Chapter 2398 Hunt and Kill Numbers <TOC> Chapter 2400 Shadow Demon
Translator: SumTLMan
Angel only understood the reason after asking in detail.
Unexpectedly, while he was studying the magic formation, Nisi’s experiences turned out to be quite rich.
Hunt and Kill Numbers, mechanical puppets. It sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it has been destroyed and cannot be further studied.
Angel looked at Dangros: “When did the mental connection start to go silent? Before it went silent, did they say what they were going to do or where they were going?”
Dangros: “No one has spoken for an hour. Before that, the soul named Reynolds seemed to be leading them to…”
Dangros fell into reminiscence because he didn’t quite understand the topics discussed in the mental connection, so his attention was somewhat diverted at the time.
At this moment, Toby suddenly chirped.
Angel looked at Toby: “Are you saying, the second level?”
Toby nodded, and on the other side, Dangros also suddenly remembered: “Yes, the second level! I remember, that gray-haired old man kept muttering before it went silent, saying the way to the second level was very strange or something.”
“What’s strange?” Angel asked.
Dangros suddenly stopped, it couldn’t remember…
Angel sighed. He had thought that Dangros, being able to speak, would be more reliable, but now it seemed that they had to rely on Toby.
Angel’s gaze fell on Toby, who proudly raised his head, glanced sideways at Dangros, and then chirped with intonation.
Dangros was confused, but Angel, who was fluent in bird language, nodded repeatedly.
“I understand now.”
According to Toby’s relay, Angel learned what Nisi had said before entering the second level: “This path is very strange, you actually have to walk back and forth twice, making it like a maze.”
Not long after saying these words, the voices of Nisi and the others were cut off.
A strange path, needing to walk twice? Angel narrowed his eyes, having some guesses.
“Did they have an accident, could that gray-haired old man have died?” Dangros’s voice came over.
Angel casually replied: “No.”
Regarding the situation of Nisi and the others, Angel was not too worried. Although the mental connection could no longer hear their conversation, the mental connection itself had not been severed, which means Canter must be unharmed. And if Canter is fine, Nisi would be too.
Regarding the words spoken by Nisi before the silence, they sounded peculiar, yet they might represent some mechanism of the laboratory. Reynolds is well-acquainted with this place; whatever he says indicates they are on the correct path.
Based on this reasoning, it’s likely they are now on the second level.
Once on the second level, the mental connection can no longer transmit their voices, which might be the crux of the issue. Perhaps between the first and second levels, there exist magic formations capable of Blocking the transmission of information through mental connection.
Although this is merely Angel’s speculation, it is not without foundation.
In a vast, strictly confidential, and hierarchically organized laboratory, if it were so easy to transmit messages across levels, that would be absurd. Should there be collusion among the insiders aiming for rebellion, they could potentially learn everything about the lower levels without risking an actual descent, simply through the mental connection.
Such a scenario is foreseeable, hence implementing information barriers between levels is logical.
As for whether this speculation is correct, one would know upon checking.
Angel stood up from the ground, dusted himself off, and walked towards the depths of the corridor.
“Where are we heading now? Are we going to the second level to find them?” Dangros, perched on the storage bead of the cloak, peeked curiously from behind Angel.
Angel shook his head: “No, Reynolds isn’t here, and I don’t know how to get to the second level.”
“We’re going to find the control node of the magic formation.”
Angel seemed to wander aimlessly, but in reality, he was tracing the direction of the magical energy within the runes. In his vision, the surrounding metal walls, gear mechanisms, and energy transmission pipes were merely external constructs. He saw the deeper runes, which appeared and disappeared intermittently, complex yet possessing an exotic elegance, guiding Angel forward with their unique flow of information.
While walking, Angel passed a huge experimental center, glanced at it, and left.
The research projects within the experimental center were irrelevant to him. Moreover, the first level lacked profoundly sophisticated studies. Thus, rather than staying in an experimental center of little significance, it was better to search for the control node.
Finding the control node might solve the issue with the mental connection.
After following the vector of the runes for about ten minutes on the first level, Angel arrived at a seemingly ordinary narrow corridor.
At first glance, this corridor looked like any other, with wooden-patterned flooring and the other three sides made of silver-white or iron-blue metal. Ventilation ducts, valves, energy pipes… everything seemed normal.
However, that was just the surface.
In Angel’s vision, the metal walls of this corridor were covered with numerous magic rune conduits. If each line represented a torrent of energy, then the walls and floor here were almost entirely enveloped by these torrents.
The presence of so many energy-supplying rune conduits here indicated that deep within this corridor, there must be a control node for a magic formation.
In the laboratory’s first level lies the central core of the magic formation, a place where even the layperson could guess harbors risks.
Indeed, this is the case.
Stepping into this corridor means that each step could potentially trigger a backlash from the magic formation. Such a backlash, far more terrifying than taking more than three items from the exhibition room, would lock onto the intruder as an enemy, unleashing the full force of the magic formation for a thorough eradication.
Such a perilous corridor is not something ordinary people would dare to trespass, and even internal personnel, including Reynolds, have never entered this corridor.
However, Angel does not seem too concerned and steps in without any hesitation.
Despite the corridor’s potential for catastrophic consequences with a single misstep, finding the correct footing is not particularly challenging for Angel, given his current level of proficiency with runes.
In essence, this is a contest of computational power and foundational knowledge.
The landing spots are dynamically changing, but with a solid foundation in rune magic and sufficient computational power, one can predict the landing spots in advance.
