Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 156 Snake Venom
When the lurking shadows are watching you, your fate is sealed.

When you can see it gleefully appear before you, check your vital organs; you should already be dead.

Rean knew that "Snake" had a bad reputation, but he never expected it to be this outrageous.

It looked like the mastermind and ultimate boss behind the scenes, yet it let out a scream like a girl.

For a moment, Rean was not even sure who the villain was.

"Hoo-ha! You stinky octopus head, bring it on!"

Watching the girl happily unleash her fancy but ineffective punches and kicks (enough to pierce the earth), Rean did indeed feel at ease.

If I were truly all alone, it seems I've reached a dead end.

Why are there snakes? Why is there absolutely no news about them?

"Silly, of course I tried my best to hide it."

At this moment, Rean recalled that after entering the underground world, Purple Rose had indeed kept a low profile.

In many situations, she could easily wreak havoc, yet she always just watched silently. She could have personally repelled the behemoth attacking the city and achieved an alliance with the underworld.

It seems that, apart from the goddess, no one else noticed her looking back. She must have been using mental suggestion to eliminate her presence, but under such circumstances, she naturally couldn't act arbitrarily.

The only time he took real action was probably when he chased down the escaped Beast Prince in the Spider Village, eliminating a potentially high-threat target ahead of time.

Just as the rumors say, the shadows that lurk are often the ones that deliver the fatal blow when they appear.

[Kill her! Kill her! Her offensive abilities are the weakest of all the beasts. We have deer. Yes, come back! Save me! Save me! Otherwise, we'll all be doomed!]

The colossal beasts on the battlefield, the enormous monsters that were fighting two of their own kind, stopped at this moment.

"Woo." The long cry of the deer echoed across the battlefield, and the once invincible behemoth actually retreated.

Upon discovering the snake in its den, it immediately prepared to turn back!

"That's too much. We're not the weakest. At least we're not the weakest compared to... well, anyway, we're not the weakest."

The little girl, pouting, seemed quite angry at the "truth."

But regardless of whether they are friend or foe, no one will take their performance seriously.

The snake's words and actions are all deadly lies!

Do not respond to her, do not try to understand her, kill her!!

The mastermind's retreat was too late, and Julu's return defense was still on its way.

Amidst its furious roar, the gray pupils of the high-level spirit flayers lit up.

In an instant, fireballs, lightning, and small "black holes" tore through the scene.

A mind flayer made a bizarre move, and the next moment, three elemental spells were thrown at it simultaneously. It seemed to be an extremely rare time acceleration ability user.

The high-level mind flayer's expanding mental abilities increased rapidly, and the first wave it unleashed consisted of various elemental magic spells.

Because the knowledge chain shared by the mastermind makes the snake immune to almost all mental and control abilities.

Forcibly trying to touch their mind will only lead to them using you and turning against you.

"A monster without a heart."

"A twisted creature in human skin."

To be honest, these mind flayers used really dirty language, and they were quite ruthless in their attacks.

Yet, anger and murderous intent appeared in their pale eyes. This was unusually rare for mind flayers, who were usually devoid of emotion.

One spatial rift after another opened, and the high-level spirit flayers immediately engaged in battle upon entering the hall.

In that brief moment, all the high-level spirit flayers were probably dragged over by the mainframe.

At this moment, Rean finally understood what the reputation of "snake" was.

Despite facing such an opponent, Purple Rose still displayed a smiling and cheerful fighting style.

Every strike, every kick, was filled with joy.

The high-speed, melee-type magical girl easily evaded each attack.

"Huh, I've been ignored again."

At that moment, Rean realized that the mind flayers and the mainframe were once again ignoring him without his knowledge.

This is clearly not normal. Even if Rean's strength is insignificant in front of them, he is only a dozen meters away from the mainframe!

"These mind flayers are acting strangely. Have they been attacked?"

Currently, it should be an ability similar to the one that previously placed Rean's presence within the Black Dragon Knights.

Now, Purple Rose places Rean's presence within her own, making herself a target for attention.

Clearly, this still cannot last.

Face-to-face scams can only attract fleeting attention and create visual illusions; is it really just for one's own benefit?
"Why? I understand now, I know."

A flash of realization crossed Rean's eyes as he slowly and resolutely walked toward the main brain pool.

And the battle between Purple Rose, Mind Flayer, and the Mastermind also happened to miss him.

Those deadly spells just happened to pass by him; he already knew his duty.

"They really trust me."

This was all part of Purple Rose's scheme from the very beginning. Even when she herself stepped forward, she was merely acting as bait and a target. The stronger an individual is, the more impossible they are to ignore.

For a snake, a gentle kiss is enough to be fatal!

The sudden appearance of a snake instills fear and unease in its opponent, causing them to subconsciously ignore other targets.

A cunning snake can effectively use its own existence and its terrible reputation as weapons.

The mental fluctuations swept back and forth, but these mental abilities were ineffective against Rean, who was already "controlled".

What he needed to avoid was the fluctuation of various elemental spells, so as to prevent himself from being "beaten out".

This was not difficult for Rean, who possessed the Dragon Eye. For some reason, he had already vaguely seen the "targets" of these monsters and could avoid them in advance (Desire Snake Eye).

"What should I do next?"

Rean stepped into the main brain's saltwater pool and thus mingled among the slaves massaging the main brain.

He looked down and saw a faint silver frost spreading out from him.

So this is its poison.
"I see. Simply killing the mastermind won't solve the problem. Snake, she's too greedy; she wants to devour everything." If they really wanted to assassinate the mastermind, Purple Rose had a simpler and more effective method.

