Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 153 Trailblazers

Teammates who cannot be trusted are more dangerous than enemies, especially when you are in an environment where your teammates could be "controlled and betrayed" at any time.

Rean instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword. The other party hadn't even noticed him yet. Well then, he'd give her a righteous backstab.

"Don't rush into anything, little Rean. She'll be a good bait."

A sudden, cheerful voice rose from my heart; it was the soft whisper of Purple Rose, always accompanied by a gentle laugh.

"You... she can't see me?" Rean had already sensed something was wrong. If it had only been a momentary teleportation, the woman in front of him might not have noticed.

But it's been so long now, and they're still so close. As a soldier, she has no reason to be so oblivious.

"That's right, you're invisible now. But you're not allowed to do anything bad to this woman. I know men always dream of having this ability. If you can't resist, you can do bad things to me when we get back!"

What is this all about? Faced with the magical girl who is still having fun on the battlefield, Rean is speechless.

The facts are clear: my current "invisible" state is caused by Purple Rose.

"That kiss." He suddenly realized that Purple Rose's actions had not been meaningless all along.

"That's too much. It was clearly my first kiss. At most, it was just taking advantage of the situation, using it for personal reasons. Aren't you happy?" This cute girl was too direct, and Rean couldn't quite handle it.

But her power is now taking effect; Rean has truly become invisible, and the black dragon and its knights naturally become the vanguard of the breakthrough.

They went on a rampage, slaughtering everything in their path, while Rean, sitting in the middle of the dragon's path, remained completely unnoticed by them.

Keep in mind that even if Lucille Charlotten had no idea what was going on, Rean was still sitting on a dragon.

Dragons are actually quite perceptive, especially young dragons. Most of their illusions and mental abilities are easily shattered after physical perception and contact, which is clearly abnormal.

“Two hints. One is that ‘Rean’s existence is enveloped by the existence of the Dragon Knight Lucille; he is a part of her.’ So, as long as she is there, others will naturally regard you as a part of her. This is the main reason why I don’t want you to kill her now. The second is the hint that ‘Rean is not here.’”

The double mental suggestion has already made Rean invisible and eliminated his presence, while another mental suggestion has made Rean's presence after he became invisible enveloped by Lucille. These two mental suggestions work together and overlap, either completely breaking or completely maintaining, making it impossible for an ordinary person to see through them.

In terms of manipulating minds, the Serpent Witch, who has been hiding her abilities, is probably far more powerful than the Mind Flayer and the Mind Mage Salim combined.

The fact that he dared to use his mental abilities on the territory of the mastermind, who was hailed as the strongest psychic, speaks volumes about his skill in manipulating mental abilities.

Rean sheathed his weapon and silently watched the dark elf noblewoman in front of him. She was fighting, going berserk, and glowing. Perhaps she felt that she had reached the pinnacle of her life and the moment of her destiny.

I must say, this woman is actually quite strong after fighting her way through.

She probably possesses the skills of both a great warrior and a great priest, no wonder she has the highest level of ambition.

But now, having become a pawn that has crossed the river, it is likely destined for a bad outcome.

"Uh, you gave her a hint?" This fierce general's bravery and stubbornness seem a bit off.

She didn't stop at all, ignoring all obstacles, and went down three floors in a row.

"No, there's no need. She's really stupid, much dumber than that silly little snake." Purple Rose's tone was a bit strange. She had actually planned to give her a mental suggestion before, but found it was completely unnecessary. The other party had taken the initiative to act as cannon fodder.

The Pathfinder is quite useful; several slave warriors and mind flayers that tried to block its path couldn't even last a single encounter.

The Black Dragon Knight was extremely powerful. The great warrior and the Black Dragon, which was enhanced with a high-level priest's divine spell, fought wildly and easily broke through the direction the enemy had temporarily shifted.

"Any plans?"

Rean sat on the dragon's back, adjusting his state, and even took the time to take out sword oil and maintain his swords.

He even had time to observe the interior decoration of the mind flayer base. To be honest, although the style was bizarre, the materials used were quite good, combining sci-fi metallic textures with biological textures, and had a bit of a Cthulhu spaceship style.

Along the way, he also saw tentacles protruding from the ground and floating brains, which seemed to be the internal equipment of the entire base spaceship. Rean even felt as if he were among living things.

“No plan is needed.” Purple Rose’s response was quite simple, while in another part of her field of vision, the battle between the three “deer” was becoming increasingly brutal.

Deer are creatures that are adept at fighting among themselves; their antlers are mostly used to fight against their own kind.

This internal strife will not stop until one side surrenders and backs down. And now neither side has room to back down.

"That's true, just cut it down. We're already here, plans can't keep up with changes."

Now that we've infiltrated the enemy's core area, let's deliver a powerful blow to their vitals.

To avoid breaking the mind control spell cast by the Purple Rose, Rean continued to adjust his state, waiting for Lucille to reach her limit. But things weren't as expected; this scout fodder proved far too useful. Layer after layer, she and her dragon displayed considerable strength, and the mirror in her hand continued to emit an eerie glow.

