Chapter 2768: Chapter 2769: Encirclement Hunt
In the seemingly endless passage, darkness is the eternal theme.
However, itâs not always dark here. When someone arrives, lights come on to guide the way forward.
At this moment, a series of faint footsteps echoed in the passage.
As the footsteps continued, the wall-mounted lights gradually ignited, illuminating the visible end.
"Is this the Wise Sovereignâs arrangement?" Dox stopped by a wall candle, observing it for a moment: "It seems quite ordinary, even the quality of the lamp oil is average, but with a large quantity, it should fetch a good price if taken all."
"Lord Chaowei already said that the Wise Sovereignâs arrangement merely guides the path through the illumination, not gifting them to you," Vay commented dryly.
Ever since being scolded by the Black Earl, Dox has become more excessive, not even wanting to spare these wall candles. But what the Black Earl meant by foundation is not just "Magic Crystals"!
Dox: "The Wise Sovereign hasnât prohibited me from taking them, right? If thereâs no prohibition, itâs tacitly permitted."
"Thatâs one way to put it," Angel turned to Dox: "But do you dare to take them?"
Dox rambled on but didnât make a move, showing he didnât really dare to act recklessly. After all, this is an underground aqueduct filled with magical energy arrays.
Just because he didnât act doesnât mean he didnât want to. That long tirade was just a ploy to catch Angelâs attention, wasnât it?
"If you say I can take them, why wouldnât I? After all, Iâm bound to serve you; surely you wonât let me fall into danger, right?" Doxâs tone was firm at first, but quickly turned sycophantic.
Witnessing this, Vay couldnât help but roll his eyes internally.
Dox used to appear as a fierce renegade, firm in not wanting to lose his freedom. But after incurring debt with Angel and deciding to âsell laborâ, he seemed to have changed entirely, like he was Angelâs servant...
Indeed, if Dox truly âsells himselfâ in the future, he would be considered Angelâs subordinate servant. But from Angelâs disdainful gaze, Vay could see that Angel only needed Doxâs âlaborâ, not his person, indicating merely an employer-worker relationship.
No matter what the result is, Doxâs transformation indeed left Vay surprised.
"You can take it," Angel said while looking at Dox.
Dox didnât move, instead, he continued to stare at Angel.
After a while, Angel finally sighed and added: "As long as youâre not afraid of death, you can take it."
"Just as I thought, thereâs definitely a catch," Dox muttered, yet he wasnât concerned. Having been tricked by Angel numerous times, even without inspiration, he could sense Angel might be setting a trap for him.
Or rather, the calmer and more agreeable Angel is, the less Dox trusts. The current âcomplianceâ might mean heâs planning something worse.
Angel: "These wall candles are linked to the magical energy arrays, though the connection is weak."
As Angel spoke, he walked up to a candle, casually severing a few energy streams before taking the candle without any unusual occurrences overhead.
Angel tossed the candle to Dox: "Since you want it so much, keep it as a memento. I believe the Wise Sovereign wouldnât be stingy with these candles."
Dox: "I wanted more than just one. Since itâs so simple, why not take them all..."
Before Dox could finish, Angelâs smile grew increasingly benevolent.
Dox instinctively shut his mouth. Whenever Angel showed that kind of smile, it usually meant trouble.
"Do you want me to spend a lot of time and magic power to help you remove all these candles?" Angel asked with a smiling face.
Dox: "I... I, I was just saying, if you have the time."
Angel: "With the same time and magical power, I should be able to refine alchemy tools worth at least ten times the total value of these candles."
Dox: "..." Hear that? Is this humanly possible?
Despite Doxâs efforts to control his emotions, the envy in his eyes inadvertently revealed his thoughts.
After "politely" rejecting Doxâs suggestion, Angel continued forward.
Dox hurriedly followed: "Since these arenât gifted to us, what surprise did the Wise Sovereign mention?"
Angel: "Youâre asking me, whom should I ask?"
