Goddess Kaleidoscope

Nidhogg surveyed its surroundings and, finding nothing amiss, prepared to descend under Ludwig's command. But just as they descended to about thirty meters above the ground, Nidhogg seemed to sense something, and with a sudden flap of its wings, it soared back to over a hundred meters.

"what happened?"

There's something dirty on the ground.

Ludwig was taken aback when he heard Nidhogg say "dirty thing".

What type of filth is it?

"It's probably poisonous miasma. I should be fine, but the two of you might not be able to hold out. But... this smell seems a bit familiar?"

Upon hearing that there was poisonous gas on the ground rather than some lurking monsters, Lud felt slightly relieved. He happened to have some targeted "special equipment" on hand that could come in handy to deal with this invisible threat.

So Ludd quickly opened the medicine box on his right, took out a stack of blue thin cloths, and handed them to Charlotte next to him.

"Put this on your face."

"Face mask?"

Charlotte took the piece of cloth and looked at it closely. He recognized it; it was a very ordinary face mask. In this world, face masks were first invented by dwarves. During their mining and metallurgical work, they realized the harm that dust particles could cause to the respiratory tract and lungs, and thus they developed face masks.

But Lud immediately said that the mask he gave him was extraordinary; it was a "sacred mask" blessed with divine magic.

Then Ludwig took out "Holy Disinfectant" and sprayed it all over himself and Charlotte. This was equivalent to applying a "poison immunity" buff that lasted for several hours. Nidhogg, on the other hand, relied on the superhuman physique of a dragon, and most toxins had no effect on him.

With thorough preparations made, the dragon landed on the ground. The construction site was in complete disarray, and the attackers were nowhere to be seen.

With Nidhogg's help, the dwarves who had fallen at the scene, dead or alive, were gathered together—thirty-six in total, twenty-one of whom were already dead. Charlotte cast a pleading look at Rudd, but Rudd simply shook his head, indicating that he was powerless to help.

"Too many have died, I can only take care of the living first..."

With the help of the divine medicine at hand, the fifteen dwarves who were still breathing quickly regained consciousness, but they were all still in shock. As soon as they opened their eyes and saw Lud and the others, they screamed and shouted, "Don't kill me!"

The survivors' reactions deepened Lud's suspicions. He had just examined the wounds of most of the dwarves, and whether they were survivors or victims, their wounds did not look like those inflicted by wild animals, but rather like knife wounds.

Furthermore, from the moment he came into contact with these survivors, Lud could clearly feel that the "holy disinfectant" he had just sprayed on was being consumed at an accelerated rate, which indicated that these survivors were the source of the poison gas.

"We need to find a way to calm these guys down."

"Try to calm them down? I'll handle that!"

Hearing Ludwig's request to calm people down, Nidhogg volunteered. He stretched out his large head, bared his teeth at the dozen or so dwarves, and made a growling sound similar to a dog's taunt. The wounded, who had been panicking, instantly calmed down, though they still looked somewhat frightened.

"Wow! What did you do to them?"

"Tips and tricks for using Dragon's Might...my wife taught me!"

Looking at the proud Nidhogg, Ludd couldn't help but roll his eyes at this henpecked husband. The longer he knew him, the clearer Ludd saw Nidhogg's "true nature."

Having been raised by humans for nearly two hundred years, Nidhogg had no opportunity to come into contact with true dragon magic before reaching adulthood, and he couldn't use human magic either. So, for over a hundred years after being "released," unable to find a teacher, Nidhogg simply gave up learning and focused on training his physical body.

Thinking about it carefully, this guy doesn't actually have many advantages. He's just strong enough, has a family mentality that wild male dragons don't have, and is "gentlemanly" in everything he does, putting his wife first.

Thanks to Nidhogg's intimidation skill, the dwarves managed to calm down. Ludwig quickly asked them what had happened, but their answers were completely different from those of their fellow workers who had already fled back to the village.

"They're insane! They're all insane! Those guys were perfectly fine before, and then suddenly they started killing us without warning! They even called us monsters for no reason, and then attacked us without saying a word..."

