Chapter 106 "Egg"

"It seems that the sandworm really treats this place as its nest." After the hanging basket landed, Agatha held up a glowing magic stone and looked around, frowning. "Have you found Fran?"

"Fran xiaojie isn't here," Lightning had already examined the area. "The Black Stone Tower seems to be stuck in the center of the cave, with gaps on both sides. Could she have fallen onto the tower and rolled off to one side?"

The diamond-shaped stone tower was embedded into the rock walls at both ends, like a bridge erected in a deep pit. No one knew how they had managed to do this. As for the tentacle demons hidden at the bottom of the tower, and the Hundred-Eyed Demon, they were nowhere to be seen.

"This thing doesn't affect my ability," Nightingale emerged from the mist.

"But you can't pass through it like you pass through walls, right?" Agatha squatted down and summoned a block of solid ice to stab the Black Stone Tower. The ice cone shattered on impact, but the surface of the stone tower remained unscathed. "Rumor has it that it was made of God's Stone. Although it no longer interferes with magic on a large scale like a God's Stone prism, it can still isolate magic."

"Not made, but grown," Elena corrected in a low voice. "Corrupted demonic energy can alter the effects of God's Stone veins and promote its growth into an obelisk. However, only the one born under the Red Moon has the ability to create red mist; the others merely prevent the red mist from dissipating so quickly. This was top secret during the Association era, but after the destruction of Tarach, Lady Eleanor told us everything."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Nightingale said displeased.

"You didn't tell me there would be a demon spire here," Elena retorted. "So many things can affect magic; how could I have guessed it would be this kind of thing?"

"We need to continue down," Lightning flew between the two, interrupting their confrontation. "There's still some distance to the bottom of the cave. I just tried flying down a short distance and could hear the faint sound of running water. There might be an underground river down there. If Fran xiaojie really fell from the sides of the stone tower, she might still be alive."

"Really?" Elena's voice perked up. "Could it be because of the underground river that Sylvie didn't find Fran's trail?"

"Very likely," Agatha nodded. "Most of the Eye of Magic's vision is blocked by this stone tower, which is why she said she couldn't see the ground. If Fran was swept away by the water, she wouldn't be able to find the magic light, either." She turned to Lightning and said, "Fly back and tell Wendy about our situation, and ask her to have Maggie transport some God's Punishment Witches down...and the soldiers of the First Army, too. Have them set up a sentry post here, and we'll continue exploring downwards."

"Okay, leave it to me," the little girl nodded.

…

With the descent of the hanging basket and the assistance of the magic ark for transportation, they quickly gathered enough manpower.

Lightning used this time to complete a patrol of the space below the Black Stone Tower. As she had expected, the vertical pit wall soon turned into a slope, and the air became increasingly humid. After descending thirty or forty meters, a wide underground river appeared before her eyes.

The snowmelt flowing along the cave walls converged into a rushing stream, cascading down from the opening to form a waterfall. When she approached it, the little girl could feel the biting cold air.

Due to the abundant moisture, the bottom of the pit was covered with all kinds of moss and mushrooms, some of which emitted a ghostly blue light, illuminating the surrounding ground. Even without a glowing magic stone, one could vaguely see the outline of the cave. Coupled with the fireflies flying around, the entire underground was like another world.

When the witches and Tarach remnants landed at the bottom of the cave on the ark, they were all captivated by the scene before them.

"It would be great if we could plant these glowing fruits in Neverwinter City," Nightingale sighed. "That way, everyone could see the roads and alleys at night."

"Shall we bring some back to plant?" Lightning rubbed her hands excitedly. Discovering and cultivating new species was also a common thing for explorers to do.

For example, sugarcane and corn were picked from other islands by the Fjords explorers and gradually cultivated into what they are today. I wonder if these giant mushrooms and glowing "Pu Leaf fruits" will be as sweet as bird's kiss mushrooms?

"Let's get the job done first," Agatha counted the number of people. "Maggie, you stay here and help the First Army establish a sentry post. We'll continue along the underground river. If we don't find Fran after two kilometers, we'll set up camp temporarily."

No one objected. Lightning, Nightingale, and Agatha all had the ability to escape and protect themselves. The ten God's Punishment Witches led by Elena were all exceptionally skilled, and their combat power was equivalent to transcendents. Although there were not many of them, it was already considered the most elite combination of the united front.

After entering the underground river cave, the sound of the water became extremely loud, as if roaring in their ears. Lightning had to get closer to hear what everyone was saying clearly.

"Can the Devouring Worm swim in water?" Agatha asked.

"No one has tried that," Elena shook her head. "However, the worm's body is extremely large. I think even if it's pushed forward by the water, it shouldn't be too far from the deep pit."

"Can you tell where this river comes from and which direction it goes?" Another God's Punishment Witch asked. The little girl remembered that her name seemed to be Zoe.

"If I remember correctly, it's directly facing the direction we entered the Snow Mountain," Nightingale answered her. "Which means it should come from the West Region's underground water veins and lead to the southern hills."

Lightning couldn't help but feel strange. It was not strange that His Majesty's territory had abundant underground water resources, but leading to the south? There wasn't a decent river there. Where did all this water end up?

Suddenly, she saw something seem to tremble on the stone wall not far away.

"Wait, there seems to be movement ahead!"

At her warning, everyone stopped and drew their weapons.

"No magical reaction," Nightingale quickly confirmed. "But there is indeed something hidden there..." She paused, seemingly taking two steps closer. "It looks like a semi-circular...egg?"

"What?" Agatha was slightly stunned.

"Since it doesn't have magic and doesn't pose a threat to us," Elena waved to the God's Punishment Witches beside her. "Come with me."

The encirclement proceeded without incident. When Lightning took a close look at the trembling object, she couldn't help but frown.

A gray membrane was attached to the cave wall, looking no different from the surrounding rocks at first glance. But when she held up the glowing magic stone close to the membrane, she could see many opening and closing pores on the surface, which rose and fell with the membrane as if it were breathing.

"Damn...what is this thing?" Elena spat. "It's disgusting."

"If it's really an egg, how big would the mother that laid it be?" Lightning measured the area of the membrane, and found that it was about three meters long and wide. The bulging part in the middle could almost fit an adult cow.

"No, this shape..." Zoe suddenly gasped. She drew her long sword and thrust it into the membrane, then pried it open—

A sharp scream immediately rang out. The broken "egg" spewed out a large amount of mucus, and then a black shadow slid out of the bulging part and collapsed softly on the ground.

Lightning discovered that it was actually a Mad Demon.