What's wrong with me, a mage, loving to farm?

Chapter 200. The Mother Nest, the Power of the Ring

The explosion echoed throughout the knights' dormitory building. It was a series of small explosions combined to create a deafening roar, continuous and unending, like a bomb going off.

If such a sudden offensive were launched against another small country, it would likely have had a significant impact and caused considerable damage.

Fortunately, the Holy See reacted quickly, and there happened to be a level seven knight commander here.

As the cultivator and successor of the Guardian Spirit, Beveselis may not be as good as the other Knight Commanders in one-on-one combat, but she can still easily protect the spirit.

Looking at the somewhat chaotic scene around her, Beveselis took a step forward. The moment her white boots landed, a huge sacred magic circle opened up around the point of impact.

A faint white halo emanated from her body, not very dazzling, even a little hazy, but full of solemn divinity, like a statue of a god.

It was as if an angel had spread its wings, enveloping the entire military camp, with white, feather-like magic swirling around it.

In just three or four seconds, the feathers, penetrating every nook and cranny, surged toward every corner, passing through the walls and enveloping all living things in their radiance.

Then, like bubbles, they slowly floated out and drifted in the sky.

The vast majority of them were people, some were magical beasts kept by knights, but most were mosquito-like creatures that hadn't had time to explode.

Having just resolved most of the dangers, the knights, who hadn't yet lost their fighting ability, charged into the dormitory under the golden holy shield that resembled a golden dome.

They are going to carry out a second cleaning and treatment.

"Indeed, it is His creation."

The knight commander understood immediately upon seeing the mosquito-shaped objects; she hadn't been so naive as to believe that the creatures in the Yavana Holy Mine would behave themselves.

But we've never seen anything like this before. Has He invented something new?

If that's the case, then it'll be troublesome.

Their ability to infiltrate military camps silently means that the entire frontline base is vulnerable to intrusion.

After a brief moment of thought, she looked at José and his dog.

The dog, enveloped in a bubble of light, is receiving a baptism of holy light, dispelling the spores and mycelium that seem to penetrate every nook and cranny of its body.

The injury is clearly improving.

If what she sensed earlier was correct, then this seemingly unusual dog must have noticed the hidden insects.

This is a very strange and incredible thing.

Even she couldn't detect the appearance of these insects, but the dog did. Does that mean her mental strength and perception are not as strong as the dog's?

Although she knew that many canine magical beasts had stronger perception than humans, they were also of higher levels. So what about this one?

Level 2 monster!

However, in other words, if a level 2 magical beast can have this level, wouldn't that further prove the uniqueness of this magical beast?

Then the knight commander waved his hand.

She took all the dogs and their owners directly to the pet shop located outside the military camp.

As for this place, that's a matter for my subordinates. If they can't even handle this small matter, then let this base be destroyed; we can just rebuild it.

She's already helped so much, what more do you want? Does she expect her to personally wipe out all those bugs?

……

Soon, she arrived at the entrance of the pet shop with more than twenty dogs, just in time to meet Archmage Celeste, who was about to leave.

The latter, looking at the long string of light bubbles behind the former, asked curiously, "You made a move?"

Celeste looked unusually relaxed, with a chubby, tan-colored ground squirrel perched on her shoulder, mirroring her expression and staring at the knight commander with its dark eyes.

The two were clearly old acquaintances.

The knight commander didn't hide anything from Celeste and said directly, "You know the owner of this shop, right? I'd like to talk to him in person."

She pointed to the dogs behind her, most of which were injured: "They were able to detect these monsters, especially such stealthy ones."

A mosquito, enveloped in a bubble, was delivered to Celeste.

The high priest looked at it curiously, then stretched out his slender fingers and pinched the mosquito.

The azure blue magic flow wrapped around the mosquito like chains, preventing it from escaping and manipulating the chaotic magic within its body.

She observed it carefully for a while before gently pinching it.

"Splat!"

The water flow instantly contracted towards the center, compressing the mosquito into a tiny black dot, and then the water flow itself disappeared.

"It's very well concealed." The archmage simply said this before turning and walking into the monster and plant pet shop he had just come out of.

