Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2336: Chapter 2337: Tower of Black Mist

Endless pursuit of power, unscrupulous in the pursuit of growth.

It must be said, Angel already saw a sliver of Mandhela’s shadow in this Mirror Grudge from the Black Castle. The only pity is, he doesn’t have Mandhela’s luck.

Mandhela was hit by the White Light Bullet of the Samsara Overture, allowing it to regain a sliver of sanity from the chaos. Even if this sanity is crazy and bloodthirsty, for an undead like Mandhela, it is still a qualitative improvement.

If one simply relies on a blind pursuit of power without corresponding wisdom, even utilizing one’s own power becomes chaotic and without order. This is the gap between the Mirror Grudge and Mandhela.

However, that the Mirror Grudge could reach this step is already quite surprising to Angel.

Looking at the enormous Special Undead like a small mountain, if it were anyone else, even an Official Wizard, they would find it quite tricky to deal with. But unfortunately, the Mirror Grudge encountered Angel.

In the distance.

The Mirror Grudge bent down, plunging its hands directly into the underground altar.

A large amount of dark mist diffused, like a wall of black mist, directly surrounding the altar. The black mist piled higher and higher, as if a towering black mist pillar was built on flat ground.

Swish——

From the tower constructed by the black mist, the Mirror Grudge thrust out its huge and terrifying head, surrounded by thread-like black gas, opening its enormous mouth and inhaling violently in Angel’s direction.

The intense suction instantly inverted the ink-black lake water, pulling it like waves into the gigantic mouth.

Angel, along with the rushing lake water, surged toward the giant mouth of the Mirror Grudge, but upon careful observation, one could find that the Purifying Field around Angel remained unperturbed, with no moisture capable of invading the field.

Just as he was about to be engulfed by the black mist pillar, Angel slowly raised his finger.

A grand energy transformed into a ray of light, shooting out from his fingertip, straight into the giant mouth of the Mirror Grudge.

When the light entered the Mirror Grudge’s mouth, the suction continued as if nothing changed, and Angel continued to be pushed towards the giant mouth with the waves.

But just as Angel’s body was about to be engulfed by the mouth, the suction suddenly disappeared.

The surrounding lake water, under the pull of gravity, began to pour down chaotically.

Meanwhile, the Mirror Grudge’s enormous head started emitting beams from the inside, as if countless rays of light were piercing its head.

Two seconds later, the beams burst out, and after a few seconds of stiffness, the Mirror Grudge’s head shattered into wisps of black smoke.

This black smoke was sucked into the black mist pillar behind it, and in no time, another Mirror Grudge head emerged from the black mist, identical in size and sinister visage to before, as if the shattering just now was merely an illusion.

Angel was not surprised by this, and simply murmured: ”Is this your newly acquired power?”

”A head simulated by Death Gas, is this a type of Death Gas Materialization?” Angel glanced at the damp traces left by the lake water around him: ”The degree of interference with the Material Realm is quite significant.”

Previously, the abilities displayed by the Mirror Grudge only included the mirror space, and the mirror space is considered a special ability under the soul interference category of Soul Tricks.

Besides that, the Mirror Grudge’s attacks were all instinctive energy creations, but this time, using a large amount of death gas to simulate a head and interfering with reality with suction, this was clearly not ”Soul Interference”, but rather ”Death Gas Materialization”.

Shanni is currently preparing to learn Death Gas Materialization, but has yet to succeed. Yet the Mirror Grudge, within a few minutes by devouring, acquired this new ability.

Moreover, the objects materialized through Death Gas Materialization are usually small, such as hair, broken bones, blood pools, etc. Being able to materialize such a massive head upon learning it suggests it might also belong to a special Soul Trick, just like the mirror space, exclusive to Special Undead.

It’s just a pity that this Death Gas Materialization ability, which the Mirror Grudge just acquired, is being controlled at a very low level.

Creating a gigantic head, but merely using suction to interfere with reality, the threat level to Angel is virtually zero.

Plus, if it can simulate a head, then surely it can simulate simpler limbs, or other entities like weapons, earth spikes, or even more destructive existences.