But what would happen if the mastermind really died? The mind flayers would flee, and the beasts would instantly become the number one threat. The two deer princes, who had already reached maturity, would immediately bleed together.

They will destroy Mosordilka first, then Radiant City, or worse, they will cooperate directly with the Dark Elves to unseal the evil god first.

"The virus, from beginning to end, is based on the deer's own knowledge and instincts."

Rean placed his hands on the main brain and began massaging it, just like the other slaves.

But the deadly "poison of knowledge" began to seep into the mastermind's brain, and then spread to the brain of the beast prince who was controlled by it!
At this moment, Rean was also "massaging" the brain of the giant deer!

"Beasts are cyclical beasts, not merely in the regeneration of their antlers, but more importantly in their..."

Understanding it, empathizing with it, feeling for it, and suggesting it—this is the standard process of psychological suggestion. There's no need to force it; just go with the flow.

"Whatever you want, I'll give you."

Rean recalled the twisted family of the Holy Mother, the monsters that devoured their own children and fellow humans one by one.

"They are cannibalistic monsters!"

Deer are scavengers and also rare prion carriers in nature.

This virus is not actually a virus, but a mutated and twisted protein that contaminates animals. It is a special infectious agent that, in some cases, is seen as a warning from the Creator. It can only exist in cannibalism and has a near 100% mortality rate.

As a creature that circulates the natural order, the deer is a rare large scavenger, especially known for eating the carcasses of its own kind.

They need to regenerate their antlers every year, and while they can get their blood and flesh from a regular diet, they can hardly get the rare elements, vitamins, and minerals that are normally obtained. The blood and flesh of their own kind can easily provide all of these nutrients!
This is their genetic instinct, a survival rule they cannot resist, and their original sin.
"Honorable Prince of Beasts, your kind are dead. They are merely living corpses, and they look so delicious."

A powerful suggestion was released from Rean's body, poured into the main brain, and then decompressed and released in the brain of the Beast Prince.

Both gigantic beast princes paused, their feeding and scavenging instincts activated. Compared to ordinary beasts, this instinct was actually a rather useful supernatural trait.

Before Rean, those horned creatures used small animals to make up for their deficiencies; cannibalism was an extraordinary characteristic of deer.

Purple Rose was not lying. Normally, snakes are the weakest among all beasts, but those who control the "heart" are the natural enemies of all beasts and are top masters who manipulate their instincts.

"Huff, huff!" The giant beasts tilted their heads back, panting heavily, their instinct to eat fully activated, feeling an uncontrollable hunger and thirst.

"So hungry, so hungry, so hungry."

"It smells so good, so good, so good!"

Two controlled giant deer were simultaneously activated with their cannibalistic instincts. The snake's suggestion distorted their perception, causing them to gradually see each other as corpses that could be eaten!

It's difficult to succeed by forcibly suppressing someone's instincts and desires, but if you go along with their instincts and let them "eat the good stuff and play the good games," you often succeed instantly.

This is only the first hint.

The power of suggestion, when combined, becomes even more lethal, often multiplying several times over.

"Look, there are so many cute does around. Isn't this antlered buck eye-catching? Kill it, and all the does are yours!"

In nature, a herd of animals often consists of one male alpha male and dozens of females.

But deer are actually the most extreme. All the female deer are the mates of the stag king, and its powerful productivity makes it perform its "duty" every day.

The deer is a beast of desire.

The snake, with its whispering, catalyzed this desire.

"Damn!!"

"Mine! It's all mine!"

At this moment, the beastly instincts of both giant beasts were activated.

Beyond the right to survival, the first instinctual desire of life is to eat, and the second is to reproduce.

At this moment, two major desires are activated, and a third suggestion is naturally triggered.

"Kill it, kill it, eat it, eat it, it's all yours, it's all yours."

The desire to fight and the desire to kill are also activated by the first two desires.

Deer grow antlers to show off their strength, attract mates, and gain victory in fights with their own kind. They have an extremely strong fighting spirit towards their own kind!

With three desires acting simultaneously, at this moment, the behemoth's mind was devoid of any reason or logic.

"It wants to kill you, kill you! It also wants to eat you, eat you!" In the end, when it sensed the other party's killing intent, its will to survive was completely activated.

When the brain is filled only with instinct, it naturally reverts to a true "beast," a frenzied beast controlled by instinct!

They've gone mad.

【Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! 】

The mainframe emitted a terrifying scream as too many "desires" and "emotions" flooded its brain, causing it to "shut down."

Outside, however, it had become a living hell.

The giant beast that had just been fighting the goddess to the death, the monster that had already entered the realm of Mosodirka and was slaughtering everyone, suddenly abandoned the battlefield and turned around.

On another battlefield, braving the attacks of two magical girls, another colossal beast, with equally crimson eyes, charged toward its own kind.

"boom!"

Finally, the two monsters collided head-on.

The two monsters, each with its own gravitational field, caused the entire underground world to shake violently.

Cracks appeared in the ground, and countless pebbles fell, as if the entire area was about to be destroyed.

The brain matter between the horns had been smashed into a brain-like mess!
[I. Ah. Eat. Kill and Mating] Countless emotions collided with each other, and too many "desires" from ancient times were forcibly injected back into the main brain connected to the deer.

As a result, the mastermind also went mad.

Then, all the mind flayers naturally went mad.

Then, the servants and slaves controlled by the mind flayers also went mad!

The entire battlefield has gone mad.
Meanwhile, Rean, standing in the pool, looked at his hands in disbelief.

He began to understand why snakes, despite their relatively weak fighting abilities, had such a "wonderful" reputation.

"Is this... snake venom?"

The Purple Rose is a snake, but isn't Rean also a snake?

(End of this chapter)