Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 358: Meeting Shadow

In Baal’s dream, he saw those victims he slaughtered before.

These people, who were supposed to be dead, chased after him on their broken bodies. They kept yelling “reveeeeenge…” until they forced Baal into a corner.

“NOOOO!”

When a moving corpse grabbed Baal’s neck with a pair of bloody hands, the man finally fainted in his dream.

In the next second, Baal bounced up from his bed, panting heavily. His back was covered in his own sweat.

“That’s… a dream?? But it looks so real!”

“Your nightmares won’t leave you alone. It seems you’ve done many guilty things, Baal.”

A bright male voice came from nearby.

Baal immediately gazed at who might have just offended him, only to get terrified when he recognized the figure leaning against the door frame.

Baal stumbled down his bed and almost crawled to his employer on all fours. “Why-why have you come, sir?”

“That’s MY question.” Angor looked behind and nodded at Trusan to comfort her. He then closed the door to join Baal in the room.

“So, your business?” He sat on a sofa and glanced at Baal.

Baal frowned and tried to recall how he ended up on a bed. When Angor began to show signs of impatience, Baal suddenly remembered what happened in the morning.

Baal was feeling very proud today, since the “powerful and mighty” Leonrick actually sent him a letter, pleading for something. It seemed like Leonrick already forgave him for his attempt to kidnap Margot. He even sent him a big gift and asked him to bring a message to “Sir Wizard”.

Baal couldn’t understand why Leonrick did not go visit the wizard on his own, but he didn’t really care since he already received a huge sum of coins.

After receiving the offer, Baal rode a ship to the mansion. Before he could get in, he saw “ghosts”, and soon after, he lost consciousness just like that.

Baal secretly glimpsed at Angor and wondered if Leonrick tricked him into this mess because he already knew something was around the manor.

“I… I came here to deliver a message for Leonrick…”

“Leonrick?” Angor raised an eyebrow. “He asked YOU to deliver something?”

“I don’t know why, sir. He just used something to trick me—I mean, no! It’s wasn’t a trick!” Baal slapped his cheek. “Damn my stupid mouth. I mean, his message sounded rather fishy, so I think he’s trying to trick you, sir.”

“Just tell me the message.”

“It’s something like… he found a city legend, which described a race called… Krokbara? Kobakara?” Baal looked up and frowned. “I can’t remember. I can’t understand any of it.”

“Kobakara?” Angor muttered, “You mean ‘Krakok’?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s it!”

“Are you sure?!” Angor grabbed Baal’s collar.

Baal found his feet leaving the floor and nodded in fear. “That’s right, sir! Krakok! I get it now. That’s exactly what he said to me.”

Angor tossed Baal onto the bed. “If those shadows are called Krakoks, then maybe that man last night…”

He left the room quickly.

“What about me?” Baal complained as he watched Angor walked away.

…

Inside the basement area under a dark canal…

Magician was still studying “Create Water”. He almost finished establishing the spell model, but he feared that something might go wrong in the last step, and he wondered whether he should go and ask Mask about it.

As he pondered, the bronze basement door was suddenly pushed open, revealing Angor in his usual checkered overcoat.

“Mask?” Magician looked at his visitor in shock.

Someone managed to get inside without triggering any alarms?

“Why are you here?” he asked carefully.

Angor didn’t intend to waste time on useless courtesy this time. He released his mana aura straight away, and Magician stepped back in fear while he tried to establish his most powerful cantrip.

Before he could though, he heard Angor asking a question.

“Is this man ‘Shadow’?”

Magician looked up and saw Angor’s mana energy fusing into a series of nodes, which then created an illusion.

He knew it was fake because his basement couldn’t see snow and a street lamp.

“What a realistic illusion…” Magician exclaimed in his mind. How he hoped that he could do something similar.

Also, he noticed that Mask didn’t come for a fight. However, he still maintained the spell model in his mind so that he could use it whenever something went wrong.

“Is he ‘Shadow’?” Angor grew impatient when Magician stayed silent.

Magician was still inspecting the fine illusion presented in front of his eyes. If he were to witness it somewhere else, he would definitely appreciate such a sight filled with a sense of loneliness and desolation.

A dark street covered under a blanket of white snow, a dim lamp, and a man smoking a cigarette.

The man’s face was covered under the brimmed hat, but Magician still recognized the bright-looking boots and rivet coat.

“Yes. That’s Shadow.”

“You sure about it?”

“I am. This guy doesn’t talk much, but he always wears showy stuff like that. I see him in that outfit many times. Last time when we visited the bar, he even scratched a dancer with those nails. Wait, you saw Shadow last night?”

It was obvious, judging from the snowy weather in the illusion.

“Yeah. He talked to me, and he was… weird.”

Magician nodded. “He is. I still don’t know why he joined the previous meetings. I mean, he’s too strong to actually learn anything from the likes of us. He even provided his own knowledge to us. I don’t believe anyone can be so generous.”

Magician didn’t lie. As someone who only believed in the exchange of benefits, he was actually more cautious than Angor when he hung out with Shadow.

“I see. Thanks.” Angor turned away.

“Wait!” Magician chuckled. “I’ve been working on Create Water and need to ask something. I can, right?”

…

After leaving Magician’s place, Angor headed to the suburbs of Water Grasse.

After learning that Margot’s condition was no ordinary disease, Leonrick took her back home so that she didn’t need to be constantly surrounded by the useless doctors.

Leonrick hired a group of caretakers to look after Margot. He even planned to ask Tyrael and Caroline to stay in his house. However, after being tortured by Angor’s illusions for three days, Tyrael was in no condition to accept that job.

In the end, only Caroline agreed to the offer to stay in the count’s manor.

Right now, Leonrick was discussing with Caroline about how to soothe Margot’s mental condition.

Margot received quite a shock after learning about her situation. She had been staying in a dark room and refused to see anyone. As her father, Leonrick had to think about how to treat her mental illness first.

Caroline sighed helplessly. “No one can accept the fact that they’re going toward the abyss with no hope of turning back. If we can’t get her shadow back, she’ll have to face the truth herself and get over it… although I don’t think that’s anything less painful.”

Cyndia broke down again after she heard those words.

Leonrick held his wife by an arm. “There’s still hope. We have Mister Mask.”

“But… Will he still help us after Tyrael scolded him like that?” Cyndia wept badly.

Caroline looked away in embarrassment. Yesterday, when she went to apologize to Mister Mask, he had shut the door in her face.

“I… I’m not sure,” Leonrick mumbled. He had just sent the information regarding “Krakok” to the wizard, but he didn’t know whether it would help.

A knight cladded in silver armor entered the room. “Sir! Mister Mask is here!”

Leonrick quickly stood up while Cyndia also stopped her tears.

“I… I’ll be right there!” Great excitement quickly occupied the man’s face.

“There’s no need,” Angor said. He was already walking into the room as he said, “We’ll talk right away.”