer distinguish where the sky ended and the earth began.

It was beautiful.

Almost impossibly beautiful.

Then a melodious voice drifted through the celestial landscape.

The singing was soft and enchanting, its gentle notes flowing through the star-filled sky like a peaceful stream.

The melody carried a strange sense of familiarity, soothing the mind and encouraging the listener to surrender to the tranquility surrounding them.

For a moment, Thoren simply stared.

The scene was so magnificent that even he could not deny its beauty.

After spending so much time in the Abyss, surrounded by darkness, bloodshed, and the constant threat of death, the peaceful sight felt almost unreal.

Yet something was wrong.

He could not explain it immediately, but an instinctive sense of danger began stirring deep within his mind.

The melody continued.

The stars glittered.

The beautiful landscape remained unchanged and still, the unease within him grew stronger.

Thoren slowly narrowed his eyes.

’This is not right...’

His brow creased as he forced himself to examine the scene more carefully. The beauty surrounding him was too perfect.

The instant that thought formed, a faint light appeared in the middle of the star-filled world.

A ghostly lantern materialized in the air.

Its pale flame flickered gently, casting an ethereal glow across the surrounding stars.

The light spread outward, and wherever it passed, the magnificent scenery began to tremble as though the entire world had been constructed from fragile glass.

Cracks appeared across the heavens.

The melodious singing abruptly distorted, transforming into a dreadful, discordant screech that tore through the illusion.

Then the entire world shattered.

Crack!

The star-filled sky broke apart, dissolving into countless fragments of light before disappearing into the darkness.

Thoren’s vision returned to normal.

He was once again back on his undead Greater Dune Scorpion inside the cavern, with the Soul Lantern of Eternal Crypt floating above his head.

The scattered skeletons remained beneath him, and the jagged stone pillars still surrounded the narrow passage.

Nothing had changed.

Except that he now understood what had happened.

He had been pulled into an illusion the instant he met the creature’s gaze. A cold light flashed through his eyes.

With his awakened soul, he never expected he would be pulled into an illusion again. More importantly with his Soul Lantern active, it thought it was impossible but he was wrong.

After thinking about it deeply, he realized it was not that his abilities were helpless against the creature illusion. It was him that let down his guard.

If he had used his Soul Lantern to block any soul attack, the creature ability would have been useless. More importantly, if he had activated his Awakened Soul, the serpent wouldn’t have had the chance to use its ability at all.

’This is a firm reminder that I shouldn’t let down my guard’

Thoren took a deep breath and calmly adjusted his posture, allowing his expression to return to normal.

Just then, a familiar notification appeared in his vision.

[Fallen-Star Serpent]

[Level: 45]

Level 45.

Thoren creased his brow, but that alone was not what caught his attention.

His gaze slowly shifted upward, and his expression finally changed.

The creature standing beneath the Soul Lantern was not a single-headed serpent.

It was a two headed serpent. Each head was as massive as a truck. Every head possessed a pair of those strange, star-filled eyes.

He shifted his gaze from the two headed serpent in front of him and looked to the side. Three Fallen-Star serpents had appeared from the various tunnels. Their double heads made the atmosphere dreadful and scary.

All the Fallen-Star Serpents opened their mouths at once, revealing rows of sharp teeth. One head tilted slightly to the side, another drew back as though preparing to strike.

Then all eight pairs of eyes narrowed.

A low, unnatural sound emerged from all the creature’s throats, resembling the laughter of something that had lived for far too long in the darkness.

Thoren remained standing on his mount, his gaze moving between the eight heads as he assessed the situation.

And without hesitation, he opened his undead space.