The dwarves abandoned at the scene said they had not seen any so-called tree-man monsters, and that the attackers were none other than their fellow workers from the same construction team who had escaped back.

The incident occurred in the morning. Because it had rained the night before, the forest was very damp, and there was still a thin mist. The attack came almost without warning. Nearly two-thirds of the dwarves on the construction site suddenly went berserk, first shouting "Monster!" and then swinging their axes at the few workers around them.

This story was quite different from that of another group of dwarves, and it seemed that one of them was lying. But after thinking about it for a moment, Rudd had a vague idea that perhaps both sides were telling the truth.

At that moment, Nidhogg, who was standing nearby, dipped his little fingernail into a drop of blood from the dead dwarf, brought it to his nose, sniffed it lightly, and then let out a loud sneeze. He then turned to Lud and shouted.

"Priest, I know what this is!"

"you know?"

"Hmm, do you remember when I contracted a strange disease in early spring this year? I accidentally ate a diseased prey. Its blood had a special fragrance. I thought it tasted pretty good and wanted to have another one. But after a short while, I started sneezing uncontrollably. I realized that I might have contracted the disease. I finally recovered after soaking in lava for half a month. I just smelled the blood of these corpses, and it has the same fragrance."

Upon hearing Nidhogg's discovery, Ludwig quickly collected some blood samples from the deceased using crystal test tubes. It was easy to tell from the color that there was a problem; the blood, which should have been red, had turned a strange green, as if it had become moldy and spoiled.

Lude then collected some more from the still-living wounded. Although these people had just drunk the potion made with the Goddess's Tears and their physical wounds had all healed, their blood had not returned to normal and contained a small amount of green substance, though to a lesser degree than that of the dead.

Looking at the blood samples in his hand, Lud frowned. He had previously conducted numerous clinical tests with "Evelina's Tears." In addition to its healing ability equivalent to a mid-to-high-level Holy Healing spell, it also possessed remarkable detoxification properties, easily neutralizing common poisons.

However, the blood of the wounded dwarves showed that the poison in their bodies could actually counteract the effects of the divine medicine, which was quite potent.

"Could it be a biological virus...?"

After a moment's thought, Ludwig immediately decided to change the original plan. He sent Nidhogg back to the village with Charlotte to inform them to immediately quarantine all the dwarves who had escaped and all close contacts. He also ordered the three retreating construction teams and all other search and rescue teams that had entered the forest to be quarantined as well, to prevent them from coming into contact with the village and the dwarven stronghold. Because if it were indeed a biological virus, it would most likely be contagious.

After notifying the rear, Nidhogg took Charlotte and flew around the route marked on the map to notify all the construction teams that had been involved in the accident and those that had not yet been involved, telling them not to return to the village, but to go to the nearest underground city for centralized treatment.

Luther then gave Charlotte a first-aid kit and briefly explained how to use the various items inside, telling him to do his best to ensure his safety.

"Priest, what about you?"

"I'll stay here for now to conduct an on-site investigation. We need to know what kind of enemy we're facing so we can take the right approach, right?"

With Rudd watching them go, Nidhogg, carrying Charlotte, flew at full speed towards Pine Village. Meanwhile, after settling the fifteen wounded dwarves and letting them rest, Rudd went into the woods alone and took out a strangely shaped bone flute from his pocket and began to play it.

The flute's sound wasn't loud at first glance, but it could produce a special sound wave that ordinary people couldn't hear. After Lude finished playing the flute, he waited a short while and then heard rustling sounds coming from the forest. Immediately afterwards, he saw two dog heads, one large and one small, emerge from the bushes. It was a dog-headed cavalryman riding a giant dog.

The kobold cavalryman came to Lud, immediately jumped off the back of the dog, and knelt down on one knee in front of him.

Looking at the bright red scarf around the other person's neck, Lude couldn't help but smile in a way that only he, a transmigrator, could understand. Then, he spoke to the dog-headed knight in a very amiable tone.

"You've arrived just in time, Ah Qin."

