Chapter 2818: Chapter 2819: Encirclement

This is an extremely charming voice, even charming to the point of being somewhat affected.

Especially when she claims to be the ’Mermaid Princess’, she pronounces it with such a twist that it gives everyone goosebumps.

"No Mermaid Princess has eyes that can be spread so far apart," Adanis snorted.

"You!"

Adanis: "If you want to come out, then stop talking nonsense and act quickly!"

The clownfish claiming to be the Mermaid Princess said in a somewhat displeased yet still alluring voice: "I’ve already made my move long ago, they won’t be able to run."

When the clownfish finished speaking, the crowd had already run several hundred meters, surpassing their previous progress.

At this time, they once again saw a fork in the road.

And this fork was a divergence between up and down. The upward path was blocked, while the downward path was unobstructed.

The fork itself looked fine, and it was normal for the upward path to collapse. After all, going upwards means getting closer to the surface, and when Naraku City fell, the area nearest to the surface would naturally be the first impacted.

So, the unobstructed downward path raised no objections among the group.

However, Angel was very clear that there was no fork here at all! Or rather, there was originally just an upward slope, and suddenly there appeared a downward fork, which was absolutely abnormal.

When he woke in the Nightmare Realm, he was almost just an alley’s distance away from the Qingkong Poetry Room.

At that time, Angel could look up and see an opening, and outside it was Naraku City’s surface.

In other words, the Qingkong Poetry Room was originally very close to Naraku City’s surface.

This downward road was undoubtedly problematic.

Thinking of this, Angel quickly called for a stop. Under puzzled looks from the group, Angel swiftly explained: "There’s no downward path to the Qingkong Poetry Room, it’s very close to the surface!"

To add authenticity, Angel brought up the Wise Sovereign as a backer.

In this emergency, they didn’t care whether the Wise Sovereign had actually said something similar; they trusted only Angel!

"If that’s the case, then let’s work on opening the upward road," Dox said while winding up his arms, and the muscles on his arms began to swell rapidly.

In no time, Dox’s arms had swelled to a degree reminiscent of giant arms.

Dox didn’t hesitate and swiftly jumped, fiercely smashing towards the collapsed rocks of the upward path.

At first, Angel didn’t stop Dox, but just as Dox reached mid-air, rapidly smashing towards the rocks, Angel’s eyes suddenly widened.

Because he saw the "energy node" of the upward path was still a decayed Magical Energy Array, still a deserted energy node, still forming an energy-crystal accumulation!

Using the crystal as an "eye," Angel saw those surrounding cracks forming a familiar pattern.

Seductive tail, rounded head, and "crystal eye."

It was exactly like the strange pattern in the previous fork! Or rather, it was the other half of that pattern!

Only when the two halves combined, would the full truth of the pattern be unveiled!

"Not good! Stop him!"

Angel shouted out, speaking this to Earl Mi. Because with his speed, he couldn’t catch up with Dox’s frenzied strike, even if he did catch up, the formidable attack power on the bloodline side couldn’t be simply resisted by Angel.

So, he could only send Earl Mi to block Dox.

However, Earl Mi didn’t become a "meat shield," as someone was faster than Earl Mi!

A huge earth wall appeared out of thin air before Dox, and Dox’s frenzied strike directly slammed into the wall.

The earthen wall showed numerous cracks, then after a second, collapsed with a rustle, turning into dust.

Though the wall fell, it successfully stalled Dox’s attack.

The one who cast the wall was undoubtedly... Vay.

Of course, Vay alone couldn’t have stopped it, but since the Black Earl was currently residing on Vay, the Black Earl’s power combined with Vay’s casting was indeed successful in halting Dox’s attack.

Dox landed on the ground, looked over quizzically: "What’s going on?"

The others also looked towards Angel at this time, including the Black Earl. Although the Black Earl, using Vay’s hands, had stopped Dox, it was because he trusted Angel’s judgment, not because he had noticed anything unusual.

