178 - 186

Chapter 178: The Ruin (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

Under the night sky, the boat slowly stopped and the team jumped onto the rocks. The light that fell from the sky did not brighten up the area and they could barely see anything around.

Melissa stepped on a piece of rock and overlooked the island. The only thing in her sight was a tall black hill with no trees anywhere. The areas covered by shadows were deep and dark.

"Stay alert, everyone. This was the territory of a mid-sized wizard organization. I think there'll be many traps around, so be careful," Melissa advised.

The other four wizards jumped through the rocks and landed on the beach. The yellow dust was buried in pieces of broken black stones.

Kuirman jumped off a rock easily as Ainphent walked to his side.

"I don't know why Melissa invited to you to join the team, but I hope you can prove that you're necessary for the mission," Ainphent said in a low voice.

"What's the problem?" Kuirman's brow furrowed. "It's not you who decides if I'm valuable to the team or not. Oh, wait, you're the one who invited a Gas stage weakling to the team."

"I'm confident that he'll do great in the mission and I believe he won't disappoint me." Ainphent smiled. "He's not a weak Gas stage wizard by the way."

He turned around and left.

"Are you sure about this?"

Kuirman narrowed his eyes.

He suddenly turned around and walked to Angele.

"Wizard Green."

Angele scrunched his eyebrows and backed off a bit—he wanted to keep a safe distance from this man.

"What do you want?"

Kuirman took a glance at Angele.

"Wizard Ainphent trusts you a lot, but I want to make sure you can contribute to the team."

Kuirman's voice was deep and loud.

"So, will you accept my challenge? Just me and you. The loser shall quit the mission and admit that he's worthless."

Kuirman pursed his lips to a sneer.

Angele narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that Kuirman did not like Ainphent and was taunted into something, so he decided to challenge Angele to a fight. However, Angele needed to try his best not to reveal his signet and heart bombs here, and using only the Metal Mastery would not guarantee him a win. Kuirman had many practical experiences, and he was a wizard at the Liquid stage.

Although Angele was learning new energy compression formulas and had spent most of the time experimenting on the ship, he was still not sure if he could win against Kuirman.

Angele's spell power was higher than before but using the energy compression method required a lot of mentality. They were getting close to the ruin and he did not want to waste his mentality, also, there was no time for him to recover.

"Well, I'm not interested," Angele answered in a light tone.

Ainphent looked at him. "It's just a test. Accept the challenge."

Old man Belem laughed. "You're a dark wizard, right? Why are you backing off?"

Melissa stood without saying a word but she was interested in the fight as well. Isabell still had no expression on her face; it seemed like she was not concerned.

The followers had already woken up. They jumped to the beach as well, attracted by Angele and Kuirman's conversation.

The team lined up beside the two

"Don't worry. It's just a test. I won't hurt you." Kuirman's green eyes were staring at Angele. "Also, you need to show us what you can do. You're the only Gas stage wizard in the team at the moment since the other one didn't show up. If you want to share the reward with us, you must accept the challenge."

He slightly leaned forward. "Also, if you really are a coward, you can just go stay on the boat while the rest of us will continue the mission. What do you think?"

Kuirman turned his face to Ainphent and sneered.

Angele just realized that Kuirman was taunting Ainphent, but he feared his background and decided to mess with Angele instead. It seemed like the wizards here were all familiar with Ainphent's family.

Angele glanced around. The wizards watching the argument all wanted to know how strong he was.

"Let's get started then."

He saw a green needle rushing toward his chest as he finished the word.

The needle was traveling at full speed, drawing a green arc in the air.

*DING*

A silver shield formed before Angele and blocked the attack. Fire sparked as the needle hit the front of the shield.

Angele barely had no time to react and Kuirman's sneak attack almost succeeded.

'Warning! Threat detected! Target's attributes: Strength over 20, Agility over 15, Stamina over 17. Safe distance, 15 meters…'

The chip's mechanical voice echoed in Angele's head.

Goose bumps rose on his skin.

'F*cking hell… Kuirman's Strength is over 20?'

The silver shield in front Angele was penetrated while he was thinking.

The green needle stopped for a second and started rushing towards Angele again.

Angele stepped back right away when the green needle was stopped by the shield. He raised his hand and created a long black dagger. He tried to stop the needle by hitting it with the tip of the

dagger.

*Crack*

The black dagger broke into pieces.

*CHI*

The needle went past Angew'a left, turned into green light dots, and vanished into the air.

Angele kept retreating, but his boots were already in the chilling sea. He raised his head and saw Kuirman was more than ten meters away from him.

He was breathing heavily and his chest was pumping. Cold sweat covered Angele's forehead.

The place was deadly silent. The others wizards seemed surprised after witnessing Kuirman's skill.

Kuirman's one simple-looking strike almost slew a Gas stage wizard. The wizards here all had serious expressions on their faces. They had all already learned how strong Kuirman was through that strange green needle.

Angele narrowed his eyes again and stared at Kuirman.

'This man's attributes are higher than Grand Knights', what kind of monster is he… The glowing elephant's Strength is 8 and its Stamina is 15… Harland of Lennon is a famous Grand Knight and he only has 8.2 points of Strength... This Kuirman must be a close-combat wizard that enhanced his body with special spells or…'

Angele had thousands of thoughts in his mind, but he was still observing Kuirman's movements carefully.

Kuirman looked surprised. "Impressive. I didn't expect you to dodge that attack. Half of the wizards I killed died to that spell. So, Ainphent didn't trust you for no reason."

He slowly raised his right hand and pulled out a silver scimitar from his long green robe.

The scimitar had the width of a human's arm and the blade was smooth like a mirror.

*CHI*

Waves of green gas climbed up the scimitar.

"Everyone, stay away from him!" Melissa suddenly shouted.

The wizards and the followers were all strong enough to sense the breath of death twisting around the scimitar.

"It's a cursed weapon… You need to kill wizards that are at the same level as you, collect their dying curses, and concentrate them before crafting such a weapon… No wonder you're so strong," Melissa explained with a low voice. She was staring at the scimitar with a serious expression on her face.

"Ha, you're probably the only one here that can recognize where my weapon comes from."

Kuirman smiled and turned the scimitar around.

*KA*

Two more blades appeared on the right and left side of the handle, coated with the same green gas.

Kuirman started to swing the scimitar with his right hand.

The weapon turned into a spinning fan and Angele could hear the wind howling.

He had no idea how he should counter the next attack.

Angele was used to striking his opponents first with physical attacks, however, Kuirman was a close-combat wizard. His attributes and equipment were also much better.

Angele deactivated his metal force field after his shield was penetrated. He had realized he could do such a thing after his mentality was compressed. The mentality compression method helped him control the Metal Mastery a lot.

Zero warned him as the shield failed to block the needle and he had to deactivate the force field to prevent direct mentality damage.

He would be dead or severely injured if his metal force field was completely destroyed. The damage to his mentality would even prevent him from casting any damage spells.

The Talent Spell was the reason why wizards were strong, but it would become their weak point if the force field was broken by opponents.

Angele was considering using his signet or heart bomb since Kuirman's Stamina was over 17. Basic damage spells would not be effective on him.

"Are you ready?"

Kuirman chuckled and disappeared. Two small holes were left at the place that he had been standing in.

A green shadow appeared beside Angele and hit him hard.

*BAM*

The two traded hits and fell into the sea together. They were about five or six meters away from the shore.

They were slowly sinking into the freezing sea.

Angele's face turned red. The wing pattern on his left palm was sending out distorted waves around him quietly.

He grabbed Kuirman's right hand, and the cursed scimitar almost cut his waist open.

'The energy waves from the signet distracted Kuirman's attack… I probably should've fully activated it… That was too close…'

Angele focused on Kuirman's right arm.

The other's strength was so strong that Angele could barely hold his arm.

Silver metal liquid started coming out of Angele's skin. It climbed up Kuirman's right arm and started solidifying.

Chapter 179: The Ruin (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

Angele was trying to stop Kuirman from hitting him again by applying the hardened metal onto his arms. This was probably the only way to deal with his extreme strength.

A small amount of the silver liquid moved to Kuirman's face, trying to rush into his mouth, ears, and nose.

Kuirman pursed his lips as he attempted to break the solidified metal layer. After several seconds, the metal coating started cracking. Kurmain raised his left hand and tried to punch Angele. His force was so strong that the water started whirling.

*BAM*

Kuirman's fist hit Angele's metal barrier but barely did any damage.

The two quickly stepped away from each other in the turbid water and started preparing for the next strike.

It was dark and blue under the water, and the only thing around them was the sea. The two controlled the Water energy particles to prevent themselves from sinking. An endless deep fosse was right under their feet.

*CHI*

Kuirman pulled the broken metal layer off his body, raised his scimitar again, and slashed forward.

The water was pulled to his scimitar and the strike created a small vortex that was about to hit Angele.

Kuirman raised his left hand, and five finger-long green needles appeared above his palm. They spun several times before being pushed towards Angele.

The needles mixed with the vortex, approaching at full speed.

The pressure brought by the vortex was pushing water into Angele's mouth and nose, he could barely breathe. He quickly raised his right hand and created a silver shield in front of himself.

*BOOM*

The vortex was stopped by the shield, and the green needles were also blocked.

