Chapter 715: City of the Spirit-Absorbing Monster

In the scorching cave, Reslin and his party moved forward swiftly.

The dreadful heat was like a sea of fire; everything in sight was a blaze of crimson. Each person was granted an ice shield or water bubble spell, and Reslin also bestowed advanced flame resistance on everyone, warding off the omnipresent heat and flames.

After a moment, the temperature gradually fell, and they were about to leave the cave.

"Wha…"

The magma pool beside them suddenly churned, and a several‑meter‑long lava fire lizard leapt onto the shore, opening its gaping maw to spew flame at Reslin and the others.

A dark‑green beam shot from Reslin's fingertip, straight into its mouth.

Whoosh!

The Legend Grade lava fire lizard, its massive body as solid as rock, seemed weathered and turned into a cloud of fiery red powder that scattered away.

The party continued onward.

From start to finish, Reslin never gave it another glance, timing his spell perfectly, as if it had deliberately leapt out to collide with Disintegrate.

This was not the first ambush; each time Reslin acted, using the same method—killing the enemy with a Disintegrate.

Even so, the teammates still marveled at Reslin's vigilance.

As a Grand Mage, Kuilu's magical knowledge and perception far exceeded ordinary people, allowing her to see just how superb Reslin's casting technique was.

Disintegrate originally had only six rings; Reslin not only raised it to eight rings, but also compressed the casting time to under three seconds—precise and swift, predicting the target's landing point. Its potency far exceeded the norm, nearly reaching the upper limit of Eight‑Ring Spell power, something even he himself could not improve upon.

Each time she watched Reslin perform Disintegrate, Kuilu saw the process as pure art!

If she hadn't seen Lei En with her own eyes, she would find it hard to believe that a Reslin with such extraordinary casting ability was merely a duplicate, and that the true body was a battle wizard!

Kuilu's thoughts fluctuated as she repeatedly glanced at the staff in Reslin's hand.

She had already seen through the staff's surface mithril overlay and ruby‑flame stone tip as a disguise; its true nature must be a Legend Grade staff!

Any Legend Grade staff has a substantial pedigree; it could not have appeared out of thin air.

However, Kuilu had not yet identified the staff's origin, and she was intensely curious—such a mystery was immensely alluring to a Grand Mage.

At last they left the lava cave, and darkness surrounded them.

The teammates all let out a sigh of relief.

The oppressive atmosphere of the Dark Realm was still detestable, but it was far more comfortable than the scorching, fire‑elemental plane of the lava cave, and far less dangerous. Shortly after exiting the cave, the temperature plummeted rapidly, turning into cold.

This is characteristic of the lower Dark Realm: either extreme heat or extreme cold, alternating between the two extremes.

Reslin, who possessed the Key of Doors, was highly sensitive to spatial positions.

As he traveled, he inferred from the surrounding rock, soil, and temperature that the straight‑line distance from the lower Dark Realm to the surface exceeded a hundred li—a depth unimaginable in a past life.

The lower Dark Realm has the smallest area, and is the most dangerous.

Every few li an ambush occurs; the subterranean creatures in those assault teams are far stronger than those in the middle and upper layers. Legend‑grade foes are not rare, and many bizarre beings that no one has seen before appear, making defense nearly impossible. Any other soul‑hunting squad entering the lower layer would be annihilated after only a short trek.

The terrain of the lower layer is also extremely complex; Kuilu and Yizite had both been to Thus Place: Yilaientu, yet they got lost many times.

After two detours, they finally found the correct direction.

"Stop!"

Kuilu's voice rang in everyone's mind.

The Moon Dance Maiden halted, turned back and gestured toward the group. Almost simultaneously, Reslin sensed something amiss; his Sense of All Things heard movement ahead.

Clang clang…

It was the sound of metal striking stone, drifting intermittently on the wind, mixed with coarse shouts—readily identifiable as dwarf language.

"Gray dwarf slaves," Kuilu whispered. "I've never entered Thus Place: Yilaientu, only observed it from afar. That city was originally a gray dwarf city, conquered centuries ago by a group of Spirit-absorbing Monsters, and all its gray dwarves became their slaves."

Reslin and the others nodded in understanding.

His Sense of All Things tracked the source, picking up more gray dwarf voices; unsurprisingly, a gray dwarf mine lay ahead.

That also meant Thus Place: Yilaientu was near.

