The next moment, as Anthony caught sight of Chongyue emerging from behind — with Jié-jiě hauling along a clearly reluctant Wang — he immediately jogged over.
"Hang on, Jié-jiě, what exactly is going on here?"
Anthony jabbed a finger at Chongyue, who was walking ahead of them, and asked in bewildered confusion.
If it weren't for the familiar atmosphere, and the fact that the Lord of the Styx's perception of auras was rarely wrong, Anthony might genuinely have suspected that Shuo had been shaken loose again.
But the problem was, he knew perfectly well what Chongyue's situation was — and besides, he hadn't asked Carmen to activate any Personality Overlay!
And yet here they were.
Those golden eyes — there was simply no mistaking them.
Jié-jiě turned to glance at Chongyue, seemed to think it over for a moment, then looked back at Anthony with a puzzled expression — as though she genuinely couldn't tell which part of this he was asking about.
And Wang, standing just behind Anthony, finally shed that reluctant look he'd been wearing. He let out a sigh and spoke:
"You can think of it simply as: he broke through."
"That's something you can just... break through?"
Anthony turned around with a face full of confusion, only to find Wang wearing an expression of profound, inexpressible exasperation — and casting Anthony a particularly withering sidelong look.
You've got some nerve asking that. Take a good look at what you did first.
Honestly, Wang's assessment was that Chongyue himself could shoulder maybe thirty percent of the blame for this situation. The remaining seventy? That was Anthony's fault, full stop.
And so, under Wang's painstaking, step-by-step explanation, Anthony finally pieced together what had actually happened.
And then stared in sheer amazement at the realization that it genuinely was a breakthrough.
And that it genuinely did have something to do with him.
In short, the core of it came down to the Personality Overlay that Carmen had applied to Chongyue during the battle with the Year Beast.
In a certain sense, that was a realm even Chongyue himself had never touched. And so, after briefly tasting that experience as a trial run, Chongyue had naturally broken through to it.
As for the golden eyes — that was tied to how Anthony had handled the Year Beast's body afterward.
The Artificer's materials were just too pure.
Layered on top of Petra's black-tech, combined with a near-unlimited energy supply — Anthony had even synchronized the Year Beast's body to some degree with the Styx's soul vessel on the Primordial River — and the result was something downright uncanny.
Strictly speaking, the Year Beast's body had been isolated at the level of its very existence.
As in: even if you poured every last ounce of effort into actively reaching out to it, you still couldn't connect. Anthony had even wondered at one point whether Praeses herself might be powerless to do so.
And so, in that environment, Chongyue had a sudden flash of inspiration and decided to try something.
Drawing on the understanding he'd gained from the earlier Personality Overlay, combined with his existing knowledge of his own Authority, and with just a small touch of Originium's subtle properties added in.
Even incorporating a brief observation of the Artificer's power.
And then, like a witch brewing an elixir, he had somehow distilled a thoroughly mysterious result.
With a mortal body, through the path of martial cultivation, he had reclaimed a measure of his own Authority.
And his eyes had turned gold once more.
By the time Wang finished that whole chain of explanation, Anthony felt like his brain was smoking.
"So what you're saying is... Big Brother, in that state, still only counts as a mortal?"
Anthony asked Wang in utter bewilderment. Wang responded with a slow, deliberate nod.
I know you're surprised. Don't be — believe me, I was surprised too.
In fact, the moment Wang had discovered this, his psychological defenses had very nearly shattered on the spot.
Did Anthony have any idea what it felt like to open his eyes in that ancient temple, all set to play a game of chess, only to suddenly find a golden-eyed elder brother materializing in his field of vision and asking if he wanted to go spar outside?
Wang had nearly convinced himself the seal had cracked and the Year Beast had possessed Chongyue's body to come settle the score — he'd barely stopped himself from snatching a chess board and swinging it at Chongyue's face.
Oh, right. He had actually done that.
