Super Double

Once Vanak's figure disappeared from the Mirror's surface, Lumian reluctantly put the books on the table into the "Traveler’s Bag."

He stood up, left the room, walked to Julie's door, and knocked gently twice.

Julie quickly opened the door, her chest wrapped in a blanket, her shoulders bare, like two piles of snow reflecting the moonlight at night.

"I didn't mean to harass you!" she said, a hint of anticipation in her voice.

Lumian said to himself, "Vanak invited me to help deal with Gusin and Albus, right there in those Ruins of the Dardus Agricultural Company."

After speaking, without waiting for Julie's response, Lumian turned around and descended the stairs, which Slumber in darkness, gradually merging into the night.

Inside the Cavern shrouded in the Fog of War, before four Statues facing each other in pairs, Gusin, wearing Medium-Height Silk Top Hat, Albus, who was wearing a black jacket with red stripes, "We can't be sure if those clues related to Vanak are bait. Will we step into a trap?"

Albus his hands in his pockets, chuckled and said, "So that's how we got here."

"Regardless of whether there are traps or what kind of traps they are, as long as our strength is sufficient, we can thwart their schemes and force them to swallow the bitter fruit of defeat."

Gusin nodded slightly and said, "Yes, I once heard a saying that no matter how many eggs are put together, they can't break a stone. What we need to do now is turn ourselves into stone."

"Last time, we weren't sure if we could lock onto Vanak, so we didn't risk activating the Altar's most powerful energy to avoid wasting it. Now, we can give Vanak a 'surprise'."

Albus chuckled, "It's a good thing it didn't work last time. The illusion might make Vanak concentrate all the targets we want to deal with in one place, so we can take them all out at once."

At this point, Albus looked around and chuckled, "I thought Lumian would return here in the next few days, so I specifically asked you to leave the ' Calamity Lamp ' on the Altar to lure him into using it. I didn't expect him to be such a coward."

"He must have been here." Gusin had a deep and detailed understanding of the terrain around the Altar. "He tried to destroy the Statues multiple times, but failed. This caused the Altar to draw some power from the earth to repair itself, resulting in minor changes. Hmm, I really didn't expect him to be able to resist that yearning and calling, and not light the ' Calamity Lamp ' on the spot. Among the ' Hunter,' such self-control is an anomaly among anomalies."

Albus raised his chin:

"You should hold the Ritual soon."

"Hehe, let's first check if the ' Calamity Lamp ' has been replaced or if anything has been added to it. A ' Hunter ' wouldn't do justice to the name of this Pathway if they didn't cause some damage."

"Are you looking down on my caution?" Gusin chuckled, approached the half-height Stone Platform, and picked up the lamp containing a semi-solid, semi-liquid, pale yellow grease.

He observed it carefully for a while, then took a sniff of the Oil Lamps's aroma, and finally stuck his Handle in and touched the wick twice.

Gusin immediately withdrew his finger, letting the Blazing White Flames Burning the pale yellow grease clinging to it.

A scent carrying a hint of warmth, Fascination, subtle fragrance, and rust quickly filled his nostrils. He half-closed his eyes and nodded slightly, saying, "No problem."

Albus then laughed and said, "Where did you learn the method for making the ' Calamity Lamp ' and the corresponding Mysticism Ritual? It's quite amazing."

"You'll see later. Once this is over, we'll be true comrades," Gusin said with a smile.

He turned around to face the four Statues and the "Calamity Lamp," took out a palm-sized Blue-Clad Tin Soldiers from Hidden Pocket in his clothes, and placed it on the half-height Stone Platform.

It's just Fourth Epoch Trier, isn't it? What's so hard to guess? Why the need to keep it a secret... Companion, huh... Albus began to move backward, trying to distance himself from Gusin.

This is an instinctive choice to guard against unexpected events.

Finally, Albus stopped fourteen or fifteen meters away, watching through the thick fog as Gusin lit the Oil Lamps, sat cross-legged on the ground, and entered Meditation state to complete the Mysticism experience.

In just over ten seconds, Gusin "saw" a thick fog amidst the alluring, subtle fragrance.

Unlike the Fog of War inside the Cavern, this fog was tinged with a dark hue.

It enveloped a city whose boundaries were nowhere in sight, revealing only a vague outline.

Gusin drifted Past a certain place in a half-dazed, half-awake state, as if he knew it very well.

After an unknown amount of time, he arrived at a Tower that was now just a dark shadow. He then rapidly descended into the eerie and terrifying depths.

There seems to be a well here, a well that merges into darkness.

Gusin repeatedly emphasized the purpose of this Mysticism Ritual in order to combat his increasingly severe delirium.

He approached the well and looked inside.

