"Hello, Lotus."
Fang Mo smiled and waved his hand towards a distant temple.
"..."
However, instead of responding, the vast spiritual power in the air retracted instantly as if shocked, quickly returning the surroundings to silence. Apart from the scattered followers on the ground, only the trench created by Sieghart's strike remained.
The whole scene suddenly became eerily quiet, as if the air itself was filled with awkwardness.
"Damn, why isn't this guy responding?"
Seeing that Lotus's consciousness had fled, Fang Mo cursed, "I'm not a bad person, why is he so afraid of me?"
"Do you even listen to yourself?"
Xiao Yao beside him facepalmed.
"What? Do I really look like a bad person?"
Fang Mo turned to his partner and said confidently, "I'm actually very gentle and refined..."
"Someone developed a permanent fear of rod-like objects just because Charles probed his memory once," Xiao Yao tilted her head slightly. "And that guy named Jason... didn't you tell me about him too? Shouldn't you reflect on your attitude towards psychics?"
"Ahem, they brought it upon themselves."
Fang Mo turned his head, "Besides, Charles's fear of rod-like objects is a good thing, or else he and Magneto would have come out long ago..."
"Hmm..."
While they were talking, a little mage from not far away suddenly wavered, feeling a bit unsteady. Fortunately, Lakius the Dragonoid noticed and quickly supported her, "Your Majesty, are you alright?"
This scene caught the attention of Fang Mo and Xiao Yao, and they turned their heads simultaneously.
"Strange, why do I feel a bit dizzy?"
Summon rubbed her temples wearily, "Did I just consume too much magic power?"
"Damn, Lotus has built a mind controller."
Fang Mo directly said to Xiao Yao.
"Yeah, right." Xiao Yao said irritably and then walked towards Summon, "Huahua, did you bring a disruption emitter?"
"What's that?"
Summon looked up blankly.
"It's..."
"Don't explain, Kiri got scammed by me a few days ago and is probably borrowing money to open a mini jar now." Before Xiao Yao could explain, Fang Mo interrupted, "The disruption emitter is a scammy mission, I'm too lazy to do it."
"..."
Xiao Yao facepalmed in silence.
As mentioned earlier, Lotus is the eighth apostle of the Demon Realm, possessing powerful mind control abilities even outside his ocean habitat.
The disruption emitter was originally designed to counter mind control. It's an Empyrean technology developed by Kiri and others, using energy pulse fields to disrupt Lotus's spiritual power. However, one's willpower also needed to be strong, or they would still be controlled.
But now Kiri had been scammed by Fang Mo and was despised by everyone, so the disruption emitter was no longer available.
"How about..."
Xiao Yao took a deep breath and then turned to Fang Mo, "This time, let's not bring Huahua. It'll be troublesome if she turns against us."
"Huh?"
Fang Mo was stunned, "Just that? It's not that serious, is it?"
"It is." Xiao Yao shrugged, "Haven't you followed the Sky Veil storyline after the Great Shift?"
"Huh? Great Shift?"
Fang Mo scratched his head, "The Great Shift dog doesn't..."
"Yes, yes, the Great Shift dog doesn't play, fine." Xiao Yao glared at Fang Mo, "I'm not like you who skips the storyline, I've watched it. Although most of it is crap, the Sky Veil storyline is decent, with a well-made supporting character."
"Really?"
Fang Mo didn't care much, having actually quit during the Great Shift.
"I'm worried she might be controlled by Lotus."
Xiao Yao said while patting Huahua's head, "See, isn't she quite cute?"
"…Huh?"
Summon was stunned. Though they were of similar height, with Xiao Yao even shorter, it felt strange to be patted on the head.
"Yes, the snowman set is indeed cute."
Fang Mo agreed, stroking his chin, "Alright, to prevent her from being controlled, I'll control her first..."
"You're exploiting a bug."
Xiao Yao's eyes twitched.
"Just kidding."
Fang Mo laughed, then took out a green metal ingot, shaped it into a bucket, and put it on Summon's head, "Done."
"What's this?"
Summon was puzzled.
"A good little snowman mage, now looks like a metal bucket zombie." Xiao Yao facepalmed, "Well, it might at least prevent mind control."
"What on earth is this?"
Summon couldn't help but reach for her head.
"Don't touch it."
Fang Mo stopped her, "It's a copper-nickel alloy with some lead, too much touching isn't good for growth."
"…Huh?"
Summon was confused.
"See her?" Fang Mo pointed to Xiao Yao, "That's what happens when you touch too much of it as a child."
"So my baby bottle was an antique from Panjiayuan?"
Xiao Yao kicked Fang Mo.
"Just wear it," Fang Mo dodged, "Imperomite alloy can cut through the mind, it should be able to prevent mind control."
The metal Fang Mo took out was indeed a special alloy from the Tinker' Construct mod, possessing mind-severing properties, theoretically capable of defending against mental attacks.
"Alright."
Summon, still puzzled but feeling dizzy, decided to obey.
