Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1976: Chapter 1977: Bone Guard

Angel gazed at the dense fog constructed from the Nightmare Realm’s aura. As he stared deeper, he seemed to see a towering stone tower, a dim wasteland city, a castle covered in rose vines...and other bizarre scenes.

These were all sights from the Nightmare Realm.

Illusions beamed into reality—a sign of the extremely dense Nightmare Realm’s aura.

Tree Spirit: ”Let’s go down; they’re all waiting for you on the island. Oh, and remember to follow me closely and avoid the fog. Although Rhein frequently clears it, there are always some live wires and parasites lurking inside.”

Even though Angel didn’t feel any threat from the fog and even found it slightly comforting, he still nodded in agreement with Tree Spirit’s words.

As Tree Spirit and Angel flew towards the island, they inevitably passed by the edge of the fog.

At such close proximity, Angel perceived the vast aura within the fog more clearly. Sensing this aura that could almost immerse a person, Angel couldn’t help but murmur, ”With such a dense Nightmare Realm aura, it seems the semi-channel inside this ruin might already be complete.”

Avoiding the fog, Tree Spirit and Angel quickly landed on the island.

Treading on the pebble beach, Tree Spirit looked up at the dense fog obscuring the night sky, with a puzzled gaze: ”Why does it feel like the fog became more active when we descended? It’s not usually like this during the day. Could it be that live wires erupted again in a short time?”

Tree Spirit was somewhat perplexed but decided to await further investigation at the ruins. Even if live wires had erupted, with Sanders present, it could be kept under control.

While Tree Spirit looked up at the fog, Angel was surveying the island’s surroundings.

From above, their view was obscured by the fog, but upon landing, they realized that this wasn’t exactly an island—more of a peninsula. To the north of the island was a small tail connecting to a vast wasteland.

The island itself wasn’t large; there were no trees and scarcely any plants. The entire island was composed of small piles of pebbles, visible at a glance.

While there was no visible trace of the ruins to the naked eye, within the view of spiritual power, Angel could clearly sense an illusion barrier deliberately set up in the center of the pebble beach.

The illusion barrier was perfectly integrated with its surroundings, making it hard to detect. However, the fluctuations of the Illusion Node were evident to Angel.

Traces of the Nightmare Realm aura emanated from the top of the illusion barrier, already revealing its identity.

The illusion barrier likely concealed the mysterious ruins behind it.

As Angel observed the illusion barrier, the ground nearby suddenly began to stir. With a rattling sound, a skeletal hand reached out from the earth.

Soon, a pit appeared in the pebble ground, and a skeleton, emanating an aura of death and holding a staff, stood before them.

Without any unnecessary words, the skeleton casually waved the staff, sending a beam of black light shooting towards Angel. Eventually, it exploded into a small pit two meters in front of Angel.

The skeleton’s dark eye sockets remained fixed on Angel. A genuine attack wouldn’t have missed, indicating it wasn’t meant to attack Angel but was merely a warning.

”This is a restricted area; do not proceed further,” a ghostly voice whispered into Angel’s ear.

Angel wasn’t sure what was going on with this skeleton; it seemed to be arranged by the Barbarian Cave? He turned to look at Tree Spirit, seeking confirmation.

However, Tree Spirit was only pinching the bridge of his nose, murmuring with a frown, ”Seems like Duncan is slacking off again...”

After speaking, Tree Spirit explained to Angel, ”This skeleton is a Bone Guard summoned by Duncan. Duncan took on the guard duty and has been staying near the ruins for some time, but he set up a research facility near the ruins and is always slacking off, merely allowing the Bone Guard to ward off visitors. The Bone Guard follows orders but doesn’t recognize people, even Rhein would be blocked.”

After finishing, Tree Spirit gently raised his hand, and a green vine emerged from the ground, tightly binding the Bone Guard.

”Don’t mind it; let’s proceed,” Tree Spirit said, walking ahead. As they passed the Bone Guard, he playfully pulled another vine, taking away the staff from the Bone Guard to play with.

Walking beside Tree Spirit, Angel glanced at the staff, ”This Staff of Necromancy is crafted with the bones of the departed and a Soul Soothing Stone as the main materials. The Bone Guard’s ability to release death aura attacks is due to this staff. The quality seems fine, and the maker’s skill isn’t low.”

Angel offered his professional assessment, then inquired, ”Why did you take its staff, Tree Spirit?”

Tree Spirit chuckled, ”While you might just find this staff interesting, to Duncan, it’s his precious treasure. If he dares to slack off, let him face the cost of such laziness.”

Angel: ”...” Isn’t that a bit childish?

While toying with the staff, Tree Spirit asked Angel, ”By the way, earlier when we were descending, I heard you mumbling something about the channel being complete. What did you mean?”

Angel pondered for a moment, ”Although I haven’t seen the dome, the aura here is so thick that it’s practically turning illusion into reality. I estimate there’s a semi-channel leading to the Nightmare Realm inside the ruins.”

In other words, the interior of the ruins might have already turned into an Interlayer Space. In a sense, it could also be considered beneath the dome.

For regular wizards, the danger level within the ruins would be comparable to any dome within the Eternal Night Country.

Tree Spirit didn’t know much about semi-channels, but he understood Angel’s explanation, ”You’re saying there’s a passage connecting to the Nightmare Realm inside?”

”You could say so.”

”If that’s the case, then what Tuvalule described—seeing Nightmare Realm creatures carrying spatial magic materials into the ruins—could it be to open such a semi-channel?” Tree Spirit immediately recalled the prophecy Maya reported to them not long ago.

Angel thought for a moment, ”It’s hard to say, as the opening of a semi-channel isn’t such a...”

As Angel was about to express his thoughts, an undulating ripple appeared suddenly on the illusion barrier ahead, and a dark figure emerged hastily from the wave.

”Who’s taken my staff?”

A husky voice echoed across the small island.

After bellowing in anger, his eyes scanned the surroundings, finally settling on the two approaching the illusion barrier.

Upon seeing the Bone Guard’s staff being toyed with by a nearly bare young man, his previously aggressive stance immediately dissolved.

”Oh, it’s Lord Tree Spirit...”