Angele hid behind the shield and kept adding extra layers to harden it.

He could feel the force Kuirman applied to the strike as the vortex and the needles were blocked.

*CLANK*

Angele's face turned pale and blood came out of his mouth.

*CHI CHI CHI*

Three of the needles still penetrated the shield, and they were only several centimeters away from Angele's face. The green glow casted reflections on his skin.

Before Angele could react, he saw a green shadow coming to his lower left. It was Kuirman, and he was sneering.

*BAM*

Angele took the painful hit from below.

He flew into the air after being kicked out of the water, drops of blood splashing everywhere.

Kuirman floated on the surface and watched Angele dropping. He held the scimitar in his hand and slashed upward, hard.

*Clank*

Kuirman moved to the other side of Angele and slashed again after the first strike hit. The silver armor on Angele's body started shattering.

The man kept switching positions while hitting Angele; the battle looked very one-sided.

"Weak! You're too weak!" Kuirman roared.

*BAM*

Angele was kicked into the air again. A cruel smile appeared on Kuirman's face, and the green gas surrounding his cursed blade became more intense. He charged at Angele again.

It was the first time Angele felt so helpless. He could barely think after taking so many strong hits.

He saw Kuirman sneering while trying to hit him with the scimitar.

"I have to do this…"

Angele pursed his lips and spat out some blood. A blue heart slid into his palm as his silver armor broke into pieces. At the same moment, three silver scars appeared on his face.

"That's enough!" suddenly, Melissa shouted.

A white light dot traveled through the air and stopped between Angele and Kuirman. The light dot expanded and transformed into a translucent crystal plate that separated the two completely.

Four twisted blue runes were blinking on the surface of the plate, their shapes changing to four strange creatures.

Angele and Kuirman stared at each other through the translucent plate. They could see killing intent evident on the other's face. However, they knew that Melissa would not let them continue the fight now she had released her aura.

"There's no point in fighting anymore. The ruins are dangerous and we can't waste our energy here," she stated, her voice echoing through the area.

Angele stepped off the plate, jumped into the sea, and swam to the shore.

Kuirman returned his scimitar into the robe and followed Angele. They used Fire energy particles to dry their clothes after leaving the water. White steam rose from their clothes and their bodies were coated in red glows.

The result of the fight seemed obvious to the rest of the team.

"Green doesn't stand a chance against Kuirman. However, as a Gas stage wizard, he's above average."

Old man Belem laughed.

The others did not comment on the result of the fight but Angele noticed the disappointment in Ainphent's eyes.

Isabell took a glance at Angele but her expression was blank.

"You're way too weak. I thought you could at least leave several wounds on my body…" Kuirman shook his head. "Master Melissa, why did you stop us? You should've let me kill this kid. There's no reason for us to share the reward with him."

"Shut it. Let's move."

Melissa turned around and pointed at the translucent plate.

*Crack*

The plate exploded into pieces and vanished into the air. It sounded like a window being broken.

Angele lowered his head. His eyes were filled with hatred.

He was certain that if Melissa hadn't stepped in at the last second, the explosion of the heart bomb would have killed Kuirman. But her timing was way too perfect.

The only good thing was that no one knew what he was going to do during the fight, so he would have plenty of chances to backstab Kuirman in the ruins.

The wizards' followers did not say a single word as they did not want to offend anyone here. None of them was stronger than a formal wizard.

Melissa was leading the team at the front and Kuirman followed after her.

Ainphent and Belem were surrounded by followers, staying at the back of the team.

Angele wanted to keep the distance from the others, but Isabell and her three Grand Knights walked beside him.

He hadn't had the chance to fight back during the battle. Although he was not severely injured and the blood was just from the impact, he still felt depressed.

Kuirman's Strength, Agility, and Stamina were all much higher than Angele's. There was no point for him to use his sword skills under such circumstances. He should've tried to cast spells, but Kuirman's combo strikes were too furious, and Angele could only try to defend with the metal force field. Three layers of silver metal armor had barely stopped Kuirman's scimitar.

However, Angele noticed that although the signet was not fully activated, it still confused Kuirman for a second. It birthed a plan in his mind.

The team kept advancing. They were going deeper and deeper into the island.

The surface of the island was covered with black rocks.

The only things Angele could see were broken stone pieces and empty grounds. There was not a plant or animal around.

The whole island was deadly silent.

The ground was covered in small pieces of stones, and the team advanced between the black rocks. The howling wind was freezing, so even the Grand Knights had to pull their collars up.

Angele stayed in the middle of the team. He glanced around and realized he was going uphill.

He picked up a black stone from the ground and started observing it.

The stone looked like a piece of charcoal and was coated in some black dust, but the dust had no smell.

'Strange… I can sense the Necromantic negative energy from it…' Angele thought as he dropped the stone to the ground.

Melissa was leading the team at the front. She was still following the direction pointed out by the accessory on her palm.

Half an hour later, the team arrived at a large cliff with a square built upon it.

On the gray square, there was a humongous stone sundial standing in the center. Its diameter was about ten meters.

The sundial was black, and it looked a bit strange on the gray platform. The inclined edge on its surface was about seven meters tall, but the number was unreadable as the sun was covered by the clouds.

"This is the entrance to the ruins!" Melissa shouted out, stepping onto the sundial. "The main entrance to the ruins changes every day. Let's try to find it as soon as possible."

The wizards spread to different areas of the sundial. Angele crouched by the edge and started observing the runes and strings painted there.

The rune in front of him looked like a 'V' that was written upside down.

Isabell's voice came from behind. "This is a rune used by an ancient wizard organization called the Axis of Time and it represents the number five."

.

"The Axis of Time...?"

Angele had never heard of an organization like that.

"It's an ancient organization that worshipped time, they considered time as their God. Their ultimate goal was to control the time and then change their destinies," Isabell explained slowly. "However, the whole organization disappeared during the war, thousands of wizards vanished into the air together on the west coast. It was almost like they had never existed. People tried their best to locate the abandoned ruins of the organization but only a few of them successfully retrieved some valuable information."

"Interesting." Angele stood up. "Do you know anything else about them?"

"I do." Isabell stared Angele in the eyes. "The legend says that there were several stage 4 wizards in the Axis of Time and the organization was the strongest on the west coast."

"Stage 4…?"

Angele was surprised. He already knew how hard it was for a wizard to reach the next stage. Long meditations barely increased his mentality. Without resources and potions, he was almost certain that he would stay at the Gas stage for the rest of his life.

Zero could show him four decimal places when displaying attributes, however, the number had not changed for a while, and it indicated that Angele needed better meditation methods or potions that would help him gain mentality immediately.

This was the reason why Angele decided to join the mission without hesitation. Zero had already listed the required materials for making the Tree Killer potion, so the only thing he needed to do now was to obtain the materials at any cost.

Chapter 180: The Ruin (3)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

"Something isn't right!" Melissa's voice suddenly came from the other side.

"The entrance was opened by someone already."

She was standing beside one of the hour lines, looking depressed.

All the wizards were surprised. They quickly gathered beside Melissa.

She pointed at the white dot on the dark hour line and they watched the white dot slowly turning gray.

Ainphent had a serious expression on his face.

"This mark means the entrance was opened not so long ago. The dot will turn white first and then slowly return to gray. Someone or something has already entered the ruins…"

"Something? You mean creatures?" Belem questioned.

"I'm not sure. The area we went past is covered in black rocks, but the other half of the island is a sea of dark trees. We already explored the island last time but we didn't find any living beings."

Melissa's brow furrowed.

"Strange, no one followed us here… which means someone else located the island by himself, " Ainphent said, lowering his voice.

"How's that even possible? We never leaked any information to the public."

Melissa was about to say something else but her expression suddenly changed.

"Move away from the sundial!" she shouted out.

The island started shaking, and it almost felt like an earthquake.

The team quickly walked off the sundial.

A line of dark smoke appeared on top of the gray gnomon. It looked like a snake climbing up the incline, and after several seconds, the snake turned into a small black light dot.

White smoke slowly rose from the surface of the sundial as the earthquake stopped, then lingered in the air.

A dreamy voice came from nowhere. It sounded like a woman singing an opera, the pitch high and tone mild.

"My beloved hometown.

I shall return one day.

I've been wandering for so long.

I miss the clean spring, the beautiful frogs.

We shall enjoy the best insects together while listening

to the charming screams. We party, we dance, and we sing.

The sky is red as the blood and the land is warm as lava.

The blood in the glass was smooth and tasty.

We laughed, we gouged our eyes out…

We chew them now as we sing…"

"What the hell is this song?"

Angele glanced around. It seemed like the voice was coming from all angles, echoing above the empty and lonely island.

"I don't know. I never learned this language but I can understand the meaning of the lyrics," Isabell said, her eyebrows scrunched.

"I don't like it. It's sick."

Ainphent shook his head.

The followers all had serious expressions on their faces while checking the surroundings. The song was repeated several times before it stopped.

*Crack*

Three dark tunnel entrances opened up in the sundial. Each was about one meter wide and Angele could see long, white-stone staircases inside leading to an endless abyss.

Strangely, the three entrances slowly turned blurry, and it almost looked like they were about to disappear.

"What are you waiting for? Enter the ruins. Someone triggered the trap inside and something is changing!" Melissa shouted out in a loud voice and pointed at the three entrances.