And Chongyue had slapped it right back at him.
Anthony was only now getting his fright. Wang had had his ages ago.
All one could say was: what a life.
And so, looking at Wang's thoroughly put-upon expression, Anthony suddenly understood completely.
Understandable. This really was something to be put-upon about. No mystery there at all.
"By the way, Second Brother — doesn't this mean your standing in the family has dropped even further?"
Anthony thought it over for a moment, then asked with a look of genuine, brotherly concern. Wang's eye twitched. He fixed Anthony with a long stare.
My standing in the family is low — and you're telling me you have no idea whatsoever how that happened?
"If you would stop causing chaos, I imagine my standing might actually go up a little."
Finally, with a sigh, Wang delivered that verdict to Anthony in a tone that brooked no argument.
"Ahem, ahem — we can revisit that later, let's come back to it later."
Anthony cleared his throat twice — and then, all of a sudden, felt something like a faint drizzle of blood raining down from the sky. He blinked in mild surprise, tilted his head back, and looked up.
Up there, Chongyue was drifting slowly down to earth — and the Eye of Cthulhu, which had at some point ceased to exist as anything coherent, had been reduced to nothing but shredded chunks of meat and had vanished utterly without a trace.
"Now that was a magnificent victory."
Chongyue, who had dismembered the Eye of Cthulhu in an instant and seemed almost unsatisfied with how quickly it was over, remarked as he landed. He turned his head toward Anthony and called out:
"Thirteenth, are there any more opponents?"
"I'd assumed this trip was simply to accompany family on a bit of relaxation — but it seems there are still quite a few fresh things here after all."
Chongyue was, by the looks of it, genuinely fond of these novel encounters.
Anthony quietly turned his head and looked over at Yoriichi Tsugikuni, Jonathan Joestar, and David — all three of whom had freeloaded their way through the boss fights during the open beta — and after a moment's thought, gave them each a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Ahem. The bosses going forward — I'll leave those to you."
Anthony said it with a smile. "The way things are looking now, our boss speed-run plan can be adjusted just slightly."
Big Brother was already fully kitted out and practically ascending. If Anthony still hesitated now, that was entirely on him.
And so in that instant, Anthony locked in the revised battle strategy at light speed.
Nothing else needed to be said. Let Big Brother blaze through everything pre-Wall of Flesh in one shot.
Since Big Brother clearly seemed to be enjoying these fresh bosses, might as well let him fight to his heart's content.
The Slime King was a side zone — not worth bothering with, didn't matter either way.
He handed Lachimaeus's Roar to David, told him to head into the Crimson biome and destroy the three Crimson Hearts, and just bring Chongyue along.
Then he got the dungeon coordinates from Carmen — Carmen, who had already combed through the entire world of Terraria, had naturally already noted this down.
Once Big Brother finished off Skeletron, he could swing by the dungeon and mow through whatever was inside. Anthony was planning to use that window to have Big Brother help gather some materials too.
After Big Brother ran through the Jungle and casually elbowed the Queen Bee to death on the side, they could start gearing up to head to the Underworld and take on the Wall of Flesh.
Once the Golden Fishing Rod was in hand, the most urgent item on Anthony's agenda for this trip would be taken care of.
Having swiftly scheduled the execution of the next several bosses, Anthony waved the expedition team off without a second thought — making sure they also took Radio Himmel along with them — then turned around, and saw everyone else stepping out of the phase-shift transport engine.
"So this is what you meant by that other world?"
Nian gazed around at her surroundings with obvious curiosity, then turned to Anthony:
"It looks like quite an interesting place."
"So then — why did you call us over? If there's nothing urgent, how about we make a film? I've just had a fresh spark of inspiration now that I'm actually here."
A camera appeared in Nian's hand from seemingly nowhere. She smiled and posed the question to Anthony. Anthony's eyelid gave a single twitch.
And in that instant, he immediately locked in his next decision.