It constantly reflects various psychic abilities and spells, allowing them, as powerful melee units, to have a very smooth battle.

It's worth mentioning that mind flayers are not good at melee combat, and slave warriors often experience a significant drop in reaction speed after being mind-controlled, which can easily become a fatal weakness in battles against high-level melee units.

"A decent divine weapon, it must be a sacred object bestowed by the Mirror Maiden. Don't even think about stealing it, or the stingy god will cause you trouble."

Having his plan seen through by Purple Rose once again, Rean could only shrug helplessly.

To be honest, as a more and more determined armored person, he was quite envious of this mirror that could defend against extraordinary attacks.

“Normally it shouldn’t be this strong. It must be that some deity used this channel to inject divine power to interfere.”

The casual conversation between the two helped Rean, who was "undercover," to relieve some of his psychological pressure.

The deeper you go, the greater the invisible pressure becomes, and the powerful mental strength is already faintly visible to the naked eye.

Rean could feel countless gazes sweeping over him, but in the end, they all stared intently at Lucille Charlotte in front of him!
Purple Rose's abilities remained effective, directing all observations toward the crazed forward.

Perhaps she had come so close to her ambitious goal that it brought out her greater potential, or perhaps the gods had bestowed more power upon her because of her achievements.

The mirror was clearly growing stronger, even capturing the mental abilities around it as its own weapons, while the shadow power around it condensed into long-handled weapons, such as spears and halberds, which were quite terrifying.

This is perhaps the "hero" shaped by fate; she should have already achieved a breakthrough on the spot.

Another elite slave warrior was blocking her way. Even though she used a great warrior-level combat skill, she was still cut down by the dark elf noblewoman in two strikes. At this moment, Rean even doubted whether she could break through this underground base directly with the help of the gods.

But the next moment, when the dimensional gate was opened, a figure blocked her and the dragon's path. Even Rean gasped, wondering if he was hallucinating.

"What kind of monster is this?"

The floating entity blocking the way had its feet off the ground, clearly indicating a powerful overflow of psychic energy.

But what's even more outrageous is that it has six tentacles, two more than a normal mind flayer, which is a hallmark of a powerful mutated mind flayer.

And those tentacles were all abnormally powerful. What were originally just tentacles that reached only to the waist were now swollen tentacles that seemed to drag on the ground. The whole person looked a bit like a giant octopus with legs.

Its body was over three meters tall, reaching the ceiling of the passage. What was most troublesome was that the monster's lower body was very familiar to Rean.

"The deer that has transformed into a human gave birth?!" That enormous lower body, isn't it just a small beast standing upright like a human? But this pure white flesh that vaguely exudes divinity is clearly not an ordinary small beast, but more like the giant deer that is fighting.

However, its size has more than doubled, but its upper body is clearly that of a pure mind flayer, while its entire body is clearly a pieced-together monster, yet it resembles a standing elephant with an eerie sense of holiness.

Its white pupils faintly flickered with blue lightning; such powerful mental abilities clearly indicated it was not a newborn.

"This isn't a newborn. It's a powerful, mature mind flayer that detached its lower body and merged with this half-adult member of the Beast Prince's bloodline. It's pretty much a playful character." Purple Rose remained calm, having witnessed far too many outrageous actions on her journey.

This level of human modification is only considered third-rate in terms of creativity and second-rate in terms of practicality among the ambitious people and madmen across the entire continent. Why not just use this resource to strengthen two high-level combatants instead of consuming two combatants to synthesize one high-level combatant?
Mind flayers, who primarily rely on mental abilities to fight, would be much stronger in actual combat even if they gained a powerful physical body.

The monsters that Rean found terrifying were mostly just successful experiments, intermediate products of the mainframe acquiring the power of the beasts.

"Buzz!"

But the next moment, a powerful, visually perceptible mental shockwave reverberated throughout the passage, and the unfortunate dragon knight was knocked down.

"Awoooooo!" The black dragon roared, its head raised in fury. This mental power had bound it and thoroughly enraged it.

A breath of acidic liquid, glowing with an orange-yellow aura, became a cone-shaped flamethrower in the passage. When he sensed the danger to his life, the young black dragon went all out.

"Snap!" But when the dragon's breath dissipated, the six-tentacle spirit flayer only managed to block it with its right arm, which had transformed into claws. The diamond-shaped shield at its fingertips had not yet been completely consumed by the dragon's breath.

“At least a sixth-ring standard. This little guy probably won’t make it through.” Purple Rose’s words were full of gleeful schadenfreude. As the Serpent Priestess, she had no reason not to enjoy watching this comedy of enemies killing each other.

However, now is not the time to waste time.

"Rean, the road ahead is yours to walk alone. Don't trust the signs on you too much. There are no foolproof tricks. Be prepared to be exposed at any time."

Rean drew his longsword and went on alone.

(End of this chapter)