Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2626: Chapter 2627: Objective Accomplished

Dox: ”From your tone, you seem to have taken a break just now to prepare the trinket.”

However, Dox’s curiosity did not get a response, because Angel had already blocked the Mind Ribbon after saying the last sentence.

The reason was quite simple, he had left the building and returned to the plaza.

Once again bathed in the glow of the fluorite, Angel felt a long-lost illusion. Looking back at the seemingly ordinary building, Angel felt that the experiences of less than a quarter of an hour ago had a sense of time transcendence.

Who could have thought that the building, which appeared to merely have six floors, hid intricate secrets within? The sixth floor was a gigantic laboratory, along with numerous prison cells; the sixth floor wasn’t the end of the building but its starting point instead.

In that infinitely expandable space, who knows how many secrets are still hidden deep inside...

”We will meet again.” Angel whispered softly.

Only, perhaps when they meet again, time may flow backward, and what he sees will no longer be the ruins of the laboratory and empty prisons, but everything intact and flawless.

Because the day of reunion might not be in reality. What he will witness will be the projection of Naraku City in the Nightmare Realm during its prime.

Without looking any longer, Angel turned back, closed his eyes, and let the undulating emotions slowly calm down with each breath. All those chaotic messages were cast aside, and now, he had only one target in his view.

The center of the plaza, the fountain!

...

”Not talking again, this guy really is...” The swear word almost reached Dox’s throat, but considering Angel might be still listening to their conversation, Dox forcibly suppressed the urge to swear and discontentedly said: ”An unqualified leader.”

”Perhaps he is not speaking because he has returned to the plaza? Ready to act?” Facing Dox’s complaints, Kaier was hesitant to speak out, and only the newly converted little fan—Vay—dared to defend Angel.

Dox was ready to retort when he suddenly heard Black Earl speak after a long silence.

”He has already blocked the Mind Ribbon.” Black Earl paused: ”Vay was not wrong this time, he has returned to the plaza, and currently moving towards the center.”

As the creator of the Mind Ribbon, Black Earl previously couldn’t precisely locate Angel’s position due to the Magical Energy Array. But once Angel left the array, leaving him unshielded, he naturally could use the Mind Ribbon to pinpoint Angel’s location.

Shortly after Black Earl finished speaking, Kaier’s doubtful voice was heard.

”Did I see wrong? Over there, there seem to be a lot of shadows appearing?” Kaier pointed to one side of the fountain, ”Did the Ghosteye Witch do a Shadow Transformation?”

Everyone turned to look, and indeed, they saw a number of shadows; these were the Shadow Transformed Ghosteye Witches.

Moreover, the shadow continued to expand, indicating that more and more Ghosteye Witches were undergoing Shadow Transformation.

”Is this the commotion Angel orchestrated?” Dox said in bewilderment: ”Is he really planning to fight these Ghosteye Witches head on? If so, just say it directly, I’ll definitely help!”

Although the Ghosteye Witch isn’t highly ranked among magical creatures, it’s only because their individual strength isn’t great. However, from the perspective of evolutionary shadow creatures, despite their intelligence being questionable, the body of the Ghosteye Witch is quite perfectly evolved.

Because the Ghosteye Witch has three forms: physical, semi-physical, and Shadow Transformation. While other shadow species mostly have only the Shadow Transformation form, those seeking a physical form must possess other creatures.

Thus, Ghosteye Witches are a unique existence among shadow species. However, because they’ve evolved to have physical forms, their abilities in Shadow Transformation are actually inferior to other shadow creatures.

Of course, compared to physical and semi-physical forms, the Shadow Transformation remains the strongest state of the Ghosteye Witch.

When a Ghosteye Witch shows its Shadow Transformation stance, usually there are two scenarios: either they are cultivating, or they are preparing for battle.

And a large number of Ghosteye Witches surrounding the fountain hadn’t been cultivating beforehand, but rather fervently guarding the special Ghosteye Witch. So, in Dox’s view, their Shadow Transformation clearly wasn’t for cultivation, but for initiating a battle stance.

However, this viewpoint only lasted several seconds.

The initial mass Shadow Transformation covered everything in murky shadows, making it impossible to see the internal situation. But once the first Shadow Transformation concluded and the darkness started spreading to other Ghosteye Witches, Dox finally saw the chaos’s origin and the specifics.

No battles occurred; all the Ghosteye Witches were swaying, merging their shadows with each other.

Though their ”poses” were poorly aligned, it was only because the Shadow Transformation was still spreading; once all surrounding Ghosteye Witches entered the cultivation state, all witches would naturally adopt harmonious stances.

