Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2482: Chapter 2483: The Ruins Break Open

Outside World, Devil’s Sea, Sidro Island.

After enduring several consecutive days of ocean storms, the sky finally cleared. Hungry and fatigued, a sand rat scurried around the sand, trying to find food.

Soon, the sand rat unearthed a plump caterpillar and excitedly dashed off, eager to return to its burrow to enjoy the meal.

Its burrow was on a highland near the coast, where there were annoying seagulls but no humans.

Yet today, as the sand rat was sprinting back with its prize, it suddenly ran into a human.

Humans had climbed the mountain?

But just now, there wasn’t a human in sight?

In the little brain of the sand rat, it couldn’t comprehend how this suddenly appearing black human came to be. However, even a low intelligence rat understands a survival instinct: avoid humans.

It prepared to dart into the bushes without hesitation, but just before it could move, it realized that its legs seemed to be malfunctioning and couldn’t move at all.

Looking down, it saw its legs were charred black, as was half its body.

As if it had been roasted by fire.

But it had never been near a source of fire; it just accidentally collided with a human’s foot... or rather, a skirt?

The immobilized sand rat lay on the ground, using its limited wisdom to ponder what had happened. But before it could figure anything out, it felt its tail being pinched by two fingers with sharp black nails.

The little sand rat watched as a massive human female, in its eyes, lifted it up, then that human swung it in front of herself, saying in a sharp and piercing voice, ”Rat, I hate rats.”

A gentle female voice came from behind her, ”Why do you hate rats?”

”Because you tricked me, the rat hole that supposedly leads to a revelry doesn’t exist.” A woman with black curly hair and a face adorned with steel scales turned her head to look at another woman behind her.

The gentle-speaking lady behind her looked exactly the same, except her entire body was white, with white curly hair, white scales, and... a white iron hoop skirt, with a white skirt bottom power furnace and white steam.

”Don’t mind such details in talks, the rat hole was just a joke, how can you hate rats because of that?” the white lady said.

The black lady sneered and directly shoved the struggling sand rat into her mouth, chewing it to pieces.

Blood splattered, and fur stuck to the corner of her mouth.

The white lady floated to the black lady’s side, smiling sweetly, extended her perfect cheek, and gently licked the residue from the corner of the black lady’s mouth with her pink tongue.

”The taste of rats here is quite awful,” the black lady remarked.

”When did you install a stomach?” asked the white lady, puzzled.

”Dawasya told me, I merely borrowed his words.”

The white lady realized, ”Oh, it was the little darling that told you, I thought Boiling Gentleman installed a new component for you.”

Mention of the ”Boiling Gentleman” brought a flash of anger over the black lady’s face.

”Boiling Gentleman, engrossed in his bizarre studies, hasn’t appeared in a long while; even amidst this big event, he stays put in the Dim Candle Corridor. Otherwise, the honorable lord wouldn’t have sent us away from Xinnai Land.”

White lady: ”Don’t be angry, compared to the little darling and Tentacle Monster, we are much luckier. We don’t have to face that group of human wizards.”

Black lady: ”Compared to hunting that naughty dog, I would rather tear those human wizards apart with my own hands.”

The white lady chuckled, ”But as you said, Boiling Gentleman hasn’t come out in ages, and our power furnace is running low on energy. Don’t waste your strength on futility, leave that side to the little darling, let’s go find the runaway obedient dog.”

”We must find it as soon as possible, otherwise if Minister Dim descends, it would be harmful to our honorable lord.”

The black lady snorted twice but nodded in agreement.

Her pitch-black eyes glanced around and finally fixed towards the northwest.

”There’s a familiar scent over there.”

”I smelled it too, might be the obedient dog, or something else odd. If it’s the latter, we need to steer clear.”

”Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

The white lady helped the black lady tidy her hair with a smile, ”Let’s go.”

Black lady: ”Wait, should we deal with them before we leave?”

The black lady looked back at the mountain path, where three figures in gray robes had appeared unknowingly.

”The Archbishop mentioned those Otherworld smugglers, it’s them!”

”Their aura seems strange, from which world do they hail?”

”From wherever it might be, as long as they’re Otherworld smugglers, they deserve to die!”

The air was filled with arrogant words, but once it cleared, there lay three charred corpses on the ground.

