299: Chapter 283: Brain-Eater Matron (3/3, w words update!) 299: Chapter 283: Brain-Eater Matron (3/3, w words update!) The pale blue River of Parasites emitted twinkling bioluminescence, a phenonon of bioluminescence in activated biomass.
Shasha and Andor did not travel together, not because they feared the Brain-Eating Parasites; a prepared Magical Beast of the First Power Level could easily expel them from its body.
Only Magical Beasts on the verge of death, unconscious, or those with severe bleeding wounds could possibly be parasitized.
Ian dispatched Shasha and Andor on a safer, longer route, also as a contingency plan for later actions—there was more than one river leading to the cold-water interchange area.
Should their upcoming actions fail and they need to flee, an underground river crossing from above the interchange area was safer than the River of Parasites.
As for the Pirate Captain, Ian wasn’t worried he would escape.
Not to ntion his missing leg, Ian was certain the man didn’t know his way around and needed to wait for them to exit the ruins together.
Moreover, even if he did miraculously escape, he would face pursuit from many sides.
He would be better off obediently following orders, thereby serving as a witness to the stains on the Ellen Family’s honor.
Apart from these two, the Humans who could walk along the bank—Ian, Yisen Gard, and Master Gossay—still had to pass through this closest and most direct route.
This ti, the three of them were truly fully prepared.
To guard against a possible surprise attack from Patrick, Master Gossay concocted several bottles of Anti-Lightning Potion on the spot using materials they found along the way, with everyone carrying two bottles at all tis.
In addition to that, they also had body-strengthening and power-enhancing potions, each one a fine product.
This made Ian marvel and understand the gap between himself and a genuine Alchemy Master.
—The fact that the other could concoct Elite Potions even under these circumstances ant that he could no longer use “lack of tools” as an excuse in the future.
Then he used a Silver Chip to record, capturing all of Master Gossay’s techniques.
—All perfect, all mine!
Ard with the Alchemy Skills Master Gossay demonstrated along the way, Ian felt that becoming a full-fledged Alchemist once he returned to Harrison Port would be a breeze!
“This river should be the one that flows from the water-cold interchange, passing through a ‘purification’ process behind the ruins before naturally cooling and being recycled back.”
Walking along the bank, observing the dense masses of tiny worm egg casings in the river, Ian spoke with so emotion, “But who knew that the interchange would likely be blocked by the Worm Nest, and the purification facilities have beco decay facilities that continuously release worm eggs…
After a thousand years, things have changed too much.”
The river water was warm and emitting steam, indeed characteristic of cooling water.
Ian hadn’t made the connection initially, mainly because there were simply too many geothermal sources to consider linking them together.
“There’s cannon fire ahead.”
Master Gossay lifted his head.
His strength had not fully recovered, but his heightened perception as a Cloud Sculptor was starting to co into play.
The wind surging between the channels brought him news, causing the older man to furrow his brows, “Firearms, cannons, the toxic stench of decay, and the tremors of huge creatures—the battle is very fierce!”
“That’s just perfect.”
Ian hastened his pace instead.
After walking upstream along the River of Parasites for a while, they turned into another, larger river.
The foul stench wafted from the water, causing intense unease.
The River of Parasites stemd from this larger river, and once the stench was reduced, it beca a strange, overwhelmingly sweet scent.
Upon closer examination, one could see nurous corpses of Magical Beasts and wild animals in the river, now nests for the Brain-Eating Parasites, pulsating continuously, with evident firearm wounds on these creatures.
Then, Ian and the others saw many piles of decayed bones upstream, with undefined slug-like creatures crawling in and out among them, and giant armored insects floating up and down in the water.
Noticing Ian and his group, these creatures did not approach but curled up into their nests instead.
“Be careful.”
But Ian issued a warning, lifting his sword and slashing to the side, imdiately hearing the clang of tal against tal, and the crackling sound of bones breaking.
It was a giant mantis with a brass-like hue, a ferocious appearance, and large sickle-like forearms with razor-sharp blades and serrated edges.
It had been lurking in the shadows attempting an ambush, and its arrival had caused the other bizarre insects to curl up.
The brass giant mantis had its right sickle-arm severed by Ian’s sword, but it didn’t draw back; instead, it flapped its wings and charged again, frantically hacking with its arms.
It was Ian’s first encounter with this kind of giant Alien Insect said to exist only in Canaan Moore; he noted that this specin possessed the strength of the First Power Level.
Its sickle-arms were of Magical dicine Ingredients grade, though regrettably hard to refine into Magic Potion, at best only suitable for crafting into Sublimation Weapons.
He was undaunted, gathering his strength and smashing down with his sword as if a massive boulder had plumted from the sky.
With a resounding ‘clang,’ he smashed the brass mantis into pieces.
After the mantis died, a black worm crawled out of its corpse, attempting to dive into the water.
Yisen Gard pointed his finger, and a dark red Corrosive Fla engulfed it, causing it to curl up before dissolving into a mass of biomass.
“An iron worm?
It’s also a Brain-Eating Parasite?
How many forms can this parasite take.”
Ian was slightly surprised because the Silver Chip displayed this as a variant of the Brain-Eating Parasite—this type of parasite appeared to change its form depending on the host it parasitized.
This Attached Brain, once used by the Redwood People, had transford into an extrely vicious and strange race of Spirit Energy insects under the alterations of The Great Elder, with countless variations, proving hard to repel.
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