Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3052: Chapter 3053: The Unexpected Arrival

Jon had a bright idea, but reality often disappoints.

Just as Jon pretended to chase the Witch Sharon ferociously, the Space Gate in the center of the arena suddenly began to gush a massive amount of spatial energy.

Previously, there was some flow of spatial energy, but never at such a scale!

The anomaly at the Space Gate immediately caught the attention of everyone present.

Everyone’s expressions and actions varied at this moment.

The Witch Sharon was overjoyed and dashed towards the Space Gate at lightning speed.

Angel and Jon exchanged a glance, both showing a hint of caution in their eyes.

Although Angel didn’t speak, he transmitted the information through the green-patterned text in Jon’s vision.

”Spatial energy anomaly detected, preliminary confirmation that someone is rapidly traversing the space-time distance and is about to arrive here.”

”If nothing unexpected happens, it should be her companion arriving.”

Even without Angel’s explanation, Jon could deduce the answer. The anomalous change in the Space Gate could either be bad or good. If it were bad, it would surely be Angel’s doing, but seeing Angel’s cautious expression, it was clear he hadn’t tampered with anything; and looking back at the Witch Sharon, her overwhelming joy was uncontrollable.

The answer was clear.

For the Witch Sharon, this change was good news, surely indicating the imminent arrival of her companion.

With this in mind, Jon felt a creeping sense of doom; he could still pose a threat to the Witch Sharon now, but if help arrived, the outcome would be different.

Of course, Jon’s greatest worry wasn’t being counter-attacked by the newcomer, but seeing Angel’s search progress on the green-patterned light screen was still far from complete. The data extraction of the proxy object had just reached 97%, and the position search of the proxy object was only at 50%.

This seemed like their search might soon reach its endpoint.

No, not necessarily...actually, there’s one more way. If Angel could destroy the Space Gate before the Witch Sharon’s companion arrived, perhaps they could delay it a while longer.

Angel had been lingering around the Space Gate earlier; it was possible he was preparing to destroy it?

Jon looked towards Angel with hopeful eyes.

Angel seemed to grasp Jon’s intent and conveyed a message through the green-patterned light screen.

”The Space Gate is a fixed-trigger Teleportation Array and is difficult to destroy. Even if it were truly destroyed, it wouldn’t be of much use and might even alert the others.”

Jon wasn’t foolish; upon seeing this message, he immediately understood Angel’s meaning.

”Difficult to destroy” might just be an excuse from Angel. With Angel’s expertise, he managed to break space seals, how could he possibly be unable to destroy this teleportation door?

Angel had reasons for not destroying it.

Firstly, this teleportation door is used for ultra-short distance transfers, even if Sharon’s companion doesn’t use it, they could quickly arrive... After all, they’re already in Bilun Tree Court, and with wizard capabilities, even a casual stroll from one end to Paradise Land wouldn’t take much time. So, whether or not they destroy the teleportation door, it wouldn’t earn them much time.

Also, if they successfully destroyed the teleportation door, they might alert the others. The ”snake” startled here included not just the Witch Sharon, but also her companion.

The Witch Sharon was willing to stay in the arena and confront Jon because the teleportation door was still operating, and she wanted to wait here for her companion’s arrival. If the teleportation door was destroyed, she could use space jump to flee at any moment.

And her companion, upon sensing that the teleportation array was destroyed, would suspect something had gone wrong with Sharon and hasten their arrival.

Looking at it that way, not destroying the teleportation door, is indeed the best choice.

Even understanding Angel’s meaning, now that the Space Gate has shown changes and her companion is about to arrive, should they just let it go like this?

This time, Angel might not have guessed Jon’s thoughts and didn’t provide a response via the green-patterned screen.

But shortly thereafter, the sudden change in the scene provided Jon with an answer—

As the Witch Sharon charged towards the Space Gate, the mist in front of her suddenly began to rise.

