Warlock Apprentice

Among all the potions, there was an unlabeled bottle of dark green liquid that looked pretty valuable, or at least Angor’s instinct told him so.

The result gained by using Narda’s Vision surprised him greatly.

“Waning Ward”, a special mid-tier potion with a straightforward effect—extending one’s lifespan by slowing down metabolism.

This effect alone wasn’t so special among mid-tier potions. However, Narda’s Vision had shown Angor another piece of information worth noting.

[Using the potion does not cause any decrease in personal potential. While in effect, the user’s body will be weakened to an extreme extent similar to unfit mortals. The effect will last for as long as a hundred years and can be canceled at any time.]

This was the most efficient life-improving potion he ever got his hands on. Since it didn’t have any long-term side effects and did not prevent the use of other life-extending potions, this potion was extremely valuable to apprentices who had yet to reach wizard levels.

He believed this potion would get him quite a fortune if he were to sell it at an auction.

However, Huskar didn’t mention using the potion in his notes probably because this man had enough time to reach the wizard level on his own, by which time he could create a plane passageway and escape without a problem.

Huskar believed that he fully explored the island, and then died to his own carelessness.

“Damn. He didn’t say anything about what’s hidden here either.”

Telling from the unused healing potions and scrolls, Huskar died before he could resist.

After putting away the items a little bit anxiously, Angor decided to keep looking around.

He only took all supernatural-related items with him without minding the other daily supplies since he had no need for them. But on second thought, he decided not to leave this stuff out in the open because people from Song of the Deep or Summerdew Ridge would get suspicious. Most wizards knew a spell called “Remove Delirium”, which could be used to tell what happened around an item by using certain traces left behind.

With this in mind, he found an empty one-use space capsule in his bracelet and placed all the random items inside it. And after carefully removing all possible clues he might have left behind, he finally left the area.

He didn’t go to the Ship’s Grave again since anything worth checking on would be mostly destroyed by now. He simply moved along the coast in search of more human traces.

There were many ships around here of different sizes, including large ones capable of holding thousands of passengers. Since he didn’t find as many skeletons, there should be a lot of people who left the ships and went deeper into the island, which meant clues.

He occasionally found junks left along the coast, but no human presence.

Later, he reached the estuary of a small river where he found what seemed to be a campsite. Yet there were still no corpses left around, which meant whoever remained here didn’t stay for very long.

He proceeded along the river next. Human civilizations often placed their settlements near water sources. Supposed that there were settlements around here, following the river was the best way to find them, even though the water in the river didn’t seem drinkable.

While walking on the riverbank, he also kept his attention on a scout avatar he threw in the water. He found a whole box of them in the association’s ship and decided to take them with him. Having an extra pair of eyes always made his search faster.

While the land remained to be mostly empty, some bone pieces underwater told him he had chosen the correct direction.

Finally, he reached the cliff area at one side of a large hill, where several simple wooden cottages were built.

And more bones.

The skeletons scattered around suggested that these people were fleeing from something before they died.

Angor searched their “iron caskets” and personal belongings. As he read what was left behind, he slowly put up a grim look.

Most of the logs and messages were about sentimental complaints typical for someone who lived through despair. But there was one thing in common, which was mentioned by almost everyone.

A black shadow.

It seemed this “black shadow” would periodically come and maim people in an extremely fast and cruel way. The folks claimed that they often felt something hot splashing all over them, before they saw someone nearby torn to pieces.

Knowing that an unknown beast was constantly threatening their lives, many people broke down under the pressure and either committed suicide or became mad and started harming their companions.

Combined with what he found in the Ship’s Grave, Angor had a suspicion that Huskar was also killed by this black shadow thing.

And the battle probably ended pretty fast since Huskar didn’t show any resistance.

Again, after erasing his traces, Angor headed to an artificial cave in the cliff where several skeletons wearing armors were placed. These people were probably guards or someone strong in the group, so they were responsible for digging.

He didn’t find any written message on these corpses, but he was a little surprised to see their armor in almost perfect condition. Unlike the broken skeletons outside the cave, these armored ones didn’t have any obvious damage at all.

Could it be that the “black shadow” could use magical attacks as well?

Inside a pile of broken lumber protected by a wooden fence, he discovered another skeleton as well as a notebook placed nearby.

The texts didn’t seem so different compared to the other books, and the end of the description mentioned the “black shadow” again. Apparently, the owner of the book expressed what he saw while hiding behind the lumber pile.

[He’s there. He killed Taki and Molnar! What should I do?! His clothes! And that horned helmet, that peg leg… that’s the legendary pirate, Vile King Torras. Oh God, I think he saw me…]

That was the end of it.

Angor was glad to know the name of the “Vile King”. It seemed mortals considered the Vile King a “legendary pirate”, but he doubted that the “legendary” here had anything to do with legendary wizards.

The victim was a sailor from about 1,500 years ago, during the Age of Bronze. At that time, the young generation all devoted themselves to nautical affairs.

Also at that time, the name of “Vile King” was already well-known.

Then there was Gablin from The Black Lotus. As a navigator from 300 years ago, Gablin also encountered the “Vile King”.

This meant the Vile King had lived through all these eras. It was likely that he was still alive.

The current question was, why would this Vile King kill so many people, including an apprentice like Huskar. And more importantly…

Where was he now?