The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 590

Chapter 590: The Palace and the Dungeon

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The tunnel towards the palace was just before their eyes. This place was the core of Nasaton and should have been brilliantly lit, but yet it stood in a gloomy darkness and the giant bulkhead and tunnels were seemingly smothered by the darkness that permeated from the deep abyss. Leaving a pathway without end before the group.

Y’zaks looked at the two tattered uniforms behind him. “We’ll be on our own now.”

Shaqira nodded without a sound and lead the group.

They soon passed another series of tunnels and blast doors and the foreboding atmosphere was more and more obvious. The brain monster had made this place its lair for far too long and had changed the entire atmosphere of the palace. Anyone stepping into the place was seemingly being watched by countless of hateful gaze. The siren wail was heard again from afar and most of the palace guards knew by now that there are intruders as the blast doors were sealed one by one. It was just a matter of time before they reached the palace grounds proper. Battle was imminent.

Hao Ren followed Shaqira through the last door and entered a wide domed hall. This was a resplendent hall made out of white metal and light green crystals. A shining pearl hug from the dome as lines upon lines of light shone through the stained glass dome. It was almost as if the rainbows were dancing in the water.

But the group had no time to gawk and the awesome throne room as the door behind them sealed shut and a wave of Siren guards dashed out from the top of the dome!

The siren guards were in their serpentine form and fanned about the group to surround them. Behind the serpents were a group of mermaid soldiers. They held position as soon as the encirclement was complete. Raising their enchanted tridents, they blast out a series of soul-shattering shrieks.

Vivian was preparing a cloud of icicles to attack but the shrikes immediately shook her and with her spell forcibly broken a ring of ice from around the group. The shrieks too had disrupted Y’lisabet and Teuton’s spellcasting. Only Y’zaks the demon lord could withstand the mental assault and throw a three meter wide molten fireball towards the sirens. The fireball drew steam as it sped through the water before colliding with the Sirens and smashing through the dome.

This was just the start of things, as Hao Ren pointed his silver spear to fight his way out, a massive rumble came from all across the room. As the green crystals around the room sunk, a new wave of enemies appeared. These group were glad in massive shell carapace and were about the side of a battle tank. Their limbs shone with menacing glow of magic and cold light permeated from their appendages.

Hao Ren gasped in horror and turned back towards Shaqira, “What the hell are those?!”

The Siren was deploying a shield to ward off the shrieks as she yelled back. “Mantis shrimp form! And also crab form!

Lily with her Frostfire Claws deployed, could only looked on apathetically, “You can this monster of a tank…. mantis shrimps?!”

Hao Ren looked around him and was at least glad that the giant sea monsters at least did not have a human face on them. That at the very least left the mantis as only ‘fearsome’. He then turned towards Wuyue and yelled. “You are forbidden to change into this form from now on! It’s just god damn weird if when you guys change into that!”

Wuyue had bravely curled into a ball behind the team as she maintained the barrier. She immediately yelled back. “Is this the time for that?!”

As the three siren’s magical barrier had managed to block out the mind rending shrieks, Vivian took the opportunity to counter attack. A swarm of bats with cold light on them darted towards the sirens encircling them midair. A few meters before the siren guards the bats spread out as they turned into a torrent of freezing wind to assault the enemy lines. The sudden drop in temperature below freezing point had turned many of the sirens into ice blocks and they fell limply onto the ground. Lily too had swung her Frostfire claws towards the awesome looking…. mantis shrimps. Alright, alright, even though they are mantis shrimps, they were still the size of a MBT! This was no joking matter!

Even though everyone present were capable combatants, even Rollie using the powers of the Golden Apple had managed to score some scratch and bites on the trident wielding sirens but alas, fighting in the Siren’s own turf was a disadvantage as spells were affected by the flow of water and had to be even more carefully deployed to avoid friendly fire. It was disheartening to say the least. Yet, after getting the hold of things, they managed to suppress the attacking sirens.

It was a chaotic battle, and even Y’lisabet was showcasing her prowess as she joined the fray with powerful demonic magics. No one had seen how this little brat fought and today everyone learnt that the adage like father like child rang true, at least for this father-daughter pair. The little runt of a demon had cast spells with just a bare hands without the need of any incantation as a storm of sulphuric flame and dark arrows rained upon the enemy. Looking at her bright radiant look, it was clear as day that she was relishing the moment.

But they could not waste their time on mere sentries and based on the navy men’s intel, the hall was the final obstacle before the Queen’s personal chambers. The Queen was just behind the blast door across the hall. In order to maintain Nasaton’s energy flow, the Siren Queen could not go too far from her chamber and the prize was just right in front of Hao Ren.

“Charge!” Hao Ren threw a graviton grenade and the force of the blast blew the mantis shrimp tank and the siren mages on it aside. Leading the charge, he yelled. “Take the Queen and it’ll all be over!”

Two serpentine sirens charged with tridents towards the group but they were intercepted by Y’zaks as he tied their tails together before flinging the sirens like a flail towards another group of sirens, and scattering them. He pointed towards the other direction pf the hall. “As Ivan said, that is probably the entrance to the dungeons. Lets split up!”

“You, Ylisabet, the three demon hundres, and the Nangong siblings stay here and deal with the Queen. The rest of you follow me to the dungeons. Shaqira, Sorma, chose a team!” Hao Ren quickly assigned the teams their objectives. He may look a bit flustered but he had actually planned this ahead. He was the only person with experience to face the monster and it was natural that he needed there. It was said that the Siren Queen too was a force to be reckoned with and thus he left Y’zaks and the three demon hunters to see things through. The rest was just to balance out the numbers.

Shaqira and Sorma was to be the guide. Even if they did not know the exact path, they were still familiar with the place.

