Chapter 2907: Chapter 2908: Rose of Human Heads
When Angel saw the "Greed Feast" represented by the crystal creations again, his expression froze for a moment.
He vividly remembered that when he first encountered "Helenâs Dream," its manifested form was a crystal whip with barbs.
Later, because "Helenâs Dream" hadnât reached 100% exploration, it linked with other peopleâs dreams and transformed into the current "Greed Feast." As the special dreamland changed, the manifested form also altered.
The whip was adorned with large and small Big Mary Roses. The bright red roses made the whip more beautiful, but also more dangerous.
Under normal circumstances, the "Greed Feast" Angel should see would still be that crystal whip full of Big Mary Roses. However, what appeared before him, while still considered a whip, was different from the previous two versions.
The Big Mary Roses were still there, the barbs remained, and the crystal whipâs essence hadnât changed, but human heads grew from the calyx of the blooming Big Mary Roses!
The heads varied in age, with a multitude of expressions: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
While the expressions seemed normal, distributed over the rosesâ calyx, they were filled with eeriness.
"...Has it evolved again?" Angel murmured softly, "Should it be called Human Head Rose now?"
Why did the whip change once more? Angel didnât know the specific reasons. The only recourse now was to contact Laplace inside the Miniature Garden via the birdcage perspective to see if she knew anything.
Initially, Angel planned to touch the whip to enter the birdcage perspective, but seeing the whip covered with human heads, he wasnât sure where to place his hands. Eventually, he chose to simulate touch via Nightmare Realm breath to enter the birdcage perspective.
Simultaneously, Angel wrapped Dangross with the Nightmare Realm breath.
So it could, borrowing Angelâs eyes, see the situation inside the Miniature Garden.
However, Dangross only borrowed the perspective; though it could see what was happening inside, its voice couldnât be transmitted into the Miniature Garden.
Itâs like a silenced audience watching a live broadcast.
...
As Angelâs auxiliary perspective entered the Miniature Garden, he immediately saw three immense human head balloons floating above a half-ruined house.
These human head balloons emitted a bizarre and piercing laughter.
With the rise and fall of the laughter, the energy inside the Miniature Garden coalesced, bringing sudden strong winds, thorny growths, and blade-like petals raining down.
These energy-formed attacks all landed on the top of the half-destroyed house.
Their target was clear; all the attacks pointed towards the two figures on the rooftop.
Laplace, brimming with vigor and clad in scales, and Glaipnir, with a robe billowing in the wind, though hunched, exerting an imposing presence like a rainbow drawn across the sun.
Glaipnir gently waved his robe, absorbing all the attacks.
Despite the seemingly fierce attacks, under the maxed-out defensive power of the robe, they were ineffective.
Even petals capable of penetrating steel couldnât breach the robeâs defense, nor did they leave any mark.
With a Godâs View, Angel saw clearly that the attack from the three human head balloons had mobilized nearly seventy percent of the free energy inside the Miniature Garden. Yet, even so, it couldnât harm Glaipnir.
The human head balloonsâ attack persisted, but Glaipnir easily deflected them and even had room for conversation with Laplace.
From this, it was evident that Glaipnirâs current defensive power far exceeded the attack ceiling of this special dreamland.
In essence, Glaipnir alone could navigate this special dreamland with impunity.
Let alone with an even stronger Laplace behind him.
Thus, Angel wasnât worried at all about their safety and lingered a long time outside with Dangross before coming in.
Facts proved Angelâs notion correct.
Looking at the ruined special dreamland, and those three seemingly bizarre but essentially ignored human head balloons by Glaipnir and Laplace, it was clear there was genuinely no need for concern.
Angel silently mourned for the three human head balloons and then zoomed the perspective to the rooftop of the broken house.
Earlier, Angel only noticed Laplace and Glaipnir on the rooftop but didnât know what they were doing.
Now, upon closer examination, he discovered they were intensely discussing something.
Engrossed in their conversation, they completely ignored the external attack from the three human head balloons.
As for the topic of their discussion, Angel hadnât listened in yet, as all his attention was drawn to the massive three-meter tall mound of flesh on the rooftop.
Upon first seeing the mound of flesh, Angel nearly mistook it for Greya.
For this mound genuinely resembled Greyaâs true form... the meat mountain demon king.
Moreover, this flesh moundâs truth is indeed an obese woman, her eyes tightly shut, unclear if alive. Clad in a gorgeous dress, though now torn in many places.
The dress tearing is minor, as she is entwined with rose vines, leaving no discordant exposure.
Due to these rose vines, Angel previously overlooked her from above, mistaking it as a rooftop garden. Now realizing she is an extremely obese woman, from her features, it appears to be the resurrected woman within Helenâs Dream.
Angel recalls her name as... Bella.
At that time, Bella was somewhat overweight, but never to the extent of a meat mountain.
What happened to Bella now?
Greed Feast... did Bella become a glutton and start eating excessively, resulting in her current state?
No matter Bellaâs current status, Angel didnât understand why Glaipnir and Laplace hadnât acted against Bella.
Yes, Bella wasnât dead. Her chestâs rise suggested she was still alive.
Now, with her eyes closed, she seemed to be in a coma.
Moreover, from the blade wounds on Bella, her coma was likely related to Glaipnirâs Tooth Bone Staff.
If Bella had been knocked out by them, why not seize the chance to kill her?
Or perhaps, killing Bella wouldnât resolve this special dreamland?
With this thought, Angel shifted focus to Laplace and Glaipnir.
Their dialogue continued, and after listening for a while, Angel found their discussion revolved around whether to kill Bella.
Laplace had no particular stance; whether to kill or not didnât matter. However, Glaipnir seemed a bit conflicted, sometimes saying yes to kill and other times no.
