-34- Not the Deed of a Wise Man

Standing on the hovering magitech vehicle, Yvette gazed into the distance. The center of the Ish Mountains was blanketed by a mass of withered vegetation, exuding an aura of death under the twilight sun; this must be the "Corrupted Forest" that was nurturing the Overlord.

Because the forest was currently channeling its forces into two different fronts, there were few signs of living creatures visible to the naked eye. The wind whistled mournfully through branches that resembled skeletal remains, turning the entire forest into a vast, ominous graveyard.

After a moment of silence, Yvette looked toward the Dual-Blade Demon. "How many Phase 3 aberrations are there... around the hive?"

"The weakest one is on the front lines. Aside from the Hive Lord currently in metamorphosis, there should be four others," the Dual-Blade Demon replied. "I can provide you with all the information I have on them. If you intend to act, I can help pin down one of them while you attack the hive."

"Are you really that kind?" Rosalind asked suspiciously.

"As I said, if the Overlord emerges, we are all doomed," the Dual-Blade Demon twitched its lips, letting out a low chuckle. "At my stage of evolution, there is a magic core within the body... I believe your teacher would find such a thing quite desirable."

"Aberrations have magic cores too?" Yvette looked at it, feeling rather intrigued.

The essence of a magic core is a solid energy construct. For a natural mage, it is extremely easy to absorb, practically melting upon consumption. If obtained, it could be used directly as a mana-restoration potion to replenish emergency energy.

Of course, elemental batteries and energy storage plates, while sounding similar in function, were actually quite different. Those are substances used as mediums to store energy specifically for magitech machinery. For mages to extract power from them is like squeezing a rock-hard sponge—after much effort, only a tiny amount is released, making them useless in critical moments.

"Of course they do," the Dual-Blade Demon said, subtly moving a bit further away. "I only need the corpses of those mindless dogs; the magic cores are yours."

Yvette fell into deep thought.

According to the Dual-Blade Demon's intelligence, there were a total of six Phase 3 aberrations in the Ish Mountains faction: one was the Hive Lord, one was on the front line fighting against Lura City, and the remaining four were hive guards. If its information was accurate and the operation went without a hitch, the reality would be that the Dual-Blade Demon and Rosalind would each handle one, leaving her to deal with the remaining two guards.

However, the Hive Lord inside the nest was also a massive threat, and she could not rule out the possibility of additional guards hidden in the forest that the Dual-Blade Demon knew nothing about.

"Can we attack in waves? Like, taking them out one by one?" Rosalind suggested.

"Stupid! The bugs would just return to defend the hive!" The Dual-Blade Demon dismissed the idea, its tone becoming surprisingly fluent. "And the other two hives, including the Hive Lords, are also mindless curs! You should know it’s unrealistic to count on them to do anything useful. While their forces are depleted and they only have four high-tier threats, time is of the essence to prevent the Overlord's birth!"

"Teacher, what do you think?" Rosalind, having been scolded, turned to her teacher with a pout. She still didn't trust this creature that had tried to cut her the moment they met, especially since its smile was so unsettling—it looked just like a wicked villain.

"Prepare for five days," Yvette said, lowering her eyes.

"I hope we have... a pleasant cooperation, beautiful... powerful... Miss Mage." The Dual-Blade Demon curled its lips, finishing the sentence with a hint of flattery before immediately flapping its wings and vanishing in an instant.

"Can we really trust this thing, Teacher?" After the Dual-Blade Demon left, Rosalind asked uneasily.

"No," Yvette replied after a moment of silence, sighing. "But we cannot gamble, because we cannot leave this island; there is no second option. Even if it is a trap, we must see it for ourselves to be at ease."

"I suppose so..." Rosalind said dejectedly.

Over the next five days, Yvette worked urgently to optimize the "Regeneration Pump."

As a life-saving spell, it not only significantly increased the rate of tissue regeneration but could also, the moment a wound was eroded by corruption, condense a phantom energy heart near the injury to draw in all the infected blood. The phantom heart would forcibly strip away and imprison the aberration factors within the blood before slowly pumping the purified blood back into the body. Finally, those filthy factors would be compressed into a viscous black sludge, which could be expelled through vomiting or guided out by magic.

This had to be completed within 20 seconds; any longer, and the aberration factors would spread rapidly, making the Regeneration Pump useless.

