Warlock Apprentice

The intruder was someone with short, gray curly hair and a pair of panda eyes that made him look pretty ill.

In fact, it was actually the soul of someone, but not a person.

Compared to Angor’s solid soul, this one looked transparent, which meant his soul quality was a lot inferior to Angor’s.

Also, Angor recognized this soul. He was “Dream Reader” Freud.

Angor silently sighed in his mind. Just as Keely assumed, the apprentices were already fighting over the Meraid’s Swords.

What Angor heard earlier suggested that Yethew and Freud found one sword and started a fight. Yethew won in the end, while Freud managed to keep his soul “alive” by using Soul Coupling in time.

But since Yethew still placed a deadly bug at his feet with obvious intent, Angor believed that they only found one scale and needed another one.

And of course, he wasn’t going to give his sword away.

Angor looked at Yethew again and considered the man as an enemy this time. He quickly prepared a cantrip model in his mind space.

Yethew also put up a serious and dangerous look as Freud revealed his plan. Angor had not known that one could use a single scale to detect the location of the other ones. This was how Yethew noticed Angor’s Meraid’s Sword and prepared a leech to kill Angor and seize the complete sword.

But Luna ruined his plan by discovering the bug first.

And Yethew knew well that the black cat belonged to Keely, a madwoman who didn’t give a sh*t about the city guards and attacked Jebra when everyone was looking.

When his bug was found out, Yethew planned to step down and pretend that he wanted peace so that he could use the bug later and ambush Angor again.

But Freud just pointed out his plot in the open.

Yethew complained in his mind that he was too careless. He did not confirm Freud’s death after he dealt the killing blow, thus allowing Freud’s soul to get out so soon.

Yethew looked at how Angor was fully prepared for a fight and realized he could no longer back down now.

And he knew he had no hope in defeating both Angor and Keely, who was probably hiding somewhere nearby. Or rather, he didn’t even know if he could defeat Angor alone in a fair fight.

“Don’t listen to him,” Yethew tried to reason, “he’s all guesses. And I can’t take the sword even if you have one. You saved my life earlier, right? I’m not THAT shameless.”

“And you would listen to HIM?!” Freud glared at Yethew while those bloodshot eyes on his soul were literally bleeding. “He f*cking killed me just to take the scale for himself!”

Freud’s soul slowly turned darker while he kept accusing Yethew of his crime. “I was the one who discovered the Duons. I was the one that captured a Duon. I WAS THE ONE who read about the sword and the altar from its dream. And what about YOU?! When something attacked us in the settlement, Shayaron ran off on his own while I dragged your F*CKING bleeding body away from the monsters and saved you! I TOLD YOU what I learned! And when I entered the dream to find more info, you murdered my body?! Is that how you help your partner?!”

Freud turned back and stared at Angor with his now glowing eyes. “I’m a living example for trusting this disgrace of a man! Do you really want to listen to a single word from his filthy, god-forsaken mouth?!”

Freud’s hatred was fully reflected on his soul as the miserable sight of how his body got killed emerged from around him. His head was slowly shrinking as a giant hole appeared on his forehead.

It was commonly believed that the souls of supernaturals couldn’t fall easily, but Freud was going to become an exception.

Yethew didn’t respond. But telling from his dark expression, Angor believed that everything Freud said was true.

How did these guys become a team anyway? Viking helped Shayaron, then Shayaron left Viking to die. And now something like that happened between these two…

Angor shook his head as he thought about the worst team he ever saw.

Freud also realized something was changing in his soul, so he closed his eyes to suppress the uncontrollable rage from taking over. He wasn’t a soul manipulator, but he still knew basic knowledge about souls—becoming an undead creature meant he had lost in this world for real, and he couldn’t let that happen.

But there was nothing else he could do right now.

He hoped that Yethew would move to confront Angor and get himself killed in return.

When Freud’s soul regained balance, he spoke to Angor again, “This man only has one scale on him. He needs another one to form a sword and he knows you already found one. He’ll not give up this chance!”