As to how to face the monster, despite Hasse’s suggestion of an sneak attack, Hao Ren felt that a frontal assault was more feasible. He thought that against a monster that has mental sensory ability, chances of a successful sneak attack was very low.

No one had any objections and Y’zaks blew open the blast door with a bolt of sulphuric flame. The heavy alloy blast door shuddered under the blast as the explosion rang in everyone’s ears. The second attack came in the form of Y’lisabet’s own sulphuric flame as the door still shook and the second blast blew the blast door into smithereens.

By that time, most of the sentries had been vanquished and the surviving spellcasters and sea monsters could not do much against the invaders. Hasse quickly used his hand crossbow to take out the survivors as he cast a sealing spell to slow the resurrection of the sirens. He then made his way behind Y’zaks into the palace.

Hao Ren lead his own team towards the other entrance on the far side of the hall.

A wall of water suddenly appeared before the entrance and Rollie was just about to attack it before Hao Ren yanked the dumb cat back. “What a time for you to be brave eh? Lily, attack!”

Lily let out a howl in ascent as she caught the edge of the closing water screen and started pulling the door apart. As her feet sank a few inches into the ground, the werehusky tore the entire door down.

Hao Ren rubbed his face. This was sure to make a lot of noise…

Beyond the water screen was a dark and foreboding tunnel leading towards the far side. There were only dim lights along the way. The place seemed like an abandoned waterway and according to Ivan’s reports, this was the closest, most direct pathway from the outer palace. Only a few sentries stood in their way before the dungeons where the monster resides.

Chapter 591: Breaching the Last Door

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The dungeon where the monster was held was beneath the Queen’s Palace. It was strictly speaking not a prison, but a rather well fortified basement. As a migrant spacecraft, the only had a few brigs to hold unruly passengers or criminals and most were severely lacking in security details. So the queen had ordered the monster be kept to the cell under palace. This was the strongest, most secure cell in the whole city, but alas the monster was just right below the Queen’s Palace, and the effects were telling.

Shaqira was seconded to the monster’s cell team. She and Hao Ren led the way through the dimly lit tunnel and after confirming that the way was clear did they call the rest down. Vivian looked around the dimly lit old tunnels and the bubbles coming out of the contact grooves. Frowning hard,she said. “This look like a place that had not seen foot falls for ages, and the designs also don’t look like your normal corridors.”

“It’s a water pressure regulator pipe. It wasn’t meant to be the dungeon’s entrance.” Shaqira was rather familiar with the place. “The real entrance is supposedly somewhere inside the castle. This was something like a ventilation duct and after the dead left this place, no one had stepped foot since.”

Vivian felt a sense of irony. “The monster was only locked up here in name, but it had instead became the monster’s fortress and the ones that had lost their freedom were the guards outside. Anything that have to do with the Plane of Dreams sure is scary.”

Shaqira turned her head around to ask out of curiosity. “What’s the Plane of Dreams?”

“I’ll let you have gander when we have a chance.” Hao Ren replied, and he too was curious about something. “Say.. what were you doing back then in Nasaton? Why are you that familiar with the palace grounds?”

Shaqira smiled, “I was one of the palace guards… ugh… the outer wall ones. Nothing like the Queen’s Guards. But when I was a guard I was still allowed to move in and out of the palace grounds, so I have some knowledge of the lay of the land, and I also know where the closest security posts are. Sorma was a technician in charge of maintaining the palace’s magical machineries. She herself is a high level aquamancer.”

Lily’s ears shook. “A guard and an engineer? How did you guys pick the messengers back then?”

Shaqira shrugged. “Drawing lots, randomly chosen, volunteers.. all sorts of matter before we went ashore. I myself was confused for a good while after I came to shore, as it was chaotic when we left.”

Lily spoke directly, “Frankly speaking when your Queen had you draw lots for such an important endeavour you should have noticed that something was wrong with her.”

Hao Ren rubbed his chin. “Well, Raven12345 would do that sort of lottery thing alright. I’ve heard that when she made New Aerym it was all through dice rolls.”

“Well, do you think even for a moment that your Goddess was even sane?”

Lily immediately shrunk her head and ran behind Hao Ren as she finished. The husky was afraid that she might be struck by a bolt of divine retribution. But after a while nary a spark appeared. Hao Ren patted her on the head. “Don’t fret, stating facts is fine.”

This was Hao Ren’s team’s tradition: No one was badmouthing about another.

As the team navigated through the dim tunnel, another team was blasting their way through the defences into the palace proper. The ruckus made was far far greater than what Hao Ren’s team was doing.

“KABOOM!” A blast screeched across the field as a scorching hot sulphuric flame blew apart two shrieking sirens alongside a hole in the wall. Water started gushing out from the gap and the air was filled with sulphur. Y’lisabet held a giant fireball half her size with both her hands above her and flung it towards the enemy as she complained. “It’s boring fighting in water! It’s just not as powerful!”

Nangong Sanba was busy firing and reloading his crossbow as he looked at Y’lisabet throwing the big fireball away. “You’re saying that is not powerful enough?!”

Y’lisabet had not conjured another giant fireball, but she had forgo the flinging part. She held in front of her and charged directly into the cluster of enemies like a homing missile, striking anything that was in the way of the fireball. The fireballs created by demonic magic had a core that was harder than adamantium, and anyone that came it contact with it simply vaporised. That was how terrifying it was. This sort of fighting style too would probably have human mages wet their pants, and even fewer demons would fight like this. Only Y’lisabet, the ‘weak and sickly’ demon princess who had put all her ability points into INT could conjure such a powerful spell!

