Chapter 250 - 171: A Madman Needs No Password
"My king... I have failed you..."
With a faint hiss, the Giant Tooth Commander’s body vanished completely, leaving only a few dropped items behind.
After recovering his strength, Forgotten Dao began to pick up the items dropped on the battlefield one by one, sifting through them for anything of value.
He might have been more wary of a boss like the King’s Guardian Shadow Wings, which was both powerful and had wide-ranging area-of-effect damage.
But he wasn’t afraid of a situation that purely relied on numbers. With the Living Corpses to block for him, all he needed to do was find opportunities to pick off the enemies one by one.
So, while the swarms of snakes posed a threat, it wasn’t a major one.
’Snake Skin Armor, useless... Poison Fang Dagger, not very useful...’
’Commander Juya. This should be for opening a door.’
’The Lion Serpent’s missive?’
Forgotten Dao, who was sorting through the items, suddenly paused.
Although there was nothing particularly useful for him among the drops, this missive seemed to contain a lot of information, so he began to examine it carefully.
[The Lion Serpent’s Missive]
[Type: Letter]
[Content: "...While I slumber, activate the outer Illusion Array. Defend the clan’s territory to the death. We will make further plans when I awaken..."]
[Explanation: A missive from the Lion Serpent to the Giant Tooth Commander.]
’So... this Lion Serpent is slumbering?’
’What’s it sleeping for?’
Forgotten Dao was a little surprised. Judging from the missive’s content, did the snake swarm face some external threat?
But neither he nor any other players had seen any obvious enemies of the snakes along the way.
However, Forgotten Dao didn’t dwell on it. ’Probably just another hidden dungeon,’ he thought.
After stowing the missive, Forgotten Dao began to survey his surroundings.
It was a large hall filled with small Snake Nests constructed from mud and bricks, likely the dwellings of the Snake Soldiers from before.
In the center of the hall stood a relatively intricate statue.
Below it was a circular sacrificial altar, which held some miscellaneous items and the bones of other creatures.
The snake’s body was immense, ferocious, and exuded an air of majesty.
The most striking feature was the flowing mane around its neck, much like a male lion’s, which corresponded to the symbol on the Divine Hall Ruins.
Without a doubt, this had to be the Lion Serpent.
It was probably the final boss of these Divine Hall Ruins.
After observing his surroundings, Forgotten Dao felt the guidance of the Spirit Candle and followed it to a small corner nearby. The area looked like it had been damaged by fighting and wasn’t far from the main hall.
After touching the Milestone Spirit Candle, Forgotten Dao returned to the hall and checked its guidance again.
It pointed toward a stone mechanism door on the right. Similar to the previous doors, it also required a snake fang to open. He guessed the Giant Tooth Commander’s fang would work.
However, beyond the path indicated by the Spirit Candle, Forgotten Dao also saw several branching paths. He couldn’t help but rub his chin and begin to ponder.
A moment later, he made his choice.
Taking out the [Worn-out Banner], he walked forward and placed it on the altar.
This was, of course, the "quest item" the old woman had given him. Forgotten Dao hadn’t forgotten about it.
However, after he placed it on the altar, there was no reaction.
’Am I not supposed to put it here?’
Forgotten Dao was a bit surprised.
Just as he was about to pick it up, he paused. Then, the Power of Warfire spread from his hand and settled onto the Banner.
WHOOSH!
The next moment, the Worn-out Banner finally reacted. As it disintegrated, it released streams of gray air in all directions.
A moment later, after the Banner had completely disappeared, everything fell silent again.
Seeing this, Forgotten Dao was a little taken aback.
’Is that it? Why isn’t there a quest completion notification or something?’
’Don’t tell me I have to go back and find that old woman?’
’Probably...’
Forgotten Dao thought for a moment and decided to explore the side paths first before returning to the old woman. Maybe he’d be able to claim some quest reward by then.
"HISS."
Forgotten Dao had spent a fair bit of time here, and Snake Soldiers had already started to resurrect in the hall.
After clearing them out, Forgotten Dao took count of the paths aside from the one indicated by the Spirit Candle.
There were five in total. One was the path he came from, which went without saying. Then there were four other side paths: two to the left and right, and two to the front and back.