”Some pesky bugs trying to get in the way,” the black lady sneered, ”Let’s go.”

A massive amount of steam was released from beneath the iron skirts of the black and white ladies, and they vanished from sight.

About a quarter of an hour after they left, two humans appeared on the highland.

One was dressed in a black divine robe, and the other in a gray wizard’s robe.

The man in the gray robe squatted on the ground, calmly inspecting the bodies of the three fellow wizards, then looked up, ”Archbishop, the three Star Moon Cloud wizards are completely dead, their souls have also been obliterated.”

The man in the black divine robe glanced at a distant location, ”The work of the Otherworld smugglers.”

”How could these Otherworld smugglers capable of killing three Star Moon Clouds suddenly appear in the Wizards’ Realm?” the gray-robed man wondered, for such powerful beings crossing worlds, the World Will would have given a hint to the Extreme Sect, not leaving them as oblivious as today.

The black-robed Archbishop squinted, and a halo of the Eye of True Knowledge appeared behind him. Under the gaze of the Eye of True Knowledge, he witnessed some past images from the surrounding environment.

Coupling with some vague hints given by the World Will, the black-robed Archbishop seemed to have grasped something and his face momentarily turned grim.

Gray-robed man: ”Archbishop, did you discover something?”

After a moment of silence, the black-robed Archbishop softly said, ”The trouble originates from Sleepless City.”

Sleepless City... Eternal Night Country!

The gray-robed man abruptly raised his head, appearing to have thought of something, ”Could it be that special world?”

The black-robed Archbishop nodded.

Gray-robed man: ”This is troublesome... No wonder there was no sign. But why did the beings from that special world appear here?”

”It must be for that Mysterious Object,” the black-robed Archbishop looked towards the direction of the Mist Belt.

”But wasn’t it said by the Zhuguang Speaker of the City of Truth that the Mysterious Object is tremendously fearsome, even the Legendary might fall?”

The black-robed Archbishop snorted coldly, ”Saladin, you still don’t understand the composition of that world. In that world, Mysterious Objects are commonplace. The beings living in that world understand the traits of Mysterious Objects better than we do, and can subdue them more easily.”

”Then... should we still pursue them?”

Black Robe Bishop: ”Of course, don’t forget our faith... Let’s go, eliminating the otherworldly smugglers is something we must do.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the Black Robe Bishop flew in the direction of the Mist Belt, and the gray-robed man did not hesitate, tapping his toes and following along.

...

Inside the Dalmatian’s belly.

Angel finished the bread on the porcelain plate smoothly, drank a cup of unidentified but strangely appetizing milk, and gave a satisfying burp.

After being tense for so long, being able to relax like this was extremely comfortable for Angel.

Of course, if that milk cup would stop saying things like ”Ah, I’ve spilled milk again, come lick me,” Angel would be even happier.

Blocking out the strange words from the tableware, Angel yawned and looked towards the door of the quiet room concealed by curtains.

The Observer has been inside for almost an hour now; I wonder if a plan has been thought out yet?

As Angel was thinking, the door of the quiet room was pushed open by the Observer, who emerged with a head of white hair.

Angel immediately stood up and respectfully said, ”Lord Observer, do you have any ideas?”

The Observer glanced at Angel, nodded lightly: ”I’ve organized a few routes and several different plans, do you want to hear them?”

Angel quickly waved his hand: ”Wang Wang can listen, I don’t need to.”

Angel gave Wang Wang a look, and the latter floated over lightly, following the Observer into the quiet room.

Watching the door of the quiet room close, Angel also withdrew his gaze.

He was actually quite curious about what plan the Observer would give Wang Wang... This is the Luxury Nightmare Realm, he could totally eavesdrop, but Angel thought about it and decided not to.

He doesn’t want to get involved in the affairs of the Phantom Spirit City at all; the less he knows, the safer he is.

As for Polo Ye and Gluz Deward’s avatars already knowing his identity, which makes him unsafe? It’s no big deal, he had earlier reached an agreement with Wang Wang and the Dalmatian: either they thoroughly die, burying Angel’s information in the dead abyss; or they get brainwashed, directly losing memory of him.

So, Angel doesn’t need to worry about those two in the pure white compartment. Otherwise, how could he possibly be yawning here so carefreely?

”Eating my fill makes me sleepy.” Angel: ”This feeling is quite like returning to normal human life.”

