Unexpectedly, the queen wasn't in the hidden World Side controlled by the stargate, but in the underground base that Saul and Agu had once visited.
But upon reflection, Saul understood. They couldn't put living red worms and the queen too close together, as that would lose control over the red worms. And if the queen had sufficient intelligence, seeing so many red worms in deactivated states, she probably wouldn't obediently allow herself to be controlled by the Stargate Council as before.
Saul and his group transferred from the laboratory to the underground base.
The person who greeted him was again an unexpectedly familiar face.
"Corey?" Saul looked back at the stargate wizards who had followed him - Alick naturally hadn't co.
"Saul." Corey was always expressionless, but now she revealed a slightly bitter smile. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"Has your consciousness recovered?" Seeing Corey's appearance, Saul knew she had escaped the abnormal state from the port city.
"Yes. After eting you, I originally wanted to pass information about red worms to you, but was taken away halfway." Corey led Saul toward the interior of the base. "Only after being brought here did I learn I had always been monitored by the Stargate Council. I was an observation subject for several years."
Corey had originally been trying hard to report to the Glare Family, but later learned that the people controlling her were from the Stargate Council where the Glare Family belonged.
Even so high-ranking wizards in the Glare Family had participated in the stargate's migration plan. Other clan mbers had almost all retreated to the Glare World Side and no longer went out.
"Only I, because I passed the red worm test, was finally brought back here."
"Hmm. But at least you survived." Saul didn't judge the actions of Glare and the stargate. "Are you responsible for watching over the queen here?"
"Yes, after observing for a while, the stargate found my willpower was decent and could resist the queen's ntal influence, so they arranged for to work here."
Actually, calling it an arrangent was no different from imprisonnt, since she wasn't allowed to leave the underground base.
"Red worms don't affect people's minds, but the queen has this ability?" Saul imdiately caught the key information.
Corey nodded. "We analyzed that this should be the queen's unique self-protection ability. Other red worms didn't inherit this ability from the queen. Fortunately they don't have this ability."
Otherwise, the stargate would have beco their test subjects instead.
Saul kept talking with Corey about red worm matters, while Douglas beside them seed more interested in Corey.
"You're that wizard who was brainwashed several tis by Stargate Council wizards but could always break free?"
This was Corey's first ti eting Douglas. For so reason, looking at this man with a peaceful expression, she felt sowhat nervous.
This emotion ca inexplicably.
She felt natural fear and wariness when facing enemies stronger than her, but facing Douglas was groundless nervousness.
"I, I don't know why I can break free either." Corey said very quietly.
"That must be because your ntal power is rather special. You major in light attribute magic, right?"
"Yes."
"We can study this later. The clearer your self-understanding, the better you can help yourself advance. Your current urgent reliance on external things for advancent is actually trapping you in difficulties."
Corey was stunned. She had been unable to advance to third rank because she couldn't gather enough resources to push open the door inside her body. She never expected that today a wizard would tell her that understanding herself was more important than utilizing external factors.
Could it be that she didn't understand herself well enough?
If she really could push open that door directly through herself, why would she have wasted so many years?
But Douglas spoke so confidently that Corey couldn't help wanting to believe once more.
What if he could provide her with advancent ideas?
Saul listened quietly on the side. Only after Corey nodded in agreent did he say, "Then I'll take a look too. Wizard Corey and I have fought together before, so I know her fairly well."
Corey naturally had no objections. Having Saul beside her made her feel more at ease.
While talking, the group had already reached the warehouse where the queen was located.
A pure white giant warehouse.
At this mont, Agu in the diary suddenly spoke up in reminder.
[Master, this is the warehouse where urich... killed Fiona.]
"I know." Saul didn't hesitate and followed Corey inside.
The warehouse interior was also completely white, showing no trace that soone had been beheaded here.
Corey walked to the center of the warehouse, asked others to enter, then activated magical formations to close the warehouse door.
"The queen is beneath this warehouse. After entering the lower level, using ntal power is strictly forbidden to avoid causing the queen to riot."
Corey finally explained the precautions for entering the lower level to everyone. Only after all had indicated understanding did she activate the magical formation beneath their feet.
The formation lit up with a faint glow, the sa as the formation Fiona had used to surround Agu, except this ti no dark arcs appeared. Instead, the ground continuously moved and deford, forming a downward staircase within seconds.
Saul followed Corey down. Because he needed to carefully restrain his ntal power, he could only observe with his eyes, but even with just his eyes now, he could see many things.
As his vision gradually sank below the floor, a huge water pool first appeared before his eyes.
The underground space was very large, with many facilities and several wizards and apprentices.
But what most attracted attention was the huge water pool in the distance.
The water in the pool was very murky, with the surface gently undulating.
During his descent on the stairs, Saul saw a huge white egg underwater.
He had seen similar eggs in the Star Observatory Tower's laboratory - those were new carriers combining deactivated red worms with Faceless Ones, also stored in liquid.
But this one gave Saul a completely different feeling.
The other "eggs" were all dead; this one was alive, and had obvious aggressiveness.
The mont Saul saw it, its shell also suddenly bulged outward.
Corey, who had been walking down steadily, imdiately quickened her pace, almost running down the stairs.
Saul stood in place, letting others speed past him.
"Sothing seems to have gone wrong." Douglas leisurely walked to the sa step as Saul. "This is the queen they value so highly? It feels... not very impressive."
Saul watched the queen in the water pool. She was still struggling violently, and several wizards had already jumped into the water, using so unknown thod to pacify the queen.
"Don't say that." Saul said quietly to Douglas. "This is sothing we paid no small price to obtain."
Don't curse others while cursing yourself too.
"Cough cough." Douglas coughed lightly twice and stopped talking.
Saul thought: Was the queen so agitated just now because she discovered ? Or can she detect the star-shaped eyes hidden on my body?
(End of Chapter)
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