Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2328: Chapter 2329: Overlooked Mirror

Angel extended his index finger and gently stirred the air, as if tiny specks of starlight were swirling around his fingertip.

On the other side, Frode stared blankly at the glass surface of the window. The glass reflected the starlight swirling around Angel’s fingertip, as if it were a mirror.

By this time, how could Frode not understand Angel’s meaning?

”Are you saying that the glass of these windows can also become a medium for the Mirror Grudge to reside in?!”

”Yes.” Angel nodded.

The so-called Mirror Grudge does not simply dwell within mirrors. Any tangible object that can reflect the real world can be used as a dwelling place. If its ability evolves further, the Mirror Grudge could even use the surface of calm water as a place to reside.

As for the farm owner’s ghost, who hasn’t been dead for long, it shouldn’t be able to reside on water unless there are unusual circumstances. But glass, being a solid material, can indeed serve as its medium for leap transitions and dwelling.

”Almost every room in the factory has glass windows. If even the glass can become its dwelling, doesn’t that mean the entire wood factory is exposed right under its eyes?”

”But... but the Mirror Grudge has never appeared on the glass before, and I haven’t sensed its necromantic energy on the window glass. Moreover, if it could transfer through the glass, it could have killed more people in the previous cases considering its lethal nature.” Frode seemed puzzled. He wasn’t doubting Angel’s judgment but was rather unsure of why the Mirror Grudge had never shown this ability if it could indeed dwell within the glass.

”In terms of logic, any abnormal behavior can be interpreted. Although undead are typically not known for intelligence, any behavior taken to achieve a goal can be considered a form of survival instinct.” Angel said, ”Perhaps consider the Mirror Grudge as a wizard with mirror-passing abilities opposing you because you sheltered Little Sem. In such a scenario, why wouldn’t he reveal his glass-passing capability to you?”

Frode followed Angel’s thought process and imagined himself in this scenario.

”In a battle where information is unknown, understanding the opponent’s psychology is key. If it were me, I certainly wouldn’t want the opponent to know my trump card, and hiding it is mainly to... feign weakness to lure the enemy.”

Angel: ”Why feign weakness to lure the enemy?”

”Feigning weakness is naturally to make the opponent overlook this trait, to achieve a decisive blow...” As Frode said this, he seemed to realize something.

The farm owner’s ghost didn’t come to kill Frode, nor the knights and wizards of the Silver Heron royal family. His target is Little Sem!

It only dwells in mirrors and not on transparent glass surfaces to create the illusion that it can’t traverse glass, lulling the opponent into complacency.

Once they’ve indeed overlooked this feature of glass, it could use the opportunity to achieve its goal of killing Little Sem!

But now the question arises, how does it plan to reach the hillside and kill Little Sem by feigning weakness?

While they did neglect the glass-passing ability, the Mirror Grudge requires close proximity for spatial leap transition across mirrors or glass. From here at the foot of the mountain to halfway up is still far, and the Mirror Grudge can’t leap directly up there.

Unless, there are other glass surfaces along the way up the mountain it can use as stepping stones.

Nonetheless, Frode clearly knew that the distance from the foot to the hillside was devoid of anything but plants and some wild animals.

Could it be that he overlooked some detail?

As Frode pondered, his gaze inadvertently fell outside the window. From there, he could only see the pitch-black forest and the vague outlines of mountain ridges further away.

From the distant mountains, Frode vaguely saw a few points of moving firelight.

Frode knew those lights came from the torches held by the knights patrolling the mountain, assigned by Neya to diligently search for the farm owner’s ghost... Wait, knights?

Could the knights be carrying glass surfaces?

A sudden insight flashed in Frode’s mind.

Knights typically don’t carry mirrors or glass, but Frode remembered Angel saying that ’any tangible object capable of reflecting the real world can be used as a medium,’ and indeed the knights did have such reflective material... their armor.

”Master, can shiny reflective armor serve as a dwelling place for the Mirror Grudge?” Frode hurriedly asked.

The armor of the Royal Knights, aside from a few alloy armors, was mostly silver armor, polished to a mirror-like finish.

”It can.” Angel nodded.

Hearing this, Frode’s heart sank: ”Oh no!”

