Chapter 2605 Centaur <TOC> Chapter 2607 Demon Soul
Previous page password is bold portion: 0R57o&#boDr!D
Translator: SumTLMan
“Does the existence of the Wizard Eye Ghost hold any special significance?”
Upon hearing Angel’s words, Daus was filled with confusion. Could it be that the Wizard Eye Ghost harbors some unknown secret? Is he just being ignorant and inexperienced?
Daus turned to look at the others, confirming that Vai and Kael were also bewildered, but since the Black Count had only a nose, it was impossible to read his emotions.
Just as Daus hesitated whether to risk appearing “ignorant” by questioning Angel, Angel proactively continued the conversation.
“It is said that the tribes of the Wizard Eye Ghost gather in the central area of the underground labyrinth. Seeing a Wizard Eye Ghost means we’re not far from the labyrinth’s heart. And the Hanging Prison Stairs we’re searching for is located in the central region.”
Daus remarked: “So that’s the special significance… Is this some exclusive intel of yours?”
Angel paused slightly: “I cannot disclose the source of this information to you.”
Daus shrugged and chose not to press further. They had long been accustomed to Angel’s temperament; he would make it clear what he would and wouldn’t tell you. Although sometimes quite exasperating, perhaps this could be considered a different kind of sincerity.
At this moment, the Black Count had already composed himself from his earlier astonishment and said calmly: “I can disregard your information source, but is this information reliable?”
Angel contemplated for a moment and shook his head: “I’m not certain about its reliability. However, since we’ve already discovered traces of the Wizard Eye Ghost, and we are indeed not far from the Hanging Prison Stairs, I believe this information is still trustworthy.”
The source of this information was Sanders, and what Sanders had mentioned pertained to the situation within the underground labyrinth of the Nightmare Plane. Angel couldn’t be entirely sure whether it corresponded with reality.
However, since traces of the Wizard Eye Ghost had already appeared here, applying experiences from the Nightmare Plane to reality wouldn’t be inappropriate.
After all, these are merely details.
The Wizard Eye Ghost itself isn’t important; what matters is the meaning and symbolism it represents. Moreover, even if they don’t encounter the Wizard Eye Ghost on their subsequent journey, it wouldn’t hinder their search for the Hanging Prison Stairs.
The Black Count said: “Since you put it that way, let’s consider it a piece of good news.”
After a moment’s pause, the Black Count continued: “You’ve shared some news; I shall share some as well. It’s neither good news nor bad news.”
“Just a short while ago, the olfactory positioning point I left near that smoke vent caught the scent of a human.”
Daus raised an eyebrow: “My lord, are you implying that the Traveling Merchants have tracked us down?”
The Black Count replied: “It’s just one person.”
Upon hearing this, Daus rolled his eyes dramatically: “If it’s only one person, then it’s hardly worth mentioning. I reckon they might not even make it past that swarm of mutated carrion squirrels; they might be struggling to save their own skin right now.”
The Black Count said: “Escaping the encirclement of the mutated carrion squirrels isn’t limited to illusions alone. That person’s scent has already vanished, indicating they have successfully broken through.”
This piqued Daus’ interest. So many mutated carrion squirrels, it isn’t a walk in the park to break through such a siege. Even for him, he might end up drenched in blood, and even then, he might not shake off those creatures.
How did that person manage to break through?
Facing Daus’ question, the Black Count fell silent for a moment before responding: “Angel used a moving illusion realm to lead you away, which is a relatively dignified method of departure. As for that person, his method was less… dignified, but nonetheless effective.”
“An undignified method?” Daus asked: “What kind of method?”
The Black Count said: “I only left an olfactory positioning point there, so I’m not certain of the exact method. However, it boils down to two possibilities: either he transformed himself into a mutated carrion squirrel to blend in and slip away unnoticed, or he burrowed into one of them and controlled it to escape.”
In any case, from the Black Count’s perspective, both methods were lacking in dignity.
After all, the Black Count’s sole criterion for dignity was whether it smelled foul or not.
Being a nose, foul odors were an unbearable burden for him.
“So it was shapeshifting…” Daus suddenly realized. But just thinking about that scenario, mixing with a mountain of mutated carrion squirrels, trekking a long and winding path, constantly facing mental pollution, just the mere thought made Daus shudder.
He would rather fight his way out than endure such torment. This wasn’t merely a question of dignity; it was about whether one could swallow such humiliation. He could “bear burden,” but he couldn’t tolerate such disgrace!
