Warlock Apprentice

The Serpent Tail Insect that Shalu encountered was inevitably an Obsession Demon. Then, this meets Angel’s requirements for the experiment.

He asked in detail about Shalu’s battle with the Serpent Tail Insect inside the House of the Heart.

Angel left no detail unchecked, as Shalu’s situation served as a reference for Toby.

After Shalu repeated the events that occurred inside several times, Angel finally stopped him.

Shalu’s account somewhat relieved Angel. His biggest worry was if Toby entered the House of the Heart and faced the Extreme Resentment Thoughts, unable to defeat them, and eventually got defeated, causing damage to his original consciousness.

However, according to Shalu, he battled the Serpent Tail Insect in the Colosseum of Pillars and eventually died within its jaws. He thought he was completely dead, only to open his eyes and discover that his previous experience was just an Illusion Dream.

Being killed by the Serpent Tail Insect just meant being ejected from the House of the Heart, his original consciousness was not harmed. Thus, when Toby faces the Extreme Resentment Thoughts in the House of the Heart, he should also be unharmed.

Once assured that the House of the Heart wouldn’t cause consciousness damage, Angel started focusing on another matter.

”You said earlier, you lasted five minutes under the attack of the Serpent Tail Insect?”

”Yes, precisely speaking, I spent the first three minutes running. Only in the last two minutes did I actually fight... the Serpent Tail Insect. But it was too strong, almost subduing me in the blink of an eye,” Shalu explained.

”Three minutes running, two minutes fighting?” Frode mused, ”That seems a bit off.”

Angel nodded, ”The strength of the Serpent Tail Insect shouldn’t be like this.”

Frode opened his office desk drawer and took out a stack of reports. Shalu caught a glimpse and saw that each page of the report carried terrifying monster images with detailed text underneath them, possibly information about the monsters.

Frode flipped to a page, and the monster on it was unmistakably the ”Serpent Tail Insect with a worm-like head and butterfly-like ears”!

A surge of doubts flooded Shalu’s mind; there are so many of this kind of monster... What exactly is their origin?

While Shalu was engulfed in doubt, Frode revisited the information on the Serpent Tail Insect collected earlier.

—— The Serpent Tail Insect is highly agile, capable of Flight, and possesses some ranged attack methods.

It might be just a few words, but the implied meaning far exceeds the understanding limits of ordinary people.

Even Sir Sabel, when faced with the Serpent Tail Insect that had infiltrated and mutated Shalu, couldn’t hold on for long, let alone Shalu whose fighting capability was akin to nothing.

If going by the real strength of the Serpent Tail Insect, facing it directly, Shalu would have been instantly annihilated, not possibly having a chance to escape for three minutes.

”In other words, this Serpent Tail Insect’s strength is not as formidable as it appears. Why is that?” Angel frowned and pondered, ”Is the strength of the Serpent Tail Insect just a figment of Shalu’s imagination as his demon?”

”It’s possible, since Shalu never directly faced the horror of the Serpent Tail Insect,” Frode said.

After hearing the conversation between Angel and Frode, Shalu suddenly spoke, ”Actually, I don’t know how strong the Serpent Tail Insect is, it wasn’t fully exerting its strength when chasing me. It kept questioning me about certain... issues. Including later, when I had to fight it, it still kept questioning, that’s why I could drag it out so long.”

”What did it ask you?” Frode didn’t immediately care about the fighting power of the Serpent Tail Insect but was curious about its questions.

”It questioned me, why... did I abandon it?” Shalu paused, ”Tyson, why would it keep asking me this question?”

Frode chuckled coldly upon hearing this reply: ”Why do you think it was questioning you?”

Shalu was stunned for a moment, not understanding what Frode meant.

”You must have heard everything I discussed with the adult. So, you should also know that the Serpent Tail Insect you are facing is not the actual Demonic Fiend,” Frode quietly looked at Shalu: ”Do you still not understand? This is your inner demon.”

An inner demon is the demon of the human heart.

Just like a tree cannot grow without the earth as a basis for its roots to deeply anchor.

Angel also softly said, ”An inner demon might seem separate from you. But the breeding ground for it isn’t someone else, rather it is your own character.”

In this world, there are people who fall from the clouds and willingly mix with the hellish infernal flames. But there are also those who fall into hell and still manage to stay pure and unblemished.

It’s the same with inner demons; some people walk the Abyss, witnessing all kinds of evil in the world, yet still think of the beauty in humanity and don’t develop inner demons; but some people, before even stepping into the Abyss, merely imagining its horrors, have already started to turn their backs.

Shalu is the latter, his nature is timid and narrow-minded. Even though he only encountered the Serpent Tail Insect for a few days, and the Serpent Tail Insect didn’t do anything to him, he turned it into his inner demon, which shows the narrowness of his heart.

The Serpent Tail Insect seems to be constantly questioning him, but actually, it is Shalu who is questioning himself.

Because an inner demon is, after all, born from the heart.

”You’d better remember the questions your inner demon is asking you because those are also the questions asked by the depths of your own heart,” Frode said lightly.

After hearing this explanation, Shalu was suddenly stunned.

He remembered when the Serpent Tail Insect had previously questioned him on ”why he would abandon it,” and he had replied it was something Angel did, and that he knew nothing.

At that time, he heard the Serpent Tail Insect respond: ”It’s still because you’re too cowardly.”

At that moment, Shalu thought the voice sounded very strange; although it came from the Serpent Tail Insect, it didn’t sound like its sharp voice. It sounded rather familiar, but he couldn’t recall whose voice it was.

Now thinking back, wasn’t that his own voice?

It was his own inner heart, using the Serpent Tail Insect to tell himself, you’re too cowardly...

As Shalu was stunned, Frode was observing him. Shalu had been confined in the library for a long time, yet even so, he was outwardly one way and secretly without any intention of repentance. But at this moment, Frode saw guilt and reflection in his eyes.

Whether it’s crocodile tears or a real enlightenment, no one knows.

...

Without concerning themselves with Shalu’s thoughts, Angel and Frode continued to discuss the combat strength of inner demons.

Although Shalu said that the inner demon merely kept questioning him, dragging on for just five minutes, its combat strength is actually very strong.

This might indeed be possible, but it is only Shalu’s one-sided statement. Rather than this answer, Angel still believes, that the combat strength of an inner demon may relate to one’s own understanding.

In short, if I think you are strong, then the inner demon really is strong. But how strong exactly, I do not know.

In other words, the combat strength of an inner demon may not be truly reflected by the House of the Heart.

Unless, you have enough understanding of the inner demon.

If Angel’s speculation is true, Toby’s attempt to simulate a battle with Extreme Resentment Thoughts through the House of the Heart might not be fully achievable.

Even so, the House of the Heart still holds significant importance for Toby. Because it allows Toby to confront Extreme Resentment Thoughts directly.