A ray of white light shot out from her fingertip and transformed into three white energy strings. They quickly glued to the entrances.

The dark tunnels became focused once again and remained stable for the time being.

Without saying anything, Melissa rushed into the entrance closest to her and vanished into the darkness.

"Move!" Ainphent yelled and followed Melissa into the same entrance, his followers entering after him as well.

Kuirman glanced around and entered a different entrance. Angele looked at him for a second, checking the entrances the others had went in.

"Hmm."

He stepped forward and rushed into the tunnel Kuirman had chosen.

The tunnel was dark. Angele felt like he had just entered an endless space as he stepped inside. The only thing in his sight was a floating stone staircase.

He started walking down the stairs, and the sounds of his footsteps echoed in the space.

Angele glanced around and once again confirmed that there was nothing around. He raised his right hand and created a silver knife in his palm.

*CHI*

He shot the knife to the right, and it was swallowed by the darkness without making any noise right away. Angele did not hear the knife hitting anything, so he assumed that the right and left sides were infinite as well.

He had no idea how long the staircase was. He could not see the end at all.

*Kata-kata*

The only thing Angel could hear was his footsteps and a chilling feel climbed up his back.

He turned his head around, but the entrance had already disappeared. It was replaced by a black shadow.

Angele looked down and was shocked. He slowly took a step forward then stopped.

The gray stair disappeared as Angele moved his feet away from it.

He tried to step on the disappeared stair again but nothing was there.

"This place…"

Angele's heart was pumping.

With a flick of his finger, a ball of red flame appeared beside the left side of his face. Its bright yellow glow brightened up the area around him.

Angele stood still and observed his surroundings with the help of the light.

However, he could only see the stairs in front, the rest of the area was covered by a strange dark aura.

"Ha," Angele sneered and blue light dots appeared in front of his eyes.

'Zero, can you scan the environment for me?'

'Task created, scanning… processing… done…transferring the information…' Zero reported quickly.

*Hissss*

A strange noise echoed in Angele's ears. It sounded like a snake using its forked tongue, and suddenly, intense blue glow covered his eyes.

*BOOM*

The environment changed. Angele's eyes blurred and the next moment he was standing on a wet staircase of a closed tunnel.

The ball of flame was still floating around his face and it quickly brightened up the place.

The walls were built with light yellow bricks while the ground was covered in black slates. Angele heard deep and slow footsteps ahead; someone else was here.

'Warning… Unknown force field detected! The chip is being… *CHI*… interrupted! The force field… is….'

Angele could barely understand what Zero was reporting. It sounded like the current noise mixed with random voice lines, and its voice did not even sound mechanical anymore.

Angele's sight blurred again, his view shifting between bright light and darkness. He thought he was standing in a tunnel but the next second he saw the endless dark space in front of him again.

"Goddamn it! What the hell is this place?" Angele cursed in a low voice.

He turned around and started running back.

He was running at full speed while the tunnel and the dark space kept flashing in his sight. After several minutes, he arrived at the exit, and he could see the bright white sky outside.

Angele rushed out.

"Where am I..?" he wondered, looking around.

The greens trees were vibrant, and the wind was making the leaves dance in the air.

"The tunnel is still here?" Angele turned his head around and looked into the tunnel. It was still dark.

He had a plan in his mind, so he returned to the tunnel.

*CHI*

Nothing was interrupting his chip anymore. He returned to the stone staircase, and he could see the black rocks outside the exit. It indicated that the exit now led to the sundial.

'So, it was an illusion?'

Angele raised his left hand and saw the wings on the palm swinging. It seemed like they had grown a bit larger than before.

'The unknown force field is no longer around,' Zero reported in its mechanical voice.

The signet was heating up. It was absorbing some unknown energy substance from the air slowly; it seemed like the blood of the harpies helped Angele resist the illusion. However, the signet needed time to develop the resistance to the illusion that was impacting him here.

Angele calmed down and walked down the stairs quickly.

The tunnel was wet, and he could smell the mold in the air.

After turning twice, a familiar man appeared in Angele's sight.

It was Kuirman. The light from his torch casted flickering shadows upon his green robe. It looked like the robe was specially designed, and Kuirman was walking forward slowly.

He heard someone's quick footsteps and turned his head around, seeing Angele standing in the corner, staring at him.

"You come to me yourself?" Kuirman looked surprised. "You know you can't beat me, right? Are you stupid? How did you even become a formal wizard?" Kuirman taunted and sneered.

"Die!"

Angele wasted no time and threw a blue heart bomb at Kuirman.

*BOOM*

Countless drops of freezing blue liquid splashed through the tunnel as the heart bomb exploded in the air. After several seconds, the walls and the ground were painted in blue.

Chapter 181: The Ruin (4)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

Kuirman tried his best to dodge the bomb but half of his body was still hit by the blue liquid.

The blue liquid was slimy. It was slowly moving around the walls and Kuirman's green robe. Angele's sight was blurred by the white steam rising from it.

*Crack*

The whole tunnel slowly turned blue, the energy particles in the air freezing.

Kuirman was not prepared for the explosion and a thin layer of frost covered his skin as the blue liquid spread.

"F*cking hell! What's this thing?! Wait… This is not an ordinary beast heart!"

Kuirman roared in pain. Blood was dripping down his nose but it seemed like he was not badly injured. His high Stamina provided him with enough resistance to the ice damage.

*CHI*

Kuirman drew his cursed scimitar, turned around, and slashed forward. The blade turned into a fan as it soared through the air.

This time a red heart flew at him.

"Damn!" Kuirman cursed but failed to dodge.

*BOOM*

The man was swollen by red flames, the power of the explosion making the whole tunnel shake.

The burning flame melted the frozen blue liquid that filled up the tunnel and the Fire energy particles blazed.

It felt like standing in a closed box that was put on fire. The temperature inside was extremely high. Angele leaned backward, noting that Kuirman was blown against the left wall by the explosion.

The dent left on the wall had the shape of Kuirman's body.

"You… How dare you…"

Kuirman was still alive. He slowly slid to the ground, his body burnt and surrounded by white smoke.

The fire slowly extinguished as there was nothing left for it to burn anymore.

Angele had more than 20 heart bombs hidden under his robe and the two he had just used had the lowest power. It was possible that he could simply bomb Kuirman to death.

The first one he threw contained Ice energy and the second one Fire energy. They both had about 51 degrees of power. Kuirman was not in the center of the explosions, but he was still hit by at least 40 degrees of power twice in a row.

It looked like Kuirman was severely injured. Angele stared at him and pursed his lips into a cold smile.

"Farewell…"

He raised his left hand and the wings on the palm started swinging.

*BAM*

Kuirman suddenly hit the wall with his right fist.

Some black light dots splashed into the air with pieces of broken stones.

Angele was not sure why Kuirman did that, but the wings on his palm stopped swinging, and it seemed like the signet was trying to absorb the black dots.

Angele stood there and could not move, his sight replaced by darkness. The only thing he could see was the gray stairs under his feet. The tunnel and Kuirman were no longer there.

He assumed he was trapped in the illusion again.

"Again..?"

Angele lowered his left hand and checked the signet on his palm. Luckily it was not fully activated and he could still use it later.

Suddenly, a chilling feel climbed up the back of his neck. His sight blurred and the tunnel appeared again.

"Die!" Kuirman roared furiously from behind.

Angele turned around and Kuirman's green needle almost reached the tip of his nose. Kuirman sneered while trying hard to stab Angele's neck.

*BOOM*

Intense green flame blazed between the two.

They were blown away by the impact at the same time and hit the walls on opposite sides.

"The hell…"

Kuirman coughed blood and his body was stuck to the wall again.

"You prick…"

He stared Angele.

Angele slowly stood up. He was close to the center of the explosion but most of the impact was directed at Kuirman, so he himself was just slightly hurt.

"It's over, Kuirman."

Another red heart bomb appeared in Angele's hand. It was pumping slowly, and its surface had a green glint.

"Where do you find those strange energy hearts?!" A hint of fear formed on Kuirman's face. "Such quality… and such power… who did you purchase those hearts from?"

He raised the cursed scimitar.

A thin layer of green glow coated the surface of the silver blade and casted reflection on Kuirman's body.

Strangely, the burnt areas on his skin were recovering at a fast rate. The wounds disappeared, and it almost looked like he was never hurt several seconds later.

*CHI*

Kuirman suddenly disappeared.

Angele assumed Kuirman was trying to fight back. He quickly turned around and was about to detonate another heart bomb.

However, he saw Kuirman running toward the other side of the tunnel without looking back. He held his stomach with both hands as he ran, a trail of blood on the ground behind him.

The green glint on his scimitar turned darker. It seemed like he did not have enough mentality or mana to support the enhancement spell.

"Trying to escape?"

Angele pursed his lips and started chasing after the man.

Kuirman's attributes were decreasing. It seemed like he needed a certain type of energy particles to trigger the effect on the cursed blade, and after taking damage, he used some of the energy to cure the wounds temporarily.

Kuirman's speed was decreasing gradually and Angele caught up within 20 seconds.

*BOOM*

Furious flame rushed through the tunnel and blew Kuirman into the wall again.

Angele approached him slowly after creating a silver crossguard sword in his right hand.

The fire brightened up the whole tunnel.

