Chapter 191 - 188: How Could This Be?
Thanks to Brown’s thoughtful "heat shield," Luna felt much better.
She kept an eye on the shriveled monsters behind them. Compared to the large bats in the sky, which looked dangerous but were quickly killed by Uncle Brown, the densely packed things trailing them were the stuff of a child’s nightmares.
Besides, those things were fast. Although they had put a good distance between them, Uncle Brown would eventually get tired, and she didn’t know what would happen then.
But not long after Brown killed two of the bat-like monsters with serpentine tails, the creatures behind them started acting strangely.
"Uncle, Uncle, I think the monsters behind us have stopped."
Brown was currently frustrated that he was so exposed, having even lost his phone and been unable to take pictures of the bat monsters for documentation. Hearing Luna’s words, he glanced back without breaking his stride.
With his eyesight, he could see a black line in the distance. As for whether they had stopped, his Perception and intuition suggested that might be the case.
’This little girl is really something else.’
"By the way, Luna, do you have a phone?"
The little girl fumbled in her pocket and found her phone. She turned it on and, as expected, there was no signal.
"Yeah, I have my phone, but there’s no signal. I don’t think I can make calls."
"As long as it works. Do Uncle a favor. Take pictures of those things in the sky, and all the other monsters and whatnot we run into. Uncle needs them for his records."
Hearing she could be of help, Luna excitedly agreed and took out her phone, switching it to camera mode.
Because of the ambient light, the pictures were blurry.
Brown thought for a moment. This was a rare opportunity. He stopped, turned back, and returned to the two monster corpses. Taking the phone from Luna, he carefully took some close-up shots.
Though called bat-like with a serpentine tail, it actually had no relation to bats or snakes. It just had fleshy wings, a furry body, and a long, thick tail tipped with a biting organ resembling an upper and lower jaw.
Since the "pursuers" behind them weren’t advancing and the monsters in the sky didn’t dare descend, Brown decided to take a closer look.
Back in Los Angeles, Brown had learned about some of the association’s other research projects at the branch there. With this rare chance, he felt he should gather more data for the association’s biology division.
He wasn’t an expert and didn’t need to go too deep, but a simple dissection for photos shouldn’t be a problem.
He tore open the upper and lower jaws of the organ on the monster’s tail, finding no throat or esophagus inside, but something similar to a venom gland.
At first, Luna shut her eyes in disgust, but then she remembered she had to take pictures. She squinted and took photos, and when it got really bloody and gross, she would just close her eyes, start recording a video, and let Brown find the right angles himself.
Using the surrounding blood to form supports, he sliced open the monster’s corpse. He found organs similar to a heart and digestive system. Many of the organs weren’t too different from those of creatures on Earth; even if they looked strange, their functions were easy to guess.
In his current state, even Brown, who normally had a poor knowledge of biology, could quickly analyze a few things.
...
From afar, an ethereal eye had been observing Brown and Luna.
It didn’t understand what they were doing, nor what strange device in the little girl’s hand flashed from time to time.
Not only did they kill their prey, but they also fiddled with the corpse. Yet, they weren’t like the monsters from the Corpse Shadow Qipero World that enjoyed demonizing corpses.
’Then why were they doing this? Was it purely... a hobby?’
...
The brief photo and sample-gathering session only took a few minutes. Brown mulled it over for a moment, then decided to continue onward with Luna toward a place that looked like a valley.
Although there were no "pursuers" for now, and the valley might hide its own dangers, staying put wasn’t an option. The surrounding area was too barren, with no defensible terrain, making it a poor place to wait for rescue.
What gave Brown some relief was that, perhaps because he hadn’t expended a great deal of energy or squandered his Magic Power, his current state was quite sustainable. He showed no signs of fatigue or degradation yet.
This world inside the mirror was absurdly large. In Brown’s eyes, it didn’t feel like a Secret Realm at all. Could it be they had truly arrived in an Otherworld?
Even at their current speed, it took them the better part of half an hour to reach the valley.
From a distance, it had looked like a low valley filled with rocks, but now, standing atop a small hill at its edge, he could estimate the cliffs were dozens of meters high.
"Uncle, I’m thirsty..."
The little girl had been sweating a lot, and her mouth was completely dry.
