Chapter 2791: Chapter 2792: Total Annihilation
Gengguiâs sneak attack came even faster than theyâd imagined.
Angel had originally said they would keep moving forward and Genggui could launch surprise attacks on them at any time along the way, but what he hadnât expected was that even as they were still talking, Gengguiâs ambush had already arrived.
Without any warning at all, the ground suddenly split open into a hole.
Vay and Kaier, who happened to be right above the opening, didnât put up any resistance and simply dropped into the pit.
Angel and Dox reacted at the first instant; each grabbed for one personâAngel went for Kaier, Dox for Vayâtrying to haul them back out of the hole.
But they failed.
And the opening in the ground didnât close; it still lay there quietly gaping, showing no sign that it had just swallowed two people.
Angel and Dox exchanged a look, then made the same motion: they lowered their heads to look at their own hands.
They were sure that they had grabbed Vay and Kaier a moment ago, yet for some reason their hands that had caught them suddenly lost all strength.
It felt just like the anemic weakness after losing too much bloodâboth hands limp and powerless, unable to muster any force even when clenching into fists.
Because of that, even though they had caught hold of Vay and Kaier, they still couldnât pull them back.
But the strange part was, after Vay and Kaier fell into the hole, it seemed as if the strength in their hands had returned?
Dox opened and closed his palms repeatedly, confirming there was no problem at all, then looked, eyes dark, toward the hole in the ground that still hadnât vanished.
"Could it be this hole thatâs playing tricks?" Dox turned his head to Angel. "Try restraining me with some kind of energy-based method. Iâll go test it out in front of this hole."
Angel didnât hesitate. Several Phantom Limbs extended from his palm and fastened around Doxâs waist.
After confirming they were firm and hard to break free from, Dox walked step by cautious step to the edge of the pit, took a deep breath, and carefully stretched out his hand first...
But before Dox could even carry out a preliminary probe, the pit suddenly expanded without warning.
The expanded range just happened to encompass the position where Dox was standing.
And Dox had felt no abnormal fluctuations beforehand at all; by the time he realized his feet were no longer on solid ground, his whole body had already started falling.
Dox tried to extend his spiritual power. No effect.
He then tried to use Magic Power to hold his body suspended. No effect.
Dox even thought of activating his Bloodline to forcibly break through the shackles, but though he could sense the Bloodline within his body, he simply couldnât activate it no matter whatâlike the Bloodline had fallen into slumber.
With all his abilities ineffective, Dox could only pin his hopes on the Phantom Limbs tied around his waist by Angel.
However, the Phantom Limbs might as well have not existed; they fell together with Dox, without the slightest pulling force.
Dox could only watch helplessly as his distance from the opening grew greater and greater... until he finally and completely dropped into the "Abyss."
After Dox fell, the floating Black Earl turned his "nostrils" toward Angel. "Is this ability nullification?"
Angel pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I can feel that the Phantom Limbs werenât destroyed, but just like my hands beforeâonce theyâre above the opening, all their strength drains away."
Angelâs words made the Black Earl think of how the Wise Sovereign had described You Nuâs abilities earlier.
âYou Nuâs devouring is very special; it ignores all defenses. As long as youâre within its swallowing range, no matter how strong you are, itâs useless.
And now, the Cyclops treasureâs simulation of You Nuâs ability had achieved a similar effect.
Even a Bloodline Wizard hailed as the strongest of his tier had no power to resist at all above that opening.
This ability was indeed very special and very powerful, but what concerned them even more was that the expansion of this opening was utterly silent, without the slightest hint of Energy leaking out.
And Genggui was clearly going easy on them, because the opening had never closed from start to finish.
If it had closed and then silently reopened beneath their feet, they wouldnât just be unable to resistâthey wouldnât even have time to react.
Previously, they had only heard the Wise Sovereign say that You Nuâs opening was so powerful that even he didnât dare step into it. Back then it hadnât felt real. Now, You Nuâs child, Genggui, had only made a low-grade Simulation of You Nuâs opening, and they had already nearly suffered a total wipeout.
At this point, they finally understood why the Wise Sovereign had repeatedly emphasized the need to be extremely cautious.
But with something this silent and traceless, was caution alone even useful?
Staring at the opening in the ground that revealed not the slightest trace of aura, the Black Earl mused, "This time Iâll test it myself. You focus on Observing the stone slab."
With that, the Black Earlâs nose separated from the slab it had been resting on, and the slab slowly floated into Angelâs hands.
Angel still didnât understand the Black Earlâs intentions at this moment; puzzled, he looked down at the stone slab. At a glance, he discovered that lines of Energy channels of various sizes had surfaced upon it.
Angel raised his head to look at the Black Earl.
