Warlock Apprentice

The Tulip Palace was one of the eight underwater palaces built by Duons to accommodate their Gods.

Both Duons and Dugons greatly respected their holy grounds and rarely came to them so as not to bother their Gods. For this reason, the Tulip Palace had not welcomed visitors for countless years, until today.

Led by Shan, Angor’s group traveled through great distances and finally reached a bright palace surrounded by gigantic seaweeds.

“This is the place,” Shan murmured as she looked around while feeling uncertain about her words. “Huh… I can’t see those witches.”

The Tulip Palace was protected behind an energy barrier that kept water away. There were six flame pillars built just outside the structure that illuminated the area, causing it to be as bright as day.

Due to the decent radiance, they could observe the dazzling coral decorations without any trouble.

“We got away through the backdoor because the witches were watching the front. But… did they leave already?” Shan looked really worried. “Oh no! I think they got Shiliew!”

“Let’s go and see,” Angor said as he comforted the girl. He then said to Keely, “I’ll check first, help me keep my body safe.”

Keely created a barrier using flames that covered up Angor’s body.

Next, Angor ejected his soul and dived into the palace. His soul could freely move through walls as long as there was no special protection. Combined with his speed, he finished scouting the entire building within minutes.

Before leaving, he sensed energy ripples coming from the main hall. When he arrived, he noticed that the energy originated from below his feet.

“There’s something underground?” He tried moving down, but he was blocked by another energy barrier. He decided to approach it in by going underground through another entrance and slowly move toward the main hall’s position.

He met no obstruction this time, and he successfully entered a sealed underground chamber.

The chamber was full of dust, which suggested that no one had come here for a long time. Several luminous stones were slotted into the ceiling so that the room wasn’t completely dark. Using the dim light, Angor could see some lines and symbols drawn on the floor.

He used the sequence of gravity to blow the dust away and was surprised to see something familiar beneath him.

Several runes bound together using certain formulas, as well as slots for placing magic crystals… A short-range teleportation array.

Right beside the array, there was a simple map that had multiple dots on it, which was accompanied by names. One of the dots on the edge of the map indicated his current position, the Tulip Palace.

Apart from here, there were also “Bayonet Palace”, “Temulin Palace”, “Crystal Palace”, and so on. Eight palaces in total.

This is for traveling to other palaces?

Angor tried placing a magic crystal into an energy slot and successfully activated the array. The locations on the map began to glow brightly.

Although it wasn’t time for this right now. He took off the crystal and left the secret chamber.

Shan already told them that the Duons built these palaces to worship their Gods. Angor didn’t expect that he actually found a convenient means of traveling through them by floating around in his soul form. He wondered if they could use this way to get closer to the Altar of Demise.

After getting back to his body, he said to Shan while shaking his head, “I didn’t find anyone inside. But there are traces left by someone fighting.”

Shan looked disappointed. “What should we do? If we can’t find Shiliew, we can’t find Nausica.”

Angor frowned. He was just as concerned about losing Nausica’s track.

“There’s still a way… But I need to get in there first,” Keely suddenly spoke up, and as Shan watched her with great hope, she slowly entered the palace.

Keely moved to find some broken stones on the floor and proceeded to check the energy residue left behind.

“Yes, someone got into a big fight not long ago,” she said. She then patted Luna’s head and added, “It’s your turn.”

Keely stepped back while Luna began hopping around the stones while sniffing the air.

“Oh, Luna can find people by sensing their hormone, right?” Angor still remembered how Keely disturbed his rest by threatening him right inside Sunders’ mansion.

“Yeah. But they are almost gone. We may need to find something more solid, like body fluid dropped by someone.”

Angor gazed at Luna and felt his vision going blurry for a second. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, only to see the black cat now had three eyes… as well as nine tails that swung around behind its rear.

“It’s a Night Caracal?…” Shan mumbled.

Angor thought the name to be familiar.

Keely nodded and explained to them, “Yes, Luna is a Night Caracal… It’s the only gift my mother left behind.” Her voice grew softer when she mentioned her dead mother.

