The Nefarious Filthbird and the Trial's Eye were eternal enemies. Since the Snake Dowager had allied herself with the Trial's Eye, it was normal for her to be a target of the Nefarious Filthbird's resistance and hostility. Hence, Leylin decided to rely on the Nefarious Filthbird's support, using its chaos power to conceal himself.
Now, the Nefarious Filthbird saw Leylin take yet another step towards success, so its increased investment in him was understandable. It was too bad that Leylin had never placed his hopes on the Nefarious Filthbird.
From the beginning, Leylin never trusted the Nefarious Filthbird. After all, it was a treacherous and powerful dignitary from another world. When he came to the Purgatory World, he had always hidden his most important abilities and his trump cards, and had never revealed a single part of any of them.
'A.I. Chip! Initiate mission!' Leylin began to communicate with the A.I. Chip in secret.
[Beep! Mission established, opening the second spell formation.] Dark runes mixed with chaos power appeared on the walls and fence after the A.I. Chip's voice sounded, before they disappeared completely.
These were Leylin's own preparations. Apart from their concealment effects, they had all been arranged for this moment.
[Beep! Hybrid spell formation has been completed. Operating at 100% capacity, No signs of rejection.] The A.I. Chip loyally transmitted the information.
'Excellent,' Leylin nodded his head. With this spell formation, all the spying elements that the Nefarious Filthbird could have left behind would be exposed.
Only now could it be said that this apartment truly belonged to Leylin.
'Time, time! I hope I still have enough time.' Leylin sighed and walked to the flowerbed, with his hands clasped behind his back. What vegetation had originally been planted here had been completely uprooted by its host, leaving only a few agave plants with their pale yellow stamens behind.
A dense circle of yellowing grass wound around the plants, which themselves appeared to be full of vitality.
'All things in this world are like illusory flowers, and cannot endure the passing of time. This is why I must pursue eternity!' Leylin seemed to have an intoxicated expression in his eyes, as if he was absorbed in the plant's beauty. Soon, however, the plants were wrapped up in a radiant light.
Shortly after, Leylin took out a small garden hoe and began to fix the small flowerbed. He got rid of all the weeds and agave plants, and erected a wooden fence around it.
The flowerbed was semi-circular and very small, its area even less than one square meter. However, it was a lot better than the places around him, with more than a dozen people clustered together like an unbearably chaotic hotel. Although it wasn't the best, there were others who were less fortunate, so he would be satisfied.
The black soil seemed to hold a lot of water, and was clearly rich in top-grade nutrition. Obviously, all the radiation in the holy city would probably change the most ordinary of soil as well.
However, Leylin could not help but take out a few pieces of grey crystal. Within his strong grip, the crystals were immediately reduced to ashes and scattered evenly within the flowerbed. Lastly, Leylin covered them up with a fresh layer of soil.
After the preparation work was complete, Leylin grew even more cautious. A silver beam flashed, and space fluctuated as a translucent grey crystal appeared in Leylin's palm. One could see green at its core if they looked through the magnificent exterior.
'The Seed of Wisdom… It's finally time to use senior's gift.' Leylin's eyes had a tinge of reminiscence.He had encountered the Wisdom Tree in the Scarlet Ruins when he was but a rank 4 Warlock. This was the origin of wisdom! Thanks to it, Leylin had learnt to break through the bloodline shackles.
In the end, he had even obtained a gift from the Wisdom Tree, the green Seed of Wisdom.
'Rumour has it that the Wisdom Tree is the apex of wisdom in the entire astral plane, including all dimensions, planes, and worlds. It is an ancient and powerful existence that has enlightened many living creatures including Magi. Its offspring also possess many unfathomable powers.'
"Sprout, root of all wisdom!" Following Leylin's voice, the A.I. Chip emotionlessly notified him, [Beep! Releasing the seal on the Eternal Crystal.]
The translucent crystal shattered into a fine white powder which gradually disappeared with the wind. A ring of green light formed, growing in intensity within Leylin's hands.
A bit of the green light caused even the agave plants that had already been uprooted to flutter happily. These plants were already being transformed into intelligent beings, even though they had only been touched by a small amount of it.
"Disappear!" Leylin said lightly, and all of the agave plants on the floor turned into ash.
'If I hadn't prepared the spell formation in advance, it would have been a mess.' Leylin looked at the seed in his hand. The brown coating had complicated patterns on it, and the top end exposed a core that was as green as an emerald.
'If this Seed of Wisdom were to grow for a very long time, would it ultimately mature into another Wisdom Tree?' Leylin lost himself in his daydream for a while, but shortly after he buried the seed in the flowerbed and covered it with solid earth.
Afterwards, Leylin acted the part of an industrious farmer as he attentively took care of the entire flowerbed, paying no attention to the clumps of dirt on his elegant robes.
'My seed of hope has been planted. From now on, I have to continuously water it, apply fertiliser, and wait until the day it puts down roots and grows to its full size.' Leylin took up his spray bottle, with a hopeful expression in his eyes…
A lot had happened that evening, and in contrast a resident of the holy city planting a seed in his flowerbed was something extremely insignificant. While Leylin was engrossed in his flowerbed, a pair of Imperial Bodyguards solemnly stared at the scene before them, outside the Holy City.
"What did you see?" Aegnis touched the scratch on the floor and sensed the intent left behind by the creature, especially its intense hunger for food. This left her fearful.
"Very clean. Extremely clean." Behind Aegnis, a black haired youth took off his helmet and placed a clump of soil squarely in front of his nose.
"What do you mean? Tell me the important stuff!" Aegnis glared at him.
"I meant that the marks left in the scene show that there were clearly two giant creatures here. I reckon the probability of it being a giant snake is over 70%. Thus, it is clear that the winner got everything from the loser." The youth took out a device similar to a magnifying glass and attentively looked at the small purple crystals within the soil. The expression on his face was both sincere and focused.
"What I meant by 'clean', was the winner's behaviour. It ate so cleanly that not even a single drop of blood fell to the ground. This level of food craving surpasses normal biological limits."
"Biological limits?" Aegnis wrinkled her brow in confusion.
"Right! Creatures of nature, including serpents who devour each other, will always leave some traces of their meal, either blood, scales or any other remains. However, there's none of that here. There's nothing left. It seems that the winning serpent is under the control of a powerful evil existence instead of its own instincts."
"Was it contaminated by a different kind of energy? Which dignitary dares reach out to the Serpent Plains? Don't they know that this is our Matriarch's forbidden land?" Aegnis' anger was immense. It was clear that she resented being dragged here to carry out this mission.
The dark haired youth tactfully avoided trouble, stating with a businesslike expression, "Taking into account these traces, I believe that this case is connected to the violent occurrences in Central."
"Are you saying that the contamination has already spread all the way here? So quick!" Aegnis' pupils contracted. After all, even rank 4s or 5s like Leylin and Belinda, needed almost a month to cross the vast Serpent Plains.
"In that case, it's only a matter of time before the contamination spreads to the holy city!" Aegnis had a heavy expression on her face.
"That's correct. The contamination has already extended here. Although I would like to say it is only an isolated accident, we absolutely cannot take it lightly." The dark haired youth put down the device in his hand with a trace of fear in his eyes.
"This type of contamination spreads quickly, and can also affect intelligent rank 4 and 5 snake tribes. It is a serious threat to those giant serpents in the wild. I propose we immediately report this to the Snake Dowager."
"Are you joking? Just because of this small matter? Some gluttonous snakes? You want to alarm our almighty dignitary?" Aegnis looked incredulously at him.
Although she felt that the situation was rather serious as well, she had never thought that it was to the extent where she had to report to the Snake Dowager. The Stewarts, as the Holy City's garrison family, could not allow such a humiliating thing to happen.
"Continue the search! Find a damned person! I want to cut open their stomach and finally see what's inside!" Aegnis ordered. She had a faint premonition that this event could delay her for a very long time.
'It's a shame. Belinda… Little sister Sophia…' In her heart, Aegnis was wailing with anguish, but she maintained an appearance of an icy commanding officer. The small squad went deeper and deeper into the plains. Soon, a cry specific to serpents was transmitted into Aegnis' ear.
"Excellent! Let's chase it!" Aegnis excitedly chased after it. What happened afterwards, however, became a nightmare that haunted her for life.
That night went down in the records of the holy city, remembered as the beginning of the Calamity of Gluttony.
