Chapter 620: Chapter 397: Summoning
Colin thought for a moment, then walked out of the Silver Chamber and came to the lobby of the Wilderness Laboratory.
First Rank Knights Orkot and Alec were locked up here alone.
He walked toward Orkot, meanwhile instructing Frost Shadow to thaw Alec.
Orkot sensed the movement and lifted his head to glance at Colin, then quickly lowered it again to hide the look in his eyes.
The strength of a First Rank Knight had involuntarily given rise to some other thoughts in his heart.
"Huh?!"
However, it was only for a moment that Orkot suddenly felt something was amiss.
A chilling presence emanated from his tailbone, spreading throughout his body like lightning, involuntarily making him shiver.
"This is..."
The Will Power within Orkot began to counterattack on its own.
"Pant... pant..."
After catching his breath for a brief moment, he quickly took several deep breaths and looked at Colin.
But this was only temporary; in the next second, Orkot fell back into boundless fear, as if his heart was being seized, and he felt his heart beating fiercely, causing his brain to go blank instantly.
The force of his Will Power also crumbled, leaving behind only a core thread maintaining his sanity from collapse.
But Alec, who was beside him, was not so fortunate.
Thud!
"Eh... guh... guh..." Alec didn’t even have time to let out a roar before he collapsed to the ground, clutching his heart.
His murky eyes showed only whites, and fresh blood continuously flowed from his mouth.
He was clearly in a dying state!
Colin’s brow quirked slightly, but he did not stop; after all, Alec in front of him had already lost his research value. He might as well take this opportunity to see to what extent the enhanced Knight Aura could go.
Whoosh!
He maxed out the strength of the Knight Aura enveloping Alec.
The next moment.
Thud!
"Dead?" Colin was slightly taken aback.
Alec’s trembling body stopped, and the hand that was clenching his heart lost its strength and dropped.
The breath of life rapidly dissipated from his body.
Colin closely observed for a while, finally confirming that this massive creature, full of Life Force and still lively even when frozen in the extreme cold of ice crystals, had truly died.
He had died so easily under the enhanced Knight Aura!
Colin then turned to look at Orkot.
This First Rank Knight, slightly stronger than Alec in terms of power, had now also lapsed into a dazed, vacant state.
Seemingly thinking of something, Colin softly asked,
"Tell me the deepest secret in your heart."
However, the Orkot in front of him had no reaction, just as vacant as he appeared to be.
"Tell me your name."
Colin’s brow furrowed slightly and he commanded again, but Orkot still did not respond.
’It seems that the advanced Knight Aura doesn’t have the ability to control the spirit.’
Colin, disappointed, retracted the Knight Aura.
"Ah... pant... pant..."
Orkot was panting heavily, his entire body soaked with sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
He hung his head, not daring to look at Colin, his eyes filled with a deeply ingrained fear.
"Tell me the deepest secret in your heart, Orkot." Seeing his state, Colin asked again, undeterred:
Hearing his voice, Orkot visibly shuddered, then without any hesitation, nodded:
"Alright... alright, my lord. The biggest secret of my life has three parts..."
Orkot unhesitantly divulged all his secrets, even revealing his secret plan to wait for Colin to leave one day, then escape the Wilderness Laboratory.
Colin was somewhat taken aback. He had merely asked casually...
"Tell me how you felt just now..."
Colin continued to press.
After a series of attempts, he finally understood what was going on.
Orkot had responded to his questions as if his spirit had been controlled, all because of fear.
A kind of fear seemed to have taken root deep in Orkot’s soul!
This fear had even surpassed death in Orkot’s heart—to the extent that when Colin tested him by ordering him to commit suicide, he did so without hesitation!
In the end, Colin named it the Fear Imprint.
It could implant extreme fear into a person’s heart, making them obey commands out of fear.
...
"Are you certain you want to choose this path?"
The next day, the originally vast Wilderness Laboratory underground had nothing left but an empty hall.
Everything else had been buried and disposed of.
The only ones left, besides Colin, were Onions and... the girl Martina, who had nearly become someone’s meal.
At that moment, Colin was inquiring of Onions.
Without any hesitation, Onions nodded, "I am sure, my lord."
"Very well, I will now extract the cave factors from within your body."
"But remember, I cannot guarantee that I can definitely improve your deranged state, nor can I assure you of survival—after Abner’s group extracted the cave factors, only two or three of them were still alive.
Furthermore, they also lost their Knight powers, and not only that, their life spans were greatly shortened. Even Abner, a Great Knight, could only live up to sixty years at most."
Colin continued to speak.
"I’ve thought it through, my lord." Onions glanced at Martina beside him, his face resolute.
"Hmm."
Colin said no more and began to extract the cave factors from Onions.
In his previous research on the cave factors, he had tried to see if they could be re-extracted from the contaminated human body.
The results of the experiment were affirmative.
Though humans, unlike cave creatures, did not just die upon the extraction of cave factors, the chance of survival was not high.
However, most of those who did survive managed to rid themselves of the deranged state that would occur from time to time.
Half an hour later.
Perhaps it was the favor of fate, or the influence of being a Great Knight, but Onions survived.
His life had been reduced, and he looked noticeably older, around his thirties.
His body had also become slightly hunched.
But overall, he was still relatively healthy.
"Thank you, Lord Colin!" Onions expressed with a hint of melancholy, but mostly it was as if a burden had been lifted.
He turned and smiled at Martina, who was being held by him.
She returned a faint smile and then looked at Colin, slightly fearful, and hid behind Onions’ towering figure.
This girl, who had been numbed by fright from Alec, had recovered quite a bit under Onions’ care but was still somewhat fearful of people.
"Let’s go," Colin said, and turned to walk towards the exit leading to the surface.
Bang!
As his voice fell, the Silver Chamber in front of him began to collapse from the corner, one by one, the gleaming silver chamber components fluttered toward him like swallows homing.
At the same time, the soil originally stored in the Storage Ring poured out, filling the entire underground space.
When Colin and his party emerged on the surface, the entire Wilderness Laboratory was declared gone.
Every trace had been buried below ground.
Onions and Martina had both signed a contract of secrecy, and after Colin dropped them off in the nearest city, he returned to the Golden Barley.
He instructed Renee to prepare a large table of delicious food, and for once, Colin gave himself a break, refraining from any practice other than meditation.
But before he could rest for long, Wizard Erwin suddenly sent out a summoning order to all Wizards, commanding them to assemble in the Wizard White Tower Hall.