Chapter 451 The Uncertain Mist Is the Source of Pollution
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Hobert frowned, unsure whether the little boy had been corrupted into this state, or if the strange fish was the one corrupted.
The "little boy" immediately began to dive after seeing Hobert fly.
Hobert plunged into the water, giving chase relentlessly, and because he wore the "Ocean Pendant," he quickly caught the strange fish.
But the strange fish was too slippery, so Hobert had no choice but to sink his hands into the fish's flesh.
With the "Ocean Pendant" on him, even creatures that lived underwater were no match for Hobert.
He dragged the strange fish, swimming vigorously towards the shore, and then tossed it onto the land.
Even the "Red Gloves," who frequently dealt with extraordinary cases, were astonished upon seeing the appearance of the strange fish.
The fish somewhat resembled a man-sized grouper, but behind its eyes grew the upper body of a seven or eight-year-old boy.
At this moment, the little boy cried out, "I can't leave the water, I, I'm suffocating, I'm suffocating!"
It was evident that the "little boy" seemed to have no bones, his arms were limp, but in the water, they could easily deceive!
Leonard pulled Hobert, who was coming ashore, and whispered, "I didn't expect you to have so many magical items on you."
Without mystical items from the "Sailor" pathway, it would have been difficult to catch this strange fish.
Hobert smiled slightly, "Not many, just one or two."
Leonard curled his lip ungentlemanly, indicating that he didn't believe such nonsense.
Daly immediately began to interrogate the strange fish, "Answer my questions properly, and I'll put you back in the water."
This strange fish probably only had the intelligence of a seven or eight-year-old child, and immediately cried, "Ask quickly, ask quickly, I, I can't breathe!"
"How did you become like this?"
"It's all because of that evil white mist a few days ago!"
Hobert followed up, "What was in the white mist?"
"I, I seemed to see the shadow of a wolf!"
Hobert was taken aback, "Do you know what a wolf is?"
"I possess memory fragments of several people I've eaten!"
Hobert pondered for a moment, "I remember that high-level Beyonder creatures of the 'Seer' pathway are basically wolf-shaped!"
Hobert wondered if this was because of inheriting Flegrea's genes? Or was it that from the very first season, a group of wolves contained the Beyonder characteristics of the 'Seer'?
Then he recalled the pattern composed of letters on the letter Selena wrote him, which was a wolf's head.
At this moment, Leonard suddenly said, "Demonic Wolf of Fog!"
Hobert was stunned, this must be a reminder from the old man again!
Daly, having the authority to access related information, explained to the other team members, "The 'Demonic Wolf of Fog' is a creature known for its strangeness and variability, said to be above the level of a demigod.
"It has the ability to control marionettes, and possesses extremely strong anti-divination and anti-reconnaissance capabilities."
Hobert thought back, he didn't seem to have any memory of how Klein got this main ingredient.
"The information is becoming clearer!" Daly said, "The source of the corruption is a 'Demonic Wolf of Fog,' its condition may already be very bad, close to being out of control!"
Daly pondered for a moment, "We must find a way to get the tourists here out of danger as soon as possible!"
Having identified the source of the corruption, Daly also determined that this was not a problem that the "Red Gloves" members in the manor could solve, so she completely changed her mission from resolving the source of corruption to rescuing the tourists here.
At this moment, screams came from the direction of the manor.
Daly immediately ordered everyone to return and investigate.
The monster on the ground shouted, "Hey, hey, hey, you promised to put me back in the water."
"Almost forgot about you." Daly grabbed at the strange fish, which screamed miserably and quickly lost its life.
Daly kicked the fish into the water, "I fulfilled my promise, I put you back in the water. But I didn't say whether it was the living you or the dead you that I put back in the water."
Hobert, walking at the back, smiled. At least he had told "Seaweed" that he was lying, Daly was planning to "fulfill her promise in another way" from the beginning.
Still some distance from the manor, they saw a giant moth flying in the air above the manor, its wings scattering a lot of gray powder. The people in the manor's courtyard who inhaled the powder fell to the ground as if asleep.
There was also a giant moth flying at low altitude, it was very strong and could throw a person far away.
Soon, those in the courtyard who were not injured and had not inhaled the powder fled into the hall.
The two moths then turned their attention to Daly and the others who had just entered the manor. They took out their revolvers, but Leonard suddenly shouted, "That's, that's Hant!"
Only then did everyone realize that below the long antennae and large compound eyes on the moth's head was a human face.
Hobert vaguely recognized that their appearances seemed to be one of the two "Red Gloves" members he had rescued!
"Fire!" Daly ordered.
