Ghost Orchid

For the first time in their lives, the red-haired young man and the other person's eyes were mixed with a hint of gunpowder. The grudge was not formed overnight, but as long as there was a sign, the next meeting would gradually become tit-for-tat.

Since the people from Garcia were here, they would not leave any gains for them. Seeing that it was meaningless to stay here any longer, Mason left quickly and hurriedly to the next place.

The appearance of Aibo also proved that his guess was correct. The two sides were investigating in the same direction. The group changed their target and went to other places. Just after landing, Sevich led several bloodline people to him.

"Feel sorry."

Mason again: "..."

So you have circled all these places, right?

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he reluctantly said hello: "You came really quickly."

Sevich did not hide it: "It's the place that Ai Bo pointed out to us."

Although he didn't like that guy very much at first, he had to admit that Ai Bo had an excellent mind and vision. The red-haired young man asked, "Why did you choose to form an alliance with Garcia?"

According to the ranking of strength, even if they want to challenge the Owen family, they should form an alliance with the Luo family.

The gray-eyed brain worm was silent for a while, as if considering: "This is the family's consideration."

Since he said so, it means that this matter has been approved by the master of the Brainworm Family and it is profitable in their eyes.

This time they went a little further away and finally found an area where no one was. Mason breathed a sigh of relief and waved his hand to signal the dragonborn to start moving.

The Dragonborns took out the measuring instruments developed by the Mechanical City and began to scan the area. When they scanned a certain place, the responsible Bloodline was shocked: "There is something wrong here!"

The others immediately rushed over. The instrument was affected by the black fog and was not very accurate, but after patient detection, it was still possible to find abnormal indices.

Mason looked and saw an empty space. He turned around twice and raised his hands in thought.

"Right here!"

Nidhogg shouted happily, urging his uncle to replace other energy liquids for him. He opened his mouth and spit out a stream of hot shock waves towards the ground.

"Bang!"

There was a dull explosion on the ground, and a cloud of stinging dust was scattered everywhere. Mason squinted his eyes, and with his good vision he looked straight into the smoke. Although this commotion was great, it did not achieve much. A layer of the ground was shallowly blasted open, revealing a hard dark gray soil layer.

These Black Mist followers have become smarter and have even reinforced the soil layer.

The red-haired young man groaned and said without hesitation: "Go on."

The bone dragon leaped up, and the thrusters under its armor lit up with deep blue flames. It took a deep breath, and the muzzle in its throat loomed, condensing into a dazzling flame.

“——Boom!!”

The ground shook and rocks flew everywhere. The blow did not end there, as Nidhogg continued to spit out several shock waves, the deafening sound hurting people's ears.

Under its persistent attack, the ground was finally completely opened. Mason waited until he calmed down and looked down. The dark hole was like a huge mouth of the abyss, welcoming prey to jump in.

"It's quite fancy."

He muttered, and turned to look at Nidhogg who was falling. The other party had already guessed what he meant, and answered with a wronged voice before he could even open his mouth.

"I want to go down too!"

This request was a bit too much for the underground passage. Even though it was full of complaints, the bone dragon still lay obediently at the entrance to prevent anyone from blocking their retreat.

Half of the Dragon Guards were assigned to protect Nidhogg, while the other half, led by Uncle Edward, jumped down with Mason.

The hole below was unexpectedly deep. Mason stepped on the soft soil, and the sound of flapping wings echoed in his ears.

The dragonborn folded their wings, and a ray of sunlight fell from the gap above their heads, dimly illuminating the surroundings.

The underground passage was filled with the smell of damp earth, and there was a faintly sticky and deep feeling underfoot.

Mason walked in front and wiped the blood into his eyes. His dark golden vertical pupils glowed faintly and it was as if it was daytime.

The passage was cylindrical in shape, uneven in width and narrowness. The ground was covered with mud from nowhere, with a little moisture.

The passage ahead was winding and twisting. I wonder what kind of power could have created such a passage. Mason turned around and asked, "Which side has the highest pollution index?"

He turned around and met the glowing pupils of various colors. Gold, blue, green, and different colors depending on the dragon species. Both sides were stunned and stared at each other silently. Mason clearly saw the dull expressions of the dragons.

