Chapter 71: A-Tier Eldritch Artifact
As soon as he said that, Kevin tossed two bottles of Fish Fiend Holy Spring to Luna and Amelia. "Drink these. We need to make the’Deepsea Mist’thicker and wider."
Then Kevin turned to Nova. "I’m going to lure them down in a bit. You use your Talent to suppress them and weaken their will."
Hearing that, Monchhichi’s eyes went wide. "Captain, are you trying to..."
Kevin smiled and nodded. "Yep. I’m going to try and control them."
Celula’s eyes shot open. "Then what do I do?"
"You drive the ship." Kevin tapped Celula on the forehead and turned toward the bow.
In an instant, a large amount of green mist poured out from behind Kevin.
The "Deepsea Mist" that had been covering the whole Two-Masted Sloop grew even thicker, and its range spread out too.
Soon, Kevin shaped the mist into a swirling vortex, leaving a gap right in the middle.
The bug swarm in the sky spotted Kevin through that gap, and they went crazy in an instant.
A bunch of human-faced wasps buzzed their wings and dove down fast, heading straight for the center of the vortex.
But just as they were about to pass through the vortex entrance, the mist tunnel that led to Kevin’s bow suddenly changed direction.
A few human-faced wasps crawled into the tunnel, turning left and right, and quickly got lost.
Just as they were getting frantic and about to force their way through the "Deepsea Mist," a holy-lighted rod smacked them right into the sea.
Kevin gripped his Lance of Longinus and grinned. "Looks like as long as I control the force, the Lance of Longinus can knock out Eldritch Entities too."
The human-faced wasps that Kevin knocked into the sea were still struggling.
They tried to break free from the water, but green, scaly claws grabbed their legs.
Buzz, buzz, buzz-the sound of flapping wings was really unsettling.
These human-faced wasps kicked their legs and flapped their wings like crazy, trying to shake off the Fish Fiends’claws.
While they were struggling, the surrounding mist suddenly parted.
Then, several red lights shot into the bodies of the human-faced wasps, and their resistance slowly faded.
Seeing that, Kevin nodded toward Nova behind him. "Your turn."
Nova immediately started humming a beautiful melody.
Through those sound waves, Nova kept weakening the self-awareness and soul strength of these human-faced wasps.
Soon, the human-faced wasps all closed their eyes at the same time.
Red light and mist seeped out from their bodies, wrapping them up into cocoons.
About a few minutes later, the cocoons gradually peeled away.
The human-faced wasps that appeared before Kevin again had no hostility at all.
They slowly flew up to Kevin, bent down respectfully, and bowed to him.
Nova’s eyes went wide. "Amazing. You actually got the Mist Phantom to control these bugs."
Kevin grinned and encouraged her. "Don’t be jealous. As long as you keep developing your Talent, you can do it too one day."
Nova nodded firmly. "I’ll work hard toward that."
Kevin smiled, then turned to the human-faced wasps and gave an order. "Go lure a few more in. I need to control as many human-faced wasps as I can before the next step."
The human-faced wasps nodded.
Soon, the "Deepsea Mist" opened up a special tunnel. They slipped through, quickly left the mist, and went back to the bug swarm in the sky.
Soon, a terrifying will descended.
All the human-faced wasps controlled by the Mist Phantom lowered their heads at the same time, looking devout.
"What did you encounter in that mist?" The voice of that will exploded directly inside the minds of the human-faced wasps.
"Respected Empress, we lost our way inside. In the end, we only found the exit by forcing our way through." The Mist Phantom carefully controlled the souls of the human-faced wasps and answered seriously.
That powerful will paused for a moment, then left a message: "Keep following them. Find a chance to catch them and bring them back. It’s been a long time since I had a threesome with humans."
With that, the will of the human-faced wasp Empress pulled back from the minds of the human-faced wasps like receding tides.
The Mist Phantom kept a tight grip on the consciousness of these human-faced wasps, and the human-faced wasp Empress didn’t notice anything off about them at all.
Kevin received all that info through the summoning mark and grinned. "Just as I thought. There’s a human-faced wasp Empress inside that nest."
With that, Kevin took out the "Eldritch Mall VIP Card" that Lilith had left him.
He folded the card in half, and a space rift opened up right along the crease.
Lilith, wearing a black robe, slipped out of the rift. The moment she saw Kevin, she pulled back her hood, revealing her naturally seductive face. "My honored guest. I didn’t expect you to use this VIP card so soon. Let me hear what you want?"
"As a VIP, you’re allowed a certain credit limit. Of course, interest applies."
Kevin smiled and pointed at the sky. "See those up there?"
Lilith glanced up slightly, and her expression turned sour. "When did you piss off these freaks?"
Kevin spread his hands. "On this Terror Sea, isn’t there plenty of freaky stuff already?"
