Anser raised his hand and fired a Ray of Frost, turning a scout who had fallen and was rolling on the ground into a frozen statue. In the sweltering heat, icy vapor rose from the body, sending a chill down the onlookers' spines.
[Target dead, gained 25 experience points]
He paid it no mind, the corner of his eye sweeping over the crowd. Matthew was mixed in among them, enthusiastically watching with the others, and did not take the opportunity to leave.
'He's really good at pretending.'
Anser simply ignored him and continued harvesting heads with Ray of Frost after Ray of Frost, as if he had truly come solely for these scouts.
When the onlookers saw that real people had indeed been captured, they were no longer afraid. One by one, they watched with relish; some even cheered.
It could only be said that different lands foster different people.
In the crowd, Matthew looked excited, pointing at Anser and boasting to those around him: "That's my friend. We've fought side by side…"
"Really?"
Some were half-believing, half-doubting; others edged closer to strike up a connection…
As the battle neared its end, Anser pretended to adjust his cloak and quietly activated Truesight, sweeping his gaze over the crowd beneath the cover of his arm before quickly lowering his head.
'There's one more!'
Aside from Matthew, the head of one of the adventurers traveling with him also showed a psionic reaction, though it was relatively faint.
'Could it be a Mind Flayer tadpole?'
He deactivated Truesight and turned to beckon to Quentin.
Quentin hurried over and said in a low voice, "Is it among them?"
"Take all the bodies away and disperse the crowd," Anser said, not elaborating.
Quentin did not understand Anser's intention, but he still chose to cooperate. Putting on a cheerful expression, he walked toward the battlefield. "Take the bodies away at once. We still have to head to the next place. Move, move—"
The guards immediately bustled into action.
An Intellect Devourer's "Body Thief" can only target Small or Medium creatures within a few feet who are incapable of resisting. If the target's vitality is too strong, it is best to beat them half to death first.
In theory, it cannot possess the dead. However, if the target has just died, it can still devour the brain and transmit itself into the skull to hide.
Taking away the bodies and dispersing the crowd was to prevent it from using human brains as a springboard to hide or escape.
If one did not know this, the Intellect Devourer might seize the chance to flee. After that, it would try every possible way to deal with you—for example, by using the possessed individual's connections to scheme against you, or by calling in companions to surround and kill you…
After the bodies had all been cleared away, Quentin waved his hand at the surroundings with an impatient expression. "Move along, move along…"
Seeing that Matthew was about to leave, Anser quickly flipped back his hood, mounted his horse, rode forward, and from a distance smiled and waved at Matthew. "Come on, let's grab a drink together."
Matthew looked excited. He pushed out of the crowd, his mouth chattering nonstop: "See? I didn't lie to you—he really is my friend."
Quentin and the others looked over in surprise, not knowing what he was doing.
Anser's smile was dazzling, as though he had just run into a good friend he hadn't seen in years.
Yet in the next instant, the elemental orb suddenly froze in midair, buzzing loudly.
"બર્નિંગરે"
Metamagic: Quickened, Seeking, Empowered + Upcast: Scorching Ray!
The smile was still on his face. The sonorous Draconic, like a warm greeting, rang out as his palm lifted and he sent over a searing hello!
Four rays of flame burst forth, flashing through the air and vanishing in an instant.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Matthew's head exploded. Charred bone and rotten flesh, still aflame, splattered everywhere, exposing an empty brain cavity.
At the same time, a monster with four claws—shaped like an exposed brain—appeared on the ground.
At the sight of it, many people broke out in goosebumps, a powerful sense of discomfort rising in their hearts.
[…The Intellect Devourer is hit, takes 19 fire damage, current 11/30 Hit Point]
A classed professional's skull is hard, but it still couldn't withstand a third-circle Empowered Scorching Ray.
The Intellect Devourer was wounded. It fled at top speed, astonishingly fast.
All it needed was to get close to the crowd; using Devour Intellect together with Body Thief, it could gain another living puppet body.
