The special animal hair rope had a sharp hook attached to the top. The reinforcement spell was embroidered on two-finger wide band of fine cloth which wrapped the rope tightly.
The sudden contact of the gray parrot startled Nemo that caused the great Demon Kingâs hand to slip, and he almost fell off the cliff.
Fortunately, the bottom of his boots was attached with a floating array. Nemo tugged at the guide rope in his hand in horror. While continuing to descend, he cautiously tried to establish a short-term spiritual connection with Bagelmaurus.
As long as the distance wasnât too far, it could communicate with Nemo without using a crystal. However, it was just they rarely been separated for too long, and the parrot was usually too awkward that it had never actively communicated. After all, the success and failure of a spiritual connection was a mutual matter. If Bagelmaurus was unwilling to accept it, Nemo didnât really have much of a choice.
However, after the gray parrot screamed in his head, Nemo really fell down.
[Whatâs going on?] He responded anxiously in his mind, almost speaking out in shock. [Thereâs a demon seal in that place?!]
[I donât know whatâs going on! In short, the situation is terrible. We are stuck in the Pale Hive facing a bunch of crazy and hungry demons! Cross is wounded, and Dylan, well, I donât see what his plans are, but he doesnât look very good either. What to do?! What to do?! There are too many of them that even my flesh will be eatenâ] The parrotâs mental fluctuation was like it was crying.
[Where is your body?] Ignoring his beating heart, Nemo forcibly kept his thoughts calm. [Bagelmaurus, remember, youâre a superior demon. Let go of the momentum completely and suppress them! Even if the opposite side is dizzy from hunger, there must have an instinct to survive.]
[My body is injured, listen, injured! This shithole is terribly cold and completely unsuitable for me⊠Further down is the bottom of the Abyss. All those who dare to wander there are monsters or deadly lunatics. Even if my body comes here, I canât output any momentum with my injuriesâ Not to mention the time to get Cross and the others out in one piece, I might attract even worser guys myself!]
At present, his side was still calm, and Nemo thought quickly. Considering Jesseâs identity, this was indeed not a battlefield suitable for him. He could take advantage of the two members of Horizon to temporarily protect the team while he and Oliver teleport themselves through the rift in space.
Nemo subconsciously went to find out the location of the gray parrot.
Then he was shocked to find that its position was like a small boat covered by sea fog, and it was almost impossible to locate it.
The positional reactions of countless demons were stuffed into his head, and his starry sky became blurred due to an unknown factor, and it was constantly fluctuating.
The Abyss was too wide, and the other team moved in the exact opposite direction to them. Even the aura of a giant dragon would be completely swallowed by the atmosphere near the bottom of the Abyss. Countless huge superior demons were close at hand, and the aura was as strong as some kind of thick slime. They all mixed together in one place, constantly changing and twisting.
If exploring on the surface was like passing through a shallow clear river to pick up shiny pebbles lying at the bottom, at this moment, his arms was plunging into a cold bottomless swamp.
Even if Bagelmaurus was there, he couldnât accurately perceive its position at this moment. The terrain in the depths of the Abyss had been slowly changing. Experienced commanders would memorize and calculate based on the coordinates. No one would know the exact spatial coordinates of the Pale Hive.
Calm down, Nemo pinched the palm of his hand.
Not to mention Jesse Dylan, his own state wasnât right. What really sent chills down Nemoâs spine was that he didnât notice the slightest abnormality before trying to locate the gray parrot.
But he couldnât panic at a time like this.
[Believe in Jesse Dylan. That guy is not the type who is willing to sacrifice himself. He definitely has his own plans. Protect yourself, Bagelmaurus.] Nemo gave the order neatly, trying to make himself sound confident.
[Really?]
[Really.]
The gray parrot sobbed for a few seconds, and the panic in its mind decreased. [Then⊠Then Iâll protect Cross at most, and I wonât care about anything else!]
[Please.]
At the moment of disconnecting the mental connection, Nemo quickly concentrated all his energy on the magic formation at the bottom of the boot. In the dimness, he loosened the gleaming guide rope and rushed directly to Oliverâs side above.
âNemo?â Oliver, who was nervously guarding, blinked.
âThe situation here is wrong,â Nemo whispered as he glanced at Godwin who was a little higher. âI canât feel Bagelmaurusâ position anymore.â
Oliverâs expression instantly became serious. âWhen did it start? â
âIt wasnât a problem when we separated just now, but now⊠In short, itâs the last few days. Not to mention, Mr. Cross and the others were attacked by a demon seal. The situation is very bad. I thought it was strange before, I specifically suppressed my own and Bagelmaurusâ aura yet Witherspoon accurately found it. Now Iâm sure that someone is up to no good.â
As he said, Nemo looked at his feet.
Unlike another reconnaissance team, their goal was in the Rift Valley. The wide chasm led directly to the bottom of the Abyss, and the teleportation array was built on a bulge on one side of the chasm. It was extremely dark in the chasm and the magic lamp could only illuminate a distance of about five meters around them.