-x-X-x-
'There seems to be some disturbance in the holy city today.' Leylin looked at the sky. The sound of a piercing alarm could be heard, but he ignored it as he continued to water his garden.
'According to my plan, those serpents contaminated by gluttony should have reached this place. It seems like the guards have discovered something,' Leylin was unhurried, busying himself with his own matters.
In reality, with all the time that had passed gluttony had already permeated the Serpent Plains. This epidemic wouldn't disappear unless the plains were completely destroyed. That was how certain Leylin was of his own work.
With a push on his end, the original power of gluttony on the plains had become unstoppable. The large amount of giant high-energy snakes, combined with this terrifying power that made use of food intake to break through, created a horrifying effect that exceeded even Leylin's expectations.
'With this speed, perhaps even those rank 5 or 6 creatures won't be able to avoid being contaminated by the power of gluttony,' Leylin's lips quirked up in a smile.
Even a rank 6 snake nest on the plains had no choice but to run away or be consumed by their gluttonous desires, and ultimately consume others or become fodder. There was no other way out.
As for the Snake Dowager? She might an incredibly powerful rank 8 being, and the dignitary who ruled over the Hail Continent, but the Sovereign King of Gluttony, Beelzebub, was no pushover either. As a being who was equally at rank 8 and someone who had grasped the laws of gluttony, he ended up discovering the Purgatory World and making use of his power to take over the whole plains.
Now, it was too late even if Beelzebub decided he wanted to halt the war with the Snake Dowager. After all, as an invader, how could he give up such a huge, splendid area in the Hail Continent?
Consequently, unless the Snake Dowager were to abandon the entire holy city and hand over the Serpent Plains, the two of them would not be able to come to an agreement.
If she chose to give in and gave up the plains, it would be an invitation to share rule over the Hail Continent. This was equivalent to slowly committing suicide, which was obviously unacceptable. It was foreseeable that the conflict between them could only increase in intensity.
The earth trembled, sending pebbled jumping around on the ground. A ball of coiled snakes that was like a star rose above the skies of the holy city.
"It's the Matriarch! The mighty Holy Mother!" In that moment, the residents of the holy city all began to pray. Leylin appeared to be doing the same, but on the inside he was raising all of his defences.
*Rumble* Like an earthquake or an erupting volcano, a conscient that was extremely terrifying began to spread in all directions, with the sculpture at the very centre of it all. Leylin could sense the Snake Dowager's immense fury from the terrifying wave. The other free residents could only lie on the ground, trembling.
'The laws the Snake Dowager has grasped… Are they of bloodlines, serpents, or reproduction?'
Leylin seemed to react the same way as his surrounding neighbours, even looking more devout than some of them. However, he was inwardly attempting to trace the source of the Snake Dowager's laws through her conscient's undulations.
'It seems to be the mix of a few. There's also a trace of darkness.' His astounding knowledge, coupled with the A.I. Chip's tremendous database, allowed Leylin to somewhat identify these laws.
'The Snake Dowager is terrifying. Not only does she grasp multiple laws, but she has already begun to refine her comprehension of her laws and fuse it with the law of shadows to form an entirely new law…'
The realm of rank 8 was naturally superior to rank 7, where only one law had been grasped. From this wave, Leylin had pried into the path that she had probably taken.
'Rank 7 Magi have to grasp the powers of a single law, but in order to grasp multiple laws, rank 8 beings have to attempt refining them?' Leylin stroked his chin, 'Then what about rank 9 Magi? The legendary most powerful realm of all? Does it mean containing all laws in one body and trying to create something more powerful?'
A murky understanding seemed to dawn on Leylin's mind. The Snake Dowager's path might be wrong, but her actions still gave Leylin, who was going in blind, a great enlightenment.
'Let's leave that aside for now. The Snake Dowager must have discovered the contamination from the power of gluttony, but I still don't know how Beelzebub will react.' Leylin watched the battle from the shadows.
"I am the Snake Dowager, source of all snake bloodlines." The ball of snakes uncoiled, revealing the charming face of the mother of all snakes. Every strand of hair represented an astounding amount of power that caused the air to distort.
While she was transmitting her will, Leylin abruptly felt the Snake Dowager launch a probing force even more powerful than before.
'Seems like she still has yet to give up on finding me. Or, has she guessed that I'm the one behind all this? But even if she has noticed it, what can she do?' Leylin snickered.
He was now using an obvious scheme. Using the Purgatory World and the Allsnake Plains as bait, Leylin had attracted Beelzebub over. And, as long as he had the desire to take over this world, Beelzebub would never reach an agreement with the Snake Dowager.
Beelzebub had previously suffered great losses under Leylin's hand, and nothing would change this fact even if they had a common enemy in the Snake Dowager.
In their eyes, Leylin was merely a tiny bug that could easily be pinched to death. Why would they pause their conflict to work together and attack him?
This was reality. As long as there was a victor, either side would have no problem dealing with Leylin later. This situation gave Leylin the amount of time he needed.
"Purify!" The eyes of the Snake Dowager held benevolence and compassion as she spread her arms. Holy golden rays of light rained down in every direction, with the holy city at the heart of it all.
Bits of a dark red liquid were repelled from the roots, water sources and even pores of some giant snakes, and then neutralised by the golden rays, turning into pure water droplets.
'The Snake Dowager of the Shadow World has such knowledge on light-type purification spells? As expected of an ancient being who has lived through the ancient war. She has no weaknesses…' Leylin's pupils shrank as the the A.I. Chip recorded the information, trying to simulate the limits of her power.
While the A.I. Chip couldn't really tell how much power an existence like the Snake Dowager had, just having a vague idea was still helpful for Leylin.
Under the golden holy light, the region around the holy city was completely purified. The area continued to expand all the way to the depths of the Serpentes Plains.
Watching what should be a worrisome scene, Leylin's eyes glinted with delight, 'It's a pity. If I was the only one behind this, just a few purification processes by the Snake Dowager would save the Serpentes Plains. However, there is someone else who lords over the power of gluttony.'
At this very moment, a strange happening occurred with a loud crash!
Large amounts of the dark red contaminated liquid that should have disappeared began to boil. The red motes of light converged and formed a huge ball of red light that soared into the air like a bloody moon.
"Hail to master Beelzebub! You are the Sovereign King of Gluttony, the child of original power, the master of everything in this world." A resonant praise that held traces of insanity began to echo in the holy city, striking the Snake Dowager's holy light display.
"This feeling… you're…" The Snake Dowager's enraged voice was heard from within the holy light, before it was drowned out by large amounts of crimson lightning.
The crimson lightning looked like long lines that danced in the air, tearing out cracks and revealing huge terrifying spatial rifts.
Two webbed hands with seven fingers each pressed on the side of a rift, causing it to roar as it expanded. There seemed to be a terrifying existence at the other end of the spatial crack trying to squeeze in.
"Ha, Beelzebub! You can't endure it anymore? That makes sense-- a place where the World Will is this chaotic must be heaven for you."
Leylin laughed as if he had the upperhand. With the temptation of a huge world lacking a will, Beelzebub decided to take the risk. Even if this wasn't his real body, it was at least a clone with 50% of the strength of the real body. For Beelzebub, the losses incurred if he were to fail would cause his main body to be severely injured and enter a deep sleep, or he could possibly die. It made obvious his intentions.
"You dare trespass on my territory? Do you attach any importance at all to the treaty of alliance, which has been in place since time immemorial?" If Beelzebub was full of determination, then the Snake Dowager was full of fury. After all, anyone would be in a foul mood if they were relaxing at home and someone else just decided to barge in.
While the Snake Dowager fired her questions, the golden holy light seemed to transform. A layer of darkness appeared like a huge web, vast and layered, dispelling the crimson lightning out of the holy city.
After being challenged by someone of the same rank, the Snake Dowager finally showed her true strength.
-x-X-x-
Rumours said that the Snake Dowager could take over the Shadow World, it was clear how great her comprehension of the power of shadows was. As expected, the moment the power of shadows appeared, it replaced the purifying holy light from earlier. Even the crimson lightning and spatial storm's destructive power could not affect it, and it remained as steady as a rock.
"Allsnake Devour!" The dark power of shadows transformed to form numerous giant snakes, revealing their fangs to the huge monstrous palm opposing them.
"Hah! The doors to a new world shall be opened by me!" A multitude of terrifying grey snakes hissed at the owner of this voice. Alabaster Devilsnakes, Giant Kemoyin Serpents and practically all of the Dowager's descendants could be found amongst the shadow snakes.