After pausing in place for a moment, Kuilu waved her hand: "Continue, but be more cautious."

Yizite walked at the front.

His silhouette almost merged with the shadows; the two battle blades in his hands reflected a faint green glow, like two drifting ghostly flames.

A Xina followed behind the Demonic Hunter.

Then came Kuilu and Reslin, with Beilake and Dao En Sosi lagging at the rear of the party.

Not long after, the gray dwarf miners' voices grew nearer; rounding a tunnel corner, a massive mine suddenly loomed before them.

Hundreds of gray dwarves carved tunnels into the rock face, laying iron rails within; the tunnels' depth was unknown, and occasionally a minecart rolled out along the rails, loaded with ore, and was dumped into a larger cart at the mine's center.

Most of these gray dwarves wore only a tattered cloth around their waists, their faces numb and eyes hollow.

They moved like walking corpses, laboring on.

Only when pushing a cart to the mine's center did a glimmer of life appear in the gray dwarves' eyes, but it was a look of fear.

The object of their fear was a humanoid entity floating beside the large minecart.

Spirit-absorbing Monster!

Reslin and the others' pupils contracted; the instant they saw the Spirit-absorbing Monster, they averted their gaze. That fleeting glance left a deep impression.

This Spirit-absorbing Monster matched exactly the description in the "Record of Strange Creatures": a half‑human with an octopus‑like head, hairless, slick skin, and four winding, snake‑like tentacle whiskers around its mouth.

It was about human height, clad in a black‑purple magical robe; its innate floating technique kept it half a meter above the ground, with a long trailing hem covering its feet.

A subtle flow of air around it made the robe ripple without wind, a vibration emanating from its massive psychic power.

Its perception was extremely acute.

Reslin and the others, from several hundred meters away, glanced at it and were immediately sensed; they turned back to look, but saw nothing.

Its figure flickered, appearing close—only a few dozen meters from Reslin and the others.

Psychic Leap!

The Spirit-absorbing Monster scanned the corner, still finding nothing.

Its gray‑white bulging eyes flashed with doubt, its chin's feelers twitched unconsciously, then it suddenly raised a claw‑like palm bearing four curved, sharp fingers and released a probe spell toward Reslin and the others' invisible spot.

However, nothing changed in the corner; it detected nothing.

The Spirit-absorbing Monster's cold gaze lingered for a few seconds, then it finally dropped its suspicion, leapt back to the middle of the mine via a spiritual leap, and resumed supervising the gray dwarf slaves.

Where it had searched with the probe spell, six figures were hidden beneath a transparent force field.

This was Kuilu's Invisibility Field.

A Grand Mage acted, something that only a legendary‑rank Spirit-absorbing Monster could not see through, and the weight on the teammates' minds lifted. Yet Kuilu remained vigilant, made no rash move, and transmitted to everyone, "Don't move, wait a bit longer."

She kept the Invisibility Field active, neither moving nor teleporting away.

The others also did not look at the Spirit-absorbing Monster.

The mine only echoed the sound of gray dwarves mining; everything remained as before. Yet after a few minutes, the Spirit-absorbing Monster suddenly vanished again and leapt nearby.

It's back!

Spiritual spells fell across the area, continuously searching and even expanding their range.

Reslin felt a chill; the Book of Strange Monsters detailed the Spirit-absorbing Monster's temperament—almost every such monster is innately suspicious, cunning and cautious, and any odd sign or rustle must be investigated to the end, never giving up easily.

They are like that toward things, and also toward enemies.

Now I finally see it for myself.

Fortunately, this Spirit-absorbing Monster's power is far below Kuilu's, so no amount of suspicion can see through a Grand Mage's tactics.

The second time it turned back to search, it still found nothing, and returned to continue supervising.

"Let's go."

Kuilu's voice resonated in everyone's mind; a faint magical fluctuation added a layer of Soundproof Force Field inside the Invisibility Field, and they felt their bodies lift and drift forward involuntarily in mid‑air.

Their movement made no sound at all, not even a ripple in the air.

The Moon Dancer guided the whole team around the Spirit-absorbing Monster, hugging the edge as they passed through the mine into a wide tunnel.

The whole process took a few minutes.

Shortly after entering the tunnel, Reslin sensed another spiritual leap by the Spirit-absorbing Monster, appearing at the spot where his party had previously hidden, and began casting search spells, seemingly to sweep the entire mine.

