Chapter 674: Chapter 321: Ghost Fog Society, Feast, Patrick, and the Space Key
Almost at the instant Ronan uttered the word "run," the chewing sounds in the empty passage abruptly ceased.
Four heads engaged in feasting suddenly stopped their actions, simultaneously turned their heads, eerily staring at the two of them.
Ronan felt a chill run down his spine and unhesitatingly grabbed Molli’er, turning and running.
In the completely void-restricted passage, Ronan’s formidable physique was fully unleashed, his foot stomping fiercely, emanating a dull air explosion sound, his whole being darting forward like an arrow, reaching the end of the passage in a flash.
Yet, a rapid series of intensifying "da da da" sounds caught in his ears.
Ronan turned his head, only to see a body covered in limbs, topped with four massive heads, a distorted, bizarre human figure, like a strange and gigantic humanoid spider, swiftly chasing him along the wall with an unimaginable speed.
The mouths of those four heads hadn’t even cleaned the blood froth, faces flaunting expressions of extreme greed and yearning, their eyes fixated on him.
Ronan gritted his teeth, dragging Molli’er and running wildly, turning a few corners, unsure after how many passages, they were suddenly blocked by a tall gray fog wall at the passage’s end.
The fleeing footsteps abruptly halted.
This was a dead end!
"It’s over."
Molli’er stared blankly at the tightly blocking gray wall, muttering.
"Da da da...."
The rapid sound of countless fingers tapping on the wall approached swiftly from behind, the stench of decay and heavy blood emanating from the head-eating monster nearly perceivable, its greedy and hurried breathing audible.
"Mine, mine, mine...."
The chilling mutter repeated repeatedly, rapidly drawing near.
Ronan, however, appeared unusually calm.
He glanced at the gray fog wall ahead, suddenly turning back, shouting loudly at the approaching head-eating monster: "Patrick!"
The name seemingly possessing some wondrous magic, the rapidly moving head-eating monster abruptly halted.
Immediately, countless hands on its body reached for the four heads, expressions of pain and confusion appearing on the bizarre faces.
Ronan’s eyes tightly fixed on the head-eating monster, which was trapped in a bizarre self-struggle state, flipping his palm, revealing an extraordinary silver-key in his hand.
With the key in hand, Ronan gently slashed at the gray fog wall behind him.
The originally impenetrable gray fog wall, akin to paper, was split open, revealing a narrow gap barely enough for one person to pass.
Casually tossing Molli’er through, then he himself bent over and passed through.
Through the gap space, one could see the head-eating monster, which was just clutching its head in painful struggle, suddenly seeming to have awakened, once again restored its original terrifying and grim state, leaping towards Ronan.
Countless hands grabbed at the edge of the gap, a head widened its eyes, roaring, attempting to squeeze in.
Molli’er, frightened by this "face-to-face attack," jumped back, while Ronan, relatively calm, picked up the key and slashed at the wall once more.
This time, the original gap began closing rapidly, the head-eating monster eyed them unwillingly, roaring furiously...
After the gray fog wall fully closed, there could still be heard frantic pounding and biting sounds from the other side, then suddenly all sounds vanished, plunging the surroundings into complete silence.
"Whew—"
Molli’er exhaled deeply, her fair face paled as she leaned against the wall, sitting on the ground.
The recent experience had clearly terrified her.
Ronan glanced at her and coldly spoke: "Now you know how serious the problem is?"
Molli’er nodded slowly, still in shock, suddenly realizing, jumping up from the ground, staring at Ronan.
"How... how did you get a key that can break the walls of the Minotaur Maze?!"
Ronan looked at the silver, transparent, and exquisitely crafted key in his hand, its space energy aura strong, murmuring with a strange expression: "Unexpected... I didn’t expect it either."
Ronan truly hadn’t anticipated.
Back at the Silver Magic Ring, from a certain Secret Mysterious Garden Realm at the edge of the Ancient Mirror Court ruins, he obtained a mysterious space key, unexpectedly linked to the legendary Minotaur Maze.
"Perhaps this is the key to opening the maze’s exit door..."
Ronan muttered, Molli’er swiftly pounced, "Give it to me to play!"
"Dream on!"
Ronan dodged Molli’er’s grasp, looking at her disgruntled face, speaking solemnly: "This key has usage limitations, those two uses just now, have already drained part of its power...
Now is not the time for games, if you still want to get out, you will obediently follow my instructions next, otherwise..."
Ronan glanced at the gray fog wall from which they’d just escaped, calmly said: "Next time we encounter a similar situation, don’t blame me for abandoning you."
Molli’er, I have already been exceedingly considerate towards you.
Don’t forget, not long ago, we were sworn enemies, life and death."
Molli’er seemed touched by his last words, her beautiful eyes flickering, her facial expression slowly converging.
After a slightly dull silence, Molli’er spoke again: "What did ’Patrick’ mean when you shouted?"
"A person’s name."