The underground passage fell into a brief silence. It was Uncle Edward who first came to his senses and broke the deadlock: "Who has the detector?"

A black dragon descendant walked over silently and began to test the pollution concentration.

The rest of the people watched him measure in silence. After a while, Uncle Edward spoke stiffly, "Are you also a dragonborn?"

If you put their eyes together, you will find that they are very similar. The difference is that the eyes of the dragonborn are more like those of cold-blooded animals such as lizards and snakes, while the red-haired youth's are wider. They are basically the same under this light.

Mason finally realized why they looked like that and quickly waved his hand to deny it: "I'm not."

The Roland Ag family came from a mysterious place, so they were all pure humans. If he wanted to maintain this setting, he naturally couldn't connect with the dragon race.

The Golden Dragon's expression became even more serious: "So you have bathed in dragon blood?"

If non-dragon blood creatures want to acquire dragon characteristics, they must use the power of dragons to transform themselves. The simplest way is to bathe in dragon blood, swallow dragon crystals and dragon meat.

The former is possible if there are friendly dragons, but the latter will definitely fight to the death with the dragons. Thinking of the young dragon waiting outside the cave, the dragonborn naturally matched the number, and a look of surprise appeared on his cold face.

"So Lord Nidhogg is a golden dragon cub?"

...I can't say no.

Mason chose to acquiesce in a subtle mood, and the dragonborns looked at each other. If the occasion was not wrong, they would definitely be excited to argue about it.

No matter which species a precious baby dragon is, it will make the corresponding dragonborn overjoyed. Uncle Edward suddenly learned the news and couldn't help but smile.

He said it! The little dragon was so obedient and listened to him so well! It must be the cub of their golden dragon!

Since the person in front of him had bathed in dragon blood, he could be considered a dragon-blooded creature if rounded off further. If rounded off further, he could be a descendant of a dragon with extremely rare bloodline. If rounded off further still, this genius bloodline person that the Luo family was proud of was also a descendant of their golden dragon.

Nothing wrong!

Thinking of this, the Golden Dragon's eyes turned lovingly towards the other party. Mason was confused, and felt that the Dragonborn's attitude suddenly became much more intimate, looking at him as if he was looking at a kid who had just returned home from wandering.

What are these dragonborns thinking?

He was still thinking, and the Black Dragon chose a direction, pointed to the left and said, "The pollution concentration is high here."

The group quickly gathered their minds and followed the direction he pointed. They walked for an unknown amount of time, and the humidity in the air became higher and higher. Until the road was blocked by a clear pond. The fresh water came from nowhere, and it lay in a pool of emerald green. If there was a little light, it could clearly reflect the human figure.

Mason stopped in front of the pool and stared at it thoughtfully. The pollution detector was pointed directly into the water, and it had to go down and take a turn.

The two dragonborns in the team came over on their own initiative. They were all of blue dragon blood and were naturally close to water. Without being told, they took the initiative to check the water, and after confirming that it was not poisonous, they jumped in.

The others waited by the water for a while, and the blue dragonborns quickly swam up.

"There's a hole down there, so deep you can't see the bottom. We didn't dare go in because the water was gushing out from there."

What to do next was self-evident, and everyone immediately began to act. First, they isolated the instruments that would be damaged by water, and then checked whether the pollutants on their bodies were intact. After confirming that everything was fine, the dragons contacted their companions on the ground and then followed the red-haired young man into the water.

For these bloodline people, half an hour of deep diving is no problem at all. Dragons are born with two layers of eyelids, which are enough to support underwater vision. Eyes strengthened by blood are also not afraid of water pressure. They soon swam to the bottom of the water, and water gushed out from a huge hole. Just from this hole, it was larger than the widest part of the tunnel.

Mason swam in without hesitation. This path was also very long. The water flow gradually became turbulent and merged into an underground river.

The blue dragon clan identified the direction and gestured to the others. The rest of them relaxed and let the river take them to where they wanted to go.

Underground rivers crisscrossed the ground, and from deep within they could occasionally hear strange creeping sounds. The group carefully avoided the native monsters, and had almost no idea of ​​time.

