Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2032: Chapter 2033: Ferocity and Malice

Is this a mysterious mushroom? Angel pondered in his heart as he extended his spirit tentacle, wanting to probe the emotions this bizarre mushroom might evoke.

However, the moment his spirit tentacle extended, Angel’s expression suddenly changed.

”Why are the emotions around here so... violent?”

Angel not only failed to sense the clear emotions like in the previous mushroom forum, but instead encountered an overwhelming anger, a piercing resentment, and boundless malice.

This malice seemed like a fiery wind blown by the mushroom, permeating the center island of this magma pool.

”This mushroom is a bit off.” Angel muttered to himself. Since entering the Duling Garden, this was the only mushroom from which Angel could distinctly perceive malice.

This malice wasn’t the kind that chills one’s heart subtly. It was direct, unhidden, as if bearing resentment towards everything in the world.

What puzzled Angel was that even the three little ones at his heels, also mysterious mushrooms, expressed an aversion, though in a naive and incomplete manner, towards the island mushroom.

This aversion definitely wasn’t acquired; it was an innate aversion.

If the mushroom on the island is also a mysterious one, why would the young mysterious mushrooms show aversion to it?

Angel couldn’t find an answer to this question now, but based on the situation, he could basically conclude that this mushroom resembling a mysterious one is the source of what the mushroom forum called ”the dirty fellow.”

But now Angel couldn’t decipher what ”dirty” truly referred to. Could it be the human controlled by the mysterious mushrooms?

Angel thought for a moment and decided to take a closer look at the mushroom.

Since Blair had explicitly mentioned earlier that the captured human was controlled by the mysterious mushrooms, and this mushroom closely resembled them, Angel felt there might be some connection.

In the absence of spiritual power probing this mushroom, Angel planned to see it with his own eyes.

But just as Angel made his decision and began to descend from the sky, a sudden incident occurred—

Several orange-red fire element ores on the island unexpectedly exploded, and the surrounding area quickly filled with black smoke with a pungent sulfur smell.

In this thick black smoke, a strong flame energy blast came soaring through the sky!

The target was directly aimed at Angel!

Having anticipated this, Angel’s mind quickly devised a strategy, and he managed to evade the flame blast with just a slight movement, hardly consuming any magic power.

Although he evaded it, Angel remained cautious. This flame blast certainly wasn’t a random occurrence, and given the numerous positions it could have chosen in the sky, it’s clear he was being targeted.

Angel didn’t believe it would be over with just this simple act.

As expected, while Angel’s thoughts were racing, a slender shadow darted through the dense black smoke, swiftly approaching Angel.

Although it was faster than the flame blast, Angel’s current computing power still allowed him to dodge it easily.

But it wasn’t over with just one strike; the shadow circled around in the air and continued to lock onto Angel’s position, launching a series of attacks.

Angel finally got a clear look at the slender shadow, and it resembled an octopus’s tentacle. However, instead of suckers, it was covered with fiery red spots.

Looking at the spots identical to those on the mushroom cap on the island, Angel could almost confirm that this so-called ”tentacle” was formed by mycelium and undoubtedly originated from the island mushroom.

Faced with the fast-moving tentacle, Angel initially managed to dodge with ease using his computing power and the Night Traversal Evade spell. However, the tentacle’s attacks didn’t remain the same; during one ”whip” attack, it added intense heat.

With the release of power, coupled with the dense fire elements above the magma pool, each whip of the tentacle, even if it didn’t hit Angel, could cause a terrifying explosion when it struck the air.

For a while, the air above the island was filled with the sound of fierce ”crackling” explosions.

Initially, the surroundings had some visibility, but now it was entirely covered by the black smoke from the explosions. Mushroom clouds made of black smoke slowly rose into the sky.

During these successive explosions, Angel looked rather disheveled at first because the explosions caught him off guard. Initially, he used basic elemental defense, which was not very effective against the chain explosions. Even a shield of the same fire element could be blown away by the blast’s impact, and Angel’s robe almost caught fire.

However, Angel soon regained his rhythm.

Now, a layer of thin white fog shrouded him, seemingly shapeless and formless smoke. In reality, this white fog was a special defensive armor woven by numerous phantom limbs.

Angel rarely used phantom limbs for defense because their pure defensive effect wasn’t strong. The phantom limb defense spell with the nightmare illusion effect consumed so much at once that even though he could continually replenish nightmare illusion breath, it wasn’t sustainable for long terms.

But now it’s different. This semi-plane was filled with nightmare realm breath almost identical to the Nightmare Realm.

Angel could recklessly consume the Power of Nightmare Illusion. The environment not only replenished the nightmare illusion breath but also stimulated the magic vortex to continuously generate magic power.

In this situation, Angel could exploit the fullest power of the Art of Nightmare Illusion, possibly even beyond his capacity.

The phantom limb-woven defensive armor had several layers. Even if the outer layer got blasted with a breach, it could rapidly replenish due to the ongoing supply of nightmare illusion breath. Thus, Angel wasn’t actually troubled at all.

What he contemplated now was how to handle the current situation.

The effect of attacking the tentacle was minimal because the chain explosions were damaging to Angel, but they also harmed the tentacle. Even if it was immune to some of the fire element’s burning, it still endured the physical impact of the explosion, carrying the brunt.

Yet, the tentacle remained unharmed, showing its own high-level defense, capable of withstanding both energy and physical attacks.

Moreover, the mushroom could continually produce mycelium, so even if he severed this tentacle, a new one might emerge shortly thereafter, making it meaningless.

There were only two ways to address the situation at hand.

Either escape or target the main body—the island mushroom.

Angel hesitated, considering whether to leave. After all, this was Duling Garden, and making a bold move on Nightmare Realm territory wasn’t a prudent choice.

In the end, he decided not to retreat.

Because during his dodges, Angel sensed the mushroom on the island releasing some unique signals.