Chapter 323 Returning to Twilight <TOC> Chapter 325 Closing the Passage
Next page password is bold portion: nupi_6?t0iX
Translator: SumTLMan
The women’s bathhouse, walking from the Twilight entrance, was directly in front of the first fork in the road.
Previously obscured by mist, Angel could only vaguely see broken stones and speckled bloodstains near the women’s bathhouse. Now, as he approached, he realized that it was even more dilapidated than he had imagined. All the other buildings around were intact, but the women’s bathhouse was more than half destroyed from the outside.
Angel estimated that it was damaged during Sanders’ exploration of the nest and his battle with the Dragonfly Guard.
The bathhouse was an oval-shaped building, like a horizontally sliced egg. At first, Angel thought it was a theater or a performance venue because only such places requiring large audiences would be built so large.
Later, he realized that it was actually a high-end entertainment venue serving wizards, akin to a luxurious den. It also doubled as a slave market, selling beautiful men and women who primarily provided intimate services, most of whom were ordinary people. Even some low-level apprentices volunteered to serve official wizards in the hope of obtaining resources.
No human settlement could be absolutely clean. Angel held no prejudice against such places, although he had never entered one before. Now, for the first time, he stepped inside, but all that remained were broken golden stone walls and gem ornaments, no exquisite beauties.
In the deserted outer hall, a fountain of rich red wine was flowing straight ahead. Before getting close, he could smell the fragrance of grapes, with purple-red wine constantly gushing from the mouths of dolphin statues, mixed with faint golden shattered light.
This golden shimmer contained a peculiar energy. Angel sniffed at his finger and detected components similar to Salomon’s, capable of soothing tired nerves, disrupting the brain’s reward system, and even causing addiction. In short, the wine here was not just wine, but also a liquid drug.
Angel walked past the fountain, and under the resplendent murals, he saw a row of plants that stirred mixed emotions in him.
He had only seen low-level magical plants outside, none worthy of picking. But in the front hall of the women’s bathhouse, they used a row of low-level magical plants as decorations, how could his feelings not be mixed?
“Snake Mildew Flowers for making coagulant potions, Soothsay Elixir Nettle that can be used as an anesthetic just by use of smelling, and Night Branch that bears Moon Ice…” Angel looked at the row of low-level magical plants, sighing. Indeed, those who made a fortune were truly fortunate.
Among the Soothsay Elixir Nettle, Angel picked a seedling; from a Night Branch tree, he took a twig. Then, he stored them in his bracelet. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take more, but the space for living things in his bracelet was too small…
Having picked magical plants worth nearly a hundred magic crystals, Angel’s lips curled in a smug smile, and he happily walked toward the inner hall.
Under Sanders’ guidance, Angel smoothly arrived at the entrance to the inner hall where the nest was located.
Standing outside the closed door, Sanders whispered, “Are you nervous? If you’re scared, we can revise the plan.”
“Not nervous.” Angel’s eyes were almost squinting with laughter, there was no way he could be nervous.
Sanders detected excitement in Angel’s words and approvingly said, “Are you excited? About an unknown adventure?” As a practical wizard, Sanders naturally hoped to see his disciple face challenges fearlessly instead of being heavily protected in an ivory tower.
“Yes, I’m excited,” Angel responded while rubbing his palms together, looking ready for action. “This women’s bathhouse is incredibly luxurious; they’ve embedded magic crystals directly into the walls. I’ve already collected over fifty crystals as I walked!”
Sanders, slightly disappointed, thought, “I assumed your slow pace was due to caution. So you were actually picking magic crystals? I didn’t expect this from you, Angel!”
“You’ve spent almost an hour in the women’s bathhouse. Given your alchemy speed, do you think you could only earn fifty magic crystals in an hour?” Sanders scolded Angel for wasting time without actually pointing at his nose.
Angel, upon hearing Sanders’ words, realized that he might have been a bit blinded. A simple calculation would show that if he focused on alchemy, earning fifty magic crystals in an hour would be a piece of cake. Yet he spent an hour collecting crystals from the walls? If that wasn’t wasting time, what was?
Despite his newfound understanding, Angel still thought: getting free stuff is simply too satisfying.
“Don’t worry. A few dozen magic crystals mean nothing to the Paradise House. If they knew you resolved the issue with the inner hall’s Colorful Dragonfly Nest, they wouldn’t mind rewarding you with thousands of magic crystals,” Sanders said.
Upon hearing this, Angel hurriedly waved his hand, “Mentor, please don’t reveal my involvement.” He feared people would trace the problem back to him, and while he could handle Twilight alone, he couldn’t afford to offend the grand Paradise House.