Terrifying and tremendous force, backed by the corrosive power of shadows, immediately left lacerations on the monstrous hand.
However, Beelzebub paid no mind at all. His skin and muscle was completely shredded, with dark red blood falling like raindrops, but he still resolutely endured the pain. The two huge hands abruptly spread out, using their strength to completely tear apart the spatial crack.
A streak of black light suddenly darted out from the crack, fusing with the crimson moon in mid air.
The ball of light squirmed and then formed an enormous phantom figure. A pair of enormous wings made of membranous meat, riddled with holes, were attached to arms with seven-fingered hands. Black muscle tied everything together; the many compound eyes on the face formed a soul spiral; the flames of the Devil King blazed around him, showing off his might and power.
Beelzebub, the powerful Devil King, child of the power of gluttony, had descended into the Purgatory World! In that moment, it seemed as if the whole world was suffocating. Numerous terrifying conscients focused on this place from afar.
'A clone?' Leylin carefully observed Beelzebub. From traversing worlds and the attack from the Snake Dowager, he seemed to be in a rather miserable state, especially with those two devilish arms that were now heavily injured. He also had numerous terrifying injuries from his travel through space.
However, this did not deter the spread of his power or the feeling of evil. Even the air seemed to be polluted as it spread.
'The main body must be too powerful and he can't bring it over, so he chose to separate his soul from his body and move over with his soul…' Leylin's eyes darted around.
'Compared to moving physical materials over, the consumption of having just the soul travel over is much lower. Even so, he was gravely injured from moving between worlds… Of course, if this weren't the Purgatory World, he would probably just die…'
The resistance that Beelzebub experienced in travelling to the Purgatory World was minimal. If he dared to enter the Magus World, the suppression from the World Will and the spatial storms combined would kill even his soul.
The more powerful one was, the easier it was to get suppressed by the World Will. Beelzebub could place clones at Morning Star or Radiant Moon in the Magus World, but separating his truesoul like this was far too powerful, and he would easily be suppressed.
And if he were to find some small world, where the World Will could do nothing against his descent, it could just self-destruct and make things backfire on him.
Hence, as he could not go to high-ranked worlds nor smaller ones, the discovery of the Purgatory World was like that of a precious treasure!
He didn't hesitate to split his truesoul to reach this place.
'But in his 'half truesoul' form without even a corporeal body, he's definitely not a match for the Snake Dowager. They won't be able to fight today…' Even as the residents of the holy city were quivering in fear, Leylin's thoughts moved further, 'Of course, with his power as the Sovereign King of Gluttony, finding a body is very simple. As long as he has enough food, he can regain his strength. Also, with him around, it won't be so easy for the Snake Dowager to purify the Serpent Plains…'
Though Beelzebub could not do much against the Snake Dowager now, she might not be able to defeat him. This was the truesoul of a rank 8, which meant they were at the same level!
"The power of Gluttony shall rule this place henceforth!" As he soared in the skies, Beelzebub's numerous compound eyes surveyed the Snake Dowager without fear, though his body was gradually becoming more transparent.
Whether in terms of the grasp of laws and flawless wisdom for a rank 8 existence, Beelzebub immediately chose to leave after realising he would not be gaining benefits from the Snake Dowager today.
Similarly, she would not let go of a chance that was so difficult to come by.
"Shadow Cage!" A circle of shadows spread from her body, and instantly turned into a cage formed of numerous shadow snakes that enveloped the whole holy city. Terrifying shadow chains were like agile snakes, twining around Beelzebub's truesoul.
"It's no use! I am the personification of laws, and I cannot die in the presence of gluttony. I will not be destroyed…" Along with his voice, that was like an announcement, his body exploded.
A large amount of energy spread, but it did not harm the shadow cage around it. Once the explosion ended, there was nothing left in the chains.
"Damn it, he even found this world…" A few tremendous conscients that carried the will of the dignitaries conversed above the holy city. Immediately after, the Snake Dowager's face turned extremely grim. Along with loud explosions, the shadow cage disappeared. Finally, a purple moonlight shone down, making the last battles feel like a mere illusion.
However, the slight spatial storms in the surroundings as well as the wrecked regions around the holy city were hard proof of what had happened.
'In an area where his law exists, he will never die nor can he be destroyed?' WIthin the holy city, Leylin's eyes were on the ground as he pondered over Beelzebub's words. 'From his words and abilities, they might all be existences that deal with laws, but Beelzebub's path is evidently different… Furthermore…'
Leylin brightened up, 'The Snake Dowager seems to be rather fearful of him, or rather, his world…'
This provided some verification to Leylin's previous conjectures.
'But that's all in the future! Now, with Beelzebub around, the Snake Dowager won't place too much emphasis on a wretched mortal like me…' Leylin immediately felt relieved. Compared to an arch enemy like Beelzebub who was rank 8, he was like a mere ant, where none of the two could be bothered with him.
It was only at this time that he would be able to pull chestnuts out of the fire!
'Fight! Fight! Go on, fight!' Leylin snickered inside, while looking incredibly calm.
"Just fight, while I quietly tend to my garden and wait…" He spoke light-heartedly as he picked up the watering can and took care of the little flowerbed, as if putting all his efforts in here.
*Bang!* However, his peace did not last for long. Practically the moment after the Snake Dowager's figure dissipated, the sounds of the door being bashed on could be heard.
"What's going on?" Leylin opened the door and watched two snake beings who were like guards. They had emblems on their uniforms and were obviously looking for Leylin. They were clearly the guards of the holy city.
"By order of the Holy Mother, all snake beings in the holy city are to be searched!"
The head of the guards had Morning Star strength. This would be impossible in other worlds. Only in the holy city where the bloodlines of the descendants were concentrated to the extreme would guards have such powerful military strength.
"Sure! But this is property of the Stewart family, and I am a guest of Young Master Thomas. I hope you won't make things messy in my home!" Leylin smiled and leant towards the side.
From this position, he could see teams of guards in light armour already on the streets, perhaps conducting searches on the whole region.
"Sir, we have found nothing!" As if due to Leylin's warnings, the guards had roughly looked here and there through the area vaguely and returned to report.
Due to Leylin's arrangement and the concealment of the power of chaos, none of them had discovered everything, and the little flowerbed was nothing special.
"How about your residence permit? Can I take a look at it?" The team leader sized Leylin up and spoke in a low voice.
"What are you doing? Which squadron are you from?" At this moment, a voice full of haughtiness sounded. Leylin took a look and found it was Thomas, along with Belinda and Sophia. They had arrived at his door.
Thomas now wore a luxurious silk robe, looking obviously humiliated and angry. It was clear that this team leader had not respected his reputation at all, and he was feeling very annoyed about it.
"Which squad are you from? Do you know that this is property of our Stewart family, and Nick here is my guest?" Thomas narrowed his eyes, fingers about to poke at the team leader's nose.
"But… the order from the higher-ups…"
"There are no buts! I'll take responsibility for Nick," Thomas waved his arms around, "Order from higher-ups? Is our Stewart family not important enough to be given special treatment?"
The Stewart family had control over the defences of the holy city. If it came down to it, Thomas could very well rank above his own superiors, which was why the pair didn't even dare to squeak in answer.
"Everything's fine now. Thank you very much, Young Master Thomas! He was merely doing his job, so don't make things difficult for him!" Leylin mediated and then passed his residence permit to the team leader.
-x-X-x-
"Soul undulations, bloodline detection, identity testing— pass!" A mechanical voice transmitted from a small sculpture of the Snake Dowager held by the squad leader.
Sensing the detecting undulations sweeping past him, Leylin inwardly sneered. With his soul force and bloodline concealed, and especially with Aegnis inadvertently protecting him as his original information had been entered into the database, the identity test that was most likely to expose him had its leaks completely sealed. Even if they examined him again, it would be to no avail.
"Haven't you finished the inspection? Shouldn't you get lost then?" Thomas looked at the bunch of guards who hurried away in confusion, with a satisfied look in his eyes.
"Little Sophia! These guards all belong to the Stewart family. If you encounter them in the holy city, don't be frightened, just give them my name!" Shortly afterwards, Thomas made this solicitous offer.
Leylin secretly rolled his eyes. He knew that if it wasn't for Belinda and her sister, Thomas wouldn't have so hot-bloodedly rushed out to support him.
