Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2561: Chapter 2562: Ghosteye Witch

They hadn’t walked far when, on the road covered with rubble and faint brick patterns, a figure ran toward them, screaming.

From the identical voice, it was clear that this was the person who had previously let out the sharp scream.

With the vision of a Transcendent, even on an unobstructed road, one could see the figure’s appearance with the naked eye; it was a short-haired woman in tight leather clothing.

Behind the short-haired woman, a purple-scaled creature was wildly chasing her.

It seemed that the series of screams was all because of this creature.

After all, when ordinary people face magical creatures, unless they are well-trained Heavy-Armored Knights, they basically have no power to fight back.

At first, she ran in their direction, perhaps coincidentally, but when the short-haired woman saw several figures here, she almost didn’t hesitate and ran directly toward them.

Evidently, she mistook Angel and the others for ordinary people like her, intending to lead the creature to them, overcoming her fear of the monster by keeping her mouth shut to avoid startling it.

Since she was heading toward them, everyone stopped in their tracks, waiting quietly.

At this point, with the short-haired woman’s vision, she could finally make out the group in front, and to her surprise, they seemed to have seen her already and also noticed the creature behind her.

However, the group showed no intention of fleeing, which made her feel a vague unease in her heart.

She had heard rumors about this vast relic in her adventure group; although the most common threats here were those terrifying Bloodthirsty Vines, there were also many human-shaped creatures. The one behind her was such a misconception; her teammate had mistaken it for a person in purple clothing and approached to chat, only to find it was a creature.

Now, could the group ahead also be creatures?

Despite her unease and doubts, the short-haired woman couldn’t turn back now as she was already committed, so she braced herself and charged forward.

If they really were creatures, then maybe the creatures would fight among themselves. If they were humans, then her apologies.

The short-haired woman’s inner thoughts were unknown to Angel and the others, but her deliberate actions toward them were clear as day. Yet, they didn’t mind; the will to survive exists in everyone, and if things went wrong, without the shackles of a contract, even close friends among wizards could turn against each other, let alone the uncomplicated act of diverting a threat.

The group didn’t even discuss the woman’s behavior, instead focusing their attention on the creature.

”Purple scales, smoke swirling while moving, can’t see its face... it seems familiar, yet I can’t remember what kind it is.” Kaier tapped his brow with his knuckles, continuously trying to recall.

Vay seemed to recognize it but couldn’t speak, so he gestured with his hands, yet failed to capture Kaier’s attention.

Dox chuckled and said to Kaier, ”Why, just because this creature is bare-chested without that ragged coat, you can’t recognize it?”

”The illustrations show the typical images of creatures; if you only look at one form, how can you recognize all creatures?”

Just as humans come in all shapes and sizes, the most beautiful or ugly, the most extreme individuals, are just categorized as ”humans” in the eyes of creatures.

”In the illustrations, there’s this tattered coat and faint purple smoke swirling...” With Dox’s reminder, Kaier seemed to remember something, ”Is it a Ghosteye Witch?”

Dox didn’t respond to Kaier’s words; instead, he spoke to Angel, ”Look, Kaier is a typical example of the Academy Faction: without being explicitly pointed out, he only applies his learning rigidly. He even fancies himself a traveler, loving to explore the ruins, tsk tsk... I don’t think he’s that great. The Academy Faction always mocks the non-academics, yet when it comes to combat, they can’t even identify their opponents.”

Though speaking to Angel, Kaier heard every word clearly, his expression turning slightly embarrassed. Even though Dox grouped him with the entire Academy Faction, the fact remained that he confirmed incorrectly this time.

Kaier said nothing, nor did Angel respond.

Angel had recognized the creature as a Ghosteye Witch too, but that was because he had seen many Ghosteye Witch corpses in the Nightmare Realm. If it had been another creature, Dox’s words would likely ring true; the illustrations portray typical representations, not every nuanced detail.

Because of this, Angel refrained from speaking and instead silently introspected: I can’t rely solely on illustrations and written words in the future; I’ll need to see for myself and draw conclusions based on reality.

While this conversation took place, the short-haired woman had already led the Ghosteye Witch close.

When she was just over fifty meters away, she finally called out, ”Run quickly, there’s a creature!”

It seemed like a kind reminder but was actually an alternative way to save face.

No one bothered to acknowledge her; Dox directly said, ”Vay, this Ghosteye Witch is yours to deal with. Don’t let all that time spent indoors weaken you to the point where you can’t even handle a low-level creature.”

Vay wanted to retort but couldn’t speak, so he could only prove himself with actions: he’s not a weakling.

