Vay muttered blankly: "Gone mad? What do you mean?"
Dox: "It’s literal; their spiritual power has completely unraveled, filled with negative emotions. Even if I can sense the Bloodline Power, there’s absolutely no way to communicate with them."
As Dox spoke, he glanced at Angel: "Angel’s earlier wording was very appropriate — mental disorder. It’s like they’ve contracted a mental disorder."
Watching the sandworms constantly struggle in the stone prison, Dox’s eyes showed a hint of compassion.
Although he was prepared for their sacrifice when testing with the sandworms, their sacrifice didn’t mean total death. As long as their bloodline returns to the source, new sandworms will eventually be born.
But now, they have completely gone mad, even showing signs of retaliating against their master. Even if their bloodline returns to the source, this madness may invade like a virus, corrupting the pure source. Ultimately, dragging the source into the abyss of insanity.
Therefore, Dox couldn’t possibly reclaim their bloodline.
This equates to prematurely declaring their death. Moreover, a complete and thorough death.
"Even if they’re mad, shouldn’t we be able to extract some useful intelligence from their mad utterances?" Vay said, "And they directly passed through Chaowei’s Illusionary Realm, doesn’t that imply..."
Vay didn’t continue, but everyone understood his unfinished words.
If the mad sandworms were created by Infant Spirits and could break through the Illusionary Realm to attack, doesn’t that imply the Infant Spirits have already found them?
"Whether there’s any special meaning, I don’t know." Dox: "But regarding the mad utterances you mentioned, in hindsight, there is indeed something worth mentioning."
The so-called "mad utterances" are merely a description. Sandworm larvae have piercing-sucking type mouthparts, feeding on blood or energy-containing liquids and lack sound-producing capabilities. Only upon evolution, their mouthparts undergo division, and sound-producing organs appear internally.
The mad utterances referred to here are more about the various negative emotions perceived by Dox from the sandworms.
"Eliminate all obstacles." Dox: "This is the phrase I decoded from the negative emotions they transmitted."
Vay murmured: "Is that all? No other words?... Eliminate all obstacles, it sounds quite normal."
As Vay finished speaking, Black Earl interjected: "Does it sound normal? How do I feel that it’s anything but normal?"
Vay certainly wouldn’t dare contradict his master, but he didn’t hear anything abnormal. If the Infant Spirits controlled the sandworms, that would be expressing the Infant Spirits’ intentions. Wanting to eliminate all obstacles implies clearing away everyone present, doesn’t it? As they are in an adversarial situation, wanting to completely deal with the opponent, isn’t that normal?
Black Earl: "The means to eliminate all obstacles, is it just to defect two sandworms?"
After a pause, Black Earl said softly: "The Infant Spirits must have discovered us, which isn’t surprising. What’s truly concerning is that it hasn’t revealed itself up until now."
Shouting "eliminate all obstacles" but hiding at the back, isn’t this contradictory?
As for Red Wax and Weaving Net? At most, these count as means to block progress. If they abandoned moving forward now, Red Wax and Weaving Net wouldn’t have any effect, not to mention if Infant Spirits wanted to "eliminate obstacles."
Inviting people into a trap or setting traps while lying in wait are good strategies. But these are defensive counterattack methods focusing on strategic intelligence.
While Red Wax and Weaving Net are blatant schemes, since they are strategies, they still fall under the realm of "strategic intelligence."
And "eliminate all obstacles," implies proactive attack. Actively removing barriers, killing those who should be killed, clearing away all discontent in sight.
One side is strategy, the other is courage. These are two completely opposing choices.
Normal? Naturally, it’s abnormal.
Of course, there are "courageous yet strategic" methods, but the current situation isn’t like that. Infant Spirits firmly defend the rear, relying only on overt schemes to repel enemies, where’s the courage? Courage by mouth only, that’s self-amusement.
"Exactly, obviously found us, yet hasn’t acted. Why is that?" Vay questioned with confusion.
Are they really waiting for us to fall for it? If so, doesn’t that mean they lack means, and rely on external forces to compensate?
"Thinking too much is just guessing back and forth, no one knows what the truth is." Dox: "Since we’ve determined they’ve already found us, let’s go ahead and act."
"These Weaving Net and Red Wax are traps, we can’t touch them, but we can destroy them."
Dox rubbed his palms, ready to make a move.
"Come, release Dangross. Let it spit a little flame and show them Dangross’s might." Dox said to Angel.
"It’s bathing in the bracelet, it won’t come out." Angel replied flatly.
The so-called bathing naturally refers to bathing in quenching liquid. Although it says the regular quenching liquid is as bland as water, when confronted with real quenching liquid, it still embraces it readily.
"It really enjoys itself." Dox muttered a sentence: "Then I’ll set the fire myself, I said earlier that fire would definitely work on these webs and wax."
Vay: "Whether it works remains to be seen."
Dox: "I don’t believe fabric and wax don’t fear fire."
Having said this, Dox prepared to go forward and cast a fire spell. Just as he started moving, Angel stopped him: "Let me do it. You go take care of your two little sandworms."
"They’ve already gone mad, completely..." Dox hadn’t finished speaking when he suddenly realized the two sandworm larvae in the stone prison had curled up into balls, seemingly fallen asleep.
"What happened to them?"
Angel: "Just like what you did earlier, I attempted to expel the negative shadows within them. But after trying, I found I couldn’t remove them, so I could only attempt to cover the negative emotions. It should have some effect, they’re now peacefully asleep and need you to care for them."
Dox stared at Angel for a long time, then lowered his head, murmuring: "Why waste Magic Power? They aren’t really that important anyway."
Angel: "It’s not about wasting Magic Power. Mainly, I agree with Vay’s earlier suggestion. I also want to see the scenario where you swallow them both back whole."
After speaking, Angel offered Dox a slight smile.
Dox froze, staring at Angel’s smile, feeling it was even more terrifying than a demon’s grin.
"...Are you a demon?" Dox couldn’t help but ask.
Angel answered seriously: "Of course not."
Then Vay excitedly chimed in: "What Chaowei desires, is also my wish. This is not a demon, it’s compassion for life!"