Wouldn’t fighting with enormous limbs be better than a mere intimidating head? You’re not a flying head monster, at least a flying head monster can smash people, and its eyes can create illusions. But the Mirror Grudge’s head currently only has suction, which indeed holds limited lethality.

While silently analyzing and mocking in his heart, the Mirror Grudge once more launched an attack on Angel with its head.

This time, however, Angel was closer to the black mist pillar, and the Mirror Grudge did not use suction but instead directly opened its mouth to bite at him.

Angel lightly dodged, avoiding the attack, and continued to use the most basic energy beams for bombardment.

Each energy beam could annihilate one of the Mirror Grudge’s heads.

After continuously eliminating four or five heads, the Mirror Grudge finally changed its strategy, creating several tentacles while attacking with its head, constantly interfering with Angel’s movement.

”Not bad, battle intelligence is improving, but still not enough.” Angel praised lightly, continuing to eliminate the various materializations produced by the Mirror Grudge.

Angel could have struck directly at the core, but he had no intention of eliminating the Mirror Grudge. Entering the mirror space was mainly for observation, and to exploit the limits of the Mirror Grudge’s abilities, to expose more of the underlying logic of the mirror space.

Therefore, Angel’s actions now were more about maneuvering and provoking the Mirror Grudge, letting it continuously deepen its battle intelligence, which aids in revealing more profound rules of the mirror space.

Of course, playing with fire can easily lead to self-destruction. The Mirror Grudge’s capabilities have actually been stimulated to a terrifying extent, and even Official Wizards would struggle. Angel dared to continue playing with fire purely because he is confident—Samsara Overture.

No one else would dare to do this.

After engaging the Mirror Grudge for several more minutes, Angel noticed that apart from continuously increasing the number of death gas materializations, the Mirror Grudge made no other moves.

This left him a bit disappointed, as he initially wanted to see to what extent the newly acquired death gas materializations of the Mirror Grudge could reach, but now it seems that’s all it has.

Further development probably requires more time.

However, Angel himself isn’t particularly interested in Death Gas Materialization, his focus is still on the mirror space.

”No need to continue anymore.” After eliminating several dancing tentacles, Angel decided to end the battle.

The Night Soaring under Angel’s feet flashed with a golden streak of light, propelling him directly into the air.

Gazing down at the layers of death-black mist below, Angel took the Samsara Overture from his bracelet.

The muzzle aimed at the black mist pillar below.

The Mirror Grudge hidden within the black mist shuddered as if sensing a predator. It lifted its head to look at the sky, continuing its shrill cries, yet now those cries bore a hint of meekness.

If there were other Wizards here, they might be shocked by the situation before them. It must be known that the undead have no reason; they only kill, and even when faced with entities countless times stronger, they charge without hesitation. Yet now, merely seeing Angel’s gun aimed, it elicited such a rare response from the Mirror Grudge.

The reason why the Mirror Grudge had such a strong reaction to the Samsara Overture was that it had experienced the terror of the overture.

Every shot of the Samsara Overture, even if not directly affecting the Mirror Grudge, its indiscriminate destruction was clearly registered in its perception.

Angel himself didn’t intend to kill the Mirror Grudge; taking out the Samsara Overture was merely to expel and weaken the Mirror Grudge.

With such occurrences, even the mindless Mirror Grudge was eventually conditioned by the Samsara Overture.

Angel once again took out the Samsara Overture, naturally preparing to end today’s exploration of the mirror space.

No matter how the Mirror Grudge screamed and retreated, Angel still fired the gun.

Boom—

As the gunshot echoed, invisible waves began to diffuse below.

Every bit of the death gas that touched the waves retreated, causing the towering black mist from the sacrificial altar to directly collapse.

The Mirror Grudge, hiding in the black mist, was exposed.

Facing the waves created by the Samsara Overture, the Mirror Grudge didn’t even have time to absorb the collapsing black mist; it could only glare resentfully at Angel in the sky before retreating.

All Angel did was leisurely follow the Mirror Grudge, continuously releasing the waves of the Samsara Overture.

When the waves spread across the entire mirror space, the Mirror Grudge had no retreat and could only angrily return to the Earth Cavern in reality.

Back in reality, the Mirror Grudge’s power drastically decreased, and even with its ability of Death Gas Materialization, under its clumsy control, it stood no chance against Angel.