The others might be fine, but Nian — along with Ji and Yi — really could not be left idle. Oh, and Wang too. Definitely not Wang.
Wang felt, for no reason he could name, a sudden inexplicable tightening in his chest, as though someone somewhere had just thought of him.
"Uh, Nian-jiě, let's hold off on the film for now."
Anthony raised a hand, cutting off a visibly eager Nian. "Let's get to work first."
"Work? What kind of work?"
Nian shook her head with what seemed like mild dissatisfaction. Anthony's face broke into a smile, and he turned to glance at Ji and Yi standing nearby.
"The kind of work... where you get to blow something up. Something big."
And so he turned to look at the finalized version of Lachimaeus's Roar currently being forged aboard the Styx in overtime, and spoke up:
"Nian-jiě, interested in punching a hole through the world?"
The moment Anthony floated that idea, Nian was immediately hooked.
She and Yi worked together to help Anthony refine the concept further, and in the process proposed quite a number of creative innovations.
Because the moment you announce you want to blow something up, a cascade of questions follows naturally.
How big should we blow it up? How do we blow it? How many times? How deep should it go? Should we add a bit of artistic flair?
Fortunately, with everyone pitching in as a team, the project sailed through the planning phase without a hitch and shot into the execution stage at record speed.
Nian also made a final remark that once this was all done, she was going to film it and save the footage as material for a future film.
Anthony's position on this was: knock yourself out, just please don't shove me into the footage.
And so the production of the final version of Lachimaeus's Roar commenced. Meanwhile, the other former agents of Nian began entertaining themselves throughout the world of Terraria.
All one could say was that the pre-Wall of Flesh world was genuinely like a playground to these people.
Absolutely zero pressure.
David and Lucy, for their part, slipped back into work mode once more — neither of them had returned yet to that cabin steeped in unpleasant memories.
And so, watching the Terraria conquest steadily get back on track, and seeing the River Styx's hold begin to fill with all manner of Terraria-exclusive materials, Anthony stopped feeling rushed.
All that was left were the ores and the Life Crystals and the like.
As for those — once the explosive mining operation was underway, everything would sort itself out.
No rush. No rush at all.
And so, using the downtime while casually slacking off and assembling the bomb, Anthony went ahead and checked on the status of the Petra Corporation branch deep within the River Styx.
Based on his own timetable, by now, there should be something to show for it, shouldn't there?
And so, with that thought in mind, Anthony turned his gaze to the footage on the monitors.
Deep within the River Styx. Inside the Petra Corporation.
Muzan clocked in with a glazed, vacant stare — and then, over the intercom, heard a containment cell number he'd never heard before.
A number that caused something in that long-dormant heart of his to suddenly prickle with unease.
Wait — a new number? Something was added here without warning?
But in short order, Muzan let it go, shuffled over to the designated containment cell.
Forget it, stop overthinking. We're all just workers here. What's the point of tangling myself up in all this nonsense?
Just go. I've already gone numb inside. No matter what twisted form of torture they come up with next, I honestly couldn't care less.
And so he arrived at the door of the designated containment cell, verified his identity, and opened the door.
Then, as he took in the scene on the other side, a flicker of genuine puzzlement rose in Muzan's mind.
Why is there a table in this room. And chairs. And a torch.
Something felt off. Muzan stared at the scene, his instincts screaming that things weren't quite right.
But before he had a moment to think it through, a short, fisherman-looking figure leapt in front of him, scrutinized him up and down, and then bellowed at the top of his lungs:
"So you're my new servant, are you? Hmph, you look awfully scrawny. I hope you're not useless."
In that instant, Muzan stared blankly upward at the short little fisherman, registering the absolute chicken-scratch level of power emanating from him.
And then the words actually landed.
Servant. Useless.
In an instant, Muzan's fury erupted.
He was Kibutsuji Muzan, Lord of Demons — and though he'd endured prolonged mistreatment, when had he ever suffered humiliation of this kind? Especially from someone wearing that insufferably self-righteous expression — the absolute pinnacle of arrogant, pig-headed stupidity!
