NOVPUBChapter 372 -386: The Most Precious Treasure
The corpses of the demons fell to the left and the right, revealing a skeleton head behind them slowly retracting a bone spear it had 鈥渟wallowed.鈥 It was the one who had launched the surprise attack from behind the enemy. Lancelot had encountered a demon squad in the subway of Oasis Fort, and that very bone spear was the tail he had chopped off from the rear of a Bone Demon.
鈥淭he way you鈥檝e got a cylinder stuck in your mouth is kind of disgusting,鈥 Lancelot said to Cromwell with a sense of helplessness. 鈥淚 really should find you a mirror to see if you can retract it any faster鈥︹€
鈥淒on鈥檛 you think it鈥檚 pretty cool?鈥 came Cromwell鈥檚 proud voice through their mental link. 鈥淚f it weren鈥檛 for my sudden strike from the back, it could have struggled for quite a while.鈥
鈥淣ot bad, not bad, you take the lead credit, but there鈥檚 no reward,鈥 Lancelot said, ignoring the skeleton head that was posing and instead began searching the enemie鈥檚 corpses for spoils of war. As with most humanoid monsters, both of the allure demons had several small bags hanging from their waists, and within them, Lancelot found several dozen gold coins, along with a few red and amber gemstones.
Lancelot was no gemstone appraisal expert, but he did have plenty of gemstones worth over a thousand gold coins each in his pocket. However, these few clearly weren鈥檛 as pretty as those more expensive ones, and their combined value was probably only a few hundred gold coins at most.
The spoils were less than he had hoped for, but this was the den of the Mother of Demons. It made no sense for two patrols to carry their entire fortunes on them, and he wasn鈥檛 keen on wasting time searching for an ownerless treasure somewhere.
...
There was a noble lady waiting for him to rescue, wasn鈥檛 that what knights were supposed to do?
Of course, reality was always more complicated, such as this noble lady already having an owner, and the fact that he had just recently been rescued by another noble lady, who took a kiss as her reward鈥
Right, this was the Abyss, and it was best not to expect things to progress in a normal fashion.
鈥淚 still don鈥檛 understand why we had to fight this battle,鈥 Cromwell finally said as he fully retracted the bone spear. 鈥淐ouldn鈥檛 we have just circumvented them, those two were really poor鈥︹€
鈥淵ou really don鈥檛 know the riches you鈥檙e standing on,鈥 Lancelot shook his head as he pulled Frostslash from the ground and slid it back into the sheath on his back.
鈥淲hat?鈥 Cromwell looked at Lancelot quizzically. 鈥淲here do you come up with these words from鈥 riches? I don鈥檛 see any.鈥
鈥淛ust look around you,鈥 said Lancelot as he walked up to the painting with the image of a group of elven archers. He crafted a Dharma Decree with his hands and summoned tiny ivies on the surrounding walls to take down the picture.
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鈥淎h, you鈥檙e referring to this鈥︹€ The skull lingered in midair for a moment, its tone turning passionate, 鈥淛ust how many are there? A few hundred? A few thousand? My God, you鈥檙e going to bring back an entire legion for those Protectors!鈥
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I say we鈥檙e literally sitting on a treasure trove. It鈥檚 also the reason why I had to take down those two patrol seducers, so we could empty out this treasure mountain without disturbance.鈥 Lancelot again performed the Dharma Decree, this time removing two portraits simultaneously, 鈥淏ut speaking of which, what鈥檚 the deal with this state? Is it just because we saw Cang Ye鈥檚 face?鈥
鈥淭o be precise, you were first petrified on the spot by the face of the Mother of Demons. Remember that shock you felt when you first saw the Giant Skull Demon? Did you think for a moment that it represented the most perfect form of life in the world?鈥 The skull rolled its eyes, looking both terrifying and amusing, 鈥淎ll Obyrith Demons possess an ability known as Madness Stance, which tests the minds of mortals who witness their true forms. If you can鈥檛 resist it, you go mad.鈥
鈥淭heir appearance is indeed very鈥 illogical.鈥 Lancelot crouched to the ground, dismantling the edge of the giant painting鈥檚 frame, pleased to find that the canvas with the human likeness wasn鈥檛 very thick, 鈥淲e must have seen her true face, but we just can鈥檛 remember it. But isn鈥檛 this power too great? In battle, couldn鈥檛 she become invincible just by taking off the scarf covering her face?鈥
鈥淗eh, because that face is truly ugly. So, the Mother of Demons is invincible as long as she鈥檚 shameless,鈥 the skull joked perilously, watching Lancelot stack the portraits and put them into the Dimensional Bag, 鈥淚t鈥檚 said that the Mother of Demons鈥 face is the embodiment of chaos, distortion, evil, corruption, and all such negative concepts. I even wonder if the gods themselves could bear to look upon her face, of course, except for that one known in legend as the Dark Sun鈥︹€
鈥淎nd those who see such an image fall into mental collapse, right?鈥 Lancelot summoned more vines and started disassembling the remaining portraits along the corridor, 鈥淏ut how did we end up in this鈥 flat state?鈥
鈥淚t is said that the flowing robe worn by Cang Ye can stretch at will, wrapping around immobilized enemies. When the Mother of Demons retrieves her robe, those inside have become paper-thin, a part of the ancient Abyssal Lord鈥檚 myriad collection.鈥 Clone Well floated above the stacked portraits, watching as the vines continuously delivered the Mother of Demons鈥 collection, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 called the Embrace of Cang Ye, similar in effect to an 8th circle Transformation System spell named Eternal Stasis. For those affected, time seems to stop; they no longer age, all their physiological states are frozen, and they are immune to all forms of damage. My guess is that the mirror that wreaked havoc on us not only transmits images but can also allow some inanimate objects to pass through, like some beauty鈥檚 burial shroud.鈥
鈥淵ou sure know a lot,鈥 Lancelot glanced at the skull, 鈥淵ou say that those under the spell are immune to all harm? So if I draped these portraits over myself, wouldn鈥檛 I be invincible?鈥
The floating skull clearly stumbled for a moment, as if puzzled why no one had thought of this idea before. But eventually, it found an answer to the question:
鈥淏ecause attacks would pass directly through these images鈥︹€
鈥淎lright, a reasonable explanation.鈥 Lancelot closed his eyes to sense a moment, then said to the skull, 鈥淢ove aside a little, we don鈥檛 have much time left.鈥
鈥淚鈥檓 not in your way, am I?鈥 The skull argued while obediently drifting to the side, 鈥淏ut you鈥檙e right, there are too many portraits here. It would take at least a whole day to move them all鈥︹€
The skull couldn鈥檛 finish its sentence, as it suddenly sensed an extremely powerful force emanating from Lancelot. Then, countless large vines burst out from the floor around them, writhing as they pulled all the portraits off the walls. With a rumbling noise that didn鈥檛 stop, these green plants, incongruous with the Abyss environment, tore through walls and holes, delivering the sealed figures of unknown heroes to the Human Knight.
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