Bailu flung out all the coffee they had previously gathered. Using her water manipulation skills, she directed the dark, coffee-colored liquid toward the enemies.
Under her control, the liquid made its way into the mouths of all the mara-struck soldiers.
"Does this stuff even work?"
Bailu only knew the coffee had a calming effect on the body, but she didn't know what it would do to enemies. However, when she saw the mara-struck soldiers fall asleep right where they stood after consuming a certain amount, Bailu's eyes widened inside the can.
"What is this stuff?"
She was stunned. Even if the coffee ca from Lady Herta, it shouldn't have such miraculous effects. It really made them fall asleep imdiately after drinking a certain amount, with no delay at all.
Bailu: "How fascinating…"
March 7th: "Hehe, of course! We spent a long ti testing this stuff back then. Here! There's more. Although we don't have much left, Pei Guang prepared enough to put over ten thousand people to sleep for an hour."
Before coming to Xianzhou, Pei Guang had used the Herta Puppets to fill barrels of coffee in his room. The only downside was that coffee production was limited, so producing this much in a short ti was quite impressive.
Most of the coffee had been given to Dan Heng, who needed it to face the undying 'perfect being,' so extra preparation was necessary.
Seeing March 7th produce another full barrel of coffee, Bailu's expression turned to astonishnt.
With the mara-struck soldiers now asleep, the remaining dozen or so Fragntum creatures were child's play for March 7th. She drew her bow, aid, and fired.
The ice arrows, ford from the Six-Phased Ice, cut through the air, hitting the creatures before they could react. All the Fragntum creatures vanished.
As soon as they were gone, March 7th hurried over, skillfully pulling out a minecart and barrel to load the sleeping mara-struck soldiers inside.
Seeing her practiced movents, Bailu's eyes inside the can widened with curiosity.
"Oh my goodness, how many tis has she used this thod?"
As Bailu wondered, she observed the mara-struck soldiers closely.
"Strange, judging by their attire, they're all Cloud Knights. But there shouldn't be this many succumbing to the mara. How could this be… wait?"
Upon closer inspection, Bailu made a shocking discovery. The cells in these mara-struck bodies were in an unusually dormant state.
The process of becoming mara-struck was complex. The theories and pharmacological studies behind it had been thoroughly researched over thousands of years by Xianzhou scholars and were too lengthy to explain fully.
In simple terms, the cells lost their original order and grew chaotically, leading to a complete loss of sanity.
Why did they lose their minds? Simple—if brain cells lost order, rational thought would disappear.
But for those who drank the coffee, the disordering process halted completely. Bailu's head buzzed as she tried to wrap her mind around the complex chanics.
Not just a slowing down—a complete and inexplicable stop.
How to describe it? It was as if a migrating animal suddenly stopped in place, not eating, drinking, or moving—just staring into space.
If the brain cells retained so order, theoretically, with the help of certain dicinal herbs, partially transford individuals could be reversed. Even fully mara-struck Cloud Knights, though ntally gone, could at least have their bodies preserved and handed over to the Ten-Lords Commission.
But that was just in theory. To date, no reversal had ever occurred.
"Maybe it's worth a try?"
Bailu looked at the mara-struck soldiers in front of her, now asleep, and decided to try sothing. She took out her treasured gourd and let its dicinal contents flow into the mouth of one of the mara-struck.
A miraculous scene unfolded as the mara-struck soldier's body slowly began to revert to normal. The process was slow, but if it continued, there was a chance the soldier could fully recover!
"Wait, this is actually working?"
The sight of the mara-struck reversing its state made Bailu exhale in relief. Once she collected herself, she grabbed a bottle of coffee, poured it into her gourd, and shook it vigorously.
The gourd already contained so dicinal ingredients that could suppress the effects of the mara. She had only intended to experint, treating it as a last-ditch effort. But now that she saw it was working, she put aside all thoughts of playing around and focused on adjusting the dicine with the mysterious coffee.
There were enough mara-struck soldiers captured for her to run thorough tests.
anwhile, March 7th was busy both capturing and looting. Out of over thirty mara-struck soldiers, she managed to extract eight flashy effects.
Looking at the seven new effects in her inventory, March 7th muttered discontentedly, "No great drops—just these fancy effects."
She rembered how excited the team had been the first ti one of these effects appeared. But as they looted more and more equipnt effects, the initial thrill wore off.
March 7th: "Oh well~ it's all free loot anyway. All done here, let's move on~ Huh? Looks like Pei Guang is almost at Kafka's location too. We need to pick up the pace."
Tingyun was about to speak when March 7th and Welt started moving forward, eyes fixed on the mini-map.
Compared to Pei Guang and Stelle, their progress was less smooth. Nurous enemies were scattered along their path—groups of thirty, then another dozen, and another twenty. With Dan Heng also using the shared minecart space, March 7th's group soon found themselves running out of carts.
With fewer minecarts available, they couldn't fit one person per cart anymore. After so consideration, March 7th decided they'd have to fit two per cart for efficiency.
Initially, it was one person per cart, each with a pacifier in their mouth. Now, two people shared a cart, standing close with pacifiers. Later, March 7th discovered they could squeeze three people in if they tried, and eventually, they had carts holding up to twenty-seven people.
This experience taught March 7th what Pei Guang ant by 'efficiency'!
When resources were limited, finding ways to maximize output without causing issues was a tough but rewarding choice.
And who pulled the carts? That was left to the Herta Puppets. Strong and reliable, the mass-produced Svarog units provided the power needed, creating an efficient scene of one puppet pulling while another guarded.
Under such coordinated teamwork, the group finally reached Kafka's location. But as they arrived at the plaza, everyone—including Welt—was rendered speechless by what they saw.
In the center of the plaza stood two barrels. One was labeled 'Just a Common Enemy,' and the other 'Elite Enemy.' Between them, Pei Guang and Stelle were staring intently at a pot emitting crackling noises.
The scene was so surreal that March 7th instinctively took out her cara to capture it. Even Bailu, peering out from her barrel, saw the sight of Fu Xuan and Kafka stuffed into barrels with pacifiers in their mouths and took out her phone to docunt the mont.
She sent the picture to Jing Yuan. He was in the middle of planning his next move when he noticed the notification from Bailu. Curious, he opened it.
When he saw the image, he rubbed his eyes, convinced that age had finally caught up to him.
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