Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 157 An unexpected gain

[The Assassin's greatest weapon is her ability to remain hidden. She will wait in the shadows for those with enough patience and greed to seize an opportunity rather than expose themselves needlessly.]

That first move, which is very likely to be the only one, can often completely turn the tide of battle.

In acquiring knowledge about deer, Rean inevitably also gained a great deal of knowledge about snakes.

Comparing the actions of the Purple Rose along the way, Rean finally fully understood how deadly this "Ambush" design was.

She had been lying in wait, waiting for the opportunity to betray him.

With only one beast under her control and the other beast princes yet to mature, she possessed a combat advantage sufficient to turn the tide.

She could have stepped forward and made a deal with the goddess to get rid of the beast together, but she waited and didn't make a move.

"The failure rate would be too high. Even if we win, the other Beast Princes will run away." Eliminating the Beast Princes has always been her top priority as a snake.

As a snake, its intimidating power is greatly reduced when it actively exposes itself to sunlight.

She had been searching for an opportunity to completely eliminate them, and she waited until now. The opportunity finally came when the second Beast Prince was controlled and both beasts were linked to the mainframe.

"The premise of provocation is that there are two parties with strength on the same order of magnitude." The premise of seizing the opportunity and using someone else's strength to attack is that there must be at least two beasts that can be confronted.

It's hard to say whether Purple Rose waited for this opportunity or secretly pushed it forward.

Finally, the opportunity came, and she acted without hesitation.

This is also the root of the fear of the Beast Prince and the Mastermind. They are not afraid of the snake itself, but rather of the reality that the snake might jump out at this moment.

This means that he may have been tricked into a dead end!
If a snake jumps out, it may just be there to mock its own death!
As expected, everything that followed seemed like a meticulously planned dead end.

Purple Rose successfully exploited the other party's fear of her, drawing all the firepower to herself and making herself the bait. But all of this was predicated on one condition:
Two snakes.

The manic mastermind, in his final moments of lucidity, may have already revealed the truth.

The person chosen this time, the one capable of sending mental suggestions to the mastermind, must be a privileged individual possessing the "authority of the heart." Only a snake of very high purity can be chosen.

The reality is that Purple Rose prepared the "snake venom" and had another snake (Rean) store it in her "venom gland (brain)," then had Rean bite out the fatal bite.

She may have been the guide, even preparing all the tools and means for him, but in the end, it was Rean who delivered the fatal blow.

[Awakening Divine Art: Challenging Evil (First-Ring Bewitching Control)]

Having fulfilled his vow to vanquish the enemy of humanity, Rean felt he had taken a significant step forward on the path of a paladin.

He not only received an exceptionally precious divine magic reward, but also felt a huge amount of Daoist cultivation reward.

"Uh, if I hadn't just become a second-tier paladin, I might have already advanced to the next tier. This evil is too heavy."

But these were still not the biggest rewards Rean received.

When the extremely powerful psychic energy permeated Rean's body, some things unknowingly underwent incubation and even qualitative changes.

[The host's mental abilities have awakened, granting them the supernatural ability of telepathy (mental communication).]

During this operation, the direct release of this level of mental suggestion inevitably awakened Rean's psychic abilities.

This was perhaps destined, after all, a snake that possesses the power over people's hearts wouldn't have too outrageous psychic abilities; Rean was simply accelerated in advance.

Even for ordinary people, such an absurdly intense mental indoctrination would naturally awaken psychic abilities in those with potential. It's hard to say whether Purple Rose designed it this way intentionally.

There is precedent for this; some spiritual races have used "initiation techniques" to forcibly awaken the spiritual abilities of their fellow beings.

Another well-known female hero with psychic abilities awakened her powers while playing with the Amethyst Dragon (a type of dragon known for its psychic abilities) since childhood.

It is said that when she uses her power, she will emit the radiance of amethyst, which is the reflection of the spiritual energy of the dragon's nest crystal she encountered in her childhood.

[The host's mental abilities are still in their nascent stage. Please undergo professional training as soon as possible to catalyze them, otherwise they will decline on their own.]

It seems that this unexpected joy is not yet stable. With Rean's current physical abilities, psychic powers are a bit too much of a burden for him.

Awakening psychic abilities does not mean you can use them; "psychic dialogue" is just the most basic ability.

Throughout the long history of the ages, various races have developed a relatively large number of mental professions, as well as systems specifically designed to develop and utilize mental abilities.

The most common one is Suliman's Mind Mage, but there are actually many other options such as Manipulator, Mind Warrior, Psionic Druid, Arcane Vanguard, and Madman. Even Mind Flayer can be regarded as a psychic advancement, and of course, the Serpent Magical Girl is one as well.

This can't be rushed; it's safest to develop spiritual abilities with the guidance of a mentor.

Rean can perhaps look forward to future gacha pulls; among so many Heroic Souls, there must be some who excel in psychic abilities.

In fact, the dual thinking provided by Kuku is already very helpful for psychic and telepathic abilities.
"Yes, we won!"

Among a group of lunatics, Purple Rose, cheerfully waving her little fists, stood out.

