Warlock Apprentice

When Fafnir mentioned “insignificant matters”, she could actually be talking about something way more serious. Otherwise, she wouldn’t need Angor to help her deliver a message.

Of course, Angor couldn’t point this out.

“Who is Eldiclaus?”

“His name is not for your feeble kind to speak of lightly, human!” Fafnir bellowed as she used another tornado to send Angor into the air.

Thankfully, there was no subsequent attack, so Angor managed to steady himself by using his flying boots.

“I apologize, Lord Fafnir. I meant to say the Great Eldiclaus.”

“… He has been staying at the Everlasting Glacier.”

Angor just realized that he heard about this place before. When evading a Baphomet Demon, Sennefer escaped into the Everlasting Glacier and contracted a powerful curse that greatly weakened her strength.

Later, Madelyne explained that the curse was created by an ancient Abyssal Dragon who had lived there for thousands of years. Even Monkey respected the creature when he visited it.

“But—but those who go there will all receive a curse—” Angor stuttered.

“That curse only constraints the strong. While you… It will not make much of a difference on you. Besides, Eldiclaus will help you cure it, if you impress him enough.”

Impress Eldiclaus?? Angor shivered. So, I have to pass the message, that is fine. But whether Eldiclaus will agree to help Toby is another matter!

He thought Fafnir was going to convince Eldiclaus if he agreed to the job. But telling from Fafnir’s attitude, she probably expected him to deal with Eldiclaus all by himself.

How would a “feeble, pathetic, and worthless human”, as how Fafnir had been calling him, impress an Abyssal Dragon feared by the most powerful wizard??

Fafnir easily saw through his mind and pointed to Toby. “Eldiclaus used to be a friend of… that. Maybe he’ll listen to your plea. Why, do you think, would I talk to you peacefully in the first place?”

That didn’t help Angor feel any better. He knew that Fafnir could have mistaken Toby as the descendant of another ancient monster, which was not the case. Toby was created out of the body parts of that monster, who was long dead. If Eldiclaus discovered that Toby was born out of the death of his friend, things could get pretty much out of control.

Again, Angor couldn’t tell this to Fafnir because Fafnir’s misjudgment might be the reason why he was still alive.

“The Everlasting Glacier is at level 1. With the curse haunting us, I’m afraid I can’t reach there at all.” Angor tried denying the job as politely as he could.

“I shall send you there. The only thing for you to do is tell the message.”

Crap.

Angor found himself unluckily pinched between two deadly outcomes. He could either disappoint Fafnir and get killed for it, or muster up his courage and meet with Eldiclaus, which… would also leave him dead.

Man… is this also a result of the curse of misfortune? I can’t seem to get a break…

It was not like he could choose now.

“*Sigh* What do I need to tell the Great Eldiclaus?”

Fafnir didn’t give him a straight answer this time. “You’ll see when the time comes.”

Just like this, they reached an agreement that they would depart 12 hours later, meaning, at noon tomorrow.

Angor would like to know more about Eldiclaus while waiting, though Fafnir didn’t give him a chance, who left the crater soon after their conversation ended.

And Angor couldn’t carelessly wander about with Toby’s curse still here. Maybe the Windsay Valley wasn’t so safe anymore, but going outside was definitely riskier.

The campfire was the only warmth and comfort in the gloomy environment. While waiting beside the fire, Angor desperately tried to think of ways to survive the coming encounter with Eldiclaus.

In the end, he was still clueless. His only choice was to proceed and see how everything turned out.

The fire reminded him of Sunders’ room. Just several days ago, he was still safe with his professor.

How things have changed…

When thinking about how Sunders was dragged into his mess, he felt even worse. He wondered if the gentleman had made it out of the disappearing inter-plane tunnel.

He took out a red, crystal-like sphere from his bracelet and felt its warmth. If this “blood sphere” left by Sunders didn’t show any particular signs, then Sunders was probably doing well. Or so he hoped.

If Sunders was alive, he would probably come back to Windsay Valley later.

With this in mind, Angor decided to leave some traces for his professor.

“I… went to… the Everlasting Glacier…” He wrote a message on a stone wall that remained intact after the previous disaster.

There was no need to leave his name. Some nightmare energy should be enough for Sunders to know what was going on.

As for when Sunders would actually find the message or whether that would happen at all… Angor would not worry about it right now.

He returned to the fire and sent his concentration into his mind space. Soon, he found the half-finished model of a door, which he had been neglecting when talking to Fafnir.

“I can keep it… so the time I spent in the strange place is real.”

Next, he looked at his pendant and saw the Alien Eye once again dormant like a common object. Though he would never regard it as a common object ever again.

He had yet to figure out what this “door model” could do. But at least the special energy didn’t seem like anything useless. He would complete and study this spell. That much was for sure.

Going through the “spiritual journey” again was probably impossible because the Alien Eye needed a plane fusion to be activated. Plane fusions were not something he could ask for. Besides, he couldn’t just keep going near plane fusions and messing them up. Supposed the world’s consciousness wasn’t going to “blame” him, Prophets would detect his involvement regarding all the failed fusions sooner or later.

With his mana pool depleted, he could not work on the door model either, so he closed his eyes to meditate.

He managed to refill about half of his mana reserve in ten hours.

Fafnir showed up at the edge of the crater, still in her human form, while carrying the giant leg of a freshly-butchered monster on her shoulder.

She landed beside the fire and placed the monster leg over it. After slumbering for so long, she wanted to satisfy her appetite as soon as possible. It wasn’t easy to find prey that fit her taste.