The two were getting closer and closer. The light from the fire reflected on the blade of Angele's sword.

Kuirman fainted after hitting the wall. Angele aimed at his neck and threw his sword.

*CHI*

The crossguard sword drew an arc in the air but Kuirman's body disappeared right before he was about to get hit, and the sword ended up hitting the wall.

*CLANK*

The sword dropped to the ground.

"Who's there!"

Angele turned his head around.

His back was pushed by a strong force before he could see the man's face.

*BAM*

Angele's back numbed after being pushed. It felt like getting hit by a truck that was traveling at full speed on a highway.

He almost flew back to the stone staircase, which was about ten meters away from Kuirman's location.

"Damn!"

Angele struggled for a second before standing up. He barely took any damage. Kuirman had hit him much harder back on the shore, and this time his metal force field could easily handle the impact.

He turned around and looked into the dark tunnel. A man with two heads above his shoulders was running with Kuirman on his back.

"I can't let you live, you already saw my heart bombs…" Angele held two heart bombs in both of his hands. "Die!"

He narrowed his eyes.

At that moment, he heard people yelling on the other side of the tunnel.

"The noise came from here! It must be the wizard from Two Head Sect!"

A group of people rushed down the stairs, Ainphent and Belem leading the way in front.

The fully-geared Grand Knights followed after the two. They were injured and looked tired. Angele counted the number, and it seemed like several of them had died in some intense battles.

"Hey, it's you!"

Ainphent saw Angele standing there while Belem noticed the man with two heads running with Kuirman on his back.

They looked surprised after realizing that Angele was trying to finish off two wizards that were much stronger than him.

Ainphent stepped back quietly after seeing Angele's angry expression. He knew something was not right. Belem was way too familiar with the route in the ruins, and the old man looked anxious after receiving a message. He led the whole team here and found wizard Green.

It did not seem like a coincidence. Angele laughed through his nose and returned the two heart bombs into his robe while trying to catch up with the two-headed man in the front.

"Wait!"

Belem suddenly appeared in front of Angele and blocked his path.

"What're you doing?"

Angele stared at the old man and started releasing the metal energy particles.

"I'm just trying to help. I know how strong that two-headed wizard is! You'll need our help!"

Apparently, Belem was not good at lying. His nervous expression already explained everything.

"Get out of my way!"

Angele raised his hand and slashed forward with his crossguard sword, however, his strike was blocked by an invisible barrier.

*CLANK*

Although the attack was blocked by the barrier, Belem still almost lost his balance. Suddenly, he calmed down and stared Angele in the eyes.

"Don't go! Some of our followers have already been killed by him! We need to stay together, otherwise, the ruins will swallow us!"

He raised his arms and tried to black Angele's path again.

Angele was stopped by a new enemy when he was about to finish Kuirman off. He needed to make sure that Kuirman did not tell anyone about the heart bombs he had, and for that to happen he needed to catch and slay them with one shot.

The wizards would go after him for sure if the secret of the hearts was leaked.

Kuirman and the two-headed man were almost out of Angele's sight but Belem was still trying his best to stop him from moving.

"Don't risk your life!" Belem shouted.

Angele's expression changed. He raised his right hand and a fist-sized fireball appeared on his palm. He pushed the fireball toward Belem without hesitation.

"Protect the master!"

"Kill that wizard! Now!"

The Grand Knights behind Belem charged at Angele, and their bodies were surrounded by the same white glows.

"Go! Lesser Fireball!" Angele shouted.

He threw a red heart bomb forward when other people's attention was attracted by the fireball. The heart bomb was detonated by the fireball, and they exploded at the same time. The sparkling flame prevented the bomb from being noticed by others.

*BOOM*

The whole tunnel started shaking again. The flame splashed and exploded, so people around could barely open their eyes.

The three Grand Knights were blown away like pieces of paper. They hit the wall and stopped moving.

Belem was severely wounded by the explosion, blood coming out of his nose and mouth. He rolled on the ground and stopped after hitting the wall on the left.

The explosion also stopped Angele from chasing the escaping two-headed wizard and Kuirman. They had already disappeared from his sight.

"F*ck!" he cursed loudly.

Angele turned around and walked to Belem.

*BAM*

He kicked Belem hard in the waist.

Belem leaned against the wall, his defensive barrier destroyed by the explosion. The old man was wounded and exhausted, and he had no strength to fight back. More and more blood was dripping down his face after he was kicked by Angele.

"Block this! Traitor!" Angele shouted anxiously and kept kicking Kuirman. "Did you plan all this? Spit it out!"

*BAM*

He kicked Belem in the face.

Belem was kicked into the air and dropped to the ground several seconds later. He lay on the ground barely able to breathe.

"Filthy scum!" Angele cursed and pointed at Belem's neck. A sharp silver metal needle slowly appeared on the tip of his finger.

"Green, wait. We need to take him back to the council. Something must be going on and we need him to talk. Didn't you just fight a wizard from the Two Head Sect," Ainphent yelled out and stopped Angele.

The followers behind him were all prepared for the possible fight. They weren't sure if Angele wouldn't try to kill them as well.

Belem's actions already explained everything. He was related to the Two Head Sect, and he was trying to help the other wizard escape. However, Belem hadn't known that Angele would try to kill him without any hesitation. He stood right in front of Angele and had no time to cast any defensive spells.

Angele took a glance at Ainphent and lowered his hand. He was not sure who was behind Ainphent and what was that council he was talking about.

"This… is my sect's territory… you'll all die… Ha… And… Green, I know your…"

Belem had a strange smile on his face. He kept speaking while blood ran down his mouth.

"Shut up!"

Angele was not sure what Belem was going to say. He quickly ran to the old man and cracked his skull.

Belem's brains mixed with blood splashed everywhere.

Angele was not sure what Ainphent was going to do but he had to take action right now. He turned around and started running again.

Some of Angele's energy particles remained on Kuirman's body and he tried to track him down using the energy trail.

"You won't escape this…"

Angele narrowed his eyes and vanished into the darkness.

Chapter 182: Exploration (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

The dark twisted tunnel extended ahead. Angele increased his speed and the only noise in the place was from his footsteps and breathing.

A ball of yellow flame floated on the left side of his head and brightened up the area around him.

'Strange, the route here is a mess.' Angele was running at full speed but his head was still clear.

It felt like the tunnel was shifting by itself. Angele ordered Zero to create a map of the area when the tunnel first appeared in front of him but he already encountered two unknown exits on his way here. Without the tracking spell, he would have already lost the two in front of him.

He ran as he reconsidered the situation.

'Based on Belem's dying words, this ruins is the territory of the Two Head Sect. The sect's name probably comes from its members' appearances. The wizard we saw earlier had two heads over his shoulders. However, Melissa and Ainphent have visited the ruins many times already, I don't understand how they didn't find anything about the Two Head Sect's secret plan… There're probably many things I still don't know about.'

Angele suddenly stopped as he turned at a corner. There was a bright ray of sunlight shooting down the roof in the area ahead.

The top of the tunnel was cracked, and the golden sunlight was dazzling.

Angele slightly narrowed his eyes and walked into the sunlight.

He raised his head and tried to peek outside through the gap.

The clouds that covered the blue sky were no longer there, and Angele embraced the warmth of the sun.

He carefully removed the cracked stone pieces from the gap and two green vines dropped right in front of him.

Angele's sight fell upon the place where the vines were in contact with the edge of the gap.

The surface of the vine was scratched, revealing white plant fibers.

"They escaped through this gap…"

Angele visualized the scene of the two-headed wizard climbing up the vines and leaving the tunnel with Kuirman on his back.

He quickly grabbed the vine in hand and pulled on it hard. Angele then quickly stepped back and raised his head.

*CHICHICHI*

A trap was triggered and some black items dropped to the ground from the gap. They drew a straight line below the vine.

Angele shook his head and pursed his lips.

It was a line of black needles. They stabbed into the slates, and their shapes looked identical to those used by Kuirman.

"Not a surprise."

Angele sneered and raised his right hand. A thin metal string twisted around the vine and pulled it several times.

It seemed like the needles were the only trap they had set up here.

Angele stepped forward and grabbed the vine.

He quickly climbed out of the tunnel through the gap.

Above the tunnel, it was a sea of trees. They were tall and vibrant, their roots strong and bushes around them thick.

Green grass covered the land and there were several white flowers mixed in.

The distance between each of the trees was about four to five meters, and the black mud was covered with broken pieces of white stones. It looked like white sesame seeds spread on a large piece of black cloth.

Angele moved out of the exit and saw a humongous tree right beside him. The sunlight went through the gaps of the branches and dropped to the land, while the tree's root was covered by green vines. Inside the forest, there were no insects or animals. The only thing Angele could see were the plants.

The mud under his feet was wet. Angele went around the bell-shaped root and straightened his robe. Before he could observe the environment, two men appeared in his sight.

They were the two-headed wizard and Kuirman.

Kuirman had already woken up and was chanting some incantation in a low voice, the left side of his body already merged with the two-headed man's.

It almost looked like Kuirman was trying to get into the man's flesh.

There were no five sense organs on the two-headed man's face, his skin clean and smooth. He was not resisting what Kuirman was doing to him, just standing there and waiting for Kuirman to finish the incantation.

