Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2737: Chapter 2738: Shattered Mirror

”If you’re trying to reach the Deep World through the mirror tunnel carved by Adanis, without a mark, you will be forever lost.”

This was a voice Angel had never heard before, similar in tone to the ’Mediocre’ Muse, both being a lazy young man’s voice. However, compared to Muse, the other person’s tone was clearer and more... serious?

Seriousness might just be due to the current situation’s gravity. It couldn’t be used as a regular indicator, but whatever the case, Angel could be certain it was a completely unfamiliar voice.

Angel didn’t know who the other party was but judging from the source of the voice, he guessed it should be the owner of that abnormal emotion attached to the whale-like magical creature.

This is a male voice. So it should not be the ”she” mentioned by the Wise Sovereign.

The Adanis he mentioned, who could that be?

Angel wanted to reply, but he couldn’t find the other party’s ”opening,” unable to connect through spiritual power.

At this moment, his voice once again reached Angel’s ears: ”Actually, I didn’t expect you to discover me. But now isn’t the time for us to meet. Just wait, wait.”

”Remember what I said, you can take that fragmented mirror, but do not enter any mirror tunnel carved by Adanis, and do not allow yourself to be captured into the mirror by You Nu.”

”These outsiders are not your greatest crisis. Adanis has released a powerful Otherworld Infant Spirit, which will obstruct you in the remnant territory...”

”Do not confront it head-on. Find a way to enter the secret meeting room... which is what you call the remnant territory. I will be waiting for you there.”

”Do not let the Wise Sovereign help you against the Infant Spirits unless absolutely necessary. He’s not a bad person, but what he seeks, no one can afford to pay.”

”Lastly, please definitely come to the remnant territory... I’ve waited too long.”

The voice gradually became weaker until it completely disappeared.

As his voice fell silent, Angel could clearly sense the benevolent emotion emanating from that whale-shaped magical creature fading away.

Before, it was just a guess, but now it’s almost certain that the speaker was indeed the owner of that benevolent emotion.

But what Angel was unsure of is, who exactly was this suddenly appearing male voice, and what was his purpose? Should his warning be trusted?

From the implications in his words, he seems to be in the remnant territory. However, the Wise Sovereign never mentioned that aside from ”her,” there was also ”him” in the remnant territory?

Nevertheless, although the Wise Sovereign didn’t mention it, Angel and the others had speculated. After all, the Mirror Demon God’s emblem was half female and half male.

Since ”she” has appeared, it’s possible that the male in the emblem exists as well.

Could it be the male wearing a hat symbolized in the emblem that just spoke to him?

Without evidence, Angel couldn’t confirm it.

But the consistent reference to Adanis, coupled with the context, perhaps corresponds to the ”she” mentioned by the Wise Sovereign?

Moreover, from the tone of voice, it’s clear that Adanis bears ill will towards this group, even devising a... Infant Spirit to hinder them?

Angel naturally knew what an Infant Spirit was. However, in Angel’s impression, Infant Spirits were merely low-level undead, but according to the other party, the Infant Spirit coming this time is very strong?

Setting aside these difficult obstacles for a moment, solely from the malice Adanis showed towards them, this aligns perfectly with the abnormal emotions emanating from the Grey Merchant.

To sum it up, the Mirror Demon God is divided by gender, the female harbors ill intent, and the male holds benevolent intent. The female wishes to prevent them from reaching the remnant territory, while the male hopes they can go there.

Angel didn’t know whether his conjecture was correct, but it is certain that there are at least two differing consciousnesses in the remnant territory.

Truly—divided yet contradictory.

...

Angel’s contemplation was abruptly interrupted by a sudden surge of feedback from Earl Mi.

Amidst the return to consciousness, Angel discovered that Earl Mi had continuously sent him several messages. Initially, they were mere statements, but later escalated into warnings.

The root of everything was the discovery of the ”severed hand” on the Grey Merchant.

Currently, the Grey Merchant is merely caught in spatial disorientation, not entirely unaware. When the severed hand wantonly searched the Grey Merchant’s body, he still felt it.

It’s just that to the Grey Merchant, who transformed into a lesser dragon, the severed hand was exceedingly small, like an ant.

Initially, the Grey Merchant was distracted by the external ”Earl Mi,” not minding the anomaly on his body. But after continuous failed attacks and mounting self-doubt, he finally turned his focus onto himself.

Then, one by one, the severed hands were found and destroyed by the Grey Merchant.

Currently, only two severed hands remained.

