Chapter 246: Hoods
“Lucilu, you’re secretly spreading rumors again! Polina and I are innocent. The Advanced Gargoyle was a thank-you gift for helping her solve a research problem!”
Caruso’s dissatisfied voice rang out. The attack frequency accelerated rapidly. The Advanced Gargoyle extended all four arms, and various Mana Crystal weapons appeared. Seeing that Caruso was genuinely angry, Lucilu said sheepishly: “I was just joking. Don’t play so rough! I was wrong, hahaha!”
The two didn’t end up fighting, as they were stopped by the team leader, Ancestar. Eddie quietly moved away from the pair, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire again. To his surprise, the next day he saw Lucilu affectionately wrapping his arm around Caruso’s shoulder, and soon the two were chatting and laughing.
“Don’t worry, they are very good friends. Lucilu once saved Caruso’s life during an adventure. Although they horse around, they know their limits.
Lucilu is actually very reliable, he just has a loose tongue. You don’t need to worry about Caruso either; he is actually a very clear-headed person.”
Donna seemed to notice Eddie’s worry and explained to him.
Although they had all studied at the Elementary Magic School, Eddie wasn’t really familiar with these people. He thanked Donna gratefully, feeling slightly more at ease.
“They should all be reliable people,” Eddie murmured in his heart.
At night, the group arrived at the small town in the Northern Mining Area.
The Wizard Apprentices stationed in the town and the populace were as jumpy as birds startled by a bowstring. Ancestar’s group caused quite a misunderstanding upon arrival; the locals thought they were strange monsters disguised as humans trying to infiltrate the town. Finally, after confirming each other’s identities through the Magic Network, they were allowed to enter the town to rest.
Early the next morning, based on the description from the stationed Wizard Apprentice, Ancestar led the group cautiously toward the area where the strange monsters appeared.
“The color of the monster’s body changes with the surrounding environment. It is liquid and extremely difficult to spot with the naked eye. In mental perception, it appears colorful. Everyone must keep their mental perception active at all times.
These monsters are hard to kill. In their primitive form, they split even if cut. This liquid is very strange; once attached, it will likely devour and replace you completely!
However, once they replace someone, they seem to lose the ability to shapeshift again.”
Knowing the situation of the strange monsters, the Wizard Apprentices all activated Lesser Insight Perception and Ultrasound Perception. The Knight Squires used spell-like abilities, relying on the keen intuition brought by Heart Force to guard the perimeter.
There were nearly forty transparent strange monsters entrenched in the mining area. There were also a few guys who looked like Wizard Apprentices hanging out with several monsters, actually coexisting peacefully with them.
“Those ‘Wizard Apprentices’ are not true Wizard Apprentices. They are what became of a few unlucky guys after being devoured by the strange monsters. The same goes for those few monsters [that look like other creatures].
They are actually easier to deal with than the strange monsters because they have lost the ability to devour and shapeshift.”
Through the last page of the Grimoire, Ancestar informed everyone of his judgment.
In a shadow they hadn’t noticed, something seemed to be disturbed, emitting extremely faint fluctuations.
The apprentices and squires approached quietly. Each person held a knocked-out weak monster in their hand. These strange monsters had a fixed weakness. It was difficult for ordinary people to deal with them, but for Wizard Apprentices who understood them, solving it wasn’t hard.
Soon, the strange monsters discovered them. Because they were fully prepared, the group easily dealt with these guys, and no one let the strange monsters get close.
They threw the knocked-out weak monsters onto the strange monsters, inducing them to devour these weak creatures. Consequently, they turned into these weak monsters, losing their greatest threat.
Most Wizard Apprentices had flight equipment. They used Flying Magic Carpets and Flying Brooms to fly at low altitudes, skillfully dodging the attacks of the strange monsters.
The native strange monsters didn’t cause them trouble; instead, the few “Wizard Apprentices” caused some minor difficulties.
“Not a big problem. These monsters seem troublesome, but as long as you grasp their weakness, killing them is like slaughtering sheep.”
Just as Eddie was sighing with emotion, not far behind them, the shadows were gently disturbed, then fell into silence.
A week later, Ancestar’s group had completely cleared out the monsters and even captured and sealed six strange monsters to take back for research.
As they left, three figures emerged from the shadows. They wore pointed hoods, gray-gold robes, and gray, mottled badges on their chests.
Each person wore a mask of a human face in pain, each with a different expression, revealing extremely twisted smiles.
“Hehehehe.” One of the masked men reached out a hand, groped into the shadow, and actually pulled out a strange monster.
“My little cuties. I thought you were lost, but it turns out to be a big discovery.”
The expression on the mask of the man was twisted to the extreme. With a trace of false pity, he slowly killed the strange monster using the power of pain. Then, grabbing the strange monster which had turned from liquid to stone-like, he said eerily:
“Pain is with you. When the shadow covers the earth, ultimate pain will descend.”
The two hooded, masked men behind him praised in unison. Then they communicated in a language never heard before. Merely through their communication, nearby animals seemed to endure the influence of emotions like pain, joy, sorrow, etc., and finally died suddenly one after another.
The three masked men were very careful. They waited patiently for Ancestar and the others to return to Nightlight City before attempting to sneak into the Northern Mining Area town.
“Pain Protection.”
The three chanted secretly. Fiery red Mana, which tormented at every moment, seemed to descend from the Sea of Illusion and Reality, enveloping them.
Accompanied by the extreme distortion of the three men’s pain, their states gradually changed with the distortion. Finally, they actually looked no different from ordinary people.
They approached the town stealthily, turned into shadows, and easily entered the town along the shadows.
On the other side, in the residence of the Wizard Apprentice stationed in the Northern Mining Area town.
Bent, a Mid-level Wizard Apprentice, had just finished dealing with the day’s affairs and was about to rest.
At this moment, his Grimoire suddenly became scalding hot.
“Bad news. Something has entered the Mining Town!”
He rushed to the Alert Room. A magified glass ball inscribed with runes was flashing.
This was Advanced Wizard Apprentice Bayen’s invention: the Sensing Barrier Ball.
Made of magified glass and inscribed with corresponding Rune Arrays, it possessed three functions: Insight Perception, Mana Sensitivity, and Super-visual Marking.
The Sensing Barrier Ball required corresponding Warning Rune Arrays to be arranged within the sensing range. A series of Warning Rune Arrays constituted a spherical sensing barrier.
Once an unknown Mana reaction appeared, the Warning Rune Array would immediately link to the Sensing Barrier Ball via magical signal, instantly marking it and displaying it as a red dot on the Sensing Barrier Ball.
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