”Is that Angel’s purpose? To have them all enter the cultivation state?” Dox pondered: ”What use is it? Could it be...”

A thought seemed to strike Dox, prompting him to turn to Black Earl: ”Black Earl, Lord, does the Ghosteye Witch entering cultivation state lower their vigilance?”

Black Earl shook his head: ”I haven’t heard of that. However, Ghosteye Witches I’ve encountered before aren’t less vigilant in their cultivation state than usual.”

Dox: ”If that’s the case, what’s the point of Angel doing this?”

Black Earl also didn’t know the specifics, his heart filled with speculation, yet didn’t voice his thoughts directly.

It was instead Vay, the apprentice, who carried no burdens and directly guessed: ”The Ghosteye Witches we previously encountered were few. Could it be that with many Ghosteye Witches entering the cultivation state, their vigilance indeed decreases?”

Black Earl’s speculation lined up with this, so he gave a rare affirmative nod looking towards Vay: ”That’s conceivable, after all, nowhere else have we seen so many Ghosteye Witches.”

Though Ghosteye Witches are group-oriented magical creatures, encountering settlements of hundreds remains possible. Yet, outside ones are very wary, often rotating cultivation rather than all cultivating together, and always requiring a lookout.

Here, it is different. The number of Ghosteye Witches is astonishing, and for so many years they’ve been undisturbed by the outside world, thus lacking much defensive preparedness.

Therefore, it’s feasible for hundreds to be cultivating together.

”Regardless of whether your conjecture is correct, or how Angel learned this info, what’s puzzling me now is, how did Angel induce them to enter the cultivation state?” Dox wondered aloud.

Previously, these Ghosteye Witches had shown no signs of cultivation, wholly enraptured by ”beauty,” now suddenly starting Shadow Transformation cultivation, which seemed utterly incredible.

That similarly puzzled Black Earl.

How did Angel achieve making Ghosteye Witches start Shadow Transformation cultivation? Moreover, these Ghosteye Witches had no cultivation intention, yet Angel forcefully led them into the cultivation state.

During everyone’s confusion, the special Ghosteye Witch on the fountain also noticed the ”fans” below, suddenly starting to cultivate. Moreover, Ghosteye Witches continued Shadow Transforming one after another.

As the focal point of the ”fan meeting,” this special Ghosteye Witch didn’t wish all the ”fans” to start cultivating. Who would it flaunt its charm for then?

It shrieked, causing several standing Ghosteye Witches to look up towards the fountain center.

As for the already Shadow Transformed Ghosteye Witches, they were engrossed in information exchange, remaining unawakened.

Nonetheless, the special Ghosteye Witch didn’t care, as long as some fans weren’t cultivating.

It called several times again.

These awake Ghosteye Witches gradually moved away from the surrounding two cultivating Ghosteye Witches following the voice.

Soon, they moved several meters away.

Just when it thought all was well, the cultivating Ghosteye Witches suddenly moved, staggering towards the nearby awake Ghosteye Witches.

A hug transformed a Ghosteye witch into Shadow Transformation. A face touch resulted in another Shadow Transformation.

Holding hands, a touch, even a collision...

Around them, the Ghosteye Witch entered the Shadow Transformation state one after another.

This magical and eerie scene not only stunned Dox and the others in the distance, but even the special Ghosteye Witch on the fountain wore a bewildered expression.

Such a chain Shadow Transformation cultivation, even it had never seen before.

What exactly is happening?

If this place was often intruded by outsiders, if Ghosteye Witches were often killed by outsiders, perhaps their vigilance would heighten and their thinking broaden. But this place, as the Ghosteye Witches’ Nest, had been safe for hundreds of years, and even the exceptionally intelligent special Ghosteye Witch did not immediately think of ”conspiracy theories” at this moment.

Therefore, this special Ghosteye Witch did not move, still standing on top of the fountain’s statue base, weakly and helplessly shouting for the other fans to hurry and leave.

But, everything was too late.

The spread of Shadow Transformation was very fast, and with so many Ghosteye Witches immersed in cultivation, each one opened their own ”information library,” allowing a torrent of information to flow through the shadows. Almost all the Ghosteye Witches tasted this ”bounty” for the first time and naturally welcomed more Ghosteye Witches to join.

In the blink of an eye, not only were the Ghosteye Witches around the fountain pulled into the cultivation state, but other solitary or already cultivating Ghosteye Witches nearby were drawn in by the restless Ghosteye Witches.

The special Ghosteye Witch saw this, its eyes full of helplessness.

