Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 234 Octopus

After playing with it for a while, Richard put the Nightmare Mirror back into the Isolation Box.

As Richard bent down to put the isolation box back in its place, a corner of his waist was inadvertently revealed, and the stacked objects seemed to be more than ten alchemical combination bombs.

One by one, like hand grenades, they were fastened to Richard's waist pouch belt.

If anyone who had previously used Richard's Alchemy Combo Bomb were present, they would surely be amazed by the Alchemy Bomb Richard had hidden on his person.

Because the bomb is not only smaller in size, making it easier to carry, but also, judging from its appearance, it is inlaid with flame crystals inside.

That's right!

Richard made a second improvement to the alchemical combination bomb, adding expensive fire crystals, turning it into a deadly weapon.

Although the price is high, it also significantly increases the power of the Alchemy Combination Bomb.

What was originally only a threat to first-level wizards has now been improved to pose a significant threat to first-level wizards.

"Who?"

Richard scolded him, his eyes fixed on an oil painting hanging on the wall to his side and behind him.

The oil painting is about one meter wide and 1.5 meters high. It depicts a lakeside landscape with a blue sky, houses, and a lake.

From the moment Blackwater appeared in Richard's study, he had felt a subtle sense of being watched.

Even after he entered his room, he still had this feeling.

At first, Richard thought it was because he had just been ambushed and was under stress.

But the moment he took out the Nightmare Mirror, this sense of being watched fluctuated noticeably, instantly giving him a clue!

"boom!"

Richard manipulated a large black hand to strike the oil painting on the wall.

In an instant, the oil painting shattered into pieces!

Surprisingly, a small, palm-sized image of a black lake in the painting suddenly detached from the canvas.

It felt as if the lake had suddenly come to life, calmly dodging Richard's black hand attack and moving towards the door at incredible speed.

"Trying to run away?" Richard's face darkened with anger.

Having discovered his secret, he still wants to run away?

Richard clenched his fist again, and instantly, a large black dark elemental hand appeared out of thin air and grabbed the little bit of black water that was running towards the crack in the door.

Just as the large black hand grasped it, there was a loud "thump!"

A slight explosion came from within the large hand, followed by wisps of black smoke.

Richard was taken aback and immediately opened his large hand to take a look.

Sure enough, Blackwater had already self-destructed in some way.

After a moment's thought, Richard immediately went to the cabinet where the isolation box was hidden, took it out, and hid it on his person.

Clearly, the other party already knew that the Nightmare Mirror was on them and in this room.

It would be inappropriate for Richard to still keep the Nightmare Mirror here.

-

The farm's underground wine cellar.

Mobutu was furious: "Matisse, you idiot! If it weren't for you, we could have easily infiltrated and gotten our hands on the Black Mirror."

"Now that this human necromancer knows the location of the Black Mirror has been exposed, he will inevitably move to a different place. Obtaining the Black Mirror easily will no longer be so simple!"

Mattis, his face drooping, endured Mobutu's rage.

Indeed, if Mobutu hadn't been trying to explain himself, there would have been no need to activate the black water scattered throughout the villa.

Now that the other side is on guard, they will inevitably change the location where they hide the Black Mirror, making the mission much more difficult.

Because Hera's task for herself was merely to retrieve the Black Mirror, and she didn't say she had to kill anyone.

In that case, the easiest way is to retrieve the Black Mirror directly without engaging in combat.

"Lord Mobutu, please forgive my rudeness. I am willing to pay two more bottles of pain potion as an apology," Mattis said after Mobutu had finished his tirade.

This caused Mobutu to pause, ceasing his tirade against Matisse. Seemingly deep in thought, he spoke in a low voice after a moment: "At least three bottles!"

"Alright! Your Excellency Mobutu, we will need your continued attention to this matter!" Mattis agreed without giving Mobutu a chance to say anything more.

This left Mobutu speechless for a moment.

The entire cellar remained quiet for a long time.

"We'll wait until midnight to make our move," the deep voice said again.

