Using That Trick Again

Anbaixiu considered himself well-traveled and experienced, but he had genuinely never seen a spectacle like this. Floating chunks of land of various sizes drifted everywhere. Some held mountains, others lakes, volcanoes, caverns, or even the crumbling remnants of shattered cities. These floating landmasses tilted in all directions—many were completely upside down, and some were slowly rotating. Yet the creatures living upon them seemed oblivious, much like ordinary mortals walking on the surface of a world without ever feeling its rotation. Nor were these scattered lands entirely isolated from one another. Occasionally, when two masses drifted close together, the creatures inhabiting them would start shooting at each other across the void. Most simply hurled various objects back and forth, making it hard to tell whether they were waging war or conducting some bizarre cross-platform trade. Could such a bizarre world be the divine realm of Nell Skyark, the God of Trickery? Catherine looked just as astonished; not even the ancient elven texts recorded so fantastical a world. Anbaixiu prepared to fly toward another landmass, but after ascending a few hundred meters, he felt a strange force tugging back at him, preventing him from climbing any higher. Catherine encountered the exact same issue. Even when the two combined their magic, they failed to breach that invisible barrier. Anbaixiu murmured thoughtfully, "It seems every one of these landmasses is a miniature world of its own." "Then what do we do now?" Catherine asked with a trace of anxiety. If they couldn't leave, then even if Naomi woke up and returned them to their proper point in time, they would likely remain trapped in this spatial pocket rather than returning to the underground ruins. Catherine had no desire to spend the rest of her life here, cooped up with those disgusting slaadi. Anbaixiu, by contrast, was in no rush. Being able to return this time had already been arranged by the Goddess of Fate, and he doubted she would go through so much trouble just to trap an immortal like him here to chat about life with a bunch of slaadi. There had to be a way out; it was simply a matter of finding it. Because Anbaixiu stayed calm, he quickly settled on a direction. He said to Catherine, "The spatial fusion of those two worlds just now was probably no accident—it might have been deliberately orchestrated. If someone can truly control these shattered spaces and connect them to our world, we can use that very method to get back." Catherine felt Anbaixiu's words made a great deal of sense. She was still too prone to panicking—hardly a qualified adventurer. "But could there really be anyone living in this swamp?" Catherine asked. "Certainly not humans. Wherever slaadi dwell, other intelligent races can't survive. Don't assume those toads have no brains; only the red slaadi are on the duller side. Slaadi of other colors aren't much less intelligent than ordinary mortals. If our luck is bad and we run into a black one... we probably wouldn't even be able to run." Slaadi had a very peculiar ecology of evolution and reproduction. The eggs laid by the most basic red slaad grew inside various hosts to produce blue slaadi or green slaadi. The blue-skinned ones were formidable warriors boasting hooked claws far harder and sharper than ordinary weapons, while green slaadi hatched from the corpses of spellcasters and were competent magic-users themselves. Blue slaadi could then spread the Chaos Phage through their hooked claws, directly transforming other living creatures into slaadi—becoming red or green variants depending on the victim's individual nature. It sounded complicated, but all three were merely the rank-and-file grunts of the slaad species. What was truly formidable was the evolution of green slaadi. Hatched using spellcasters as nourishment, they possessed exceptional intellect. If they one day attained insight into certain secret arts, they would evolve into gray slaadi. At that color, they stood on the threshold of legend, and with a bit of luck, could directly ascend to legendary status. Yet this was still not the end of a slaad's evolution, merely an intermediate stage. Above gray slaadi were death slaadi, white slaadi, and black slaadi. The black slaadi were Slaad Lords, whose terrifying might could be summarized in a single phrase: quasi-deity power. What did quasi-deity power mean? The lord of any random layer of Hell possessed quasi-deity power—a level capable of standing as an enemy to true gods. That was why Anbaixiu had said that if they encountered a black slaad, the two of them combined would be no match for it. Still, their luck shouldn't be that terrible. What Slaad Lord would ever be exiled to a shattered world like this? Anbaixiu led Catherine back down toward the swamp. The moment they descended, another large swarm of slaadi surrounded them. Red ones were the most numerous, alongside the occasional blue warrior slaad. Out of more than a dozen creatures, only a single green slaad stared at the pair, its throat sac puffing rhythmically as it let out low, guttural croaks. Anbaixiu raised both hands and said to the green slaad, "Don't misunderstand—we only wandered in by accident. Would it be possible to speak with your lord?" The green slaad possessed enough intelligence to understand his meaning, yet showed no inclination to negotiate. Instead, it brandished its staff, coalescing a fireball the size of a human head. Anbaixiu helplessly raised a hand. A crimson flash of magic streaked forth, striking the creature with pinpoint accuracy and interrupting its spell. Counterspell