And so Kibutsuji Muzan, in his rage, raged.
And then it was over.
Because he got electrocuted again.
After a long-overdue jolt of genuinely painful electricity, Kibutsuji Muzan collapsed to the floor — then, prodded back upright by the shock, staggered to his feet and looked at the fisherman.
"Mmm. My servant — go into the Jungle and bring me back a Clownfish."
The short fisherman mulled it over for a moment, then issued his command.
Kibutsuji Muzan's mind churned with rare, genuine turbulence — but the next moment, spurred on by the electric shock, he completed his assignment anyway, fuming with impotent rage.
Or rather: accepted a brand new quest.
He was still trying to figure out how one actually catches a fish when the intercom crackled to life again, directing Kibutsuji Muzan to another location.
And so he was led there — where Kibutsuji Muzan was issued an upgraded fishing rod, and confronted by an enormous, bizarre array of fishing pools spanning every conceivable terrain.
And finally, in a daze that looked very much like resignation, he made his way to the designated spot, and cast his line.
From that day forward, filled to the brim with indignant fury, under the fisherman's command, Kibutsuji Muzan's bleak and sunless fishing career had begun.
On the other end, Anthony watched all of this and gave a thoroughly satisfied nod.
Good. Very spirited. This is exactly the kind of setup I wanted to see.
Especially when he watched the fisherman instinctively try to follow the world's rules and go wandering out a random door — and promptly get zapped by the containment cell's door — Anthony smiled and shut off the monitor with great contentment.
Perfect. Evil truly does have its own nemesis.
He'd been genuinely worried about the morale situation with Muzan and Adam Smasher — but now, with the fisherman as a fully automated hate-generation machine, it seemed like things would keep ticking along nicely for quite some time.
And on top of that, the materials The Angler's upgrade required — the ones that had to come from the fisherman's quests — were now taken care of, just like that.
Anthony was certainly never going to run errands for the fisherman himself. He'd wanted to drown the guy in lava every time he played Terraria — there was absolutely no universe in which he'd do it this way.
This arrangement was undeniably the best option available.
As for efficiency — that was nothing to worry about either.
Efficiency was the last thing they were lacking right now.
Sure, there was the issue of the fisherman only accepting one quest per day — but this was a Terraria day.
As mentioned before, this world had inherited essentially all of the game's mechanics aside from its 2D plane — and that included one particular consequence.
Namely: time here still passed the same way as in the game. A full day elapsed in just over twenty minutes.
In other words, every twenty-odd minutes, Muzan got to be tormented by the fisherman again.
In the intervals, he'd even get to go handle two work shifts with all his pent-up emotional intensity, pumping out extra dopamine on the side. Productivity through the roof.
And the fishing terrain issue was nothing to worry about either.
Using the River Styx's unique structure, along with some terrain blocks Anthony had sourced, an all-biome fishing pool had been set up through the combined efforts of the Artificer and the Styx's power.
If they actually hit something awkward like a cave that was genuinely hard to replicate, the worst case was waiting twenty-odd minutes for the reset — nothing to be ashamed of.
And so, with Muzan's future arrangements wrapped up to his satisfaction, the finalized version of Lachimaeus's Roar was completed aboard the Styx right on schedule.
After exchanging a few brief words with Nian, Anthony noticed a message in the chat group with his name tagged. Curious, he opened it.
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: @Lord of the Angler's Throne — all done. Mr. Chongyue fought straight through the dungeon, and on the way back he pulverized the Brain of Cthulhu.]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: Then he made a detour through the Jungle on the way back. All the materials are completely sorted. We're on our way back now.]
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: Good work, all of you.]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: Forget that for now — I have a rather special discovery on my end.]
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: Oh? How so?]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: My resurrection condition has unlocked.]
