Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1463: Section 1464: The Trouble With Transformation Chapter 1463: Section 1464: The Trouble With Transformation In the profound darkness, a glimmer of light appeared.

As the glow drew closer, Angel discovered that the light emanated from a six-petaled flower drooping gloomily with a fluorescent halo around its petals, swirling like fireflies.

Putting aside why the flower appeared in the void, why was it moving?

And judging by the distance of the glow, it seemed to be getting closer.

When Angel looked closer with curiosity, he noticed a gigantic shadow beneath the flower.

It was a black-skinned worm at least dozens of meters long, with segmented sections along its body. Propelled by puffs of air from behind, its segments twitched back and forth, speeding the worm forward.

A worm with a flower on its head? This was Angelʼs first time seeing such a thing.

The mournful sounds emanating from the dark void earlier had come from the worm… As Angel curiously inspected the worm, more glows began to appear.

Beneath each glow was a worm, each luminescent and distinct in color, creating a palette like colorful clouds floating in the void. If one ignored the ghastly worms beneath the flowers, it was truly a dreamlike scene.

“What is this?” Angel asked curiously.

Frost: “Worm buses, or rather, worm bus, a kind of Magical Creature that can traverse the void.”

Even though worm buses are creatures of the void, they enjoy eating plants and often stop in various worlds. They are called “bus” because of this attribute; when you are lost in the void, unable to find markers or pathways, following a worm bus will surely lead you to a world suitable for life.

However, just because worm buses like to eat plants does not mean they are herbivores.

The flowers atop their heads are luminous organs similar to those of deep-sea anglerfish and can attract blood-meals in the void. Thus, they are actually omnivorous Magical Creatures and may even consume humans.

Hence, worm buses are not gentle Magical Creatures.

Moreover, worm buses are also quite powerful and are social Magical Creatures. Wizards of lower strength usually have no choice but to flee upon encountering them.

“These more than ten worm buses must have sensed the Fairy Tale World and are preparing to feast,” Frost said. “We are close to the Fairy Tale World. Under these circumstances, as long as you donʼt provoke them, they generally wonʼt go for blood-meals. After all, they need to save some space in their stomachs for their favorite plants.”

Angel naturally would not provoke them, but that did not mean Toby would listen to him.

Toby, burning with anger from not being able to breach Angelʼs defenses, now found a new target for his attention in the worm buses.

Without a thought, Toby flicked his long serpentine tail and transformed into a dark blood-light, speeding towards the group of worm buses.

Angelʼs pupils shrank, and he couldnʼt help but call out Tobyʼs name, but there was no response.

“Heʼs already attacked you, which shows that he has clearly lost his sanity right now. No matter how much you call out, itʼs useless,” Frost said.

Despite that, Angel was still worried about Toby.

He didnʼt know what Tobyʼs current situation was, but facing so many worm buses, could Toby handle them?

While Angel was anxious, Toby had already launched an attack on one of the nearby worm buses.

Angel had been concerned for Tobyʼs safety. However, Toby showed no hesitance in facing the worm buses, his writhing serpentine tail quickly wrapping around one of them.

The intense battle that was expected never happened because it ended too quickly.

After encircling a worm bus, Toby bit directly into the flower on the worm busʼs head. As the light extinguished, so did the life of the worm bus.

After killing one worm bus, Toby casually tossed its corpse into the void and immediately charged toward a second worm bus.

“The luminescent organs on the top of the worm busesʼ heads, although a weak point, shouldnʼt have led to such a swift death,” contemplated Frost with a thoughtful glance. “It seems that your little friend, not only transformed into a Snake Bird but also inherited the Snake Birdʼs virulent poison.”

“And, this poison seems to be quite extraordinary.”

The skin of the worm buses is exceedingly thick, comparable to that of an Official Wizard on the Bloodline side. The only delicate part is the luminous organs on their heads.

Whether by instinct or luck, Toby immediately spotted the worm busesʼ weak point. He injected the poison through the luminous organs on their heads, creating an effect of a one-hit kill.

However, even though Angel had figured out the secret to Toby overcoming the worm busses, he was still somewhat surprised.

It might sound easy, but it was not easy to do in practice.

It required extraordinary speed, the strength to bind the worm busses, and the potency to poison and kill them.

