"We are all under the watchful eye of Mr. 'Fool'. Different from those temporary adventure groups, we have the most precious quality - trust," "Hanged Man" Alger, who picked up the lantern again and led the way, said while pointing. Black Forest said to Black Forest, who could not even see the moonlight, "Through this forest is the ruins. After this exploration, the location of this island is no longer a secret to you. Therefore, I require that I participate in the first three explorations, including this one, and I want one-third of the loot."
He didn't stop, but turned his head and looked at Angel.
Look what I did... I guessed my "Rose Necklace" Grazing and "Wind-blessed". I probably have the ability to navigate in the sea and have memorized the route here? Indeed, he handed over my necklace to Artisan for production, and he also knew that Bishop "Wind-blessed" died in my hands...
Angel thought, nodded and replied:
"It's a very reasonable request. If the loot cannot be divided equally, it will be converted into Gold Pound, but I have to choose first."
"Okay."
Alger was obviously relieved and agreed readily.
This is purely a transaction based on strength and information advantage. Angel and Klein stand on one side and have an absolute advantage in force. They must have the final say in dividing the spoils. Alger has information about the location of the ruins. If he does not take the initiative to lead the way, everyone will gain nothing.
Although Klein was limited by the negative effects of "Creeping Hunger" and did not show strong combat effectiveness for the time being, Alger took the initiative to give him one-third, which can be regarded as a show of goodwill to Angel, the strongest player in the team.
After agreeing on the distribution plan, the three of them moved much faster. Under the leadership of Alger, they got into Black Forest and walked among the tall, thick trees with dense leaves. Angel squinted and used Dark Vision to penetrate the trees and look around, alerting to possible dangers.
Under the faint light of the lanterns and the occasional crimson Crimson Moon light overhead from between the leaves to the ground, the three of them soon arrived at a slightly empty place with sparse trees.
Alger slowed down, turned around and said:
"There is an open space in front of you, where many human and animal corpses are piled up, as well as curly baboons. They look scary, a bit like the dead but not stiff Zombie, but they can't move anymore and are very safe. Haha, I'm worried about you overreacting, so I'll explain it in advance."
He smiled with what he thought was humorous and continued to take a few steps forward. When he looked back, he found that the other two had not followed.
Zombie...
Klein's expression was a little stiff. This time he came to Primitive Island. In order to make it easier to call for help, he did not leave Azik's Copper Whistle in Grey Fog Space, but took it with him. If he passed through that "very safe" open space, he might...
... Maybe all the Zombies will wake up and rush towards us, specifically, Copper Whistles towards Klein... Angel also thought of the same thing. She glanced at the open space in front of her and suggested:
"For safety's sake, let's take a detour."
Alger frowned, hesitated for a moment, nodded in agreement, led the team back a short distance, returned to the dense woods, and took a detour to the right.
He must be wondering whether we chose to take a detour because we were afraid of dead bodies, or because of some kind of Mystical Item side effects, let him guess... Angel cursed, followed this Tarot Club "think tank", bypassed the vast open space, and continued walking forward.
"Your judgment is correct. There is probably a powerful Beyonder Creature in that open space, otherwise there would not be so many corpses piled up."
Hanged Man at the front of the queue suddenly said.
How could he say this after walking so far... Angel looked at him curiously and found that Alger seemed a little nervous. Although the hand holding the lamp was still steady, there were some beads of sweat on his forehead.
"Are you okay?"
she asked worriedly.
"I'm just a little... sentimental. The last time I came here, it was at the request of Qilingus. This time I revisited my old place, but my companions were replaced by you."
It sounds like there was an unpleasant memory between Alger and "Vice Admiral Hurricane". I hope he won't have a stress reaction and affect his subsequent exploration... Angel saw that the other party had gotten much better after the conversation, so he did not continue to ask questions.
Suddenly, there was a faint "ding-dong-dang" sound coming from the right side of the team, which seemed to be the clear sound of some kind of rattle or wind chime.
This sound reminded Angel of childhood memories that had gradually faded away after time travel, as if he had returned to the port city where he lived as a child, to a peaceful life before the world began to change and all kinds of mysterious and strange creatures had not yet appeared.
Who is ringing the wind chimes?
She wanted to get into the woods and look in the direction of the sound, but she was worried that she would be in danger.
No, how could there be danger here? The place where the ringtone comes from must be the safest and warmest home... Angel gradually lowered his guard and turned to the right.
Wait, no... that's not what I thought!
Having had the experience of being controlled by strange emotions when she was promoted in the flames, Angel immediately reacted. At this moment, due to the distance, the intermittent sound of wind chimes stopped, allowing her to barely control herself and recover from the numb state of letting down her guard.
Beside her, Alger, who was holding a lamp, and Klein, who was holding a top hat, were walking forward slowly, with expressions on their faces as if they were looking for something beautiful. Sequence, the lowest Alger, actually had red eyes and was about to shed tears.
Angel stretched his left and right hands forward, pressed one person's shoulder with one hand, and dragged them back.
The disturbance from outsiders got them out of that weird state. Klein's eyes quickly returned to clarity. Alger was a little slower, but soon showed a thoughtful expression.
"That's Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree," he murmured after a moment, speaking faster and faster, "Sailor has seen them on some islands deep in the sea. As long as they are confused by the ringtone of Hypnosis's nature, they will take the initiative to approach, lose their defense, and then be preyed on by it."
"Its fruit is very precious, but we were not prepared and it was difficult to get close."
"What about waking each other up like we just did?"
Angel asked back, and she immediately remembered the way the Nighthawkss dealt with Sealed Artifact "2-049" during the mission to hunt down Ray Bieber at Tingen City.
