Chapter 245 Another Person

Vivian and Lily recounted their discoveries and related speculations in detail. Hao Ren then turned to Izaax and Becky's group, "Did you guys find anything?"

The two of them went to the northern part of the mountains, the area where the stone giants were multiplying most rapidly, but now it seemed that the biggest mystery in the Bainz region was in other aspects. The stone giants might just be a minor problem on the surface. Becky shook her head. "We didn't find anything special over there, just that there are indeed a lot of stone giants, many of them wandering in the mountains, and even small groups gathering. Moreover, the Knights Order has dispatched a lot of manpower there. At the foot of the mountain, there's a huge stone fortress that was quickly shaped with magic, and there might be a grand mage-level officer stationed there. I and Big Guy circled around in the mountains for a while and almost got discovered by the patrolling Knights Order soldiers."

"The stone giants are just wandering in the mountains and don't seem to have any intention of attacking for now," Izaax added from the side. "But I think their not attacking is the biggest anomaly in itself—they're a group of 'creatures' with not much intelligence. They should act according to their instincts, and it's normal for them to blindly attack everything after they start moving. Now they're wandering in the mountains without coming down. I feel like someone might be suppressing these monsters. There's a controller behind them, but obviously, the control method is not in place yet."

Izaax and Becky also made some discoveries, but obviously, they weren't significant intelligence. Hao Ren saw that everyone else had finished speaking, so he cleared his throat. "Ahem, now let me talk about my side—I encountered a group of cultists..."

Vivian and the others immediately held their breath and waited for Hao Ren to finish explaining the situation. When they heard about the strange and sinister religious ceremony and the human sacrifice site, Lily couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Vivian and Izaax, on the other hand, didn't react much: they were knowledgeable and accustomed to this kind of situation. But when they heard that the cultists had summoned a bizarre and powerful flesh monster, Izaax frowned and pondered aloud, "The monster's body was shaped from the flesh and blood materials at the scene?"

"Yes," Hao Ren nodded. "Also, the Datacraft identified the monster's physiological structure and found it to be illogical, theoretically unable to survive."

"Descent summoning, a summoning technique commonly used by some heretics," Izaax nodded. "What they summoned should be a creature from another place—another dimension or another planet, but they don't have the ability to open such a dimensional gate, so the monster projects its will and power over and descends into a temporary body. Due to the limitations of materials and technology, the cultists can't create a perfect and up-to-standard body, so this kind of summoning can only last for a short period of time."

"Will the strength of the monster summoned by descent be greatly reduced?" Hao Ren was most concerned about this question. He still had lingering fears about the power of that strange "brain," feeling that it had far exceeded mortals, even exceeding many other kinds of beings. If he hadn't stumbled upon a weakness and the empire-issued pistol hadn't been able to penetrate all defenses regardless of level, the outcome of today's events would have been hard to say.

"That's not certain, it depends on the life form and power form of the descender," Izaax shrugged. "If most of its abilities rely on the physical body, its power will certainly decrease, but if it fights with its mind, then its power won't decrease too much, and sometimes the method used for descent and its own unique techniques will also affect its final strength. According to your description, that brain-like creature basically fights with supernatural power. Even after physical contact, it's a magical effect similar to controlling kinetic energy and gravity, so its true strength should be about the same as that. Compared to its true body, the only difference after descent is the limited time it can stay here. Of course, all of the above are just guesses. I'm guessing based on the rules from my old home."

Lily looked at Izaax with a strange expression. "How do you seem to know so much about this?"

Izaax spread his hands. "It's my old profession. It's very troublesome to teleport from the Abyss to human countries. In most cases, I use descent summoning to go over. Although I don't really like developing forces in the human world, I do have a few human subordinates."

Hao Ren was a little surprised. "Aren't you not supposed to wage war against humans?"

"I didn't go there to wage war in the past either," Izaax scratched his bald scalp, smiling sincerely. "Most of the time, I went there for sightseeing."

Everyone on the scene rolled their eyes, not knowing what to say. Such a dignified demon king, whose mere appearance in the human world would be enough to turn several countries upside down, was only being summoned over by humans to see the scenery. How would the army of heroes gathered around the world because of the demon king's descent feel? Hao Ren couldn't imagine what the heroes in Izaax's old home would think of this unconventional demon king—Izaax's travel interests alone must support many weapons shops and adventurer bars.