At this moment, the two apprentices were also trembling. Recalling those grotesque mutated carrion squirrels that had nearly scarred them psychologically, they had to admit that the person pursuing them was quite formidable…
However, this news only gave them a slight chill; they certainly didn’t fear that person.
“Speaking of which, I didn’t expect you to have a backup plan, lord. Olfactory positioning points, that sounds impressive, being able to sense from such a distance,” Daus asked curiously: “My lord, how many of these points did you leave along the way?”
The Black Count snorted coldly, completely ignoring Daus.
Instead, Angel smiled warmly and said: “Isn’t the answer to that question quite obvious? Along the way, aside from the mutated carrion squirrels, was there anything else? Do you think the Black Count would bother to leave olfactory positioning points along this path? So, at most, he left one in the residential areas and another near the entrance to the path we took.”
Angel looked at the Black Count: “My lord, am I correct?”
The Black Count replied: “You missed one.”
He didn’t specify which one was missing. After speaking, he landed directly on Vai’s hand: “There’s nothing more to explore here; let’s press on.”
After the Black Count finished speaking, he glanced at Angel. The others also looked towards Angel, and seeing him nod in agreement, they set off, leaving the narrow passage behind.
The path ahead was gradually narrowing, but up to this point, they hadn’t encountered any unexpected events.
At this moment, Daus sidled up to Angel and whispered: “Have you figured it out? Where is the extra olfactory positioning point that the lord mentioned?”
Angel shrugged his shoulders: “Didn’t expect an extra one. So, do you have any thoughts?”
Daus: “I guess it’s definitely near the entrance connecting the underground church and the underground labyrinth. That way, we can monitor how many people are chasing us.”
Daus claimed it was a guess, but his tone was firm.
Angel looked at Daus and said softly: “Sometimes I think your thoughts and actions are very abnormal, but other times they’re too normal. You’re truly a mysterious man.”
Angel shook his head, said nothing more, and continued walking forward.
Daus scratched his head, his face full of doubt. What did Angel mean by those words? Did he agree with him or not?
The answer… naturally, he did not agree.
If the olfactory positioning point was really near the entrance, then the Black Count wouldn’t have just sensed someone coming. He would have said so earlier, not when the person had already reached the smoke passage.
From the Black Count’s words, it can be known that the area near the smoke passage is the first olfactory positioning point.
Further ahead, there are magic formations blocking the way. Even Angel finds it hard to sneak through these formations. He doesn’t believe the Black Count’s sense of smell can penetrate them.
Therefore, if the Black Count really has another positioning point, it must be on the path after the smoke passage.
As for exactly where, Angel has a few locations in mind, but there’s no need to delve into it, because if that positioning point has any new developments, the Black Count would naturally mention it.
…
The path continued, becoming narrower and more inclined.
Along the way, they were not without gains. Besides previously discovering traces of the Wizard Eye Ghost, they later found several skeletons.
They were all human, with some residual traces of the extraordinary. After identification, they should have been dead for a long time, at least over five hundred years, and their strength was about at the peak apprentice level.
The deaths of these skeletons were roughly of two types: one was being killed by other humans, the other was being killed by monsters.
And according to the pheromone amplifier detector, the monsters were still Wizard Eye Ghosts, and their aura was even more complex than the ones found earlier at the centaur statue.
This means that this apprentice who was killed was beaten to death by a group. That is to say, there is more than one Wizard Eye Ghost.
This seems to further prove that Angel’s information is not unfounded.
As for these skeletons’ “relics.”
Indeed, there were some undamaged space pouches containing miscellaneous items, hard to tell good from bad. And these things, Angel allocated to Kael.
After all, speaking of it, Kael is the true owner of the key and can be considered the initiator of the adventure.
As the leader, Angel deprived Kael of the interest in studying history and could only compensate him in other ways. Therefore, as long as it’s not particularly dangerous or unknown items, Angel would prioritize Kael.
After walking for several more minutes, they saw the second narrow passage from afar.
The second narrow passage was even more exaggerated than the first, directly narrowing the path to only half its width, and looking from here, it continued to narrow inside.
“Could it be that in the end, it’s only the size of an alley?” Daus muttered.
“It’s not possible, but certain,” Angel said: “The short stretch we walked before was the abnormal one.”
That can be considered an official deliberate psychological pressure, a show of force; now it is gradually becoming normal.
After all, narrow passages are the norm in underground labyrinths. You should know that when Angel was navigating the underground labyrinth of the Nightmare Plane, he mostly walked through narrow paths; even the place where that wall was located was a not-so-wide alley.