Kuirman heard Angele's footsteps and turned his head around. He gritted his teeth but Angele could see the fear on his face.

Kuirman stopped chanting the incantation, knowing he had no way to finish the spell, and it was possible that the unstable mana would kill him. However, it seemed like the pausing of the spell did not impact the effect that had already happened.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Kuirman asked in a deep voice. Half of his body had already disappeared, his arms and head were on the back of the two-headed wizard. The scene gave Angele an unpleasant feeling.

He sneered. "You gave up?"

"You have no idea… I spent years collecting the cursed power and you destroyed it all! There's no point for me to run anymore. I'll show you what I'm capable of." The fear on Kuirman's face disappeared and he stared at Angele. "Now my power has returned… Don't expect to defeat me easily…"

"Huh? Interesting. Show me what you can do then."

Three silver metal scars slowly appeared on the left side of Angele's face.

Kuirman laughed through his nose and clapped his hands, then his body and the two-headed man's body completely combined.

The shape of the two-headed man's faces shifted and the next moment he looked exactly like Kuirman.

The two-headed version of Kuirman was half naked, only his lower body covered by a blue blanket. He was about two meters tall, looking strong and ruthless.

Kuirman drew his cursed scimitar again and coated the blade with the familiar green aura.

"Die, insect!" Kuirman charged toward Angele, the scimitar in his right hand spinning so fast that it blurred. "How many heart bombs do you have?! Huh?" he roared out while slashed forward.

Angele shook his head, then the sleeves of his robe, and four heart bombs appeared on both of his palms. All of them were covered in a red glow, ready to be detonated.

He raised his arms and aimed at Kuirman.

His opponent's confident expression was replaced by fear in a second. He quickly turned around and tried to escape.

"F*cking hell! Where do you get so many heart bombs?! You're crazy!" he yelled as he started retreating.

Kuirman had assumed that Angele had used up all of his heart bombs in the tunnel, not expecting Angele to have hidden so many of them under his robe. It was an extremely risky behavior as the heart bombs might explode during battle.

*BOOM*

A shell-shaped area in front of Angele was covered in flames.

The sky, the trees, and the land disappeared from Kuirman's sight, and instead, he saw the furious fire trying to swallow him.

The pressure brought by the explosions squeezed Kuirman's body and the high temperature vaporized his defensive barrier in the blink of the eyes.

"Ah!"

Kuirman roared in pain but the only thing Angele could hear was the burning fire. Kuirman's eyes perished in the flames, his nose and ears were destroyed by the explosion. In the end, there was not much left of him.

The flames streaked into the air and ignited all the trees around. The enormous tree trunks fell to the ground as the fire sparked.

Thick white smoke permeated the air.

The grass inside the explosion's radius all turned to ashes in seconds, and waves of heat spread out in all directions.

Angele was caught in the center of the explosion and was blown away. He created multiple thin silver metal strings and shot them toward the trees on the sides to reduce the impact. Eight large trees were pulled down before he dropped to the ground.

"Four Fire heart bombs and each of them had at least 50 degrees of power… Incredible…"

It was the first time Angele had used four heart bombs at the same time, and he was surprised.

The location he was standing at had turned into a sea of fire, the glowing red Fire energy particles mixed in with the burning plants covered the light from the sun.

Kuirman was struggling and trembling in the flames. He tried to escape, but he was surrounded by a circle of furious fire. He was dying, no longer able to hear or see anything, but he was still trying to find a way to survive.

Angele was more than ten meters away from the edge of the burning area, but he could still feel the heat, and even the metal layer that covered his skin started melting. He had to back off several meters more.

"It's over."

Angele sighed and watched Kuirman burning in the flames. He used one-third of the heart bombs he had during this fight.

He recalled the day he had killed two hundred-eyed monsters outside the ruins of Ramsoda, one heart bomb made from the glowing elephant's heart was all he had needed. However, the monsters had been way weaker than Kuirman—he had almost recovered from the injury done by several heart bombs.

Kuirman's burning body started melting from the heat. He was still moving, but it seemed like there was no way for him to recover from this.

*BOOM*

Suddenly, Kuirman's body exploded and his organs splashed everywhere.

A spinning scimitar drew a long arc in the air, surrounded by flames.

*CHI*

The scimitar stabbed into a tree's trunk beside Angele, the blade was still smoking. The remaining heat on the metal left a deep burnt mark on the surface of the trunk.

Angele turned around. He was surprised that Kuirman's weapon was still in a good shape after the explosion. There was not even a dent on its blade.

Angele walked to the tree and stopped by its trunk.

There was a silver glint on the scimitar, but the coiling green aura was no longer there. The wavy blade looked like a silver snake twisting its body.

The handle of the scimitar was made from black metal, but Angele did not see any hilt. Its handle had the style of the short daggers used in rituals.

Angele put his hands on the handle. Many blue light dots appeared in the air. They gathered around the handle and turned into a water beam.

*CHI*

Thick white steam rose from the handle.

After several seconds, the steam disappeared as the blue light dots vanished into the air.

Angele grabbed the handle of the scimitar and pulled it out of the tree trunk.

Chapter 183: Exploration (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

"The cursed scimitar…"

Angele recalled how Melissa had described Kuirman's weapon but he did not find any additional information about it in the database.

He checked the scimitar but it seemed like a special technique was needed in order to trigger its effect. Angele's mentality and energy particles did not work; it was basically just a normal scimitar to him.

Angele spent several minutes observing the scimitar while Zero was doing the scan, but he did not acquire any valuable information. Deciding to do further investigation later, he tied it to his belt.

He raised his head and had one final glance at the furious flames. Kuirman's body was already burnt to ashes and Angele could no longer detect the man's mentality waves.

Angele returned to the gap on top of the tunnel and jumped down. He could still see the fire through the gap and the temperature inside the tunnel was rising.

The bright fireball on the left of his face appeared again and he started to walk back to the area where the fight had started.

The underground tunnel of the ruin was like a spider web—it was complicated and full of crossroads, but Angele did not see any rooms on the way.

He assumed that he was still in the outer area. He reached a crossroad again, but this time he decided to explore the unknown area first.

He turned to the left and entered a dark tunnel.

*CHI*

The floor vibrated slightly. It seemed like something further away was hitting the tunnel.

After about ten minutes, the floor stopped shaking. Angele detected the source of the vibration and increased his speed, turning right at the end of this tunnel.

The stone walls had no differences. Without the chip, Angele would have gotten lost already. He finally saw a different-looking entrance on a wall by the end of the tunnel.

Inside the entrance, there was a gray stone staircase leading down into the darkness. Angele could feel chilling air brushing his face just by standing beside the wall.

He crouched and checked the floor.

Angele found some messy footprints on the dusty stone floor.

"Someone entered it already."

Angele stood up and pointed at the staircase.

With a flick of his finger, a small black metal ball was shot down the staircase.

Before the metal ball dropped to the ground, Angele raised his hand again.

A ray of red light flashed.

*CHI*

The metal ball was ignited and the yellow light from the flame brightened up the area down the stairs.

*PA*

The burning metal ball rolled down the stone staircase and stopped after reaching the ground. It looked like a small light dot.

Angele was satisfied with the result and he threw ten more metal balls down the stairs.

He could finally see things clearly and started walking down slowly.

Strange white patterns were painted on both sides of the walls.

They looked like large flowers with human bodies attached to them. Their arms were long but twisted. One of them had a huge ear that looked like a wash basin. Some of the flower men held each other's hands and were dancing around campfires.

Angele rubbed the surface of a wall. Some of the white paint dropped to the ground, and there was a large missing area beside the dancing flower men.

He lowered his hand and started walking down the stairs again. He thought it was a tunnel down there, but it was actually a room, and the burning metal balls lay on the floor quietly.

There were no paintings on the walls in the room, the surface clean and smooth.

Angele noticed a blond woman lying beside one of the burning metal balls. She was wearing a red leather armor suit and her face looked familiar.

She was one of Ainphent's followers.

Ainphent's followers' armor style was easy to recognize, and Angele identified her easily.

He walked to the woman and crouched down.

Her body was facing the ground, and there was a pool of dark red blood beneath her.

Angele dipped his finger in the blood. It was solidifying, and it felt like touching thick congee.

'I already have the Black Rose oil and the only thing I need is the heart of the tree. I hope I can find it in this ruin. It seems like the ruin is controlled by the Two Head Sect, I can probably find some more resources if that's true.'

Angele knew there was danger ahead but he did not want to give up the possible reward easily. If he chose to leave now, the heart bombs he used would have been wasted.

Angele did not back off in the Moon Gin Garden. The only way to keep advancing in the world of wizards was to adapt to the various situations and changes. He needed to be cautious when dealing with things, but it did not mean that he should quit when there was danger along with possible benefits ahead.

Also, with the help of a stealth technique and mentality compression method, he could stay undetected if the enemies' mentality was weaker than his.

Angele grabbed the woman's shoulder and turned her body around.

There was a deep wound on the female knight's neck and a huge blood hole in the center of her stomach. Angele could see the crashed organs mixed with flesh. Also, the woman's right arm was broken. It seemed like she did not have the chance to fight back.

Angele stood up and glanced around after checking the body.

There were three arched stone gates on the wall in front of him.

The gate in the front was smashed open, large pieces of stone lying on the ground, and there was a trail of bloody footprints beside.

