Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2380: Chapter 2381: No. 03

Vibrant, boiling, restrained, surging, dedicated, explosive... all kinds of opposing and parallel concepts or rules were diffusing around as the meridian waves fluctuated around Ferro.

”Is this the Fire Meridian?” Angel was secretly amazed in his heart, the Fire Meridian and Gravity Meridian gave completely different feelings, yet that unique rule power could easily be distinguished at first glance.

Even if its fluctuation was not large, its presence was extremely strong.

Due to its overly conspicuous presence, it even surpassed the concealment of the illusion itself. In his musings, Angel had to once again mobilize the Illusion Nodes, trying to cover the surrounding meridian fluctuations to avoid being perceived by that mechanical head.

However, relying solely on the concealment of the illusion was not very effective.

After thinking for a moment, Angel made up his mind, overlaying the surrounding pervasive flame power on the Illusion Nodes. These flames, rebellious at first, showed great restraint upon sensing the Fire Meridian. It was as if they had transformed from a naughty child into a well-behaved one.

The amplitude of the flame also began to adjust, attempting to merge with the surrounding Fire Meridian.

Overall, the flame power started to surge wildly, and its presence seemed even higher.

But the meridian fluctuation was covered by the outward flames.

Nearby space, in cooperation with Dangross and Earl Mi, turned into a burning flame atmosphere, successfully concealing the hidden meridian fluctuations for a short time.

Of course, this method couldn’t conceal the meridian fluctuations for long. When the flame energy in an area reached its apex, the Fire Meridian would inevitably spread again.

However, this wasn’t important anymore because Ferro needed just a minute to create a Firefield.

And stalling for a minute was enough.

Time passed.

The battle in the distance grew more intense; the combination of Dangross and the restrained Earl Mi was nothing short of powerful. In a short span, they even managed to suppress the scattering water bullets, but it also caused the nearby flames to surge even more violently, turning the entire underwater space into a blaze-filled field.

Under the cover of flames and illusions, Ferro finally finished gathering seven Fireball Clusters.

He directly inserted the newly created seven Fireball Clusters into his body along the Fire Meridian.

With the eighteen Fireball Clusters he had merged in advance, a total of twenty-five Fireball Clusters started amassing an unparalleled amount of flame power.

However, Ferro did not immediately unleash them but instead became a flame, rushing to Dangross’s side.

Amidst the pervasive flames, Ferro and the faux ”Ferro” played by Dangross successfully exchanged roles.

Dangross, who was replaced, was then embraced by Earl Mi and sank underground, stealthily retreating to Angel’s side.

Having successfully exchanged, Ferro did not show off but instead emulated Dangross’s combat style, fighting while unobtrusively approaching the mechanical head.

And the mechanical head apparently had not yet realized the danger approaching.

When reaching a certain critical distance, Ferro finally shed his ”acting” facade, a slight smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

”I said I would burn you to ash, and I will make it happen!”

Ferro shouted, releasing the Firefield he had been tempering for so long!

The flame surged beside the mechanical head, and before it could react, it wove into an invisible net with the ripple of rules, tightly trapping it inside a prison of flames.

With the release of the Firefield, the mechanical head’s perpetual motion-like rapid water bullets instantly ceased.

Because within the realm of the Firefield, only the flame could be the absolute ruler!

It was only then that the mechanical head realized something was wrong.

”Is this... a Domain? Rule Meridian!” The mechanical head spoke, but unlike the previously inorganic cold mechanical sound, this time it carried obvious emotion.

Moreover, the voice’s texture was different. From the sound frequency, it was a woman’s voice.

With the appearance of this female voice, Angel and Nis exchanged glances. Nis had previously speculated that there was probably a manipulator behind the mechanical head, and now it seemed his speculation was correct.

The owner of this female voice was likely the observer hiding behind the mechanical head all along.

Angel turned to glance at Reynaud and asked in a low voice, ”Can you tell who she is?”

Reynaud hesitated for a moment and said, ”It should be... No. 03.”

No. 03 was previously introduced by Reynaud as the only female among the Official Wizards in the laboratory, which matched the characteristic of the female voice.

Unfortunately, Reynaud did not know much about No. 03.

On the other side, the woman suspected to be No. 03, after her initial shock, immediately tried to manipulate the mechanical head to escape the Firefield’s range. However, Ferro had been waiting a long time for this moment and wouldn’t easily let the mechanical head escape.

The glaring flames exploded, engulfing the mechanical head.

In just a moment, the bubble shielding the mechanical head popped and evaporated with a ”bang.”

As the bubble dissipated, the water ripples around the mechanical head were finally exposed, and the indiscriminate flames pierced in, burning the ripples into vapor mist.

At this point, the mechanical head was essentially locked into defeat. Without the water ripple’s ”forced disengage,” its fate was sealed to be incinerated into ash!

”Wait!” No. 03’s voice reappeared, with a hint of urgency: ”Don’t be hasty in burning this Mechanical Creation. We can talk.”

”Talk? How should we talk?” Though Ferro picked up the conversation, he didn’t stop the burning as No. 03 suggested, instead accelerating the explosive flames.

”Stop! Stop!” No. 03 called urgently: ”We don’t have any grudges with you. Why have you come here to attack us?”

”Don’t ask such pointless questions. What do you mean ’no grudges’? That’s just what you think.” As Ferro spoke, the image of the Night Butterfly Witch flitted through his mind, and the somewhat restrained flames surged up again: ”If you want to talk, get to the point. State your origin and what you’re doing here?”

No. 03 fell silent.

Ferro sneered and intensified the burning of the mechanical head.

”Once you destroy it, you’re not just offending us but also its true owner.”