Angor finally noticed a piece of useful information from those words. Is there a special method to locate these scales from afar?

“I can either swear in the name of the world’s consciousness or sign a magic contract with you, that I’ll NOT go after your Meraid’s Sword. We go our own away and mind our own business, and I promise I’ll not bother you again,” Yethew said as he gave Angor a sincere look.

Freud quickly grew anxious. Someone with a peaceful nature might agree to it and let Yethew go for real.

But THAT CANNOT HAPPEN!

Freud felt his rage coming back again as he thought about his dead body still lying inside the tower.

Yethew! Must! DIE!!

Freud couldn’t tell what Angor was thinking since Angor was being all calm on the outside.

He clenched his teeth and made a grim decision.

“Mister Padt! If you kill Yethew right now and take my soul away from the Sea of Purification, I promise you that I’ll give you a Mystery item!”

Those words startled everyone, including Keely, who had been hiding in a dark spot nearby.

An apprentice just offered a Mystery item? Is that even possible?

Angor glanced at Freud as his eyes showed great passion. As someone who almost created a Mystery item, he knew better than anyone present how valuable these things were. If he got his hands on a real Mystery item, he might learn something about how to become a Mystery alchemist for real!

Previously, he planned to borrow the Cursing Puppet from Sunders to conduct his research. However, he needed to pay something to fulfill his end of the “equivalent exchange”, and he wasn’t sure if the puppet could provide anything he needed even if Sunders agreed.

But if he could actually GET a Mystery item…

“Impossible! How could HE have something like that? And if he does, how did he get killed by me so easily? He’s just an apprentice!” Yethew yelled loudly, fearing that Angor would listen to Freud’s offer.

Yethew was already planning to escape. But he didn’t get a chance because the black cat kept its gaze at him, which meant Keely was probably doing the same thing.

Angor felt convinced. Yethew was right—how could a mere apprentice possess a Mystery item when 99% of true wizards didn’t have any?

“It’s something special!” Freud considered and began to chant a secret message into Angor’s ears using his soul energy.

Angor heard Freud’s clue and frowned again.

Yes… Now, this sounds a lot more likely.

In fact, Angor never intended to let Yethew go even if the man offered to sign a peace pact. Yethew made TWO attempts to ambush him. Combining with this man’s terrible character, letting him live meant leaving a great threat behind.

And Freud just promised him a bounty.

“Okay, let’s do just that,” Angor replied to Freud.

Yethew didn’t hear what Angor just said, but he felt scared when he saw Angor’s expression.

He immediately moved to run. At the same time, a giant swarm of insects rushed at Angor as a group.

These insects were dangerous when used together with the element of surprise. However, Angor didn’t feel threatened at all when Yethew unleashed them in the open.

The model of Field of Fire was already intact in his mind space. Angor simply lifted a hand and unleashed it.

He learned such a cantrip as a means of damaging things in a large area. The seawater hindered its power greatly, but it was still enough to engulf all the bugs that were weak against both fire and water.

With the insects dealt with, Angor ejected his soul and went after Yethew.

Yethew checked behind him and saw his insects were surrounding Angor’s body while Keely never showed up to stop him. Therefore, he was confident that he could get away.

And I’ll find a chance later to deal with both of them… And that accursed cat. Yes. That cat will be perfect for feeding my bugs—

But he didn’t get to make his following plans as a shadow soon moved into his path.

How did he move so fast?!

Yethew grew terrified when he sensed a strange sequence of energy covering him up, preventing him from moving in any way.

Angor snickered and unleashed a gravity shot toward Yethew’s head.

Bam!

Yethew’s head popped open, and the innards of his brain were carried away by water.

Following his death, countless insects crawled and wiggled out of Yethew’s neck.

Angor trembled a little while looking at the crammed pests that included a number of infamous hazardous ones. Although they couldn’t really do anything to his soul since he left his body back at the watchtower.

Once the bugs scattered away, Angor dragged Yethew’s corpse and headed back.