"Luna, hang in there a little longer. Uncle will help you find something soon. Since there are living things here, there must be an ecosystem to support them. I refuse to believe they survive by eating those shriveled-up ghouls."
"Okay!"
Luna replied, continuing to rest her head against Brown’s.
Brown squinted, scanning the surroundings. Though he said there were living creatures and thus an ecosystem, he couldn’t see a single plant as far as the eye could see.
He could control blood, which naturally made him sensitive to moisture, but he couldn’t sense any water vapor in the air.
He wondered how Philier and the others were doing. What if they were still frozen in place?
’No, no, they can’t be that useless!’
Although his Perception didn’t detect anything, he felt an inexplicable unease in his heart, a heavy sense of oppression.
At first, Brown thought it was just the fear of the unknown that came with being dragged into this place. But even after all this time without facing a major threat, that unease hadn’t lessened one bit.
Suddenly, Brown recalled a brief lesson from the Master Sage during a Secret Realm Weaving session at the French Branch.
It was a quick pointer about Spiritual Power. There was a self-released, deceptive Spiritual Power technique he might be able to try, to avoid getting blindsided.
He slowly relaxed his body and steadied his breathing. After thinking for a moment, he couldn’t come up with the right words and decided it was best to just copy the Master Sage’s example from that time.
Luna clearly noticed the change in Brown. She opened her eyes and looked down, wondering what her uncle was doing.
His breaths grew longer, the frequency lower. Brown’s internal activity also quieted as he repeatedly applied a mental suggestion to himself, pulling it from his complex thoughts.
Believe in yourself, believe in yourself!
His blood-red eyes closed slightly. Each inhale and exhale lasted for more than ten seconds.
A low-frequency vibration inside his throat gradually sped up.
After a long, silent buildup, Brown’s eyes snapped open.
"Show yourself! Stop skulking in the shadows!"
His voice wasn’t forceful, but it was incredibly resonant, echoing throughout the valley.
In truth, he hadn’t seen or sensed anything. He was just bluffing, trying to provoke any potential hidden dangers.
But as he said the words, he projected that same signal with every fiber of his being, with his aura and his presence.
That’s right. The Spiritual Power he had just spent so long building up was all in preparation to first deceive himself, then bluff someone else.
Beings with Magic Power were the most sensitive to this kind of information, and he didn’t have to worry about them not understanding the language. As for things without Magic Power, Brown was confident he didn’t need to be overly concerned.
Maintaining a confident smile, Brown waited motionlessly for a full minute. His resonant voice seemed to still be faintly echoing in the distance.
’Guess there’s nothing here after all...’
Just as Brown was thinking of heading deeper into the valley, he turned and froze completely stiff.
In an instant, his sweat glands went into overdrive, covering his skin in a dense sheen of sweat.
’Shit! The Master Sage’s method actually worked...’
A colossal, multicolored eye, easily as large as a Boeing jetliner, had appeared in the air just a dozen meters away from them.
"You... how could you discover me?"
The language was, surprisingly, perfect French, and it carried a Magic Resonance.
Its gaze was indifferent and dangerous, but its inner thoughts were not nearly as terrifying as what Brown was seeing.
...
How could this unknown magical creature discover my existence? Its Magic Power is so low, and its physical and Soul Power are unremarkable. How did it do it? Do they possess some strange Ability that even I cannot perceive?
In the Demon Eye’s mind, the danger level of this "monster" skyrocketed in an instant.
How laughable! Before this, it had been completely oblivious, using the Magic Mirror that had fallen there and the Demon Spirits to begin autonomously hunting and absorbing soul essence!
To encounter such a monster in its heavily injured state... and this one was likely just a scout!
It could sense that the Magic Mirror, which had fallen into that world, was now in an area rich with Magic Power, dealing it another merciless blow.
This wasn’t the sensation of wild Magical Creatures, but of a high-quality, man-made Magic Space, which had drastically weakened its connection to the Magic Mirror.
It had assumed that world was rich in soul resources but had few Magic Creatures. It had observed for a whole month before daring to make a cautious move.
But its injuries showed no signs of improving, and the situation had taken a nosedive at an unexpectedly rapid pace. By the time it realized what was happening, it was too late!
’How did it come to this!’
Ordinarily, the Demon Eye wouldn’t have been so flustered, but after suffering one grievous injury after another, it had become as jumpy as a bird startled by a bowstring.