Chapter 604: Chapter 389: Wilderness Underground
Under the cave.
Colin had already successfully taken control of the massive purple-black flesh mountain.
The remnants of the Wood Family, enraged by the sight, charged at him but were knocked to the ground in the blink of an eye.
"Onions, come down and help me guard them, and also rescue the people in those iron cages," Colin said, flicking his arm and looking up as he shouted.
"...Yes." Onions appeared dazed above the cave, taking a while to come to grips with the situation.
The ghastly white bone mountain, the dirty iron cages, the reactions of the Elder Danis and those Great Knights, as well as Colin’s words... All of this led him to a terrible association—
’If that purple-black flesh mountain is indeed Alec’s ancestor, could he have ended up like this because he ate the plants in the cave, just like I did?’
Onions instinctively placed his hand on his chest as if he could feel the eerie touch of the purple-black skin through his sturdy armor.
’But then, why would Alec’s ancestor cannibalize?’ But soon after, new doubts and... fear arose in Onions’s heart.
Onions’s throat moved slightly, suppressing the nausea in his stomach, and he walked quietly towards the area below the cave, lost in silent thought.
...
"Degenerated into a beast, losing the ability to communicate, have you?"
After knocking the remnants of the Wood Family to the ground, Colin turned to Alec, who was under control, and tentatively asked.
This massive purple-black flesh mountain, with its powerful body, was exceptionally weak spiritually.
Although it was already comparable to an ordinary Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, it felt grotesquely disproportionate combined with a body that was close to First Rank, or in some aspects, even surpassing First Rank.
It was just like the meatball grass he had seen not long ago, with fine filaments like hair hanging from its roots, each supporting a fist-sized bulb.
"Roar!"
The purple-black flesh mountain showed no response to his words, still struggling with eyes red with rage amidst the surging waves of flesh.
Hisss!
The next moment, an intangible aura spread out from the massive body like a tide.
The knocked-down remnants of the Wood Family, as if injected with vim, continued to crawl towards Colin even though most of them could no longer stand.
"Hmph!" Colin snorted coldly!
Spiritual power spread rapidly with his voice, instantly purging the seductive aura in the air.
He had long since noticed that something was not quite right with those people of the Wood Family—they were too fanatical, as if under some kind of mental control.
And the aura that Alec just emitted had undoubtedly confirmed his conjecture.
What surprised Colin though was that he could neither dispel nor even sense the traces of bewitchment on the people of the Wood Family.
Moreover, this bewitching ability seemed somewhat familiar...
It wasn’t just mental; instead, it felt more like an ability generated from the combination of the body...or rather, the bloodline and spirit.
Something like... a Knight Aura?
Colin was taken aback, surprised by his own inference.
But upon further thought, it seemed quite reasonable.
After all, the massive purple-black flesh mountain in front of him should... still barely qualify as a Knight?
At this moment, Colin suddenly looked up.
The flesh mountain before him seemed to have undergone some change, and he struggled to find Alec’s eyes through the purple-black folds of flesh.
Colin suddenly discovered that the previously red eyes had turned a slightly murky deep green without him noticing.
The struggling also gradually came to a halt, and this clump of purple-black flesh was now unusually calm.
"Alec Wood?" Colin tested the waters with a callout.
The purple-black flesh mountain was silent for a moment but finally responded in a hoarse voice, "The day has finally come..."
Compared to the previous crazed and terrifying tones, Alec’s voice now sounded more like that of an exhausted old man, ancient and feeble.
For over a hundred years, Alec had been hiding in the darkness of the Underground Cave, though alive and becoming stronger, the loneliness and fear in his heart had grown wildly like weeds.
If it weren’t for his descendants, he would have almost forgotten his identity as a human.
Especially as madness occupied more and more of his time.
"If you don’t want to suffer any further, then it’s best you tell me everything you know," Colin stated coldly, without a hint of fluctuation in his heart.
He didn’t emphasize it deliberately, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed the chilling white bone mountain and the men and women trapped in cages like lambs to the slaughter nearby.
Whether it was Alec in front of him or any of the knowledgeable members of the Wood Family, they all deserved to die!
Alec seemed to understand this as well but remained silent.
"You will speak eventually."
Colin was not annoyed, just coldly uttered and then waved his hand lightly.
He was just frustrated that he had not learned any interrogation witchcraft, but after a few days, when he returned to Neustadt to learn some interrogation witchcraft, Alec’s spiritual power, merely at the level of an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice, would be easily manipulated by him.
A pale blue chill burst forth like a fountain, and within a few breaths, the entirety of Alec was encased in ice.
It appeared on the surface as a release of Frost Magic, but in reality, it was the hidden hand of the Frost Shadow.
In the recent battle, Colin had discovered that, unlike his flimsy strength, the life force of the purple-black flesh mountain was exceptionally tenacious, almost on par with his own endowed with the Strong Life Talent, or in some aspects, perhaps even more so.
One could only conclude that Alec’s massive stature was not without reason.
And simple reasoning would easily reveal that this purple-black mass had been alive for over three hundred years.
To consider that many First Rank Wizards could at most live up to three hundred years!
So a mere frost seal could only temporarily trap Alec, to kill him, that was probably still beyond reach.