It clearly means they are willing to help.

After all, this thing is truly an enemy of the civilized world, and if Kroya is willing to help, it will also benefit him.

The prestige of the Papacy is very useful.

The Knight Commander did not go in directly. She waited patiently outside for a while, waiting for Celestie to give her a signal, before entering the shop.

The bubble naturally flew in with her.

They gently landed on the ground one by one, placing the injured dogs and people on the ground.

Despite their own injuries, the dogs' owners held their recently acquired dogs with sorrowful expressions, their faces streaked with tears.

"Carter!"

"Carter! My comrade!"

Jose, in particular, was crying like a child while holding his dog, completely unaware that the wounds on his dog's body were healing, with only the bloodstains remaining.

When the shop assistants from the pet store came out with potions to treat their injuries, a girl who looked to be only a teenager frowned.

"Your injury is clearly healed already, isn't it?"

She looked at the healed flesh and blood beneath the hair she had parted with her hands, her face full of confusion.

Well... the dog only had some bloodstains and traces of fungus on its fur; the rest of the dog was very clean and even a little pink.

At this moment, Carter the dog finally pretended to have just woken up and pounced on his owner, barking and licking him vigorously.

His saliva covered Jose's face.

"You're alright!"

"That's wonderful! God of Light, thank you!"

Jose was overjoyed, never imagining that the dog had just pretended to be unconscious to tease him.

……

the other side.

Ott invited the Knight Commander and the Grand Mage into a room and activated a magic circle in the center of the room that resembled an astrolabe.

As the magical light flickered, Kroya's figure appeared inside, her body still slightly illusory, clearly just a projection.

"Please have a seat, both of you."

Kroya remained remarkably calm, as composed as ever.

But to be honest, he was still quite angry, because he had personally selected all those dogs!

Although injuries and deaths are common on the battlefield, he still found it hard to accept that something like this had happened so soon after the sale.

However, things always need to be resolved, and he knew very well why this level seven knight commander had come to him.

After Beveselis and Celeste sat down, Beveselis spoke first, "Mage Kroya, I would like to ask you to help me maintain the city's security."

"Your Flametail Hounds seem to have a remarkably keen sense of perception, even able to detect these Exploding Mosquitoes that don't reveal their aura or magic."

"I am willing to sign a long-term contract with you, so that every knight in the camp can have a Flametail Hound, and upgrade your original St. Bethlehem Star Medal to the St. Gofimu Medal."

She immediately stated her price.

To be fair, this is a pretty good reward. The Order of Saint Gefimu is equivalent to going directly from viscount to honorary earl, which is an earldom of the Papacy.

It is also the highest medal she has the authority to award.

But to her surprise, Chloe shook her head slightly and said seriously, "I will help you, Lady Knight Commander."

"But the reason I'm helping you is because they hurt my little ones."

His expression was one of disgust: "I know war is cruel, and people will be injured and die."

Their fate may be to meet a glorious sacrifice in war. But they should never die through such dark means; I abhor such despicable methods.

Those filthy insects must be completely obliterated under the light!

After Chloe said these words, Celeste's expression did not change, except that the corner of her mouth twitched slightly.

But Beverice's eyes lit up.

It felt like finding a like-minded person.

She smiled and praised, "I never expected you to have such a view."

The knight commander stood up and actually gave a slight bow to the phantom of Kroya: "Then I will guarantee that no one will do anything shady to your magical beasts."

"Just as you said, a knight should die on the battlefield!"

"They helped us find the traces of these monsters, and they've already done us a great service. I won't allow anyone to harm them."

With her promise, at least within this frontline base, no one dared to kill or abuse Kroya's magical beasts at will.

"Thank you." Kroya bowed slightly as well. "Then please send me those mosquitoes. If you have more specimens, that would be even better. I will give you an answer as soon as possible."

"I'll give it to you. The people from the Vatican won't use the Holy Spring Merchant Guild's channels."

Celeste took on this task voluntarily.

After a short wait, some of the mosquitoes and the other two monsters were sent to Kroa's laboratory.

Kroa's eyes lit up as she looked at them.

"Finally got it!"