The paths to the left and right seemed to run parallel to this floor, while the stairs in front led down, and the path behind seemed to lead to the outer area of the Divine Hall Ruins.
’That’s a lot of side paths...’
Forgotten Dao rubbed his head, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.
After hesitating for a moment, he made an unexpected choice.
He actually took out the [Lion Serpent’s Vomit] and took a bite.
[You have consumed "Lion Serpent’s Vomit."]
[Your Temperature has increased. Your Level has increased!]
Afterward, Forgotten Dao took a glance at his personal information.
[Sitting and Not Forgetting the Dao]
[Tier: Scorching Charcoal]
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
[Level: 33]
[Warfire: Blood Robe Priest]
[Ability Value: ...]
[Talent: Devotion, Sacrifice]
[Ability: Dodge (60%), Recovery Wax Block (5), Block, Lethal Strike, Candle Bone Whistle]
[Skill: Mad Blood Shock, Substitute Sacrifice, Guard Flame Assault, Blood of Madness, Faith Spell, Sound of Pot Knocking]
’Not bad, I gained two levels.’
’But why didn’t it give me a Talent? Fuck!’
Forgotten Dao’s face fell.
But he quickly composed himself.
Speaking of which, he had barely ever used the [Sound of Pot Knocking] Skill he’d gotten from the Firewood Thief.
Thinking of this, Forgotten Dao tapped his own head, producing a faint, dull thud.
The air around him distorted slightly, but aside from that, nothing else happened.
’Useless.’
Forgotten Dao sighed.
He had originally thought it was a powerful Skill, but after trying it out later, he realized it was completely useless!
Knocking on someone’s head did nothing. Even if he knocked himself dizzy, he couldn’t achieve the same effect as a Firewood Thief.
After all, his head wasn’t hollow like a Firewood Thief’s.
Perhaps only by obtaining the power of a Firewood Thief could the Sound of Pot Knocking display its true strength.
But for the current Forgotten Dao, the thing was practically useless, just taking up a slot and annoying him...
’Whatever. Out of sight, out of mind.’
Forgotten Dao closed his personal information screen and focused on the paths ahead.
After that little distraction, his indecisiveness had eased a bit.
He simply closed his eyes, spun in a circle, and randomly picked a path—the one on the left.
Forgotten Dao’s figure gradually disappeared down the side path.
The Snake Soldiers in the hall began to respawn.
After he left, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows beside the altar. It was Le Ti.
"Ohoho~ How interesting."
"The power of those tin cans was actually plundered by these Candle Spirits. Hahaha, how rare..."
"Hmm... Perhaps I should..."
Le Ti suddenly fell into thought, seemingly very interested in this, weighing something in his mind.
A moment later, he finished his contemplation and chuckled slyly.
"...The evil Le Ti was killed, but the righteous Le Ti was not."
With that said, Le Ti bent down and patted the head of a nearby Snake Soldier.
When it lunged to bite him, he whistled nonchalantly, and his figure vanished into the darkness.
...
「In the Qi Xin Chapel.」
"Bobo!"
Xiaoluo hugged one of Luo Ge’s fingers, her lips pursed and her expression a little nervous.
"It’s okay. Even if you don’t succeed, I’ll always protect you. Don’t worry."
Luo Ge let out a helpless laugh and gently patted her small head.
Hearing this, a happy smile blossomed on Xiaoluo’s face, and she was no longer nervous.
"Bo!"
Then, floating in the air, she pumped her tiny fist, as if cheering herself on.
"You can do it."
Luo Ge and Noxia also smiled and encouraged her.
Xiaoluo began.
First, she took a deep breath and crawled out of her snail shell, revealing a small fishtail for her lower body.
Seemingly because she had lost the protection of her shell, she glanced back nervously. Her anxiety only subsided when she saw Luo Ge and Noxia.
"Bobo..."
The pink snail shell floated in mid-air as Xiaoluo danced with her small hands.
A mysterious power began to bloom above the shell. The tip of the shell changed color, swirling through a rainbow of hues.
But in the end, its color settled on "black."
BANG!
The shell suddenly shattered, turning to ashes and dissipating.
Luo Ge’s heart jumped, and he quickly reached out to catch Xiaoluo.
"Are you okay?"
But Xiaoluo didn’t respond. She just stared blankly at where her shell had been, and then burst into tears.