"Alright, let's move on."
After a brief jest, Fang Mo waved and continued to lead the team forward.
Due to the fact that this area is on the outskirts of the GBL Church's temple, there aren't many believers here. After dealing with that group of fanatics, everyone quickly entered the inner part of the temple.
I must say, the architectural style of this temple is quite impressive.
The founder of the GBL Church was an explorer named Leslie Bagrans. It is said that while exploring the ancient Skyveil Beast, he discovered remnants of an ancient civilization on its back, which recorded profound knowledge. He was so shocked by this knowledge that he devoted his life to pursuing the truth known as knowledge.
Driven by his ideal, Leslie managed to create an academic group focused on pursuing the Great Blue Lore. However, after his death, his followers gradually deified him and began to worship and overly interpret his ideals, leading to a belief in an ultimate wisdom beyond human comprehension, which eventually evolved into the current religious organization.
The three letters GBL are simply an abbreviation for the Great Blue Lore, not some nonsense like 'goblin' or 'glass beads.'
The temple that Fang Mo and his group are now exploring is technically still in the outer region. Before long, they encountered another batch of monsters. However, these monsters were not just fanatics.
In addition to these fanatics, they also found some octopuses writhing continuously on the ground. These octopuses were quite different from those on Earth, as their eyes were not located where the head and arms connect but were directly in the center of their heads. Moreover, like spiders, they had numerous eyes rather than just two, which looked quite bizarre.
"These octopuses..." Summon glanced at the octopuses in the distance, "They don't seem too scary."
"Really?" Fang Mo pointed to the distance, "Then take a look at this."
"Huh?" Summon turned to look and saw a fanatic suddenly stab himself in the chest with a dagger. As the blade pierced his heart, he screamed in agony and fell to the ground.
"What?" Summon was stunned. She then saw something wriggling under the fanatic's clothes, followed by terrifying chewing sounds and a squelching noise.
Finally, with a squelch, several blood-soaked octopuses emerged from the fanatic's sleeves and collar. The fanatic's body rapidly shriveled, as if completely devoured, leaving only his clothes on the ground.
"Still think they're cute?" Fang Mo smirked at Summon, "Want me to help you contract a couple to play with?"
"Ahhhh!!!" Summon was terrified, waving her staff and retreating while shouting to her summoned creatures, "Attack! Quickly, kill them!!!"
Hearing their queen's orders, the summoned beasts immediately charged forward, launching a frenzied attack on the octopuses.
Fortunately, these octopuses were not very strong, and within a few minutes, peace was restored.
Meanwhile, they reached the end of the temple.
"Hmm, next is the Treant Forest?" Fang Mo looked at the trees ahead, instinctively touching his chin, "This place seems dangerous."
"Really? Dangerous?" Summon was puzzled.
"Yes," Fang Mo nodded, "The flowers ahead all believe in Allah. They explode if you touch them."
"What..."
"You wouldn't understand," Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively, "Anyway, it's time for me to reveal a secret. I'm also a summoner, and now it's my turn."
"You're a summoner too?" Summon was skeptical, "Are you sure you're not just summoning weapons?"
"You don't get it." Fang Mo looked at her disdainfully, then raised his hand, "I'm in a good mood today, so I'll show you something special."
"Thank you, I guess," Summon sighed.
"Watch closely," Fang Mo said, rubbing his hands together before pulling out Laevateinn and stabbing it into the ground, "Come forth... Inferior Fire Spirit, Ardain!"
With Fang Mo's words, a colossal flame giant, Surtur, emerged. Holding the Twilight Sword, he roared skyward, shattering the temple's roof. The surrounding temperature soared, vaporizing anything too close.
"See?" Fang Mo turned to Summon, boasting, "This is Ardain!"
"This is not Ardain," Summon was exasperated.
"Why do you care so much?" Fang Mo retorted, "Where does he not look like Ardain? He's made of fire... Hey! Surtr!"
Fang Mo shouted up at the giant.
"Huh?" Surtr looked down, showing fear upon seeing Fang Mo, "You..."
"Are you called Ardain?" Fang Mo demanded, holding Laevatein.
"I'm not..." Surtr started, but seeing Fang Mo's frown, quickly corrected himself, "Yes! I'm Ardain!"
"See, he's Ardain," Fang Mo said to Summon.
"You just called him Surtr!" she shouted, "Do you think I'm deaf!?"
"Oh, my bad," Fang Mo waved it off, "No problem, we can summon another." With that, he clapped his hands on the ground, "Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands!"
The temple shook, nearly toppling Summon, but she was steadied by the Light Castellan. She then saw thorny green vines rise, forming a colossal figure even larger than the flame giant, with countless vine hands and a giant red flower bud for a head.
"Happy now?" Fang Mo's voice came again, "This is Contract Summon: Demonic Flower Aukuso..."
"You..." Summon began, but was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder from Sieghart.
"Fine, fine," she sighed, "Whatever you say it is…"