Regardless, they finally had an emergency procedure, allowing Rosalind to engage in close-quarters combat with the aberrations more boldly without the fear of being crippled by an injury.

Meanwhile, Rosalind spent her time studying the new intelligence provided by the Dual-Blade Demon.

According to its description, excluding the Phase 3 aberration at Lura City, the five aberrations in the Corrupted Forest—including the Hive Lord—were: the Hive Lord "Tide-Bug Queen," and the four great guards: "Rot-Beak Harpy," "Night-Stalking Demon," "Mechanical Tyrant," and "Shepherd Sheep."

—All of which Rosalind had named on the spot.

The "Tide-Bug Queen" needed no explanation; she was the master of the hive, the creator of the swarm, and the true mastermind behind the scenes, capable of using a certain sense to make tide-bugs her spies. Although currently in a semi-dormant state, the Tide-Bug Queen could maintain control over the swarm through the hive as a medium.

The Rot-Beak Harpy was a giant, three-headed mutated vulture capable of spraying corrosive venom. It had a robust build and a wingspan of over 30 meters, comparable to a dragon, with formidable melee capabilities.

The Night-Stalking Demon was a bat-like aberration, smaller than the Rot-Beak Harpy but still massive. It lacked eyes or other facial organs, possessing only a giant maw that could split open to the ear.

The Mechanical Tyrant was clearly a semi-mechanical aberration formed after the corruption of a magitech soldier. In terms of evolution, the Dual-Blade Demon believed it was likely only Phase 2, as it hadn't even grown a brain. However, the magitech soldier itself was a small mecha from the Age of the Origin Civilization; even without intelligence, it was the strongest of the four guards, potentially even stronger than the Hive Lord, and must—could only—be handled by Yvette.

The Shepherd Sheep appeared as a giant humanoid figure seven or eight meters tall. Perhaps due to its sheep-like head, it did not possess intelligence on the level of the Dual-Blade Demon. Its body was covered in thick, stained white fur, and its limbs were similar to those of a human. However, during combat, its bloated abdomen would suddenly split open, revealing a multitude of human heads connected by tentacles, wailing in agony; these heads were its primary biting weapons.

Of course, all this intelligence came from the Dual-Blade Demon's one-sided testimony and was likely just the tip of the iceberg. Still, it was highly oppressive, leaving no room for them to let their guard down.

On the sixth day, at the ruins of a small town outside the Ish Mountains, the master and apprentice arrived at the meeting point. No sooner had they parked their vehicle than they saw the head of the Dual-Blade Demon poking out from a window of a nearby abandoned building, its sleek, jet-black cranial carapace gleaming under the midsummer sun.

It asked impatiently, "...Have you decided how to divide the targets?"

"...You scared me!" Rosalind had thought some aberration had crawled out... though it was, indeed, an aberration.

Seeing the Dual-Blade Demon's expression of disdain, Rosalind said unhappily, "The Mechanical Tyrant! Can you handle that one?"

"What a tasteless name, even less tasteful than 'Dual-Blade Demon'," the Demon said. "Of course I can't. Who could fight that? Let your teacher handle it."

Clearly, after several days of communication, this aberration’s grasp of human speech had become increasingly fluent.

"What about the Shepherd Sheep?" Rosalind asked again.

"That thing is too bizarre; it doesn't suit me."

"Why don't you want to fight any of them?"

"Fighting an opponent whose capabilities are unknown is not the act of a wise being. I choose the big vulture; it isn't very bright, and I can use my intellectual advantage to toy with it," the Dual-Blade Demon said. "I assume you wouldn't want your partner to hold you back by failing to utilize their own strengths."

"What intellectual advantage? Isn't it just that you're fast?" Rosalind was unimpressed. Among the four guards, this Phase 3 aberration was the most cumbersome, and it had been the one she originally intended to pick.

"You'll be shocked by my wisdom soon enough."

"I think you just want to slack off and not contribute..."

And so, after a brief discussion, the Dual-Blade Demon chose the Rot-Beak Harpy as its target to pin down, while Rosalind chose the Night-Stalking Demon.

The remaining Mechanical Tyrant, the Shepherd Sheep, the Tide-Bug Queen inside the hive, and any possible surprise attacks would be Yvette's responsibility to resolve.

With that settled, they took out magitech hoverboards suited for solo combat and slowly infiltrated the direction of the Corrupted Forest.