They were trying to break through the last line of defence of the Queen’s Guard and after the sirens wailed more and more guards swarmed forth to protect their queen. They had no idea how many sirens they had taken out so far, and no idea how many had resurrected to fight again. Only Hasse and White Flame had any success in curbing the siren’s resurrection ability. The latter could swiftly cast sealing techniques in his attack while the latter’s holy flames could do massive spiritual damage.

Regardless, it was Y’zaks whose overwhelming combat ability that was the driving force had broke through until the point that they could see the Queen’s Chambers before them. Hasse too had felt a foreboding aura permeating from the gate. It was not a magical effect or anything, but simply an old demon hunter’s natural instincts at work.

Finally, following Y’zaks massive blow against that shattered the last door of the chamber, the siren guards suddenly dispersed as if they had been ordered to. And the room was empty.

“Why did they retreat?” Nangong Sanba panted and after he was sure that the enemy was gone that he started acting bellicose as he stylished hung his crossbow over his shoulder. “Pffft, I thought they were elites, but they fight no better than grunts…”

Wuyue was healing Nangong Sanba’s wounds as she grumbled. “Can you stop acting? Just look at your injuries!”

Y’zaks too was surprised at the sudden retreat and reminded everyone. “Eyes sharp! Something’s wrong.”

Hasse had chanted a few incantations before the wrecked palace door and once he was sure that there were no traps or hidden troops that he pushed the door open carefully.

The door immediately crumbled as soon as the demon hunter touched it and the group raised their weapons or prepared their spells as they stepped into the palace cautiously.

It was nothing but an eerie silence, and through the dimly lit lights, it was plain to all that this was a very huge, luxurious room that had many contraptions and furnitures of unknown use. Seems like the battle outside had not affected the room as it maintained its serenity, almost as if it’s a different world altogether.

A figure appeared from the dim shadows and Hasse immediately drew his crossbow. “Beware!”

“You…..have… come….”

A screeching voice came from all four corners as the figure swam towards the group. She was a Siren in mermaid form, her looks was majestic and her eyes bright.

Sorma was maintaining the water barrier around the ground and subconsciously muttered, “Your Highness…”

The Siren Queen floating quietly on the water, her movements was weirdly stiff. She turned around to look at her enemies, without showing much aggression of her own, she was however curious. “You… are all…different…. I cannot… tell….”

She stiffly lifted her arms as she pointed at Y’zaks and Y’lisabet, “What… are… you..two?”

Hasse immediately frowned. “Wait a minute… why do I feel this Siren is different from the other enthralled Sirens?”

At the very same moment, a few hundred meters beneath the Queen’s Chamber, Hao Ren had also reached the last compartment door.

A giant block of ice was falling slowly to the group as two sirens, their eyes black were entombed within. Vivian slapped her hands together. “I think sealing them in ice works rather well. At least they won’t be resurrecting any time soon.”

“It looks awful here.” Hoa Ren touched the old, battered alloy compartment door as he looked around. This area had a dreadful aura to it and no normal person would stay here. “The monster did not moved itself even after taking control of Nasaton…. seeing this place I might actually believe it was still in captivity.”

“Different views I guess.” Lily wagged her tail. “Lets open it up.”

‘Y’zaks and the rest facing the Queen probably won’t need to worry too much about mental attacks.” Hao Ren smiled as he headed towards the door. “We on the other hand, need to stay sharp.”

A slash from the cutting laser later, the door came apart without a sound.

Hao Ren saw the giant brain monster again. It was curled up in the middle of the room as the skin rippled with the water flow. As the door fell apart, the monster reacted as it floated and all its tentacles facing the newcomers in a defensive posture.

Hao Ren immediately frowned. “Wait a minute… why do I feel this monster is different from the others?”

Chapter 592: Swapped

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Hao Ren had instincively sensed that the brain monster gave him a weird and uncanny feeling, but he wasn’t sure if he was just seeing things. The only thing he could do was to stay on high alert, focus and prepare to face any incoming mental assault.

The brain looked pretty similar to the one he saw back on Dragonspine Ridge, it was a mess of meat and blood in a grosteque shape as it floated with its array of tentacles. Hao Ren could not tell from its appearance if it was the main body or was just another clone. It cautiously eyed the intruders as its tentacles retreated into a defensive posture. A bizzarre numbing aura descended on the party, as if a powerful electromagnetic field was sweeping across the area.

“Charge! Take it alive!” Hao Ren ordered.

If at all possible, Hao Ren wanted to take the monster alive. Even if taking it out would have solved Nasaton’s troubles, having a living sample is even more attractive. He could not lay all his hopes on the Holettean knights capturing one. What if General Ophra’s side fails to capture one?

A white shadow charged forward as Lily, the team’s berserker took the lead. The husky berserker swung her Frostfire Claws towards the monster while the latter raised its tentacles in response. There was a layer of glowing light upon the appendages and they managed to block Lily’s twin claw attack. But Lily still had managed to blast the monster at least ten-meters back, by sheer force.

The monster let out a chilling shriek as it retreated backwards. Vivian had already starting conjuring a powerful storm of ice to attack. The vampire actually would prefer to use lightning bolts to fight but they were under water, and a bolt could easily resulted in a penta team kill.

As Vivian was just about to fling her spell, another shadow darted towards the monster. It was that dumb cat. Roillie had followed Hao Ren and his party fighting their way in and have finally realised what everyone else were doing. This naive cat too decided to partake in the bloodletting, just like how she led her pack of cats against the stray dogs. Letting out a growl as she charged, the cat scratched the brain’s tentacles and outer skin; using her agililty to dodge the incoming attacks. She then turned around to bite the end of one of the tentacles. The cat girl was brave in combat but that scared Hao Ren shitless: This cat could hold her own against the siren guards, but she decided to rush the monster head on now?!

