Chapter 82: Strange Palace
According to the words of the mouse Prime Minister, when Queen Medusa is sleeping, he is the highest leader in the so called "Kingdom of the Evil Eye"....
Having this hostage with them, or it's better to say coerced companion. The group of three along with the ratlike person headed towards the Queen's Palace.
Along the way, all the mice that saw the group turned and ran away, deeply proving the famous "scurrying" aphorism used commonly on these animals. During the chaos that just occurred, their Prime Minister was captured, yet the groups of mice showed no signs of courage to rescue their leader….. From ancient times till now, it is very accurate to use the phrase "courage of a mouse" to describe cowards.
Of course, the Animal Kingdon does not only have mice here, there are also some crows. These birds scouts were originally created with magic by Gargamel. The flat feathered animals would only hover in mid air croaking "Outsider! Outsider!". Annoyed by this, Hussein let's loose one Dou Qi (energy) sword strike up into the air, killing seven to eight of these fleeing birds.
Seeing this, Gargamel couldn't help but let out a painful sigh. "Oh lord knight, do you know how much efforts and experiments I did before the crows learned to speak and keep watch?
Du-Wei couldn't help but wonder, "How do you teach these crows to speak?"
Gargamel smiled, "I'm skilled in transformation magic, so I naturally have a profound understanding of animal biology. Half of my research was on animals… Let alone a crow, even a horse…
"I remember I told you if I ever hear you lie again, I'll cut off your mouse head." Hussein coldly interrupted the self boasting prime minister, then said. "Do you think I cannot see through it? Those crows cannot talk, just that you used magic to transform their voices. Crows don't have intelligence, but they do have animal instincts, capable of distinguishing between those that belong in the city or not. Whenever they encountered 'foreigners', they will call out with their voice. These crows fundamentally cannot speak the human tongue… It's just that the pronunciation of their calls was changed into 'Outsider'. Du-Wei, if you don't believe me, you can ask this mouse to command the crows to say something else. If they cannot say it, I'll immediately cut down his mouse head!"
Once this was said, Gargamel obediently closed his mouth. Du-Wei inwardly stole a laugh, but he was also quite interested in the wonderful ideas that Gargamel thought up. His method was to modify the crows vocal cords with magic, this was very similar to how the parrot trainers did it in his past life. In order to teach a parrot how to talk, the trainer would use special tools to flatten the parrot's tongue. Even though the practice is different, the principle behind it is the same.
(I personally never heard of this method)
Du-Wei contemplated, then laughed. "Gargamel, I understand your thoughts. You were originally a human, but now that you have been turned into an animal, you are worried that others would only think of you as an animal monster that could speak the human tongue. Although you live in this place uninhabited by humans, you would involuntarily want to make the other animals around you speak the human tongue. This is to ease the lonely feeling inside you, right?"
Although Gargamel didn't say anything after hearing these words, his eyes did reveal a feeling of gratitude when he made eye contact with Du-Wei.
The passage leading further into the Canyon still had two completed city walls. Looking up, these walls looked impressive to the eyes! Albeit they were just big rocks piled up together and looked somewhat crude, but their volume and height was definitely big!
"We have a lot of strong slaves. A lot of the Treants in the Canyon was fossilized by Queen Medusa.
Not only could she turn you into stone… If Queen Medusa is willing, she could even turn you into a stone slave without consciousness, a walking dead only there to obey her commands." After what he said, Gargamel couldn't help but break out in cold chills. "The most terrifying thing about this was that even after death, one cannot rest in peace."
Du-Wei let out a sigh, "This should also be one of the many terrifying magics belonging to Queen Medusa, right? If she wants to, she could create an army of living stones just by taking a look at a person or magical beast."
Gargamel sigh, "I never questioned this point. If she is willing, she could change the magical beasts of the whole frozen forest into stone slaves."
Du-Wei suddenly asked, "Why would an all powerful Queen Medusa stay hidden in this Canyon? The frozen forest is such a big place, why would she only stay in this small canyon?
Du-Wei started thinking about the possible reasons, but after going up a ramp and turning a corner, they could finally see Queen Medusa's Palace!
This palace was fully aligned in height with the surrounding two slops beside it. The building was not made of stones, but rather wood! Du-Wei immediately recalls what Old Greenwood said, this palace was built with the physical bodies of the real Treant tribesman. Du-Wei couldn't help but sigh from just thinking of how the gentle Old Greenwood would gnash his teeth with anger on the topic.
Gargamel stopped walking, then hesitated a second before speaking. "You guys really have to go in?" The mouse Prime Minister shifted his eyes around randomly, as if ready to escape if given the chance.
"Yes," Hussein grimly gave him a glance. "You too."
Gargamel moaned and cried while begging "If you are going to find the Queen of madness, then go, the palace is not big anyways. Why must you also bring me along? If Queen Medusa gets angry, I will also be punished! In the past, I have annoyed her once before and for that, she turned me into stone for a month!"