"Nick, are you alright?" Belinda and her sister went into the little courtyard, and when they saw how narrow the place was and how cramped the apartment was, they wrinkled their brows. "Would you like to come and live with us instead?"
"That's not necessary!" "That's not necessary!"
Leylin and Thomas spoke almost at the same time, and seeing the threatening expression in Thomas' eyes, Leylin inwardly sneered. He switched to a smile and said to Belinda, "This place is very nice! And besides, Young Master Thomas is letting me live here entirely for free, this is very rare in the holy city… To be honest, being able to become a free citizen of the holy city, even if it's only for 10 years, I can't ask for anything more than this..."
Leylin intentionally emphasised the last few words, and from Thomas' point of view, this was Leylin surrendering to him, so he nodded his head with satisfaction.
Belinda, on the other hand, looked at Leylin with astonishment. From her impression of him, Leylin definitely wouldn't behave like this.
"But… Brother Nick! How can you live here? Sophia's heart is distressed…" Sophia tugged at Leylin's sleeve.
"Alright, alright! The both of you, don't come back and give me trouble!" Leylin didn't care, pushing Belinda and Sophia out with an impatient expression. He then shut the door in their faces/
"Very good. You've done well." Once the door had been shut, he heard Thomas' secret message, but at the same time he heard other news.
Immediately after, Thomas' arrogant and proud voice could be heard just outside. "Don't bother with that Nick anymore. Look! He actually treated you both like this. Little Sophia, shall I bring you to play at the Holy Mother's Sculpture?"
As their voices grew more distant, Leylin shook his head with a laugh.
"Sometimes, when you don't want trouble, trouble comes to find you instead! Did I put on too good a performance when we were on the road?" He currently wished for the entire world to forget him, and let him quietly farm properly.
However, now it looked like—
...
Night had fallen, and the purple halo of the moon had slipped down. Inside the holy city there was none of the clamor of the day, and even the places filled with holy light had all dimmed down.
After a full day of searching the entire city, and with dozens of unlucky people without papers thrown into the moat, dissolving until their bones couldn't be found, the streets were completely deserted with a desolate atmosphere.
"Activate the bloodline imprint!"
In the small courtyard next to the flowerbed, Leylin looked at his right arm. On his wrist were ten small white snake imprints lying side by side.
These were naturally the bloodline imprints he had made using the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline.
*Hss—* A rank 5 beast spirit tattoo appeared before his eyes, making Leylin's control over the bloodline imprint much easier.
"The beast spirit's power has an effect of resisting suppression, and can maximise the imprint's effect!" There was a trace of a smile on Leylin's face, and soon he saw the brand on his hand fading rapidly and disappearing.
[Beep! The host has consumed the Alabaster Devilsnake's bloodline imprint, initiating connection with Dreamscape!]
The innate skill of the Alabaster Devilsnake was the ability to travel to Dreamscape. Leylin himself had acquired this ability through the bloodline imprint.
However, in his heart, he had some doubts about it. After all, this was something he gained from the Thousand-Eyed Woman on his previous adventure in the Dreamscape. As a result, when his truesoul connected to the monstrous and dazzling world, Leylin did not choose to immediately enter it. Instead, he attempted to draw on some dreamforce.
*Ssss—* The air seemed to shimmer and warp like in a hazy heat, and traces of dark red dreamforce began to fall in without end, sinking into the earth of the flowerbed.
The green Seed of Wisdom seemed to welcome it, and absorbed the dreamforce. It even budded a little green shoot, and seemed to be filled with the breath of life.
The dark red dreamforce was like a fog, and lingered on around the small bud. It was continuously absorbed by the bud, and appeared to have become a nutrient source.
At this moment, it sounded as if a bowstring had snapped in the void. An oppressive voice sounded, and the dreamforce rapidly faded, disappearing in a flash.
"What's going on? I used the bloodline imprint to pull dreamforce in, and it's just this little… It's not equal to the previous times I've used it… Don't tell me…" Leylin's expression immediately turned gloomy.
[Beep! Dreamforce has rapidly decreased, determined to be at the nadir.]
"What bad luck! To think that it also had this uncertain and deceptive characteristic…" Leylin could only laugh bitterly.
Although dreamforce at its peak phase could be compared to the power of laws, it was full of uncertainty. Now it had declined, dropping from the zenith to the nadir. Currently, it was perhaps far weaker than bloodline force.
"I can feel it! The entire Dreamscape seems to have sunk into stillness, and all dreamforce has vanished!" Leylin had a solemn expression. He could feel a lot of things through the Alabaster Devilsnake beast spirit and bloodline.
Not only had dreamforce fallen into its weak phase, even the Dreamscape itself had sunk into silence, meaning that if he wanted to draw out dreamforce, he needed to waste even more power than before. And its effects would be greatly reduced as well!
'As expected, choosing not to rely on dreamforce was the correct decision; this random and uncertain behaviour is basically used to cheat people…' Leylin shook his head, and at the same time he suddenly understood, 'No wonder the Snake Dowager's performance today was so poor! She seemed evenly matched with the divided truesoul clone of a rank 8, it was because dreamforce had fallen into its trough phase and reduced her strength… '
The weakness of dreamforce was both a blessing and a curse for Leylin. The best advantage was that the Snake Dowager clearly could not use dreamforce without restraint, which was the same as cutting off an arm.
'If it's like this, the advantages of Dreamscape entering its silent phase outweigh the disadvantages for me!' Leylin stroked his chin, 'Besides, I have my reserves of chaos power and so many bloodline imprints. I can afford to use them up a little, I can still complete the plan.'
From Leylin's point of view, if one bloodline imprint from before could draw over 10 units of dreamforce, then now it was only enough to draw over 1 unit. For those who primarily used dreamforce, this terrifying reduction was a complete nightmare!
Once dreamforce grew weak, perhaps even existences on the level of the God of Evil could only withdraw into Dreamscape or even take the initiative to lie dormant and reduce their consumption until dreamforce was restored.
However, Leylin staked it all on his abundant bloodline imprints; even if he wasted a few, it wasn't as if he couldn't make up for it.
In any case, he had reaped many bloodlines from Belinda's family and it was enough to support his consumption, and it wasn't as if the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline was limited to that family.
"When you think of trouble, trouble will arrive!" Leylin's brows pressed together, and he sighed helplessly. With a wave of his right hand, a whirlwind of energy particles appeared and swept across the flower garden.
Although he had already prepared for this, the energy aura from earlier could leak out some things, and Leylin naturally would not leave such a huge leak without caring.
After a moment, a dreamlike figure came out from the moonlight.
"Nick!" She looked at Leylin with a complicated expression on her face.
She had long golden-white hair which shone with vibrant lustre under the moonlight, scarlet eyes which were as beautiful as rubies. She seemed like the very personification of beauty, and she had a strange attractive force about her.
"You've come!" Leylin greeted her without even turning his head.
"I already left a message for you earlier, you know this!"
Belinda went directly to Leylin and looked at him with her beautiful eyes that were devoid of restraint, "I know that the outsiders from earlier could have given you trouble so I've come secretly, the other's don't know. Did Thomas, that disgusting fellow, pressure you?"
It had to be said that Belinda was a very intelligent girl, she was after all a senior Sacrificer for the Trial's Eye who even mercilessly exacted vengeance on her own family. How could she not be scheming? Leylin's transformation was far too obvious, anyone could see the difference.
"Even if he did, so what?" Leylin spread out his hands helplessly: "In the holy city, do we have any other choice?"
"I'll kill him!" Belinda let out a murderous aura, and it wasn't faked.
"And after that? After becoming a wanted criminal of the holy city, and really flee to the other end of the world? How childish!" Leylin coldly refuted her.
"So what?" Belinda bit her lip, and her eyes seemed to sparkle a little: "Even if I don't kill him, we can just move out and become mercenaries and do missions, we will still be able to live in the holy city…"
-x-X-x-
At the end, Belinda's voice was choked with sobs.
Leylin looked at how Belinda was speaking in her tearful voice, and was rendered speechless. 'Alright I didn't think my acting would have such a great effect, did the mental suggestions affect her too deeply?'
However, what he needed now was to be low-profile, and he couldn't be together with Belinda and bring trouble onto himself. The beauty of the two sisters would be a source of chaos anywhere.
Knowing this, how could Leylin put himself in danger?