However, when it came time to fight the Ghosteye Witch, Vay did fumble for a moment.

Although the Ghosteye Witch is a low-level creature, it possesses a certain intelligence; otherwise, it wouldn’t have collected those tattered clothes to cover its shame, as a sense of shame is a mark of intelligence.

Previously, it chased the short-haired woman entirely for fun or to see if she could lead it to a human hub to find more delicacies.

When the Ghosteye Witch fought seriously, its form became indiscernible.

One could only see a thin smoky shadow flickering incessantly, showcasing its incredible speed.

Transcendents of the Earth element originally had an advantage over speed-type creatures because, as long as they stood on the ground, they were in their primary domain.

The Ghosteye Witch couldn’t fly, so how could it compete with the Earth element?

But Dox was right; Vay, after not fighting for a long time, bungled his opening trick.

He attempted a trick similar to ”Earth Spikes” to aim for a One-Hit Kill and showcase his power. Yet employing such a trick was tantamount to competing in speed with the Ghosteye Witch.

You’re an Earth element Junior Apprentice competing in speed with a creature that specializes in it—pure folly.

Several Earth Spikes missed, and the Ghosteye Witch even kicked him, luckily buffered by a Defense Spell; otherwise, that kick alone would have put him in recovery for days.

Vay’s misjudgment made Dox cast him a ”see, see” look again, although, to avoid disrupting his friend’s battle, he refrained from verbal mockery and simply displayed a bemused expression continuously.

Nevertheless, Vay’s misjudgment wasn’t entirely without benefit.

This also led the Ghosteye Witch to perceive Vay as a manageable human Transcendent.

Originally, it hadn’t intended to confront human Transcendents, but Vay’s ”weakness” made it believe it could win. Since victory seemed conceivable, there was no need to flee; the flesh of human Transcendents tastes far better than that of ordinary humans!

This could be considered Vay being in the first layer of misjudgment, leading the Ghosteye Witch to wrongly believe it was on the second layer.

The Ghosteye Witch began battling Vay in earnest, and the scale of the combat was vast, with dust everywhere and shadowy figures looming.

This posed no problem for Angel and the others, but the short-haired woman was terrified, collapsing on the ground and retreating constantly, trembling against a ruin.

She felt as though she’d stirred up trouble; this group wasn’t ordinary people; they had Transcendents!

In ordinary people’s eyes, wizards are usually both admired and feared, admired for their wondrous powers and feared for the very same transcendental strength. Overall, however, admiration generally outweighs fear.

But from the perspective of ordinary people mixed in The Garden Labyrinth, fear of wizards outweighs admiration because Transcendents coming here without harvests will often resort to plundering ordinary teams, and if not just plundering, some even resort to violence.

To put it bluntly, this is a bunch of Junior Apprentices flaunting power and robbing before ordinary people.

Now, the short-haired woman had mentally classified Vay and the others as such individuals.

She desperately wanted to run, but the battle’s aftermath carried an overwhelming intensity, and after her initial sprint to escape, her legs had completely given way. She could only lean against the ruins, trembling and praying that she encountered the type of Transcendent that didn’t kill.

The battle between the Ghosteye Witch and Vay continues.

Vay’s initial misjudgment not only embarrassed him in front of Dox, but he also heard the cold snort of the master from his family, which made Vay break out in a cold sweat.

In the subsequent battles, Vay dared not be so reckless and began to conform to the norms, fighting the Ghosteye Witch in the normal way.

The so-called normal way is what’s taught in the books: activate the Earth Force Field to reduce the Ghosteye Witch’s speed, find its weaknesses at equal strength, and weaken it a bit; if you’re confident of an instant kill, directly attack the single eye of the Ghosteye Witch.

The book’s teachings aren’t wrong, but they’re too rigid. Ghosteye Witches have a certain level of intelligence, and if they realize they can’t win, they’ll definitely flee; they won’t inexplicably charge into your Earth Force Field.

But this particular Ghosteye Witch misestimated Vay’s strength.

Under this ”beautiful” misunderstanding, it didn’t run but instead continued attempting to approach Vay to kick him a few times, trying to break through the Defense Spell.

But upon getting close, the Ghosteye Witch found itself in trouble.

Unlike before when it could come and go freely, this time, when it got near to Vay, it was immediately sealed by a pale yellow force field, disabling its greatest talent—speed.

Without speed, the Ghosteye Witch was nothing more than a slowly moving target.

After all, Vay was a peak apprentice, and he had the ability to instantly kill this low-level monster. Three continuous Sharpstone Arrows pierced through the single eye atop the Ghosteye Witch’s head.