One touched the ”mirror surface,” while the other was attracting the Grey Merchant’s attention for the former, almost about to be found by the Grey Merchant, prompting Earl Mi to incessantly issue feedback.

This meant Angel must make a decision: abandon the mirror piece, or have the severed hand leave with the mirror piece immediately.

Earlier, Angel’s decision was to abandon the mirror piece due to the Wise Sovereign’s implication.

But now, hearing the explanation from the entity in the void, Angel roughly discerned the Wise Sovereign’s intent. Perhaps he feared Angel would completely lose himself within the world inside the mirror?

If it was merely this concern, Angel felt the Wise Sovereign was overthinking.

Angel appears reckless but is actually very prudent. All his ventures are based on having a trump card, backing, and an escape route. When he knows little about what’s ahead, he becomes exceedingly cautious, even if he were to enter the Mirror World, he’d first investigate diligently, probing the path repeatedly until confirming there’s no danger before proceeding.

The Wise Sovereign probably considered Angel to be an extremely radical adventurer, seeing that Angel would ”risk death to proceed” even when there seemed no benefit to reaching the remnant territory. That’s why he subtly implied, hoping Angel wouldn’t acquire the mirror fragment, only to carry out ”reckless adventure” fueled by passion.

Upon realizing this, Angel made a new decision.

He still wanted to get that mirror fragment.

Since the entity in the void said he could take the broken mirror piece, as long as he didn’t explore the mirror tunnel constructed by Adanis... why shouldn’t he take it?

As long as he doesn’t enter the mirror, using it as a research subject for experimental purposes, why not?

Moreover, Angel himself had been researching mirror spaces lately. Solely relying on Mirror Grudge for studies was progressing slowly; perhaps this fragmented mirror could bring him some surprises?

Thinking of this, Angel ordered Earl Mi to have the severed hand take that mirror fragment!

Following the order, the severed hand that had been attracting the Grey Merchant’s attention stopped hiding and became aggressive, directly provoking the Grey Merchant.

After diverting most of the Grey Merchant’s attention to itself.

Concealed in the shadows, another severed hand, gripping the fragmented mirror, didn’t hesitate to jump off the Grey Merchant.

The Grey Merchant also noticed this hand and discovered it held the crucial memory-embedded mirror fragment, prompting immediate panic, intending to abandon the provocation from the other hand and first deal with the one holding the mirror fragment.

The previously ignored provocative hand promptly underwent disintegration.

Its energy composition matched the Power of the Gemstone within the Grey Merchant’s body precisely. Its disintegration didn’t arouse resistance from the surrounding Power of the Gemstone, simply perceived as another wave of Power of the Gemstone merging into the Grey Merchant.

But the Power of the Gemstone is not meant to ”return to the flow”; its purpose is merely to disturb the Gray Merchant’s judgment.

The method was simple, just activate the Power of the Gemstone, and rainbow-like mist rose, directly blocking the Gray Merchant’s vision.

The Gray Merchant opened the energy vision without hesitation.

But when he used his spiritual power to open the energy vision, he realized that the severed hand with the important mirror had already disappeared!

It was clearly just a momentary obscuration, so how did it disappear?!

He kept searching, but no matter how he looked, there was not a single trace.

For the first time, the Gray Merchant’s emotions fluctuated violently, and in a fit of anger, he launched a crazed attack against the Power of the Gemstone that blocked his sight.

However, at this time, the Power of the Gemstone, which was transformed from the severed hand, had already lost Earl Mi’s control and truly fused into the Gray Merchant’s body, meaning the Gray Merchant was bombarding his own energy.

This was nothing but ineffective rage.

The Gray Merchant couldn’t find the severed hand because of spatial distortion. When the severed hand was still on the Gray Merchant, spatial distortion had no effect, but once it moved away from the Gray Merchant, spatial distortion naturally obscured his view.

At this time, if there was a large-scale attack, it might shake the severed hand out.

However, the Gray Merchant did not do so.

Angel was also puzzled about why the Gray Merchant didn’t simply launch a large-scale group attack. Knowing that Angel was already close to the Gray Merchant, ready to retrieve the severed hand to avoid being swept away by the group attack. As a result, the Gray Merchant didn’t even attempt a group attack.

But it was just as well, as Angel smoothly retrieved the severed hand.

The Gray Merchant, while unable to see Angel’s actions, was observed by everyone outside, including the Wise Sovereign, who saw everything Angel did.