"Lord Emontor, do you think it's possible that the human necromancer might have moved the Black Mirror to another location?" Mattis asked with considerable concern after pondering for a while.

Just now, Mattis was pondering this question. Although Mobutu was powerful, defeating or even killing that human necromancer wouldn't be a problem for him.

However, if the other party moves the Black Mirror, even if Mobutu and he kill the other party, they will not be able to find the Black Mirror, and then all their efforts will be in vain.

"Don't worry, Mattis, I thought of that a long time ago."

Suddenly, three mirror-like surfaces made of black mist appeared out of thin air on the ground, providing surveillance from the roof of Fana Villa, the main entrance, and the side entrance.

Mattis suddenly realized!

It turns out that Mobutu had been monitoring Richard's residence the whole time.

While it's impossible to say that every room is under surveillance, at least Black Mirror can be monitored in real time to see whether he has left the villa.

-

Inside the Fana Villa in Tug City.

Not long after, Fana returned, bringing with her two fully armed squads of Grey Dwarf Brotherhood guards, along with a first-level high-ranking wizard.

Richard recognized the first-level high-ranking wizard; it was Angelis, whom he had met at the previous gathering.

After Fingart informed Fana of the recent events at the villa, Fana immediately planned to return from Angelis's residence.

As a longtime friend of Fana, Angelis naturally wanted to come and see what was going on after hearing about the situation.

In this situation, no one really felt like exchanging pleasantries.

After some discussion, the group made detailed arrangements for the guards of the Grey Dwarf Brotherhood. All guards were divided into two groups, rotating every half day to provide continuous 24-hour protection.

Contingency plans have been made for all possible scenarios.

Although these Brotherhood guards are not individually strong, each of them is heavily armored, making it quite difficult to kill them in one go. Moreover, each of them is equipped with a special distress flare.

Once enemy activity is detected, everyone in the vicinity can be notified immediately, and even the Gray Dwarf headquarters will receive the news in a timely manner and dispatch personnel.

However, after Richard briefly described the strange black water he encountered, Angelis suddenly interjected:

"Master Li Wei, based on your description, this reminds me of the witchcraft of those cults. These witchcrafts bestowed by evil gods are not only extremely powerful, but sometimes also very strange and unpredictable. Even if you are a level above the cult members, you will often fall for them."

"So, the enemy that came this time might be cultists?" Richard said thoughtfully.

However, I raised my alert level again.

Because Richard encountered cultists twice, and the cultists' abilities were both very strange or powerful.

After their meal, Richard, Stephanie, Fana, and Angelis chatted for a while in a room.

Even after nightfall, the villa remained brightly lit, presenting a peaceful scene.

"Li Wei, is it possible that they're just bluffing to keep us on edge for a few days, and then launching a surprise attack when we relax?" Fana asked.

Richard thought for a moment and said, "That's a possibility. How about we take turns resting, but tonight, the four of us will just rest in this room."

"I have a feeling that the other side is most likely to launch an attack today."

After thinking about it, the group agreed with Richard's suggestion.

Slowly, unnoticed by anyone, a wisp of mist began to rise from the entire villa.

The mist didn't seem to have any special effect, but before long, the entire villa was filled with snoring.

The guards, who were originally fully armed, were now either leaning or lying down, all asleep.

Even Richard and the others had fallen asleep.

But a short while later, Richard suddenly woke up!

When he woke up again, he found himself all alone in the room!

He clearly remembered that the four of them were together.

Richard rubbed his temples, focused his attention, opened the door, and walked onto the corridor.

At this moment, he realized that a thin layer of mist had somehow enveloped the surroundings. The mist was like a veil, allowing Richard to see only a few dozen meters away.

If the impact on visibility wasn't serious, what surprised Richard was that none of the guards who had been stationed throughout the villa were present.

The entire villa was empty, giving the impression of a haunted house. Apart from Richard, there was no one else there, and it was eerily quiet.

Richard walked to the room next door that originally belonged to Stephena, knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Considering his familiarity with Stephena, Richard simply turned the doorknob, opened the door, and went inside.