Bang, bang, bang~
Under the attack of the "Demon Hunter Bullets," the two "moths" fell to the ground, making painful sizzling sounds.
The "Red Gloves" members aimed their guns at one of the "moths." They hesitated slightly, but ultimately pulled the triggers together!
Only then did everyone come forward to check, and finally confirmed that these were the two team members that Hobert had rescued earlier, who could not be awakened after fainting.
Daly asked Hobert, "You said before that you rescued them from a cocoon, right?"
"Yes." Hobert said, "They should have suffered serious corruption at that time, but this corruption seems difficult to detect."
Not only Hobert, but even Daly and the others had not noticed any signs of corruption in the two companions.
The companions who had been rescued by Hobert had turned into this, the other two members who had requested assistance should have already met with misfortune. Daly ordered two more members to take another carriage to seek help.
At this time, Leonard suggested, "Should we retreat as a group? And wait for higher-level assistance?"
Daly shook her head, "I brought 1-068, even if we encounter the source of corruption, we have the strength to fight."
But it would be best if there were no direct conflict.
After two more members left, only Daly, Leonard, and a Sequence 7 named Jess remained of the "Red Gloves" members in the manor.
At this time, the tourists who had fled to the hall earlier came out to check the situation, and they were all amazed to see such large moths.
Daly had Jess deal with the tourists and organize them to rescue the injured.
She, Leonard, and Hobert took a short rest and went to the third suspicious location.
At this point, Hobert no longer had any hope of saving Selena. She may have entered that pine forest, or she may be in the village on the other side of the mountain. In any case, she had either turned into a moth or had been severely polluted.
But since they had already checked two suspicious locations, it wouldn't hurt to go to the last location to see if they could gather more information.
Entering the pine forest, everything seemed to quiet down immediately, or rather, there was no sign of life here.
In the trees and under the trees, there were many cocoons of different sizes.
Hobert cut open two of them with his knife. Some of the cocoons contained people, and some contained wild animals. Logically speaking, these corpses should have lost their lives in the past few days, but without exception, they were all highly decayed, and many dense gray moth larvae were crawling out from under the corpses' brownish-gray skin.
Hobert suddenly thought of the gray moths that had landed on the hunting team before, and he felt a little nauseous.
Suddenly, Hobert's scalp went numb, and he felt extreme danger. He thrust his knife into the air, but hit nothing.
Then he looked up and saw a pair of huge eyes.
Hobert suddenly felt a little dizzy, as if he saw strange brilliance from the dense canopy. That brilliance was very dazzling, very charming, and almost attracted all of Hobert's attention.
With the last bit of focus, Hobert injected his spirituality into the "Order Crystal" on his cane, and a black shield immediately appeared around him.
In that instant, Hobert seemed to lose all vision. Almost instinctively, Hobert threw himself to the ground and rolled, and his vision became dim again.
A gray moth the size of a rhinoceros landed beside the three of them. Its tail had a structure like a scorpion's tail, and it had just stabbed at Hobert. Fortunately, Hobert used the power of "Nation of Disorder" with the help of the "Order Crystal" to get himself out of the illusionary state.
Seeing that Hobert was about to wake up, the moth quickly flapped its wings to take off. Hobert rushed over in three steps and cut off its "scorpion tail" with one slash.
Then the blade went upward, cutting a hole in its abdomen.
Amidst the moth's "sizzling" sound, Hobert used "Lightning Strike" again, hitting the moth's head directly.
The moth fell to the ground, but it was still not dead.
Immediately, a scalp-numbing "buzzing" sound rang out. Hobert, as well as Daly and Leonard, who had woken up from the illusion, discovered that they were surrounded by countless moths. Some of these moths were the size of normal moths, and some were as big as cats and dogs!
"Golden clouds, fluttering over the silent earth; vast silent fields, shimmering with dewdrops!"
As Leonard recited the verses in a melodious voice, silent waves that could not be seen rippled around, and most of the gray moths became calm, or folded their wings and fell to the ground from mid-air.
Hobert seized the opportunity and slashed off the head of the giant gray moth that had been struck by lightning with one blow!
The gray moth's six legs and wings struggled desperately, as if its vitality was even more vigorous.
Hobert saw the pair of wings with huge eyes again. These eyes were on a pair of hind wings, and even though Hobert was mentally prepared, he still felt a little dazed.
He quickly cut off this pair of wings with his knife, letting the pattern of the wings face the ground.
"Many times I marvel at the endurance of life." A voice suddenly appeared on a tree branch behind Hobert and the others.
It was Harold, of course, the three people under the tree knew that this must be a fake Harold.
Then Hobert had doubts about his spirituality and ability. The illusionary attack of the giant gray moth just now had affected both Sequence 5s.