Although Angel and the Black Earl had conversed with the Wise Sovereign, the discussion concerned the subsequent journey, with no mention of a "surprise."
The Wise Sovereignâs remark before departure left Angel puzzled.
However, compared to Doxâs expectant gaze, Angel was less optimistic about this so-called surprise.
Surprise could be literal or ironic, depending on context and the speakerâs personality.
If spoken by the Academy Factionâs White Wizard, Angel would believe; but the Wise Sovereign ... Angel still held reservations.
Not only did Angel think so, evidently Vay did too: "It could be more surprise than pleasant."
Dox: "If itâs truly more surprise than pleasant, then Iâll..."
"Then what?" Vay glanced at Dox: "Are you... one-sixth?"
Upon hearing "one-sixth," Dox became dejected, lowering his head with a sigh, and even his walking pace turned weak.
But after a few steps, he heard a "bang!" as his head collided with something metallic.
Rubbing his head, Dox cursed as he backed away a few steps.
Once at a safe distance, he looked up to find heâd collided with none other than an alchemy golem.
This very alchemy golem was the one possessed by Speedy; Angel hadnât let Speedy out since possession.
Dox had asked Angel before, and Angel explained: Speedy doesnât want to leave.
For Speedy, who was always energy-based, having a body for the first time, even if itâs just a steel corpse, was a fascinating experience.
Rarely, Speedy requested permission to continue inhabiting the alchemy golem.
Angel naturally wouldnât deny such an insignificant request. Moreover, Speedyâs combat prowess wasnât crucial for the team; itâs its wind perception ability that mattered. The golemâs body didnât restrict this perception but instead bolstered it due to the embedded magical energy array.
Dox, seeing it was Speedy, had no choice but to accept the misfortune; protesting to Speedy was pointless since it would ignore anyone but Angel. As for complaining to Angel, due to lingering debt, Dox lacked confidence, thus chose silence.
While Dox sulked quietly, Kaier approached Angel, curiously asking: "Anything discovered, my lord?"
Doxâs collision with the alchemy golem occurred because Angel had suddenly stopped. The guarding alchemy golem naturally halted nearby, causing Doxâs careless knock.
Angel, having paused, seemed to be scrutinizing the surroundings curiously.
This piqued Kaierâs curiosity, prompting him to ask.
Angel: "It just told me thereâs a hidden creature nearby."
As Angel explained, he raised his staff to make a gesture. This was also to tell everyone that it was the staff that discovered the "hidden creature," in other words... the Wood Spirit.
According to Angel, when they approached the area, the vines on the staff subtly moved, constantly rubbing against Angelâs palm.
At first, Angel thought the Wood Spirit was just "acting spoiled," but after some careful sensing, he realized the Wood Spirit was writing words on his palm.
The message indicated there was a hidden creature nearby.
Angel kept observing his surroundings, searching for this so-called hidden creature. However, no matter how he searched, he couldnât find any clues.
He then looked towards the Black Earl, who gave the same answer. The Black Earl didnât detect any peculiar scents around either.
"Is it those dog holes?" Vay asked curiously.
Dox: "Donât you know how to check if itâs a dog hole? There are no dog holes around."
Vay ignored Dox and continued to look at the Black Earl.
The Black Earl didnât speak but descended from mid-air, attaching directly to the black hole around Vayâs nasal cavity.
Once they merged again, Vay could smell the surroundings himself.
"No scent," Vay sighed.
Since even Lord Black Earl couldnât smell anything, how did the Wood Spirit know about the hidden creature nearby? Everyone looked curiously at Angel... If they looked at the Wood Spirit, it would shy away, so they had to use Angel as a communication intermediary.
Angel didnât answer immediately because the Wood Spiritâs "writing" speed was too slow. Angel wanted it to speak, but the Wood Spirit completely ignored him, so he had to give up.
After a long while, Angel finally finished reading the message from the Wood Spirit.
"Because the method of concealment used by that hidden creature is of the same lineage as the Wood Spiritâs. Thus, the Wood Spirit can sense it."
