Warlock Apprentice

“You didn’t forget I have this, right?” Angor showed Shadow his bracelet.

“Oh, that trick of yours… I think it’s the same as some of the wizard-level invisibility spells. Hah, even that old hag can’t find you normally. There’s no way those apprentices gonna track you down.” Shadow snickered. “I see I don’t have to warn you after all. You can just like, keep hiding until the fight ends.”

When talking about Isabella, Angor quickly thought about Greya. Now that almost everyone knew about Isabelle’s return, Greya probably had gone hiding somewhere else so as not to get dragged into the coming storm.

When Angor asked about it, Shadow gave him an uncertain look. “Usually, such a big deal should attract all sorts of attention to Dark Castle. But somehow, they kept their information tight. I’ve asked around and nobody can tell what exactly’s going on in that place. Mister Sabot doesn’t know anything either. It’s as if… both Lady Isabelle and the old hag suddenly disappeared from this world.

“But I can tell you that Lady Greya already left the castle. I think Miss Felicia went back to Butterfly Tavern, and just not long ago, the tavern building arrived at Floating Mech City.”

This meant Felicia made sure Greya was somewhere safe. Angor was glad to know it.

Next, Shadow spent some time explaining what he learned about the strengths and specialties of the participants.

“You said you have something to tell me too, em?” Shadow suddenly asked Angor.

“Yeah. I need your help looking into someone.”

…

Not long after Shadow left, he sent someone to deliver a note to Angor.

[No. 93 Champagne Road, Timber Pub]

Angor noted down the address and left the mansion with a hooded robe to cover his face.

Following Shadow’s map, he headed toward Champagne Road, which was located in the main city district.

While walking, he could clearly sense the tension on the streets. There were more Rune Monitors patrolling, fewer mortal pedestrians, and more shady apprentices lurking around.

The time for entrance was still half a month away, and Floating Mech City already elevated their security level. Previously, they forbade people from using attacks in the city. But now, anyone that unleashed supernatural powers regardless of the nature of the power, would be tracked down by Rune Monitors.

And those who actually started fighting would be directly taken away by apprentices on guard duty.

Angor thought the safety in the city was at least improved by now, which wasn’t the case. Along his way to Champagne Road, he witnessed more than one conflict.

Most of them were oral harassment, but the guards couldn’t care less about the severity of the conflict. The moment someone started yelling, they would be apprehended.

And even so, there were still fights going around, such as what Angor was looking at right now.

He didn’t recognize the offenders, but he did recognize the violent magic aura released by both parties, which only meant trouble.

The one standing to the left of the street was a giant man about 4 meters tall. Bulky chunks of vessel-covered muscles were everything there were on his bare upper body, while his lower half had a primitive-looking skirt made from animal hide. He also had a face mask which was decorated by some tribal totem.

The sight was made stranger by another little girl sitting on his shoulder. The girl was wearing the same tribal style. A pair of small braids beside her adorable face was pointed to the sky, while both her cheeks had bright face paint. She also had a necklace made from wolf canines.

This strange pair was looking at their opponent—a sword-wielding young man with really long hair.

He didn’t use any hair clips or bands and left his pure black hair flipping wildly along his mana surge.

Instead of giving him a weird look, the unbound hair sat well with his cold, distant temperament and handsome yet cruel face. Those who looked at him would feel like staring at a denizen from the underworld rather than a human.

Angor didn’t know why these people were confronting each other, but he felt bothered by it since they happened to be blocking the entrance to Champagne Road. Taking a detour around the city would waste him another five hours, so he considered and decided to sit on a nearby tree and watch the fight. The increased Rune Monitors would probably notice the incident soon.

The fight already began. The big man was following the orders given by the small girl on his shoulder as if he didn’t know how to think.

Angor assumed that those punches and kicks were as powerful as attacks used by average level-3 apprentices. Still, there wasn’t any mana signature, which meant the bulky man was using his pure physical strength.

“Tsk… that body…”

The black-haired man didn’t seem interested in the strength display. As his cold aura grew colder until it began to look frightful, he then swiftly used his long sword to damage the joints on his opponent’s muscular body.

It didn’t work well. The giant man had an equally powerful defense. The young man’s sword only managed to leave several white, shallow marks on the big man.

There was no serious injury, but the big man still howled in a rage because he felt painful.

The street had no other people around. When Angor looked farther ahead, he noticed that across the intersection, a number of apprentices inside Champagne Road were also observing the fight casually without trying to conceal their presence at all.

Time went by. Angor watched as more Rune Monitors came to the scene, but to his surprise, none of them came down and intervened.

This was completely opposite to what he saw earlier. On his way here, the Rune Monitors would immediately deal with the smallest sign of a collision. But right now, these people had been fighting for five minutes and no one did anything to them?

Using his fast moves, the black-haired young man kept slashing at the bulky figure with his mana-enchanted weapon. With enough hits, some of the attacks successfully left bloody gashes on the big man’s skin.

In contrast, the big man was too slow to land any effective hit on his enemy.

The little girl was getting angrier and more anxious. It was obvious that the black-haired man would win the fight given enough time.

She suddenly stood up and began to strike a series of poses while the big man mimicked her moves.

The girl was fisting at the air with her tiny fists, which caused the big man to slam the ground in the same manner. At the same time, he began to show an unknown power that gradually amplified his already terrifying strength.

The ground beneath him was smashed open. The shockwave traveled to the nearby buildings and broke them down. Some of the mortals hiding in the buildings were unfortunate enough to get hurt. Many collapsed as their bodies were torn by the surging power.

Instantly, several apprentice guards showed up and brought the injured mortals away. However, no one moved to stop the fighters.

Angor was getting confused. Is it because these people are actually the apprentices of the city, so they’re allowed to fight?

“Where is Mister Sirui? He’s in charge of this part! We have casualties now!”

Angor heard someone talking behind him. He turned around and saw two apprentice guards in silver uniforms speaking on top of a house.

It seemed they were talking about the fight, but the looks on their faces suggested that they weren’t happy onlookers.

“We aren’t going to do anything if Mister Sirui’s not here?”

“You know who those people are, right? We can’t! I’m afraid that even wizards will want to ignore them. I think Mister Sirui didn’t come just because he didn’t want to get involved.”

So those are influential people who aren’t afraid of offending the rules? Angor pondered and looked back again. Then he fixed his gaze upon the black-haired young man.

Something told him that he should be wary of the cold and dark aura.

The bulky man’s large-scale attack successfully affected his enemy. Some of the flying debris connected with the young man’s body. There was a small trace of blood coming from his mouth, and his eyes went bloodshot.

An even more ghastly aura began to emerge from him.

“Leave us alone, a-hole! Stand in our way again, and I’ll let Gank kill you!” the little girl threatened when she saw the young man bleeding.

“He, must, die,” the young man replied in a deep and distant voice as if he spoke from another realm.

“Are you deaf? I told you Gank already got registered. He’s a legit traveler! You Supreme Cult b*stards set up this rule, and now you’re gonna break it yourself?” the girl screamed in rage.

“I obey my own rules.” The young man was still enlarging his might. Then he pointed his sword at the little girl. “I’ll kill you too if you dare to stop me.”

Angor was surprised by what he heard.

Supreme Cult?

Sunders mentioned this name several times, and each time, the gentleman only used words such as “lunatics”, “fanatics”, and “recycle” to describe them.

Wizards used to call people from Supreme Cult as “Mayhem Doers”. These people were constantly hunting illegal otherworld travelers and “recycling” them.