"If I kick the bucket because of this, I'm definitely going to the spirit world to strangle you!"
Elias roared in his mind while sprinting.
"Then I'm afraid you'll be disappointed."
Edmond's voice sounded incredibly infuriating.
"Even if you come, you won't find me."
"..."
This old ghost definitely didn't have many friends when he was alive.
Elias was speechless, but he didn't dare stop, rushing toward the lighthouse.
Just then, a whistle sounded from behind.
Before he even had a chance to look back, a shattered half of a door panel flew past his scalp, hitting the gravel in front of him with a 'clack'.
That was the door that had just been destroyed.
"The carapace husk has recovered!" Edmond shouted.
Elias dodged to the side, his heart weary and his vision darkening, seeing stars everywhere.
How could anyone suffer so much in one day?
Even Jesus didn't have it this bad the day he died!
He gritted his teeth, forced himself to stay alert, and glanced back.
The giant white insect was rushing toward him, but its running posture was extremely bizarre, as if its two legs were newly borrowed and each had its own mind, wobbling and swaying.
"Now's your chance!"
Edmond spoke rapidly.
"The intense light damaged its vision; it can't see clearly! But your spirituality is too high, so it can still sense you! Run now!"
Without a word, Elias rushed to the lighthouse door and pulled open the somewhat rusty iron door.
"You're hiding here?"
Edmond asked in surprise.
"Otherwise?"
"Where else would I hide?"
Elias slipped inside as a matter of course, closing the door behind him and even bracing it with his foot.
"Not hide? Am I supposed to rush out and fight it in melee? That would be truly insane!"
"Hmph, I feel like your current behavior isn't much different from what you just described."
"Speak clearly, for God's sake! Riddler, get out of Gotham!"
Elias hated it most when this old ghost spoke in riddles.
"Good heavens, you're really crazy... wait!"
Edmond suddenly shouted.
"Where are you hiding right now?"
"Don't you love watching my screen? Can't you see where I'm hiding?"
Elias leaned against the 'door panel', thinking the old ghost had gone senile from being locked up.
"Of course I can see! Dammit, you're crouching in a bush under the lighthouse!"
Edmond's voice sounded like he was having a breakdown.
"With a look of relief on your face as if you just finished a satisfying bowel movement! The way you carefully pulled aside the bushes just now made it look like your great-grandmother was calling you to the afterlife!"
Elias froze.
He subconsciously reached out to touch the 'door panel' behind him.
The texture was rough, a bit prickly, and even slightly soft.
This wasn't iron.
These were freaking tree branches.
He snapped his eyes open and focused his attention.
The darkness that was originally 'inside the lighthouse' receded like a tide, replaced by a few withered branches and leaves swaying in the wind.
He was crouching in a bush about a dozen meters from the lighthouse like an idiot, hands clutching the air, posing as if he were 'bracing a door'.
And less than three meters in front of him...
The massive carapace husk had already charged right up to his face, its giant arms raised high, slamming down with a foul wind!
"There's no chance now. Your great-grandmother really is calling you."
Edmond sighed.
"Holy shit!"
Elias felt a gust of wind hit him.
But in his vision, the bush in front of him vanished instantly, replaced by a massive stained-glass wall.
And the monster charging at him turned into an orange-and-white Autobot!
Thud—!
The long blade in the Autobot's hand slammed into the mud beside him, kicking up a wave of dirt.
In Elias's eyes, it was the sight of stained glass shattering, with a tree covered in human faces growing nearby, the features on the leaves smiling at him.
There were so many things wrong with this that he didn't even know where to start complaining.
"Another freaking hallucination!"
"You're actually not dead?!"
Edmond said in pleasant surprise.
Elias performed a hideous clumsy roll, barely avoiding the second strike.
"It's Spider-Sense! I used my Spider-Sense!"
"Spider-Sense my ass! That was pure dumb luck!"
Edmond roared.
"Listen! Because your body is too exhausted, your vision is being interfered with by the dream demon's curse; everything you see is fake!"
"When I say left, raise your left hand and run with it!"
"It seems this blind bug isn't hitting you easily relying only on its spiritual perception!"
"Go left now!"
Elias raised his hand and lunged to the left.
"Right! That's your left!"
Edmond bellowed.
"I raised my freaking left hand!!"
Elias shouted back, feeling wronged.
"It's a hallucination! You idiot, your perception is inverted!"
"Then say the opposite!!"
"Fine! Go right—no, go left! That's the left of the right! Oh, dammit!!"
And so, an extremely bizarre scene appeared on the gravel beach below the white tower.
A young man with a face covered in blood performed a series of frantic serpentine maneuvers.
One moment he raised his left hand and charged right, the next he raised his right hand and jumped left.
And behind him...
Because it was blinded, the giant carapace husk could only slash wildly based on instinct.
It stumbled, sometimes crashing into rocks, sometimes clawing at empty air, its movements stiff and distorted.
He fled, it pursued; neither could escape the other.
"The beach is ahead! Don't run into the sea! Turn left! Turn left!"
"Okay!"
Elias made a sharp turn, nearly breaking his own waist.
Due to the constant deviation in direction, his escape route inevitably veered away from the lighthouse, extending toward the distant beach.
He didn't know how long he had been running, but his lungs felt like they were on fire, and his legs felt like lead.
At the end of the skyline, a sliver of light began to emerge.
The sun was coming up.
The first rays of dawn pierced through the mist, spilling onto this beach filled with the stench of death.
"Elias!"
Edmond's voice suddenly became high-pitched, carrying a hint of irrepressible excitement.
"You little brat, listen. I'm only asking you this once!"
"What?"
Elias panted heavily, his feet still mechanically sprinting.
"Ahead! About fifty meters away, there's a stone slab! Push yourself and lure the carapace husk onto that slab!"
"A stone slab? What stone slab?"
Elias struggled to open one eye.
In his vision, there was no stone slab on the beach ahead.
Only a massive, glowing—RTX 5090 graphics card!
"Holy shit, a Golden Legendary?!"
Indeed, a soft, golden halo emanated from around that graphics card.
The halo was sacred and solemn, just like the halos of merit behind portraits of deities.
"I don't care what you're seeing, that unusual thing in front of you is it. Don't step on it yourself; go around it!"
Elias thought to himself that in his past life, he would have wanted to take it home, let alone step on it.
How could he be dreaming of this?
An RTX 5090 falling from the sky.
Struggling to toss aside the extra thoughts in his head, he braked hard, skirted the stone slab, and stood firmly behind it.
He turned around, facing the pursuing behemoth.
Under the morning light.
The orange-and-white Autobot was charging at him, brandishing its long blade.
To prevent it from veering off course again, Elias took a deep breath.
"Come on, hit me with that Thunderbolt Half-Moon Slash, come on!"
Rate on N.U.
