"Mister Dark Earl was right. We didn't run into any monsters at all."
The group walked a bit further without encountering any monsters. Kael, who was feeling a little nervous, couldn't help but exclaim.
However, Angor suddenly stopped walking.
The others who didn't use their spirit feelers all looked at Angor in confusion.
"What's wrong?" Dorcas asked.
"Elmi sensed a large number of living creatures hiding nearby. If I'm not mistaken, we've run into monsters …" Angor spoke in a small voice.
Everyone turned to look at Kael.
Kael was just complaining about not encountering any monsters a second ago, and now, monsters showed up. Everyone knew it was just a coincidence, but it was still too much of a coincidence.
"You called me a jinx. Now you see who's the real jinx," Dorcas said. At this moment, Dorcas spoke up, "Khael, didn't I tell you not to speak nonsense before coming here? You have a crow's mouth, and it's not like you don't know that. Ugh, I've been your scapegoat for so long. Geez. "
Kael felt a little wronged. "You didn't tell me before coming. No, I'm not a jinx. This time, this time …"
Dorcas looked a little proud. "What's wrong? You want to say it's a coincidence? How can there be such a coincidence? "
Kael pouted. He couldn't find anything to refute Dorcas' words. He could only explain that Dorcas didn't say anything before coming here. He made it up.
Compared to Dorcas' smug look, everyone preferred to believe Kael who kept a low profile.
But it didn't matter who they believed.
More importantly, the originally heavy atmosphere had been broken by Dorcas's interruption. Kael, who was the center of attention, slowly moved away from everyone's sight.
"You're quite protective of your own people." Angor's voice suddenly came from their Spirit Bond. He was looking at Dorcas.
Dorcas froze for a moment and pretended not to understand. "Huh?"
"Kael didn't jinx it this time. The monster we encountered this time is a bit special." Kael nodded.
With that, he waved a hand, and the so-called "monster" appeared on the screen.
On one side of the wall not far away, vines as thick as an adult's thigh were crawling all over. These vines intertwined and moved slowly, like wriggling pythons.
The branches of the vines were pitch-black, but they were covered with red thorns. At a glance, one could tell that they were unusually sharp and might even be poisonous.
Vine-type monsters were not rare. Before they entered the underground labyrinth, they had encountered many of them in the ruins above ground. But he wasn't joking when he said the vine was "special".
Because, in the middle of these wriggling and densely packed vines, there was an empty space, without any vines.
And this blank space was a pitch-black hole.
In other words, this was the second fork they encountered after choosing this direction.
"This … this is the dog hole we saw before, right?" Wai checked the size of the hole and spoke hesitantly.
"Yes, it's about the same size as the dog hole we saw before. But the vines are very dense, so the hole might not be as big as we saw it. Maybe the other parts of the hole are covered by the vines, "Angor explained.
Angor paused for a moment before he continued, "Now we have two choices. Either go around them or keep moving forward. Go around the circle, or try to find the hidden path behind the vines. "
Angor still wanted to vote first. As for the final decision, they would wait for the result of the vote.
Kael and Wai both gave up. Dorcas frowned. "I have some ideas, but I don't think they're real. I don't want to believe them. Let's let Angor and Black Earl decide. "
The fictional inspiration that Dorcas spoke of sounded very mysterious, but it had the same meaning as "fictional pain".
Imaginary pain was a term used by the wizarding civilization. According to Jon, it was called "phantom limb pain" or "phantom pain". It usually meant that even if a patient was amputated, he or she would still feel that the amputated limb was still there, and the "phantom limb" would cause intense pain.
As for why this "phantom pain" would happen, the wizarding world explained it as "soul wailing". As long as a person was not dead, his or her soul was still intact. Souls did not participate in physical activities, but when they sensed that a part of their body was missing, they would "wail" in pain.
Angor did not know if this was the right answer. He did not do any research on this topic. But it was easy to understand Dorcas' idea by thinking about "imaginary pain".