"Become mercenaries? Hah, how would we afford the holy city's rent and prices? Particularly with the Stewart family, you can't just break away from them just because you want to. Against this family who have extended their tentacles in all corners of the holy city, what can you possibly do?"
Leylin could only play the role of a realist, and coldly strike down Belinda.
"Nick, you've changed! You weren't like this before!" The callous words made Belinda a little dull, and she looked at Leylin with a rather foolish expression.
"I haven't changed, I've only accepted reality! Go!" Leylin seemed to wave his hand impatiently, and also violently began coughing at the same time.
"Uh, no!" Belinda stepped forward and directly brushed away Leylin's palm, and finally saw the blood that Leylin had coughed up.
"Your life force! How could it became this weak, and why do you have all these symptoms? What happened to your strength? Has it disappeared?"
Leylin's life force was continuously degenerating, and although his appearance was the same as before, his vitality was constantly sapped away. Compared to before, it was like the difference between a candle and a torch.
"It's an old wound from past adventures, it's nothing!" As for this, Leylin did not try to hide it, and it could no longer be concealed either.
This was the reason he had done his best to avoid conflict. With his strength in decline, unrepentantly provoking formidable powers could only be described as foolish.
"I knew it! You were afraid! Afraid of burdening me and Sophia!" On the contrary, Leylin's condition made Belinda seemingly join the dots.
"Are you afraid of becoming a burden to me? It doesn't matter, I can certainly cure you!" Belinda looked deeply into Leylin's eyes, her figure disappearing into the moonlight.
Leylin stood there somewhat speechlessly: "She actually thought of something? Although it's not quite the case at all…"
However, if Belinda wanted to think of it like this, it didn't seem like it would do him any harm. Leylin thought about it a little, but did not intend to expose himself.
"Now… perhaps after the Sovereign King of gluttony's appearance today, the structure of the holy city is likely to have changed dramatically…" After Belinda had left, Leylin took up his sprinkler again and attentively tended to the budding shoots in his flowerbed. His expression was peaceful and serene, and he seemed to have nothing to do with the outside world.
In fact, this truly was the case. On the second day, along with a heavily injured Aegnis returning home, an even more terrifying news came about— mad beasts contaminated by gluttony had appeared near the holy city!
Even if the Snake Dowager had already discovered this and carried out her purification, with Beelzebub's disruption her schemes clearly could not succeed.
However, her earlier purification still had some effects. At the very least, Aegnis still managed to retain her life, but she had suffered severe injuries, which filled many serpent guards with endless fear.
According to Aegnis' report, a group of giant serpents contaminated by gluttony had already broken through into the holy city. The neighbouring half snake people had suffered enormous losses.
The members of the squad that was with her had all unfortunately perished, and even their corpses had been swallowed up by those insatiable beasts, until there was nothing left.
After all, compared to ordinary food, snake flesh of a superior species was abundant in energy, especially those snake people who were of high rank. It was even easier for them to become the targets of the gluttonous beasts!
gluttonous beasts! This description had come from Aegnis, and was very quickly widely adopted to distinguish them from other giant serpent species.
No matter what creature it was, once it was contaminated by the power of gluttony, it would enter a horrifying state of hunger where it didn't mind what it ate. They were all called gluttonous beasts.
The holy city and the Stewart family attached great importance to this report, They prepared both the city defence soldiers and a great number of reserves. They declared that the holy city was imposing martial law, and even released a large number of tasks for mercenaries and adventurers to target the gluttonous beasts invading the holy city.
In a short while, the entire Serpent Plains seemed to ripple unpredictably with activity, and this chaotic scene seemed to spread ceaselessly in the Hail Continent.
What the ordinary citizens of the holy city didn't know was that this situation would continue for a very long time. Furthermore, in a short span of time, the gluttonous beasts would replace all the previous natural and manmade calamities to become the primary threat to their survival.
...
Time seemed to pass in a flash, and a year went by before he knew it.
"Brother Nick! Sophia is here to see you!" Looking like a younger Belinda, Sofia pushed open the door and walked in. She wore a hunting outfit and looked very exuberant and heroic, overflowing with the vitality of youth. Looking at her, Leylin felt a little envious.
"You've come, Sophia!" Leylin smiled and greeted her, inwardly shaking his head.
Although he had come to a tacit understanding with Belinda, Sophia clearly did not know much. Not only this, neither Leylin or Belinda could possibly tell her that much, because with her intelligence it was impossible for her to keep secrets.
As a result, although Belinda had cut back on coming to Leylin's place, Sophia still remembered her brother Nick, and came over from time to time.
"Brother Nick, haven't you recovered from your illness?" Sophia drew closer to Leylin, with obvious worry in her eyes. It was now possible to tell that Leylin was beyond saving. Although his appearance had not changed too much, wrinkles had appeared on his forehead and the back of his hands. His body's life force continuously disappeared, giving an account of just how weak he was.
"*Cough*… It's alright! *Cough*…" Leylin took out a white handkerchief and covered his lips. The back that stood so tall and straight in the past seemed to have become a little hunched.
"It's already become like this, how could you say it's alright? The Spring of Life that elder sister Belinda asked me to bring last time, are you using it?"
"I have!" Leylin smiled, and picked up his sprinkler.
A milky-white spring water with a rich fragrance was poured into the soil.
The budding shoots in the flowerbed before had now grown into a small tree, the glistening verdant leaves appeared even more full of vitality after being watered.
"Oh! This small tree has unexpectedly grown so tall?"
Sophia was a little surprised: "Only… Brother Nick, why are you giving your medicine to the small tree? Is it also ill?"
"No. To be honest, it needs this more than I do…" Leylin had a deep expression in his eyes, but did not continue his explanation. Instead, he picked up a small gardening hoe and slowly plowed the soil and removed weeds, just like an earnest gardener.
Sophia appeared very familiar with Leylin's behaviour, and immediately sat by his side and began to talk to herself:
"Recently, the Calamity of Gluttony has gotten even more serious! Sister Aegnis said many garrison squads have suffered heavy losses, and the frontline reached the Crescent Moon Lakeside for a while, which isn't far at all from the holy city. There are still lots of giant serpents that have been contaminated, and even rank 6 Serpent families cannot escape. Over half of the Serpent Plains are now occupied by gluttonous beasts…
"The entire Serpent Plains already does not have many places for us to live, and recently even a lot of the holy city residents are beginning to flee, which complicates things for sister Aegnis…
"And sister Belinda, she recently keeps on accepting missions, it's said that she's thinking of exchanging it for the highest grade Holy Light Crystal, and to get it she took on a very dangerous mission, and will leave tomorrow…"
"Oh!" Leylin's hand stopped slightly, but then continued to move. He could understand Belinda's current situation a little, she seemed to accept the holy city's missions without stopping, and exchanged her contributions for materials full of life force, then secretly sent them to him.
These things were almost of no use to him, otherwise with Leylin's methods, he wouldn't need to keep living in seclusion here.
"The Holy Light Crystal?" Leylin shook his head, this type of life crystal was full of life force, and had good effects on purifying and suppressing various curses, it was said to be the Hail Continent's peak grade material, and even though Belinda was rank 4, obtaining this was not an easy task.
An even more crucial point was that this material wouldn't be of much use given his current condition, but it could have an even better effect on the Seed of Wisdom.
*Bang! Bang!* At this moment, a rough sound sounded out. "We're inspectors!"
"Ah…" Leylin sighed in recognition and came to the door. "Please come in, sirs!"
Seeing a large group of guards boorishly rush in, Sophia stuck out her tongue: "There's a lot of people. Sophia doesn't like them. See you, brother Nick!"
The young lady prepared to say goodbye and left, and soon after the guards did the same, fully explaining that they were absolutely not here for inspection, but to serve as a reminder and a warning.
Leylin could only bitterly laugh.
Although in the space of this year, borrowing the Stewart family's and Thomas' name saved him a lot of trouble, Sophia was still an enormous problem. Leylin had already felt that as Sofia came to visit him more often, that Thomas had the tendency to become even more impatient.
"Ah… Just how is Belinda managing her sister?" Leylin helplessly massaged his temples.
He had a very bad feeling that if Sophia's vague affection for him was discovered, the good relationship that he had with Thomas would be gone forever. He'd already failed at shutting her down after several attempts.
He was afraid that his position would go back up in Thomas' mind, from the tool he was currently to something along the lines of a love rival or competitor.
