Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2826: Chapter 2827: Mist Serpent

Vay muttered blankly: "Gone mad? What do you mean?"

Dox: "It’s literal; their spiritual power has completely unraveled, filled with negative emotions. Even if I can sense the Bloodline Power, there’s absolutely no way to communicate with them."

As Dox spoke, he glanced at Angel: "Angel’s earlier wording was very appropriate — mental disorder. It’s like they’ve contracted a mental disorder."

Watching the sandworms constantly struggle in the stone prison, Dox’s eyes showed a hint of compassion.

Although he was prepared for their sacrifice when testing with the sandworms, their sacrifice didn’t mean total death. As long as their bloodline returns to the source, new sandworms will eventually be born.

But now, they have completely gone mad, even showing signs of retaliating against their master. Even if their bloodline returns to the source, this madness may invade like a virus, corrupting the pure source. Ultimately, dragging the source into the abyss of insanity.

Therefore, Dox couldn’t possibly reclaim their bloodline.

This equates to prematurely declaring their death. Moreover, a complete and thorough death.

"Even if they’re mad, shouldn’t we be able to extract some useful intelligence from their mad utterances?" Vay said, "And they directly passed through Chaowei’s Illusionary Realm, doesn’t that imply..."

Vay didn’t continue, but everyone understood his unfinished words.

If the mad sandworms were created by Infant Spirits and could break through the Illusionary Realm to attack, doesn’t that imply the Infant Spirits have already found them?

"Whether there’s any special meaning, I don’t know." Dox: "But regarding the mad utterances you mentioned, in hindsight, there is indeed something worth mentioning."

The so-called "mad utterances" are merely a description. Sandworm larvae have piercing-sucking type mouthparts, feeding on blood or energy-containing liquids and lack sound-producing capabilities. Only upon evolution, their mouthparts undergo division, and sound-producing organs appear internally.

The mad utterances referred to here are more about the various negative emotions perceived by Dox from the sandworms.

"Eliminate all obstacles." Dox: "This is the phrase I decoded from the negative emotions they transmitted."

Vay murmured: "Is that all? No other words?... Eliminate all obstacles, it sounds quite normal."

As Vay finished speaking, Black Earl interjected: "Does it sound normal? How do I feel that it’s anything but normal?"

Vay certainly wouldn’t dare contradict his master, but he didn’t hear anything abnormal. If the Infant Spirits controlled the sandworms, that would be expressing the Infant Spirits’ intentions. Wanting to eliminate all obstacles implies clearing away everyone present, doesn’t it? As they are in an adversarial situation, wanting to completely deal with the opponent, isn’t that normal?

Black Earl: "The means to eliminate all obstacles, is it just to defect two sandworms?"

After a pause, Black Earl said softly: "The Infant Spirits must have discovered us, which isn’t surprising. What’s truly concerning is that it hasn’t revealed itself up until now."

Shouting "eliminate all obstacles" but hiding at the back, isn’t this contradictory?

As for Red Wax and Weaving Net? At most, these count as means to block progress. If they abandoned moving forward now, Red Wax and Weaving Net wouldn’t have any effect, not to mention if Infant Spirits wanted to "eliminate obstacles."

Inviting people into a trap or setting traps while lying in wait are good strategies. But these are defensive counterattack methods focusing on strategic intelligence.

While Red Wax and Weaving Net are blatant schemes, since they are strategies, they still fall under the realm of "strategic intelligence."

And "eliminate all obstacles," implies proactive attack. Actively removing barriers, killing those who should be killed, clearing away all discontent in sight.

One side is strategy, the other is courage. These are two completely opposing choices.

Normal? Naturally, it’s abnormal.

Of course, there are "courageous yet strategic" methods, but the current situation isn’t like that. Infant Spirits firmly defend the rear, relying only on overt schemes to repel enemies, where’s the courage? Courage by mouth only, that’s self-amusement.

"Exactly, obviously found us, yet hasn’t acted. Why is that?" Vay questioned with confusion.

Are they really waiting for us to fall for it? If so, doesn’t that mean they lack means, and rely on external forces to compensate?