Dorcas' idea was temporarily gone. But before this, it was still very active, and Dorcas even treated it as an "organ" that he could use like an extension of his body. Now that his "organ" was gone, the idea came naturally, just like "imaginary pain".
Because Dorcas felt that his idea might be imaginary, he did not even tell Angor what his idea was. Instead, he let Angor and Black Earl make the decision.
Angor did not say anything either. His so-called vote was just a formality. As for what choice to make, he already had a preference in his mind.
"Do you have any suggestions, Lord Black Earl?" Angor asked.
Black Earl: "You shouldn't ask me that question. You're the one who knows the Stairs of Hanging Prison best."
Angor shrugged. "I'm only familiar with the path from the Stairs of Hanging Prison to the destination. I'm not familiar with the path to the Stairs of Hanging Prison. But I do have a preference. Personally, I prefer the path of vines. "
Black Earl: "Why?"
Angor: "A combination of many factors. First, I think this path might be the right one."
Dorcas could not help but complain about the first factor. "I'm not talking about inspiration, and you're still talking about it."
Angor: "It's not really inspiration. It's just a feeling I got from combining some information."
To put it simply, the "server" in Angor's mind space had been collecting information along the way. When all kinds of information were combined together, the "server" already gave Angor the most likely answer before he could figure it out.
This was what Angor meant by "feeling". It was very different from "inspiration".
"If you don't agree with my first factor, I'll continue. Second, I asked El Mi to spread the shadow to another path. The further we go, the more monsters there are. In other words, if we don't take the path of vines, we might enter a place where monsters are active. I don't think the Stairs of Hanging Prison will be built in a place where monsters are active.
"Third, these vines don't seem to be going anywhere at all. They just wander around that small area. They seem to be more like guards guarding this road, rather than predatory monsters occupying the land. "
"Think about it carefully. There are usually three narrow entrances in the working area outside, which are used to warn, guard, and expel outsiders. The Stairs of Hanging Prison is the most important place in the organization, so it should have guards too, just like Daytime.
"There's a fourth factor, but it's a bit far-fetched. Listen to it for now. Personally, I think that vine-type monsters are actually more friendly to wood spirits. Therefore, when the wood spirit comes here, the vines shouldn't make things too difficult for it. "
Angor stopped talking after explaining these four points. He looked at everyone and waited for their feedback.
Dorcas did not argue with Angor this time. He nodded and said, "As I said, you two can decide. As long as the Black Earl agrees, then we will fight with those vines … But to be honest, your first three reasons did not move me. Instead, the so-called far-fetched fourth reason that you spoke of has a very high possibility. "
Angor raised an eyebrow. He did not respond to Dorcas' comment.
From Dorcas' words, Angor could tell that even if he had lost his inspiration, he was still a wizard who relied on intuition. Compared to Angor's "evidence", Dorcas preferred to believe in a hypothesis that might not be true at all.
On the other hand, the Dark Earl thought for a moment and said, "I've thought about it, but I can't find a valid reason to refute you. Since that's the case, let's do as you say. "
Since the Dark Earl had made his decision, everyone stopped hesitating. They would take the path blocked by the vines!
Dorcas was already rolling up his sleeves. The red sword on his waist vibrated as his will to fight grew stronger.
Angor glanced at him and spoke in a plain tone, "Calm down. We're not necessarily going to fight."
Under Dorcas' puzzled gaze, Angor's body suddenly changed into a bright and energetic young man wearing a green robe, a rattan bow and quiver on his back, and a green slanted hat on his head.
Most importantly, there was a crystal-clear leaf in the middle of Angor's hat, which was shining with the scent of nature.
The others did not know what it was, but the Dark Earl recognized it.
"You're using Tree Spirit's leaf and trying to look like Tree Spirit? I don't think it's possible to trick the vines. But if you're going to play Tree Spirit, don't wear any clothes, and don't wear a green hat. "
Yes, Angor was now wearing Tree Spirit's appearance. However, Tree Spirit always liked to wear nothing but a leaf on his private parts. Angor's sense of shame did not allow him to be as open as Tree Spirit, so he still changed into a set of clothes.