He was eager to study it, but he restrained himself for the time being and said to the Knight Commander and the Archmage:

"I will send some potions later, as a small token of my appreciation."

Upon hearing this, the Knight Commander had an even better impression of Chloe. In her view, these mages were all very sophisticated egoists.

I never expected there to be such a generous and magnanimous monk.

"Thank you for your support, Mage Kroya."

So she smiled and nodded, sat down and tasted the milk tea, and was immediately attracted by its sweet taste.

Then, after Otto's introduction, she simply bought a long-term usage right for the calming lily of the valley, partly to enjoy the milk tea, and partly to support Chloe's business.

……

Inside the Han Reef Island Laboratory.

Kroya cut off the communication and stared at the monsters that had been sent over—there were three types: exploding mosquitoes, cockroaches, and an unidentified monster about the height of a person with countless fleshy growths on its body.

The angel, watching from the side, couldn't help but sigh, "These little creatures, corrupted by evil, their souls are filled with pain."

"Is it painful?"

In fact, Kroya also sensed their soul fluctuations, which were indeed extremely painful fluctuations, like being burned in a furnace.

"I reckon the Flametail Hounds must have sensed their emotional fluctuations... Sigh, have I made them too sensitive?" Kroa sighed softly.

Having their own music, these little creatures become exceptionally sensitive to the emotional fluctuations of other living beings, which is why they can understand human commands so quickly.

"Why don't you ask them, my friend?" the angel laughed. "I didn't sense any resentment from them; on the contrary, they were very happy that they had protected their master's safety."

"..."

Kroya glanced at the angel, slightly moved.

Then he waved his hand and said, "Fine then, if they think it's appropriate, then it's appropriate."

Indeed, this is true. This kind of musical magic that can enhance perception has both advantages and disadvantages, but the dogs don't seem to be bothered by the disadvantages at all.

Perhaps in the hearts of these dogs, being able to help their owners solve their problems is a very happy thing, and they do it willingly.

The angel smiled slightly: "Don't overthink it, lucky friend, you're still on the right path."

"Let's look at these insects instead; they're... quite interesting."

After hearing the riddle-like angel's words, Kroya looked down and activated the Celestial Body Imprint Technique. What he saw was a structure that surprised him—

Their astral bodies have an unusually strange structure; they all grow from a tiny worm at the center, as if that worm has undergone various mutations.

And its name is actually "exploding mosquito," while the other cockroach-like one is called "flea," and the one covered in tumors is called "abnormal."

"Such peculiar structures; did they all develop from a single embryo?"

"It's really amazing that an embryo can grow into so many different organisms and structures."

Kroya began using the All-Encompassing Communication Technique and the Orange Hymn to try and communicate with its consciousness. However, when his consciousness probed into the Mosquito's soul, he sensed only an incredibly deep abyss network.

It's like a boundless spider web, stretching densely to every location and connecting to the deepest part of the abyss.

The soul of the mosquito, as one of the nodes, actually has no self-awareness; it obeys all commands from a deeper part of the network.

This scene reminded Kroa of the fungus spore network; apart from the nodes lacking self-awareness, this network was almost identical to theirs.

It's efficient, fast, and allows for constant communication and connection.

Honestly, this network alone is enough to shock people. Even fungus people need mental energy to communicate, but this one can communicate anytime, anywhere!

He was very curious about what the only unified consciousness here was, but venturing in so rashly might be dangerous.

So, after a brief exploration, he opened his eyes and pleaded with the angel, "If there's any danger, please help me!"

The angel nodded and said softly, "God says that for the next ten minutes, your soul cannot be moved by anything!"

There were no sound or light effects, but Kroya felt his soul don a platinum robe, which draped over the robe of Phobos and radiated an eternal light.

With the angel's help, Kroya immediately felt confident and fully explored the boundless network within the mosquito's consciousness.

His consciousness radiated a dazzling light, like a flying insect caught in a spider web, falling straight down.

During this time, he "saw" many strange objects, some like mammoths, some like cobras, and some even more bizarre and indescribable.

It's practically a monster exhibition hall.

They all stared silently at the falling Kroa, without making a sound.