After No. 03 threatened, her tone slightly lowered: ”Mr. Ferro, I said we could negotiate; we hold no grudges.”

”Looks like you know me?” Ferro said, squinting.

”We’ve heard of the Fire-stepper name, of course,” No. 03 said, ”We have never had conflicts with you, Mr. Ferro, or the Barbarian Cave behind you.”

Pause: ”No grudges? Then as soon as I arrived, this iron lump frantically attacked me. As long as it attacks me, I see it as an enemy.”

Number 03 couldn’t hold back her anger: ”It was you who first trespassed into our Snook Base.”

Snook Base? Is this the name of the laboratory? Ferro silently pondered this without much thought: ”I’ve never heard of any ghostly base in the Mist Belt. You are the ones sneakily setting up this base, so you are the ones causing trouble!”

”We are only conducting some minor experiments here. We have never interfered with the Southern Domain Wizards’ Realm.”

”You keep mentioning the Southern Domain Wizards’ Realm, seems like you have no identity recognition? So, this base of yours, is it from the Outer Domain?” Ferro narrowed his eyes: ”Hmph, that’s even better. Once I burn this iron lump, I’ll report your ghostly base to the Extreme Sect and see if they believe you don’t interfere with the Wizards’ Realm and are innocent!”

Perhaps the fearsome reputation of the Extreme Sect intimidated Number 03, she remained silent for a long time.

Ferro didn’t bother to pay attention and continued to burn the mechanical entity.

When the exterior shell of the mechanized entity was completely burnt and about to reach its core, Number 03 finally spoke softly: ”You will soon realize just how wrong the choice you made was.”

As her voice fell, Ferro immediately sensed something was wrong.

A surge of Water Elemental Energy suddenly appeared behind him.

Moreover, the Water Elemental Energy transformed into a rolling torrent rushing toward his direction.

The best choice for Ferro was to dodge, but if he dodged, the burning mechanical entity would be washed away by the torrent. He didn’t want to waste his previous efforts.

Without hesitation, Ferro crushed a freshly charged fireball cluster, creating a defensive flame barrier behind him.

The rolling torrent was blocked outside by the barrier.

Having this buffer time, Ferro finally turned around to assess the situation behind.

In the direction from whence the torrent came, he saw a familiar water ripple. Behind the ripple was a blurry figure, with the torrent coming from the hand of the figure.

Seeing this scene, how could Ferro not understand the truth inside? That water ripple was surely the woman’s ability, allowing her to hide safely inside.

”Pretending to be innocent, saying it’s a misunderstanding while hiding behind the water ripple all the time helping the mechanized entity recover.” Ferro sneered inwardly, the woman had been here from the start and never intended to negotiate with Ferro, otherwise she wouldn’t have spoken until the mechanized entity was burning.

Without hesitation, Ferro launched a fire bolt in the direction of the water ripple.

The figure within the water ripple moved again, and another water column like a torrent rushed out. While controlling the fire barrier replenishment, Ferro also maneuvered the fire bolt, aligning with the water column, continuing to charge toward the water ripple.

His target was clear: to destroy the water ripple.

Sure enough, when the fire bolt was about to collide with the water ripple, the water ripple voluntarily shut down.

The water ripple not only restricted the opponent’s ability, but the ripple itself was fragile, unable to withstand even a single fire bolt. This was evident from the previous battles.

Without the water ripple, the torrent naturally disappeared.

However, the opponent was clearly not someone who would easily give up; soon, in another direction, another water ripple appeared.

Ferro wasn’t surprised by this. According to previous countermeasures, he continued to target the destruction of the water ripple.

This forced Number 03 to continuously close the water ripple and then relocate to a new position to continue.

After several times, Ferro also discerned another defect of the water ripple: it cannot be activated where energy accumulates.

Every time Number 03 activated the water ripple, it was always in relatively stable energy places. She absolutely dared not activate the water ripple near the flame barrier.

The defects of the water ripple provided Ferro with greater operational space.

He directly ignited the air, turning a hundred-meter radius into a sea of flames.

This meant that if the water ripple were to be activated, it could only be done beyond a hundred meters. But being activated that far, the water ripple loses its potential for ”ambush,” allowing Ferro to respond more calmly.

”Trying to hide in a fragile turtle shell to defeat me is simply impossible.” With a cold laugh, Nis suddenly ignited the energy within the flame barrier, accelerating the melting of the mechanical doll.

Seeing this, Number 03 clearly panicked. She attempted several times to activate the water ripple, but it had no effect against Ferro who had already seen through the weaknesses.

”Actually, you can seek help. I believe your so-called ghost base isn’t just staffed by you.” Ferro’s apparent taunt was actually an attempt to gather more information from Number 03.

However, Number 03 was resolute this time, completely ignoring Ferro’s taunts.

”Not speaking won’t work; your companions haven’t come to help you because they’re likely not here at the moment, right? Otherwise, having played here for two days, only you have shown up.”

”Let me guess, where have they gone?”

Ferro squinted: ”Did they go... to The Nest?”

After Ferro’s words fell, Number 03, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke: ”Looks like I misunderstood you; you’re not unprepared... In that case, you definitely cannot stay!”

After finishing, another water ripple appeared.

Yet this water ripple differed from the previous ones; it didn’t release any water columns or torrents.

After hovering for a few seconds, the figure behind the water ripple suddenly stepped forward.

A dazzling blue-colored crystal high-heel shoe first appeared.

Following were the shimmering blue-scaled patterned dress and faintly visible fair legs.

As the ripples reached their peak intensity, the woman hidden behind finally walked out.

Silver-white curly long hair, half-bare shoulders, and a cheek marked with a 0 and 3 tattoo.

Undoubtedly, this was one of the Official Wizards from the laboratory, Number 03!