Until somewhere, the dark river suddenly surged. The blue dragon descendants who were good at swimming turned into dragons, used their limbs to grab their companions to avoid the reefs, and traveled on the water at an astonishing speed.

This underground river merged with other tributaries at some point, and the sound of surging waves echoed in the empty space. Something was swaying gently in the water, and when Mason swam closer, he saw that it was the roots of a plant.

These roots were deep enough to reach the bottom of the river, and the road down was gradually blocked by dense roots. They had to change direction and find a flat area to climb ashore.

Mason brushed back his wet hair and held his breath when he saw the scenery in front of him. This should be a very spacious underground cave to accommodate such a wide underground river. But now it was occupied by a huge plant.

The fleshy trunk is white and plump, the bell-shaped corolla hangs down in a beautiful arc, and there are many huge white vines winding on the ground. Walking among them is like being in a crystal clear fairy tale kingdom. Compared with it, humans are like elves riding ants.

The dragon descendants were all solemn, and they were discussing with Mason in a low voice what to do next. Before they could come up with anything, the sound of water started again. They looked back and saw several people swimming out of the water and getting on the shore just like they did before. The leader had green eyes and a gentle face. When he saw them, surprise flashed in his eyes. Who else could it be but Ai Bo?

Before he could open his mouth, he heard the red-haired young man's voice: "I took the lead this time."

Ai Bo was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect the other party's first words to be this. His face, which didn't have time to show its usual smile, looked more real. He came to his senses and couldn't help but laugh: "You really hold a grudge."

The other party raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Ai Bo looked around and walked to the red-haired young man: "This is a ghost orchid. This is the first time I have seen such a big one. Do you want to cooperate temporarily?"

Mason finally looked at him: "How do you want to cooperate?"

This ghost orchid is too big for their family to eat. Ai Bo pointed to the bottom of the plant and said, "The ghost orchid's weakness is in its trunk. Its roots are thin and dense, its trunk is enlarged, and its joints are relatively fragile. We can start from here."

Mason thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, then asked, "How did you get here?"

"We found an underground river and swam along it."

It seems that this underground river is the main trunk nearby, and all the tributaries from all directions converge here. Mason thought about it and walked towards Youlinglan with Aibo and others.

They carefully avoided the huge vines, like a group of forest elves avoiding small branches lying on the ground, which made them feel a bit like a fantasy adventure. These plants emitted a faint white fluorescence, which looked like a dream.

The closer they got to the Ghost Orchid, the bigger and denser the vines became, covering the entire ground. The Bloodline members had no choice but to climb the vines and finally reach the Ghost Orchid.

The diameter of this giant plant was astonishing, and they walked around to find its roots. As they walked, someone suddenly discovered some white lines on the column of the ghost orchid.

These lines were the same color as the transparent body, making them extremely concealed. Even though his bloodline was biased towards detection, it still took him a while to determine the location. This looked like... a teleportation array?

A vague idea came to his mind, and he linked it to the teleportation array that was used all year round outside Partington City. Before he could think of anything else, a sticky, cold liquid dripped onto his head.

The Bloodline Man froze, and raised his head tremblingly, looking directly at the Ghost Orchid flower.

The transparent liquid dripped down the petals like saliva and dripped onto his face. Without waiting for the human to take any action, the originally quiet bell-shaped bud suddenly opened, revealing dozens of spirally distributed rows of sharp teeth inside. The whole flower spun like a meat grinder, rushing towards the head of the blood-veined person at lightning speed!

At the critical moment, the golden dragon dragon rushed forward with a flap of its wings and narrowly saved it. The frantic flower slipped past his wing tip by a hair's breadth, and a teeth-grinding chewing sound came from the tightly closed bud. But soon, the plant realized that it had been deceived.

The vines that were originally crawling on the ground suddenly emerged from the ground, and the dragons flew up quickly, each carrying a person. Mason was hanging in the air, overlooking the scene of the crazy snakes dancing. He was shocked to realize that these were not vines, but the roots of the ghost orchid!

These roots were covered in wet mud and quickly pulled towards everyone. Mason and Aibo attacked at the same time and cut off two of them neatly. The bloodline who was just rescued took a breath and said hurriedly: "Don't kill it! It has a teleportation array on its body, and it needs the living ghost orchid to provide energy!"