Dox and the others did not know what Angel was doing, nor what the cloth-wrapped item in Angel’s hand was.

However, from the expressions of the Vicious Woman and others, Dox and the rest understood that Angel probably took something very important.

Previously, no matter how much Angel ”provoked,” only that pink-haired girl would jump around furiously while the others remained calm.

But this time, nearly everyone on the opposite side showed outrage. Especially the Vicious Woman, who even floated in mid-air, trying to rush into the arena.

However, she was stopped by the Wise Sovereign.

But this didn’t mean the Vicious Woman gave up, as the bandages behind her continuously danced and extended, gradually spreading all around, clearly ready to fight to the death with Angel if he appeared.

Angel could feel the Vicious Woman’s gaze full of malice.

Or rather, the emotions of the Traveling Merchant’s group collectively changed from neutral to hostile. Angel naturally sensed this change immediately.

Regarding this, Angel was actually quite puzzled.

This broken mirror should be something ”she,” Adanis, gave to the Gray Merchant, probably for... observing him during the fight? He took the mirror without touching the Gray Merchant’s belongings, so why did the Vicious Woman and others change their hostility so greatly?

Angel shook his head, not thinking too deeply about it, and decided to resolve this battle first before considering other matters.

However, before making a move on the Gray Merchant, Angel glanced at the Wise Sovereign.

Angel tried to deduce the Wise Sovereign’s reaction to his taking of the mirror, but the Wise Sovereign’s face was concealed by a cloak, making it difficult to discern his thoughts.

Only a subtle feeling emerged, as if the atmosphere around him had become more solemn than before.

Angel suppressed the urge to speak with the Wise Sovereign, refocusing his attention on the Gray Merchant.

...

After that individual departed, whatever tricks Angel wanted to use now hardly mattered.

However, facing the Gray Merchant, there was no need to use those other tricks. Especially when the Gray Merchant was still trapped by the spatial distortion illusion.

Even though the Gray Merchant had realized something was wrong and was trying to break free of the illusion’s restraints, it was too late.

In fact, Angel capitalized on the Gray Merchant’s ”awareness” of the illusion, slightly unlocking the spatial distortion’s inhibition, allowing him to falsely believe he had seen through the truth of spatial swapping.

In the end, the Gray Merchant walked himself out of the arena.

When the Wise Sovereign announced the Gray Merchant’s defeat in the duel, the Gray Merchant still thought he had seen through the illusion and was approaching Angel. In reality, Angel had calculated everything, including his... delusion.

...

As the announcement of the match’s end came from the Wise Sovereign’s mouth.

A figure swiftly rushed into the arena.

Seething with thick bloodlust and overflowing malice, dashing towards Angel.

Without a doubt, only the Vicious Woman dared to make a move against Angel at this moment.

However, the Vicious Woman hadn’t even reached Angel when Dox, who also charged into the arena, blocked her with a sword. After being blocked, before the Vicious Woman could react, the ground suddenly rose with thin stone pillars, intertwining like coiling serpents to enclose the Vicious Woman. Eventually, these thin stone pillars transformed into a twisted black birdcage, suspended mid-air.

The Vicious Woman did not resist from start to finish. It wasn’t that she was unwilling; rather, a massive oppressive force intimidated her, preventing any movement.

This oppressive force did not come from the black-cloaked referee but from the opposing... floating stone slab.

The Vicious Woman, imprisoned in the birdcage, deflated like a balloon and slumped into it.

All she could do now was glare fiercely at Angel.

That sinister gaze, peering through the gaps in her hair, was like a venomous snake hidden in the grass silently watching you, chilling and vicious. Anyone caught off guard by it would feel a shiver down their spine.

The Vicious Woman, although silent, conveyed her strong malice through her actions and gaze.

At this time, the Apprentices led by the Magic Elephant also stepped onto the arena. They dared not act, merely standing guard by the Vicious Woman, warily watching the people opposite.

Amidst the crowd, the pink-haired woman furiously shouted at Angel, ”Give it back! Return what you took!”

As the pink-haired woman roared, on the other side, the Gray Merchant finally recovered from his defeat.

He turned back and saw the Vicious Woman and all his Apprentices had rushed into the arena.

The Apprentices were unharmed for now, but the Vicious Woman was trapped in a gigantic, twisted birdcage.

Hearing the pink-haired woman’s words, and realizing whom she was addressing, the Gray Merchant quickly understood the situation.

He sighed softly, and with a flash, appeared in the center of the standoff.