Chapter 662: Transformation and Origin

Through the lens of the Despair Mycelium, the black moon shadow clone’s assault on the Eye Seal Crystal erupted into view with shocking force.

Luo De narrowed his eyes.

“Not Lucar?”

An outsider?

No.

Luo De realized he had confused one thing: Moon Goddess Lucar was one thing, the labyrinth was another.

The pale moon of the Pale Corridor had misled him, making him believe the labyrinth’s rules served Moon Goddess Lucar.

But now it seemed the labyrinth’s consciousness had its own agenda.

“Interesting. Even the labyrinth’s consciousness wants to become a god.”

Luo De glanced at the two Star-Spirit ladies beside him.

The effect of the Genesis Dew was excellent; the aftereffects of mana depletion had passed, and his mana had recovered to seventy or eighty percent.

The ninth-rank moon shadow clone had been dealt with; they could protect themselves.

Haley stood up, watching him gaze into the distance, and instinctively followed his gaze.

Then she turned her head away, resentful.

The events just now still burned in her mind; her heart pounded hard.

She didn’t want to look at this man who stirred up chaos—not yet.

“Where are you going?”

“Heh… it’s my time to appear.”

“Appear?”

Lela Starwhisper, beside him, jumped with delight, her thin body bouncing without rhythm, “Are you going to fight again?”

Luo De found her annoying and ignored her.

Behind him, the Fungal Warrior Gorgon Soul flickered, green spiritual energy surging forth.

A cold wind suddenly grew frantic.

Even the pale moon in the sky turned invisibly.

It was activating the Despair Mycelium to trigger the Summon Demigod ritual, pulling the original body over.

Luo De whirled his head around.

There stood Lela Starwhisper, smiling beautifully, a pink bow in her hand.

The small bead at the center of the bow suddenly blazed with light—a beam of light pierced Haley’s abdomen.

“Ugh—”

Haley cried out in shock and pain, but reacted instantly.

She teleported away, stumbled, and fell to the ground.

“Haley!” Medlin cried out.

Lela Starwhisper stared blankly at the bow in her hand, her expression slowly turning to panic:

“N-no… it wasn’t me… I didn’t…”

Luo De lunged forward, slamming her to the ground, snatching the pink bow in his right hand.

He frowned.

He had sensed no malice from the Star-Spirit; the sudden betrayal had slipped past his notice.

Boom!

A burst of flame erupted behind him.

He turned to see Medlin, equally panicked, uncontrollably casting spells at Haley.

Flames struck the spherical force field, sparks exploding into a parasol-shaped spray that rained down.

Luo De understood instantly.

Both Lela Starwhisper and Medlin had been influenced by the Skull of the Silent Throne; they must have been implanted with some backdoor.

But instead of fear, he laughed.

“Too obvious, labyrinth consciousness—I can feel you’re afraid of me.”

The chilling wind passed, but the usual drifting mist remained motionless, as if frozen into ice and sinking.

Even the roots beneath the earth emitted sticky, entwining, crushing sounds; the trunks twitched at different frequencies, trembling irregularly like spasming muscles.

“Not you.”

The withered black trees revealed postures of fear; the forest guardian clearly had more patience for trees.

The Natural Phase of the Child of Nature switched again to “Sprout State.”

Luo De raised his hand.

Purple gravitational mana spiraled; the Gravity Chains burst from space, gripping Lela Starwhisper’s limbs.

“Aaaah—”

Ignoring her screams, Luo De mercilessly locked her suspended in midair.

Then blue-white lightning coiled around him—zapping thunder cracked, scorching black marks on the ground before he vanished in an instant.

Medlin’s massive ice spear had shattered Haley’s weakened magical barrier.

Blinding light instantly illuminated the dark forest.

Luo De punched the tip of the ice spear; the force of collision was immense.

The ice spear shattered segment by segment; shards of ice rebounded violently against Medlin’s shield, clattering like hail.

She screamed in terror: “It’s not me! I didn’t do it! I’m being controlled! Don’t hit me!”

The Star-Spirit mage was nearly in tears.

The memory of how easily Luo De had subdued a ninth-rank mage was still fresh.

If a warrior like him closed in on her, her head would explode like a watermelon—there was no other outcome.

As she cried out—

A hallucinatory vortex spread from Luo De’s fist, instantly engulfing her.

Medlin froze rigid.

The spark in her eyes dimmed; she slipped into a vacant, unfocused state.

Her spell staff drooped limply; she slumped like a walking corpse.

The lust skill of Negative Emotion Absorption: Mirage Net.

He hadn’t used this skill in a long time.

Luo De had accumulated a massive amount of lust points; using it cost him nothing.

He turned back and poured another vial of Genesis Dew into the severely wounded Haley—along with an extra dose of Clearing Elixir.

“Sorry… I held you back.”

“No need to say that. Few people don’t hold me back.”

“You—you—”

Haley laughed bitterly, weakly punching his chest.

Then her expression turned grave; she lowered her voice.

“Why now? Why control you only when you cast spells? Someone must be watching us.”

Luo De didn’t hide it—he told her his theory about the labyrinth’s consciousness.

He also showed her the vision of Lucar’s eye currently under threat of destruction.

“If that’s the case, go directly—leave these two to me!”

“No rush.”

Luo De raised the “Illusory Blood” crystal in his hand.

“Perhaps you don’t know—this labyrinth consciousness is terrified of me. It delays me only to seize the third Lucar organ and grow stronger. Fine—I’ll play along. Either way, it *will* come for the ‘Illusory Blood.’”

His face carried disdain and coldness; he feared nothing of this labyrinth consciousness pretending to wield Moon Goddess Lucar.

Worst case? We fight.

A dying god of chaos, even if revived after hundreds of thousands of years—so what?

“But before that, there’s another task to do.”

Arrogance and conceit surged.

Luo De sneered and switched the Natural Phase of the Child of Nature to “Origin State.”

【“Origin State”: Trace the ancient tree’s memories; chance to recover lost natural arts.】

【“Origin State” activated! Memory of the Ancient Tree successfully intercepted!】

Same as always.

His vision blurred.

When it cleared again, the scene had changed.

The withered ancient tree showed little change; mist lingered, the moonlight soft and gentle.

Still the Pale Corridor.

The chill was the same, but the coldness and strangeness of the moonlight were nearly gone.

At a glance, it looked merely like a darker forest.

Two lizardmen walked to the edge of the scene.

Compared to the lizardfolk currently on the continent, these two were even thinner and shorter, each standing around one meter six.

Their primitive features were also more pronounced.

They wore bone ornaments, feathers, or strange trophies, and painted their bodies with mud or plant sap as camouflage or ritual markings.

Each held a bone spear and a stone axe, glancing left and right while chattering in unintelligible sounds.

Luo De understood not a word.

He could only reach into his spell satchel, grasp the [Shaking Soul Blade], and activate its translation spell.

The first phrase he heard left him stunned.

[If we’re here, Fabio shouldn’t be findable.]

Fabio?!

(End of Chapter)