The Black Earl said, "Iâm not familiar with Magical Energy Arrays, but Iâve projected in real time onto this slab all the Energy channels borne in the nearby earth. This Spell Technique is called âEarth Vein Record.â The Record has the support of the Power of Earth and wonât disappear just because something happens to me."
"You need to watch the changes in the earth veins on the slab at all times, and itâs best if you judge in combination with the surrounding Magical Energy Array conditions. If this method doesnât work, donât be discouragedâwe can still think of other ways."
Perhaps because this involved the legacy site, the Black Earlâs engagement in the ruin exploration was clearly much higher than before.
Using Earth Vein Record to assist Angel in judging the flow of Magical Energy Array Power in order to find a way to break the pitâthis was obviously a decision the Black Earl had made after careful thought.
And to carry this out, someone had to trigger the pit first. Everyone else had already fallen in, so the Black Earl intended to personally do it.
"My lord, wait a moment." Seeing that the Black Earl was about to enter the opening, Angel hurriedly called out.
Without offering any explanation, Angel held the stone slab and began comparing it with the surrounding Magical Energy Array. After the comparison, he produced an Array Plate and placed it at one of the Arrayâs Energy convergence points.
The Energy channels on the slab immediately changed.
Watching the images on the slab, Angel pondered for a moment, then took out an engraving pen and began carving lines of Guiding Magic Patterns onto a blank stone slab.
Using an External Array Disk as a Guiding medium was, first, to further Observe the changes in the Magical Energy Array. At the same time, Angel wanted to run an experiment.
Once he finished all this, Angel finally said to the Black Earl, "Itâs done."
The Black Earl didnât know what Angel had done, but he trusted that Angel had his own judgment. He didnât ask further, simply wrapped himself in an entire Earth Force Field, then leapt over the pit.
The Earth Force Field the Black Earl set up was mainly to strengthen traction.
Since the pit pulled people down, the traction of the Earth Force Field should be able to pull them back up onto the ground.
With the Black Earlâs ability, the effect of the Earth Force Field he released was definitely much stronger than that of an ordinary Earth Wizard, absolutely reaching True Knowledge Level.
Even if Angel stepped into the Earth Force Field, without Earl Miâs help, he would be suppressed by its traction.
Yet when the Black Earl came to hover above the pit, that powerful Earth Force Field which could render Angel immobile had no effect whatsoever.
Even someone as strong as the Black Earl fell from midair.
Seeing this, Angel immediately picked up the slab and began Observing the flow of the surrounding Energy channels.
Looking at the records on the stone slab, Angelâs brows knitted slightly. The Energy fluctuations of the Earth Force Field had originally been enormous, but when its coreânamely the Black Earlâcame to the mouth of the hole, the Energy veins of the Earth Force Field bizarrely vanished.
It was the veins that disappeared, not the Energy itself.
The Energy was still there, but without its veins, it was like an airbus gone off its tracks, only able to plummet in utter chaos.
It was precisely because of this almost-cheating kind of ability of the underground hole that Angelâs frown grew tighter.
Without the protection of the Earth Force Field, the Black Earl, unsurprisingly, fell straight into the hole.
Angel, meanwhile, sat cross-legged on the ground, carefully observing the flow of Energy veins on the stone slab, and from time to time stood up to walk to the External Array Disk, pick up the engraving pen, and resume carving.
Time ticked by bit by bit.
Roughly three minutes later, Angel stood up and, without a trace of hesitation, leapt straight into the underground hole...
As darkness rushed over his eyes, Angel felt a brief two seconds of weightlessness, and when he found his footing again, he had once more appeared inside Gengguiâs body... that pitch-black space.
...
The space was still as pitch-black as ever, but what was different from when Angel and Kaier had previously stayed here was that it was now twice as lively.
Or rather, any place where Dox existed could never be short on noise.
"Genggui, just look at this place, itâs pitch black. You never thought about decorating it a little? Hang a wall lamp, put in a dark red lacquered bookshelf, add a fireplace and a rug, match it with a soft big sofaâroasting by the fire while you rest and read, doesnât that sound cozy?"
Genggui didnât say anything, but where there was Doxâs voice, Vayâs voice could not be absent.
Vay: "Thereâs not even a single window here to let the air in, and youâre talking about a fireplace? You trying to suffocate people to death?"
Dox: "Genggui is an Energy-body creature, it canât be suffocated."
Vay: "If itâs an Energy creature, then whatâs that underground hole outside? It obviously has a Material Realm body."
At that, Dox and Vay almost simultaneously looked at Genggui, clearly hoping Genggui would come out and be the judge.
But Genggui wasnât stupid. It understood very well that these two were putting on a duet: seeming to argue and then asking it to judge, but in truth they were probing its limits.