Angor managed to remember something he read before. People said that a Night Caracal was the herald of night, and one of the most beloved familiar pets raised by ancient witches. These creatures were extremely smart and sensitive, as well as capable of fighting. It was difficult to breed and train them. Also, it was known that many Night Caracals would grow up only to harm their owners. For these reasons, there were very few people that successfully cultivated and trained Night Caracals.

As plane expeditions grew more popular, which allowed people to find more varieties of easy-to-breed familiar pets, Night Caracals slowly stepped out of plain sight and became a symbol of antiquity. Today, only wizards who had a particular love for cats were willing to get them.

“It might be tiny, but it has lived for more than 50 years. My mother started training it a long time ago…” Keely’s voice grew gentle as if she considered Luna a personification of her own mother.

“It isn’t easy to breed familiars. To allow a familiar to fully attune to your own mind and ways, you at least need to spend hundreds of years with it,” Shan said. She then sighed and continued, “I once had a silver demon wolf. It died during an accident, and I never get another one. I’ll not look for a familiar before turning into a wizard. I have Gank.”

Shan looked at Angor with a smile. “Brother Angor, Nausica told me that you have a familiar too?”

“Remove the ‘brother’ part. You’re a LOT older than me.”

Shan rolled her eyes.

Angor checked Toby, who was sleeping inside his bracelet.

“Toby’s not my familiar. He’s my… family. But he’s sleeping and eating and then sleeping again like a spoiled nerd.”

Angor’s complaint sounded affectionate and attentive, which meant he really cared for Toby.

While they talked, Luna jumped away from the stones and pulled a blood-stained shard to Keely using its spirit power.

“There we have it.” Keely looked Luna’s way.

When Luna meowed several times, Keely frowned and began to “chat” with her cat.

“… Luna only found the blood of one person, but it smelled that four people were fighting here earlier.”

“Four?” Shan was surprised by this. “There was Shiliew and two witches… Did Jebra send reinforcement?!”

“Perhaps…” Keely’s voice was getting violent again. “That son of a stink fish can use any dirty trick you can think of. Come, Luna can take us to them.”

When Jebra’s name was mentioned, Keely quickly grew excited again and left Tulip Palace on her own.

Angor thought and decided not to tell them about the teleportation array for now. They wouldn’t need to use it any time soon.

Following Luna, they went on their way again, during which they fended off several more groups of raiders until they finally caught up with the one who left the bloodstains.

“There are two Meraid’s Swords somewhere 40 kilometers ahead of us. Luna said that blood smell also came from there,” Keely warned.

“Those two witches, no doubt!” Shan cursed.

Both Angor and Keely frowned when they saw who they were after.

Shiliew wasn’t here.

Angor and Keely knew well about the two individuals floating not far from them.

“Angor and… Keely?” A woman wearing flowers and tree vines all over her body raised an eyebrow as she spoke, “Are you perhaps trying to get this?” She showed them a silver Meriad’s Sword in her hand.

She spoke in a casual tone, but she was seriously preparing for all kinds of countermeasures, especially against Angor. Angor had proved his ability by surviving from the giant swarm of flying fish as well as that Lord of Tentacles.

“Sinehowze and Carveline…” Angor muttered their names. When Shan described how the two witches looked “old, wrinkled, and ugly”, he never thought Shan was referring to these two women.

“There they are! They trapped us inside Tulip Palace!” Shan yelled out.

“Oh, it’s you?” Sinehowze looked at Shan. “We were kind enough to let you and the other woman go, and you came looking for trouble instead? Wait, so you actually managed to get Angor and Keely as your bodyguards?”

While speaking, Sinehowze hid one hand behind her back and did a series of gestures. Several streams of smoke appeared from her palm.

Carveline was wearing a blue armored skirt this time. She moved in front of Sinehowze, pretending to protect her, but her true intention was to conceal Sinehowze’s movement.

Shan didn’t bother with answering Sinehowze’s question. “Where did you take Shiliew?”

“Shiliew? That blue-haired girl from earlier?” Sinehowze shook her head. “No idea, sorry!” Then she looked at Angor. “Did you come to us just because of this Shiliew woman?”

Keely interrupted Angor’s response by laughing frantically. “Stop wasting time. By selling your conscience to Jebra, you’ve become his slaves, his dogs! I’ll get you and everything else can wait!”

From Keely’s body, countless embers flooded toward Sinehowze and Carveline’s position.