All of this intelligence on the
However, after paying such a steep price, the reliability of these reports was beyond question — they had already helped Belinda escape several crises.
"No good! If I wait for this Gluttony Beast to complete its evolution, its abilities will become even more terrifying. It might even detect my presence directly…"
Belinda's eyes flickered. "Besides, even if I had the patience to wait for it to leave, other Gluttony Beasts would simply move in to claim this spot. After all, this location is a gathering point for Gluttony Beasts — otherwise, the mission difficulty wouldn't be this high. But right now, the aura it's releasing during evolution will cause other Gluttony Beasts to instinctively steer clear…"
"One could say that now is the perfect opportunity!" A flash of resolve passed through Belinda's eyes.
"Dream Phasing!" A wisp of dark crimson dream power coiled out from around Belinda's body, draping her in a veil of crimson gauze. She looked utterly ethereal, as if she had stepped out of a dream.
As a half-breed of the Devil White Phosphorus Snake, Belinda had naturally inherited the ability to manipulate dream power. Her talent had even grown considerably stronger after her recent darkening. Yet at this moment, worry creased her face.
"Dream power… has weakened as well."
The dream energy Belinda had drawn upon this time was noticeably less than in her previous attempts, and its potency had declined as well.
To her, it felt as though the entire Dream World had died — devoid of any remaining vitality. Even the intensity of dream power itself had suffered a drastic decline.
The Dream World falling into a dormant period was hardly good news for those of Devil White Phosphorus Snake bloodline.
Especially now, during the ravages of the Calamity of Gluttony, Belinda could almost envision the scene — legions of Devil White Phosphorus Snake descendants being slaughtered in droves, stripped of the dream power they had always relied upon.
"Great Mother Sovereign! Bless my kin!"
Belinda prayed silently. Then, without hesitation, her figure vanished from midair.
Drawing upon the illusory power of dreams, Belinda concealed her presence entirely and advanced toward Crescent Lake.
The closer she drew to the colossal, mountain-like double-headed treant Gluttony Beast, the more oppressive its terrifying aura became. Its evil will — a hunger that would consume everything without regard — made the skin on Belinda's body tighten, as though the tip of a blade were pressed against her face.
"It's fine!"
However, the Gluttony Beast's ability to sense intruders had clearly diminished as well. As Belinda watched Crescent Lake draw ever nearer, a glint of joy passed through her eyes.
"Blue Shell Gems!"
Carefully slipping past the double-headed giant mouse, she made her way into the bed of Crescent Lake. Several gemstones radiating a soft blue glow vanished without a sound.
The ease of the process surprised even Belinda.
"Excellent! With the Holy Light Crystals, Nick should be able to hold out a while longer…"
Belinda suppressed the joy swelling in her heart and tucked the Blue Shell Gems safely away. Then she turned to leave from a distance.
"Squeak!" "Squeak!" "Squeak!"
But just at that moment, an abrupt change erupted from the double-headed giant mouse opposite her! It snapped its eyes open, all four green pupils brimming with frenzied madness.
Ring after ring of dark purple veins burst to the surface across its body, bringing with them masses of blood clots and tumours that looked absolutely horrifying beneath its skin.
The tumours on its neck in particular were now enveloped by a ring of dark red light, ceaselessly contracting and expanding.
"Evolution failure!" A look of shock crossed Belinda's face. This was clearly a case where the Gluttony Beast had not accumulated enough energy, and its evolution had gone wrong.
For Belinda, this was about the worst possible outcome — a Gluttony Beast that had failed its evolution would enter a terrifying feeding frenzy, desperate to replenish its depleted reserves.
In this state, it was far more frenzied than an ordinary Gluttony Beast, practically fearless of death itself.
"Squeak!" Along with its roar, a horrifying wave of sound swept outward in all directions.
Crack! Crack! The gossamer shroud of dream power around Belinda's body began to collapse, spiderweb-like cracks spreading across its surface, draining the colour from her face.
Boom! A flash of dark red light flickered through the void, and Belinda's figure materialised directly in the open.
"Squeak!" Immediately, she found herself pinned by the gaze of the double-headed giant mouse's four massive, bean-sized green eyes.
The fury of its failed evolution, coupled with an insatiable craving for food and energy, had birthed in it a murderous frenzy.
The overwhelming stare and hostility of a fifth-tier existence pressed down on Belinda so intensely that she felt as though she were suffocating.
"Run!"
Behind her, the enormous phantom of the Devil White Phosphor Serpent materialised, gathering wisps and strands of dream power like a crimson tide that surged forward to stand between her and the giant mouse.
She didn't even glance back, her entire body transforming into a streak of brilliant light as she prepared to flee at full speed.