Having easily secured the Mirror Grudge back into the Soul Collection Bottle, Angel dusted off his practically spotless lapels and turned to the other side.

Frode was in the cavern too, to protect Shanni, and at this moment, he gazed at the Soul Collection Bottle with a look of astonishment.

Was the giant that just escaped the mirror the Mirror Grudge?!

What happened in the mirror space? Why did the Mirror Grudge change so dramatically?

Moreover, the aura the Mirror Grudge emitted upon appearing, even Frode felt a chilling dread. Previously, Frode had always overpowered the Mirror Grudge with ease, but after today, perhaps the roles might reverse.

”Sir, was that the Mirror Grudge just now? How, how...”

Angel: ”A minor accident occurred.”

After securing the Soul Collection Bottle, Angel sat across from Frode and recounted the events in the mirror space.

”...That’s how it is, although there was a twist, the final gain was still pretty good.” Angel was quite pleased with today’s exploration.

Whether it was the new rules of the mirror space or discovering the Otherworldly life form from the farmer’s altar, these were unexpected gains.

Additionally, after its evolution, the Mirror Grudge now possessed two special abilities, which would greatly benefit Tullas’s future fusion.

Frode listened, utterly flabbergasted, to the entire process; he never imagined Angel would have a battle with the deities of the Otherworld in the mirror space, let alone that the Mirror Grudge would devour those deities!

The entire process was simply astonishing.

After a long while, Frode calmed down: ”I never thought the local nobles of the Silver Birch Republic would really dare to worship the Otherworldly Evil God.”

Angel: ”Speaking of that Otherworldly life form, do you know its identity?”

Angel conjured an Illusion Node and presented the giant eye he had previously seen through an illusion, even showcasing the peculiar frequency he sensed at the time to fully recreate it.

”This frequency might be their world’s language, but it’s a pity it can’t be decoded; have you heard of it?”

Frode carefully scrutinized the giant eye illusion and sensed the frequency within, finally shaking his head: ”It doesn’t ring a bell, though I’ve studied Lofte World’s Evil Gods before, this one seems different, and its personality is unlike any Evil Gods from Lofte World, which basically rules out Lofte World.”

Lofte World has a kind of Evil God that all pan-dimensional races find troublesome and intimidating. Their power is unfathomable, and their influence is boundless; merely knowing their name, even if it’s just a codename, might attract their attention.

For this reason, they are more widely worshiped than even the Abyssal Demon Gods.

Back then, Brufen intended to resurrect one of Lofte’s Evil Gods in the Abyss, and merely leaked a whiff of its aura, nearly leading to total annihilation. One can see how terrifying the power of Lofte World’s Evil Gods is.

Precisely because their power is overwhelmingly strong and terrifying, in the Wizards’ Realm, they frequently rank among the top three in Otherworld worship inspections.

They don’t rank first because Lofte World’s Evil Gods, unlike Abyssal Demon Gods, don’t have the desire to invade; they have no intention of penetrating other worlds, not even intentionally spreading their names. The widespread worship is purely the self-indulgence of their followers.

In other words, even being slightly ”Buddhist-like,” that they can rank in the top three proves their inherently frightening nature.

”Abyssal Demon Gods can be ruled out as well.” Angel added.

”If not Lofte World’s Evil Gods nor Abyssal Demon Gods, could it be... the Wild Gods worshiped by Otherworld Barbarians.” Frode speculated: ”Dawn Town is a port town, frequently visited by foreign ships, perhaps a ship from the Feran Continent has brought their primitive rituals.”

On the Feran Continent, there are many primitive tribes that worship and offer sacrifices to Outer Gods, mostly gods of Otherworld barbarians.

”It’s indeed possible.” Angel: ”But to confirm, I will inquire in the Wilderness of Dreams later.”

The deities of Otherworld Barbarians aren’t rare. If the giant eye is indeed a Wild God, asking other Wizards might yield answers... Coincidentally, he’s meeting Nis later and can inquire in passing.

The topic temporarily concluded, Frode said: ”While you were in the mirror space earlier, Drue sent me a piece of intelligence.”

”Intelligence? Related to the Earth Cavern clues?”

Frode nodded, taking out a black-sealed letter from his pocket and handed it over.