"Thinking too much is just guessing back and forth, no one knows what the truth is." Dox: "Since we’ve determined they’ve already found us, let’s go ahead and act."

"These Weaving Net and Red Wax are traps, we can’t touch them, but we can destroy them."

Dox rubbed his palms, ready to make a move.

"Come, release Dangross. Let it spit a little flame and show them Dangross’s might." Dox said to Angel.

"It’s bathing in the bracelet, it won’t come out." Angel replied flatly.

The so-called bathing naturally refers to bathing in quenching liquid. Although it says the regular quenching liquid is as bland as water, when confronted with real quenching liquid, it still embraces it readily.

"It really enjoys itself." Dox muttered a sentence: "Then I’ll set the fire myself, I said earlier that fire would definitely work on these webs and wax."

Vay: "Whether it works remains to be seen."

Dox: "I don’t believe fabric and wax don’t fear fire."

Having said this, Dox prepared to go forward and cast a fire spell. Just as he started moving, Angel stopped him: "Let me do it. You go take care of your two little sandworms."

"They’ve already gone mad, completely..." Dox hadn’t finished speaking when he suddenly realized the two sandworm larvae in the stone prison had curled up into balls, seemingly fallen asleep.

"What happened to them?"

Angel: "Just like what you did earlier, I attempted to expel the negative shadows within them. But after trying, I found I couldn’t remove them, so I could only attempt to cover the negative emotions. It should have some effect, they’re now peacefully asleep and need you to care for them."

Dox stared at Angel for a long time, then lowered his head, murmuring: "Why waste Magic Power? They aren’t really that important anyway."

Angel: "It’s not about wasting Magic Power. Mainly, I agree with Vay’s earlier suggestion. I also want to see the scenario where you swallow them both back whole."

After speaking, Angel offered Dox a slight smile.

Dox froze, staring at Angel’s smile, feeling it was even more terrifying than a demon’s grin.

"...Are you a demon?" Dox couldn’t help but ask.

Angel answered seriously: "Of course not."

Then Vay excitedly chimed in: "What Chaowei desires, is also my wish. This is not a demon, it’s compassion for life!"

Listening to Vay and Angel’s banter, Dox felt his eyelids twitching uncontrollably, wanting to speak yet unsure of what to say.

Angel: "Go care for them. I noticed your gaze, you don’t want them to simply die, do you?"

Dox was truly stunned this time.

Did Angel rescue the young Sandworm to see him embarrassed? Or did he really understand his inner thoughts?

Was it mockery, or warmth hidden beneath the mockery?

Dox suddenly felt like he couldn’t understand Angel anymore. This young man—really just a young man to him—was complex and unpredictable, mysterious and hard to fathom.

Such a mysterious person doesn’t make Dox feel alienated; instead, he wants to get closer to understand him better.

Perhaps, following Angel isn’t a bad choice?

While Dox was lost in thought, Angel turned around and slowly walked to the edge of the Illusionary Realm.

After hearing Dox mention earlier that Sandworms would experience spiritual confusion when entering the Red Wax area, Angel already had a suspicion in his heart. Now, with the Sandworm returning mad and after Angel’s examination, this suspicion was confirmed.

It’s definitely the handiwork of the Nightmare Realm creatures.

Although it’s unclear what caused the Sandworm to go mad, whether it was a parasite or some other capability, it is certain that the faint Nightmare Realm aura inside the Sandworm is undeniable.

Wherever Nightmare Realm creatures exist, madness is never far away.

Whether it was in Night Demon City, Eternal Night City, or Xinnai Land, wherever there are Nightmare Realm creatures, madness is rampant nearby.

Since it’s confirmed to be a Nightmare Realm creature, Angel naturally wants to change his approach.

If they don’t change their approach, the only path forward is to battle.

Successfully breaking through would naturally be best. But failing would mean forced retreat.

So, this battle is almost unavoidable.

However, when Angel confirmed that the opponent was a Nightmare Realm creature, he came up with another idea.