One could not do without any of these three elements.

Not any ordinary Wizard could achieve it. Yet Toby possessed all three, especially the speed boost from the Gravity Meridian, which was beyond imagination.

When Toby had transformed into a Gryphon, Angel had thought he had reached his limit. But unexpectedly, as a Snake Bird, Tobyʼs speed was even more astonishing. Faster than when he was in Gryphon form, that very speed allowed him to strangle the worm busses with his snake tail before they even had a chance to react, delivering a killing blow.

One after another, the worm busses were killed by Toby.

While Angel was shocked by Tobyʼs powerful lethality, he also noticed something: Toby seemed to kill just for the sake of killing, uncaring about the worm busses he had slain. It was as if he was simply indulging in the thrill of taking lives.

“What exactly is going on with Toby?” Angel frowned and looked toward Frost.

Frost quietly watched the Void in the distance, as Toby continued its carnage against the worm busses. The blood-red vertical pupils had no warmth, only coldness and madness.

“If its nature is not like this, it must be the repercussions of choosing to suppress the Extreme Resentment Thoughts,” Frost said indifferently.

“Is there a way to solve it?” Angel asked anxiously.

Instead of answering, Frost posed a question, “Its transformation, doesnʼt it seem closely related to the Tribulation of Five Flavors?”

Angel nodded and related how Toby had once transformed into the “Berserker Gryphon.”

After listening, Frost nodded thoughtfully, “It survived The Fury Tribulation and became the ʼBerserker Gryphonʼ; then this Snake Bird should be called the ʼEnvious Snake Birdʼ.”

“When it became the Berserker Gryphon, it was because it had overcome The Extreme Fury Tribulation, so its thought process wasnʼt affected. But now, it has not conquered The Extreme Resentment Tribulation, and its transformation is closely related to it. When it takes this form, it can touch upon the suppressed Extreme Resentment Thoughts, which is why itʼs so crazed.”

“There are only two ways to calm it down.”

“A permanent solution would be for it to release the Extreme Resentment Thoughts that I have suppressed, confront and triumph over them. Afterwards, it wonʼt act like this when it transforms into the Snake Bird.”

“The second way is to wait until it runs out of energy and reverts from its Snake Bird form. Only then it will return to normal.”

Frostʼs two proposed solutions were not feasible at the moment, so they could only wait for Toby to revert from its Snake Bird state.

“So, the drawback of suppressing the Extreme Resentment Thoughts is a lack of reason while in Snake Bird form? Then when not in that form, might it getter better?” Angel asked.

Frost replied, “When not in Snake Bird form, it should recover its reason. However, the Extreme Resentment Thoughts are only suppressed, not eradicated. Even if its reason returns, its actions might still be influenced to some extent.”

Angel let out a sigh of relief. No matter what, it was good as long as Toby could awaken.

While they talked, there were only a few worm busses left on the other side. Clearly intimidated by Tobyʼs ferocity, they took advantage of the moment Toby was distracted to burrow a black hole into the Void. The remaining worm busses all scurried into it, disappearing to who knows where.

Meanwhile, Toby suddenly came to a halt, black vapor starting to rise from its body.

Its massive form began to shrink with the appearance of the black vapor. In the end, the ten-meter-long giant Snake Bird diminished to the size of a human palm. The dark mist swirling around the side also melted into Toby, vanishing without a trace.

Toby then quietly closed its eyes, continuing to sleep soundly.

Angel approached Tobyʼs side, catching him in the palm of his hand as he was about to plummet into the Void.

Upon touching Angelʼs skin, Toby seemed to sense something, nudging gently against Angelʼs palm, then rolling over and falling back to sleep.

Seeing this, Angelʼs heart, suspended in mid-air, finally settled.

Though Toby was still in a deep sleep, it was evidently different from before. If nothing else went wrong, he should regain his reason when he woke up.

Yet, Angel, thinking about the Extreme Resentment Thoughts suppressed within Toby, felt the weight of a long and challenging journey ahead. Suppression was always a temporary solution, as Frost had said: the longer it was suppressed, the more violent the backlash would be.

He needed to find a way to deal with the suppressed Extreme Resentment Thoughts sooner rather than later.