Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2452: Chapter 2453: A Hopeless Death

"There are still many people holding onto luck," Rivetta glanced back, speaking softly.

Diescher: "Are you lamenting their choices?"

Rivetta shook her head, dimples appearing as she smiled gently, "Of course not, I’m thinking whether ’Zhuguang Speaker Gave Well-Intentioned Advice, Yet Greed Led to Demise’ would make a good main title for a supplement? And a subtitle—’In the Face of Death, Is There Regret?’"

Before Diescher could respond, Adelaide, standing nearby, snorted, "Trivial nonsense."

Rivetta opened her mouth, ready to retort, but in the end, she said nothing.

If it were anyone else, Rivetta had countless arguments prepared, enough to leave them speechless. But since it was Adelaide speaking, Rivetta found herself at a loss for words.

As one of the top witches in the Southern Domain, Adelaide’s voice carried significant weight. Rivetta also understood Adelaide’s character; she was meticulous and detested the chaotic atmosphere in magazine publishing.

The so-called chaos was really about magazines becoming more and more gossip-centered.

As one of the editors of the "Forest of Time," Adelaide had even published an article criticizing this trend.

When Rivetta first read that article, she actually agreed with Adelaide’s views quite a bit, subsequently making a few hardcore issues of "Glowing City Night Talk."

Unfortunately, it couldn’t be sustained.

After all, significant events are rare while dry spells are frequent; knowledge sharing is limited by individuals, and some wizards writing columns suddenly go into seclusion, leading to much unpredictability.

Under such circumstances, for a quarterly like "Glowing City Night Talk," maintaining high circulation with purely hardcore content is difficult, thus some filler is inevitable; whereas "Forest of Time," being published every decade, is naturally in a better position.

Even with filler and gossip, "Glowing City Night Talk" maintains a stance, unlike most gossip magazines that focus on rumors, it never writes about unfounded stories.

Rivetta personally felt that "Glowing City Night Talk" was already doing a commendable job, but in front of Adelaide, she could only smile awkwardly and let it pass.

"Different publications have their own paths, Black Duke, don’t be too harsh. ’Glowing City Night Talk’ is well-done too, I enjoy it, I’ve read every issue without missing any," the Zhuguang Speaker said with a smile, giving Rivetta some backing.

However, the Zhuguang Speaker’s charm didn’t stand a chance against Adelaide’s demeanor.

"Isn’t your favorite ’Dew-Colored Pictorial’ or ’Wind of Women’?" Adelaide smirked.

The Zhuguang Speaker showed no embarrassment, "I always like new publications the most. After all, a world without expectations would be very boring."

Adelaide snorted, "Who’s talking to you about expectation?"

The Zhuguang Speaker kept smiling, while Adelaide muttered a curse inwardly and then couldn’t be bothered to speak further.

The Zhuguang Speaker turned to Rivetta and smiled, "Write boldly, I am very curious about how ’Glowing City Night Talk’ will cover this incident."

Rivetta nodded gratefully, "Alright."

Once the conversation ended, Rivetta raised her brows at Diescher, clearly implying: Even the Zhuguang Speaker approved, how about that?

Diescher was silent for a moment, then gestured: Switch the main title and subtitle, and remember, it wasn’t just the Zhuguang Speaker who urged those people to stop, I was involved too.

...

There were ears nearby.

Angel, having listened to Rivetta and the others, had a slightly strange expression: He had thought Rivetta was lamenting the lives potentially lost, but their conversation veered off track.

In this tense atmosphere, it felt oddly out of place.

So, is this their way of relieving stress? Or is it just how they normally are?

Angel shook his head, ceasing to dwell on it.

"Even the Zhuguang Speaker’s words had no effect. What a pity," Angel sighed softly.

Observer: "There’s no pity in it. Even though his words had little impact on the scene, for those who weren’t there and those about to arrive, it’s a warning—and from this perspective, it’s not insignificant."

The wizards present had already seen the Mysterious Fruit firsthand, their desires piqued, quelling them is evidently more challenging than for those not at the scene.

Of course, the main reason is still greed and an element of luck.

Since greed and luck have overwhelmed reason, the cost of life for it is self-inflicted.

After a while, the flesh devoured by the Mysterious Fruit was still rushing in from the surrounding Sea Beasts. Sea Demons and Mermaids, however, weren’t seen as this place wasn’t their natural habitat, the previous ones likely only patrolling nearby, meeting misfortune incidentally.

Since there were no other human-like deaths, everyone felt a bit more at ease.

Some secretly wondered if Senator Vila’s prophecy might be flawed.

Yet, those worriers were few; the majority maintained a relaxed yet vigilant state, staying at the periphery of the crowd.

These people were quite savvy, thinking that any progression takes steps—if something truly happened, those at the front would bear it, giving them time to retreat.

Yet, being savvy doesn’t mean being smart, or correct. They ignored one premise: usually, developments are stepwise. But Mysterious Objects never follow the ’usual’.

When time reached a certain point, the situation at the scene took an unexpected sharp turn.

"Thump—"

The sound of the heartbeat, already heard countless times, resounded once again.

From the appearance, everything seemed normal, as before. But all wizards in the Mist Belt... froze simultaneously.

An immensely terrifying attraction emanated from the Mysterious Fruit.

Previously, although it attracted humans, as long as they didn’t come too close and maintained some distance, they could barely resist. But not now, the allure intensified in an instant!

Expressed numerically, if prior allure was at 1, now it surged to 100, even 1000!

This was no gradual increase but a sudden escalation, dragging one from below sea level to high altitude instantly.