"It still won't give up!" Reslin thought, speechless.

After moving away from the mine, the mining sounds gradually faded.

Kuilu confirmed the Spirit-absorbing Monster hadn't caught up, and there were no magical traps or ambushed enemies nearby, then she dispelled the spell.

"What a hassle, why not just kill it?" Beilake muttered.

The Moon Dancer glanced at the Holy Spear Ranger, about to speak, but Reslin spoke first.

"All individuals in a Spirit-absorbing Monster community are linked to the central brain; they share a collective consciousness, like each finger on a palm," Reslin explained. "If one Spirit-absorbing Monster sees us, then every Spirit-absorbing Monster sees us."

The teammates were all stunned.

Kuilu looked at Reslin with newfound respect, smiling, "You know the Spirit-absorbing Monster so well; few in the Dark Realm know the true relationship between the central brain and the monsters."

"It's my first time hearing that too," Yizite shook his head, as if to confirm her words. "No wonder back then I only encountered one Spirit-absorbing Monster; as soon as I neared the city, ten of them gave chase."

Reslin replied, "I want the central brain's demon soul, so I naturally have to do some research first."

"Is Thus Place: Yilaientu arriving?" Axi Na asked.

"Almost there."

Yizite pointed toward the tunnel's front, still uneasy, and said, "A little farther and we'll see Thus Place: Yilaientu; back then I only glanced at it from afar before fleeing."

Kuilu cast a spell to render the whole team invisible, then they continued onward.

It was a long, winding tunnel.

Every few hundred meters a junction appeared, with two or three branches leading in different directions—some upward, some downward, interlaced spirals, like a massive three‑dimensional maze. Yizite could no longer recall the old routes, but that didn't trouble Kuilu; by following footprints on the ground and magical fluctuations, she easily found the correct path.

After more than half an hour of moving through the tunnel, a series of booming sounds came from ahead.

The farther they went, the louder the sound became.

Reslin discerned that it was the sound of massive water cascading from heights, like a waterfall, intermittently accompanied by huge explosions.

Gradually, a red glow ahead illuminated the tunnel.

When the group reached the tunnel's end, their view was blocked by a vast white mist, but a gust of wind cleared it, and the scene opened up.

It was a massive chasm, its end invisible.

The ceiling above rose unknown heights, at least a thousand meters, like a true sky.

Countless icy rivers poured from above the chasm into a lava lake below, forming a waterfall with a drop of nearly a thousand meters.

The river water clashed with the lava, cold meeting heat, and endless mist rose, moistening the faintly glowing moss on the sheer cliffs. When the energy built up enough, the lava lake below the chasm erupted violently, hurling torrents of magma that shot out spectacular pillars of fire.

A city perched on the chasm's sheer cliffs, its black rock walls carved with thousands of caves linked by tunnels and stairways, spiraling upward layer by layer, with stone bridges spanning the cliffs, forming a three‑dimensional metropolis.

The tunnel exit where Reslin's six‑person party stood was inside a cave.

The cave lay in the lower middle of the cliff, opening onto a broad platform that connected to a stone bridge leading to the opposite cliff.

While invisible, they walked to the platform's edge and were instantly awed by the spectacular city.

"This is Thus Place: Yilaientu!"

Yizite sighed softly.

He and Kuilu had been here before, yet were still stunned.

Reslin scanned the cliff‑side city swiftly, quickly uncovering more details: most of the cave dwellers were gray dwarves, along with Stoneblind Tribe members and underground gnomes, totaling seventy to eighty thousand, all slaves of the Spirit-absorbing Monster, each performing their duties, the whole city operating like a precise machine.

Yet the Spirit-absorbing Monsters themselves were rarely seen.

Only occasionally one or two Spirit-absorbing Monsters emerged from hidden dwellings; they lived in the city's upper levels, traveling by floating technique in the sky or by direct spiritual leap to their destination.

According to the Book of Strange Monsters, the higher a Spirit-absorbing Monster's rank in the city, the higher its dwelling.

The central brain must reside in the core area of the Spirit-absorbing Monster city.

Reslin looked up and immediately spotted the target!

The upcoming plot is too important; Ka wen took two days, and finally sorted it out clearly, and there is still one chapter left in the latter half of the night…

(End of chapter)