Now, a person suddenly appeared behind them, and Hobert and Daly had not noticed it.
Harold said, "That was originally an ordinary gray moth, which survived the initial stage of corruption by a one in ten thousand, or even one in a million chance.
"Later I found that it actually had the ability to absorb corruption, and its offspring also had this ability, so I simply tricked some people into coming to this forest to raise them and absorb the corruption from my body.
"As a result, it later developed the ability to create illusions. It does not possess Beyonder characteristics, but its wings are like a magic circle that can cause people to have illusions.
"And the power that drives this magic circle is the corruption it absorbs from me, the level is quite high, and anyone below the level of an angel will be affected by this illusionary magic circle."
He paused and smiled, "You have done me a great favor, otherwise I wouldn't know how to deal with it."
Harold looked at Hobert, obviously very interested in the things on Hobert's body that could isolate such high-level corruption.
Hobert guessed, "You are the Demonic Wolf of Fog that was polluted?"
"It seems you have obtained a lot of information about me." Harold, or rather, the Demonic Wolf of Fog, generously admitted, "That's right, it's me."
Hobert asked, "Do you know Selena from Tingen City?"
"That's a little girl with very high inspiration." Harold, or rather, the Demonic Wolf of Fog, said, "I told her to run into this forest, but she didn't completely believe me, and instead chose to escape in another direction.
"She has been wandering in the mountains, but she has not escaped my control so far, and has been subjected to my corruption."
Hobert did not expect that this little girl was quite clever, "Why don't you turn the people here into marionettes? And just simply lure them?"
"If they become my marionettes, they will have a close connection with me, and the corruption may return again." Harold said, "So I will only briefly connect your spirit body threads and transfer the corruption to you."
Hobert asked again, "Has this method been successful?"
"Very successful." Harold smiled, "The corruption on my body has been basically transferred out!"
"How did you get polluted?"
"Don't know."
Hobert was stunned, "Don't know? You don't know even with your level and ability?"
"I have received some revelations, but I can't interpret them." Harold shook his head, "But I can be sure that this is very high-level corruption."
Harold thought for a moment and said, "Before I was polluted, I got a small bottle of white mist, which is said to contain the ultimate secrets of the Trunsoest Empire.
"But the next day, the mist in the bottle disappeared, and I was polluted. Thinking about it now, I should have been polluted because of this."
Hobert showed a very interested expression, "The ultimate secret of the Trunsoest Empire?"
Harold smiled, "Although your chances of surviving are very slim, I still can't tell you the details."
"How are you going to kill us?"
"I don't have to do anything, this corruption will soon cause you to show signs of losing control." Harold said, "The people you sent out to seek help, they can't leave the barrier I set up at all.
"You're definitely going to say that you had a colleague named Harold who escaped from here."
Seeing "Harold" talk about Harold was a bit awkward for everyone.
"Harold" sneered: "I let him go on purpose."
"If none of them had escaped, the Church of the Evernight Goddess would definitely organize a stronger team to deal with me, and they might even send a demigod."
"But if someone escapes, they will only send a relatively elite 'Red Gloves' team."
"This will buy me some time, and by the time the Church of the Evernight Goddess realizes something is wrong and sends a second batch of reinforcements, it will be at least two days later."
And in those two days, Hobert and the others would have already turned into monsters due to the corruption.
This made Hobert sigh: As expected of the 'Old Schemer' pathway! This is just a magical creature of that pathway, and it's already so good at playing tricks and schemes.
Then Hobert tentatively asked: "I have the ability to 'Travel', you can't trap me!"
Harold smiled: "Haven't you noticed? Since you approached the manor, the two times you used 'Travel' you only appeared on the mountain opposite the manor, and didn't leave the five-kilometer radius!
"You have been corrupted, which is equivalent to having a psychological suggestion planted in you, you can't escape!"
Hobert then asked: "What about the village you mentioned across the mountain?"
He asked questions while moving his wrist, as if he had been injured in the battle with the giant gray moth.
"Not bad, not bad, you actually noticed the village!" Harold laughed: "If you were in normal condition, I would have planned to turn you into my marionette!"
Hobert understood: "That's your 'Marionette Village'!"
"Not anymore. During this corruption, they began to worship a god from the depths of the universe." Harold said: "I have severed contact with all the marionettes. They have become living corpses with some intelligence, but their remaining intelligence is limited to worshiping that evil god.
"Predating living people is their nature. Without my restraint, they will find food themselves."
And for those living corpses, Boklun Manor is the largest 'food garden' around.
Hobert nodded: "So, you won't turn me into a marionette, right?"