Everything in the room was neatly arranged and very clean, but the biggest problem was that there was no one in the room.

Richard quickly left Stephanie's room and went to Fana's room. He knocked on the door, but no one answered. He went in, but still no one was there.

The same applies to the other people's rooms.

Unbeknownst to him, Richard arrived at the garden. He vaguely heard a calling in his heart, as if he should walk in this direction.

This feeling

Suddenly, Richard abruptly raised his head and looked at the roof of the villa. He had just sensed a malicious gaze upon him.

Some hostile creature glanced at him from a corner of the rooftop, then vanished.

This immediately startled Richard.

After a moment of thought, the green inverted pentagram array beneath Richard's feet flashed, and a colossal creature appeared before Richard—the vengeful spirit, Abomination.

After arriving here, the vengeful spirit sniffed its surroundings, its small eyes seeming somewhat confused. However, it immediately seemed to realize something and gestured for Richard to follow it.

"Knock knock!"

The vengeful spirit strode ahead, leading the way in the direction Richard had sensed the call from earlier.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed past the two of them again.

This time, Richard's keen dynamic vision captured the other person's physical features.

It turned out to be a gray octopus, about the same height as a normal person, which moved extremely fast on the ground thanks to its eight tentacles.

Richard was startled, but this was on land!

It seems I might be in a strange space, or perhaps a dream?

Suddenly, the vengeful spirit, with its small hand on the back of its head, brandished the iron chain and hurled it at the octopus monster with a "whoosh," but the monster easily dodged it.

After a quick movement, the other party disappeared into the mist again.

The vengeful spirit, though filled with hatred, did not give up and continued walking forward.

As Richard walked, he realized that he and the vengeful spirits had slowly left the main streets of Tug City and were heading out of the city.

Let's call this place Tug City for now.

At least, the overall outline of the street and the city's planning were exactly the same as the Tug City that Richard knew.

The only difference is that the entire city is empty, with no other people or creatures except Richard, the vengeful spirit Abomination, and the octopus monster that suddenly appeared.

Suddenly, two dark figures flashed past in front of them.

This time, Richard could still see it clearly: the original octopus monster had now become two, and they looked almost identical.

This immediately intensified Richard's sense of horror.

Just like before, the two octopus monsters, after spying on themselves and the vengeful spirit from a distance, disappeared without a trace once again.

After leaving the city gate, Richard felt the sense of being spied on growing stronger.

Suddenly, the fog ahead dissipated, and the entire space became much clearer. A tall, two-story farmhouse villa appeared at the end of Richard's line of sight.

But what sent chills down Richard's spine was that the entire area in front of the two-story farmhouse was covered with those octopus monsters standing in dense clusters!

Hundreds and thousands!

Seemingly sensing the arrival of strangers, all the octopus monsters turned to look at Richard in unison.

His eyes were fixed intently on Richard!

Instantly, the whole scene gave Richard a chilling feeling.

Richard swiftly hid behind the vengeful spirits, avoiding the direct gaze of these octopus monsters.

The next second, a "rustling" sound rang out, and all the octopus monsters, waving their tentacles, rushed quickly toward Richard's location.

Richard took one look and immediately thought, "This is bad!"

He immediately pulled out two optimized alchemical bombs, mixed with fire crystals, from his pocket and threw them towards the octopus monster horde.

"Boom!!"

Two loud explosions followed.

Two enormous mushroom clouds, each about ten meters in diameter, rose up from the point of explosion.

The shockwave from the explosion easily turned dozens of octopus monsters into exploding octopuses!

The aroma of grilled octopus tentacles wafts over!

The originally densely packed group of small octopuses was instantly cleared out in two large circles, which immediately caused the small octopuses to hiss and squeal.

Richard's eyes lit up, thinking to himself, "It works! Looks like we can continue!"

Richard pulled out four more crystal bombs from his pocket and threw them at the swarm of small octopuses that were surrounding them.

Immediately, the little octopuses scattered and hid.

For the first time, Richard also sensed a hint of fear in the other person's eyes.

At this moment, the two sides of fear switched places.

(End of this chapter)