Red cave walls, red ground, red bubbles, red liquid.
Everywhere Ethan and the others looked, everything was bright red.
Of course, it wasn't that the cave walls had actually turned red, but that they were covered with a layer of red slime, or some kind of red parasite. It looked like an opened abdominal cavity, making people feel both sickened and horrified.
Moreover, the red slime parasitizing the cave walls kept producing round bubbles.
The bubbles were filled with some unknown liquid. They bulged high, and even the surface of the bubbles had been stretched translucent, as if they would burst at the slightest touch. It was revolting.
"W-What is this?"
Bird One and the other girls had always been afraid of disgusting things like this.
Now that they saw the path ahead was covered with this stuff, they all instinctively took half a step back.
"What happened here?"
"How did it end up like this?"
"This is way too disgusting!"
"And..."
The girls started chattering among themselves.
Bird One suddenly pointed at a shadow in the distance that was covered in red slime, "Look over there!"
Hearing that, everyone immediately looked in the direction she was pointing.
Beneath the slime covering the cave wall... there was actually the dried corpse of a goblin, firmly stuck to the wall by the slime, with all the moisture sucked out of its body.
[Level 5 Spore Form: Reproduction. Once the spores find a suitable breeding ground, they begin rapidly dividing, then secrete enough slime to transform the environment while hunting any prey that invades their territory.]
[P.S.: Spores in reproduction form fear fire. As long as the moisture in their bodies is dried out, they die immediately. Growers should take care to prevent fires.]
[Level 5 Spore Form: 427/500]
[Level 5 Spore Form: 428/500]
[Level 5 Spore Form...]
"Uh..."
Even Ethan hadn't expected that the spores he had transported out through the black hole would treat the goblin maze as their... territory?
And even treat the goblins as prey?
Not only had they occupied someone else's territory, they had even turned the original owners into nutrients. These spores were far too overbearing.
Bird One asked in confusion, "Do these things eat people?"
"Yes. These are the spores' Level 5 form," Ethan said directly, "They've taken the goblins' territory as their own, and even regard the goblins as prey invading their territory. The spores hunt them down and store them as nutrients."
"So disgusting!"
"Lord, what do we do now?"
"Are we still going in?"
Looking at the goblin's dried corpse, Bird One and the others couldn't help shivering.
If the Lord wanted them to pass through here... they'd rather die.
Otherwise, they'd be disgusted to death.
"Of course we're going in. The fragment of the Lost Prophetic Statue should be just a little farther inside."
The corners of Ethan's mouth curled up.
Bird One and the others, however, all turned pale and shook their heads frantically.
Although they couldn't disobey the Lord's orders, the scene before them made them feel uncomfortable from the inside out.
How were they supposed to walk through this?
"Don't worry! I won't make you walk through something this disgusting."
Ethan directly took out the Starstone Staff he had talked out of Nostradamus.
Although this staff wasn't as convenient as the Instant Cast Staff, the Starstone Staff's ability to gather and harmonize with elements was no joke. In other words, when it came to casting large-scale spells without considering chanting time, the Starstone Staff was absolutely outstanding.
BOOM!
As Ethan chanted, a massive fireball instantly appeared before everyone.
The blazing flames, like a miniature sun, rapidly dried out the disgusting red slime. Even the people standing near the fireball felt as though they were about to be dried out by the little sun.
This was Ethan's Level 3 Grand Fireball Technique.
"Go! Giant Grand Fireball!"
Boom! Boom!
With a wave of Ethan's staff, the giant fireball immediately began rolling forward like a huge boulder rolling down a slide.
Wherever it passed, all the slime instantly evaporated.
"It's gone!"
"The slime really disappeared!"
"Lord, you're amazing!"
Bird One and the others were relieved. As long as they didn't have to walk through that sticky mess, everything was fine.
Only after the giant fireball had rolled far ahead did Ethan and the others continue deeper into the cave.
When their shoes stepped onto the scorched ground, it felt like walking over a floor with double-sided tape that hadn't been fully peeled off.
Their shoes stuck to the ground.
Still... It was far better than stepping directly into the slime.
Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!
Just as everyone reached the first fork in the road, where the passage split into two... Charlie suddenly started making muffled "woo woo" sounds.
Ethan frowned and looked at him. Seeing that Charlie seemed anxious to say something, he raised a hand and said to Bird One, "Take the thing out of his mouth. Let's hear what he has to say."
"Yes, Lord!"
As soon as Bird One removed the sock from Charlie's mouth, Charlie immediately shouted.
"Lord, someone is going to ambush you! And you will... you will..."
Back when Charlie had made his prediction, he had already seen this scene, a fork with two cave entrances, and something flashing past.
Then, in the crystal ball, he saw a head fall.
It was just... the scene had changed too quickly.
So Charlie hadn't known what that scene in the crystal ball meant.
Only now, when Charlie saw the exact same scene as in the crystal ball, did he finally understand.
This was the place. After Ethan stepped into the cave, someone would immediately ambush him, and then his head would fall.
Death!
"Someone's going to ambush me?", Ethan raised an eyebrow, "How do you know?"
"My prediction!"
Charlie naturally didn't dare hide anything now.
This was probably his only chance to redeem himself, so he hurriedly explained, "When I made my prediction before, I saw this scene! You'll choose the cave on the right, and the moment you step inside, someone will ambush you! But that person was too fast, so I couldn't see clearly."
"Interesting."
Ethan hadn't believed Charlie at first.
But when he heard Charlie say that he would choose the cave on the right, he believed him a little.
Before Ethan could prepare... A wave of killing intent suddenly rolled out.
"Time Freeze!"
A cold voice rang beside everyone's ears, and then time froze. The words everyone was speaking froze halfway through.
Even Charlie's anxious expression and Ethan's half-turned movement as he prepared to look behind him at the approaching danger... were all frozen.
The next second.
A black shadow flashed out of the cave.