Lilith let out a cold snort. "Sorry, but after evaluating the situation, I think you’ll most likely die at the hands of these freaks. I have the right to refuse your deal and revoke your VIP status."
Kevin raised an eyebrow, looking totally unbothered. "Is that so? Then I’ll just have to summon another Eldritch merchant and talk to them about the human-faced wasp Empress business."
Kevin’s voice wasn’t loud, but to Lilith, it hit like thunder.
Her eyes went wide. She rushed up to Kevin, grabbed his collar, and said, "What did you say? Human-faced wasp Empress? There’s a nest nearby, and it’s an Empress’s nest?"
Kevin smiled and nodded. "Looks like you understand the value here."
Lilith took a deep breath, looked Kevin up and down, and frowned. "I am indeed interested in the human-faced wasp Empress. More specifically, I’m interested in the human-faced wasp Empress’s eggs."
Unlike those mutts up in the sky, a real human-faced wasp Empress reproduces on her own.
In her whole life, she can only lay four or five eggs at most. Once those eggs hatch, a brand new human-faced wasp Empress is born.
If someone could get hold of one of those eggs before it hatches, they’d basically control the future human-faced wasp Empress-which means controlling the entire human-faced wasp swarm.
Thinking of that, Lilith stuck out her purple tongue and licked her lips. "Kevin, I remember your name now. Let’s talk this through properly. I’m very interested in your next plan."
Kevin rolled his eyes at Lilith. "I don’t see much sincerity from you. I’ll just go find another Eldritch merchant."
Lilith panicked right away. "Don’t! Are they as pretty as me? Do they have a body like mine? Are they as slutty as me? And most importantly, we’re old friends who’ve done big business together."
Kevin rolled his eyes again and held out his hand. "Alright then. I’m using my VIP credit to buy an Eldritch Artifact that can permanently control the human-faced wasp Empress."
Lilith rolled her eyes back at him. "Are you dreaming? That kind of Eldritch Artifact is at least A-Tier. I don’t have anything that fancy on my regular list."
Kevin rolled his eyes once more. "Don’t give me that regular buyer list crap. As a VIP in the Eldritch business circle, I have the right to pick items from the VIP catalog."
Hearing that, Lilith’s eyes went wide. "Bro, how do you know the rules of the Eldritch business circle better than I do?"
Kevin gave her a cold look and snorted. "So cut the games and help me pick a good Eldritch Artifact. I promise you, within a day, I’ll trade you the human-faced wasp Empress’s egg."
Kevin’s terms were pretty generous.
If she could get her hands on a human-faced wasp Empress’s egg, investing one A-Tier Eldritch Artifact in Kevin right now would be totally worth it.
Because a human-faced wasp Empress’s egg was a rare S-Tier item.
Thinking that over, Lilith gritted her teeth. "Kevin, if I accept your credit, you have to pay it back on time. Otherwise, even if I want to help you, I won’t be able to. Don’t doubt it-the debt collection crew in the Eldritch business circle is scarier than you can imagine."
Kevin smiled. "Don’t worry. I wouldn’t ruin my credit over an S-Tier item."
Lilith took a deep breath. She was still hesitating, but soon she made up her mind.
A small teleportation circle lit up behind her. She flicked her tail over the center of the array twice and pulled out a beautiful pendant.
[Pendant of the Lovelorn Banshee: A-Tier Eldritch Artifact. The user can swing the pendant in front of a target 108 times to permanently hypnotize the target and make them fall for the user. The higher the user’s mental stat, the higher the success rate. If the user fails three times in a row, this Eldritch Artifact will shatter and be permanently destroyed.]
Kevin looked at the stats of the Eldritch Artifact, and his eyes lit up.
If he used this thing on the human-faced wasp Empress’s egg, then once the egg hatched, the new human-faced wasp Empress would follow him for life.
Thinking that, Kevin reached out to grab the pendant.
But Lilith suddenly pulled her tail back, looking wary. "Kevin, before I give you this Eldritch Artifact, I need to know your full plan."
Kevin blinked. "You’re an Eldritch merchant. Since when do you care about my success rate?"
Lilith rolled her eyes at Kevin. "If you fail, I lose too."
With no other choice, Kevin went back to controlling the "Deepsea Mist" and lured a few more human-faced wasps into the mist space.
The whole process was the same as before.
Kevin swung his Lance of Longinus and smacked them into the sea, then had the Fish Fiends pin them down.
Finally, with Nova’s help, Kevin released a few Mist Phantoms and took full control of the human-faced wasps’souls.
Lilith watched the whole thing from start to finish, her eyes growing brighter by the second. "I can’t believe you have that many Mist Phantom summoning marks. How many Bloodmist Crystals did you eat?"
Kevin scratched his head. "Around ten thousand or so."
Lilith screamed like she’d seen a ghost. "Ten thousand!"