Sanders understood his concerns and teasingly called him a coward.
“Go ahead, but be careful. If the Colorful Dragonflies attack you, immediately release the Nightmare Domain and send the Teacup Band to distract them. I’m now hiding in the mist at the top of the inner hall, so you only need to buy me a second or two to save you.”
“Okay.” Although Angel wasn’t nervous, Sanders’ serious warning made him proceed with caution.
Gently pushing the door open, Angel peeked inside: a dense fog made it impossible to see anything clearly.
After several seconds, Angel didn’t notice anything unusual and decided to quietly push the door wider.
Through the gap, all he could see was the hazy fog. But as he fully opened the door, Angel could vaguely see a massive object hidden within the gray mist!
Just from the barely visible dark shadow, it was evident how enormous the object in the mist was.
Angel stood at the entrance without moving, keeping in contact with Sanders and describing the massive shadow.
“That’s right, that’s the nest of the Colorful Dragonflies. Every once in a while, it will spray out a wave of parasites, and then you’ll be able to see it clearly,” Sanders spoke rapidly, clearly ready for battle as well.
It didn’t take long before Angel witnessed the spectacular sight of the “luminescent spray.”
When the fine light burst forth, it seemed like a hurricane had swept through, clearing the mist in the hall. Following that, countless fine lights swarmed out of the dimly lit hall like fireflies. Angel looked on without any fear, only feeling that it was a wonderfully dreamlike spectacle.
With the aid of these fine lights, Angel could clearly see the entire nest.
The hall of the female bathhouse was already over ten meters high, and the height of the nest occupied about seven to eight meters. The nest had a peculiar appearance, with hundreds of spheres connected by yellowish viscous liquid. Each sphere had a dark tunnel, and the fine lights emerged from within, resembling a beehive.
If it was a collective consciousness species, their nest would serve as a birthing chamber. Would it be like bees or ants, with other workers serving the female at the top of the pyramid? Would that female be the queen of the entire nest?
Angel curiously asked Sanders.
“No. Last time, when I destroyed part of their nest, there were only nearly a hundred Colorful Dragonflies. They don’t reproduce parasites through breeding, but rather through some ritual-like ability, praying to obtain a large number of parasites.” Sanders paused, “Their breeding target seems to be limited to the Five-colored Dragonflies.”
After explaining, Sanders asked Angel, “They didn’t attack you?”
Angel replied, “A Five-colored Dragonfly followed me the whole way, but they only kept praising Shava and did nothing else. I didn’t see any healing of the Colorful Dragonflies.”
“You go in and walk slowly towards the nest.”
As Angel walked in, it didn’t take long for the Colorful Dragonflies to appear, fluttering in a figure-eight pattern towards him. Sanders, hiding in the ceiling of the female bathhouse, also witnessed this scene.
During his last visit, this group of Colorful Dragonflies directly engaged in battle. Sanders casually killed a few and left the rest for later research, as his primary goal was to close the passage.
In contrast to his previous experience, the Colorful Dragonflies didn’t make any moves even when they flew near Angel.
“Can you sense their emotions?”
“I can, but their emotional expression is poor. There’s a lot I can’t figure out, but I can confirm that they probably have no malice towards me.” Angel’s statement was conservative. Not only were they devoid of malice, but the Colorful Dragonflies, like the five-colored ones, incessantly thought of praising Shava. However, just like the Five-colored Dragonflies, their vocabulary was extremely limited, with phrases such as “as pure as moonlight,” “the queen’s grace,” and “your noble excellency.” It seemed as though there were no other words they could use.
Upon hearing this, Sanders finally breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good. Now test their tolerance limit for you. Head towards the nest and climb step by step to the top, where the passage is located!”
“Remember, once they stop you from moving forward, your mission is complete. Then exit, and I’ll be waiting to pick you up outside.”
Angel followed Sanders’ instructions, cautiously testing the limits of the Colorful Dragonflies.
However, Angel later discovered that the Colorful Dragonflies had no limits for him. Angel climbed to the top of the nest, saw the passage spewing a thin mist, and the dragonflies never tried to stop him.
When he left the female bathhouse unharmed, Sanders emerged from the side, patted him on the shoulder: “I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly. It seems that ‘Shava’s’ status in the dream world is quite high. I had prepared several escape plans, but it seems they are not needed now. As long as the passage on your side can be closed smoothly, this mist incident will not be a big deal. For those who have been parasitized, it is still a significant benefit.”
Sanders led Angel to a mansion, outside of which a lion statue roared.
“This is the private residence of ‘Azure Lion’ Deidweia.”
Chapter 323 Returning to Twilight <TOC> Chapter 325 Closing the Passage