Although the sixth set of large teleportation arrays couldnât be seen, in theory they werenât far from it.
There was still calm and cold silence in the Rift Valley. Learning that his companion was struggling in the distant darkness, the current calm made Nemoâs scalp numb.
A thought that made his stomach twitch crawled through his heartâ Was this a trap set by his âformer selfâ? The bait was laid on calm and peaceful grass, while the traps were being polished, just waiting for the screams to pierce the peace.
[Donât peer into the Abyss.]
Not long ago, Teleranea had specifically warned them like this.
Will his own fluctuations in the starry sky be related to the âother Demon Kingâ at the bottom of the abyss?
âOkay, then Iâll help you guard the end of the team.â Knowing that he wasnât immune to abyssal spells like Nemo, Oliver didnât propose to go together this time. He simply motioned to Godwin above and slipped down. âBe careful, Nemo.â
âStop the team. Iâll go down and have a look first.â Nemo pursed his lips and made a quick decision. âNot to mention Dylan, Mr. Cross is a very cautious person. If even he has trouble fighting it, there must beâ or once existedâ some kind of very powerful abyssal magic over there.â
Nemo didnât delay. He let go of his speed and descended. Within five minutes, he arrived at the sixth large teleportation array.
His hunch was right.
The rich magic fluctuations of the abyss were cleverly concealed, and a dark shadow circled above the teleportation array with bad intentions. If Mr. Cross and the others really survived this, then the other reconnaissance team would be 80% worser off in face of hungry giant demons.
Not to mention humans, this thing wasnât something that even a dragon can easily deal with.
AndâŠ
Nemoâs fingertips touched the violent power and in the next second it was docile like a sleepy cat.
âŠThis power undoubtedly belonged to him.
From the degree of decay of the spell, this spell should have been activated more than twenty years ago. When it was set in advance, the start time was just after the previous expedition.
This wasnât unexpected. He closed his eyes in pain.
The expeditionary army that crusaded against Ulysses was wiped out four times, and the Demon King almost slaughtered the legendary Tin Soldiers during the fifth. It wasnât surprising that two sets of underground teleportation array had deadly traps.
If the other reconnaissance team, together with his companions, really died as a resultâŠ
Making sure that this spell had not been manipulated by anyone. Nemo trembled and took a few deep breaths, tightening his fingers. The huge and ominous spell broke in an instant, and out-of-control forces surged in all directions. They hit the nearby cliff causing stone shavings and dust to pour on his face.
But Nemo wasnât distracted from removing them. He leaned down and brushed his pale and slender fingers across the dull lines of the spell. Except for the fresh curse that was still attached to the magic array and was aimed at the magic array itself, there was nothing else left.
The old power that belonged to the Demon King, and a fresh magic that belonged to strangers. Nemo frownedâ If the âformer selfâ just wanted to obtain information and then destroy the visitors, there would be no need to seal a large number of demons in the Pale Hive. Holding such great power in his hand, there wasnât a need to cleverly use the terrain.
It seemed that the stranger not only wanted to stop the expedition, he or she also very much didnât want the reconnaissance team to spread the information.
If Witherspoonâs affairs were also the result of this forceâs immediate intervention⊠Those puppet birds flying to Return Town may not be able to successfully reach their destination. Even if they arrive, the information inside may not be original.
If he was that person, that was something he would definitely do. Nemo calculated almost coldly from the bottom of his heart.
If their opponents were really cautious to that point, then even at this moment, someone should be spying on them.
Compared to Mr. Cross, who was almost a dead end, it was calm here, and it wasnât surprising that there was no summoning formation associated with it. Unlike the Pale Hive, the terrain here couldnât block the reconnaissance team. If the survivors reluctantly obtain information and bring it back to the surface, even after studying the sixth teleportation array, the conclusion that would be drawn would be nothing more than âthere was a remnant of malice left behind by the last Demon King hereâ.
After all, the other team shouldnât have Jesse Dylan as a variable on their team and this team shouldnât have been able to learn the status of distant companions.
Mixed with false information, calculate the part that may be destroyed, the surface races would have gotten an âordinary and not very successfulâ reconnaissance result and the scholars would be misled by wrong data, spending yearsâ even decadesâ calculating a completely useless puzzle.
Such sophisticated destruction took time, and their opponents could use this time to destroy again.
But why? Why stop the expedition on the surface?
Nemo couldnât figure it out, and he didnât plan to spend too long thinking about it alone here. The situation was too weird. Now the reconnaissance team could quickly obtain information about this array, and then they will ensure that this part of the team would leave safely by the dragon.
As for the Pale Hive, they could only temporarily pin their hopes on Jesse Dylan.
If it werenât for the fragile mental connection of this place, and the extreme consumption of attention, he would simply want to ask Bagelmaurus to provide constant updates.
