Chapter 734: Chapter 373: Oasis, Fable (Part 2)
After four fire elemental self-destruct attacks, the strange creature that attacked Ronan was finally burned into a red-hot charcoal, no longer moving.
The life force of this thing is so strong, it even surpasses the Terror Beast that resembled a lizard monster encountered earlier in the Waterway.
Ronan used spiritual power to fiddle with the corpse of the strange creature and felt some mysterious power emanating from the body, quickly flowing towards his arm.
A slight heat came from his wrist, and the ash-white ring mark that had inexplicably appeared when entering the Quivada Oasis now seemed partially filled with a few strokes of bright red color.
The sand beneath Ronan’s feet slightly wriggled, revealing a line of blurry text—[Purify them...]
Ronan’s eyes flickered slightly, stepping lightly over the text, then continuing forward along the small path that the struggling strange creature had carved out.
The remaining six fire elementals faithfully followed him on all sides like guards, and soon Ronan heard the sounds of magical combat echoing.
Pushing aside the wide leaves coated in a strange, gelatinous red liquid, a small blue lake appeared before him.
The edge of the small lake was densely packed with strange creatures he had encountered before, covered in black scales, humanoid yet crawling on all fours, and the air was filled with a rotting stench. Heather, commanding a Fifth-rank Water Element and a large group of Fourth-tier Water Elements, stood on a high ground at the lake’s edge, resisting wave after wave of humanoid monster assaults.
Ronan’s arrival drew the attention of some humanoid monsters, their pairs of scarlet, violent eyes instantly locked onto him, swiftly rushing towards him.
The six faithful fire elementals, without a word, immediately met them, but only managed to block two humanoid monsters while the rest frantically leaped at Ronan.
"Ding—"
A crisp sound as if crystal striking a metal plate echoed, and fragments of Golden Titanium flowed out from Ronan’s magic robe sleeve, accompanied by a slightly elevated ancient chant.
Ronan casually pointed, and the Golden Blade Light cascaded like a waterfall, sweeping across the entire range of the blue lake in an instant.....
A moment later.
The blue lake, bubbling with strange bubbles, was devoid of any humanoid monsters daring to crawl out from the lake bed.
The air was filled with the scent of melting sand and burning blood and flesh; patches of tar-like golden flames burned quietly on the ground, and all around the blue lake lay the corpses and broken limbs of humanoid monsters.
Ronan carefully collected the corpses of these demons into the Mist Space, discarding them into the Element Pool as raw material for energy decomposition, while Heather also commanded the water elements to assist.
His right wrist continued to feel a burning sensation, with nearly one-twentieth of the ash-white ring being filled with bright red.
Ronan casually picked up a demon’s corpse, noticing a line of small text emerging on the sandy ground beneath—[The water source is polluted... Unfit for consumption...]
He shook his head with a hint of helplessness.
Ronan roughly understood the "rules" of the second stage of the trial.
It seemed to be about "purifying" this corrupted oasis, with purification naturally involving clearing the otherworldly demons within the oasis.
Whenever a demon was slain, the ring mark on his wrist would record the "merit" and occasionally provide some inexplicable guidance and hints.
As for what happens when the ring is completely filled, Ronan didn’t know yet.
But according to his speculation, it likely represented the qualification and token to enter the third stage of the trial.
The Rune Stone that recorded the trial content described that after entering the Quivada Oasis, the trialist needed to find the "token" left by the New Prophet.
"Perhaps the third stage of the trial revolves around this token..."
"I can only see what the next instructions are after the ring is filled."
If this speculation is correct, theoretically, the faster the second stage is completed, the better.
The sooner the third stage of the trial is entered, the sooner clues regarding the "New Prophet’s Token" can be obtained.
Ronan wasn’t sure if anyone had already completed the second stage of the trial, but regardless, he definitely needed to pick up the pace.
During the first stage’s Ancient Waterway trial, he had already delayed quite a bit. If it weren’t for the chance encounter with people from the Astronomical Society, he might still be wandering around in the waterway searching for the oasis entrance.