Angel didn’t hide anything, directly pointing out the crystal’s location, and the others traced the center around the crystal, observing the surrounding cracks, and with a little imagination regarding the pattern, they understood the reason immediately.

As the group looked towards the crystal’s position, the previously echoing charming voice line reverberated through their ears again.

"Eh? Discovered already? That’s really impressive."

As her words fell, the group saw the collapsed stones on the upward road slowly dissipate, revealing a huge mirror before them.

And in the mirror appeared a "Mermaid."

Calling it a mermaid might be giving it too much credit; it resembled more Angel once saw in the Purification Garden’s seabed, depicted in the Rugara Tribe murals, the ancestors, the Ru Tribe.

The Rugara Tribe, frog-skin monsters, inherently repulsive. Their ancestors, the Ru Tribe, while slightly better-looking than the frog-skin monsters, were also a grotesque combination of human face and fish body. Completely different from the mermaid’s elegant combination of a human upper body and fish tail.

If the Ru Tribe’s human face wasn’t ugly, the overall appearance was just chilling; if the face was slightly ugly, it was not just chilling but also a little gross.

And the "Mermaid" appearing in the mirror, though only showing a side view, that is, half its body; you could already see some style of the Ru Tribe.

The face, however, seemed to be that of a beauty, so it looked merely chilling.

Yet, when it began to speak, with that seductive and alluring tone matched with its chilling appearance, it truly was a bit nauseating.

"What’s this monster, too ugly!" Dox, very close to the mirror surface, turned around and saw the big face, suddenly startled.

Dox’s words seem to have angered the clownfish, it made a squinting expression, using a slightly cold, yet still charming voice to say: "Ugly human, take back your nonsense!"

"Nonsense? As if! Ugly is ugly, don’t tell me you really think you’re a mermaid?" Dox is not someone who settles down easily, the more he is asked to conform, the more he is provoked.

Clownfish: "Don’t just talk big, if you have the guts, come inside and let me see your capability!"

Dox: "Why should I go in, if you have guts, come out!"

The clownfish sneered coldly: "Fine, I’ll come out now."

Dox was momentarily stunned, as per typical argument scripts, wouldn’t the clownfish keep the back-and-forth going and not come out? How come the script changed dramatically?

While Dox was in a daze, a fish about the size of a forearm slowly swam out of the mirror.

Seeing this, Dox laughed out loud, "Is that all?"

Just as Dox was about to boast, countless small fish swam out of the mirror. In an instant, the entire sky was filled with human-faced fish.

Their faces were varied, their tails of different colors, but they all had one feature: their bodies were covered in mirror-like scales.

As these fish continued to spread, mirrors appeared more and more around them.

While the others remained cautious, Angel had already sensed something was wrong: "The Mirror Domain has been opened, and it’s spreading continuously with them."

These human-faced fish hadn’t attacked them, but their mere presence caused the Mirror Domain to spread!

"What do we do now?" the Earl asked.

"We can’t stay here, retreat first."

Dox: "But behind us..."

"Retreat first, I’ll think of something," Angel said, rapidly contemplating a solution in his mind.

Seeing the human-faced fish closing in on them, there was nothing they could do, as they couldn’t attack!

Any attack would pull them into the space within the mirrors.

The Black Earl had tested this with a humanoid clay puppet, which attacked the human-faced fish. Instead of hitting their real bodies, it was pulled into the mirror space through their mirror-like scales.

It was basically confirmed that these human-faced fish had no attack power; they perhaps weren’t even considered living, they were merely "mirror passages" in motion.

For these strange abilities within the mirror world, they knew too little, and currently, they had no idea how to break these moving mirrors. They could only follow Angel’s advice and retreat.

However, retreating wasn’t really a solution.

After they retreated several dozen meters, they found that these human-faced fish had appeared behind them too, densely packed and overwhelming.

They were nearly surrounded now, with less than thirty meters of maneuvering space left.