Soon, the Witch Sharon found the front turned into a white haze; the Space Gate she had created seemed hidden by clouds, revealing none of its form.

The Witch Sharon tried moving forward, clearly heading towards the place with the strongest space fluctuation, yet no matter how she moved, she couldn’t see the Space Gate.

The Witch Sharon’s peculiar actions were immediately noticed by Jon.

However, unlike the Witch Sharon, Jon’s perspective allowed him to see the truth behind the mist, thanks to Angel’s screen.

The entire arena was actually surrounded by green patterns. However, these patterns weren’t active but merely created a thin mist, obscuring the view inside and outside the arena, then fell into a dormant state.

Even when he and the Witch Sharon were chasing each other, even when the Witch Sharon touched those green patterns, nothing happened; but now, as the Witch Sharon neared the Space Gate, the green patterns became active, and resonated with surrounding illusion nodes, triggering the thin mist to transform into dense fog, spreading all around.

Within the dense fog, the Witch Sharon seemed disoriented, moving in small circles.

Seeing this, Jon immediately knew Angel’s illusion had taken effect.

Activated this late rather than earlier, specifically at this moment, there’s no doubt Angel aimed at not only the Witch Sharon, but also her companion!

Previously, Jon was wondering if Angel had a backup plan; now it’s clear that not only did he have one, but it was also highly effective.

Even a wizard like the Witch Sharon lost her sense of direction within the illusion, showing Angel’s illusion this time wasn’t a mere child’s play.

Another evidence is the search progress.

After the Space Gate was activated, Jon stopped pursuing the Witch Sharon, logically, the search progress should gradually stall.

But the reality was quite opposite. Whether data extraction of the proxy object or position searching, the numbers were soaring rapidly. Within a mere five seconds, the former had reached 100% and the latter broke through to 60%.

This meant... Angel had finally acted after a whole day of silence.

However, Angel didn’t confront the Witch Sharon directly but relied on the illusionary realm’s spread and intrusion to frantically extract data exposed by the Witch Sharon.

This efficiency was definitely faster than Jon chasing the Witch Sharon.

However, Angel dared to use it only at this time. If used earlier, and the Witch Sharon discovered Angel’s action, she would likely have escaped through space sorcery. But now, aware of her companion’s imminent arrival, she would try her best to disrupt the illusion rather than leaving.

This granted Angel the opportunity.

Indeed, the Witch Sharon had noticed now that Angel, alongside Jon, had made a move.

If it were earlier, with Angel and Jon attacking together, she definitely wouldn’t have stayed on the arena. But now, Aex and Stop are about to descend, she would never leave at such a time.

Furthermore, it’s just an illusion technique... not yet to the point of threatening her life.

Even so, the Witch Sharon felt quite shocked and confused.

Is that wizard named ”Jon” also like Jon, a dual-series wizard? Skilled in both space series and illusion series?

The reason for such doubts is truly because this illusion has surpassed Sharon Witch’s imagination.

She has not been through illusions without experience; indeed, her mentor once threw her into a wild god’s illusion for decades while researching said wild god.

Even the wild god’s illusion that held her captive for decades relied on various details, techniques, and methods to make her perception of the true and false worlds skewed, rendering her immobile.

Yet now, Angel has trapped her with the most rudimentary mist illusion, without any other details, not even willing to construct a realistic illusionary realm.

This leaves her very puzzled.

With such a simplistic illusion, with her resistance to illusion techniques, it should have been easily broken; why is she still trapped?

Unless Angel’s illusion technique has become so powerful that it exceeds limitations... just like Dox’s bloodline art.

This is why she considered Angel as a dual-path wizard.

However, the more Sharon Witch thinks, the more bizarre it seems.

Though dual-path or multi-path wizards are rare, they do exist. Generally, dual-path wizards choose to specialize in one path and only learn another after becoming an official wizard.

To advance simultaneously, this is usually only perfectly accomplished by second-level or third-level true knowledge wizards.