“Dumb cat, get back!” Hao Ren dashed forward with his spear yelling at Rollie. He fought off a few attacking tentacles before Rollie let go of the tentacle and happily ran back to her master. At this chaotic moment, Hao Ren’s fingers and the monster’s tentacles touched.

His expression changed immediately.

Chillwind had gradually spread across the room and Vivian’s spell had reach the apex of its strength. An ice drill made out of bats was swirling in the air as the tip pointed towards the monster. The bats contained condensed magics that were capable of turning steel into powder. Vivian was just waiting for Hao Ren and Rollie to get out of the way before launching her attack. Just as she was about to unleash hell, she heard Hao Ren yelled. “Ceasefire! Ceasefire!”

Lily had already readied herself for a second attack and almost pulled a muscle as she stopped suddenly at Hao Ren’s beckon. Vivian too was frozen by her dissipating magics as her bats fell onto the ground like hail. Shaqira too was shocked as she turned towards Hao Ren. “What’s wrong?”

Hao Ren was about three meters away from the monster as he dragged Rollie away. He quickly motioned to ceasefire before the monster as he yelled into the communicator on the Lifehoop. “Y’zaks! Sanba! Watch out! The monster is over your side!”

A series of chaotic explosion and electricity rang from the communicator before Y’lisabet’s voice was heard. “Nangong Sanba had passed out! Wuyue is wounded too! Papa is fighting that demon hunter called Teuton, and we are….”

Another loud bang later, Y’lisabet’s voice resumed. “We are facing the Queen! We can still hold on!”

“We’ll reinforce you in a bit!” Hao Ren shouted before turning back to the rest. “The monster had swapped bodies with the Queen!”

Shaqira was so shocked that she was as straight as a pole. “WHAT?!”

Hao Ren pointed towards the unusual brain monster in the center of the room. “The monster did not control the Queen. Its psychic abilities is even stronger than anticipated! That bastard had swapped bodies with the Queen and your Queen is now trapped in that body!”

The brain monster took half a step back before relaxing its stance. It could not display much emotions or information but it was undoubtedly a gesture of peace.

Vivian and Lily stood there gawking. They never expected the monster to had such a trump card. Shaqira too was gawking, as she did not believe her Queen was trapped in the monster’s body. Rollie was gawking as well, only because she saw the rest gawking.

“You sure?” It took Vivian a few seconds to recover before she popped the question.

“I managed to connect with the brain again.” Hao Ren nodded. “Someone stay back to look afer the Queen, the rest follow me to back Y’zaks up!”

“I’ll stay!” Shaqira immediately volunteered.

Hao Ren nodded. “See to your Queen. She is extremely weak now, but she is recovering. Take this collar, its shields can protect you somewhat. Don’t change shape at random, it won’t be able to react to it.”

Hao Ren quickly briefed Shaqira on what needed to be done and the Siren nodded even if she did not fully understood it. She then stayed with the monster while the rest quickly ran towards the palace above ground.

Just as they left, Vivian asked. “Wait… If the monster could transfer its conciousness unto another body, how do we even catch it? How do we stop it from taking over someone else… like our own body?”

Hao Ren was slightly horrified by the thought and Vivian had posed a very real and scary question. He never thought the brain monster was such a crafty adversary and it seemed like the one he took out back on Dragonspine Ridge is really just a clone and the real body had abilities that normal humans could not fight against!

He patted his chest pocket. “MDT, what’s the risk of that monster taking over our bodies?”

“Insufficient data, unable to determine.But going through that monster’s biological scans, its mental power cannot take over your bodies instantly. All of you have mental resistance that is beyond normal humans, and any attempt to invade your conciousness will take a very long time to succeed. The weakest is probably Lil Pea annd Rollie, one is still a toddler and another naive.”

“Rollie, take care of Lil Pea, wait at the dungeon until we return.” Hao Ren immediately placed the little mermaid in Rollie’s paws as he got them to return to the dungeon. He then turned around, “So… if the monster’s mental powers have such limitations, how did it came to take over the Queen? Don’t tell me the Siren Queen’s resistance is weaker than us?”

“It probably used a hundred years!” Lily reminded.

Hao Ren only then realised the fact and nodded. He then led Vivian and Lily towards the surface as he rummaged through his Dimensional Pocket. He first threw the two sirens that had been tied into pretzel before looking for something that could defend against mental domination from his array of equipment.

As an Inspector, having a certain robot cat-like pocket is the most basic of skills.

Just before they reached the exit of the tunnel, Hao Ren found the item he needed. It was a colourful prismatic crystal.

“What is that?” Lily looked in amazement of the ‘pretty stone’ in Hao Ren’s hand. “Can I have…”

“No, this is important.” Hao Ren pulled a distance away from Lily. “This is a defensive crystal taken from Crapple. It was originally used to study the First Born, but as I was thinking… As strong as the brain monster is, is it stronger than a First Born?”

The MDT had only one thing to say about that. “Well done~”

Chapter 593: A Total Mess

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Ever since Hao Ren started to have frequent contact with the First Born, he knew that he had to increase his resistance to mental attacks because the tentacles had no mercy and that it understood all the weaknesses of all creatures. Strong shields and strong armor might make a man as bulletproof as a superman, but a fragile heart was always the most difficult soft spot to protect. It was a hard thing to get armed, and once it was broken, it would be beyond redemption. Hao Ren had acquired a far more resilient mind after physical intensification and long-term training, but he knew that he still needed some things to keep alive: One’s mental strength was a hard indicator, once it was broken, even the most powerful warriors could not save themselves, so he needed some powerful equipment to protect him.