Angor did not care about the Dark Earl's "advice" at all. Even if he had to fight the vines head-on, he would not be so shameless as to wander around naked like Tree Spirit.
After disguising himself as Tree Spirit, Angor signaled the others to stay in the moving illusion and not stray too far away from him.
Next, he took a deep breath and walked out of the illusion by himself.
He was fully prepared and had Tree Spirit's leaf to purify the air around him, but the sudden stench still rushed into his nostrils.
Angor was fine, but Dankros, who was resting on Angor's shoulder, immediately rolled his eyes.
"Ah, I forgot you're still here …" Angor was about to put Dankros back into his bracelet when he hesitated at the last moment.
Dankros was already "knocked out" by the stench. If he threw him into the bracelet, it would also be filled with foul air. Forget it. I'll just hold on for a while and purify it later.
With that in mind, Angor reached out a vine from his back and carefully wrapped around Dankros who was knocked out by the stench.
With that done, Angor continued to move forward.
When Angor revealed himself, the extremely dense Tree Spirit's aura was constantly spreading the power of nature to the surroundings. As soon as Angor showed up, the vines in the distance noticed him.
The vines were moving slowly at first, but Angor's appearance made them move even faster.
Angor was not sure if the vines were preparing for a fight or trying to be friendly. Either way, he would find out soon enough. If they really wanted to fight, he would just wake Dankros up and use his fire breath to end the fight.
However, when Angor was about twenty meters away from the vines, they still did not show any intention to attack him.
It had to be known that each of these python-thick vines was at least a hundred meters long. They covered the entire wall tightly. If a battle really broke out, they would be able to launch an attack from a long distance away.
But they did not do that, which confirmed Angor's suspicion that plant-type monsters were closer to Tree Spirits.
When Angor was about ten meters away from them, the vines began to react violently.
Most of the vines began to move. They bared their fangs and brandished their claws in the air as if they were threatening Angor not to take another step forward.
Even so, the vines still did not move.
This made him even more convinced that the vines were "guards" similar to the ones used by Daytime. They were not bloodthirsty vines that were used to killing.
Also, the vines did not seem to be aiming at Angor. Instead, they were aiming at something behind Angor.
Angor was confident in his illusion. However, there were countless vines here, and their combined spirit power was as vast as the ocean. He could feel their oppressive spirit power just by standing in front of them.
Spirit power did not represent one's actual strength. However, such a powerful spirit power was enough to make Angor's illusion give itself away.
In other words, it made Elmi slightly deviate.
Elmi was the main body of the moving illusion. Once Elmi deviated a little, the moving illusion would be exposed as well.
"They don't seem to be wary of you. Instead, they're hostile toward us," Dorcas whispered through the Spirit Bond.
"But they didn't attack when you were in front of them. Looks like pretending to be a Tree Spirit really works."
Dorcas's eyes began to wander around as he spoke.
Count Dark saw through Dorcas's plan and sneered. "If you have a ten-thousand-year-old Tree Spirit Leaf to help you hide your aura, then you can pretend to be a Tree Spirit. But if you don't, don't even think about it. "
It was not easy to impersonate a Tree Spirit. The aura of a Tree Spirit was completely different from that of ordinary creatures. Even a top-level Shapeshifting spell could only look like a Tree Spirit.
Angor had the three ancestor souls of Brute Cavern behind him, who were also some of the most powerful creatures in the wizarding world. Even a simple leaf from one of them was enough for Angor to pass off as the real deal.
Dorcas would never be able to imitate a Tree Spirit. Even Count Dark himself could not imitate a Tree Spirit like Angor.
That leaf was too important.
"Don't move. I think I sensed something. That vine is trying to communicate with me. "
As soon as Angor finished speaking, a thin vine reached out from the giant wall of vines and slithered toward Angor like a snake.
The vine was less than half a meter away from Angor's forehead.
As the vine approached, Angor could feel its presence growing stronger.
It was as if someone was whispering something into his ear.
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