Harold raised his head: "I should say, you no longer have the qualifications to become my marionette."
"That puts my mind at ease." Hobert smiled: "I'll show you something good."
He suddenly raised the oil painting!
When Hobert was moving his wrist just now, his other hand was untying the rope on the oil painting.
Daly and Leonard, who were closer, also noticed this, so at the same time as Hobert raised the oil painting, Daly already had a necklace with a huge black pearl in her hand.
The surroundings instantly darkened, as if it had suddenly become night, and the Demonic Wolf of Fog fell into a dazed, half-asleep state.
The Demonic Wolf of Fog originally had time to switch positions with a marionette, even under the attack of a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact, so it stood there confidently, as if showing off its masterpiece, and talked eloquently.
But what it didn't expect was that just as it was about to switch places with the marionette, its mind suddenly went blank, and the thought of switching positions with the marionette seemed to have been stolen.
If it were in the past, it wouldn't have met Hobert and the others in its true form, but today it had just severed contact with its previous marionettes and was in a stage where it didn't have a normal marionette that could be turned into a human form.
By the time the Demonic Wolf of Fog came back to its senses, it had already been affected by "1-068", and its heart became very peaceful, and it would almost immediately fall asleep.
The Demonic Wolf of Fog was also very strange, there were clearly no Beyonders of the 'Marauder' pathway among these three people, nor were there any Sealed Artifacts of that pathway, so how could its thoughts have disappeared just now?
Hobert, however, already understood that it was the old grandpa in Leonard's body who had taken action, because he didn't bring the demigod-level "Marauder" pathway Sealed Artifact "1-101".
In a half-asleep state, the Demonic Wolf of Fog saw a beautiful landscape painting, which made it sigh: "What a beautiful landscape!"
The monster with the eye growing on its chest appeared, and Hobert noticed that its skin had turned black, and the curse it emitted had also been significantly strengthened.
It seemed that Farbauti just descended once in this dream and brought some strengthening to the oil painting.
The Demonic Wolf of Fog finally woke up a bit, and it tried its best to use its ability. Its position was finally exchanged with a flying ash moth marionette hundreds of meters away.
In the end, the monster's curse fell on an ash moth, and the Demonic Wolf of Fog on the original branch disappeared without a trace.
Hobert quickly stepped forward and killed the monster with one blow, and the monster's shadow turned into nothingness.
As he picked up the oil painting, he said: "The guys of the 'Seer' pathway are so hard to kill." He also wrapped the two wings into the oil painting.
Hobert didn't expect to kill the Demonic Wolf of Fog with one blow. Being able to successfully mark the Demonic Wolf of Fog's spirituality was already a blessing. He would find this magical wolf to settle the score when he had the opportunity.
Daly also knew that now was not the time to hunt down the Demonic Wolf of Fog: "We must make some preparations before the Demonic Wolf of Fog's marionette arrives at the manor."
Hobert nodded: "You guys go back first, I'll go find Selena."
Without waiting for Daly and the others to answer, Hobert had already used the ability of "Low Flight" to fly out of the canopy and search for Selena's figure on the mountain.
More than ten minutes later, Hobert finally found Selena, who was exhausted and sitting on a rock to rest.
Seeing Hobert, who had returned to his own appearance, descending from the sky, Selena happily said: "Teacher! I knew you would come to save me!"
Hobert smiled, the main purpose of this trip to Loen was finally achieved.
Just as he was about to use "Travel" to take Selena away, Hobert suddenly saw an abstract symbol painted in the snow, the symbol consisted of zigzagging vertical and horizontal lines, and several dots.
Hobert's eyes narrowed, he was very familiar with this symbol, but he couldn't recall the relevant information.
Selena noticed that Hobert's eyes were different from just now, she explained: "That's a symbol I saw in a dream, and I don't know why it's so deeply imprinted in my mind, I couldn't help but reach out and draw it several times."
"You wait here for a while!" Hobert used two "Blink" to hide behind a big tree, and then entered the "Nation of Disorder", Hobert instantly "recalled" the relevant memory: "Uncertain Mist!"
Hobert finally understood that it was "Uncertain Mist" that had polluted the Demonic Wolf of Fog, and the source of the corruption was that bottle of white mist.
No wonder even the Demonic Wolf of Fog's level couldn't divine the source of the corruption, and only knew that this corruption level was very high.
Hobert also finally understood why these white mists that polluted his spiritual body would directly integrate into the "Nation of Disorder", because the "Uncertain Mist" the part of the "Nation of Disorder", and it has the same origin as the "Nation of Disorder" controlled by Hobert, so the corruption is just some nutrients for the "Nation of Disorder".
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