The Crapple Research Station had provided him with help in this regard: The prison, which was designed to deal with the First Born, was filled with structures that could isolate the mental attack. Its main container was covered with protective crystals that could isolate any unauthorized mental activity. Even if the First Born woke up, its mental roar could not reach the space station.

When Hao Ren left the Crapple Research Station, he just took something he felt would be useful, and now it seemed that it turned out to be a great help for him. Unfortunately, he only took a piece of protective crystal—he could only hope that the power in the thing was strong enough.

And it should be: Theoretically, below the gods, no mental strength of any mortal species could exceed that of the First Born.

Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian quickly returned to the front gate of the palace. The gate was already broken. A hot corridor stretched out behind the gate. The surrounding water echoed with restless, active magic. They dared not delay and rushed directly into the palace, but they also did not let down their guards along the way. They were in the deep water which belonged to the sirens. Only God knows whether the giant brain that occupied the Queen had learned the power to control water. It was better to stay alert here.

After crossing several doors, Lily suddenly pointed to the front and exclaimed, “Look! Sirens!”

Hao Ren was holding a silver lance in front of him. He saw more than ten sirens lying on the ground not far ahead. Judging by the style of their dress and the trident on their hands, they should be the members of the Queen’s Guard—the ones most severely controlled by the giant brain. Hao Ren walked over and gingerly moved the body of one of the sirens with his lance, and found that she did not have any wounds on her body. She just stared blankly into space, lying there as if she lost her soul.

“The giant brain may be gathering its power,” Vivian immediately responded, “The puppets in the city have probably lost their ability to act!”

Hao Ren lifted the lance, swimming pass the ‘corpses’ and to the depths of the palace.

As they were about to reach the Queen’s bedroom, they could already hear the noise of explosions and the shrill sound of a certain spell, together with strange hissing noises. Three of them immediately felt the surrounding water was filled with an electric field that made their skin tingle. The reaction of the electric field was much stronger than the one they felt in the underground chamber the last time: The body of that giant brain monster was right here!

Another burst of explosions came from the front. Hao Ren saw a small figure flew out together with the shock wave, he quickly moved forward to catch it and found that it was Y’lisabet.

The little demon was blackened by smoke, but she did not suffer from anything major injury, just a little confused. She was shaking her head for some time in Hao Ren’s arms before she realized where she was now, and there was a moment that she even wanted to attack Lily next to her, but fortunately, she managed to calm down in time.

“It’s thrilling!” The little girl opened her mouth and spat out dark smoke, then coughed and said, “Uncle Ren, quickly go and help them. Now only left my dad and two hunters are not being controlled! Just now I wanted to pull sister and brother Nangong out, but I accidentally blew myself up!”

Hao Ren then immediately clenched the protective crystal and rushed in, at the same time, he did not forget to remind Lily and Vivian, “Stay close to me! Try to be near the protective crystal!”

As soon as he rushed into the palace, Hao Ren felt a terrible heat wave hitting him. He turned to see a five-meter-tall lava demon standing in the middle of the room. It was Y’zaks in his original form.

The roof of the palace had been blown up. There was nothing intact in the surroundings except a broken wall. The most eye-catching thing on the scene was Y’zaks huge body. And not far ahead of him was a turbulent water flow, which twisted and distorted into strange forms, and at its core, a woman’s posture was dimly visible. It was the Queen of Sirens, whose body was already occupied by the giant brain. The raging water flow was surrounded by whirlpools that were strong enough to tear up the steel, accompanied by a strong electric field, water stream as sharp as waterjet, a pervasive mental attack and other magic that were pouring on Y’zaks at the same time. Y’zaks remained sober and was still fighting, but apparently, his fighting power had been weakened in the deepwater and, together with the unexpected mental attack, the tough man was suppressed for the first time.

The giant demon waved and crushed the whirlpool that was pouring on him. The molten lava on his arm kept turning into pieces of iron and obsidian and dropping on the ground. He was almost completely covered in bubbles and smoke. “Take the others away first!” he yelled.

The turbulent water flow immediately noticed the new enemy on the battlefield. For a moment Hao Ren felt that the water in his body was about to gush out of the body as if it was out of control, but then the shield system reacted and stop the deadly attack. Hao Ren calmed down and then found that there were some bright lights flashing in the smoke behind Y’zaks.

He rushed over there with Lily and Vivian and found the three demon hunters were in the scuffle. Hasse and White Flame were working together to suppress Teuton that had lost control. The quiet, tall demon hunter’s eyes were clouded with murky shadow, and he was waving two strange machetes to attack whoever within sight. The blade was shining with magic lights. Each time the blade fell, it left behind a sharp mark in the water lasted for several seconds and some of the scattered pieces of rock metal that fell into the sharp marks would be split in half instantly. Hasse was using a crossbow to control Teuton’s action. The small crossbow was constantly flashing on those two machetes to limit Tutani’s attack to a very small range. And White Flame, though she was helping, apparently her condition was not very good: her eyes were also clouded with murky shadow, and the white flames sprang up constantly around her, for a moment she would attack Teuton or the Queen, but the next moment she would attack in the direction of Hasse.

Even if she was a rare genius in thousands of years, the mental strength of White Flame was still too weak.

“Get out of here and stay away from here!” Hao Ren yelled at Hasse, and at the same time, a strong sense of danger hit him. He quickly dodged and saw that the place he just stood looked like it was being cut into pieces by countless blades, and he was totally shocked: The attack was intangible. It was high-pressure high-speed waterjet that was condensed in the water. It was such a close shave.

Y’zaks suddenly roared and summoned his magic sword and chopped at the direction of the siren Queen, which interrupted the giant brain’s attack and blew up the walls. Teuton also regained control of his mind at once. Hasse saw it, immediately motioned White Flame to leave this place with Teuton, he then turned to Y’zaks and said, “I can resist the mental attack. You go to help the mixed-blood siblings.”