Amidst a flurry of dust, the Ghosteye Witch’s corpse collapsed with a roar.

Vay breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Dox, making a ”done deal” gesture.

He didn’t even know why he made this gesture to Dox, probably trying to regain some dignity.

Earlier, Dox had rolled his eyes numerous times behind his back, but when facing Vay, considering his old friend’s self-esteem and the Black Earl’s intimidation, he still smiled and nodded, ”Well done.”

”Hmph!”

Just as Dox finished speaking, the Black Earl’s cold snort came instead, directed at Vay.

The stone slab carrying the Black Earl even flew directly off Vay.

He would rather waste energy flying than stay on this foolish descendant. It was a total disgrace to the Noah Clan!

Vay was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, Angel suddenly spoke, as if to assist Vay out of the predicament: ”Come over and take a look.”

Everyone followed the voice to see Angel squatting beside the Ghosteye Witch’s body, inspecting something.

”What’s there to see? There aren’t valuable materials on a Ghosteye Witch unless you sell the whole corpse, but it wouldn’t fetch more than ten Magic Crystals. Do you need the money that much?” asked Dox.

Angel replied, ”I didn’t ask you to look for treasure; I just wanted to see if you feel anything special about it. Any spiritual senses tingling?”

Angel stared unblinkingly at Dox.

Dox said, exasperated, ”Are you treating me like a human detector? A dead Ghosteye Witch, what kind of impression would it make?”

Angel touched his chin: ”No tingling? That’s odd.”

It was Dox’s decision for them to investigate the scream, and Angel had thought perhaps Dox’s spiritual senses had been triggered.

Upon seeing the Ghosteye Witch, Angel became more convinced.

Because in the central area of the Naraku Abyss City Underground Labyrinth, which is also the most core place, the location of the Hanging Jail Stairway, there were a large number of Ghosteye Witches.

Although there are Ghosteye Witches outside the Hanging Jail Stairway in the Nightmare Realm, it doesn’t mean there would be Ghosteye Witches at the corresponding place in reality. However, this coincidence caught Angel’s attention.

”Then use the True Sight to trace back this Ghosteye Witch, see where it came from?” Angel asked again.

”Came from?” Dox wondered out loud, ”Are you implying it used to live in the underground labyrinth?”

Angel: ”It’s just a guess.”

Dox frowned: ”Couldn’t you trace it back yourself, why rely on me?”

The reason Angel wanted Dox to trace it back was still due to spiritual sensitivity, to see if it could be triggered. Yet, Angel did not answer and just gestured for Dox to get on with it.

Though full of complaints, Dox complied.

”Continue northward, at least two miles, and use the True Sight when we reach the location,” Dox said.

Angel wasn’t satisfied with this answer, he persistently asked: ”Still nothing?”

Dox replied irritably, ”I’m a Bloodline side, don’t treat me like a Prophet Wizard!”

After hesitating, Dox’s eyes suddenly lit up, ”If you really want a prophecy, isn’t the Black Earl here? He’s lived so long, surely he has dabbled in prophecy. Let him prophesy where it came from, problem solved.”

With that, Dox took the lead in looking at the stone slab floating in mid-air.

Angel thought for a moment, feeling this might be an option, and so he too looked toward the Black Earl’s stone face.

The Black Earl, although aware that Dox was stirring trouble, didn’t mind, as when Angel mentioned the Ghosteye Witch might have emerged from underground, he had already begun his secret probing.

After a long pause, the Black Earl spoke, ”I made a pact with a Prophet Wizard, and under the witness of the Bell of Inquiry, I can borrow his ability within limits: Lucky Choice.”

Lucky Choice, a Divination from the Bell of Inquiry system, an advanced version of Lucky Sensing.

Somewhat like Lucky Detection, it can inquire about the ”yes” and ”no” of a matter.

However, Lucky Detection is a trick, its principle explained by Jon as ”precise service provided by big data,” reflecting one aspect of computing power for prophecy system wizards.

While Lucky Choice is a real transcendent prophecy spell, needing the ”Bell of Inquiry’s” permission to use, and its accuracy is much higher than Lucky Detection.

”I just used up the recent usage of Lucky Choice, using the Ghosteye Witch’s corpse as a medium, I asked two questions.”

The group immediately focused their attention, wanting to hear what the Black Earl discovered.

”The first question was, did it originate from the underground labyrinth?”

The Black Earl paused before saying, ”The answer, no.”

Angel’s brow furrowed, did he misjudge?

”The second question, can it lead to the real entrance to the underground labyrinth?”

This time, the Black Earl answered swiftly, ”The answer, yes.”