-x-X-x-
The small courtyard that had been peaceful and quiet for over a year had recently received more and more visits from guards, and that was because of that Thomas' secretly hostile behaviour.
'Perhaps he will come and have a showdown with me soon?' Leylin sighed, 'This sort of situation is so troublesome, especially at this crucial moment…'
Shortly after, Leylin shut his eyes. 'In this situation, even if I don't fight back and make some vows instead, Thomas won't ever believe me again. After all I've done that many times already, and having Sophia pretend is also not desirable. With her intelligence, she'd be found out.
'Unless, I directly take over her consciousness, but that would demand too much from me… Or I could send her over to Thomas' bed? No, Belinda would probably go crazy. It's fine if she does, but if she mobilises Aegnis, that'll be more troublesome than that moron Thomas…'
In just a moment, Leylin had completely thought over the outcomes from the situation, and discovered that it seemed as if he had no other option apart from running away.
But that would be impossible! After entering the holy city and planting this seed of Wisdom, Leylin had not taken one step out of the courtyard.
After all, the thing that held the power of life or death over him was here, how could he possibly divert his attention to something else? Besides, if he left his camp for too long, with all these hidden rats around, he wasn't sure he would be able to continue hiding in the holy city.
'I can't show weakness… It looks like I can only demonstrate my strength!" Leylin stroked his chin. Sometimes a reasonable show of force could still be put to good use.
However, he would definitely face Thomas' counter-attack afterwards, but from Leylin's perspective he only needed a little bit of time for his plan to succeed.
"This period of hesitation, I think it can still be obtained!" Leylin's eyes flashed.
"Keke…Sophia, wait a moment!" After thinking clearly about his plan, Leylin immediately called out for Sophia.
"Brother Nick, is there anything else?" Sophia jumped and hopped to Leylin, the fragrance of a young lady mixed with the vitality of youth lingering in Leylin's nose.
Shortly after, the warning gazes from the guards from earlier could be seen.
"Oh! I have something that I need you to give to your sister!" Leylin acted as if he hadn't seen the warning glares from the guards, and smiled at Sophia.
"What is it? Is it delicious food? The roasted meat that brother Nick made last time tasted good!" Sophia's eyes lit up.
"It isn't something to eat, you little glutton!" Leylin shook his head and smiled, he never thought that his cooking skills from his previous world would have fans in a different world, "It's a protection amulet! Take it to your sister for me! Perhaps it will be of assistance to her in her mission."
It needn't be said that a mission where the holy light crystal could be obtained would have a frighteningly high difficulty. Just relying on Belinda, even if she was Rank 4, even if she had support from Aegnis and the Stewart family, it would still be extremely dangerous.
However, in his current situation, it was not suitable for him to go out by himself, so he could only entrust it to Sophia and believe that no matter how naive she was, she would be able to hold on in the face of her own sister being in danger.
"Alright! Sophia will definitely bring her this thing to her!" Sophia clenched her first and nodded her head.
"I believe in you!" Leylin immediately went to the side of the flowerbed and plucked a single leaf from the small emerald-green tree.
"It's this, help me pass it to your sister!" The dark green leaf had a faint lustre, and Sophia's eyes lost a little of their spirit.
"I know!" Sophia put away the leaf like it was something precious, and even her eyes seemed a little more quick-witted.
It appeared that coming into contact with the leaf for such a short time had already changed her a little. This was beyond Leylin's expectations.
"Let's go! Unless you want to be scolded by Brother Thomas?" Sophia shot a glance at those guards who watched her like a tiger guarding their prey, and immediately walked out aloofly, just like a refined princess.
And these guards looked at each other and hung their heads down in dejection, following behind Sophia like bodyguards protecting their princess.
'The effect is this good? She merely touched it a little!' Leylin's pupils contracted as he looked at the little green tree in the flowerbed.
'The Wisdom Tree's branches are so inconceivably formidable. They can provide such great enlightenment and wisdom!'
'No! Sophia was so diligent in coming here, so perhaps she had been influenced by it. Knowing that this place could bring her great benefits, she did not hesitate to disobey Belinda's guidance as a result!' Slowly, Leylin suddenly understood the reason behind Sophia's determination to visit him, and it seems that her previous goodwill was only a small part of it. To break through her sister's command, perhaps only the craving for wisdom could do that.
'This is good, it gives me more confidence in my own plan!' Leylin secretly clenched his fist.
...
At the same time, next to a street not too far away from the courtyard stood Thomas, with a gloomy expression on his face.
"That slut!" Seeing Sophia leaving Leylin's courtyard with a brilliant smile, Thomas' expression grew very dark.
"And that Nick, he actually dared to ignore my warning, and continue to meet Sophia!"
*Bang!* Thomas' fingers directly left long marks on the nearby wall, and a lot of powder fell from it.
"Get ready to go down there! I want to properly teach that Nick a lesson! It looks like I have been far too lenient to him this year..."
"As you command, Young Master!" the other two appeared to be captains of the garrison, but they respectfully knelt before him.
"Also, carefully investigate his background and strength!" Thomas added.
As a descendent of an influential family, although he was infatuated with Sophia, he couldn't lose his head over her. After all, he understood restraint before power. As a result, if he was prepared to fall out with Nick, he would first investigate him as much as possible.
However, his influence as the heir of the Stuart family, as long as Leylin wasn't the top of a small family of descendants, he could easily be crushed like a little ant. Still he would first investigate, just in case.
"An Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline! Even if you are rumoured to be the purest White Devil nobility, I'll still send you to hell!"
Thomas looked at Leylin's courtyard, with a cold light flashing in his eyes.
...
"Sister! Sister!" Sophia threw herself into Belinda's arms and began to act spoilt, but Belinda's expression was like ice, "Did you go to Nick's place again? Haven't I told you many times not to do that, or you will bring him a lot of trouble? Why don't you ever listen?"
Belinda rarely spoke so strictly.
"But… I wanted to go!" Sophia felt wronged. She twined her fingers as she said, "I feel comfortable and very happy in Brother Nick's place."
"Oh? What did he do to you?" Belinda's expression suddenly grew alert, even her finger joints began to crack.
"It's not like that! It's the small tree, just smelling it makes me feel good!" Sophia's face flushed red.
"Nick's darling tree?" Belinda shook her head, and felt that she had thought too much.
Belinda could not understand why Nick treated that tree like a precious treasure, and because of it she had consulted many resources and almost considered the Seed of Wisdom as some demonic thing that could bewitch a person's heart.
She felt somewhat dissatisfied by his continuous attention to the tree, without even a care for himself.
"Mm! Also, Brother Nick let me give this to you, and said it would be very useful to Sister's mission!" Sophia's expression seemed a little reluctant, but she still gave the leaf to Belinda.
"What is this? Is it a calming amulet?" When the leaf touched her palm, Belinda did not feel any powerful sensation, only a slight chill from the leaf helping her mood to calm down a lot.
"It's just some calming amulet? It doesn't seem to be of much use! Why did he give this to me?" Belinda's eyes seemed puzzled.
"No! Sophia feels that this leaf will be very useful to Sister, so you must bring it!" Sophia nevertheless had an imposing expression on her face.
"Alright, alright! I really can't deal with the both of you…" Belinda's face was brimming with a warm smile, she put away the leaf safely and stroked Sophia's head, then her expression changed: "This is wrong!"
She looked Sophia up and down and stared at her sister without pause, "Sophia, why do I feel like you've gotten smarter…"
Due to an accident in her childhood, Sophia's intelligence was like a child's, but today her speech was very orderly, which was a ceaseless surprise to Belinda.
"Have I? I've always been very smart, it must be that sister has gotten it wrong!" Sophia smiled sweetly, but a crafty light flashed in the depths of her eyes.
"What? Perhaps the stress of tomorrow's mission is too much! Has it driven me insane?" Belinda touched her own forehead.
"Belinda!" At this moment, another figure charged towards her, with an expression of unconcealed rage.
"Why did you take that mission? Don't you know that the Crescent Lake has already become a dangerous area of gluttonous beasts?" Aegnis asked. The armour on her body hadn't even been removed, and was still stained with blood… As the leader in charge, Aegnis spent almost every day active on the battlefield with the gluttonous beasts.
"I'll leave first!" Seeing this situation, Sophia stuck out her tongue and slipped out of the door at lightning speed.
-x-X-x-
"What mission are you talking about?" Belinda said, with a blank look on her face.