At this time, Hao Ren found where the two Nangong was. They were in the corner of the remaining walls and there was a big bubble. He rushed over there with the protective crystal and saw Nangong Sanba was lying unconscious in the bubble. His clothes were torn, but he did not have any visible wounds, and Nangong Wuyue was frantically casting various healing spells on him. Nangong Sanba’s injury was obviously healed by this overdose treatment.

Vivian immediately caught Wuyue’s tail and said, “Wuyue, take your brother out, the farther the better.”

Nangong Wuyue turned her head and hissed at Vivian strangely, and then cast a lot of healing spells on her.

Lily pointed to Wuyue’s eyes and shouted, “She’s also being controlled!”

Hao Ren just noticed that Nangong Wuyue’s situation was exactly the same as Teuton. Her eyes were clouded with murky shadow, and she was in a confused state of mind. However, he soon realized something really funny—

This siren… only knew healing spells!

Nangong Wuyue had already lost her mind and had no idea what was happening around her. Under the control of the mental attack, she was casting all the spells she knew crazily, including the Healing Ring and the Surging Current like it was free. She was treating her brother, and now Hao Ren, Lily, and Vivian were also being covered by the healing spells. At the same time, Wuyue pulled back her tail from Vivian’s hand, hissing fiercely while kept poking Hao Ren in the arm with the tip of her tail… which was totally powerless.

A siren who only knew healing spells was still harmless even when she was under mind control…

Lily looked at the healing glow that kept flickering on her body and stretched comfortably. “Why do I feel that Wuyue is more useful now than before?” she asked.

Vivian rolled her eyes and said, “Well, at least she was not so timid when she was losing her mind, but she’s still not a threat.”

Wuyue shook her head, and then kept on poking Hao Ren in the arm with her tail…

Chapter 594: Arrested Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

Having a low combat power was also a good thing for Nangong Wuyue, at least she could not hurt people even if she had lost control. All she could do was just kept casting healing spells on people around her. Guess the giant brain monster did not see it coming.

“Vivian, Lily, bring the siblings out,” Hao Ren told them while dodging Wuyue’s tail. He then held up the silver lance and rushed to Y’zaks and yelled, “I’m coming to help you!”

Wuyue was hissing while turned to Hao Ren and then throwing lots of supplementary spells like Aquatic Barrier and Living Water Restoration at him. Lily grasped Wuyue’s tail and dragged her out of there, ignoring that Wuyue was still struggling and yelling. She was like a little harmless snake, and Lily directly dragged her away without needing the slightest effort.

Meanwhile, Vivian released a swarm of bats and moved the unconscious Nangong Sanba out of from this place.

‘The Queen of the Sirens’ noticed the new enemy joining the battlefield. She emitted a burst of hissing sound that itched and irritated the roots of Hao Ren’s teeth. Hao Ren immediately felt difficult to move, as if he was surrounded by a layer of extremely strong glue that was coagulating rapidly, and his shield capacity began to slowly decline. The giant brain monster had mastered the various spells of the sirens in the centuries-long physical dominance confrontation. It was now increasing the water pressure around Hao Ren, and it almost caused him to have the illusion that water had solidified!

“Heck! It doesn’t feel good…” As the shield capacity dropped rapidly, Hao Ren felt a sense of pain and oppression coming from all directions that he almost lost consciousness. He felt that his eyes were bloodshot as the scene before him was being quickly covered with a layer of light red. At the same time, the water around him was surging, tearing and grinding him into powder.

Hao Ren used up all his strength but could barely move in the current. Now he was surprised that Hesse had been fighting in this situation. It seemed that he had underestimated the power of this demon hunter. The water pressure had already reached the level that could not handle by the ordinary creatures.

Y’zaks was waving the enchanted sword and stirring up a hot whirlpool, rushing toward the siren queen. He did not care about the water jet that kept slashing his skin. The water jet was slashing his rock-solid skin and left him with countless fine wounds. The scorching hot lava and molten iron were gushing out of the wounds, making him look like a scorching hot giant statue in the water. The brain monster, which occupied the body of the siren queen, was apparently startled by the way it was attacked. It immediately dodged the attack, and Hao Ren seized this opportunity, raised the lance and threw at the siren queen.

The ‘Queen of the Siren’ dodged the attack in the nick of time. The glowing silver-white light hit a distant tower, and the tower slowly collapsed along with a dull roar.

“I hope that after all the dust is settled, I don’t have to pay the repair fee…” Hao Ren then shook his head, wiped the blood from his nostrils, lifted the protective crystal, and dashed to the ‘Queen of the Siren’.

It seemed that the monster had sensed the threat coming from the protective crystal. A sharp roar came from the living water and a shock wave attack Hao Ren head-on. Hao Ren felt everything around him was boiling, and the whole building behind him began to fall apart in the loud high unpleasant cry. The magnificent walls and the spaceship circulating pipeline that had lasted for thousands of years burst from the inside as if they had been hit by a projectile. Countless huge building pieces were falling from above. Hao Ren was trying his best to dodge the falling pieces in this crumbling world. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a flash of lightning rushing out of the smoke below. It was a huge crossbow with a powerful holy flame, and it was rushing to the Queen’s protective living water with an indomitable force.

The crossbow caused a big hole on the living water protective barrier. The body of the Queen seemed to have been torn apart at that moment, but the next second she was resurrected, then she stormed out of the siege, toward a distant tower, trying to flee. However, Y’zaks was already waiting for it. A barrier full of green magic runes suddenly appeared in the air, and the Queen crashed right into it.

