Two black pythons stood upright, then swallowed the two Hell's Bells.
"Nothing special. Can't the monster's ability be devoured and absorbed?"
Illumi looked up and closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes within his body, but strangely, he felt no change.
"Boss."
Suddenly, King Bradley spoke, his tone low.
Illumi opened his eyes and looked at King Bradley.
At this moment, King Bradley was looking grimly at Pride, or rather, at Pride's face.
Illumi also looked down at Pride. Pride was currently tightly closing his eyes, seemingly sensing something.
Moments later, Pride took a deep breath of the damp swamp air, his lips curved into a smile, and he stuck out his scarlet tongue, licking his lips as if savoring something delicious.
"This is..."
What Illumi found most peculiar was that a strange black rune had appeared on Pride's right cheek. The rune looked like two interconnected circles, one regular and one inverted.
The rune wasn't large, occupying only about a third of his right cheek.
"Hmm~ It feels nostalgic."
Pride slowly opened his eyes and touched his right cheek. Unlike Illumi, he seemed able to perceive a difference.
"Mobius strip..."
Illumi looked grimly at the two connected, regular and inverted black circles on Pride's face. This strange black rune was precisely the Mobius strip, symbolizing endless cycles, eternity, and infinity.
"I have this thing on my face too?"
Illumi thought to himself. He immediately controlled the Ranger neural mechanical helmet to switch to the perspective of other Avenger soldiers.
The screen flashed, and the image of Illumi's face immediately appeared on the screen, but there was nothing on his face. He extended his arm, and there were no runes on his arm either.
"It might have appeared directly on my true form."
Illumi's heart stirred. A white light rose from his feet. The white light gradually swept over his head, and his tall adult body reverted to the appearance of an eleven-year-old boy.
"Long time no see, body."
Illumi twisted his neck and raised his arms, slowly adapting to his boyish body. He then removed the neural mechanical helmet, which no longer fit perfectly due to his shrinking, and looked at King Bradley, asking in a tender voice:
"Do I have a Mobius strip on my face?"
"No." King Bradley replied in a deep voice.
Suddenly, Illumi's brow furrowed tightly. He felt his left arm itching. He immediately extended his arm and looked down. A black Mobius strip was gradually forming on the back of his left forearm.
"I have it too. This thing appears whenever I devour a monster?"
"Then what about the ability?"
Illumi looked at Pride. Pride had recovered by now, and nothing had changed except for the Mobius strip on his face.
"Pride, can you use your ability on me?"
Illumi said in a deep voice. Pride's lips curled, and his voice was low.
"No problem."
The moment his words fell, a red light flashed in Pride's eyes. Illumi felt a surge of killing intent within him. He immediately sat cross-legged, his eyes tightly closed.
At this moment, in Illumi's consciousness, a blood-red full moon suddenly appeared in the sky. Beneath the full moon, Illumi sat cross-legged on top of a mountain formed by countless corpses.
Endless blood gathered into a bloody ocean, surrounding Illumi, who sat on the mountain peak. The blood flowed more and more, until Illumi, on the peak of the mountain of corpses, was also submerged in a sea of blood.
An unbearable bloody stench surged towards Illumi. Blood continuously poured into his nose, ears, and mouth, making it difficult to breathe.
Just as Illumi, unable to bear it, was about to awaken, a strong black light suddenly bloomed from within the sea of blood. At the same time, the "water level" of the sea of blood continuously receded.
In an instant, Illumi felt he could breathe again.
A black Mobius strip, glowing with black light, emerged from the sea of blood. The surging sea of blood slowly calmed down under the black light of the Mobius strip.
Illumi's brow tightened and then relaxed. He slowly opened his eyes, returning to reality.
"Interesting."
Pride looked at Illumi, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground with his eyes open, curiosity in his gaze.
He could feel that the previous Illumi's heart was filled with killing intent, to an uncontrollable degree.
But a strange power suddenly appeared, completely suppressing the killing intent in his heart until it subsided.
"Mobius strip. It seems the things on those Hell's Bells all have a history."
Illumi slowly rose. He glanced at the Mobius strip symbol on his left forearm. A white light enveloped him, and he returned to his adult form from his previous life.
"Depart."
Illumi ordered. Thirty-five people, including himself, got back into the inflatable boat and headed towards the northernmost part of the swamp, the wild growth area of the longevity food, Nitromi.
August 15, 2:22 PM.
Illumi and his party rowed through the Marsh of Hell for ten hours, finally reaching the northernmost part of the swamp, the wild growth area of the longevity food, Nitromi.
Unlike yesterday, there were no accidents on the journey today. In other words, no creatures or Hell's Bells actively attacked them.
"This is the wild growth area of the longevity food, Nitromi."
Illumi stepped onto the land at the edge of the swamp, looking at a white creature resembling a deer, grazing in the forest ahead. More accurately, he was looking at what was on its head.
This deer-like creature was not large, estimated to be only three meters long and one meter tall.
But its entire body was covered in pure white fur. On its head grew two branches with many thin twigs, and on these branches bloomed white flowers like white magnolias.
The two branches and their slender twigs had no leaves, appearing very clean and pure.
"Puff..."
It moved its front leg, pushing aside the grass, and took a step forward.
A similarly pure white figure appeared behind it, also grazing.
Only then did Illumi and his party notice that there were actually two of them, but their figures had completely overlapped, so Illumi couldn't see them from his angle.
"Rustle rustle..."
A gentle breeze swept through the forest, rustling the grass and leaves. Illumi looked into the depths of the forest and saw even more.
They were in pairs, moving lightly and in perfect synchronization. Their posture was elegant. Every movement exuded a noble and pure aura, like ancient aristocrats among animals.
"Very peculiar creatures."
Illumi and his party simply stood on the land at the edge of the swamp, quietly observing them. He had seen the hand-drawn illustrations of the longevity food, Nitromi, from V5's Special Dangerous Creatures Management Agency.
These were the branches and flowers growing on the heads of these peculiar creatures.
But for some reason, those hand-drawn illustrations did not depict the appearance of these pure white creatures, nor did they state that the longevity food, Nitromi, was tissue from these creatures.
"Gulu~!"
Suddenly, the two noble creatures grazing in front simultaneously looked up, their movements perfectly synchronized, and gazed at Illumi and his party standing at the edge of the swamp.
"Gugugu gu"
They looked at Illumi and his party, blinked, slowly perked up their ears, and let out a soft cry.
Immediately, they both turned around simultaneously, and with perfectly synchronized movements, they hopped and vanished into the forest.
And the other creatures also seemed to hear their warning, and without hesitation, they joyfully moved deeper into the forest.
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