"Do you think she will have the opportunity to punish you again?" Du-Wei frowned, "Did you already assume that once we go inside, she will kill us?"
Although Gargamel didn't say it, but it was clear from his facial expression. However, he quickly saw the anger on the knight's face, causing him to speak quickly. "I have not seen a human for many years, so I don't want you to die in vain. Why not just leave now? She never leaves the palace anyways. I'm in charge of all the outside matters so if I don't say anything and pretend you've never come here, then wouldn't that be better? If you are here for the fountain of youth, then I can tell you that stupid thing is useless. Look at me, I drank many mouthfuls of that water and what benefits did I get?
"We are not here for the spring." Du-Wei spoke in a light tone, "We want Medusa's eye... In the past, she used to be a gold eye Python, right?"
"My God….." Gargamel lets out a moaning sound again, but this time when he looked into the eyes of Du-Wei and his companions, he acted as if he was looking at three psychopaths and three already dead people. (This line isn't as funny in English, but it was so funny when I listened to it in Chinese <(^0^)> ahahahah)
No matter how much the mouse Prime Minister refused, Hussein picked him up anyways and forced him into it. Du-Wei and Dadaneier have both put on their "sunglasses". As for the normally proud Hussein, his face was still as calm and cold as ever, but he was still wise enough to put on a pair of "sunglasses". Against the strength of Medusa, even he would still have a hint of fear in him no matter how he acts.
Pushing open the tall palace gates before them, an immediate blast of cold air blew out and pressed against them. The group walked into the hall against the pressing cold, then from the surrounding walls of the hall, a row of crystals lit up and brighten up the entire hall.
In the spacious Hall, the most striking thing before them was a giant statue. The subject of the statue was a beautiful woman with curling hair. Although it is just stone, the facial features of the woman looked very clear. With a charming look and a pointy chin, it had a seductive charm to it. Just that the expression was too cold and indifferent while having a hint of cold killing intent. Her body was nearly nude with only a few large snakes on her body, covering certain key parts of the body. The serpents themselves also looked lifelike with their fangs exposed.
Beauty coupled with snakes. The statue apparently carried with it a dangerous, mysterious and seductive feeling. Du-Wei took one look, then turned towards the mouse Prime Minister with a smile. "It must be your masterpiece? Medusa couldn't have carved this, right? Who would have known that you had such great carving skills."
Gargamel put on a wry smile, "I've been in this Canyon Valley looking at rocks for 20 years. Even if I knew nothing from the beginning, 20 years is enough to learn a lot of things."
Walking around the stone statue in the hall, there was a door in the back. After opening the door, there was a straight descending passageway. Du-Wei stood at the entrance as he looked but what he saw caused him to frown. "Hmm, this is a magic array. You taught her this, right?"
Looking at it from the door entrance, the passageway was so deep that it was almost bottomless, as if it was seemingly endless in length... But how can it be this deep for single Palace? It's obviously under the effect of the owners magic, turning it into a useful defense facility if entered. If a person not skilled in magic had entered, they would never be able to reach the end of the passageway.
"This is actually using magic to cheat the senses of your eyes and sight. If you were to go in like that, you would think that you had traveled very far, but in reality, you would be just where you started. In order to counter this confusion spell, you just need to close your eyes….." Talking up to this point, Du-Wei suddenly had a revelation and revealed a thoughtful expression. ""And... Queen Medusa's most terrifying weapon is the gaze from her eyes, but if she sets up this magic array, wouldn't that cause everyone to close their eyes? This is like giving up her most powerful weapon."
Or maybe, she just didn't want to accidentally hurt her own people?
Du-Wei thought up this explanation for himself.
Subsequently, the three men and the mouse closed their eyes and headed into the passageway. Du-Wei's senses were very high and Hussein's power level was very close to that of a Saint Paladin, so it was not much different if he closed his eyes or not with his keen perceptions. As for Dadaneier, there would be no problem if he followed behind the two and Gargamel was already used to this.
After entering the channel, this magic array indeed lost its usefulness. Not long after, Hussein could already feel the handle on the second door, but after opening the door, the three men were stunned by what they saw…..
After the second door... It was actually all black! Not even a ray of light!!
"There is no light even in the place behind this." Gargamel whispered, "That is, unless you bring your own torch."
"Is it always like this?" Du-Wei asked the mouse Prime Minister.
After getting an affirmative answer from Gargamel, Du-Wei suddenly smiled and laughed meaningfully.
"This Medusa Queen is strange... You can still say It was just a coincidence that the magic array is to shut the eyes of others, but this setup is completely dark, as if she was afraid of someone being mistakenly petrified by her! Could it be that she is not worried about hostile intruders breaking into this place?
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