He then "saw" the moss-covered Stone Blocks, and "saw" the Iron-Black chains locked to the inner wall of the Ancient Well. The reliefs on the chains were blurry and difficult to discern.

"Can you see the condition of the inner wall of the Ancient Well now?"

It never worked before...

"Is the reason this time the effect is so good because I'm getting closer and closer to Great Ones?" Gusin was pleasantly surprised.

He excitedly turned his gaze to the dark surface of the Ancient Well.

The Gloom, deep well water rippled gently, gradually forming a figure.

Gusin strained his eyes and suddenly saw patches of Brown Bark.

They were embedded in a certain face, bringing an indescribable sense of horror and terror.

"Tree bark..." Gusin was startled and filled with intense doubt.

Why would tree bark be found here?

Shouldn't it be steel and blood?

Gusin instinctively lowered his head and looked at his hands, discovering that there were patches of brown, rusty bark protruding from the backs of his hands.

This... Gusin's pupils dilated sharply as he turned his gaze back to the dark, deep surface of the well water.

He could clearly see the Daoist reflected in the image.

That's him!

His face was covered with mottled tree bark!

The next second, the bark simultaneously wriggled, caved inward, and turned flesh-colored.

They transformed into one wet, fleshy Spores after another, Spores bloomed in succession, seemingly about to unleash countless naked little people.

Gusin's fear suddenly broke through his limits, and he abruptly opened his eyes, breaking free from the Mysticism experience he had just had.

Huff... As he gasped for breath, he saw the Tin Soldiers placed on the half-height Stone Platform rapidly expand, soon becoming three or four meters tall, and its eyes turned iron black, no longer the fiercely Burning dark red light.

The Tin Soldiers's long spear was quickly engulfed in Blazing White blue Flames.

"It's a success..." Gusin calmed himself down, no longer so tense.

He felt that the anomaly he had just experienced was a result of his growing closer to the Great Ones, a deepening of his past Mysticism experiences, which was why there was a noticeable difference and more details were revealed.

"I am stronger now..." Gusin stood up, stretched out his right hand, and extinguished the still -Burning "Calamity Lamp."

"This is Soldier Puppets with some of the strength, book, and status of the ' Iron-Blooded Knight '?" Albus slowly walked back from a dozen meters away.

"Yes, it can be treated as a weakened ' Iron-Blooded Knight,' not comparable to Vanak," Gusin replied confidently.

He hadn't yet had time to examine what benefits and knowledge he had gained from the Mysticism experience.

After taking a few steps, Albus suddenly stopped.

He looked at Gusin and gave him a mocking smile:

Your hair has grown long.

My hair has grown longer... Gusin turned his head and found that his brown hair had grown from past his ears to his cheeks.

He suddenly had a guess:

Has this Mysticism experience brought me closer to the "Witch" Pathway?

With these doubts in mind, he lowered his head.

Sure enough, he saw his chest slowly bulging, pushing up his shirt, cashmere sweater, and suit jacket.

Almost simultaneously, Gusin smelled a faint milky odor.

The milky smell... Gusin was stunned once again.

Could this happen if a "Witch" undergoes Mutation?

Just as he was about to ask Albus what other Change he had undergone, he saw his collaborator backing away step by step.

He immediately felt the three- or four-meter- Tin Soldiers behind him bend down and bring his head close to his ear amidst the sounds of metal clashing and rubbing.

The Tin Soldiers made a metallic sound and whispered, "Mama."

"Mom... me?" Gusin looked down blankly and found that her abdomen was bulging at a visible speed.

Upon seeing this scene, his mind went blank for a moment, and he felt as if he had Rebirth.

Albus, who was slowly retreating to avoid provoking anything unusual, saw Gusin looking at him with a smile full of maternal warmth, while her blue Eyes were icy cold and strangely evil.

Rumble!

A massive explosion occurred in a Suburbs neighborhood with Volcano crater. Blazing White Fireball gathered together, tumbling into the air and gradually turning crimson, creating thick smoke.

At the now- Ruins Dardus Agricultural Company, Lumian and Vanak, Concealment in Underground chamber, both sensed the commotion that nearly caused Earthquake.

Based on the direction from which the Earthquake was coming, Lumian quickly made a guess:

That Cavern shrouded in the Fog of War?

"There was a violent explosion there?"

"Albus and Gusin wanted to make some preparations before dealing with Vanak, so they lit the Oil Lamps I had spiced up, and then the accident happened?"

Lumian immediately shouted to Vanak, "The situation has changed!"

After saying that, he broke out of his Shadow Creature state and "Teleportation" directly to the corresponding street.

He didn't choose the Cavern entrance shrouded in the Fog of War as his destination, fearing that the explosion just now was a trap set by Albus and Gusin!

Only the Hunter realized how treacherous the Hunter truly was!