Of course, Lily had not forgotten about the monster. She caught it a few days after she led her team into the Black Forest. It was a disgusting thing that could parasitize the mental world of the victim and manipulate dreams and illusions to play with people's minds. It looked like a lump of smoking black meat. Calaxus named it the Shadow of Nightmares, and Lily was more used to calling it smoked meat. Anyway, it was the same name. It was a disgusting and stubborn thing. Had it not been for the landlord's credit, the alpha would have torn it apart and fed it to the wolves.
Since the monster had a dangerous ability, its mental parasitism was almost unstoppable to those who were not strong-willed. So Lily had been keeping a close watch on it for many days and had set up a thorough monitoring process: a bear monster that could not dream would guard the monster, and the monster would be locked up by the Jailstone 24 hours a day. Ordinary soldiers were prohibited from approaching the cage when they were in low spirits. If they wanted to check the monster's status, they must ensure that there were three groups of people present at the same time. The first group would approach the cage, the second group would keep an eye on the first group from a distance, and the third group, armed with weapons, would monitor the first and second group from a further distance. If something went wrong, they would kill them on the spot. These strict monitoring processes had rendered the monster useless and kept it safe until today.
But this time, something seemed to have gone wrong.
Lily jumped to her feet. "What happened?"
Duke Ulysses also looked nervous. He had learned about the origin of the Beast Tide and the situation of the Sanctum investigation team in the Beast Tide. Naturally, he also knew about the Shadow of Nightmares caught in the storm of Chaos. As a logical person from Collow, he was very wary of anything from the depths of the Chaos. If it were not for the fact that he could not defeat the alpha, he would never agree to let the thing be locked up in the dungeon under his castle.
"Don't worry, it did not run away. In fact, on the contrary," Calaxus said with a puzzled look on his face. "It looks a little weak."
"Weak?" Lily was stunned. "It was energetic all the way. Why did it suddenly become weak?"
"It might have something to do with that ray of light just now," the high-ranking cultivator guessed. "That ray of light contained a powerful force. It seemed to be a high-level Divine Power of Order. Although I don't know what caused the miracle, it most likely has an effect on Chaos Energy."
Lily blinked. She felt that the dog-headed advisor's words made a lot of sense, so she slammed the table and said, "Then let's go. Bring me to see the situation."
Duke Ulysses hurriedly pulled out his precious 157-year-old wine glass from under Lily's hand, only to find that it had been smashed into a pancake …
Calaxus nodded. But before the alpha left, he mentioned one more thing. "Alpha, there is something else I want to tell you."
Lily turned to look at him. "Go ahead."
"My subordinates and I will be leaving in a few days," the high-grade cultivator replied calmly.
"Leaving?" Lily was startled. "Is the food not good here?"
"Cough, cough …" The high-grade cultivator immediately coughed dryly. The alpha wolf was good in every way, but it was often difficult for people to react to her train of thought. Nine out of ten times, following the alpha wolf's train of thought would result in a sprained back. "That's not the problem. We came to Ansu with a mission. We dare not neglect the important task given by the pope. When we first joined the team, we also said that after arriving in the Kingdom of Order, the investigation team would be free to act. "
With a strange expression on his face, the high-grade cultivator reminded in a low voice, "We also paid when we first joined the team."
The implication was that the Sanctum investigation team had paid for their meals in the Beast Tide, and they did not come here by selling themselves.
Lily suddenly understood. The husky maiden scratched her chin and said, "Oh, you are right. Well, I can't stop you if you want to leave. Anyway, I will start looking for my landlord in the Kingdom of Taros, and I probably won't be able to take care of you. By the way, when are you going to leave? "
"No hurry, no hurry." Calaxus waved his hand. "I just want to tell you in advance that the destination of the investigation team is still more than half of the kingdom. We can still travel together for a while."
The Shadow of Nightmares was temporarily detained in the dungeon of Fort Raven.
