Fiona's Alchemy Cottage, located in the business district of the west of the city, was not open for business now, but a little breeze leaked from the half-open door, wind chimes rang, and a woman's voice came from the house. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"What is this?"

Fiona had just woken up, her shop was supposed to open until the evening, for Fiona, night was her domain, but today's guests could not refuse.

When the hot woman rubbed her sleepy eyes to help Lawson open the door, her spirits were suddenly lifted.

Not only because the bottle of enchanting incense that Lawson brought her was sold that night and sold for a good price, but also because with Lawson, there must be some troubles, big and small.

Like what's in the bottle on the table right now.

Inside the transparent glass bottle were dark purple worms, finger-thick, eyeless, and candlelight reflected from their bodies, constantly wriggling towards the mouth of the bottle.

This is exactly the etching worm that Rosen had previously collected in the sewers.

He concealed his breath and came here from the cemetery to further confirm his suspicions.

"Etching bugs. ”

didn't care if the other party would ask how he knew the name, Rosen directly told Fiona the names of these bugs.

"Wait, wait, this is the etching bug?"

It seemed that although Fiona had never seen real etching insects, she still had a certain amount of knowledge about these insects, and when she heard Rosen's words, her eyes immediately widened.

"Goddess, where did you get these bugs?"

"Tell me what you know. ”

Rosen did not answer Fiona's question, but continued to ask for information from her mouth.

"You...... Do you know the 'price of power'?"

Fiona hesitated for a moment before she asked slowly.

"Like a power-boosting potion?"

Lawson asked knowingly, trying to play dumb.

"Yes, this potion can forcibly increase people's strength in a short period of time, but the side effects are also quite obvious, the vast majority of people will die violently within a few days to a week after taking the potion, and it was banned by the Sanctuary and the Rainbow Tower many years ago. ”

Fiona said, glancing at the wriggling bugs in the bottle.

"The formula for the potion 'The Price of Strength' has been strictly sealed off to most people, but according to some vague accounts, the extract of the etching worm is the core ingredient of the potion. ”

"Are these bugs so powerful?"

Rosen had already determined in his mind that the people who cultivated these bugs and the people who spread the fake "holy water" should be accomplices, in other words, the cultists had infiltrated the upper echelons of the Templar forces in Byron Faith.

"The erosion worm is divided into mother and larvae, these bottles should be larvae, the larvae have a short life and need to swallow energy all the time to survive, and the mother can enter a dormant state and have no problem staying for decades. ”

Fiona said, taking a heavy, quaint book from the shelf, flipping it to one of the pages, and handing it to Rosen.

Rosen glanced at the yellowed pages with research and sketches of the etching insects written in floral script, and was fascinated by some of the descriptions.

"The mother's etching worm can give birth to the larvae, spread them, and the larvae instinctively seek out the host to parasitize, providing the host with the basic power to find more prey, and then the larvae can draw the strength and split, thus spreading farther. ”

Fiona describes in succinct words the ecological cycle of the etching insects, an unimaginable life form.

"Among them, a large part of the power drawn by the larvae will be supplied to the mother through some special way, and the mother body is using this method to continue to grow stronger, and it is said that in ancient times, someone encountered a gold-level etching worm, I am afraid that it is an old guy who has existed since the distant past. ”

"Wait, you said that the power drawn by the larvae will be transmitted to the mother, so will a potion like 'The Price of Strength' have the same effect?"

Thinking of the information that he would die violently after taking such a potion, Rosen had a bold conjecture.

"This ......"

Fiona was silent, such an assumption is not recorded in the book, but according to the way the Etching Worm survives, the transmission of this power does not depend on life, and perhaps in the case of leachables, it is also true.

Seeing that Fiona did not deny it, Rosen fell into thought.

I am afraid that the purpose of the cultists' creation of the "price of power" and this less effective fake "holy water" is not only to lure others to fall, but also to rely on these things to spread the larvae of the etching worms in an open manner.

The sewer must have been a petri dish-like place to produce large quantities of etching insects to make potions and "holy water", which could both strengthen the cultists and their henchmen, as well as provide power to the mother, who was presumably in the hands of the cultist leaders in the area.

This is like the cloud computing network of Rosen's previous life, all the creatures linked by the etching worm gather their power to the cloud, that is, the mother, and the cultists who control the mother body can use these powers to their heart's content, and now, almost half of Byron Weiss City has become the "battery" of the cultists, supplying them with energy.

It's a chilling situation to think about.

"Have you ever drunk the holy water from the Templar?"

Lawson gathered his attention and looked at Fiona again.

"No, no, I don't go out often, so I don't tinker with that thing, what's wrong?"

Fiona was a little uneasy when she said this, she didn't go to buy holy water, but she didn't think that it was possible for Rosen to bring up the topic suddenly, and there must be some kind of connection between the two.

"It's nothing, it's better not to drink that. ”

Lawson shook his head, and was about to put away the bottle containing the etching worm when a terrible wail came from a distance.

It was a high-pitched howl like a wolf's howl, sending chills down the spine, like a nightmare in the deepest part of it.

"W-What is that?"

Fiona had never heard such a roar before, and she chuckled inwardly, unconsciously oozing cold sweat.

"I don't know, but it's certainly not a good thing. ”

With a bad premonition in his mind, Lawson put away his things and walked towards the door, saying to Fiona at the same time.

"If you don't want to die too badly, it's better to stay at home. ”

"What!"

A hint of panic flashed in Fiona's eyes, and she looked out the door and found nothing.

Another howl, this time closer, and, after the lead, more scattered howls, accompanied by the sound of something breaking.

Rosen became alert, resting his hand lightly on the hilt of his greatsword, and pushed the door open.

Then, Rosen saw a horrific scene.

The tall monster with slippery tentacles was gnawing at a woman's belly, and two or three more were wandering not far away, seemingly looking for prey.

It was an incomparably curious sight, and Rosen had never seen a similar scene in his previous life or in this life, and he felt that his surroundings had become dark, and Rosen raised his head.

In the sky, the dazzling sun was long gone, and only one moon was left hanging high.

A blood-colored moon.

PS: Thank you for the reward of Bright Moon Night 233, Dragon, Remnant Soul, and Phantom Moon Demon~