Warlock Apprentice

Under the moon and stars, there was a giant boulder that was dug-out from the inside as a temporary shelter.

A flat stone slab was used as a door. Across the small gap, one could see shadows and embers moving inside.

There were three individuals resting in the stone house. A pot sat above a makeshift campfire and was brewing pleasant-smelling fish soup.

Two of them were sleeping on the ground, while the third one was a man in a tattered robe who was tending to their meal.

What was exposed from under his robe—a smooth, tender hand—had bugs and maggots climbing on it. One of his hands was dropping some powder-like substance on the ground to attract more worms to go inside the soup.

Someone moaned behind him.

“You alright, Freud?” The robed figure didn’t look back. “So, did you read anything?”

His voice was gruff and harsh like someone who smoked too much in his life.

“No… He’s just a weak apprentice who knows no more than what we already knew. But there’s something interesting. Maybe Viking’s group will find something on their way.” The man named Freud yawned and scratched his blond hair, which went messy after he slept on the rough ground.

“Do you mean there’s really a way out in the lava zone?” The robed man seemed interested.

“No.” Freud sat up and moved closer to the fire. “But there’s a half-step wizard-level monster, Lord of Tentacles, at the center of it. If what he heard is right, that place might just be our exit.”

“Half-step to wizard? It should be a clue… but Viking’s not gonna enjoy it.” The robed man chuckled. He wasn’t concerned about the life and death of his teammates at all.

“Big Bear’s not gonna make it. But Viking and Shayaron are fine. Those fish are strong but they’re stupid.”

“Big Bear? Let him die. Even after getting a bloodline, he’s still big and slow. He’ll only slow us down by it…” The robed man suddenly looked hesitant. “But how do I explain his death to his sister?”

“You told Michelle that you’ll look after Big Bear, and you’re going to regret now?”

“Nah. Michelle won’t know as long as no one tells her. You won’t sell me out, eh?”

“Of course I won’t.” Freud was quick to answer, but he wasn’t so sure deep in his mind.

“The soup’s good now. Want some?” The robed man pointed to the pot.

Freud took a sniff at the delicious aroma. He was the one who prepared the meal, but he wondered if Yethew added something unnecessary to it while he was asleep.

“No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”

“Heh, suit yourself.” The robed man downed the pot of soup in one go.

Freud suddenly looked at the door when he heard footsteps coming. “Who is it?”

“It’s just me.”

The stone was moved aside, revealing Shayaron’s form. He sat beside the fire with a tired expression.

“Ron, how did it go? What’s inside the lava zone? Where’s Viking and Big Bear?”

“We bumped into something big. They are… dead. I used a Stealth Scroll and got away.” Shayaron only told them a half-truth.

“Something big?”

“A Lava Eel. A lot stronger than the high-level apprentices we’ve seen, mind you.” Shayaron shivered a little when thinking about the previous encounter. If not for his precious scroll, he would have become another corpse like his partners.

“Lava Eel? Not the Lord of Tentacles?” the robed man asked.

“Lord of Tentacles? What the hell’s going on, Yethew?” Shayaron gazed at Yethew and Freud doubtfully. “There’s something you should tell me which you didn’t, huh?”

Freud shook his head and pointed to a short man in silver uniform behind them. “I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I just succeeded in reading his dream. He told me that the most dangerous monster in that area is something near wizard-level, the Lord of Tentacles, which has been lurking in the lava zone.”

“He told you that in a dream?” Shayaron frowned. He always trusted Freud’s “dream reading” ability. Actually, Freud was titled as the “Dream Reader” just because of this. He knew how to sneak into someone’s dream and use it to his advantage, and it had never disappointed them.

“I didn’t see the thing that you mentioned, just the Lava Eel. But that eel’s already half-step to wizard level too. I think it can beat all of us in under a minute.”

“Seriously?” Yethew was still doubtful.

“I mean it. Big Bear became burnt chips just by touching it. While Viking had time to prepare his bloodline power, the eel still knocked off many parts off him simply by swinging its tail. There was no hope for us… Also, it’s smarter than the other fish we’ve seen till now. We can’t trick it easily.”

“Big Bear… Man. I failed Michelle’s request,” Yethew murmured as he pretended to be sad over the death of his teammate. “Viking’s dead too? Yeah, that monster is something.”

“But if so, that Lord of Tentacles got to be deadlier, right?” said Freud.

“Yeah, but we need to check that area. Maybe the Lava Eel is just an exception. I wish Viking’s with us… His bloodline helped him to adapt to a harsh environment really fast. He would have been a good scout.”

“We don’t have him anymore,” Shayaron commented.

“Well, totally what I expected from that hot-headed guy.” Freud decided to put the fate of their friends behind.

“Nevertheless, we have to check out the lair of Lord of Tentacles. The Floating Mech City won’t give an impossible mission to their own students. There’s something helpful, I know it.” Freud glared at the uniformed apprentice who had yet to wake up. “Too bad we only found this loser. What did he say again? To fight for our chance from the worst danger, right? It makes sense. The city needs people to die. Putting the exit at the most dangerous spot is a good choice.

“Very well. We’ll go and meet that tentacle monster later.”

Angor considered what he just heard while sitting outside the stone shelter.

To fight for our chance from the worst danger?

This was told by an apprentice from the city, which meant it was a clue that told them how to get out. Still, Angor got some more questions.

To what extent will the city help the challengers?

There should be some sort of restriction as to what kind of “danger” one should expect. By mentioning “the worst danger”, the city probably wasn’t trying to send their students to their gallows.

And was that “Lord of Tentacles” thing something that apprentices could hope to defeat?

From what he heard, Angor believed that this was not the case. Maybe there was another way to avoid fighting the Lord of Tentacles.

Bypassing the monster meant to put one’s mind and stealth abilities to test. That didn’t sound like a “fight”.

His instinct told him that his previous assumption that the exit was located in the sky was more sound.

Then he thought about Dodoro’s “prophecy”, which suggested that he and Keely were swimming at the bottom of the sea.

There was no sea to be found around here. So how did that happen? Or was it something AFTER the garden challenge?

With these questions in mind, Angor headed to the lava zone again. For now, he planned to take a look at that Lord of Tentacles and see if he could escape detection by using Infinite Reticence. And if the monster was something beyond his strength, he would check out the sky.

As Angor left the stone house, the robed man, Yethew, suddenly frowned at something. The Spy Bug he placed outside was killed by something stepping on it.

Quickly, he changed his vision to another Spy Bug, but he saw nothing else apart from the squashed corpse of the previous one.

In this land of fishes, any foreign creatures would soon become fish chum. And the lack of land-dwellers caused the ground to slowly turn to a wasteland.

So what just stepped on my bug?

“What’s wrong, Yethew?” Shayaron saw Yethew not moving and nudged his shoulder. “Stay with me, buddy.”

“Oh, what?”

“Get some preparation done. We’re going to the lava zone.”

“No need for that. We’ll just go.”

Yethew went outside first and walked to his dead bug while pretending that he was waiting for others.

When no one was looking, he released another ant-like insect from his sleeve, which dropped down and devoured the dead Spy Bug.

Once it was done, the second insect returned to Yethew’s hand.

Yethew took a sniff at it and frowned.

This special ant could help him find and amplify hormones. This was also how Yethew found his teammates quickly after entering the garden.

“This is definitely the smell of a human. Someone was listening in?”