Chapter 111: Mysterious Floating Stone, The Silenti’s Eyeball

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Mysterious Floating Stone, The Silenti’s Eyeball

In the center of a relatively spacious "chamber" within the nest, a deep green, irregular, polyhedral Crystal Stone, roughly the size of a fist, was suspended in mid-air!

It rotated slowly as if it were alive, emitting a soft yet profound green halo that bathed the entire cavern in an eerie emerald light.

What surprised Seraphina Sullivan even more was that at least a dozen of The Silenti were gathered silently around this floating green Light Stone.

They circled the Light Stone in slow flight, as if on a pilgrimage, while the stone’s surface continuously released specks of green Energy particles, like motes of dust.

These Energy particles seemed to be drawn towards the signature Eyes of The Silenti, flowing into them to be slowly absorbed.

The scene before her made it seem as if these deadly, petrifying monsters were drawing the Energy that sustained their Power from this strange, green Light Stone!

’This stone... could it be the source of The Silenti’s Power?’

Seraphina Sullivan’s heart pounded. She immediately wanted to get a clearer look.

But because she was seeing through the sparrow’s shared vision, Seraphina Sullivan’s [Analysis Glasses] couldn’t focus directly on the green Crystal Stone, so her Item Identification Ability naturally couldn’t be activated.

Intense curiosity and her intuition told her that this stone was definitely something extraordinary.

Seraphina Sullivan couldn’t resist controlling the little sparrow, trying to get it a bit closer—ideally, right up to the green Energy particles so she could observe them more clearly.

The little sparrow obediently flapped its wings, moving a few meters closer to the floating green Light Stone and the stream of drifting particles.

However, just as the edge of the sparrow’s wing was about to touch the drifting green Energy particles—

SWISH!

The visual and Spirit Link in Seraphina Sullivan’s mind, connecting her to the sparrow, was abruptly severed as if by an invisible blade!

The shared vision instantly went black, and all that came back was a deathly, silent void!

"What happened?!" Seraphina Sullivan was startled, her body even swaying slightly from the sudden disconnection.

’How did the connection break? Was the sparrow spotted and attacked by The Silenti? Or...’

She tried to reactivate her [Bird Manipulation Skill], attempting to reconnect with the sparrow, but it was like dropping a stone into the ocean—there was no response at all.

「Meanwhile, in the eerie green "chamber" deep within the nest.」

A stone sculpture of a small sparrow, frozen in a flying pose, lay silently on the cold ground. It was so lifelike that even the texture of its feathers was clearly visible.

Its tiny body had been completely turned into lifeless, grayish-white stone.

A minuscule, almost invisible particle of green Energy was slowly dissipating from its petrified surface.

Seraphina Sullivan knew something must have gone wrong.

’But, the intel I have now is more than enough. It’s time to make a move.’ Seraphina Sullivan collected her thoughts and turned her gaze to Sean Chandler.

Sean Chandler understood immediately and gave a slight nod.

The next second, his body rapidly shrank and transformed, and in the blink of an eye, he had turned into a palm-sized, all-black cat that blended perfectly into the night.

He darted out lightly, like a silent shadow, quickly approaching the nest.

Just as they had tested earlier, The Silenti on the outskirts of the nest merely gave the sudden appearance of this "small animal" a lazy glance before losing interest. One or two were even drawn in by the black cat’s agile form and subconsciously followed him for a short distance.

Sean Chandler took full advantage of this, deliberately slowing down to lure one of the straggling Silenti away from the nest and behind the corner of a derelict building.

Just as the Silenti tilted its head, curiously observing this fearless little black cat—

Everything changed in an instant!

The seemingly harmless little black cat suddenly sprang up, moving so fast it left only an afterimage!

A small cat’s paw, carrying the force of a thunderbolt, struck the Silenti’s grayish-white chest with pinpoint accuracy!

[Talent: Monster Power—Activated!]

SQUELCH!

An extremely faint, yet cringe-inducing muffled sound was heard.

The terrifying Power contained in the cat’s paw instantly penetrated its body and, with irresistible force, directly shattered the fragile heart within the Silenti!

The Silenti didn’t even have time to let out a cry. The light in its eyes instantly died out, its body stiffened, and it dropped straight to the ground.

The little black cat landed lightly, picked up the lifeless body of the Silenti, and returned to Seraphina Sullivan’s side in a few leaps. He transformed back into his human form and placed the prey before her.

"Nice work!" Seraphina Sullivan praised.

She raised her hand, ready to submit the Silenti’s corpse directly to the system to complete the retrieval mission.

But just before submitting it, she suddenly recalled the scene she had witnessed in the nest.

She crouched down and carefully observed the monster’s still-warm corpse, her gaze finally settling on its eyes, which had turned a dead, ashen gray.

"Wait, don’t turn in the mission just yet."

She retrieved two gleaming daggers from the Space of her [Scavenging Backpack].

The Skill she’d obtained from the last dungeon—[Butcher’s Skill]—activated!

Her hands instantly became incredibly steady and precise, the glint of the blades dancing over the Silenti’s corpse as if they had a life of their own.

Her movements were fluid and efficient, with no wasted motion, as if she had practiced them a thousand times over.

In just over ten seconds, two complete, intact, grayish-white eyeballs had been perfectly extracted and were resting in Seraphina Sullivan’s palm.

Item Identification, activate!

[Eye of the Silenti]

[Effect: An eyeball mutated by long-term absorption of special Energy. It contains trace amounts of active Petrification Factor. Theoretically, consuming a cumulative total of one hundred of these eyeballs has an extremely low probability of inducing a benign genetic mutation, which grants the user a weak Petrification Ability or resistance to Petrification effects.]

The moment she saw the identification results, Seraphina Sullivan’s own eyes lit up!

’Eating these Eyes... I can actually get a chance to obtain a Petrification-type Ability?’

Although the description was vague and the probability extremely low, it was undoubtedly a huge temptation!

The Power and utility of a Petrification Ability were self-evident.

To obtain such an Ability, Seraphina Sullivan felt she could probably stomach something as disgusting as swallowing raw eyeballs.

But when she thought about the "extremely low probability" and the terrifying quantity of "one hundred," it felt unreliable.

She immediately recalled her own bad-luck streak, like when she had eaten the [Power Apple] and gotten nothing.

’But... maybe I should let Sean Chandler try this?’ Her gaze shifted to her King of Fortune teammate next to her.

The guy’s luck was absurdly good. Maybe he could actually hit that minuscule probability?

’But one hundred eyeballs... that means we have to take care of at least fifty of The Silenti.’

Seraphina Sullivan looked towards the deep, dark nest in the distance, her eyes filled with determination. ’It seems that for the sake of the Treasure Chest, and for this possible Petrification Ability, we have to "take care" of these Silenti as quickly as possible!’