End of this chapter

During the Ratman incident, Lud had taken in a group of demi-human captives who were willing to join him. These were mostly weak races that posed little threat to humans.

The initial goal was to achieve multi-ethnic coexistence in Pine Tree Village, but reality proved that prejudices and barriers that had persisted for over a thousand years could not be easily changed overnight. Even though Lud had extremely high prestige in Pine Tree Village and could suppress dissent, the villagers could only express their disgust for these demi-humans in a subtle way. However, behind Lud's back, bullying and discrimination were rampant.

Village chief Rom was in a slightly better situation; he simply treated the demi-humans as free laborers. His magnificent three-story inn was built thanks to the daily overtime work of dozens of demi-humans. During this time, an accident occurred: a gray elf, due to exhaustion, slipped and fell, sustaining serious injuries. Fortunately, Rud arrived in time and used divine magic to save her.

After the hotel was built, Ludwig went to Rom to remind him that it was a bit unfair not to pay the workers' wages. However, the old cripple misunderstood and happily took out money to "pay his respects" to Ludwig, which made Ludwig so angry that he almost kicked the old man in the face.

Ultimately, most humans are actually attracted to good looks. Even if an elf is good-looking, there will still be people eager to fawn over them, no matter how bad their attitude is towards humans. In fact, the worse the tone and attitude, the more enthusiastic they are to fawn over them!

In other words, if these kobolds were ugly and actually all cute animal-eared girls, the human race would definitely not have the attitude they have now.

Lud initially wanted to bridge the gap, but two subsequent heinous incidents forced him to abandon his original plan. First, someone in the village poisoned the demi-humans' food; second, someone deliberately harmed the demi-humans, cutting off their ears to sell for money.

At the official level of various countries, these demi-human races, who have a hostile relationship with humans, are regarded as "pests" on par with monsters, and therefore have long-term bounties, which can be exchanged for money by cutting off their left ears. The bounty is not high; for weaklings like gray elves and goblins, the bounty is usually 1 to 2 copper coins.

It may be rare, but some people still treat it like meat!

Left with no other choice, Lud gave up on the idea of ​​multi-race coexistence and found an opportunity to get these demi-humans, who had been bullied in human territory, to leave the village.

However, Lude merely moved these demi-humans to another place; he did not actually release them back to their former way of life. Instead, he found a secluded valley, obtained half a ton of dragon-scented manure from Nidhogg, and piled it up at the windy spot at the bottom of the valley, creating a quiet place for these demi-humans to live and receive Lude's civilized education.

This group of demi-humans consists of six races and more than two hundred people. They currently live in the "paradise" that Lud created for them, learning to live like humans, and have already mastered farming and animal husbandry.

Among them, the kobolds led by Aqin are quite capable in combat and are very good at tracking, so they occasionally help Lud with his tasks.

To find out what had happened in the forest, Lud used his dog whistle to try to summon the kobold rangers who might be patrolling nearby, only to find that it was Captain Aqin who came instead.

Among all the kobolds, Ah Qin is the smartest. His kobold head breed is somewhat like a Border Collie, and his profile resembles the avatar of a certain slacking-off streamer. Therefore, Lud bestowed upon him the name "Ah Qin" and gave him a red scarf, making him the captain of the kobold rangers.

Aqin, who had been summoned by Lude, immediately dismounted and knelt before Lude on one knee. The demi-human inhabitants of "Peach Blossom Spring" currently all revere Lude as "Father of God" and collectively worship the God of Medicine. In terms of piety alone, they are in no way inferior to the villagers of Pine Tree Village.

But they worshipped Lud more than any so-called god.

Their obedience to the strong and their growing gratitude for understanding led them to hold Rudd in the highest esteem for the new life he had given them. Their faith in the god of medicine stemmed largely from Rudd's belief, so they followed suit.

"My lord, what are your orders?"

"Get up and talk, I have something to ask you."

The kobolds are long-time inhabitants of the Void Forest and a nomadic race that migrates from place to place. So they may not be considered well-informed, but they certainly know more than the humans from the south.