"Chirp chirp!" But a fifth-tier existence — a terrifying beast corrupted by the power of gluttony — was far more formidable than Belinda had anticipated.
With a frenzied roar, the two-headed giant mouse fixed its gaze upon the dream power as solid as a copper wall, along with the phantom serpent coiled within, and the madness in its eyes intensified as it charged straight through.
BOOM! An ear-splitting shriek and a terrifying explosion rang out.
Wisps of greenish smoke, carrying a putrid, corrosive stench, rose ceaselessly from the giant mouse's body. Its once-sleek fur, after being corroded by the dream power, immediately became riddled with pits and craters, even exposing the pinkish-white tender skin beneath — a thoroughly repulsive sight.
But in the next instant, vast quantities of dream power, even the phantom of the Devil White Phosphor Serpent, were shattered by a single blow from the two-headed giant mouse. Its body seemed to function like a black hole, actually drawing the dream power — even the soul projection — inside itself.
Sizzle! A flash of yellow light, and the severe injuries on the two-headed giant mouse's body healed almost instantly. Its aura even seemed to surge slightly stronger than before — as long as there was sufficient food, a gluttony beast could recover from wounds at breathtaking speed, and even advancing to the next tier posed no bottleneck whatsoever. That was what made gluttony beasts truly terrifying!
"Ngh!" With her serpentine soul projection destroyed and a massive amount of dream power lost, Belinda's vision went dizzy, and two thin lines of blood trickled from her eyes.
Worse still, the devastating backlash forced her out of her streak of light, and she could no longer retreat from the battlefield at speed.
"Chirp chirp…"
The two-headed giant mouse stared at Belinda with naked greed, as though appraising where to take its first bite.
For a gluttony beast of this kind, a fourth-tier powerhouse was no small morsel.
"You disgusting mongrels! Come!" At the threshold of life and death, Belinda's demeanor turned savage beyond measure, and a massive black war saber materialized in her hand.
Against a gluttony beast, only wide-area destructive spells or heavy weaponry could hope to be effective.
"Chirp chirp!"
WHOOSH! Despite its mountainous frame, the two-headed giant mouse moved with lightning speed. Belinda barely caught a blur of yellow light streaking past before an enormous force struck her hand, sending the black war saber flying from her grasp. Even she was sent staggering back, coughing up blood.
"A fifth-tier existence — one on the verge of evolving at that… truly far beyond my reach…"
As she was sent flying by the devastating blow, a bitter smile surfaced at the corner of Belinda's lips.
CRUNCH! CRUNCH! A crisp sound rang out, and Belinda watched as the war saber she had purchased at great expense — rumored to have been blessed by the Mother of Sovereigns — simply vanished between the two-headed giant mouse's teeth.
"Could it really…" Belinda now lacked even the capacity for a bitter smile. Her pupils contracted sharply. "Is my fate… to simply vanish into the belly of a gluttony beast?"
The two-headed giant mouse, having finished devouring the war saber, lunged directly at Belinda. The sharpness of its foreclaws left Belinda in no doubt that they could tear through her defenses in an instant, ripping her guts apart.
"
At the brink of life and death, Belinda's expression was remarkably calm. Aside from a small trace of regret, there was almost no fear in her heart.
BOOM!
A blast of air erupted, sending Belinda stumbling back once more, but the agonizing pain she had expected never came.
Belinda stared ahead in bewilderment. There, a single leaf emanating a green glow, dripping with emerald light, was blocking the way. The green wall of light stood like a fortress of steel, or like the dark reef rocks along a shoreline — no matter how sharp the giant mouse's claws were, they could only be firmly repelled outside.
"That's… Nick's amulet!" Belinda's eyes were hazy with confusion for a moment, before she immediately recognized the object.
Sophia's reminder came back to her as well, and warmth filled Belinda's heart.
Whoosh! The green light shimmered, as though countless leaves were swaying together. Bathed in the holy radiance, the green leaf blazed with brilliant light, every vein on its surface clearly visible, like it was carved from jade.
A vast swarm of green light particles spread outward, then, using the green leaf as a core, they coalesced into the towering silhouette of a giant standing over ten meters tall.
The giant bore the texture of wood across its body, and even had vines and green leaves adorning its shoulders and torso, resembling a towering tree guardian.
"My dear lady! You have been frightened!"
The treant spoke in a deep, resonant drone, his voice heavy with a thick nasal quality.
"Who are you?" Belinda asked in a daze.
"A guardian of wisdom! A member of the eternal treant race — you may call me Benny!"
The treant seemed to smile.
"I will hold them off for a while. Please, leave this place at once!"
With a thunderous roar, the towering treant Benny lunged at the two-headed giant mouse.