"Tsk, you'd be scared to death if you didn't have a strong heart coming here; it's quite terrifying."

Kroa maintained her composure and continued downwards. After about five minutes, she noticed some red lights below.

It was a very pure red light, like the light shining through congealed blood.

"We're almost there."

Two minutes later he saw the source of the light—

It was a huge nest, covered with countless sharp tentacles and grayish-brown slime, resembling a dark forest.

Although there is no intuitive concept of size and distance in this network, Kroya felt that this thing was probably at least tens of miles in size.

Centered on it, countless threads extend outwards, reaching into the distance beyond the reach of sight and consciousness.

The Celestial Imprint was still working, displaying its name to Kroa—

"Mother Nest".

Kroa chewed on the name and tried to observe the huge nest below.

However, the Astral Imprint technique can only reveal the densely packed structure inside and the chambers eroded by spores and fungi...

The nest's own consciousness is trapped in its deepest recesses, enveloped by countless spores and fungi, completely unable to emanate.

Even when he used the Astral Spirit Imprint Technique, he had difficulty sensing what was inside.

It seemed that his observation had awakened the sleeping Mother Nest, which suddenly opened its compound eyes, which looked like those of a fly, and countless pupils stared at Kroa's spiritual body.

"How disgusting."

Kroya immediately felt very uncomfortable. The compound eyes of a fly, magnified and staring directly at like that, were simply mental pollution.

Spores and mycelia immediately began to swarm around his body, but they were blocked before they could get close by the robes that the angels had blessed for Kroa.

It turned to ashes and scattered under the platinum glow.

"..."

The compound eye was momentarily shocked.

It threw a small, caterpillar-like thing at Kroa.

Kroya initially thought this guy was going to attack him.

As a result, the caterpillar-like creature landed on him without being stopped by the platinum robe and went directly into his Phobos robe.

"This is..." He was about to take a look.

But it was too late.

Countless spores and mycelia appeared all around, and a terrifying consciousness seemed to be descending, as if the entire world was pressing down on this place.

Even Kroa was finding it hard to withstand the pressure.

An angel's voice immediately rang out: "It's the power of the abyss demons! Run!"

His voice was more urgent than ever before, so Kroa dared not delay and quickly spread his wings and flew upwards.

The spores and hyphae around them continued to emerge, like the claws of an abyss trying to seize Kroya.

But it flew faster and faster, rising into the sky like a golden sun, leaving the spores and mycelium behind.

During this process, his platinum robe gradually shattered and fell into the spores, buying him time and allowing him to finally escape.

Finally, they returned to the real world.

What he didn't know was that after he left the abyss completely covered by spores and mycelium, the platinum fragment that had been dim suddenly lit up.

They combined with each other to eventually form a platinum ring.

It emitted a dazzling light from within the abyss, surrounded by incredibly complex magical circuits.

They reversed their previous downward trend.

"God said that evil will have nowhere to hide in the light."

Accompanied by the angel's solemn voice, a golden door appeared inside the ring, extremely ancient and sacred, as if it were a gateway connecting the real world and the divine realm.

It slowly opened, and feather-shaped light and golden arcs flowed out from within, bombarding downwards relentlessly.

Those seemingly invincible fungi and spores melted away like snow under the sun under their bombardment.

The light and feathers even penetrated the barrier between illusion and reality, bombarding His territory located in the bottomless abyss.

For the first time, the world, filled with mushroom forests and dim mist, saw bright light, but this light brought purification.

Vast mushroom forests and the demons that grew within them were melted by the light, their very souls vanishing completely.

In just a few seconds, the feathers and light purified about one-tenth of the area.

Finally... they also cleansed the mycelium in the abyss of the spiritual world, making it bright and clear.

The mother nest watched all this with wide eyes, but tried her best to suppress her own fluctuations of consciousness.

Light... such beautiful light.

That's what it was thinking.

Only a resentful female voice echoed: "Ring of Radiance! The Ark has already crashed, why do you still exist?!"

Her voice sounded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, flustered and anxious, as if she was venting her unease and worries, completely unwilling to trace the source of the problem.

After all... that's a treasure that represents reality.

(End of this chapter)