Izaax himself seemed to know that his habit was not something to be shared with outsiders, scratching his head and smiling sheepishly. "Hey, I won't talk about my side. In short, that giant brain should be completely dead. Although the creatures summoned by descent can leave their temporary bodies and return to their old homes at any time, the nature of your gun is very special. It can annihilate even the soul, and even annihilate the path through which the soul was projected over, so we don't have to worry about the giant brain's soul escaping back to gather a gang and bring people to take revenge."

Hao Ren had mentioned his gun to everyone when he had the chance, so Izaax could make this judgment.

After everyone had explained their situation, Hao Ren and Vivian, as the team leader and team brain, began to sort out this mess of information.

The mysterious tentacles appearing in the underground around the Blood Lake (which could almost be confirmed as the roots of the Twisted Forest), the controller behind the stone giants, the heretical rituals appearing in the Dragonspine Mountains, the summoned flesh monster, the heretical elements hidden in the Church Knights and the Kingdom Knights, the Radiant Church denounced as "sinners of stealing divine power," and that distant world that was completely red, with only blood-colored seawater constantly surging...

And last but not least, the sentence that the giant brain sent into Hao Ren's mind before it died: You are all scum.

These various clues seemed to be related, but they also seemed messy and disorganized. Hao Ren racked his brains but couldn't completely fit them into a framework. He wasn't sure if the ones manipulating the stone giants were those cultists, nor was he sure if the flesh monster was related to the changes in the Bainz Diocese, and he was even less sure what connection the roots of the Twisted Forest could have with these things. It seemed that all the events were independent, and their only common point was that they were strange enough.

"I can't figure it out," Vivian spread her hands. "We still know too little."

"It looks like the itinerary for the next two days will have to change a little," Hao Ren stroked his chin. "We won't be able to find out anything if we investigate blindly. I've decided to tell Ofra about this information and let that female marshal mobilize her forces to investigate. She should be very happy to deal with cultists."

"Is she reliable?" Vivian immediately thought of this.

"No one is reliable, but no one cares. I just need to let the upper echelons of Holletta know about this and then let them move," Hao Ren shrugged. "We're not afraid of anything. No matter how chaotic the situation gets, it won't affect us in the slightest. Once the hibernation pod loses power, everything will be fine. The current situation is that everything is too peaceful, so peaceful that we can't see any ripples even if we want to investigate. So at this time, we need a strong enough guy to stir things up. As long as the water is muddy, I don't care who stirs it."

As for how to explain to Ofra his group's actions of investigating everywhere last night, Hao Ren decided to think about it later.

Vivian looked at Hao Ren in surprise, meaningfully: "...You're like a different person."

Lily also looked at Hao Ren in surprise, equally meaningfully: "...You're like a different person."

Hao Ren glared at the husky: "It's understandable for Vivian, but what can you see!"

Lily wagged her tail: "I don't know what you're talking about, but every time the bat makes that expression when she speaks, you praise her a few words. I'm sure it's right to learn from her like this!"

Hao Ren: "..."

At this time, Becky suddenly reacted: "Wait! Is it appropriate for you to say this in front of me?!"

Hao Ren suddenly realized that there was still a native of the Dream Plane present. What he said just now might have made her mistakenly believe that he didn't care about the peace of the Dream Plane (Hao Ren definitely didn't mean that), so he quickly explained: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying..."

Before Hao Ren could finish speaking, Becky suddenly stood up: "We can only stay for a dozen days! If Lord Ofra really keeps us here to investigate the matter, won't my mansion and title be gone?"

Everyone's foreheads dripped with sweat: This girl was still thinking about her noble title, which was equivalent to being conferred after death...

But fortunately, Becky wasn't an unreasonable person either. In the end, she didn't insist too much on this matter. Anyway, the reward was there, and unless Holletta perished within a month, she could still go to the royal capital to receive the conferment next time.

Of course, there was also a big reason why she chose to cooperate: Anyway, she couldn't beat this house full of monsters...

After that, everyone took advantage of the time before dawn to get some rest. When the thunderstorm that had been brewing for most of the night finally arrived, Marshal Ofra took the initiative to visit.

It was as if she knew that Hao Ren and his group had something to look for her for.