Angele used his stealth technique and quietened his footsteps. He then slowly moved into the gate.

*BAM*

Suddenly, a loud noise mixed with people roaring came from inside.

The room started shaking, the feeling similar to the one he'd experienced in the tunnel.

Angele raised his hands and some blue energy particles flashed in the air—all the flame on the metal balls was put off. The room sank into darkness again, with only the fireball beside his face providing minimum visibility.

He started moving forward quickly, using the stealth technique and the compressed mentality, the noise of footsteps minimized.

Behind the gate was a dark tunnel. After traveling for several minutes, Angele heard people chatting ahead.

"… Check… Bring the… with us… We need to hurry… the core area is ahead."

It was Melissa's voice but Angele did not catch all the words she was saying.

He took several steps forward and finally could hear their conversation clearly. Someone was responding to Melissa.

"All those traps… It's our first time entering this area. Be careful, everyone! We'll reach the core area after breaking the barrier. We must grab most of the bearing shafts before the other wizards get here." It was Ainphent, it seemed like he had returned to Melissa's team. "Belem and Kuirman are spies of the Two Head Sec, I didn't expect that. If Green hadn't taken care of them for us, it'd have been a big problem."

"Hey! Be careful! Look at the walls, Collins! Don't get too close!"

"Yes, master!"

"Where's Isabel? I didn't meet her and her followers after entering the tunnel," Melissa questioned.

"I saw her once on the other side of the tunnel. She was not planning to enter the core area. She went straight to the storage area for some reason," Ainphent explained.

"What is she looking for? I doubt there are many rare resources here. Let��s move. We need to get there as soon as possible," Melissa said with a light tone.

It seemed like Melissa and Ainphent had entered through the gate not so long ago. Angele followed after them from a distance, advancing little by little.

The tunnel was still in the range of the force field that would trap people in illusions. Angele needed to make sure he did not miss any critical information. Melissa had already finished several battles before regrouping with Ainphent.

There were broken pieces of human organs on the ground. and blood splashed on the stone walls. Random footprints were left on the floor that led to the deeper area ahead.

Angele found a small door on the left side, the sign next to it saying 'Laboratory'. The word was written in ancient Barun language. He hesitated for a second, then pushed the door open.

A light blue glow cast a reflection on his face.

It was a spacious room, glowing sapphire covering the walls. Those diamond-shaped sapphires were the source of the light.

On the left side of the room, there was a small stone sundial that was brushed with black paint. A thick layer of dust covered its surface.

Angele walked to the sundial and wiped off the dust with a piece of cloth.

Melissa's group was still moving forward. They had not entered the laboratory because they wanted to save time.

Angele was not sure about what exactly was the bearing shaft Melissa spoke about but it seemed like they did not want others to find out about it. He was not sure how strong Melissa was, so he decided to do some personal investigations first.

He had no interest in the bearing shafts anyway.

With Kuirman dead, Angele could focus on searching for the heart of the tree now. He had obtained the Black Rose oil from Isabel, so he could start preparing the potion after acquiring the heart.

Although Angele's Mentality was not high enough for the next stage yet, it was still necessary for him to collect the materials for the potion first. There were many different methods to help him increase mentality other than meditating, but this might be his only chance to obtain the heart.

Also, Angele was confident that he could successfully craft the ancient potion on the first try. He had many practical experiences and Zero could simulate the process for him.

The potion masters would waste a great number of resources every day, but they could only craft one or two mid-level potions each year.

The basic potions were expensive in the markets, but the price of mid-level potions was much higher. The skill-level and a number of resources required were ridiculous. The wasted materials were hundred times or even thousand times the materials that were actually listed in the formulas.

Angele stopped thinking and observed the environment. A trail of blood in the corner attracted his eyes.

He walked to the corner and saw the trail of blood leading to a wall on the other side of the room.

Chapter 184: Exploration (3)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

The dirty floor was covered in dust, which made the dark red blood trail very conspicuous.

Angele did not find any other strange things in the room.

He followed the trail of blood to the wall.

It seemed like the blood came from the other side.

The surface of the wall was gray with a silver glint to it. Angele raised his head and saw a head-sized glowing sapphire inserted into the surface of the wall.

The clean blue light cast a reflection on Angele's robe, and on the sapphire, there was a hidden bloody handprint. It was quite difficult to see and Angele assumed that the handprint was left there by the injured person.

He raised his hand and pressed on the sapphire.

*Crack*

The sapphire was pressed into the wall and moved to the left, revealing a small hidden compartment.

A thin book with a yellow cover lay in there quietly. There was nothing written on it, and it looked old.

Angele grabbed the book and found a set of black metal keys under it.

There were about ten keys hanging on a silver key ring, the sizes, and shapes of the keys varied. It seemed like they were used for different locks.

Angele tied the keyring to his belt and opened the thin book.

'April 12th. I arrived at this new ruin we found. Master Mahamt of the sect found this place and captured it. It's a ruin of an ancient organization named Axis of Time. The place is nice and the weather is great, but for some reason, we can't find any creatures on the island. It's strange. As a member of the sect, I have to obey the orders… I really miss my wines…'

'April 15th. Our supplies arrived and everything is proceeding well. There are not many of us here, but we're important to the mission. I want to write down more, but Haner asked me for help in the laboratory. I'll leave it here'.

The next several pages were missing. It looked like they were torn off by someone, but Angele already knew that this was a diary of one of the Two Head Sect members.

He kept turning the pages, skipping the records about daily life.

Angele reached the end quickly.

'It's July already. Quella told me that his pocket watch stopped working and he wanted me to fix it. Seriously?! Those gear wheels inside had broken into pieces and there was nothing I could do. Too many explosions had happened in the laboratory… Quella complained that the items crafted by the mortals were too weak… and I have nothing against that opinion'.

'Something isn't right recently. The captains arrived at the facility and put restrictions on several areas. What are they planning to do? I haven't seen them in years, and they want to take everything from us? We contributed the most to the project, and they're not allowing us to enter the area with the rarest resources… I'm a wizard too, I need to find a way to enter those areas someday…'

'October 11th. I finally acquired the keys to the restricted areas. God, it takes ten keys to open all the entrances. I'm preparing to enter the area today, wish me luck'.

That was the end of the diary. Angele turned the book around but did not find anything on the back.

He grabbed the keys and found that the word '4' was engraved on each of their handles in Anmag.

Angele knew something unfortunate had happened just by reading the diary. The man's mission had probably failed. He checked the diary again and found a well-drawn map of the ruin. Each of the areas was labeled with names, and five black circles were marked in the corners. Numbers from one to five were written inside each of the circles.

The number four circle was not far away from the laboratory.

Angele opened the diary and read the last several pages again.

'And they're not allowing us to enter the area with the rarest resources…'

The wizards sent to the ruin by the Two Head sect failed to completely explore the ruin and for some reason, they set up restricted areas to store the rare resources. Angele guessed that they might have found something else in those special areas and the secret was reported to the leaders at higher positions.

The wizard who wrote the diary had probably died when trying to break into the area four, but Angele did not understand why his diary and keys were still there.

He rubbed the map with his fingers slowly.

'Should I go there?'

Angele hesitated. Based on the information he acquired from the diary, he was certain that something was wrong with this ruin. However, it seemed that if he wanted to maximize the number of resources he could get, he would have to enter the restricted areas.

'I need to proceed with caution, those areas aren't restricted for no reason. Better rewards come with higher risk… Damn, I wish I could reach the next stage now so I could learn some better damage spells…'

Angele kept thinking and in the end decided to check the areas outside those circles. If things did not look too bad, he would use the keys and go inside for rare resources.

He scanned the diary and stored the information into the database, the whole process taking about a minute. Angele then threw the diary back into the hidden compartment. With a flick of his finger, Fire energy particles ignited the book. In the bright orange flame, the diary turned yellow, twisted, and became a pile of ash.

Angele turned around, left the laboratory, and returned to the tunnel. The place was extremely silent, he could not hear anything, and he doubted if the air was circulating.

The floating fireball on the left side of his face only brought him minimum visibility.

He recalled the map he just read and located his current location. Slowly moving forward under the dim light, he reached another crossroad.

The footprints on the ground indicated that Melissa and her group had gone straight ahead.

Angele decided to go check the No.4 restricted area first.

He double-checked the map he had stored in the chip and turned left.

There was some soothing wind coming from the left to the right side. Angele kept moving forward for about twenty minutes.

He reached an entrance of a cloister and saw a large '4' painted on the way in an ancient language.

The dust in the air made Angele's nose itch. He stood by the entrance and peeked inside.

The hallway was about ten meters long and there was a black wooden door by the end of it. The door was tall and wide, with holes on its surface. The blue light coming out of the holes caught Angele's eyes.

It seemed like someone was having a conversation inside.

Angele extinguished the fireball and quietened his footsteps.

He stood in front of the wooden door and peeked through one of the larger holes.

Angele could hear the people talking inside clearly.

"… No! Impossible! Tell me! That's not your intention, right? Tell me!" a man was shouting, his voice sounding nervous.

Angele leaned forward and saw a large meeting hall, its wall decorated with the same glowing sapphires he had seen in the laboratory. Those sapphires were the only source of light here.