The humanoid monsters Ronan and Heather slaughtered by the blue lake amounted to several dozen, close to a hundred. Most were Level 4, with no Level 5 present.
The Level 5 leader might be hiding at the bottom of the lake, unwilling to appear, but Ronan couldn’t be bothered to search for it.
He signaled Heather to leave with him, and the two traversed the corrupted forest resembling a tropical rainforest.
Along the way, they encountered plants similar to coconut trees, their branches laden with swollen fruit that fell and burst with foul-smelling pus. The pus revealed a boring hint left by the New Prophet, full of dark humor—[This is their favorite drink... If you’re a daring gourmet, feel free to try...]
After crossing the dense forest, they came across two more waves of humanoid monster attacks, which they dealt with entirely. The vegetation before them gradually became short and sparse.
It was as if they had emerged from the rainforest and begun entering a relatively flat plateau.
"Whoosh——"
A sharp sound cut through the air, rapidly approaching. Ronan released his spiritual power, pulling Heather’s body back several meters.
"Bang!"
A Water Element with surging waves suddenly exploded, leaving a deep pit several meters wide and more than ten meters across. At the pit’s center, a fist-thick wooden short spear trembled incessantly, emitting strange, chilling energy waves.
Heather’s pretty face turned slightly pale. She glanced at Ronan with lingering fear.
If Ronan hadn’t pulled her back just now, the short spear would have landed directly on her. In such a short time, she couldn’t have mustered any defensive measures. Whether her Level 4 Late Stage protective force field could have resisted it was uncertain.
Ronan ascended into the air, squinting as he looked in the direction the short spear had been shot from.
He saw a group of monsters rapidly approaching them—something he had never seen before. They were generally over three meters tall, with strong human limbs, but each bore the head of a ram.
Their eyes were blood-red, carrying crude weapons like spears and shields, radiating an intense aura of malice.
These sheep-headed, human-bodied monsters were adorned with many bone decorations. From afar, they emitted incomprehensible low growls towards Ronan and Heather, as if treating them as hunting targets, rushing at high speed.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh——"
As they ran, the sheep-headed monsters dismounted the short spears from their backs and hurled them at the two.
Their strength was astonishing. The short spears they threw were not ordinary cold weapons, emitting clear energy waves and resembling black lightning when they sliced through the air, with alarming momentum.
Heather, clearly still irked by the earlier assault, waved her Magic Wand, leading a group of Water Element minions into battle.
However, Heather underestimated these sheep-headed monsters’ strength. During her casting pauses, the spears shot by the monsters rained down like a storm.
Each short spear had attack power akin to an ordinary Fourth-tier Magic, and their firing speed was exceptionally fast, easily shattering a Water Element with just one or two hits. Heather hid behind the only Fifth-rank Water Element, appearing somewhat flustered.
After observing for a moment, Ronan moved forward, gently brushing his right hand through the void in front of him.
Accompanied by a wave of Space Magic, a silvery mirror-like shield rapidly unfurled over their heads...
The short spears hurled by the sheep-headed monsters whistled into the silvery shield, causing ripples.
Soon, the vanished spears unexpectedly reappeared above the sheep-headed monsters, retaining their full force.
Caught off guard, the sheep-headed monsters were quickly slain by the continuous barrage of their own spears, amidst deafening sounds of penetration and explosions.
The robust sheep-headed monsters were pinned to the ground by the short spears, their foul-smelling fresh blood flowing from their mouths and wounds, eventually falling silent.
Ronan walked over leisurely, and looking at the sheep-headed monsters’ gray and hollow eyes, he felt the ring mark on his wrist heating up. In the midst of the jumbled bodies, another line of small text quietly appeared—[The red and black blood soaks into the earth, indistinguishable from each other.
Evil seeds are buried underground; they are breaking forth.
They... are ready to make a comeback anytime.]
This was Ronan’s first time seeing such a message; it was filled with an air of prophecy, like an enigmatic allegory.
Ronan stood before the sheep-headed monsters’ corpses, his gaze flickering, and abruptly reached down to pull a bone decoration from one of the sheep-headed monsters at his feet, inspecting it carefully in his hand.