So Genggui still didnât speak, just floated quietly in mid-air, waiting... waiting for the last person to arrive.
It wasnât long before Genggui sensed Angelâs presence.
Even though it had been waiting for Angel, when it truly perceived Angelâs arrival, Genggui still felt a slight disappointment. After all, Angel falling into the underground hole as well meant this group had been completely wiped out.
If they couldnât crack it, they could only choose to destroy it. And destruction was precisely what Genggui least wanted to see.
Even though Genggui believed in its motherâs strength, these people were, according to the Wise Sovereign, all figures with names. If they truly exhausted all their trump cards, even if its mother did not die, she would still be injured.
Genggui absolutely did not want to see its mother suffer any injuries at all.
Right now it was already considering in its heart whether to indirectly reveal something about its motherâs ability to them and let them analyze it... or simply banish them to the Mirror Domain, letting them sink forever in the Sea of Void Mirror.
While Genggui was turning this over in its mind, Angelâs appearance had already been noticed by everyone.
Dox subconsciously wanted to tease him with a "so you came too," but before he could open his mouth, Genggui spoke first: "You failed?"
Angel crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. "Judging from the outcome, we all got caught, so yes, thatâs a failure. But itâs not like weâre totally without clues."
Gengguiâs eye lit up. "Oh? Youâve already found a way?"
Angel smiled but didnât answer directly. Instead he turned his head and looked to the other side.
The direction he was looking at had no one there, just a bare wall. However, Angel spoke toward that completely empty wall: "Youâre the Cyclops Second Treasure, right? Want to come out and meet us?"
"Cyclops Second Treasure?" Everyone was stunned. "Itâs here too?"
They all followed Angelâs pointing finger with their eyes, but didnât see anything. Even the Black Earl, who directly switched to the Energy Perspective, discovered nothing.
Was Angel bluffing?
But if he was bluffing, why would he be so precisely aimed at one direction?
Angelâs gaze had never once shifted away, which meant he truly believed that in that direction there was a Cyclops Second Treasure that no one else could see.
Unable to judge truth from falsehood, everyone turned their eyes to Genggui, who was floating in mid-air.
However, Genggui stayed silent, and no expression could be read from it. But the fact that one moment Genggui had been conversing with Angel and the next it suddenly said nothing was already suspicious.
After a few seconds of condensed silence, a voice even deeper than Gengguiâs rang out in the pitch-black space.
"Youâre very perceptive. I donât care how you discovered me, but I am curious: why did you have to call me out?"
As the voice sounded, a black sphere appeared in front of that empty wall.
Angel almost blurted out: a new Gastly!
But recalling how Genggui had described Second Treasure earlier, he managed to hold it back.
Still, judging from the very first sentence Cyclops Second Treasure uttered, it was clearly completely different from its elder brother.
By calling it out, Angel was in fact stating: Iâve already found you; that was a way of seizing the upper hand. If Second Treasure asked how Angel had discovered it, the right to steer the conversation would basically fall into Angelâs hands.
But Second Treasureâs counter-question directly ignored Angelâs sense of superiority in discovering it and instead snatched back the right to speak.
Looking at Second Treasureâs eyes fixed on him, Angel sighed inwardly: as expected, the Wise Sovereign hadnât liedâamong the Cyclops Family, the one to be most wary of was this deep-hearted Cyclops Second Treasure.
Angel: "In a room where everyone is known, a stranger suddenly appears out of nowhere. No matter what, Iâve got to at least ask a question, donât I?"
Cyclops Second Treasure: "You called out my name."
The implication being: you know who I am, so does that really count as an "unknown stranger"?
Angel said with a squint-eyed smile, "Itâs just like when I first met GengguiâI guessed who it was. Same with you, I also guessed."
"Oh right, Genggui is Cyclops First Treasure. I gave it that name. Do you need me to give you one too?"
Cyclops Second Treasure was silent for a moment. "No need. My name... is fine."
Angelâs face stayed neutral, but inside he was laughing. He knew all three of the Cyclops siblings had some complaints about their names. But since You Nu had agreed to them, as children they had no choice but to accept.
Precisely because he had seen this, Angel had brought it up on purpose.
Sure enough, when Cyclops Second Treasure said its own name was "fine," even its tone sounded a little strained.
"Is that so? Actually, I think âSecond Treasureâ is a pretty good name." Angel smiled. "So, Second Treasure, you suddenly coming hereâis it also because of that personâs interception task?"
While Cyclops Second Treasureâs mentality was crashing from being affectionately called "Second Treasure" over and over, Angel smoothly took back control of the conversation.
And Cyclops Second Treasure, after being repeatedly broken by the topic of its name, no longer cared about any so-called control of the conversation and only wished Angel would hurry up and move on from this topic of names.
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