was the most common anti-magic tool, but it could only bully the weak; in the hands of spellcasters of equal tier, it had almost no effect. For a legend to bully a green slaad, however, was an absolute curb-stomp. With its spell cut short, the green slaad nearly choked on its own breath. The other slaadi didn't sit idle either, lunging toward Anbaixiu and Catherine from all directions. Prepared well in advance, Anbaixiu flicked out his pair of magebreaker blades and began cutting a bloody swath through the pack. Catherine had grown wiser as well. Knowing better than to engage these disgusting beasts in melee, she cast Fly and soared into midair, raining radiant arrows from above. An elven queen drawing her bow with full force dealt damage on par with an archmage. Before Anbaixiu's blades could even slay a fourth slaad, the remaining grunts had already been pinned dead to the ground by Catherine's arrows. Less than ten seconds into the battle, only the green slaad remained alive. Anbaixiu walked up to the plump, green-skinned toad, severed its staff with a single slash, and pressed the tip of his blade against its throat. "Can we have a proper chat now?" The green slaad let out a terrified croak, then rasped in a grating voice, "What do you want with our lord?" Anbaixiu smiled. "That's none of your concern. Either lead the way, or I slaughter you right now. Choose for yourself." The green slaad scoffed contemptuously. "You're just a piece of scrap iron! Let me speak to your master!" Anbaixiu: "..." With a wet crunch, the magebreaker blade plunged into the creature's throat, severing half its head. Anbaixiu reached out, snatched its dispersing soul into his palm, and deftly unraveled its threads to sift through its memories. Had this creature possessed a bit more wits and recognized who was in charge, it wouldn't have met such an abrupt end. Anbaixiu had no desire to strike bargains with fools; it was a waste of time. There wasn't much to glean from the soul's memories. Though it had the intellect of an ordinary mortal, this swamp was utterly desolate, meaning daily life for the slaadi amounted to eating, drinking, shitting, mating, and repeating the cycle. No constructive endeavors, no meaningful advancement. Even so, Anbaixiu found the answer he was looking for: the slaad lord ruling this swamp was a gray slaad, not one of the far mightier death, white, or black slaadi. According to the extracted memories, this gray slaad didn't possess any extraordinarily terrifying talents either. Even if it was legendary, Anbaixiu felt confident he could overpower it. Moreover, slaadi truly were capable of manipulating spatial connections. Though unstable, whenever they needed to reproduce, they would tear open a gateway and invade other worlds in search of new hosts. Now that their objective was clear, there was no need to hold back. Anbaixiu cast Leira's True Mirage over himself and Catherine, disguising them as a red and a blue slaad before proceeding deeper into the swamp. Leira's True Mirage perfectly replicated the outward appearance of slaadi, making it easy to traverse the swamp without drawing attacks. Yet Anbaixiu had underestimated these creatures. It wasn't that the illusion was flawed, but that the slaadi maintained an extraordinarily strict hierarchy. The moment the two approached the heart of the swamp, a cluster of slaadi bounded forward, croaking furiously to drive them back. These slaadi still preserved the habits of wild beasts: only high-ranking individuals could approach the inner grounds, while the rest were relegated to the periphery. "What now? Would turning into green slaadi work?" Catherine asked. Anbaixiu shook his head. "No. We've only seen one green slaad." "What do you mean? Can't you just tweak your illusion slightly?" Catherine asked. Anbaixiu explained, "You're still treating them like mindless beasts. Think about it: if these slaadi were citizens of Ryan, I could disguise myself as a Silvermoon Knight without issue. But if I casually tweaked that Silvermoon Knight's facial features and slapped them onto you, how would the folk of Ryan react upon seeing you?" "Well..." Catherine seemed to grasp the problem. Anbaixiu continued, "Every wart on a slaad's hide is an identifying feature. To us, these toads look identical, but in their eyes, every single slaad is unique. Modifying details arbitrarily will only get us exposed." "Then what do we do? Fight our way in?" Catherine asked anxiously. "No need," Anbaixiu replied. "I can simply make you invisible with an illusion. I'll transform into that green slaad and walk right in, and you just follow behind me." Catherine: "..." "Then why didn't we just sneak in invisible from the start?" Catherine asked. Anbaixiu explained, "Because I needed to practice the slaadi's movements! Did you honestly plan to barge in, seize the slaad lord, and force him to open the spatial corridor? What if he refuses? Are you going to kill him? Reading memories from a soul isn't a hundred percent reliable. What if his soul ascends straight to the slaad divine realm? Slaadi probably have a divine realm of their own... I think. In any case, I intend to secretly learn his method for controlling spatial connections, not just go in swinging." Catherine's eyes widened in sudden realization, and she exclaimed, "You're planning to use that trick again?!" Anbaixiu asked, puzzled, "Which trick?" Catherine said, "That shape-shifting con! Every time you disguise yourself as another race, you either abduct a princess or swindle tens of millions of coins! This time, don't tell me you're trying to kidnap a slaad princess to work for you?!"