Just like the little trick he played in Xinnai Land: relying on the identity of the one calling themselves "Shava," freeloading, hoping to get through this confrontation as well.

Of course, everything depends on whether the opponent recognizes the "Shava" identity.

If the opponent doesn’t recognize it... then they would return to the original choices, battle or retreat. This was originally the choice they had to make, but now Angel is trying a different path, and if this "path" fails, it won’t affect their original plan.

Therefore, Angel stopped Dox’s fire attack, intending to try himself.

"What do you plan to do?" The Black Earl flew over to Angel and asked.

Angel: "Still the same answer as before: Illusion Technique."

The Black Earl didn’t understand why Angel was persistent in using the Illusion Technique to probe, but indeed, apart from forcing their way in, there was no other method for now. Letting Angel try wouldn’t hurt.

Under the Black Earl’s watch, Angel extended the index finger of his right hand, slowly penetrating the barrier of the Illusion Technique.

In an instant, a snake-like wisp of smoke poured out from Angel’s fingertip.

This serpentine wisp of smoke, just like a real snake, raised its head high, its vertical pupils emitting a ghostly green light, flicking a white snake tongue as it directly charged toward the nearest weaving net.

Everyone was startled by this sight.

They thought the "Illusion Technique" was Angel quietly releasing illusion nodes, setting up hallucinations to confuse or entice the Infant Spirits out.

But Angel’s Illusion Technique was a direct confrontation?!

Dox also saw Angel’s approach and found the scene before him utterly absurd: This, this, this... how is this different from his fire attack?

He thought Angel had a clever strategy, but he turned out to have chosen the same "recklessness."

Dox was thoroughly disheartened.

The only one without a significant emotional reaction was the Black Earl; in his view, no matter the approach, they still had to face the Infant Spirits. Whether Angel confronted directly or not, it signaled the onset of battle.

Though the Black Earl wasn’t too reactive, he, like the rest, thought Angel was sounding the horn for battle.

But in truth, it wasn’t so.

When the smoke-made serpent reached the first weaving net, its mouth opened wide as if roaring, causing a ripple in the surrounding air... In the next second, the center of the weaving net burst open with a hole, and the Mist Serpent drove straight in.

To everyone, it seemed the Mist Serpent launched a destructive assault on the weaving net, eventually succeeding.

Seeing this, the crowd was initially astonished by Angel’s direct confrontation, but upon witnessing the weaving net break and the effective result, they couldn’t help but feel delighted.

Since the weaving net could be destroyed, facing the Infant Spirits was no longer a difficult task!

Next, they need not worry about the weaving net; it was about how to deal with the Infant Spirits! As for the Red Wax, once the weaving net was destroyed, it would surely draw out the Infant Spirits. After all, with its previous protection by the weaving net, they couldn’t take action; with it broken, if the Infant Spirits didn’t emerge, they’d become sitting targets. Therefore, once the Infant Spirits are drawn out, Red Wax wouldn’t be a problem either.

Amid the crowd’s excitement, the Mist Serpent had already reached the second weaving net.

As they eagerly anticipated the second net’s rupture, what happened next went beyond their understanding...

Without waiting for the Mist Serpent to act, the second weaving net voluntarily split open in the middle, allowing the Mist Serpent to pass through.

What kind of maneuver was this? They had never seen it before!

Was it so shocked by the Mist Serpent that it split open out of fear?

Or was this another trap, deliberately allowing entry, but actually setting up an even more startling trap inside?

While everyone was filled with questions and bewilderment, the Mist Serpent continued forward, and each time it encountered a weaving net, the net would voluntarily split to make way.

Achieving unprecedented success, the Mist Serpent’s raised head no longer appeared fierce but seemed like a king about to rule over its domain. Its eyes grew even more intensely green, seemingly intimidating all nearby foes.

As weaving net after weaving net shattered, the Mist Serpent not only didn’t weaken or fade but instead grew stronger and sturdier.

Simultaneously, the Mist Serpent drew closer to the Infant Spirits.

Previously obscured by the dense weaving nets, the true form of the Infant Spirits finally emerged into view!