"What are you two hesitating about?" Angel finally couldnât hold back and asked while Glaipnir was speaking to herself.
Both Laplace and Glaipnir were momentarily stunned when they heard Angelâs voice. However, they quickly snapped back to reality.
Laplace: "I thought youâd be outside continuing your heart-to-heart with your little elemental partner. What, are you done now?"
Angel was also taken aback: "How do you know I was outside talking with Dangross?"
Laplace casually pointed to Glaipnir opposite her: "She told me. She said your little elemental partner had something on its mind, and you were almost entirely focused on it. Once we left, you would definitely have a heart-to-heart with it."
"By the sound of it, she guessed correctly?"
Angel wanted to say something defiant, but ultimately held back: "More or less. After the exchange, Dangross doesnât have any burdens now."
After Angel spoke, Glaipnir said flatly, "Having resolved the current issue doesnât mean all issues can be resolved."
Angel didnât argue, thinking who in this world doesnât have a few burdens. Growing up is a process of continually untying knots and reconciling with the past, present, and future.
Glaipnirâs words were typical prophecy terminologyâit was correct no matter how you looked at it. Refuting it would just fall into her trap.
"I clearly asked first, so why are you questioning me now?" Angel muttered, observing Glaipnir once again effortlessly block the attacks of the three human head balloons, and shifted the topic: "Arenât you going to deal with those human head balloons?"
Laplace: "We did, but after a while, they resurrect. We canât be bothered anymore, they canât do anything to us anyway."
Angel: "Resurrect?"
Laplace nodded: "According to Glaipnirâs foresight, these human head balloons draw energy from Bella, you know, that fleshy mountain over there. As long as Bella isnât dead, theyâll resurrect infinitely."
"Theyâre attacking us to rescue Bella."
Angel: "In that case, why donât you just kill Bella?"
This time, Laplace didnât speak, but instead gave Glaipnir a look, signaling her to explain.
Glaipnir: "Just as we were about to kill Bella, Laplace received an enigmatic message indicating that the current exploration rate was 91%. After killing Bella, a settlement would occur, and weâd exit."
"Killing Bella isnât necessarily a problem if the exploration rate could hit 100%, but I have my doubts, it might not even reach 100% after killing her."
Angel: "So what youâre struggling with is the 100% exploration rate issue?"
Laplace: "Yes, but itâs not exactly what you think. As for the specifics, let Glaipnir explain."
Glaipnir: "The exploration rate is indeed a key issue, but what weâre more concerned about now is the revelation I received."
"Revelation?" Angel: "You mean the prophecy from the Second Molting Astrological Disk?"
"Revelation is different from prophecy..." Glaipnir sighed, "Forget it, just take it as prophecy. In this revelation, I received a very contradictory piece of information."
"To achieve a 100% exploration rate, one must die, yet live."
Angel was puzzled: "Die, yet live? So are you supposed to kill her or not?"
Glaipnir appeared slightly awkward and remained silent. Instead, Laplace, standing nearby, said: "This isnât the Mirror World, after all, astrology is more obscure than in the Mirror World. Even with the support of the Second Molting Astrological Disk, this is all we can glean. Nothing more."
The insufficient information to decipher this revelation was what made Glaipnir so conflicted about whether to kill Bella.
Angel pondered for a moment: "Could it be that the death and life referred to are not the same person but different individuals?"
Glaipnir: "Weâve considered that possibility too. However, weâve turned this area over several times and even destroyed this mansion, but havenât found another living being."
Hearing Glaipnirâs words, Angel didnât know what to say for a moment.
It truly was a difficult problem to solve.
Angel: "How about shifting focus and talking about something else? Perhaps after relaxing, new inspiration will come?"
Angelâs words werenât taken in by Glaipnir, who returned to her state of indecision after explaining the situation.
However, Laplace spoke up: "Do you mean you want to know what happened after we got here?"
Angel: "If youâre willing to share..."
Laplace shrugged: "Nothing special, just a big clear out once we got in here."
Laplace didnât hide anything and roughly recounted what happened after they came in. Essentially, they cleared out the roses in the fields, some odd puzzles, and the "traps" left in the house. They also tried to use Bella as bait, hoping to catch a bigger one, only to find out that Bella was the only big fish in this Miniature Garden.
The three human head balloons are likely Bellaâs power, reviving indefinitely as long as Bella lives.
In summary: a clean sweep.
Plus, Glaipnir, as an Astrologer, didnât need to solve some puzzles. She could directly reveal them through divination.
For instance, the biggest puzzle they had to solve after entering the Special Dreamland was finding all of Bellaâs avatars.
Yes, Bella didnât start as a fleshy ball but was divided into limbs, a mouth, intestines, and a stomach. They had to find these parts and force Bella back into her true body for success.
Now, the mountain of flesh youâre seeing is Bellaâs true form. The "Gluttonâs" true body.
The search process was initially a puzzle-solving game, but Glaipnir used astrology to skip that, locating the organs directly, making puzzles unnecessary. They reached the final step straight away.
What they didnât expect was to get stuck at this final step.
They dared not kill nor let her go, which brought them to the current stalemate.
"...Thatâs about it. Do you have any thoughts?" Laplace asked.
Angel pondered for a moment: "Not yet at the moment."
Laplace wasnât disappointed; they themselves hadnât found an answer, so it was normal for Angel, who came halfway in, not to know either.
In this confounding situation, there was a momentary silence.
Ultimately, Angel broke the silence first.
"By the way, when I came here, I noticed the crystal creation outside had changed shape. Human heads had grown out from the stamen of the Big Mary Rose. Do you know why?"
Laplace thought for a moment: "This... might be related to Glaipnir."
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