“I can’t tell you, this is not my profession.” Kanter stroked his beard. “Though I can give you a suggestion. How about continuing what you have been doing, meaning, using the Dream Weaver to control the larvae?”
Kanter meant to say that the larva queen was rapidly creating large numbers of eggs because of the ant. Perhaps Angor could change the behavior of the ant so that the queen started another “colony control tactic”.
“For example, you can tell the ant to eat fewer larvae so that the queen feels less threatened and can have more time for other business, such as making new types of larvae to deal with the ant. This way, you will see different types of eggs you expected, such as ‘soldiers’. Suppose the Soft Larva colony worked similarly as an ant colony, then they will certainly have different members for different roles.”
“I see... Yes. A community under life-threatening danger will undergo desperate development impossible in peaceful times.”
Angor now had a new “job” for the ant. He would tell the creature to attack the larva nest once in a few days. Hopefully, the queen larva would respond to this accordingly.
“Welp. Selling the larvae is already a considerate source of income. Guess you found another great destiny out of me.”
Kanter shook his head and took out the Monument Loop to play, while Angor immediately began arranging the “coordinated invasion”.
When Angor made enough preparations to ensure that the ant did what he wanted, it was already midnight. Though this couldn’t be seen by looking outside the window because the area was always dark.
Kanter left the “Monument Valley” illusion and saw Angor setting up a series of alchemy applications around the larva nest to achieve “automated production”. Again, he was much amazed by Angor’s creativity.
“Angor? I want to ask something. If you do get your hands on some Mutation Larvae, can you keep one of them for Keely?”
It was extremely hard to study the Transform spell by normal means, so Kanter wanted to help Keely save time.
“Of course,” Angor agreed without a problem. After all, it was Kanter who gave him the larva nest.
Kanter nodded and left Sunders’ room. He had some questions about the Monument Valley he wanted to ask of Angor. But seeing Angor so focused on working, he decided to wait for the next time.
Besides, Bobota was also pretty good at the game.
“Isn’t Bobota nearby?” Kanter pondered. “I saw him standing on that tower. I’ll just ask him for some pointers.”
...
A group of wizards was waiting on top of a small hill, in the middle of Prominent Forest. From the vantage point, they could see something glowing up ahead. That was where the tunnel that connected level 3 and level 4 awaited.
These wizards, who were recently rescued by Samantha, were waiting for a chance to reach the tunnel. They weren’t moving yet because they knew two powerful demons would come and intercept them.
Two other wizards were waiting beside the tunnel. One of them was Samantha, who had been staying afloat in the sky by standing on a glittering icicle. Below her, Sunders was quietly leaning against a dead tree, lost in thoughts.
Sunders was supposed to help the escaping wizards deal with the pursuing demons. But since the demons weren’t showing up yet, Samantha decided to join him and stop the demons together, so everyone could make it through the tunnel safely.
Carefully, Samantha glanced at Sunders with a thoughtful frown.
Sunders was still thinking about the dream wasteland and did not see her action.
The truth was, he never took the “powerful demons” seriously. Compared to the demons, he believed that Angor’s new discovery was more important to him. Even Monkey’s mission wouldn’t persuade him into giving up Angor’s amazing gifts, if he had to choose.
The first thing he wanted to do right now was finding a way of removing the threats from the dream wasteland.
He and Angor both agreed that each time the Dream Whelk was activated via nightmare energy in a new place, it would create a piece of “pseudo dream realm” that should not exist. Soon, the collective consciousness of the original world or some other known presence would send deadly monsters to eliminate the newly-generated land.
If they could somehow fend off the monsters and keep the new territories safe, could they build a lot of different “dream wastelands” based on different planes and then use them to achieve free communication no matter how far the “wastelanders” were apart? If so, they would make foreign expeditions several times easier.
As for how to deal with the seemingly invincible monsters... Sunders had been thinking about this since he left the base.
“We can bring wizards there and use a large-scale spell to banish the monsters... But it remains to be found out how to regain our magic there.” He rubbed his forehead.
“You look anxious. Worried about the demons?” Samantha’s charming yet distant voice came.
Sunders gave her an unfriendly look but tried not to look too obvious.
“I’m more worried about this whole mess. When will it end, I wonder?”
“Soon. I can feel it.”
Their conversation was interrupted when the space around the tunnel was suddenly torn up like paper.
“The enemy is here!” Samantha immediately readied a spell she had been preparing.
But she didn’t see any target coming from the rupture. Instead, an overwhelming aura invaded her senses first, followed by a cloud of gray smog.
Sunders called to her, “Get back! That’s not the demon we’re expecting!”
Samantha nodded and flashed away, until they were several kilometers away from the tunnel.
“What is it?” Samantha questioned. “That’s certainly not the energy of a demon.”
Sunders kept observing the rupture without responding.
He saw several trees within the smog quickly withering. Then the land beneath them turned dull yellow and dry.
“It’s drawing life source?” Samantha exclaimed.
“Not quite...”
They saw a pair of large hands reaching out of the rupture, which then forced the small opening large like prying a door.
A giant body covered under dirty, tattered fabrics squeezed through while pumping more deadly smog into the environment from its skin.
“That’s a Pilgrim of Misfortune.” Samantha’s pupils shrank smaller in surprise.
A Pilgrim of Misfortune wasn’t necessarily powerful, but it was usually feared by more people because no matter where it went, it would leave a trail of endless misery and despair in its wake. And those who got too close to it would have their entire lives haunted by inescapable misfortune.
It was like a curse that no one could lift, except for certain powerful wizards who studied how to manipulate luck. Unfortunately, Fortune Manipulation was a popular subject in the western continent, not the southern wizarding region.
In other words, trying to confront a Pilgrim of Misfortune was a very, very bad idea.
Thankfully, these monsters weren’t usually hostile. It wouldn’t attack people unless provoked first.
“Let’s just hope it doesn’t go anywhere near the Overwatch Base, or we’re all toasted.”
The monsters slowly looked around, and Sunders and Samantha quickly looked away.
To their relief, it quietly moved toward the north.
“Is it going to the Veiled Coast?” Samantha wondered.
“At least we learned something. If a Pilgrim of Misfortune passed through, the demons we’re waiting for won’t come. This includes our main guest. It will use another tunnel.”