Over the next three days, news from the front gradually arrived. (Quality#......Net) When he heard that Nightingale had exhausted her magic and fainted, his heart clenched a bit, but fortunately, she was fine after all. When the news arrived, she had basically recovered as before, and even asked Maggie to relay a message, telling him not to worry about her.
The exploration results showed that there was indeed an underground relic in the Great Snow Mountain, but its preservation was far from as good as the one in the Misty Mountains. Most of the caves had collapsed, and the few remaining compartments were filled with rotten food, insect eggs, and corpses. Not far from the underground lake, the Taquila witches also found a damaged magic core. Almost no valuable specimens were left. The only gains so far were an Original Carrier and two Devouring Worms.
This surprised Roland a bit.
If the multi-eyed monster entrenched in the lake was just a pure beast that happened to regard the relic as a suitable nest, there would be nothing to blame. But the opponent was clearly not without intelligence. Driving the worms to devour Agatha's laboratory and the black stone tower of the demons' camp had nothing to do with predation. In addition, the strange insect sacs found underground, wrapped with demons and humans, looked like they were deliberately collecting information from both races.
Especially when the first batch of "insect sac corpses" was transported back, he noticed that the victims' damaged skin was not caused by corrosion, but by the waxy changes that occurred after prolonged storage. This indicated that the corpses in the insect sacs had been there for a long time and did not seem to be prepared as rations.
This behavior of making specimens of other creatures was clearly only done by intelligent individuals. If so, why did it make the relic so unrecognizable?
Or... what the Taquila witches valued, the monster didn't care about?
Roland looked through the "scene reconstruction photos" drawn by Soroya, his mind lost in thought.
When the monster disappeared into the water, the strong hatred revealed by the remaining hundreds of scarlet eyes was almost tangible—perhaps it was an illusion, but the magic eye that first appeared on the top of the cave seemed to have something more in its eyes after being severely damaged. It seemed that before it was just a simple gaze, but later it had extremely clear emotions, especially when comparing the two pictures together, it gave a faint feeling that the two were not the same monster.
As for the lake at the bottom of the relic, Sylvie had confirmed its flow—the water vein led to the sea.
According to his current technical level, once the enemy escaped into the Maelstrom Sea, it would be completely lost as a target. All that could be done afterward was to collapse the dome of the relic and completely seal off the underground water vein to ensure the safety of Neverwinter's rear.
Of course, there was also good news.
Lightning's report mentioned that Fulan was immobilized by a gelatinous substance sprayed by a reptile, and this type of insect was the same as the "egg insect" that wrapped the corpses. Their body fluids seemed to solidify rapidly under certain conditions and produce a strong adhesion, like a spider spinning silk. At the same time, these reptiles had no intelligence and were not aggressive. Agatha had already begun to study them and confirmed that they did not belong to any species on the Fertile Plains.
In other words, this reptile was very likely brought by the "monster."
Roland didn't care where it came from. What he cared about was the rapidly solidifying adhesive, and according to Lightning's description, there might even be artificial breeding possibilities.
Therefore, in his reply, he asked Agatha to make a detailed report on the new species' harmfulness, hunting range, and living habits; in addition, the strange plants and fungi in the relic were also included in the collection task, especially the fruits that emitted a dim cold light and the giant mushrooms that were about adult size, which particularly interested him.
As Roland prepared to look at the scenes of the underground world again, a knock sounded outside the office.
It was Phyllis who came in.
She saluted and said, "Your Majesty, Pasha-sama wishes to speak with you about the relic."
Roland nodded. The information he had obtained in the past few days would be copied to Taquila, and he also wanted to know what the ancient witches thought of the visceral monster.
"Let's talk using video conferencing."
"Vi... what?" Phyllis was stunned, but quickly reacted, "You mean the illusion instrument?"
"That's right, the same old place, the first floor reception hall." Roland couldn't help but grin. Now someone could finally understand his "nonsense."
"I understand," she also smiled. "I'll go inform Pasha now."
...
Arriving in the hall, Faldi and others who were waiting there immediately stood up straight, placed their hands on their chests, and gave him the high-level Ascendant salute, their expressions meticulous, completely different from their true selves in the Dream World.
Since taking them to visit the Dream World, these God's Punishment Witches had completely regarded him as a member of the Union's Three Seats. Although they still used the term "mortal" when referring to other citizens, they clearly didn't include him, which could be clearly felt from their etiquette and attitude.
Roland had told them not to pay too much attention to these formalities, but the God's Punishment Witches agreed, but their saluting actions were still as standard as ever, even more serious than the guards. After a few times, he let them do as they pleased.
Entering the reception hall, Pasha was already waiting on the other side of the light curtain.
「First of all, I must express my sincere gratitude to you,」 she bowed her main tentacle, 「Whether it is the exploration of the relic these days, or allowing the God's Punishment Witches to regain their lost senses, your help is of great significance to Taquila.」
"In the face of the upcoming Battle of Divine Will, this is also a form of self-help," Roland responded with a smile, "By the way, have you figured out how to recover the relic's carrier?"
「There are only two ways... either move the carrier back directly, or transport the soul instrument over,」 she paused, 「I prefer the latter.」
After the magic core was turned off, it was no different from a dry skeleton, and it was not difficult to transport it by cement boat, but the carrier was not the same... even the non-activated fleshy lumps and worms far exceeded the acceptance range of ordinary people - Neverwinter's basic education was not enough for the people to accept these hellish monsters calmly.
Roland also preferred the second approach in principle, but there were also problems with transporting the instrument.
"So, have you selected the witches who are willing to accept soul transfer?"
Unlike half a month ago, although possessing the carrier meant abandoning the human form and not being able to restore it, it allowed them to re-experience the long-lost sense of touch, taste, and smell, so most of the God's Punishment Witches were willing, even eager, to merge with the carrier, which was also why Pasha and others were so concerned about the possible relics in the Snowy Mountain.
However, now, the situation had become completely different.