Since they wanted to cultivate, this ”fan meeting” had to end here...

With this thought, it was about to leave, heading back to its den to cultivate with the handsome armored Ghosteye Witch.

But it didn’t notice the shadow that appeared on the ground, quickly approaching its side.

Because the surroundings were filled with Ghosteye Witches in Shadow Transformation, it was not initially wary until the shadow touched its body, and it sensed something was wrong.

But everything was already too late.

The shadow slipped directly into its body through the contact. Then, it felt a torrent of information rushing into its shadow.

All this information was what other Ghosteye Witches had opened up.

This enormous information flow contained a lot of knowledge that even it hadn’t heard of. And this unknown information was like honey to any Ghosteye Witch.

Although thoughts of the two armored Ghosteye Witches at ”home” lingered in its mind, its body was honest, slowly transforming into Shadow form, and actively merging with the shadows of other Ghosteye Witches.

In just a few dozen seconds, silence spread across the square.

Especially at the square’s center, with the fountain as the origin point, the surroundings were densely packed with Ghosteye Witches in Shadow Transformation.

They no longer spread outward but began adopting their most comfortable cultivation ”stance.”

In the eyes of Dox and the others, wide in astonishment, these Ghosteye Witches held hands one after another, forming layers around the fountain.

Layer upon layer, they stacked up, eventually forming a pyramid.

At the pinnacle of the pyramid was the special Ghosteye Witch in Shadow Transformation.

Though in Shadow state, its robe and ornaments remained, only transformed from physical entities to a shadow.

From the contorting posture of the shadow, everyone could sense that it was probably... quite comfortable.

Under the crowd’s gaze, behind this special Ghosteye Witch slowly emerged an outline.

Not a human outline, but a faint, nearly transparent hand.

Even as this hand approached the Ghosteye Witch, it didn’t notice; it still basked at the pyramid’s top in the pleasure of informational immersion.

But others knew for sure that this hand belonged to Angel.

”The Hand of Magic, although a low-level trick, still has a certain energy fluctuation. Yet that Ghosteye Witch felt nothing, which means Vay’s hypothesis was correct. The more Ghosteye Witches undergo shadow fusion, the more their vigilance decreases...”

”...Angel, he really accomplished it.”

Dox was now completely convinced because even inspiration had confirmed that the special Ghosteye Witch was no longer a threat, and he had no choice but to believe.

Everyone couldn’t help but marvel at the scene before them.

Although for the Ghosteye Witches, this was a cultivation feast, the puppeteer behind it all was their leader.

And the root cause of everything was Angel’s interest in an inconspicuous pendant.

Even the Black Earl found himself repeatedly lamenting in his heart; Angel surprised him again and again, making him even more envious of Sanders.

Such a talent, alas... not born into the Noah Family.

...

Elsewhere, after Angel created the Hand of Magic, he quickly touched the silver pendant on the Ghosteye Witch, and in passing, used his spiritual power to examine the other pendants to see if any matched the silver one as a set.

However, there were none.

Nevertheless, among them were a few fitted pendants that were extraordinary items. One pendant resembling a conch, though the Transcendent aura was subtle, Angel noticed the complex Magical Energy Array.

This was definitely a powerful alchemy tool.

With just a brief glance, Angel retracted his gaze. He didn’t recognize this Magical Energy Array, but from some Magic Tattoo Horns, he guessed it might possess controlling abilities and possibly even voice transmission effects?

Did Dox’s inspiration regarding this Ghosteye Witch’s danger pertain to this tool?

Should this Ghosteye Witch use the tool, it might summon a mighty existence... like that Dominator with the form of a Triclops Blue Demon?

Angel didn’t know, and couldn’t be bothered to speculate; nor did he tamper with these few Transcendent tools.

His goal had always been a single thing—the silver pendant.

No matter how powerful the other items were, so what? He could refine them himself, and now with the Extraordinary Extractor, and the Mad Hat’s coronation, if he truly wished to craft incredibly strong tools, it was only a matter of time.

After touching the silver pendant, Angel swiftly assessed the material and pendant’s shape.

Then, where no one could see, he quickly used lightning speed to take out a blank, integrate materials, disguise, and shape it, finally adding some antiqued look.

Once done, Angel swapped out the silver pendant from the Ghosteye Witch.

Then, with a gentle flicker, he moved from the square’s center to a fixed Illusionary Realm at the corner.

”Let’s go. While the Ghosteye Witches are cultivating, we can advance now without too much danger.”

Angel’s voice this time didn’t come from the Mind Ribbon but resonated in everyone’s ears.