"You're still trying to deceive me?" Aegnis' voice rose an octave higher, "Don't forget that as the leader of the holy city's garrison, I have jurisdiction over both the adventurer and mercenary guilds!"
"The Crescent Lake Acquisition mission is extremely difficult, and has a Rank 5 danger level! Even those who are Rank 5 will have to face certain dangers, and you think you can do it?"
Aegnis bitterly exhorted her: "If you're doing this for that holy light crystal, then just leave it to me!"
"Thank you Aegnis, but I have my own reasons..."
Belinda forced a smile on her face.
"I know, is it because of Nick? Even though you haven't gone to find him for over a year, I know all about how you ask Sofia to bring things to him."
"Is it because of him that you aren't willing to accept me?" Aegnis' said in a dark voice.
"It's not what you think it is!" Belinda didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.
"It's exactly because of him! That bastard, sooner or later…" Aegnis slammed her fists together fiercely.
"Aegnis!"
"I only consider you my good friend. I'm giving you a final warning, if anything happens to Nick, you'll definitely regret it!" Belinda's expression grew darker.
"For him… You're acting like this for a filthy man! You dare to actually argue with me?"
Aegnis emanated a terrifyingly powerful aura, and many shadows converged at her back to become the likeness of a three-headed python.
"Precisely!"
Even under the innate oppression of her race, Belinda still staunchly looked Aegnis in the eye.
Seeing Belinda acting this way, Aegnis' chest heaved violently. "As you wish!" she panted out vulgarly.
The sound of armour dropping to the floor rang out, followed by the distant footsteps of Aegnis as she left.
Once she had left the villa, Aegnis' expression grew completely dark.
"Bang!" A snake whip slashed out suddenly, and many rose petals and tulip petals flew into the sky.
"Nick!" Aegnis ground her teeth in frustration, but it soon became a cold laugh.
"I promised Belinda not to harm him, but Thomas hasn't agreed. However, shall I go about this a little more secretly?"
...
"It should be here!"
Belinda looked at the map in her hand and appeared to be very cautious.
Currently, she was in a wasteland which had an aura of death and decay, which made her unconsciously become nervous.
Ever since the Calamity of Gluttony broke out, the entire Serpentes Plains was not how it used to be.
War, hand-to-hand combat and gluttony spread with incredible speed, leaving the plains covered in blood.
Even the Snake Dowager's radiance could not move those savage gluttonous beasts, because they were also protected by an Exemplary.
The Sovereign King of Gluttony-- Beelzebub. Although it had not been 2 years since Beelzebub's descent into Purgatory World, his name was known by everyone. It was to the extent where it could immediately make little snake children cry.
In this situation, because of the gluttonous beasts' terrifying consumption, food shortages had broken out in the holy city. In the past, this would have been an absolute joke, but now it was something that had really happened.
In fact, the gluttonous beasts were facing the same food shortages, which were even more serious for them than the snake people. They were already at the stage where they were killing each other for food, otherwise they would have already invaded the holy city.
It was different from previous calamities. Belinda had a feeling that once the gluttonous beasts had occupied a territory under the Sovereign King of Gluttony's command, it wouldn't easily be relinquished ever again.
The Snake Dowager's large-scale purification that had happened in the beginning could never happen again.
When she thought of this, a fog immediately shrouded Belinda's mind.
"Once I pass through here, I will be very close to the Crescent Lake!"
Belinda muttered to herself, although she had disguised herself, she felt very unsafe in this sort of place.
"If Becker and the others had come, perhaps I would be able to relax more easily. It's a shame..."
Belinda smiled bitterly. In her career as a mercenary, she had gained a few subordinates and the like, but once they heard that she had taken on this mission, they had rejected her one after another.
If Belinda had just a little more time and used her own methods, it would be effortless to unite some powerful and loyal subordinates. But just a year wasn't even enough to bind them to her through familiarity, and certainly wasn't enough to persuade them to take risks with her.
"However, my mission this time is just to collect blue quartz within the Crescent Lake. If I don't disturb those gluttonous beasts, the danger should be quite low!"
Belinda pondered over this in silence, and soon passed through the plains.
Past the sloping fields, the scene ahead was reflected in her eyes-- a blue lake shaped like a crescent extended across the plains as far as the eye could see.
A sparkling radiance and a hint of chilliness was emitted from the Crescent Lake.
"This was once the holy city's valued resource point, but after falling to the gluttonous beasts, it has already grown wild. If the holy city wasn't so short of resources with they urgently need to replenish, perhaps they wouldn't have put such a high price on this mission…"
Belinda bit her lip in distress.
With Aegnis there, she simply did not need to come out and take risks. If she was willing to forget her pride and plead with Aegnis, a piece of Holy Light Crystal would easily fall into her hands.
However, Belinda did not want to owe her so much and moreover, she was not willing to give up her dignity to do this.
Because of this, Belinda had not hesitated to risk her life to do this mission.
"If only the gluttonous beasts weren't here, then I would have more of a chance," Belinda's eyes lit up. A tattoo of a white eyeball appeared and flew up to a high altitude, and images of the scene were transmitted to her.
"Roar…" "Hiss…"
It was unlucky that there were several gluttonous beasts lingering next to the Crescent Lake, tearing apart the corpse of a giant serpent.
Powerful undulations that were on par with a Rank 5 were emitted from a gluttonous beast that was the size of a small mountain
"Oh damn it! My luck is awful today!' Belinda cursed silently.
Through the surveillance eyeball, Belinda had already received images of the scene which were transmitted directly into her consciousness. Amongst those gluttonous beasts, one was a giant serpent with many tentacles that had been split open from head to foot. There was also a giant rat with two heads, one bigger than the other, which gnawed its food at lightning speed.
The final beast appeared to be the corpses of different animals stitched together into a giant ball of meat, with a giant crack in its centre. A red tongue licked its white teeth incessantly, and it gave off the strongest undulations. It seemed to have reached the peak of Rank 5.
The corpse of the giant serpent on the floor was clearly also Rank 5, but it was definitely not a match for these three gluttonous beasts and had become their food.
"What a pity...…" Belinda tightly clenched her fists.
That Rank 5 giant serpent was clearly a giant serpent descendent of the Thousand Snake Plains, but it couldn't escape from its fate and became prey.
Although the Snake Dowager and the holy city had done their utmost to rescue and evacuate the giant serpents, the Thousand Snake Plains were too vast, and these unlucky ones often surfaced.
Although Belinda was furious, she was rational enough to not rush out hot-headedly and die.
"Gluttonous beasts have to eat very frequently, so sooner or later they will leave after they finish eating here…"
Belinda very patiently waited and hid herself.
These gluttonous beasts had astonishing military power and a frightening ability to consume, but their intelligence and detection were rather weak. This gave her a chance.
"Click! Click!"
These three gluttonous beasts ate very quickly, and not even the bones were spared. Even the drops of blood on the floor were greedily lapped up until there was nothing left-- The blood of a Rank 5 giant serpent was full of nutritious energy, and one drop of it was said to be better than eating ten low-ranked beasts.
When food is short, the gluttonous beasts probably massacre each other! In that case…"
Belinda's eyes lit up a little as if she was a lone cheetah, waiting for the opportunity.
"Roar..." "Hiss…" "Coo! Coo!"
After eating the prey they had caught together, the three gluttonous beasts sized each other up and let out a huge roar which shook the void.
After obviously testing each other, the sewed-up monster and the tentacle snake left one after the other in opposite directions.
The gluttonous beasts digested things quickly, so they almost had no time to rest. They had to spend the rest of their lives fighting and hunting for food.
The two-headed rat that was left seemed thirsty. Leaning against the Crescent Lake, the two rat heads began to drink up the water in the lake. The surface of the lake seemed to drop in volume continuously, exposing the dried up lakebed.
Within the lakebed, small blue rays of light began to flicker.
It was a blue ore that looked very bright under the rays of light.
"Blue quartz!" After seeing the goal of her mission, Belinda grew very excited.
However, the actions of that two rats made Belinda feel endless frustration.
After the two-headed giant rat had drunk its fill from the lake, it unexpectedly lay next to the lake and sunk into a deep sleep.
The rat's body emitted traces of black gas to its surroundings, and it breathed it in again. In this process, its body grew even more enormous, with a sarcoma growing on its neck. Its aura grew even more powerful, and was approaching the peak of Rank 5.
