Legend of the Embroiderer

Chapter 638 The First Appearance of the Raiders and the Deadly Fog of Rune Traps (2)

The gatekeeper's black energy seized a transparent shadow, attempting to read its consciousness—a consciousness devoid of malicious intent to "plunder," containing only emotions of "fear" and "plea for help," interspersed with a vague fragment of memory: in the fragment, countless black shadows were bound by a massive "purple mother nest," which controlled the shadows through energy siphoning, forcing them to plunder various dimensional groups. If they failed to bring back enough energy, they would be completely devoured by the mother nest, becoming its nourishment.

"They are not active predators! They are 'tools' controlled by the mother nest!"

The gatekeeper, his mind reeling from the shock, immediately ceased his attack and relayed a message to all his teammates: "Don't harm them! These shadows are manipulated victims. Our goal is to control them and extract information about the hive from their consciousness!"

The team members immediately adjusted their tactics, ceasing their offensive actions and instead using anti-plunder energy to form a "binding light net" that firmly trapped the remaining eight black shadows.

The bound shadows ceased their resistance, their cries for help growing stronger, and they even began to actively transmit more fragments of memory: the Mother Nest originated from the chaotic space, and through loopholes in the laws of higher-dimensional realms, it controlled a large number of lower-dimensional beings, transforming them into "tools of plunder." The ten shadows sent out in advance this time were merely to "test" the Alliance's defensive capabilities, preparing for subsequent large-scale plunder.

"The mother nest is the real threat!"

The Guardian's four-colored energy was injected into a bound shadow, attempting to purify the "control mark" in its consciousness. The moment the energy touched the shadow, the pale purple energy around the shadow began to fade, and the black outline gradually revealed its original form: this was a "star core consciousness" from a lower dimension, which was transformed into a tool of plunder because its dimension was plundered by the Mother Nest.

"It really can purify!"

The white light of the fusion immediately joined in, fusing the anti-plunder energy with the twin source energy to form a "purifying light stream" that was injected into all the bound shadows.

The pale purple control mark quickly dissipated in the purifying light stream, and all ten shadows returned to their original forms—among them were the consciousness of the star core, the consciousness of dimensional plants, and the remnant consciousness of a destroyed dimension. Each consciousness carried fear of the mother nest and a longing for freedom.

"Thank you... for saving us."

The voice of the Star Core consciousness was weak as it conveyed crucial information about the Mother Nest to the Guardians: "The core of the Mother Nest is hidden on the other side of the loophole in the laws, within the 'Purple Nebula' of the Chaotic Space."

The Hive's energy source is 'plundered energy crystals'. Once the crystals are destroyed, the Hive will lose control. However, the crystals are protected by countless siphon energy barriers, making them difficult to approach.

In addition, the mother hive is also cultivating 'super predators,' whose siphon energy intensity is ten times that of ours. It is expected to be completed in a month, at which time..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Star Core Consciousness's body suddenly trembled violently, and the pale purple control mark reappeared in its consciousness—the Mother Nest, through the mark, sensed the Shadows' betrayal and was attempting to remotely destroy their consciousness!

"Quickly! Increase the purification energy!"

The Guardian's four-colored energy erupted with its strongest light, merging with the energy of the Fusion Body and the Gatekeeper to form an "ultimate purification barrier" that enveloped the ten shadows.

The barrier's energy clashed violently with the control imprint, and the imprint's color gradually faded, yet it could never completely dissipate—the nest's control capabilities far exceeded expectations.

"This is not the way to go!"

The voice of the Star Core consciousness was resolute: "The remote control of the Mother Nest will continue to drain our consciousness energy. At most, we will completely dissipate in half an hour!"

"Why not take this opportunity to pass on the 'core coordinates' of the Mother Nest to you? These coordinates are hidden deep within our consciousness and can only be activated before our consciousness dissipates. You can use these coordinates to find the Mother Nest in advance and destroy and plunder the energy crystals!"

Without hesitation, the guardian transformed the four-colored energy into a "consciousness conduit," connecting the consciousness of the ten shadows: "Alright! We'll receive the coordinates! But we will do everything in our power to preserve your consciousness; we won't let your sacrifices be in vain!"

Half an hour later, the consciousness energy of the ten shadows was nearing its limit, and their bodies became so transparent that they almost disappeared.

Just as they were about to completely dissipate, a purple coordinate was transmitted from the consciousness conduit and precisely projected onto the surface of the dimensional rune—the rune suddenly burst out with intense light, firmly locking the coordinate, and even in the center of the rune, a blurry image of the "purple nebula" where the mother nest was located appeared!

"Coordinates obtained!"

The gatekeeper was filled with excitement. He immediately recorded the coordinates and prepared to devise a plan to "raid the mother hive".

Just then, the consciousness of the ten shadows completely dissipated, transforming into ten faint purple energies that merged into the dimensional runes. The runes' light suddenly became eerie, the pale gold patterns on their surface began to rotate in reverse, and countless tiny "siphon energy lines" appeared around the purple coordinates. These energy lines were extending towards the core of the multiverse through the runes!

"Oh no! This is a trap!"

The merged entity's consciousness was filled with shock. She suddenly realized that although the coordinates transmitted by the star core's consciousness were real, the mother nest had implanted "siphon marks"—these siphon energy lines would establish an "energy connection" between the mother nest and the multi-source core through dimensional runes. As long as the mother nest activated the marks, it could directly siphon the evolutionary energy in the core through the connection!

The guardian immediately severed the consciousness conduit in an attempt to stop the energy lines from extending, only to find that the energy lines had already penetrated deep into the core and were resonating faintly with the core's evolutionary energy.

Once a mark is implanted, it cannot be easily severed unless the dimensional rune is completely destroyed or the mark's "energy hub" is found and manually removed.

"From the very beginning, the Mother Nest intended to transmit coordinates through shadows and implant markings into the runes!"

The Guardian's consciousness was filled with rage. He finally understood that the early appearance of the Raiders was not an accident, but a trap carefully designed by the Mother Nest.

The goal is to exploit the Alliance's "compassion" to successfully implant the mark into the rune, paving the way for subsequent large-scale siphoning.

The gatekeeper's black energy immediately flowed into the dimensional runes, attempting to locate the marked energy nexus: "There's a purple node in the reverse pattern of the runes! That's the nexus!"

The resonance between the energy lines and the core can be stopped by severing the nodes with absolute termination energy, but someone needs to enter the rune and operate it at close range. The rune is now filled with siphoning energy, and the consciousness of anyone who enters may be marked and corrupted, or even remotely controlled by the Mother Nest!

This decision once again confronted the three: entering the rune to clear the nexus meant risking being controlled; failing to clear the nexus meant the Brood could activate the mark at any time, siphoning the core's evolutionary energy and destroying the Alliance's preparations.

"I go."