If the Mirror Grudge could indeed leap through polished armor, then it could make multiple leaps via different knights and ultimately transfer to Star Lake Castle mid-hill. Because, right now, the mountains are swarming with knights on patrol!

”I haven’t sensed the necromantic energy of the farm owner’s ghost today and found nothing nearby. I suspect it has already gone up the mountain!” Frode glanced out the window. Star Lake Castle at the hillside was ablaze with light, yet within Frode’s eyes, it was inexplicably shrouded in an ominous shadow.

Angel, having just arrived and not yet familiar with the situation, grew alert as Frode spoke.

Without hesitation, Angel immediately activated The Gate of Void on the Witchcraft Slot, targeting mid-hill!

In the next second, Angel and Frode appeared outside Star Lake Castle.

When Frode exited The Gate of Void, the sight made him exhale slightly in relief as Drue was directing nearby knights at the castle gate. Some royal wizards were also patrolling in the air.

With these people here, the Mirror Grudge shouldn’t dare to intrude into Star Lake Castle at this moment.

However, as Frode turned his head to look at Angel, he suddenly sensed something was off. Angel was staring intently at the third floor of the castle, his brows distinctly furrowed.

The third floor was precisely the floor where Little Sem was currently residing!

”Master, is something wrong?” As Frode inquired, Drue noticed their arrival from afar and quickly approached.

Angel did not respond but gently exerted strength with his feet, leaping into mid-air.

Frode, too, manipulated his Soul Force, following suit.

”Look.” Angel pointed to the window of a room on the third floor.

Frode followed his gaze. The direction Angel pointed was exactly Little Sem’s room.

The window was ajar, leaving a slight gap. Yet from outside looking in, it was entirely pitch dark.

Apart from the darkness, Frode didn’t sense anything else unusual... but the darkness itself was wrong.

Even at night, even if there were no lights in the room, it shouldn’t be this utterly dark. It was as if something were devouring the surrounding light.

As Frode assessed the situation, Drue flew up on a broomstick and hovered in mid-air. He respectfully saluted Angel from a distance and then looked at the third-floor room.

Drue didn’t rely solely on his naked eyes but instinctively extended his Spirit Tentacle towards the room as he observed.

As the Spirit Tentacle entered through the window, Drue exclaimed, ”Such heavy necromantic energy, damn, it’s that undead!”

Due to Angel’s presence, the surrounding wizard apprentices were observing quietly. Therefore, Drue’s exclamation quickly stirred a commotion.

When all the apprentices focused on the third-floor window, each felt something was wrong.

They patrolled outside the castle daily to guard against that undead, yet they never imagined it would infiltrate the castle so silently.

Most importantly, this incident occurred right under Angel’s watch!

The reason they were willing to come here and guard a small child was to please Angel on behalf of Lady Neya. Now, it was Angel who first discovered the anomaly.

Their faces instantly lost color.

After the embarrassment and anger came fury toward that undead spirit. Even though they knew dealing with the undead wasn’t easy, at this moment, they all wanted to rush into the room to teach that cunning spirit a lesson.

With one wave following another, six Wizard Apprentices already entered the room.

However, what made Frode uneasy was that after they rushed into little Sam’s room, there was no more sign of them, as if they had merged with the darkness.

Frode wasn’t too worried about these Wizard Apprentices; after all, they’ve been in the Wizards’ Realm for years. Even if faced with a Special Undead, they wouldn’t surrender so quickly. He was more worried about little Sam. Frode turned and looked at Angel: ”Master, what about little Sam’s condition...?”

Angel: ”He’s a bit injured, but for now, he’s okay.”

With Angel’s confirmation, Frode breathed a slight sigh of relief. He wasn’t surprised that Angel could see the situation inside the room.

Just then, Drue, who hadn’t entered the room, respectfully approached, intending to say something.

But before Drue could speak, Angel directly said: ”No need to worry about those Wizards who went inside; it’s merely an illusion constructed with necromantic energy. They’re just temporarily trapped.”

Following Angel’s words, Frode said: ”Soul Blind? The ghost of the farm owner has even mastered Soul Blind?”