"The premise is that we are staggered by Hypnosis. The closer we are to it, the stronger the ringtone effect will be, and there will not even be a gap. When we are Hypnosis at the same time, there will be no way to wake each other up."
Alger explained, regret evident on his face.
Fruit of the Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree is not cheap!
"There is another way," Klein, who had been silent all the time, frowned slightly, looked at Angel, and said in a calm tone, "You make him sick to the point where he is coughing constantly but will not fall down. This should suppress the effect of the ringtone."
Huh?
Mr. Hanged Man is a companion, Klein, have you been playing Mad Adventurer next to Danitz for too long, and you are a little bit into the drama... Angel subconsciously wanted to refute, but after thinking about it, this plan turned out to be It is very feasible. Alger, who is seriously ill, cannot concentrate at all. Naturally, he will not fall into Hypnosis of Wind Chime Tree. Even if he is accidentally Hypnosis, he will wake up in Affliction and wake up others.
After the battle, "Rose Necklace" can quickly recover the sick Alger without affecting subsequent exploration.
Being stared at closely by the two people, "Hanged Man" quickly understood the current situation. It might be time for him to contribute to the one-third of the loot...
"Cough, cough..."
With his lungs wheezing like a bellows, Alger leaned against a thick tree with difficulty, coughed a few times, and then continued to walk forward.
As a preferential treatment for the sick patient, his lantern has been transferred to Klein's hands. He only needs to walk slowly towards the position where the wind chimes are heard with empty hands. Once the companion behind him is overtaken by the ringing Hypnosis, he will take the initiative to wake him up.
After two tests at a distance, the three of them confirmed that this method was feasible, and then they started to act with confidence.
"Ding-ding-ding-ding-"
Another ringing sound came, a little closer than before. Even with extreme vigilance, the three of them still had an urge to quickly get closer to the location of the ringing sound, and they could barely suppress it.
"It should be, cough, not far away..."
I feel like my lungs are about to be coughed out. Is this the Potion Sequence of "Vice Admiral of Ailment" Tracy? No wonder a whole ship of pirates besieged her at the same time, unable to do anything to her...Alger thought about it, but the high fever made his mind go crazy Chaos, and he quickly gave up thinking.
The three of them continued to take a few steps forward cautiously, and among the thick black trees, they saw the maker of the wind chimes, Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree.
There was an open space around it. The tree trunks were brown and green. The bark was split into long and thin cracks, perpendicular to the bark texture. The interior was deep and dark, as if it were eyes without pupils.
Wind chime-like objects hung on the branches stretching above the trunk, swaying in the wind, making a crisp tinkling sound. Above the thick branch in the center, a translucent fruit hung.
Ding-ding-ding-ding——
As soon as they emerged from the woods, a burst of superimposed ringtones came. The three people who were still wary in front of them immediately became excited and walked straight towards Wind Chime Tree.
"Cough, cough..."
Alger, who was last in the group due to mobility issues, coughed a few times, woke up from the sweet dream of finding his parents who had never been masked, and quickly grabbed his companions next to Hypnosis to wake them up.
"Phew, it's our turn next."
Angel rubbed his eyes that were almost in tears with the back of his hand, and was about to launch an attack while he was awakened by an outsider and before he entered the Hypnosis state again.
At this moment, there was a rustling sound from the opposite side of the clearing, and the little pig Hanged Man had just used to lure Azure Shadow Falcon emerged from the woods.
Under the sight of the three people, the piglet coated with spices looked dull, crawled towards Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree with strange steps, and followed the melodious and brisk ringing of the bell to the bottom of the tree canopy.
Swish--
The branches with "wind chimes" hanging on them stopped dancing and spread rapidly downwards, surrounding the body of the piglet that had lost resistance and no longer running away. It penetrated into the delicate nostrils, eyes, ears and mouth, and began to vibrate like a straw.
The bait piglet, which had just escaped from the claws of the vicious Azure Shadow Falcon, died under the "sucking" of Wind Chime Tree.
Taking this opportunity, "Rose Necklace" on Angel's chest lit up with a blue light, switching to the soul of "Wind-blessed".
"Gale Mastery"!
Thin and sharp Wind Blade formed in her palm, flying towards Wind Chime Tree with a whistling sound, cutting off the branches that greedily sucked the juice of its prey, and the "wind chimes" rolled to the ground.
"Ding-ding-dong——"
The remaining branches danced like crazy, making endless ringing sounds, trying to Hypnosis the enemy in front of them.
At this moment, Klein's right hand quickly took out a half-palm-sized piece of silver from his windbreaker pocket, which was engraved with complex incantations and symbols symbolizing Evernight.
This is the "enlarged version" Slumber Charm he made inspired by Angel using three Charm against Tracy.
"Crimson!"
Spirituality poured in, and he flicked his wrist to throw "Slumber Charm" out with skillful force. The silver piece quickly spanned the distance between the three people and Wind Chime Tree like a flying knife, and stuck on the hard bark of the tree, almost completely submerged in it.
Bang——
A much louder explosion than usual came, and a soothing wave swept through the forest clearing. All the branches of Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree meekly stopped swinging and slowly hung down.
With a "pop" sound, Klein snapped his fingers, and a bunch of dry leaves under the trunk shot up into bright yellow flames.
The flame suddenly spread, and Angel's strong body jumped out of it. Bone Sword's left hand took Black Flame and plunged into the pupil-less "eyes" on the bark of the tree.
"Boom——"
Every "eye" and every branch was ignited with black Cursed Flame, as if just awakened from a dream, Wind Chime Tree The low-hanging branches swayed like struggling, and made several shapeless ringing sounds.
Then it fell completely silent.