Hao Ren was already very close to it. He felt that the protective crystal in his hands was gradually emitting heat. After sensing an aggressive mental energy, it automatically launched a built-in defense program. The intensity of the electric field in the surrounding water was finally weakened and a strange buzzing hiss faded from his mind. And the siren, under the shackles of the evil-energy barrier, hissing and screaming sharply while holding her head and transforming rapidly as if she was out of control. For a second she turned into a strange woman covered with scales, the next second she turned into the sea snake, and then turned back to the mermaid form.

The crystal was weakening the mental activity of this hostile soul in the same way of dealing with the First Born, and the weakening of mental activity meant that its control over the stolen body was decreasing.

At this time, a big hand covered with lava and sulfur suddenly stretched out and grabbed the tail of the Queen and spun her rapidly, and then threw her over to Hao Ren.

Hao Ren put the protective crystal on the forehead of the Queen, then looked up at Y’zaks and said, “That’s a skillful spin.”

Y’zaks grinned and said, “This is how I used to dry Y’lisabet after I bathed her. This is how we demons do.”

“…It’s not easy to be your daughter!”

The Queen’s body, under the impact of the protective crystal, had been twitching and eventually lost consciousness. And the good thing was that her body had stopped transforming, which allowed Hao Ren to tie her up. Then Y’zaks transformed back to the human form, came to Hao Ren and asked, “So this is done?”

“Sort of, but then we have to find a way to ‘swap’ them back.” Hao Ren looked at the siren queen, who was tied up by her own tail and then tied up again with a bunch of alloy ropes, then turned on the communicator. “Rollie, Shaqira, it’s done, bring out the giant brain.”

“What happened?” Hasse carried the big crossbow, swimming to Hao Ren and asked, “How did the Queen of Sirens have such a strong mental control power? I thought you said only the brain monster could do that?”

Hao Ren patted the snake ball and said, “Because the brain monster is in her body. That thing can exchange its own consciousness with other people, even the Queen. You should be thankful that your brain is strong enough, otherwise, at the critical moment it will certainly do whatever it takes to take you as a second container.”

“Why me?”

“The persons closest to that thing are you and Y’zaks,” Hao Ren said and pointing to the big demon next to him, “look at his face, if you’re the brain monster, would you?”

Hasse unconsciously touched his face and nodded slightly.

Although Hao Ren’s team loved to make fun of the person who was not around, Y’zaks seemed to be an exception.

Three of them dragged the Queen who had already lost consciousness and swam back. At the same time, there were huge pieces of building debris falling down, and the water was filled with dust, oil droplets, sand and the smell of sulfur. The building beneath was a mess, and the Queen’s bedchamber had been ruined. At least three facilities outside the palace had been blown to pieces. The destructive power of a few minutes of fighting had almost completely destroyed the core control area of Nasaton.

Hao Ren noticed that the latter part of the Queen’s Palace was a bridge-like place (where there were many channels and light belts extending to other places), and now there were only a few sections of platforms left, sparking and swaying in the water. He felt sorry and said, “It looks like Nasaton can’t fly again … Unless someone can find the blueprint.”

“Err, I think we’ve ruined this place,” Y’zaks said while scratching his head.

Hao Ren looked at the scars on Y’zaks that were healing rapidly and asked, “Are you all right?”

“Just some cuts, it doesn’t matter” Y’zaks grinned and said, “The Queen is a powerful enemy, fighting in her place is really difficult, but how to say it… I’m a little bit more powerful.”

Outside the Queen’s bedchamber, which had been destroyed, everyone was reunited, and Shaqira and Rollie had brought the brain monster that looked clumsy and stiff.

Hasse looked at the peculiar creature in amazement and marveled at its strange form. “This… Where’s its mouth?”

“I advise you not to stare at it so rudely. The Queen’s soul is trapped inside.” Hao Ren reminded Hasse, and then turned to the brain monster and asked, “Your Majesty, you know how to reverse this swapping process?”

Chapter 595: Unstoppable Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

 

After hearing what Hao Ren said, the “brain monster” fluttered a bit and floated up in the air. It looked very weak. Of course, it could be that it could not adapt to this abnormal body at all. The tentacle underneath the ‘brain monster’ touched the ‘Queen of the Sirens’ a few times. Hao Ren felt that the real Queen’s must have missed her own body.

“Is there a way to reverse this process?” Vivian also asked.

Hao Ren put his hand on the tentacle underneath the gigantic brain, and he successfully read the thoughts of the brain again. He had now more or less grasped how his bizarre ‘shared mind’ ability worked; its working was not random but only effective with specific targets. The truly stable connection so far had been with this gigantic brain.

After a few moments, he let off his hand. “It’s reversible. The brain monster’s will is very weak now, and the Queen of the Sirens has roughly found a way to regain her body through years of study. Now everyone please take a step back, the process must not be interrupted.”

Everyone backed off while Shaqira and Sorma were setting up a water barrier to prevent interference from outside. Hao Ren placed the protective crystal on the open space between the Queen of the Sirens and the brain monster, and then they moved outside the barrier.

The gigantic brain reached out its tentacles and formed a fan-shaped encirclement around the Siren Queen, and a series of faint blue sparks were jumping in between those tentacles. The two minds began to trade places, back to where they were supposed to be. Shaqira was slightly worried when seeing that. “Are you sure…”

“I’m as sure as eggs that the soul inside the brain is of your queen.” Hao Ren shrugged. “I know you’re anxious, but can you please not use your tail to roll my up cat?”

Rollie could barely voice her protest. “Meow… meow, I’ll not eat dried fish again. Can you let me go?”

Meanwhile, Hasse frowned and asked, “How long does this process take?”