"Didn’t you call me out? I’m here, why are you running?" A coquettish laughter echoed in their ears.

"But you can’t escape. I’ll make you all come inside and keep me company~"

The Joker Fish’s voice resonated as if echoing countless times, clearly audible even in the farthest corners.

Dox no longer had any intention to argue with the Joker Fish and instead looked at Angel.

"Have you thought of a solution?" Dox asked anxiously.

"Let me try..." Angel didn’t say what he was going to try. He raised his head and suddenly moved, appearing in front of a group of human-faced fish.

"Chaowei Lord! Be cautious!" Vay shouted in panic upon seeing this.

The others were also shocked, not understanding why Angel had suddenly approached the human-faced fish.

"Dox, be ready for retreat at any time," Angel instructed through the Mind Ribbon while fiercely swinging his right hand towards a human-faced fish.

Previously, all attacks against human-faced fish were futile, and the attackers were pulled directly into the mirrors.

However, this time, though Angel’s hand was pulled into the mirror, he quickly withdrew it.

Meanwhile, a group of nearby human-faced fish shattered like debris, falling down.

"Did... did it succeed?" Watching the human-faced fish being shattered for the first time, everyone was in disbelief.

Angel didn’t speak; he moved several times, each time probing his hand into the mirror of the human-faced fish. Each time he withdrew his hand, a group of human-faced fish around him shattered.

It seemed there was indeed some effect.

However, Angel, despite being able to destroy these human-faced fish, noticed that the destruction speed couldn’t match their spreading pace.

Previously they had over thirty meters of maneuvering space, now it was down to about twenty meters.

It was evident without calculation that if the number of human-faced fish was sufficient, he couldn’t contain them alone. And from the current situation, the number of human-faced fish seemed endless.

He couldn’t pass the method of destroying human-faced fish to others because his approach was quite brute force, directly probing his hand into the mirror, breaking the mirror passage’s connection.

This required mastery of the Power of Space and controlling the extent of entry into the mirror.

Others might have the Power of Space, but as soon as they touched the mirrors, they were pulled in, let alone controlling the degree of entry.

So, only Angel could do it, and with his solitary strength, he couldn’t turn the tide.

Angel killed nearly a thousand human-faced fish, yet they continued to spread.

At this moment, the maneuvering space left for everyone was under twenty meters.

"Why kill my adorable babies? Why are humans so cruel..." The Joker Fish, previously laughing coquettishly, now spoke with a tone full of sorrow.

But that didn’t mean the Joker Fish had lost.

If this continued, they would still be the ones to lose.

Angel sighed, finally deciding to speak: "Next, I’ll attack the space nodes of the Magical Energy Array, Dox, prepare to open the Plane Corridor."

The Wise Sovereign had always felt that if Angel and the others were cornered, he’d have to rescue them. Because only he could lift the space seal near the Qingkong Poetry Room.

However, what he didn’t know was that Angel could also directly attack the space nodes of the Magical Energy Array, prompting fluctuations in the Array to break the space seal.

This method was akin to forcibly opening the Plane Corridor, potentially causing instability and unexpected incidents due to unstable space.

But the unexpected consequences of space instability could be mitigated by using large quantities of main components, reducing the damage.

In other words, if opening the Tunnel of Falsehood, using double the Illusory Gemstone would suffice. Similarly, if opening the Rainbow Door, using double the Rainbow Furnace Stone; if opening the Light and Shadow Passage, then double the Nightmare Light Crystal.

Though not completely devoid of incidents, reducing them was worthwhile.

After Angel made this decision, everyone understood that they had no other way out now.

Due to a moment of oversight, they ended up trapped in the Joker Fish’s circle. Consequently, their exploration journey had to end here.

Though retreating was somewhat regrettable, everyone had long prepared themselves to face any outcome, including death. Thus, retreating among the possible outcomes was already fortunate, except...

They felt a little unwilling, that’s all.

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