Angel shook his head: ”It’s not a Soul Blind, but a special illusion, seemingly created using mirrors as a medium, with a hint of spatial structure... very intriguing.”

This illusion, although lacking an Illusion Node, results in a very interesting image and utilizes a bit of Spatial Energy. If enhanced by stable Illusion Nodes, its ability to trap people could increase by several levels instantly.

This gave Angel a great inspiration, and that’s why he didn’t immediately destroy the illusion.

As Angel observed the Necromantic Mirror Image, little Sam was also engaged in a battle of wits with two of the farm owner’s ghosts.

—Necromantic Mirror Image, this was the name Angel chose for the illusion in the room.

...

Even though little Sam had exceptional reflexes, it was still very difficult to completely avoid the farm owner’s ghost’s attacks, especially with fractured ribs and an injured arm.

Bang—

Just as little Sam managed to get up, a tremendous force kicked him in the abdomen, sending his whole body in a projectile arc towards a corner of the room.

A loud bang echoed along with the sound of furniture shattering.

With this fall, little Sam felt as if his entire skeleton had fallen apart, his vision turned blood-red. Blood gushed from his wounded forehead, obscuring his eyes.

In the hazy red mist, little Sam heard footsteps.

He strained to lift his head, his vision obscured by blood, seeing only the farm owner’s ghost’s bizarre and lunatic face behind the bloody veil.

Was he going to die... killed him back then, and now repaying it in kind...?

Not willing... obviously, he wanted to kill me first back then...

Images flash across little Sam’s mind, all of which are past memories. The illustrious birth, the tragic and desolate growth, barely seeing the light after meeting Angel, now seemingly about to fall into darkness again.

He truly was unwilling.

But no matter how unwilling, now there’s nothing he can do, for he was in too much pain to move, and facing the farm owner’s ghost, he had no hope of escape.

Just as little Sam was about to embrace despair, he suddenly heard an unusual sound.

”Hey, why is there a door here? Aio, Bitter Eye, are you behind the door?”

”What is this situation, that illusion created by the undead spirit?”

Little Sam’s eyes lit up, unaware of who was speaking outside, but his heart, filled with despair, found a glimmer of hope.

The fact that the person knew of ”Soul Blind” indicated their exposure to Transcendent knowledge, perhaps a Wizard cultivated by the Silver Heron royal family!

Little Sam wanted to shout loudly to attract the person’s attention, but he presently didn’t have the strength even to speak.

He strained against the impending darkness threatening his consciousness, attempting to regain control of his body, even just to make a sound.

But his limbs felt as if filled with lead, hard to move.

Was he truly doomed to catastrophe?

Just as little Sam was falling back into despair, he heard footsteps, someone was approaching! Walking straight towards where he was!

”Whew—” The farm owner’s ghost, who had been focused on little Sam, was also drawn by the footsteps.

He glanced at little Sam, then turned to look behind.

Killing little Sam was his purpose, but in his muddled thoughts, simply killing little Sam brought no satisfaction, it was torture that he desired.

Someone interrupting his torture—unforgivable!

As little Sam finally regained feeling in his limbs and wiped the blood blocking his eyes, he saw the figures of the two ghost farm owners walking away...

Was he saved?

No.

Little Sam wasn’t so optimistic.

The farm owner ghosts were evidently intending to deal with the other individual first and hadn’t let him go.

All he could do now was take this opportunity to escape.

With all his remaining strength, little Sam endured the excruciating pain, waveringly standing up.

Currently, he couldn’t spare any thought for the person pursued by the farm owner’s ghost, only praying that they would be okay.

Standing in the corridor center, he surveyed around; ahead was his room, behind too, looking like a mirror-copy.

Which way should he go to escape safely?

After deliberating, little Sam eventually hobbled to the initial room he’d been in, wanting to see outside the window.

This was the third floor; jumping from here shouldn’t have a high mortality rate. Moreover, he remembered that by the side of the downstairs window on the second floor, there was a drainage pipe. If he could grab that, even if injured, it shouldn’t be too severe.

With these thoughts in mind, little Sam reached the window, pushing it open.

Then, he froze.

Outside the window wasn’t what he expected, but bizarrely showed another room, its furnishings mirroring the current room...