"How are they doing?"
After confirming that Alec could not escape the ice crystal’s restraints, Colin turned and walked over to Onions.
Onions had already opened all the cages, the remaining members of the Wood Family had been bound up with their own clothes by him,
and at this moment Onions was taking care of a frail little girl.
"Not too good." Onions glanced at Colin, his expression downcast.
The people left in the cages were all still alive—Onions had found that though the cages were shabby and dirty, there was an ample supply of water and food.
But that’s all they were—alive.
The survivors pretty much all looked the same—numb complexion, lifeless and vacant eyes.
Onions tried calling out the name Martina, but she showed almost no response, only moving slightly when she heard the sound of water.
"Let’s get them out of here first," Colin sighed.
Let alone ordinary people, even a Wizard Apprentice imprisoned in such a place would probably find it difficult to maintain a normal state of mind.
Aside from the environmental factors of the cave, the influence of that mass of purple-black flesh, which was like the aura of a Knight, was also a significant cause.
Thinking of this, Colin suddenly realized something and he observed Martina carefully.
She had been in the cave for so long, yet there was not the slightest sign of cave sickness on her... clearly this was also Alec’s influence.
That mass of purple-black flesh had many more peculiar features.
Right, and there’s Onions... Colin suddenly thought:
"Will you get cave sickness, Onions?"
When they had entered, he had forgotten to distribute the Magic Erasure Potion to Onions, who did not bring it up either, acting as if he was utterly indifferent to the cave’s pollution.
Onions shook his head: "I believe I would, but if it’s just staying for a day or two, no uncomfortable symptoms would emerge."
Colin nodded lightly, just a day or two was quite amazing indeed, knowing that as a Second Rank Wizard, the longest he felt he could stay in the cave undisturbed was about a day or two.
That sort of purple-black pollution seemed worth studying as well.
"My lord..."
"Hm?" Colin turned his head to look.
Onions, half-cradling Martina, was staring blankly at the mass of purple-black flesh in the distance.
"Lord Colin, why don’t you kill me now?" After a moment, he turned his head to say, "I don’t want to become a monster like that... and I don’t want to eat people like it does."
Onions’ tone was calm, but his slightly trembling fingers betrayed the unrest in his heart.
"I have already answered your question, Onions," Colin paused, speaking calmly.
Not everyone could make such a choice in the face of death, and the disgusting mass of purple-black flesh behind them was a prime example.
This lowly born bastard had a character as golden as his birth was ignoble.
"You are not like your ancestors, let’s go." Finally, Colin said,
"Perhaps after some research in the future, I might be able to restore you to your original state."
Onions remained silent in place for a long while, gazing at the wooden expression on Martina’s face, and finally, he slowly rose and followed Colin.
...
Over the next three days, Colin completely wrapped up the incident with the Wood Family.
The Wood Family had been branded by him with the crime of mistreating their own servants.
Then, under his guidance, the City Lord of Intuo City unexpectedly discovered that the Wood Family seemed to be hiding some profound sin.
Maids, slaves, coachmen, even wives or husbands from marriage alliances with other Families... their frequency of unexpected deaths was far too high.
After a thorough and careful investigation.
A still incomplete, but already very substantial death list left the City Lord of Intuo with a ghastly pallor as he had most of the Wood Family members sentenced to hanging overnight.
The only survivors were children under the age of six, who were also relegated to slavery and scattered across various parts of the Kingdom.
The Wood Family, once one of the top families of Intuo City, was wiped out suddenly, and under the deliberate suppression of the City Lord, their fall didn’t even cause any ripples.
Colin did not bother to follow the final judgment news; the members of the Wood Family he had left behind had already been confirmed by him as being unaware of the truth.
As for the remaining members of the Wood Family, they had been quietly transported by him along with the mass of purple-black flesh to the wilderness on the south side of the cave.
Here in this spot, Colin carved out a huge underground space. For this, he made a special trip back to Neustadt City to upgrade the Silver Chamber, spending a full two hundred thousand Magic Stones.
Of course, the twenty thousand also included the cost of learning new interrogation witchcraft.
Alec had just been moved to the wilderness Underground, and had yet to be thawed.
But from the information he had pried from the mouths of the remaining members of the Wood Family using interrogation witchcraft, Colin had finally understood all the details.
First of all, the mass of purple-black flesh was indeed as he thought—Alec, the first ancestor of the Wood Family.
Apart from his extraordinarily large body and unique beguiling abilities, Colin also learned from their mouths of a new special ability of Alec’s—planting a special Life Seed in the descendants of the same bloodline.
This special Life Seed ensured that the host could at least train to become an Advanced Knight, with at least a 50% chance of breaking through to become a Great Knight.
The only downside was that Alec needed at least several years’ interval before he could plant another Life Seed.
Additionally, Colin had inquired about the issue with the iron cages.
However, members of the Wood Family seemed unclear about why Alec needed to eat people, saying it was just something Alec demanded.
’It seems... more information must be obtained from Alec himself.’
In the bright underground hall adorned with silver, Colin stood before the mass of purple-black flesh, stretching his neck comfortably.
He was ready to thaw Alec out.