Anser did not hesitate. He raised his hand and quickened Magic Missile.
Three shining missiles tracked in, striking the Intellect Devourer's body one after another and blasting it away. It lay on the ground, unmoving.
[Target dead, gained 450 experience points]
Only then did the people around them react. First they were stunned by Anser killing with casual laughter; then they were jolted by the sudden appearance of the monster. It was one shock after another, their hearts pounding wildly.
Anser turned to look at the crowd. Several adventurers who had been traveling with Matthew were trying to flee, but the guards stopped them.
He walked up to the adventurer who might have been parasitized and carefully observed his eyes and skin.
"What's your name?"
His gaze went blank for a moment. Panicking, he said, "Vulga. I'm not close with Matthew…"
"In the last several tens of minutes, what did Matthew do to you?" Anser pressed.
"Ah…" The adventurer looked utterly at a loss.
Iris landed beside Anser. She glanced at the Intellect Devourer's corpse and asked curiously, "What's wrong with him?"
"He was parasitized by a Mind Flayer larva—less than an hour ago," Anser inferred.
Normally, a Mind Flayer tadpole would completely erase the host's personality and memories within an hour. The body would fully mutate within seven days: the skin gradually turning a grayish purple, four tentacles sprouting from the head, the internal organs restructuring to adapt to psionic metabolism—until, in the end, it became a Mind Flayer.
"Too many eyes and ears here. Let's take him into a cell first," Quentin suggested.
"Agreed," Iris said.
"Mm." Anser nodded. In a few steps, he came to Matthew's corpse. After searching him for a moment, he found a palm-sized purple olive-shaped jar.
The die rotated slightly and displayed the target information:
[Brain Fluid Jar, Rare, Mind Flayer larvae: 6/10]
A chill ran through Anser's body. Four Mind Flayer tadpoles were missing. Aside from that Vulga, three others were unaccounted for.
'They might also be dead.'
He truly did not understand this thing. He only felt that it should involve some survival rate; once removed from a brine pool, it likely was not that easy to stay alive.
Seeing that his expression was off, Iris immediately had people search the other adventurers as well. After a long commotion, however, no other discoveries were made.
She instructed Quentin to carefully collect the bodies and escort them, along with the people, to the prison. At the same time, she sent others to search the Flying Dragon Inn where the group had been staying; any suspicious items or individuals were to be brought back.
Anser felt somewhat uneasy. Putting away the Brain Fluid Jar, he activated the True Sight Ring, mounted Nornoth, and galloped along the street.
The world before his eyes layered over itself—dreamlike in appearance, yet incomparably real. Any disguise or invisibility had nowhere to hide before him.
Ten minutes later, the phenomenon faded. He found no trace of an Intellect Devourer or a Mind Flayer.
'Maybe they used them up along the way. I'll interrogate their route later,' Anser sighed inwardly and did not dwell on it further.
The dangers in this world were not limited to Mind Flayers. Stay vigilant—there was no need to borrow trouble.
Iris had been following at Anser's side. Seeing him stop, she descended directly and hovered beside him.
"What is that?"
Anser took out the Brain Fluid Jar and tossed it to her. In a low voice, he said, "A Brain Fluid Jar. There are six Mind Flayer larvae inside."
Iris had just caught it when, as if electrocuted, she immediately threw it back to him and shook her hand vigorously. "How can such a thing even exist?"
"How would I know?" Anser curled his lip and put the Brain Fluid Jar into the Avaricious Dragonhide Pouch.
"If you're not destroying it, what are you keeping it for?" Iris looked at him suspiciously. "Don't go conducting some dangerous experiment. This isn't something to joke about."
Anser laughed. "Weren't you given a proper mage's education? How come you don't have any spirit of inquiry at all?"
"Because I have self-awareness." Iris shot him a sidelong glance and steered her flying carpet away.
The matter was serious. She would personally take part in the investigation concerning those adventurers.
Anser watched her retreating figure, thoughts surging through his mind.
'Brain Fluid Jar…'
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