However, speaking of sleeping, Angel suddenly thought, so many days have passed in the outside world, and he hasn’t reported his safety to Sanders yet.

Should he take a turn in the Wilderness of Dreams while nothing’s happening now?

But, this is inside the Dalmatian; can he go to the Wilderness of Dreams?

Angel thought for a moment, held the Dalmatian in his arms, rubbed its fur, then whispered in its ear: ”My consciousness may go somewhere else for a while, don’t stop me, you hear?”

The Dalmatian looked at Angel with a face full of confusion: What are you talking about?

Angel didn’t feel like repeating, nor did he want to go through the motion of unveiling secrets each time, so he simply said, ”I’ll assume you understood.”

Angel didn’t put the Dalmatian down, letting it curl up in his arms pretending to be asleep, while he lightly tapped his brow, entering the Nightmare Illusion—

Perhaps due to giving the Dalmatian a heads-up, or perhaps because the dream itself wouldn’t be blocked, Angel smoothly entered onto the Dream Bridge.

Angel didn’t immediately enter the Wilderness of Dreams, instead first contacting the Ability Tree. Using the ”Gate of Dreams” on it, he sensed the situation in the Wilderness of Dreams.

Over at Originheart City, with Frode there, everything was calm, nothing happened.

At New City, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual either. The number of people online had hit a new high; many apprentices must have received log-in devices and were adding bricks and mortar to the New City.

However, when Angel looked closely, he found something slightly strange at New City.

The few wizards who were usually online the most often weren’t online now.

Including Lord Tree Spirit, Ironclad Granny, Lianna, Wallace... Among others. These wizards rarely log off, especially Lianna, who would sacrifice a lot for the Tea Party. Angel had never seen her log off, yet this time she wasn’t online.

What happened, I wonder?

But it’s worth mentioning that Brother Lyon and Mentor Sanders were online.

Angel hadn’t seen his brother in a long time and missed him a lot. He planned to report safety to Sanders first, then chat with his brother.

He locked onto Sanders’ location, which was in a Mana Hut outside New City.

Angel didn’t hesitate, heading straight there.

On the quiet lakeside, the stylish Mana Hut stood silently. Angel approached, just about to knock, when the door opened automatically.

Sanders stood behind the door, looking down at Angel.

”You finally came.”

Angel scratched his head: ”A little accident happened, but it’s resolved now.”

Sanders made a sound of acknowledgment, stepping aside to let Angel in.

Angel casually found a place to sit and was about to tell Sanders about his experiences in the Mist Belt, but before he could speak, Sanders interrupted: ”As long as you’re sure there’s nothing wrong, save your story for later. I need to tell you something important.”

Angel paused, seeing Sanders’ serious expression, quickly nodded: ”I’m fine here, very safe.”

Sanders: ”I stayed online waiting for you to come.”

”What happened?”

Sanders pondered for a moment and then slowly said, ”Something happened at the Star Pond Ruins.”

...

Through Sanders’ narration, Angel learned the entire process.

Not long ago, the Star Pond Ruins suddenly had an anomaly, with a large number of Nightmare Realm creatures emerging from beneath the ruins. Unlike the previous routine appearances of small creatures, this time, they were all powerful beings.

Because of this, many wizards had gathered at the Star Pond Ruins by now.

This was why Angel hadn’t found any wizards in New City.

Even Lord Reine had torn through the Plane Corridor and returned to the Star Pond Ruins.

”However, by the time Lord Reine returned to the ruins, two Nightmare Realm beings had already broken through the blockades and exited the ruins, their whereabouts unknown.”

”Who are they?”

”The Black and White Maids.”

After Angel returned from Xinnai Land last time, he had recounted everything that happened there. So, iconic figures from there were well known to those who were aware of the situation.

Hearing that the Black and White Maids had left, Angel relaxed a bit. Their power heavily depended on the Power Furnace, and once they leave Xinnai Land, the Nightmare Realm aura can’t cover them for long, leading to a gradual decrease in their abilities and an accelerated consumption of the Power Furnace. The damage they can cause outside shouldn’t be too great.

”Besides the Black and White Maids, there’s another powerful creature outside the ruins, confronting Lord Reine and Ironclad Granny.”

”One is Dawasia, the other is Menavaro.”