Throughout the few tens of meters of the corridor, Angel appears to walk casually, but in reality, each step is carefully calculated. He emerges unscathed at the end.
Upon reaching the end, Angel sees a door.
The door is not locked, and the magic rune nodes behind it are clearly visible.
However, he does not immediately enter because he notices a very inconspicuous rune trigger point at the door’s location.
Under normal circumstances, stepping through the door would inevitably activate this trigger point.
Although it is unclear what lies behind the rune trigger point and what its activation might entail, it is presumed to be undesirable.
Angel decides to suppress the trigger point first to avoid any mishaps.
The suppression method is straightforward, similar to how Angel initially entered the laboratory by directly connecting an external rune platform to temporarily transfer the trigger point’s energy to the platform.
Two minutes later, Angel successfully installs the external rune platform on one side of the door.
As long as it is not touched, the trigger point will not be activated.
After completing these preparations, Angel steps through the door.
Upon entering, Angel’s first observation is not the dazzling runes covering the walls but a frost-marked solitary cabin behind the door.
It resembles a coffin, standing silently there.
Angel walked over, gently wiped the frost mist from the cabin wall, revealing the transparent glass wall.
Through the glass, one could see a mechanical puppet inside the chamber with its eyes closed. Its left face bore two overlapping ‘X’s, while its right face displayed a single digit ‘5’.
“Hunt and Kill, Number 5,” Angel whispered its name softly.
At this moment, this Hunt and Kill Number mechanical puppet was in a deep slumber. Even though Angel was just on the other side of the cabin wall looking at it, it showed no sign of awakening.
Angel searched around the cabin wall and found a rune conduit that connected to the outside of the door.
Seeing this, Angel understood that the trigger point at the door was probably connected to this mechanical puppet.
Had he stepped directly into the room at that time, he would not have been faced with such a sleeping puppet.
Angel, with a keen interest, carefully studied the mechanical puppet for a while but soon diverted his attention and walked to the side.
He was very interested in the craftsmanship of this mechanical puppet, but realizing that a thorough study was not something that could be accomplished in a short time, Angel decided to set it aside for now, focusing his attention on the control nodes instead.
Angel was all too familiar with the control nodes of a magic formation.
The room appeared to be filled with complex runes, which could cause dizziness and headaches at a glance for those not versed in rune magic. However, in Angel’s eyes, even the most complex runes could be deconstructed.
Now, he had already deconstructed these runes into different sections, with each section responsible for a different function.
Among these core sections were what Nisi and the others had discussed earlier, “Regulation and Sentencing,” or in other words, a method to trigger the magic formation’s backlash.
The method to trigger the backlash in the corridor outside was also recorded in this section.
These core sections were the crux of the laboratory, with relatively more complex runes. However, in Angel’s view, they were manageable… If he had enough time, he could completely modify this core section, dictating the “sentencing” for the magic formation himself.
But to do so would require a significant amount of time, at least ten to fifteen days for a magic formation of this complexity.
Angel didn’t have the time to spend here, and even if he really modified the core section, it would only be the core section of one layer; he wouldn’t be able to affect the core sections of other layers.
Therefore, Angel directly overlooked the core sections, searching among the numerous sections he had organized for the one that blocked the transmission of information between layers.
Angel quickly reviewed the information and soon found his target.
…
**Second basement level of the laboratory.
In a semi-enclosed room, Nisi looked at the shadow on the ground that was gradually dissipating, his expression filled with regret.
He abruptly turned his head, glaring at Canter, “You did that on purpose! You knew the value of the Shadow Demon, yet you didn’t capture it but instead blew its head off.”
Nisi’s voice was filled with anger.
“Shadow Demon! My Shadow Entry spell!”
Canter leaned casually against a nearby wall, speaking indifferently, “You know the reason. The power of the Shadow Demon had already invaded Reynolds’ soul. The quickest solution was to kill the Shadow Demon. Or do you think you could have removed the Shadow Demon’s power from Reynolds’ body in a short time?”
After a silence of five or six seconds, Nisi finally spoke, “The contract clearly stated that all visible profits were mine…”
“The question remains, can you remove the Shadow Demon’s power?”
Nisi said, “A magic source power could be arranged…”
“I’m talking about resolving the Shadow Demon’s power quickly.”
Nisi paused for a moment, “No, I can’t.”
Canter continued, “Since you can’t resolve it, did you want to give up on Reynolds?”
Nisi fell silent this time. In the outside world, Reynolds would definitely not withstand a rare Shadow Demon, but in this laboratory, Reynolds played a crucial role that absolutely couldn’t be forsaken.
Nisi understood this logic, but the thought of the Shadow Demon made him feel a pang of loss. The Shadow Demon, renowned in —Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them—, belonged to a nearly extinct species in the Southern Region, discovered by at least hundreds of people, and was the only shortcut for cross-discipline training for the Shadow Entry spell.
Nisi had never considered training in the Shadow Entry spell before, but if he could, he would be more than willing. Now, however, that hope had been extinguished as soon as it had arisen.
Nisi couldn’t help but sigh beside him.
As Nisi sighed, a familiar voice vibrated from the mental connection, “Is Reynolds alright?”
Nisi was momentarily stunned, exchanging a look with Canter, their eyes conveying the same message: “Did I hear that wrong?”
“It should be.”
“So, this isn’t an auditory hallucination?!”
Coming to his senses, Nisi asked through the mental connection, “Is that you… Angel?”
Chapter 2398 Hunt and Kill Numbers <TOC> Chapter 2400 Shadow Demon