Ronan was considering whether to communicate with Alazan, casually responding to Molli’er, "Five hundred years ago, the most outstanding genius of the Ghost Fog Society, who touched upon the brink of being a Level 6 Wizard in less than two hundred years, suddenly vanished from the world amid expectant eyes... it turns out he was trapped in the maze."
After weighing the options several times, Ronan ultimately decided not to let Alazan know for now.
After reverting to a "transactional" relationship with Alazan, he had consciously been withholding information from Alazan, trying to make sure he knew as little as possible about himself.
"How did you figure out that guy... that monster was Patrick from the Ghost Fog Society five hundred years ago?"
"His previous method of disguising himself as the gray fog is a unique inheritance magic of the Ghost Fog Society... Originating from the Ghost Fog Society, possessing a strength above Level 5, and possibly appearing in the maze... Filtering through these conditions, his identity is basically confirmed...
Alright."
Ronan ended the topic and, after thinking for a moment, opened his mouth to say, "Have you noticed that the free energy particles inside the maze are much thinner compared to outside?
The Level 5 Wizard who was just eaten by Patrick didn’t even have time to gather his True Spirit..."
Molli’er furrowed her brows slightly and said, "Is this a good thing or a bad thing for us?"
Ronan pondered for a while and replied, "It’s a good thing... and a bad thing."
Alazan once said that the grade of a Wizard’s Primordial Spirit determines the level of "authority" they have in the natural cosmos.
This involves some mysteries relating to "natural rules." The strength of a Level 5 Wizard lies in being able to, upon activating the True Spirit, leverage the "rule authority" brought by the Primordial Spirit to summon tens or even hundreds of times more elemental energy than in the normal state. Some spell casting processes are also omitted, becoming as instinctive as a "talent."
Thin energy means that Wizards above Level 5 lose this strong advantage, unable to activate the Primordial Spirit Avatar, and their strength will be significantly weakened.
But conversely, after losing this method of the True Spirit, focusing all one’s efforts over long periods on the understanding of the spell itself, the Level 5 existence "honed" in this state will far surpass peers in casting ability and understanding of magic.
Extreme conditions often create real "monsters."
Patrick is the perfect example, under him, ordinary Level 5 Wizards can only be treated as food!
"We need to be careful from now on..."
Ronan exhaled softly and slowly said, "Who knows how long the Minotaur’s maze has been around, those Wizards trapped inside unable to escape, driven mad by despair and pain, to the point of cannibalism...
Those who manage to survive in such an environment are truly terrifying beings.
Like Patrick..."
Molli’er clearly recalled the recent encounter, her lovely face turning a shade paler.
But she quickly composed herself, nonchalantly saying, "After all, you have the key to open the maze’s gate, we’ll be able to get out eventually."
"Let’s find that door first."
Ronan glanced at the Space Key in his hand, speaking lightly.
The two continued slowly along the new gray fog path.
After the previous encounter with the head monster, Molli’er was obviously much more obedient, holding onto Ronan’s sleeve, staying quietly by his side, and speaking seldom.
The path thereafter was quite calm, without encountering monsters like Patrick again.
But the long, winding maze passage seemed never-ending, no matter where they walked, no matter how long they walked, their surroundings were forever shrouded in gray fog, high walls, and a dim black sky.
Time seemed to lose meaning here.
Thinking about those Wizards who inadvertently entered the maze, then spent the rest of their lives wandering through its endless passages until despair consumed them entirely... Ronan felt an inexplicable fear.
Only when he felt the coldness of the Space Key in his palm did this fear born from emptiness gradually fade away.
He didn’t know how long they had walked, until the two turned a corner and approached a passage.
"Drip—drip—"
The sound of water droplets.
Particularly clear.
Ronan stood quietly in front of the passage, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at the scene before him—
Dark red, viscous blood pooled on the foggy walls on either side of the passage, dripping slowly into the passage, a thin layer of blood already covered the ground...
The small hands gripping his arm gradually tightened, and a petite body slowly shrank behind him.
"Feast..."
Ronan softly uttered a word.
During his days of hard training at Spirit Lake, almost all of his leisure time was spent flipping through the Spirit Lake Book, learning a lot about the various Wizard forces and schools across the Central Continent.
He hadn’t expected that this knowledge would come in handy at such a moment.
The scene before him bore a strong resemblance to the spell effect of a blood series Wizard school known as "Feast," though he wasn’t sure which Level 5 or above "Feast" Wizard it was.
As he pondered, the blood running down the walls on either side of the passage quickened.
The blood pooled on the ground also acted like a living thing, actively flowing towards Ronan and Molli’er.
Ronan remained expressionless, pulling Molli’er closely, moving back.
At the exact moment they turned the corner, he took the Space Key and slashed forcefully against the nearby gray fog wall.
Once the gap opened, he swiftly led Molli’er inside.
Almost immediately after he entered, from the other side of the corner, a roaring blood river surged towards them....
.....
Trying to write another Chapter before midnight, seeking monthly tickets—thanks!