Only by reaching such levels can they have sufficient lifespan and time to study other paths.

Yet now, both Angel and Dox are advancing simultaneously in two paths, leaving Sharon Witch baffled.

Could it be that both have forsaken the pursuit of true knowledge early to waste time on different paths?

If a wandering wizard without mentorship did this, it’s remotely possible; but prophecy, space, and illusion paths, these rare disciplines, are nearly impossible to progress without mentorship.

Seeing Angel’s and Dox’s prowess in these paths, it’s undoubtedly top-notch, definitely with mentorship.

So, under mentorship, why engage in such unprofitable simultaneous progression early on?

Sharon Witch struggles to find an answer.

Ultimately, she did not arrive at a compelling answer, so she decided to set it aside for now.

Besides, although trapped in an illusionary realm, she estimated her companions should have arrived by now.

Sharon Witch knows her companions’ abilities well.

Even if they can’t break the illusion before them, resolving the predicament should be easy... After all, when she was trapped in the wild god’s illusion, they were the ones who rescued her.

...

The two companions whom Sharon Witch pinned high hopes on have indeed arrived at the space gate.

With the flicker of spatial energy, the center of the gate transformed from a dark fissure into a silver halo, like a mercury mirror reflecting the space door’s inner and outer scenes.

This side of the space gate is shrouded in mist.

The other side of the space gate slowly reveals a dark, indistinct figure.

”Sharon?”

A shout came from inside the space gate.

However, Sharon Witch, her senses cloaked by the illusion, couldn’t see, find her way, or hear exterior sounds.

Angel and Dox, uninfluenced by the illusion, heard the sound emanating from the space gate.

Prepared for Sharon Witch’s companion, Angel and Dox were momentarily startled by the sudden call.

It’s not about being caught off guard but... this voice strangely feels familiar to both of them.

”Spatial fluctuations are normal, yet she didn’t answer me, something’s off. My premonition might be right; there’s trouble on her side.”

”Snorting, the space gate isn’t damaged, so she’s not dead. Not dead, what’s the big issue?”

”Regardless, let’s check first. Oh, and watch out for traps.”

As this conversation ended, the silver light at the center of the space gate began to disperse outward, with two indistinct shadowy figures gradually stepping through the space gate.

”Two people?” Dox glanced at Angel.

Angel nodded sternly, initially believing there was only one person arriving, but from this conversation, it seems two people have come.

This doesn’t include the Shallow Sea Strongman.

Moreover, from their tone, it’s safe to assume the two arrivals are both official wizards!

Along with Sharon Witch, that’s three official wizards and one Shallow Sea Strongman.

Seeing this lineup, Dox still thinks retreating may be the better option.

Despite the thought, Dox hasn’t fled; he personally places trust in Angel. Or rather, he has faith in Angel’s illusion technique.

Given it can control Sharon Witch, it should work on these two wizards, right?

Plus, with the search progress at 70%, judging by current speed, only half-a-minute stalling by the illusion should pinpoint the duplicate’s location.

Once found, we snatch it and flee, there shouldn’t be much danger... hopefully.

Holding onto optimistic prospects, Dox looked towards the space gate.

By this time, Sharon Witch’s two associates had already passed through the silver light screen, stepping out of the space gate.

Upon exiting, they were immediately obscured by the surrounding engulfing white mist, thus failing to see the specifics around them. But Angel and Dox clearly saw their faces.

Precisely because they saw their faces, both Angel and Dox displayed looks of surprise.

The suit-clad man alongside a ’Spartan’ warrior dressed in a highly philosophical manner.

As for the suited man, Dox hadn’t met him before; however, Angel did meet him in the Starry District. At that time, he and Sharon Witch appeared together at the tavern, so as Sharon Witch’s associate, Angel wasn’t surprised.

It was the formidable man who startled Angel.

Because this person was precisely the ”good guy” they previously encountered at the Council Hall.

Aex!