"Damn! I've unexpectedly run into an evolving gluttonous beast!"
Belinda's expression grew exceptionally unsightly. gluttonous beasts rarely rested, one exception was when they absorbed too much energy and started to evolve!
After their deep sleep, the power of gluttonous beasts would undergo an earth-shattering transformation!
-x-X-x-
The holy city had paid a price in blood to gather information about the gluttonous beasts, and in return Belinda had been taken advantage of by those dishonest profiteers when she tried to get a hold of the information.
However, the information was worth the exorbitant price. It was unquestionably genuine, and had helped her escape danger several times.
'This won't do. If the gluttonous beast evolves, its capabilities will have grown even greater. It might even discover my presence…
"Even if I continue waiting patiently for the beast to leave, there will still be others. This place is obviously a gathering point for them, otherwise the mission wouldn't be marked with such great difficulty. And now… The aura given off by this evolving beast is making the others subconsciously keep away from this place…' Belinda's eyes flashed.
"This might be my best chance!" she said, with a resolute expression in her eyes.
"Dreamforce spell— Hollow!" A crimson trace of dreamforce lingered on Belinda's skin like a scarlet veil, and she looked like she had just stepped out from a fairytale.
As a mixed-blood Alabaster Devilsnake, she had naturally inherited the ability to manipulate dreamforce. After her black conversion, her innate skill had strengthened considerably even.
However, at this moment an anxious look appeared on her face. 'The dreamforce has weakened…'
The dreamforce that Belinda had pulled to this world was several times weaker than before, and its power had clearly fallen. She had a feeling like all of Dreamscape had perished, and there was not a single trace of life. Even the intensity of the dreamforce had greatly decreased.
Dreamscape had sunk into its silent phase, and those with the Alabaster Devilsnake bloodline like her could only consider it as bad news. During this testing time of the Calamity of Gluttony, Belinda could tell that many Alabaster Devilsnake bloodlines had been massacred on the battlefield due to losing the dreamforce they had mastered.
'Almighty Matriarch, please bestow your blessings on my clan!' Belinda prayed inwardly and soon vanished into thin air.
Borrowing the illusionary powers of Dreamscape, Belinda concealed herself completely and approached the Crescent Lake. The nearer she drew to the two heads of the mountainous rat gluttonous beast, the more she could feel its ghastly energy that cared for nothing in the world, as well as its sinister will to satisfy its appetite at all costs. Her skin prickled with fear, as if an edge of a sharp sword was pressing against her soft cheek.
'It's going to be alright.' The gluttonous beast's ability to respond to this type of invasion had diminished, and as Belinda drew closer to the Crescent Lake, her eyes glimmered with joy. Belinda warily passed by the two-headed giant rat and reached the Crescent Lake's lakebed, and the precious stones which radiated a blue glow disappeared without a trace into her hands.
'Blue quartz!' After the success of her operation, Belinda had a feeling that things had gone beyond her expectations.
'Excellent, with the holy light crystal Nick should be able to carry on for a bit longer…' Belinda clamped down on the excitement in her heart, stowed the blue quartz away safely, and prepared to leave immediately.
A monstrous cawing suddenly filled the air.
It was at this moment that the two-headed rat's body suddenly transformed. It opened its eyes in a flash, revealing four green irises filled with an oppressive manic insanity. The purple veins on its body throbbed explosively, and innumerable blood clots and tumours pulsed beneath its skin in a horrifying manner.
The gruesome sarcoma on its neck was enclosed in a crimson light, and was steadily shrinking and swelling.
'Its evolution failed!' Belinda was astonished. It was clear that the gluttonous beast had not accumulated enough energy, leading to a failure in its evolution. This was the worse case scenario: after failing its evolution the gluttonous beast would enter a fearsome foraging state to make up for its lack of energy.
The gluttonous beast was now even more psychotic than the average beast, and it would fear nothing, not even death. The beast roared, its inhuman cry bursting forth into the surroundings.
The sound of something breaking could be heard as fine cracks began to appear like a spiderweb on Belinda's veil of dreamforce.
As it began to crumble, Belinda's expression changed in an instant. The sky flashed red, and her figure was immediately revealed. No later than that were the beast's four enormous green eyes fixed on her.
The rank 5 beast converted its rage over the failed evolution and its hunger into a berserk killing intent, and its fearsome gaze left Belinda feeling suffocated.
"Run!" The enormous phantom of an Alabaster Devilsnake formed behind Belinda, and wisps of dreamforce converged like a crimson wave in front of the giant rat.
She didn't turn back as she fled in a hurry, becoming a streak of red in the landscape as she struggled to escape.
However, the rank 5 existence was still a terrifyingly powerful beast contaminated by gluttony, and its power far exceeded Belinda's capabilities. With a berserk roar, the giant two headed rat approached the impenetrable wall of dreamforce and the figure of a giant serpent within it. The insanity only grew deeper in its eyes as it charged straight through.
The sound of a shrill scream and a frightening explosion pierced Belinda's ears. The rat was covered by wisps of green smoke and the odour of rotting flesh. The corrosive dreamforce had eroded its previously smooth coat into a festering mess, riddled with bald spots that exposed the tender white flesh beneath. It looked extremely grotesque.
The wall of dreamforce and the shadow of the Alabaster Devilsnake had been obliterated with a single strike from the giant rat. Like a black hole, it had sucked all of the dreamforce and even the soul projection into itself.
With a flash of yellow light, the two headed rat's serious injuries healed immediately, and its aura grew even more tyrannical. If it had enough food, the gluttonous beast's injuries could recover completely at a frightening speed, and it didn't even have to overcome any bottlenecks to advance. This was the truly terrifying aspect of the gluttonous beasts!
"Oh." Belinda grew faint at the sight of her soul projection being extinguished. Two lines of blood trickled out from her eyes. It wasn't only that; her traumatic injuries ripped apart the streak of light, she was no longer able to rapidly flee the battlefield.
The two headed rat chirped as it stared at Belinda, sizing up where it would take its first bite. To this gluttonous beast, a rank 4 adventurer was rather good nourishment.
"You disgusting bastard, let's go!" In this life or death crisis, Belinda grew extremely fierce. An enormous black battle sword appeared in her hands.
The only way she could deal with this kind of gluttonous beast was to use large-scale destructive techniques, and heavy duty weaponry could also show good results.
The colossal two headed rat was as fast as lightning once it started moving. Belinda only saw a yellow flash before a titanic force swept towards her, knocking the black sword out of her hands and driving to her knees. Blood spilt from her mouth.
'A rank 5 existence! It's even on the verge of breaking through, at a higher state that I could never hope to reach…' After receiving this life-threatening injury, Belinda could only smile bitterly. The sound of sharp crunching made Belinda look up, only to see that her extremely expensive battle sword which had received the Matriarch's blessing had disappeared into the giant rat's toothy maw.
"It actually ate it…" Belinda lost her ability to smile, and her eyes narrowed, "Don't tell me that my fate is to disappear into this gluttonous beast's stomach?"
The rat beast finished its meal of her battle sword and pounced towards Belinda, its sharp front claws ripping through Belinda's defense and disembowelling her.
"Farewell, Sophia… and Nick…" In her final breaths of life, Belinda's expression was serene. Apart from a trace of regret, she didn't seem to have any feelings of fear.
*Thud!* A shock wave suddenly sent Belinda flying back, yet the sharp pain she expected didn't come. Her eyes grew wide with confusion, and she recognised the mysterious object that protected her.
"Isn't that… Nick's amulet?" She recalled Sophia's reminder, and her heart grew warm.
The green light began to tremble, fluttering like a leaf in the breeze. The giant tree leaf seemed to be full of a brilliant radiance within the sacred light. The veins and stem of every leaf were clearly pronounced, and each one seemed like a piece of lustrous jade.
The boundless green light dispersed, and with the green leaf at its core a giant human-like figure that was over ten feet tall appeared. The giant person's body had a wooden grain texture, with vines and green leaves decorating its shoulder and body. It looked like a giant tree soldier.
"My esteemed mistress, you've been injured!" The Ent said in a droning and nasal voice.
"Who are you?" Belinda asked expressionlessly.
"The Protector of Wisdom! I am from the clan of Eternal Ents, you can call me Benny," the Ent seemed to smile at her, "I will stay behind and hold back this beast, so please leave this place as quickly as possible!"
Afterwards, Benny the Ent bellowed and charged towards the two-headed giant rat.