The Willow Seretima appeared before Ed. Having learned from previous experiences, the lich, with Ed's consent, placed a Psionic Energy coordinate in his study that could quickly cast a teleportation spell.
A flash of light, and the lich appeared before Ed, one hand gripping a short staff and the other holding a thick notebook:
"Boss, what's up?"
Ed didn't mind the nickname that had come from the players; in fact, he found it amusing, so he simply pointed to the chair and gestured for Willow to sit down.
He pointed to the coordinates on the map:
" Willow, a marquis from outside the Antos Lineage is about to be resurrected here. Can you confirm his lineage and its abilities?"
The lich pondered for a moment, then shook his head somewhat sheepishly:
"There's no way to determine it yet. My understanding of the Blood Corpse hasn't deepened significantly since arriving here. Based on the available information, I can only confirm that it's someone other than Antos, Wens, and Rosalind, but we can't determine its specific lineage and powers, unless... you can capture that Marquis alive like you captured Bennett, or plant one like before..."
"Undercover."
"Yes, we need to plant an undercover agent to gather intelligence; otherwise, I won't be able to make an accurate judgment."
Ed thought for a moment, then shook his head:
"I'm afraid that won't work. Not every earl is as foolish as Bennett, especially a Middle Tier marquis. It seems we'll have to think of another way."
Are you planning to develop a battle plan specifically targeting this marquis's abilities?
Ed nodded and then shook his head:
"It's a close call, but I intend to make combat the last resort. If other methods fail, then we'll rethink the battle plan."
Willow was taken aback by this. She had only asked the question as a matter of common sense, but she hadn't expected that Ed seemed to have at least two plans targeting the vampire marquis.
She quickly pressed for an answer:
"Do you have any other methods?"
"Yes, that's why I asked you to come here."
Ed pointed to the location of the Marquis's seal on the map:
Don't you think this location is great?
"Very good? How so?"
Ed smiled and moved his finger towards the [ Sea of Flowers ] south of the Marquis's seal site:
"The good thing is, we're only his second closest neighbors."
Seeing where Ed's finger landed, Willow suddenly realized—
His boss is trying to shift the blame!
However, this term isn't entirely accurate. After all, vampires are like mad dogs that bite whoever gets closest. Since the Sea of Flowers is closer to the sealed area, it's only natural that it would be the first to be attacked.
"I think I understand what you mean, so you called me here today because you want to..."
Ed pointed to the Sea of Flowers on the map:
"Because of time constraints, I didn't let you introduce this place in detail before. Now you might as well tell me in detail and see if this force is worth winning over."
"If Sea of Flowers is hostile to us, then let Sea of Flowers and the Blood Corpse Dogs fight each other. If they can still communicate, we can send troops to surround them and Sea of Flowers a favor."
"I asked Gray the same question before, but his trade route only goes near the Sea of Flowers without ever entering it. He knows nothing about the Sea of Flowers, but his master left behind a comment about Sea of Flowers."
Willow showed an interested expression:
What is it?
"Very dangerous, do not approach."
Ed quoted Gray's assessment of the Sea of Flowers and added:
"It sounds very powerful, but we can't rule out the possibility that we might not be able to defeat the Blood Corpse. If the creatures in the Sea of Flowers are also infected, the problems we face will be even greater."
Upon hearing this, Willow fell into deep thought. She opened the notebook she had inherited from her mother and flipped through it, quickly finding a description of Sea of Flowers of flowers.
However, the Great Lich Yiwenni's understanding of the Sea of Flowers seemed quite limited; her few lines of notes were almost identical to Willow's own experience. After thinking for a moment, she finally answered Ed with only two words:
"Flowers, insects."
An endless plain covered with countless giant flowers, and countless mutated humans with insect-like features—that was all the information Willow could provide.
Ed tried his best to extract more useful information from Willow's words, but because Yiwenni and Willow had very limited knowledge of the Sea of Flowers, he had to give up in the end.
But Ed still asked a question that concerned him:
"What exactly does that 'insect-man' that attacked you look like?"
Willow found a blank sheet of paper and began to sketch on it, stroke by stroke.
As a Psionic Energy Master, Willow has extensive experience in drawing arrays, so while her painting skills may not be considered outstanding, they are at least impressive.
As the charcoal pencil slid across the paper, a simple insect-like figure appeared before Ed.
Ed took the paper and began to examine it carefully, discovering that many details about the insectoids differed from his expectations.
The insectoids had enormous compound eyes on their heads, but their mouths were not the tubular mouthparts Ed had imagined; instead, they had "fangs" that could open and close freely on either side.
Ed continued looking down and found new features.
The insectoid's waist was thinner than he had imagined, with obvious segmentation, and its mutated and twisted hands and feet also seemed different from what he had expected. It also had a layer of fine, dense downy hair on its body.
So this thing probably isn't the "Fly Man"... Ed silently breathed a sigh of relief.
If it's a fly-man, that's really disgusting... Even someone as tolerant as Ed would find it hard to accept this kind of animal mutation, perhaps it's the aversion he carried over from his past life at play.
Ed can guarantee that if there are any creatures like "fly people" or "mosquito people" in the Sea of Flowers, he will immediately designate them as enemies.
Having sketched out the insectoid's exact appearance in his mind, Ed pointed to a spot where Willow was drawing:
"You used shading here, what color was it originally?"
Willow looked at that spot and pondered before saying:
"It should be... yellow and black."
The yellow and black stripes, the clearly segmented waist, the massive jaws that open and close from side to side, and the pollen clinging to the body's downy fur when we first met...
Ed's furrowed brows suddenly relaxed; he knew what the insectoid was based on—a bee!
Although it's still impossible to determine the specific type of bee, Willow's description is clearly closer to that of a common wasp or honeybee.
These types of bees all share a common characteristic: they live in colonies.
Every Swarm must have a queen bee as its center.
Thinking about this, Ed suddenly realized a terrible fact:
The Sea of Flowers he will face may be a power with a higher degree of concentration of authority than the vampire lineage.
Because in the Hive Mind, the queen bee's will is paramount!