As for why a creature with the same lineage concealment abilities as the Wood Spirit appeared, according to the Wood Spirit, it should be related to the Wise Sovereign.
The Wise Sovereign, while teaching the Wood Spirit, was also researching its abilities and had even taken away its shed derivatives.
The Wise Sovereign took the derivatives; the Wood Spirit didnât mind. After all, the Wise Sovereign is its Enlightenment teacher.
And the Wood Spirit could smell that the hidden creatureâs aura had the scent of its derivatives.
"So, is the hidden creature the Wise Sovereignâs doing? Could this be the surprise the Wise Sovereign mentioned?" Dox questioned.
Angel: "Whether it is or isnât, we need to find it first to know."
Dox: "Since the Wood Spirit can sense it, just let the Wood Spirit find it."
Angel originally had this in mind, but...
"The hidden creature is constantly moving, and the Wood Spiritâs writing speed canât keep up."
Earlier, the Wood Spirit said it was directly ahead, but after a while, it changed to say it was to the front right.
The most important thing is that the Wood Spirit seems to have a bit of âobsessive-compulsive disorder,â being very insistent on writing prefixes.
Instead of directly indicating direction with the vine, the Wood Spirit insists on writing, and each time it starts with: âIt is at a certain location.â
The prefix is unnecessary, yet the Wood Spirit repeatedly writes it, making its writing speed far slower than the creatureâs movement speed. In this case, relying on the Wood Spirit to find the hidden creature is quite difficult.
Dox: "So what do we do now?"
Angel pondered for a moment, looked towards the lengthy corridor ahead, and said slowly, "Encirclement."
Encirclement, a hunterâs term, refers to restricting the preyâs movement range to encircle and annihilate it.
Here, Angel mentioned it not to really "hunt" but to emphasize the "encirclement" aspect.
Since they couldnât find it now, they might as well restrict the range. By continually narrowing the area, they can eventually trap it.
Of course, if it truly wanted to escape, it could run away.
But with the Wood Spiritâs aura present on it and a possible connection to the Wise Sovereign, even though Angel verbally expressed uncertainty, internally he believed this could be the surprise the Wise Sovereign mentioned.
Given itâs a surprise, be it pleasantly surprising or not, contact is necessary to know.
If contact was its goal, it certainly wouldnât just flee. By defining an area and gradually restricting its movement space, they could eventually locate it.
This is a simplistic approach, but under these circumstances, itâs a practical solution.
They were well aware of the Wood Spiritâs powerful concealment abilities, and Angel had only gotten lucky in finding the Wood Spirit.
Now, another presence with the same foundational concealment abilities as the Wood Spirit had appeared. Without the element of luck, they could only rely on this simple method.
If this simple method ultimately didnât work, and it still refused to reveal itself, then... theyâd let it go.
As Angel had mentioned earlier, he wasnât expecting any surprises.
A pleasant surprise would be great, but no surprise at all wouldnât be bad either.
...
Thanks to the enclosed nature of the corridor, with walls on both sides, the encirclement was straightforward.
Angel drew a boundary from beneath his feet, connecting to the walls on either side, defining half of the area.
For the remaining half, Speedy moved forward to find a position beyond the creature and set another boundary.
Speedyâs overtaking would inevitably alert it. If it fled, theyâd let it be, as if nothing had happened.
If it didnât, then half the battle was won.
With the encirclement underway, Angel easily defined his boundary, while Speedy, controlling the Alchemy Golem, dashed forward at top speed.
A few seconds later, the Wood Spirit wrote in Angelâs palm: "Surpassed it."
After waiting a few more seconds to ensure there were no changes from the Wood Spirit, Angel finally signaled for Speedy to set the boundary on the other end.
Soon, a "hunting corridor" approximately two hundred meters long was sectioned off.
After completing the setup, Angel reconfirmed with the Wood Spirit whether the creature was within the encircled area.
The final answer came: "Yes."
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