Warlock Apprentice

“Shiliew! What’s going on?” Using Gank’s neck as support, Shan quickly hopped to the other shoulder and assisted Shiliew.

Nausica also looked up in surprise from the ground.

Shiliew exclaimed while still covering her ears. “It-it’s too loud… I blocked most of the water flowing noises and it still got me… Oh, this hurts…”

“Water?” Shan gave Nausica a puzzled look.

Just as Nausica was wondering where this “water” came from, she suddenly noticed something strange in the sky.

“Is that—”

Shan followed her direction and also looked upward. The sky was still blocked by gloomy clouds and heavy snow, but something new just showed up—continuous sea waves that gradually grew stronger.

Among the surging waves and splattering bubbles, a giant blue whale slowly descended from the sky while wiggling its huge tail.

The sea waves were still approaching, and it would soon swallow those still on the ground.

None of the apprentices knew what this was about, but they were fast enough to prepare their own tricks in order to defend against the coming tidal wave.

Although everything was soon proved to be unnecessary. The flying water was stopped by a giant magic array that just emerged from under the giant wall.

It was only water that was blocked. The blue whale met no obstruction and went inside the enclosed area while still releasing blue bubbles around itself.

Most apprentices flinched as the creature drew closer. The whale should be big enough to squash anyone to death if it ever crashed down for some reason.

The corner shared by Nausica’s group was not threatened by the whale, but they still felt the great pressure exerted by the magnificent creature.

“Someone brought the sea above our heads. No wonder Shiliew heard so much turbulence.” Shan frowned.

“No,” Nausica and Shiliew replied in unison. They exchanged a look before Shiliew continued, “I love the sound of the sea. The sea is the marvelous creation of mother nature, and it’s something pleasant. But now…”

“There’s someone standing on that thing!” They heard someone yelling.

Again, Shan looked at the sky. The disappearing mist created by sea waves slowly revealed a handsome young man in blue wizard robe leaning against a giant bubble casually while twiddling a small water stream between his fingers.

“Him… It’s him. The terrible noise came from his blood flows,” Shiliew murmured while still rubbing her temples, “as if… he holds another raging sea inside his body. There are only fierce tides and a bottomless abyss hidden beneath…”

“That sounds… scary.” Shan shivered.

“Look at his head,” Nausica said to them. “There’s a blue fish scale on his forehead. I read about a wizard organization when studying in the library. Every member of them has such a scale-like tattoo.”

“You’re saying—”

“Yes,” Nausica affirmed while she revealed a grim expression, “Song of the Deep.”

…

Perhaps the noise coming from the young man was just too much to bear, Shiliew never recovered from her condition.

Shan put a hand on Shiliew’s trembling shoulder to comfort her. “Now now, you got us. Don’t be afraid.”

“Afraid?” Shiliew jerked her head and looked at the young man with widened eyes as well as an eerie smile. “I’m not afraid! This is exciting! Oh, I’m SO claiming that water of his! Shall I turn it into poison or broil it up?! Boiling! Yes, that sounds fun! I’ve never seen an entire sea fizzing in the heat!”

She slowly reached out a hand and began to channel deep-blue mana. Her slick short hair slowly rose like dancing tentacles.

“Shiliew?!” Neither Shan and Nausica ever saw Shiliew acting like this before. To them, Shiliew should always be a calm and gentle woman who tended to sleep too much.

Shan was startled by Shiliew’s outburst and stepped back. Gank quickly caught her with a hand, or she would have fallen straight to the ground.

“What’s gotten into her?!” Shan questioned Nausica helplessly. “Should we do something?”

Nausica shook her head slowly. “Let’s wait and see.”

On top of the flying whale, the young man was still wondering if he should ask his little companion to land inside the crowd and see what kind of fun sight that would create.

They’re going to die inside the garden anyway. Perhaps I should do them a favor and end their misery earlier?

He frowned and decided otherwise. “Miss Maine will get here soon. I don’t want her to see the ground full of stinky blood. Oh, how I love her… But she sees me as an enemy. Should I really care what she thinks?”