The teleportation array outside Partington City is maintained by someone, so there is no shortage of energy. However, this teleportation array is located underground and cannot be replenished on time. I don't know who came up with this method to integrate the teleportation array with the polluted plants.

The polluted plants provided energy for the teleportation array, so it no longer needed human maintenance. Once the ghost orchid was killed, the teleportation array would become ineffective.

Everyone had to dodge first. The broken stones fell and the dragons had to retreat to the dark river. Even if they stayed in the air, they would be attacked by plants. A series of solutions flashed through Mason's mind. He stared at the ghost orchid in the distance with his dark golden eyes without blinking, and whispered, "Put me down."

The dragonborn holding him was a little hesitant: "Its attack is too fierce. Once you go down, it will be difficult for me to find time to bring you up again."

"It doesn't matter, you guys retreat first."

He knew the way back. After these people left, he could either chop the ghost orchid into giving up resistance or use other methods.

After absorbing the power of the [Mother of Stones], Mason clearly felt that his mind was much clearer when he used the [Holy Weapon].

The first time he used the [Holy Weapon], he was able to keep his sanity after killing all the insect queens in the territory, but he was a little excited and weird when facing Rex.

As he used it more and more, he clearly felt that the vest was being affected by the curse. The same power could have been used to full effect, but now he had only two choices: either go crazy and take his own life, or use reason to suppress his strength. It was not that the [Holy Armor] had become weaker, but that Orelius' curse had become stronger in the killing.

But now, he could feel the coolness of the ore flowing through his internal organs, helping him fight the malice of the dead. It would only take a moment to deal with the mutant plant in front of him. The dragonborn hesitated, but still listened to him and put it down.

As soon as the red-haired young man landed on the ground, several vines suddenly whipped towards him. The will-o'-the-wisp was unsheathed and cut off the vines. A large amount of milky white liquid splashed out from the broken surface and fell to the ground with a sizzling sound.

The ghost orchid turned its flower towards him. It was a plant, but it was thinking like a human. The roots in the air hesitated for a while, but finally doubled over with determination.

Half of the root suddenly broke off in mid-air, and the back half just stood there, which made people feel a little confused for some reason.

There was a sound of landing beside Mason. The others fell into the dark river and left here first. Ai Bo stood alone beside him, slowly wiped the sticky liquid off his fingers, and asked with a smile: "Do you mind coming with us?"

The red-haired young man glanced at him casually: "Mind."

Ai Bo didn't care: "Don't waste time with it, I have a better idea. The ghost orchid went crazy because it was stimulated. As long as there is no one here, it will calm down. There is no need for us to fight here."

He pointed at himself and said, "I was the only one who was recognized by the teacher before you came along."

Then he pointed at the other person and said, "You are the only person the teacher has praised in front of me."

The emerald green eyes stared at the red-haired young man, and said, "Why don't we just go in and take a look, what do you think?"

Mason finally realized that the guy was targeting him and said speechlessly, "I thought you would be more mature than your brother."

Ai Bo said frankly: "I am only two years older than him."

As he spoke, he walked towards the direction of Ghost Orchid. Mason followed closely behind him, and a rare feeling of comparison rose in his heart.

He didn't feel that he was weaker than this guy at all. Since the other party dared to go up, why shouldn't he dare?

The two humans tried their best, both wanting to compete with each other. When Mason cut off one tree, Abbott tore two; when the latter took one step, the red-haired youth took two steps.

The Ghost Orchid, which had long been the king of the underground cave, couldn't help feeling a little confused. It had already developed some intelligence and knew that the surrounding area was its territory. It was puzzled as to why the two men were not afraid and why it couldn't hit them.

While it was retracting its roots in pain, the two of them landed in front of the pillar of the Ghost Orchid almost at the same time and found the teleportation array that the Bloodline One had mentioned.

They put their hands on it, and the glowing light instantly engulfed the two figures, and when the light faded, they were gone. Slowly, the mad ghost Lan An calmed down. The underground cave lit up again with a dreamy glimmer, and only the stumps and gurgling juices on the ground were left to symbolize that someone had been here before.