Warlock Apprentice

Angor quickly denied his own thought. Those who managed to come here might not be strong, but at least, they should know how to deal with these animals without dying.

Well, unless someone was foolish enough to climb to the sky and become a live bait.

Wait… Something suddenly flashed past Angor’s mind. To the sky? Bait?

Staying on the ground was safe, sure. But of course, the city wouldn’t want the people to stay safe in the garden. They needed dead people—a lot of them. And in such a case, sending people to the sky was one quick approach to produce corpses.

But again, those with brains would never try to approach the sky.

What if the city was planning to FORCE people to fly?

For example… what if the exit of the garden was up there?

Angor frowned at his assumption. It was quite possible.

He carefully looked at the sky again and saw nothing apart from clouds and wandering schools of fish.

Something told him that he was right. At the very least, there was something hidden in the sky.

Even so, there were too many fishes up there, none of which seemed friendly. There were even some that were as big as whales.

He decided to temporarily hold back his urge to explore the sky and check out the mountains first. If nothing showed up there, he would think of something to examine the air.

He kept walking in his stealth mode. Being stealthy didn’t really affect his traveling speed. About two hours later, he had already covered a hundred kilometers and reached the edge of the grass field.

The remaining path was a barren wasteland. There were no plants or water that separated him and his destination, only more flying fish.

After walking for a while on the wasteland, Angor began to feel the air getting hotter and thinner. The dirt under his feet was getting darker until he could almost see the flowing lava that was hidden underneath the ground.

He had reached molten earth uninhabitable to human beings.

Far off, there were volcanoes that released gloomy smoke clouds that created a natural curtain. Even in such a place, there were still flying fishes who were literally “on fire”, either diving in and out of the burning smoke or swimming in the exposed lava pools.

If he somehow fell into the lava pools, Angor wouldn’t be able to survive it. Even walking on the less-hot dirt already felt painful enough.

He couldn’t move ahead now. He tried to walk along the edge of the deadly place and see if he could find something.

The walk took him almost a day. The setting sun had given place to the moon and stars. Angor was still looking at the flaming volcanoes and burning land, and of course, the flying fish. When he finally decided to give up and change direction, he suddenly heard someone fighting.

People often said that curiosity killed the cat. Still, Angor decided to investigate the noise since he had Infinite Reticence to help him. Besides, he believed his unsatisfied curiosity might just kill him if he were to ignore it.

The sound of the fight didn’t come from the burning area. It was hidden behind a small hill outside the eruption area. However, there was too much smoke around that Angor only saw faint shadows moving in front of him even when standing directly on top of the hill.

The violent energy surges already told him that someone were fighting inside the smoke.

A minute later, a red figure bolted from the smoke and dived into the volcano in the distance, leaving a trail of blue smoke behind.

Angor managed to recognize the shadow as another snake-like flying fish with glowing lava shards attached to its body.

Everything quieted down.

Angor considered and walked inside the smoke. He endured and braved past the sharp smoke of hot sulfur and blood, and soon, he found a burnt body lying inside a small hole on the ground while a broken magic wand that was still glowing dimly laid not far away.

Angor didn’t recognize this bulky man.

He kept walking deeper inside without checking the corpse. What he saw earlier suggested there was more than one combatant.

As expected, he saw another man, who was barely breathing.

Angor found this man to be familiar too. It seemed this man, who grew a magnificent full beard, was one of the earliest ones to reach the gathering area. Also, he was among the elites who stayed on the right side.

Both his hands were burned off, and he no longer had anything left below his abdomen. The only thing the man could do was to draw his remaining breaths helplessly.

His eyes showed pure despair. He already used up the potions that he prepared, and there was nothing left for him to stop all the bleeding.

He suddenly looked up at something. “You… thank the gods. Quickly, help me…”

Angor frowned and took a step back. He saw me?

But on a careful look, Angor noticed that the wounded man was talking toward the sky.

“Help… Ron…”

Angor looked up and saw another man in white robe hovering above him. Although this other person didn’t make any grand entrance—his white robe had burn marks and blood all over, which looked quite miserable.

Still, this one was in a better shape compared to the man on the ground. At least he didn’t seem to be in danger.

Also, Angor happened to know the name of the man in white. Before entering the garden, he heard someone mentioned his name.

It was “Sky Dancer” Shayaron.

“You don’t have any limbs left. Even if you make it, you’ll be a useless burden,” said Shayaron as he looked at his collapsed companion with a pair of cold eyes.

“I can… get an organ transplant. I saved enough money for it. Help me!”

Shayaron didn’t respond to the man’s pleading look. He only turned away without ever looking back.

“It’s strenuous to stay until the end. I don’t want someone dragging me down.”

Shayaron began to float away from the smoke-covered battlefield.

The injured man grew more frenzied when he saw his only hope leaving. “Shayaron! It would have been YOU who’s bleeding out if I didn’t help you stop that fish!”

“I never asked for help. Thank you for what you did, by the way. And I already repaid the favor,” Shayaron’s voice already became distant as he said, “by NOT finishing you off right now.”

Left alone at death’s door, the bearded man screamed at the top of his lungs using what remained of his strength.

“HOW DARE YOU! To hell with your trick of words, coward! If I make it out alive, I’ll make sure to end your life myself!” Slowly, his angry yells became weaker mumble. “If… I make it out…”

Anyone, including himself, could see that survival was not an option since he had no hands or legs. Even if nothing showed up to claim his life, he would soon bleed out.

Before his last moment, the man finally learned what it felt to lose his life slowly but surely. He felt cold despite the burning air around him. Everything was freezing up. His brain, his bones, his mind space, and his own soul…

“This… is it?”

He tried to keep his eyes open. He wanted to enjoy one more sight of this world even if he wasn’t looking at anything beautiful.

Then he felt something warm coming from his wounds.

It’s… Heal! Someone cast a Heal at me!

He felt his bleeding being slowed down. Some energy returned to his body and helped him climb back from the entrance to hell. He felt his skin burning because of the hot dirt below him, but he felt alive again!

“I-I’m saved!” He looked around without seeing anyone. “Is that you, Ron?”

No answers.

“Right… of course he won’t. Is that Yethew? Freud? Who are you?”

“A stranger,” someone replied in a voice that he didn’t recognize.

“Th-thanks…” It was obvious that whoever helped him did not wish to get exposed. Silently, the man remembered the strange yet pleasant voice.

“Don’t mention it. From here onward, whether or not you can keep living will be up to you.” The voice grew weaker as if the speaker was moving away already.

“Shayaron! That man is Shayaron. Together with Yethew and Freud, they ambushed another apprentice from Floating Mech City. Follow him and you may find a way out!” the man yelled and explained what he learned, although he wasn’t sure if anyone was here to hear him.

Naturally, it was Angor who just healed him.

Using the cantrip cost him nothing. As for why he offered his help… This man did mention that he helped Shayaron to block an attack, and Angor quite appreciated such a noble act.

Despite his effort, Angor knew that his cantrip was unlikely to help the man stay alive for very long. It was already difficult to keep up in the garden, let alone without one’s limbs.

Even so, Angor was glad that he managed to learn something useful that could be cast at almost no cost.

He cast one last glimpse at the strange man, who looked a lot more cheerful now, before heading toward where Shayaron disappeared.