“I’ve no idea. I didn’t ask just yet, but it shouldn’t be long. After all, the consciousness of the brain monster no longer resists,” said Hao Ren, turning to look at his side. Nangong Wuyue was shaking her head as the girl finally awakened completely while Nangong Sanba was still unconscious. “You’re awake? How do you feel? You’ve come back?”

The confusion in Nangong Wuyue’s eyes quickly faded. However, she could still vaguely remember the state of mind during the chaos, and felt horrific. “Wait a minute! It’s all over? The queen’s been subdued? What about the brain monster?”

Hao Ren said with a smile. “It’s all over. Now they are restoring their minds.”

Nangong Wuyue had not look at what was going on between the tentacles and the queen. She grabbed Hao Ren’s arm and asked, “Wait, now I remember… I didn’t hurt anyone, did I? I didn’t fight with you people, right?”

There was a bizarre expression on Hao Ren and Lily’s face. The two were too embarrassed to tell inept siren that she was the safest one during the period of control. With her half-depleted strength, she had protected everyone. When Nangong Wuyue became more and more tense, Lily explained to her in a euphemistic way. “At that time, you were using the tip of your tail attacking us mercilessly but luckily you hadn’t even managed to cut through our clothes. Then I dragged you here.”

Hao Ren patted on the shoulders of the siren maiden to comfort her. “This is a good thing. You see how much trouble your compatriots who could fight have caused. If they were as inept as you were, you would have spared us a lot of trouble. But then, I remember that during the battle of Dragonspine Ridge, you were slapping the enemies your tail. Why were you jabbing with your tail when you fell into a state of violence?

Nangong Wuyue said, “…can you not discuss this?”

“Ahem, so how is your brother doing?” Hao Ren finally knew he was a miserable comforter; he quickly changed the subject.

“He will probably wake up in a while,” said Wuyue, glancing at her brother. “After he found himself being control, he immediately cast himself a dozen drowsiness spells and then hit his head against the pillars of the palace.”

Hasse sighed. “Although half-baked, he was at least decisive.”

Hao Ren rubbed his nose. It was somewhat dangerous just now, he thought. Many of them were down, fortunately, things had been resolved. Their bodily injuries would heal quickly; however, the trauma would linger on in their mind for a few more days.

At this time, a sudden burst of magical power came from not far away. Hao Ren looked up and saw that gigantic brain was chaotically falling on the ground, and the siren queen was struggling to stand up. Shaqira rushed to her. “Your Majesty, you are back?”

The siren queen shook her head then nodded in a state of confusion. Sorma immediately turned and called out Hao Ren. “Her Majesty the Queen has recovered! Please unlock her chain.”

“Wait a minute,” Hao Ren swam up and looked at the face of the Queen. She was a gentle woman with a graceful and elegant smile. However, there was no way to see from her appearance which soul was in her. “I need to test to see if the brain monster has completely left the body.”

The siren queen nodded silently as Hao Ren took out the MDT. “Compare the soul samples to see if it was in the same brain frequency of the brain monster.”

The MDT made two laps around the siren queen, and then emitted a buzzing sound. “Comparison is completed. The exchange is successful.”

Hao Ren released the restraint device on the queen and reached out his hand to this elegant woman. “Welcome back, Your Majesty.”

“Thank you for your help,” the siren queen nodded slightly, despite the irresistible excitement in her eyes, she still tried to remain very calm. However, when she saw the unconscious gigantic brain, she still felt emotional. “It was a dark day… I’ve never expected that I could escape from that terrible container. It feels so good to be back in my body.”

Hao Ren left the siren queen to Shaqira and Sorma, they might want to catch up with old times. Meanwhile, he went to recover the living brain monster as specimen. He took a cylindrical container out from the dimensional pocket, which specialized in storing medium-sized biological specimens. He labelled the container, and then let the autonomous robot throw the gigantic brain into it together with the protective crystal: this was to ensure that the brain would remain in deep sleep until it was sent to CARS. He let out a long sigh as he felt a sense of accomplishment. The MDT also sighed on his shoulder. “Normally the protagonist would bring back truckload of treasure and weapons as trophy after winning a war; however, you only bring back a pork belly.”

Hao Ren choked hearing that. “Cough cough— Can you not be so disgusting?”

“Oh, there’s still another thing.” Hao Ren suddenly smacked his head. “Bring back the siren general as well. As the brain wave of the brain monster has been isolated, those controlled sirens should’ve recovered.”

The MDT went. Others were examining their injuries and losses. As the barrier was turned off, Y’lisabet began to swirl in the water to clean herself up. Lil Pea was swimming in and out of the broken walls curiously while Rollie followed her from behind, looking after the mermaid to prevent her from getting hurt by the falling debris. There were movements all around them as a large number of sirens began to gather. Most of them were members of the Queen’s Guard. Many of the sirens who had just gotten free from control looked back and stared at the destroyed palace. Other sirens fixed their eyes on the maelstrom above the big protective wall.

“Let’s keep it to another time,” Hao Ren interrupted the conversation between the siren queen and Shaqira. “We need to figure out what this maelstrom is all about. What does it do, actually?”

The siren queen looked up at the maelstrom. “It’s a portal, leading to…”

Lily chimed in. “The Plane of Dreams?”

“What’s The Plane of Dreams?”

“It is your home, another universe,” Hao Ren waved his hand. “I’ll explain this later. I might’ve figured out the plan of the brain monster. The key now is how to turn off this maelstrom. Do you have a switch or something?”

The Queen looked at the maelstrom grimly for a long moment before she slowly shook her head. “I’m afraid I can’t turn it off. It has absorbed too much energy. Now it has become a self-growing thing. Even if we cut off the energy supply, it will continue to swell until it successfully opens the channel.”

Hao Ren: “…Holy molly!”