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: ? That's sudden. What are the specifics — is it complicated?]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: I found it pretty sudden too, but it should count as good news.]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: While we were on the road, I entered the Underground Jungle with Mr. Chongyue, and everyone spotted a heart-shaped crystal.]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: After we obtained it, it told me the item meets the conditions for my resurrection, and the resurrection conditions were revealed.]
[Warrior of Frieren's Fallen Era: There's a long string of detailed notes, but to put it simply — it seems like sufficiently high-tier vitality is what's needed.]
Sufficiently high-tier vitality?
Almost instantly, Anthony knew exactly where to get it. His mind shifted into high gear.
You know what — you really couldn't make this up.
If that was the condition, then honestly — elsewhere he couldn't say, but in Terraria specifically, that was the sort of thing you could trip over anywhere.
Anthony glanced at the finalized Lachimaeus's Roar already prepared at his side. One eyebrow arched slightly. He typed into the chat group:
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: If that's the case, then this just got a lot easier.]
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: Give me a little time. Once this Terraria run is wrapped up, I might be able to come to your side.]
[Lord of the Angler's Throne: And then — it'll be time for your resurrection. Start getting ready to put your own affairs in order.]
After sending that long string of messages, Anthony took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.
Then let a brilliant, radiant smile spread across his face.
So then. What came next was a very simple little question.
Now that the objective was clear — what should he do next?
The answer was simple: blast the mines open.
Anthony, finally experiencing the most direct and primal joy the Artificer had to offer, turned to face Nian and said quietly:
"Nian-jiě — time to fire. Their side is finished too, so let's start getting the final piece ready."
"Sure thing."
Nian said, turning at Anthony's direction and swiftly releasing the safety on the River Styx's data center launch system.
Then she pressed the launch button.
As the countdown ran, Wang — who had ambled over out of sheer boredom — looked at Anthony with a flicker of genuine curiosity, and asked:
"Oh, by the way — what exactly does this thing do?"
Anthony turned to look at him, and then, with a smile, said quietly:
"Simply put — think of it as a nonstop express train."
And at the very moment the last syllable left his mouth —
There was an explosion. Of a magnitude that defied all reasonable expectations.
In that instant, Wang's eyes narrowed slightly, fixed on the spot some distance ahead — where a mushroom cloud, indistinguishable from a nuclear detonation, was rising slowly and majestically into the sky.
And deep beneath Terraria, countless creatures opened their eyes.
God said: let there be light.
And so the creatures beheld the light.
Even amidst the pitch darkness of night, they beheld it — that blazing white radiance descending upon them like the end of all things.
In the Underground layer, in the Cavern layer, countless monsters opened their eyes — and in that annihilation, were extinguished.
There was no space to dodge, no direction to flee. As the beam of oblivion drove straight down and began to till the earth below, countless ores, treasures, and Life Crystals were laid completely bare.
And finally the beam reached Hell itself — like a direct express line straight to the Underworld.
When that annihilating radiance arrived at the Underworld, the very first Underworld bat raised its head — and from atop countless layers of stone, it looked up and saw moonlight hanging high in the sky above, and beneath that moonlight, a single silhouette peering curiously downward...
A gaze that crossed ten thousand miles, delivered with warmth to the fine folk of the Underworld. Brimming with fervent enthusiasm and eager anticipation.
Whoa. The Underworld.
Whoa. Free geothermal energy!
What a place. The only thing this spot was missing was a developer to unlock its hidden potential — and that developer is me!
Standing at the edge of the crater, gazing down into the Underworld below, Anthony's face lit up with an expression of barely contained delight as those thoughts ran through his head.
Then he stood up straight, faced the express line to Hell stretching out before him, and let out a long, long breath.
At last, he turned around, smiled, and spoke softly:
"Well then. Shall we all take a little trip... down to Hell together?"
Now that all the preliminary work had been blazed through at record speed, what came next was...
Wasn't it about time they took on the Wall of Flesh?
____
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