Moreover, its scope not only covered the Mist Belt’s center but most of the entire Mist Belt!

Almost all the wizards were within its range.

Even wizards with psychological preparation and some defenses were caught off guard by the sudden allure.

The terrifying attraction engrossed everyone’s mind and spirit onto the fruit, glowing in crimson.

In just a split second, some wizards couldn’t ward it off.

Their eyes turning from clarity to haziness, from haze to dullness, in less than half a second!

As the foolish look turned to eerie crimson, these wizards began to move.

The mist remained as light as ever, the wind hadn’t grown louder, the moon faded dimly, and the sea bore no waves.

Everything outside remains the same as a second ago, the only difference is that more than half of the Wizards who were hovering before have unconsciously started flying forward.

One after another.

In just a few seconds, thirteen Wizards have surpassed Angel’s position.

Angel’s position is a standard distance, carefully chosen by the Observer. Once past this standard distance, the power needed to ward off the attraction increases exponentially.

If the Observers are like this, how can the other Wizards resist? Impossible.

The thirteen Wizards who surpassed Angel charged toward the Mysterious Fruit with an almost "headlong rush" posture.

No surprises here, flesh and blood flew everywhere, turning into a sky full of Blood Rain.

The death of thirteen Official Wizards causes the skin of the Mysterious Fruit to turn directly deep red, a color so vivid it seems to drip, indicating its near maturity.

But it’s only "near," still not fully mature.

This also means there will be more to send themselves to death.

Another Wizard surpassed Angel; Angel had heard of this Wizard before, he was the leader of a Wizard Family.

He tried his utmost to resist the fruit’s attraction, but it was of no use. His eyes had already entered a semi-crazed state, with the last shred of clarity tinged with unspeakable fear.

His desperate resistance was still to no avail.

In the last distance of his life, he glanced at the Zhuguang chairman from another side.

In his final effort, he hoped for the rescue of the Zhuguang chairman.

But it’s impossible. Zhuguang chairman, Diescher, Adelaide, these three True Knowledge Wizards were not incarnated themselves, what can a projection do to save?

The smile of the Zhuguang chairman had vanished, his expression grave. He saw the last trace of guilt and regret left in the Wizard’s eyes.

He understood, this Wizard regretted being overcome by greedy Desire in his last moments and not believing Zhuguang chairman’s words.

However, regret at this time was of no use.

What awaited him was the endpoint without a return path.

...

In an instant, more than a dozen Wizards fell.

Angel witnessed this scene.

Clearly, the scent in the air, due to the massive death of the Sea Beasts, had long been filled with the smell of blood, yet the death of the Wizards was just a fraction of the Sea Beasts, but Angel still felt—the scent of blood in the air seemed even heavier.

Angel knew, this was a psychological effect.

Once such a psychological effect occurs, it also implies that Angel’s psychology is indeed changing.

The death of the Sea Beasts before, he could maintain a cold, detached attitude, but the fall of one Wizard after another, sharing the same humanity, he too felt a sense of sorrow, a fox mourning the rabbit, hard to avoid in his heart.

But even so, Angel had no way to help them.

The current attraction is terrifyingly extreme; even if Angel has a Domain Field, it only reduces ten to twenty percent at most, he still can’t resist. That he’s standing here unscathed is entirely by the grace of the Observer.

With himself in a precarious situation, let alone taking others into account.

Angel’s situation at the moment is more like the Zhuguang chairman; he can only watch their departure silently, sending them off with his eyes for the last journey.

Angel had seen a lot of death, back in Lassudral, Angel also witnessed a large number of Wizards falling.

Even if the number of dead did not exceed that battle of Lassudral, Angel still felt that the scene before him was probably the most desperate he had seen to date.

These Wizards usually could stir up waves in various worlds, but at this moment, they lined up one by one to die.

Clearly, there is hope for life in their hearts, yet powerless to struggle.

They died due to greed; before death, it was guilt, regret, helplessness, and despair.

Their whole power had no room to be utilized; their only glowing and generating heat became a sacrifice for the Mysterious Fruit.

They died utterly without value.

And their death made all who saw this scene desperate.

...

Angel no longer remembered how many had died; at first, he could see them off, but then more people surged forward, as if moths to a flame. Sometimes it’s just a flash, and several lives are gone.

In the end, Angel could not bear to look forward.

After a sigh, he turned to look behind him.

At this moment, fewer people stood behind him. At least forty to fifty percent of them had already turned into a fruit’s meaty meal.

And the remaining half belonged to the cautious ones, always maintaining the highest defense. So, they barely resisted the first wave of attraction.

Yet despite this, their situation was akin to Kanter back then.

Most of their power is used to fight against the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction. They’re unable to move, and their thinking capacity is dwindling.

This situation won’t last long either, as time passes and more humans die, the fruit’s attraction will increase. Just like it drew the Sea Beasts before, initially just the Mist Belt’s Sea Beasts, then even outside the Mist Belt, even Biji of Sidro Island was encompassed by the fruit’s attraction.

As the fruit’s attraction continuously strengthens, they too shall follow in others’ footsteps.

The only chance to survive is to outlast everyone else.

Hold on until the Mysterious Fruit matures; during the transition from semi-chaos to chaos, they might have a fleeting chance to escape. But can they hold on for that long?

Angel silently observed the remaining Wizards, looking for familiar faces.

Soon, he locked onto a face.

Magus!

This Alchemy Master from the Research and Development Institute was still holding on. His eyes were somewhat red, but not yet blood-red, and the clarity in his eyes was stronger than others.

Most importantly, Magus was still the Wizard closest to Angel!

He should be bearing a more terrifying attraction than others.