The hall was filled with people wearing long blue robes. Their ages and genders varied, but they were all releasing strong mentality waves, and it seemed like Angele's compressed mentality helped him to stay undetected.

Angele was quite surprised after checking their mentality waves because all of them were wizards.

Also, those wizards' bodies were translucent. They almost looked like ghosts.

All the wizards were quietly staring at several people that were wearing dark blue robes. The voice Angele had heard earlier belonged to a young man, and he was staring at another man in front of him with anger in his eyes.

"Naora! You destroyed us! You destroyed the whole Axis of Time! I need to stop you now!"

A female wizard stepped forward.

"We're already the strongest organization on the west coast and we don't have to risk it!" someone yelled out.

"I'm doing this for the organization," the male wizard named Naora responded in a light tone. The man had a peaceful smile on his face. It seemed like the others were trying to stop him from making a certain decision.

"Axis of Time…?"

"So, this is a memory of the ruin...?"

Angele had read about it in one of the books from Ramsoda's library once. Some of the ancient architectures were built with a special material that could record events that happened inside them. The materials were not enhanced by spells, and they were relatively easy to find back then. Many wandering wizards had encountered the material while traveling. The legend said that the Ghost Voice was developed by the ancient potion masters using a similar material.

The wizards Angele saw were illusions, and their argument was recorded a long time ago. It was probably an important historical event for the organization.

'This was probably one of the reasons why the Axis of Time disappeared from this world,' Angele guessed while watching the wizards talking inside the hall.

The wizards' argument got intense, and they were pointing at Naora. No one trusted the man's explanation, but he was still trying to convince the others, addressing how important his plan was.

However, no one was listening to him.

"Do you know what's my intention? Do you remember the day we founded the organization? What's our true purpose?!" Naora shouted.

"Tell us what you're doing!" one of the wizards yelled.

"Yeah! Show us the document! We don't want to be lied to!"

The hall got even noisier.

*Crack*

Angele stepped on something while trying to find a better viewing angle.

Suddenly, people inside the hall stopped yelling and moving. It almost looked like a video was paused.

They turned to the door and stared at Angele through the holes.

More than thirty pairs of eyes looked at Angele at the same time, and those wizards' expressions were replaced by horrifying smiles.

Angele was scared, and his skull numbed. He took several steps back and stared at the black wooden door.

The hall remained silent, but he could still feel the gazes going straight through the door and falling upon him.

Chapter 185: Exploration (4)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

'Wait… They're supposed to be illusions…'

Angele was startled at that moment. He was certain that all the wizards' figures were staring at him, and it seemed like they had noticed his presence a long time ago.

Angele stood in the hallway. It was deadly silent, and he could not sense any movement inside the meeting hall.

He quietened his footsteps and created a thick layer of metal on his skin for defense. His whole body was covered in a silver glow. He took out a black heart bomb with his right hand. This one was made with the heart of corrosion, and it was one of the two bombs that contained 70 degrees of power.

Angele approached the wooden door again, hesitated for a second, but still decided to peek through the hole.

The meeting hall was brightened by the blue glow. The wizards he'd seen had already disappeared and the room was completely empty. Angele shook his head. He knew it must have been an illusion. He could see the dust floating in the air under the light.

Suddenly, a man's eye appeared on the other side of the hole, and he was peeking through it just like what Angele was doing.

The man was staring at Angele with his bloodshot eyes.

Angele was startled again and backed off right away.

He calmed down and looked at the hole again, but the man was no longer there, and he could only see the blue light from inside the room.

"Are you looking for me?" a cold voice suddenly came from behind.

*CHI*

Angele turned around and a silver arc flashed in the air.　　

He created a scimitar in his left hand and slashed forward hard. Angele heard the blade soaring through the air, but it felt like the strike landed on nothing.

Angele quickly glanced around and tried to find who was behind him.

"God damn it!"

He was not sure what he should do. He double-checked the surroundings, but still did not see anyone around.

Angele held his breath as he sensed someone walking toward him from behind. He assumed it was one of those 'ghosts' that were in the meeting hall. The ghost was getting closer and closer, and goose bumps rose on Angele's neck.

He knew he had to make the decision. He raised the heart bomb and threw it behind himself.

*BOOM*

Angele detonated the bomb, getting caught in the explosion as well. The impact blew him more than ten meters away. He rolled on the ground, finally stopping after he reached the other side of the hallway.

Black-purple sticky liquid covered the whole cloister, and the door of the meeting hall was broken into pieces, so the bright blue light shined upon the hallway. The dust in the air blurred Angele's sight.

White steam rose from the areas that were covered by the liquid. Angele saw that the walls and the ground were being corroded; it was the effect of the heart bomb.

The ghost disappeared after Angele detonated the bomb. He coughed several times as the dust went into his nose.

Angele stood up and covered his nose with hands to prevent more dust from going into his nose.

He gained experience of dealing with mysterious events after the encounter in Moon Gin Garden, and he was more prepared when it happened this time.

However, he decided not to enter the meeting hall in front of him. There was no point for him to take more risks. The ghost could still appear at any moment. Those illusions of wizards were unusual, they did not act like the ones the books had mentioned.

There were several times that Angele had almost lost his life during the missions because he was too greedy. He calmed down and made up his mind.

Angele had a last glance at the corroded cloister, turned around, and left through the entrance.

It only took him several minutes to return to the crossroad.

Angele took a deep breath and started heading back. He had the map stored in the chip, so it was easy for him.

Suddenly, he heard people whispering in the tunnel ahead.

"Glen, go collect the items, we need to move. Aria, help the wounded members, Avria is still waiting for us there, we must hurry."

The voice of the man was familiar. Angele raised his head slightly and looked ahead.

A man wearing a white robe was advancing in the darkness, and Angele recognized him immediately.

"Hey, Ainphent!" Angele shouted out. He needed someone that was familiar with the situation, and he wanted to check if they had already collected the bearing shafts.

Ainphent was slightly injured. He turned around and looked at Angele.

"Oh hey, Green! I really need your help right now!"

Ainphent's voice was shaky. He quickly walked toward Angele.

Angele realized something was wrong as Ainphent got closer. He quickly used the fireball to brighten up the area.

Ainphent's eyes were replaced by two deep, bloody holes. The dark red liquid left two trails on his cheeks and slowly dripped down the chin.

Behind Ainphent, there was a blue hollow shadow, but it seemed like he did not notice the shadow's presence. Ainphent looked excited and happy after seeing Angele, and the shadow followed right after him.

"Hey, Glen! I told you already, move!" Ainphent turned around and shouted at a wall. He was seeing illusions, Angele assumed. "Are you even listening?!"

Angele's skull numbed. He slowly took two steps back, turned around, and ran away.

He was not sure how he could help Ainphent escape the illusions.

'What happened to Melissa then..?' Angele wondered as he heard Ainphent screaming. The wings on his left palm started swinging again.

"Green… Come back… Green… Please…"

Ainphent's voice changed, he was horrified and anxious. The man's long shaky scream echoed through the tunnel.

The diamond-shaped accessory on the back of Angele's hand was heating up again.

The accessory heated up when he was at the watch tower and had encountered the strange girl on the bridge. His curse was lifted already, but he decided to keep the accessory and use it to detect the 'ghosts' or 'souls'. Although Angele had not yet collected accurate data on how those ghosts existed, it seemed like their presences were quite common in this world, and most of them were related to curses.

Angele decided to start researching on the spirits after surviving this mission.

He returned to the previous tunnel, and it seemed like the strange force field was no longer there. Angele quickly ran back to the room with three stone gates.

The right gate was crushed by someone as well. Inside the gate, it was a dark tunnel, and there was a rotten body sitting by the entrance with its back leaning against the wall.

Angele double-checked the surroundings and made sure it was safe before entering the gate on the right.

He crouched and checked the body. The body had two heads above its shoulders, but there was barely any flesh left on the faces and hands. The place also smelled awful.

Angele's brow furrowed. As blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes, he asked Zero to check if there was poison in the air. After making sure that there was no trap around the body, he started examining it closely.

The body was covered in a white robe with a black edge, and it was female. Both of her heads were missing eyes. Angele could only see four bloody holes. One of the heads was leaning against the wall and the other one was almost cut off.

'One of theirs… Two Head Sect…' Angele guessed. He raised his right hand and aimed at the body's heads.

"En… Dira…" he chanted the incantation. It meant 'rebuild' in Anmag.

*CHI*

The noise sounded like gas being released from a container.

Intense green glow covered his right palm and casted its reflection upon the dead body's face.

After ten seconds, the rotten muscles on the woman's face started recovering, and the area under the green light returned to its original shape. It almost looked like the wound was fresh. However, some deep holes were still left on her pale skin.

Angele stood up, the green slow on his palm weakened and disappeared.

"She was killed about two months ago, but the temperature here is low, and it slowed down the body from decaying."

Angele was a disciple of master Liliana and knew several tricks that could help in studying dead bodies.

"So, all of the Two Head Sect's members died inside the ruin a long time ago." Angele shook his head. "I should've kept Kuirman's body in one piece, but he was way too strong… What should I do to acquire more information..?"

*BOOM*

Suddenly, something exploded inside the dark tunnel.

A man's voice echoed in the air, sounding nervous. "Master Isabel! Run!"

"Retreat! Everyone!" It was Isabel. "I have this item that can protect us temporarily… Ah!"