Lude told Aqin about the dwarf construction team's experience, and also mentioned the strange fragrance in the blood of the infected.

After listening, A Qin showed a thoughtful expression.

“My lord, I think I heard an old dog from the clan tell a similar legend before.”

What kind of legend?

"I heard about it a long time ago. I only remember the gist of it now. It was about a kind of mushroom in the forest with a blue cap and green base. It smelled very fragrant and tasted incredibly delicious, but the spores it released were deadly. Many animals were attracted by the aroma of this mushroom, and if they accidentally inhaled the spores, they would be parasitized by the mushroom, suffer a terrible curse, and be frantically attacked by other living creatures. This story feels very similar to what you just described."

After listening to Ah Qin's story, Lu De gradually began to understand.

If this story isn't fictional, and there really is a type of mushroom whose spores can parasitize living organisms, then many things would indeed make sense.

So Lud ordered Aqin to immediately recall all the kobold rangers who were outside to Peach Blossom Spring, but not to enter the village after returning. Instead, they were to be quarantined at the stronghold outside the village for a period of time, awaiting his next instructions.

Lude then gave him some potions. Although the divine potions could not completely remove the spores from the blood, they could have a certain inhibitory effect and should be able to hold out until he found a way to detoxify.

After seeing Aqin off, Lu De returned to the messy construction site. Following the distinctive feature of "blue cover and green base", he quickly found a large basket of poisonous mushrooms in a storage tent at the campsite.

Rude thought to himself, "These dwarves are really reckless. They dare to eat mushrooms that look like this. They don't even know what death means."

In fact, Rudd misunderstood the dwarves on this point. They weren't collecting these mushrooms to eat, but to gather samples of unknown plants and animals for analysis. However, they underestimated the mushroom's characteristics, which led to the current tragedy.

Lude speculates that the spores of this blue-capped mushroom infect any organisms it comes into contact with, causing them to release hallucinogenic gas. Other organisms in the vicinity are affected by the gas and will attack the infected organism, eventually killing it, and the corpse becomes a breeding ground for spores.

Based on Nidhogg's previous experience with the disease, if an infected organism is eaten by other predators, the spores in its blood are very likely to enter the predator's body.

Fortunately, dragons have a superior physique, and the poisonous gas emitted by the spores is ineffective against them. Otherwise, when Nidhogg returned home, he would have been met with a merciless "domestic violence" from his beloved wife.

Lude carefully collected a few mushrooms and some scattered green spores in a sealed jar, then returned to the wounded to continue caring for them.

Just then, a dragon's roar came from the horizon. Nidhogg had returned with Charlotte. They had already notified everyone they could find, as Ludd had instructed.

"Priest, we've already notified everyone. Seven construction teams have run into trouble, and the situations are all similar. The survivors have all gone to the dungeon. Priest, what are you doing with that poisonous mushroom?"

Charlotte noticed the blue-capped mushroom in Ludwig's hand and looked somewhat puzzled. Ludwig quickly reminded him to keep his distance, then pointed to the mushroom and said...

"This thing is the culprit that lured the dwarves to kill each other. Its spores are poisonous and cause terrible hallucinations!"

"What! Wasn't it done by a monster?"

Lud shook his head and told Nidhogg and Charlotte the conclusion he had drawn, but what puzzled him was that the timing of the appearance of these poisonous mushrooms was too coincidental. The two teams that were involved in the incident were nearly seventy miles apart as the crow flies. Even if it had been raining frequently in the past two days and the air humidity was very suitable for fungal growth, there was no reason for them to be poisoned at the same time of day.

Unless... these mushrooms were planted on purpose!

At Ludwig's request, the fifteen infected individuals at the camp will be transferred to the underground city for quarantine by Nidhogg.

With so many dwarves, even using all four claws wouldn't be enough, and Nidhogg certainly wouldn't allow them to ride on his back. So, they improvised, modifying the caravan's carriage into two pods. The infected dwarves sat in the pods, and then Nidhogg carried them away.