Nemoâs efforts were almost successful.
The reconnaissance team obtained the information safely, and even the Mooney Sect, which kept the dragon breath stone flying props, had begun to dismantle the magic props that protect it, ready to mount the red-brown dragon that looked too overburdened.
It was so close.
A tremor erupted, like a heavy mountain hitting the ground. Something huge moved in swarms beneath the Abyss and a soft glow lit up, but the things it illuminated was extremely disgusting.
In the void below the huge crack, a group of huge monsters moved slowly. The monsters had four long legs similar to insects. They were neatly embedded on both sides of a giant body in a standard cross shape, each as thick as Bagelmaurusâ body. The gray body in the middle was decorated with milky white eyes, densely packed, flashing milky white light.
It looked like a star in the night sky.
An ominous premonition wrapped around his ankles, and Nemo swallowed.
âLantern blind bugs.â The leader of the Mooney Sect, who was about to take out the dragon breath stone prop, stopped. âThey are migrating.â
âYes. Donât worry, Nemo. Although they are superior demons, they have extremely low intelligence and their personality⊠Well, they are closer to plants than animals.â As if seeing Nemoâs unnaturalness, Debby took the initiative to explain.
Nemo smiled weakly and didnât respondâ Of course he knew what the lantern blind bugs were, and these things rarely migrated.
There were many corpses of superior demons at the bottom of the Abyss. They feed on the magical miasma and wouldnât move for decades or even hundreds of years. Although they would change places occasionally, butâŠ
Nemo had a very, very bad feeling. In the dark, there seemed to be a pair of cold arms around his neck, and something was approaching.
âHave you taken care of it over there?â In a drum-like heartbeat, Nemo rarely urged. âThe lantern blind bugs are migrating, which is not a good thing. Weâd better get out of here quickly.â
Yes, from the Gravity Maze to here, things had gone too smoothly.
It was like someone planned everything in advance, expecting them to die or leave quickly. Regardless of whether the motivation was good or bad, Nemo decided to take advantage of this as much as possible. HoweverâŠ
The older leader of the Mooney Sect took in a deep inhale and put the prop down very slowly. He took off the hood that he had been wearing on his head and revealed an old face that was severely disfigured.
âI remember this feeling,â he said dreamily. âThis sense of oppressionâŠâ
The lantern blind bugs walked away with star-like eyes, and the darkness under the cracks seemed empty again.
But the sense of emptiness was particularly disturbing.
âItâs Ulysses.â
The old man said in a hoarse voice with an odd tone.
âListen, Laddists, Preceptor Bishop, right? Weâd better cooperate⊠This is unprecedented and precious information.â
âUlysses is dead.â Nemo gritted his teeth and couldnât help but interrupt.
âWeâre not prepared enough, and the number of people is too small.â Oliver, on the other hand, made a realistic stepped in to block the way, stopping the old man in his tracks as he walked towards the edge of the rock platform. âItâs better to make sure we take the available information out first, donât you think?â
âI agree with Mr. Ramon.â Preceptor Felix had a solemn expression. âI do not question your meaning, Lord Karapan. Even if your feelings arenât wrong, this is reallyâŠâ
âI can never forget.â The leader of the Mooney Sect let out a hoarse laugh. âI will never forget how it tore apart my soldiers⊠Ah, Ulysses. Iâm absolutely right. If you want to go, you can go Laddists. Itâs just a little closer, just a little closer so I can see it with my own eyes⊠At the beginning, I saw its head cut off and taken out, and now itâs still alive. Is there anything more absurd than this?â
The one-eyed dwarves chatted and discussed, squeezing to the side of Mooney Sect with interest.
ââŠThen please give us the flying props.â The Preceptor Bishop stretched out his hand solemnly and the red-brown dragon nodded vigorously in agreement.
âNo, letâs just take a moment and take a look down a little bit. Since you donât want to go down, I can only trouble you to wait for us for a while⊠I didnât survive the last expedition only to simply die here.â
He clenched the dragon breath stone prop in his hand.
âItâs not that I donât believe you, but it would be unfortunate if these young men stole it and tried to escape. Arenât they Black Chapters?â
âLord Karapan,â Preceptor Felixâs voice began to stiffen. âPardon my rudeness but if youâre unable to returnââ
âIf I can escape it the first time, I can escape it a second,â the old man responded indifferently.
As his voice just fell, a familiar aura flashed by and a very fine ray of light passed through the dragon breath stone prop. Then it quickly turned black, decayed, and turned into powder in front of everyone, taking away the only hope of a quick retreat.
âNo.â A voice sounded from the darkness far away, full of disgust. âYou canât.â
âYou will die here.â
Nemo recognized the voice.
The ill-intentioned voyeur finally appeared. That voice undoubtedly belonged to Talbott Vanceâ or rather, âDemon Slayerâ Aurorae.
The author has something to say:
One of the two people who survived the expedition was Flint, and the other was him XD.