She screamed, and Angele heard something crash.

"Just run!"

"No!"

People were shouting and screaming.

Angele's expression changed, and he was not sure if he should go check what was happening.

The intense footsteps approached, a ray of white light shot through the dark tunnel, and a female wizard wearing a white robe appeared, holding a glowing stone in her hands. She was running to the gate while checking the situation behind her.

Isabel's black hair was messy. She was wounded, and Angele saw the blood dripping down her robe. She turned her head around and shouted, but there was no one behind her. It seemed like she was also trapped in the illusion.

Angele stepped back and Isabel realized who was in front of her.

"Green!" she yelled out. "Run!"

Angele pursed his lips. "Master Isabel, calm down!"

He raised his left hand and waved it several times. The signet was heated up, trying to eliminate the force field that brought the illusions.

The wings on Angele's palm were swinging quickly, and it worked just as he had expected.

Isabel went down on her knees in front of Angele as he lowered his hand.

Angele helped her to get up quickly.

"Isabel, there's nothing chasing you. Are you alright?" he asked calmly.

Isabel's soul had not yet been swallowed by the illusions, but tears were running down her cheeks. The lady looked helpless and terrified.

"I'm back! I'm back…"

She quickly glanced around while trembling. A smile appeared on her face as she cried.

Angele knew something was not right, and he was in a dire need of information.

"Isabel, listen to me, are you alright?" he asked again in a light tone.

Isabel raised her head and looked at Angele. She then quickly wiped the tears off her face and straightened her back.

"We need to leave. The curse of the Axis of Time has been released and low-rank wizards like us will stand no chance against it!" she sputtered. "Let's leave this area first, I'll explain everything to you later."

Her face was still shaky.

"Got it."

Angele nodded.

Chapter 186: Escape (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem

The sky above the island was covered by dark clouds; the weather was changing.

On the cliff of a high mountain.

On the gray sundial, there were three translucent entrances that could disappear anytime.

*PA*

Suddenly, a hand grabbed the edge of one of the entrances.

Two people jumped out of the tunnel together.

The one standing in the front was a young man with brown hair. That hair was wet from sweat and stuck to his forehead. The young man had a pair of sharp blue eye and a gray robe that looked a bit too large for his size.

A lady wearing a white robe followed after the young man. Her long black hair trailed down to her shoulders, and there were several scars on her pretty face.

Angele and Isabel finally left the tunnel after running like crazy for several minutes.

"Don't stop! Our boat should be safe, I left several people there guarding it. We need to leave the island!" Isabell yelled. She looked anxious as she rushed to the stairs that led to the foot of the mountain.

Angele nodded but did not say anything. He took one final glance at the tunnel and followed after Isabel.

The three entrances slowly disappeared from the sundial and everything returned to normal.

The gnomon of the sundial turned white after several seconds.

*CHI*

A ray of white light shot from the tip of the gnomon and streaked into the sky.

The white string connected the cliff and the sky.

Angele noticed what happened to the sundial and hastened his steps.

The two kept running down the hill. They turned several times on the way to take short-cuts.

Ten minutes later they returned to the beach that the boat was secured in.

"Impossible! Where's the boat?"

Isabel stared at the empty shore, looking surprised.

It was as if the boat had taken the team and completely disappeared, leaving no trace on the surface of the sea.

Blue waves were hitting the yellow beach from time to time, but besides them, the place was deadly silent.

The water from the sea was circling between the gaps of the reefs.

"Where's the boat?!"

Isabel started panicking, she ran into the sea and circled around the area where the boat was anchored, but found nothing.

"Damn."

Angele's expression turned serious.

They guessed that the missing boat was part of the series of mysterious happenings in the ruin. If the blue wizard illusions destroyed the boat, it would be a huge problem.

Angele stopped by the edge of the beach and started checking the surroundings.

"Is there a way that you can get in contact with the people on the ship?" he asked, turning his head toward her.

Isabel took a deep breath and calmed down. She looked different, her face was no longer emotionless. She quickly took out a small golden ball from the pouch after Angele's words.

*Clank*

Several black needles rose from the surface of the ball.

Isabel picked one of the needles and twisted it.

*CHI*

The golden ball disappeared from her palm, drew a golden line in the air, and flew into the air.

The needles soared through the air and flew in different directions, then all disappeared after several seconds.

"Har-rim-las!" Isabel chanted the incantation in a loud voice. The word she said meant 'the mother of light' in Anmag.

They waited for a while until they saw a golden line coming from the left; it connected itself to the ball in the air.

"That direction!" Isabel yelled and started running.

Angele nodded and followed after her.

The two ran along the coastline and found their boat under a stone cliff after about ten minutes.

The small black boat was stuck between reefs, and there was a golden string on the sail.

The wind and the waves were getting stronger and stronger.

The clouds in the sky were getting darker, completely blocking the sunlight. It was noon but it looked like evening.

Angele and Isabel stepped into the water and ran to the boat.

Isabel rubbed on the white ring she had and a white magic circle appeared under her feet. The magic circle slowly lifted her up and she easily jumped onto the deck after several seconds.

Angele pointed at the boat and a long silver metal string left the tip of his finger, embedding itself into the railing. He pulled the string, jumped to the railing, and climbed onto the deck as well.

The boat was deadly silent. He could not see anyone around.

Isabel went straight to the cabin after stepping on to the deck.

After several minutes, she dragged two men outside.

The two were wearing dark red leather armor and both were unconscious. Angele saw the weapons in their hands, blood dripping down the blades.

"One of them was Ainphent's follower, and they were both assailed by the illusions. The illusion made them think that the two of them were enemies. The curse is way too strong, we must go," Isabel said calmly. She took a deep breath again and tried to figure out a plan of what to do next.

"Don't worry too much about it. The curse only affects the targeted population I believe. Also, I have a special way to deal with it."

Angele pursed his lips to a smile. He had already tested the power of the signet several times and was certain that he could help the people around him.

"Well, I know you probably lifted the curse for me temporarily, but the thing is more complicated than you think," Isabel said, her voice low.

"Look at this."

She turned her head to the left and pulled the collar to the right, revealing her clean, white shoulder.

Angele saw a sundial-shaped black pattern on Isabel's shoulder which looked like a tattoo.

"This pattern means that the curse is not completely lifted and this is just one of the many patterns that appeared on my body." Isabel shook her head. "We need to drive the boat to the original location and wait for Melissa's group. If they don't come back in half an hour, we'll have to leave."

Angele was a bit surprised after seeing the pattern. He slightly rubbed his left hand—it seemed like the signet could only completely lift the curse for its owner.

The blood from ancient harpies worked. They were the masters of controlling the illusions, and they could resist most of the illusion spells.

Angele heard someone screaming when he was about to talk.

"It's Melissa!" Isabel shouted. She raised her head and looked at the sky. "Oh! God!"

She covered her mouth with the right hand. It seemed like she could not believe what was happening.

Angele heard Isabel's word and quickly raised his head to check the situation.

Above the dark mountain, there was an enormous translucent silver plate rotating slowly, and a blurred white shadow floated in the middle of the plate. It was Melissa, her arms wide open and countless white roots growing from her back. Those roots climbed to the edge of the white plate and white energy particles were being injected into the plate.

"That's… the Final Purge…" Isabel muttered. "It's the strongest purifying spell master Melissa knows and it's also… her last spell to use…"

Angele scrunched his eyebrows. He could sense the presence of countless energy particles. They were howling like the wind that was about to brush the negative energy particles off his body.

The silver plate was slowly rotating and more than ten thousand different white runes were flashing upon it.

"I shall cleanse this island with the purest power," Melissa's voice echoed in the sky. It was loud and deep.

The bright light from the plate shined upon the whole island. That light was gentle and clean, even the dark clouds now looked white. Distorted waves spread through the air and changed the air flow around the island.

The wind brought by the plate sent warmth to every corner of the island. Angele felt relaxed and his mind became peaceful.

It was a large-scale spell, and spells like this were usually casted during wars. Their single-target damage was usually low, but their range was incredible.

*Roar*

Suddenly, a huge mouth appeared and bit the plate. The creature swung its head and swallowed the whole thing.

The noise it made while swallowing sounded like thunder striking the ground.

Melissa was swallowed together with the plate before she could react.

A glowing blue sea serpent had appeared from nowhere. Its ears looked like bat wings, and there were two rays of light coming out of its eyes. It almost looked like the eyeballs were replaced by burning flames.

Angele and Isabel could not understand what had just happened.

After several seconds, Angele shouted.

"Run!"

Isabel was woken up by Angele's voice and they quickly released the sails.

Angele went to control the helm as Isabel took out a yellow pouch and poured something into the air. Green dust spread onto the main sail and turned into a small tornado.

The boat shook several times and moved through the reefs. It started advancing to the opposite side of the island quickly.

*CHI*

A circle of green light appeared above the boat and quickly spread onto its body.

The speed of the boat was greatly increased. It was moving away from the island like an arrow leaving a bowstring.

The serpent was more than 1000 meters long. It slowly twisted around the island and raised its head. The strong sound coming from its mouth sounded like a beast roaring.

*Rumble*

The lightning flashed upon the island and the dark clouds blocked the last ray of light. The whole area sank into darkness.

The blue serpent's glowing body was the last visible thing above the sea.