She was covered in blood, and the shimmering silver light on her body was healing her wounds. At this moment, Rean no longer believed that she was truly immortal. The healing ability of the beast activated by his mental powers would still be consumed, and the pain would still be felt.

Rean sighed. Although he had hidden a lot from himself, it seemed that he had nothing to complain about.

After all, he had already reaped considerable benefits, and he was someone who prioritized results, as long as there was no malicious concealment or deception.
"Uh, I'm sorry, there are some things I can't tell you in advance. It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that even if you don't say anything after you know, it might still be predicted." Looking at the girl with blood on her face who was still running over to apologize, Rean sighed. He had a feeling that if the plan really failed, she would probably die before him.

"Girls should pay attention to their appearance." Rean took out a towel and wiped the girl who was happily coming closer clean again.

Seeing that Rean wasn't angry, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. Although she knew Rean's personality and could understand, taking it too seriously still made her feel somewhat anxious.

Rean's magical knowledge also told him that this was not an excuse.

Everything we know and do leaves a trace.

Many powerful individuals possess a sense of crisis, and psionicists are particularly adept at this. Their abilities, such as "death sense" and "spider sense," allow them to predict danger in ways that defy logic.

After determining that "someone is trying to harm me," activating various prophetic abilities might inexplicably uncover the conspiracy.

Purple Rose has the ability to conceal her plans (counter-prophecy), but if she informs Rean, he is not at the level to counter-prophecy.

In her calculations, to ensure the plan went smoothly, she had to keep it a secret from Rean.

"I believe you." The man picked up the blood-stained towel and was about to put it away.

The words he was about to say were cut short by something soft; the girl moved closer on tiptoe as if she had teleported.

This time, there was no troublesome Sallyman, and it lasted for several tens of seconds.

It took Rean a while to catch his breath. He pushed her away and opened his eyes to see her watery eyes and her sincere smile as beautiful as a flower.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Rean was in her arms.

"Phew, it's you, that's so great." Purple Rose was trying hard to suppress her impulse. There were still some plans to finish, and the first time should at least be in a romantic place.

It took Rean quite a while to break free. Little did he know that it was fortunate they were still on the battlefield, otherwise he would have had virtually no chance of escaping.

Neither he nor Purple Rose knew that Purple Rose was actually overthinking things.

Even if Rean knew about these plans, his "undetectable" nature would prevent the other side from predicting his plans.

But now, Rean has an even more important job to do.

Almost all life around had gone mad. The slaves died instantly, and most of the mind flayers also died from brain explosions. The mainframe was still barely clinging to life. It had been turned into a remotely controlled puppet by the dangerous snake.

In the vast hall, there was one creature that had not yet gone mad, but was already on the verge of death.

During this earth-shaking, deadly battle, the tube inserted into the black dragon's head, which was caught in the blast, had broken in half.

At this moment, blood and brain matter continued to flow out, but the black dragon's powerful vitality prevented it from dying.

But perhaps it would have been better to just die. Its ruptured brain was buried in a pool full of mind flayer larvae, with countless things swimming around inside. It was completely beyond saving.

Rean raised the holy sword, deciding to send it on its way and also to complete his first evolution.

As the sword fell, Rean actually saw gratitude in the enormous dragon's eye.
-
While Rean was cleaning up the mess, the battle outside was far from over.

Most of the mind flayer forces were wiped out. Large numbers of mind flayers suddenly died or went berserk, and the surrounding slaves fell one after another, causing the battle line to collapse instantly.

Logically, the dark elves should have taken the opportunity to attack, but now they only knew how to frantically flee for their lives, and didn't even dare to look back.

"Boom!"

The earth-shattering battle grew increasingly fierce, with numerous small hills floating in mid-air, hurling "meteorites" at each other and causing damage.

Corner to corner, tooth to tooth, frenzied eyes meeting eyes brimming with desire, neither side could stop.

The two giant stags were still locked in a fierce battle, their regenerative abilities fueling their bloodlust and voracious appetite. Like a stag whose antlers were entangled, only the death of one of them could end it all.

"What's going on?!" The other two beast princes, accompanied by magical girls, watched all this in complete bewilderment.

Has the mastermind gone out of control? They can sense that the shackles on their brothers are loosening, but why are the two brothers killing each other? Are they fighting for a place in the herd? But why are they so ruthless?

However, although the source of the change is unknown, it seems to be an opportunity for them.

Whether it's saving his brother or fulfilling his mission through this, the Beast Prince, who was accelerated by the power of the mind, could become a very useful reserve of combat power.

The rational beings made their choice; they and their magical girls floated in mid-air, patiently waiting for the outcome of the battle.

Even one is enough; they don't want to sacrifice themselves to stop their brothers from fighting.

But they probably don't realize that they have lost their last chance to escape.

The fighting instinct of the "King of the Deer" has been activated. After his victory, will the King of the Deer let the other stags go?

If it were a female deer? That would be even worse. The stag king has also had other desires activated, and given the current size difference between the two, some unlucky ones would die a horrible death.

Purple Rose was certainly in the mood to play with Rean's snakes. One move had already driven all four Deer Princes to the brink of despair!
"It's alright, Rean, just focus on evolving. Those outside can just wait to be harvested." The smiling snake witch had already seen through everything.

(End of this chapter)