As the young man struggled with his own mind, a wizard in silver uniform appeared in the sky. The color on him suggested that he was from the city.

“Perish those thoughts at once, Jebra. They need to die INSIDE the Purification Garden. We don’t want to waste materials.”

“What if I disagree?” The young man named “Jebra” gave the uniformed man an evil smile. Last time, no one actually complained when he fought with Maine in the main city district. Now that his own professor was nearby, he had all the more reason to act unruly.

“If you damage our plan, I’ll personally kill you even if the God of Seas is watching,” said the uniformed wizard with a cruel expression.

Jebra spread his hands. “Okay okay. I didn’t mean it, alright?”

When Jebra put a finger against his scale, the giant whale slowly shrank in size and finally turned as small as someone’s hand. Its ferocious aura was replaced by cuteness instead.

The uniformed wizard sighed in relief. Despite his previous words, it would be really troublesome if Jebra insisted on ruining everything.

Suddenly, from one corner of the crowd, a beam mixed with the color of fire and water emerged, aiming right at Jebra.

“Someone’s making a move!” several apprentices yelled in shock. No one was expecting people to actually get on the offensive.

The elites to the right of the area also failed to stay calm and visibly grew nervous. They knew who the young man in the air was and how they should not offend him openly.

Jebra smiled and glanced at the incoming attack.

Nice, someone did it first, so I need to defend myself, right? Maybe I’ll “accidentally” kill some people while at it. You can’t blame me for that!

He covertly channeled his water magic and looked at who was trying to harm him.

He saw a woman with short, curly blue hair. Everything else on her looked average.

But something was very wrong. The woman was looking at Jebra as if waiting for her next meal.

And Jebra felt his heart skipping a beat.

The terrible feeling worsened when he noticed the small trace of blue aura inside the beam.

This is not good!

Both his beating heart and his mind were telling him that he could NOT survive this attack.

But he couldn’t move. He felt like a mouse stared down by a hunting viper. His body had lost the will to resist.

The uniformed wizard frowned at what he saw. He had just persuaded Jebra into giving up any stupid move when someone else showed up to embarrass him.

The wizard didn’t believe the attack was anything deadly. However, it would probably give Jebra an excuse to use violence. Therefore, the wizard decided to intervene and deflected the beam to another direction with one hand.

The wizard meant to solve a potential conflict, but it was completely not the case for Jebra. Jebra was glad he was saved; otherwise, his life was probably forfeit.

Who’s that woman?? Will she attack me again?

With that in mind, Jebra carefully glanced at her again, only to find the woman snoring loudly on the body of an exceptionally large dude.

Was she trying to humiliate me?

Jebra landed on the ground with mixed emotions. When he did, those around his landing spot all chose to move away.

He kept gazing at the strange woman while trying to figure out who she was. However, when Maine flew over the metal walls using a pair of snow-white wings, his attention finally went elsewhere.

…

“She’s out again!” Shan sighed in distress and stroked Shiliew’s hair. “I think that man isn’t going to retaliate. Nice.”

Nausica returned from the crowd. “I did a little ask-around just now. And yes, that man’s from Song of the Deep. His name’s Jebra. People say he got both a great talent and a supreme body. He’s also the student of ‘God of Seas’. He’s probably waiting to enter the garden and do something about Shiliew. Make sure you tell her to be careful later.”

Shan nodded. “I know. But whatever happened to her just now? Was that the Shiliew we knew?”

“I don’t know…” Nausica was smoking her old pipe again. “Maybe it has something to do with why her teacher asked her to come.”

“Yeah, I get you. No one came here empty-handed. They all have some kind of secrets or tricks, don’t they?”

Another small group of people entered the area.

These people were clearly the most valued elites from various organizations. Just looking at them made people tremble uncontrollably.

A woman with long, brown hair and a pair of wings on her back drew Nausica’s attention.

Her beautiful form combined with her semi-transparent silk attire displayed two contradictory auras—purity and alluring charm. Even so, Nausica was more interested in those wings that showed wizard-level power.

The pair of wings was undoubtedly a wizard-level treasure.