“Pay attention to the statues ahead, they seem to show signs of life,” the voice of the Black Count echoed.
Everyone’s hearts tightened as they followed the Black Count’s voice and looked ahead.
Just like the previous narrow passage, there were statues on both sides. However, instead of the “frontal image” centaurs from before, there were now two extremely common gargoyles.
The centaurs were true statues, serving as a warning to outsiders: do not enter without invitation.
Gargoyles, on the other hand, are half-statue, half-demon creatures. The consequence of trespassing without permission is facing the gargoyles’ attacks.
However, these two gargoyles appeared to have severe patina.
Even with the Black Count’s reminder that the gargoyles seemed to exhibit signs of life, no matter how Angel used his mental power to perceive them, he couldn’t detect any anomalies. There were no signs of them shedding their stone shells to transform into demonic creatures.
Curious, Angel walked up to the gargoyles.
This time, he observed the gargoyles more “deeply”——he directly broke off one of the gargoyle’s fingers.
Still, there was no reaction.
At that moment, the stone slab carrying the Black Count flew over, hovering directly at the gargoyle’s brow.
After a moment, the Black Count said: “These are two gargoyles that have slept themselves to death.”
“Slept themselves to death?”
The Black Count replied: “Gargoyles often sleep for decades at a time, but ten thousand years is too long, a duration so prolonged that even creatures like gargoyles have entered a state of sleep-death.”
“Then are they still alive?” Vai asked curiously.
“They are alive, but no different from dead, because they can no longer wake up,” the Black Count explained: “Even if you cut off their heads, they would simply die along with it, rather than being awakened by external forces. After all, these are just ordinary little demon gargoyles… If they were obsidian gargoyles, perhaps continuous burning could awaken them after ten thousand years of slumber.”
What the Black Count said was another blind spot in everyone’s knowledge. Although it had no practical use for their current situation, it didn’t prevent them from silently committing it to memory.
Gargoyles, these demonic creatures famous for their deep slumber, could also completely sleep themselves to death, as long as the time scale was stretched indefinitely…
“Since they’ve slept to death, should we cut them down?” Daus had already placed his hand on the sword at his waist.
Looking at the two gargoyles with ferocious appearances but actually posing no threat, Angel sighed softly: “Let them continue sleeping. In fact, sleeping to death isn’t a bad way to go.”
As he spoke, Angel extended his finger and gently tapped the gargoyle’s brow.
Everyone faintly sensed a slight fluctuation of magic.
The Black Count chuckled softly: “You are quite interesting, even casting Dream Entry on them. Are you afraid they aren’t sleeping soundly enough?”
Angel spread his hands: “Since they can’t wake up, let’s give them one last beautiful dream.”
With that, Angel turned around and headed deeper into the narrow passage.
Daus frowned: “Isn’t his behavior a bit strange?”
Vai glared at him: “What do you know? This is the romance of Lord Super Dimensional. Gifting Beautiful Dreams to gargoyles in eternal slumber, it sounds just like a fairytale.”
Interrupted by Vai, Daus forgot what he previously found strange and retorted: “If you replace the gargoyle with a beautiful woman’s name, I’d consider it romantic. Gifting beautiful dreams to gargoyles? How is that romantic? There’s something wrong with his head.”
Vai retorted: “Since the famous Red Sword views Lord Super Dimensional that way, why are you telling me through the mental connection? Just say it out loud, or shall I help you tell Lord Super Dimensional?”
Daus hurriedly grabbed Vai: “Only good friends talk like this, you don’t understand. Don’t think about ruining my relationship with Angel. Give it up; you can’t come between us.”
The back-and-forth between the two fools behind did not affect the group’s exploration progress.
After passing through the second narrow passage, it didn’t take long before they reached the fourth one.
This might be the last narrow passage, because beyond the fourth one, the path returned to being an alley, wide enough for three to four people to walk side by side.
Moreover, the fourth narrow passage was no longer sloping downward; it had returned to a flat, straight path.
Previously, at the third narrow passage, gargoyles had already appeared.
At the fourth narrow passage, there were naturally corresponding guards, but this time, the guards were completely different from before.
At both ends of this narrow passage, there was a wall sconce, and within each sconce burned a pale blue flame.
They were called flames, but everyone could sense that this kind of flame didn’t exist in the material world, it was a kind of mimetic fire.
It was a flame mimicked by some other non-material plane lifeform. As for exactly which kind of non-material plane lifeform it was, the formal wizards present basically already had an idea in their hearts.