The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-1278

Chapter 1278: Monsters?

Monsters?

Lily had not forgotten that monster, which she caught just a few days after she entered the Black Forest. The monster could leech the victim’s spiritual world, relying on the manipulation of dreams and illusions to confuse the victim. It looked like a smoky lump of black meat. Calaxus named it the Shadow of Nightmares, but Lily liked to call it a piece of smoked meat. Anyway, it was still a nasty and stubborn thing. If Lily had not wanted to show it off to her landlord, she would have torn it into pieces and fed it to the wolves.

The monster had a dangerous and robust ability; its parasitic ability was almost insuperable to those who were weak-willed. Lily had placed it under heavy monitoring. Bear monsters, who did not dream, were guarding the smoke monster to ensure the monster was locked up with the Jailor’s Stones 24/7, and prohibit ordinary soldiers from coming near the cage especially when they were unwell. Three teams must be present if they were to check the monster. The first team would approach the pen, the second team would keep an eye on the first team from a distance, while the third team, armed, would monitor the first and the second teams from even farther away. If the situation went wrong, a shoot-to-kill policy would be activated. This rigorous monitoring process had rendered the monster powerless and caged up safely.

But it looks like there was a situation this time.

Lily got to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

Duke Ulysses became nervous. He had already known the origin of the Beast Tide, the Sanctum investigation team among the beasts, and the captured Shadows of Nightmares from the storm of Chaos. Like an ordinary people of Collow, Ulysses was cautious of anything from the Chaos. If he could beat the alpha, he would not have agreed to hold that thing in the dungeon below his castle.

‘Don’t worry. It did not escape,” Calaxus said with a confused face. “It looks a little weak.”

“Weak?” Lily was stunned. “It was full of beans all this while. How did it become weak suddenly?”

“Probably it was because of the light,” the high-ranking monk replied. “The light has powerful energy. It seems to be a divine power of Order. I have no idea what has caused the miracle, but it has affected the Chaos.”

Lily blinked when she felt that what the adviser said made sense. So she banged the table with her hand and said, “Let’s go and check it out.”

Duke Ulysses quickly dug out his 157-year silver glass from under Lily’s hand, only to find that it had become a biscuit.

Calaxus nodded. But before the alpha left, he said, “Alpha, there is something else that I want to tell you.”

Lily turned to look at him. “I’m listening.”

“My men and I would leave after some time,” the high-ranking monk said calmly.

“Leave?” Lily was startled. “Is this food here no good?”

The high-ranking monk choked. The alpha was fine except that her quirky reply always caught him off guard. “No, it’s not about the food. We have a mission in Ansu to carry out a job the pope has entrusted us. And when we joined the team, we have agreed that when we arrive in the Kingdoms of Order, the investigation team would have to act freely.”

While speaking, the high-ranking monk looked a little wacky. “We paid money when we entered the team,” Calaxus reminded.

In other words, the monk meant that the Sanctum investigation team had paid for their meals in the Beast Tide; they were not slaves.

Lily then came to her realization. She scratched her chin and said, “Oh, ya. Well, you can’t stop you from leaving. I will start to look for my landlord here in Taros soon. I wouldn’t be able to take care of you guys by then. So, when are you going to leave?”

“No hurry,” Calaxus replied, waving his hand. “I am just informing you beforehand. Our investigation team still need to travel halfway across the kingdom before reaching our destination. We will stick together for a while.”

For now, the Shadows of Nightmares was held up in the dungeon of Fort Raven.

This border fortress was a bridgehead against Chaos’ invasion. During peacetime, Fort Raven and its surrounding wilderness and forests were the territories of the kingdom. Villages and towns of various sizes were scattered around the fortress. At that time, the Fort Raven was the de facto capital for the territory it controlled. Its dungeons were mostly used to detain criminals in the area, but after the outbreak of the war, the population of the territory had moved inward to the kingdom, and the role of the political and economic center had shifted from Fort Raven to another city inland. The dungeons of the fortress became empty, and would only house soldiers who violated the military discipline. But the Blackblade Legion and the Raven Guards were highly disciplined and well trained, there were rarely any disciplinary misconducts. So during a decade of the tide of Chaos, the entire dungeon was empty.

The empty dungeon became an ideal place to hold an unapproachable monster like the Shadows of Nightmares.

At least the alpha thought so. But it looks like Duke Ulysses, the commander of the Fort Raven, was not very happy.

The dark dungeon was built of sturdy granite, and the gaps between the boulders were reinforced with molten copper. On the stone wall, there was a torch every few meters. These swaying fires were making the dungeon looked creepy.

The Shadow of the Nightmares was kept at the deepest level of the dungeon, where there was only one cell. The circular cell was lined with an extra iron gate where Calaxus hung a dozen of Jailor’s Stonesbars. These stones were thought to be enough to suppress the most ferocious monsters of Chaos.

The dark, smoky piece of meat was sprawling on the ground in the center of the cell, and looked languid. Lily led her lackeys, Duke Ulysses, and Calaxus into the dungeon. She already noticed the abnormality of the meat at first glance.

The meat seemed to have shrunk by at least a third, and its black smoke had significantly reduced and became so thin that she could see the physical body inside. The tentacles of the monsters drooped on the mat as if they were dehydrated and the meat looked as if it was dying.

Lily stepped forward, summoned her claws, and poked the meat. “Hey, wake up. What’s wrong with you?”

The meat squirmed a little. Beneath the smoke, there were many dark-red eyes, which opened slightly and then closed back.

It was out of its character. In a typical day, it would have fought back.

“Did the light suppress it?” Lily’s ears flickered continuously, and there seemed to be a question mark the glow on her head. “It must be hungry. That’s how I would react when I am hungry.”

Calaxus’ mouth twitched. “This monster doesn’t eat. It doesn’t even have a mouth. It’s a magical creature, which devours the primordial magic energy in the air. The magic is everywhere in Collow. How could it go hungry?”

“Hmm…” Lily scratched her chin and then continued to poke the smoky meat with her claws. “Don’t fake it, I didn’t starve you. I will poke six holes in your body with my claws!”

The monster twitched again, and a few eyes opened slightly, making a faint voice under the shroud of smoke. “Did you not… say… five holes earlier?”

Lily was stunned. She did not expect the monster to respond this way. “I can poke one more hole in addition to the five—you spew a lot of nonsense!”

The monster did not talk back this time, just retracting all its tentacles, rolling and twitching on the ground. It looks like it was painful.

“Hey, don’t fake it!” Lily could not help but become nervous. She was not afraid of the monster attacking her, but if that thing died, she would not be able to show off in front of her landlord. “I need to keep you alive to exchange you for pork ribs with Mr. Landlord.”

“No worry, I won’t… go back for now…” The monster suddenly quieted after a violent convulsion. Now, everyone started to realize that this strange creature could communicate.

Its thought was organized and it actively communicated with Lily.

Calaxus had realized it and wanted to alert the alpha. But before he could do so, the smoke monster had turned to him. “You little guy over there… are you from Sanctum? A monk or a bishop?”

Calaxus looked at the meat on the ground, wide-eyed. “How… do you know?”

“Go to remind the pope…” The monster seemed not to hear Calaxus. It just said what it wanted to say with a hoarse voice inside the smoke. “Rockmarton… is crawling out of the abyss. The ancient prison wardens have decayed.”

Calaxus was stunned. He looked at the monster in horror. “What… are you?”