This border fortress was the bridgehead against the invasion of the Chaos. In peacetime, Fort Raven and its surrounding wilderness and forests were the territory of the kingdom. Villages and towns of all sizes were scattered around the fortress. At that time, Fort Raven played the role of the territory capital, and its dungeon was mostly used to detain lawbreakers in the territory. But after the outbreak of war, the population of the territory would immediately move to the kingdom, and the political and economic center of Fort Raven would also move to another city inland, leaving the dungeon empty. In most cases, there were only a few soldiers who violated military discipline. But the Blackblade Legion and the Raven Guards were disciplined and well-trained, and violations of military discipline were rare. So during the ten years of the tide of Chaos, the dungeon was almost empty.
This empty dungeon was just the right place to detain a Shadow of Nightmares.
At least that was what the alpha thought. But it seemed that Duke Ulysses, the commander of Fort Raven, was not happy about it.
The dark and gloomy dungeon was built with sturdy granite. Molten copper was poured between the boulders to strengthen them. On the stone walls, there was a blazing torch every few meters. The flickering flames made the entire dungeon look even more sinister and terrifying.
The Shadow of Nightmares was located in the deepest level of the dungeon. There was only one cell here, and the round cell was lined with an additional iron fence. Calaxus had hung a dozen Jailor's Stones on the iron fence, which were said to be powerful enough to suppress the most ferocious monsters of the Chaos.
The black, smoking lump of meat was lying on the ground in the middle of the cell, looking listless. Lily led her henchmen, Duke Ulysses, and Calaxus into the dungeon. At first glance, she could see the abnormality of the meat.
It looked like it had shrunk by at least a third of its original size, and the black smoke that was coming out of its body had greatly reduced. It was so thin that one could see the substance inside the black smoke. The tentacles that extended from the monster's body were wrinkled as if they had lost their moisture. It looked like it was about to die.
Lily stepped forward and poked the lump of meat with her claws. "Hey, wake up. What's wrong with you?"
The lump of meat wriggled twice, and many pairs of dark red eyes in the black smoke opened slightly and then closed again.
This was not in line with its usual style. If it were in the past, it would have shouted at Lily.
"Was it really stunned by the light just now?" Lily's ears flickered, and there seemed to be a glowing question mark on her head. "Why do I feel that it is hungry? Anyway, I am usually like this when I am hungry. "
The corner of Calaxus' mouth twitched. "This monster doesn't eat at all. It doesn't even have a mouth. This is a magical creature. It should be feeding on the primordial magic energy in the air. Magic energy is everywhere in Collow. How could it be hungry?"
"Oh." Lily scratched her chin and continued to poke her 'smoked meat' with her claws. "Then don't pretend to be dead. I am not starving you. If you continue to pretend to be dead, I will poke six holes in you with my claws!"
The monster twitched again, and a few eyes opened slightly. A faint voice came from a cloud of smoke. "Didn't you say … poke five holes at once?"
Lily was stunned. She did not expect the monster to discuss this with her. But she quickly came to her senses. "I can poke one more hole in you. You talk too much!"
The monster did not speak. It just shrank all its tentacles together and kept rolling and twitching as if it was in great pain.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't scare me! " Lily suddenly became nervous. She was not afraid that the monster would attack her, but she was afraid that the thing would really die, and she would not be able to show off in front of her landlord. "I still want you to go back to Mr. Landlord to exchange your ribs!"
"Don't worry, I will not go back for the time being." The monster suddenly calmed down after a violent convulsion. At this time, everyone suddenly realized something: this strange creature from the Chaos was now showing a tendency to communicate!
It was very organized, and it was actively communicating with Lily!
Realizing this, Calaxus immediately wanted to remind the alpha. But before he could speak, the smoke monster had turned its eyes. "The little guy over there … Are you from Sanctum? A monk of the church? A bishop? "
Calaxus stared at the piece of meat on the ground, which was now in a very strange state. "How … how do you know?"
"Go and remind your pope." The monster did not seem to hear Calaxus. It just said in a hoarse and gloomy voice from the smoke. "Lockmarton … is climbing out of the Forgotten Abyss. The ancient wardens have been corrupted."
Calaxus' eyes suddenly widened. He looked at the monster in horror. "What are you?"
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